Lechlade, Gloucestershire

I've recently been looking back at a cache of saved emails I have from my online penpal Neil (who if you remember sadly passed away last year) and came across photos of a small town in Gloucestershire, Lechlade, that he had visited.

Not only is the town near one of his favorite houses which I've blogged about before, Buscot Park (see that post HERE), the surrounding towns have a lot to offer including some really beautiful gardens and houses made of the local stone.

There is nothing I love better than an old house with a crunchy gravel drive -note the wisteria on the bay window above too.

Located centrally in the town is the 15th century church of St Lawrence and the beautiful parish house above.

 This is the southern edge of the Cotswolds so you get a fair number of their famous stone cottages here as well.

 I think just these few pictures are reason enough to prove why this area is such a tourist destination.

In nearby Fairford is the Bull Hotel which looks absolutely charming as your home away from home while touring country houses, small villages, and antique shops. Next vacation perhaps?

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How They Decorated (P Gaye Tapp) and Why Blogging still Matters

Soon to be released (April 11, 2017) is "How They Decorated", a fascinating book by P. Gaye Tapp with forward by Charlotte Moss and published by Rizzoli.  I've been eagerly awaiting this book both because the subject is endlessly fascinating and because over the years I've become friends with Tapp through our blogs; You may know her better as Little Augury.

I've been studying my preview copy of the book and have been totally engrossed by these fascinating women who were each famous for their (many) style(s) which were well documented throughout the 20th century. Split into 4 sections the book categorizes these style setters (NOT trendsetters) by "The Fashionably Chic", "The Unconventional Eye", "In the Grand Manner", and "Legacy Style".  One of my favorite parts of the book is that they are covered not only by never-before-seen photographs but also charming sketches by Jimmie Henslee, Christian Berard, and Jeremiah Goodman which give the FEEL of a space more than a photograph ever can.

I (and Gaye) say these women were STYLE setters and not TREND setters because they marched to the beat of their own drummer.  They didn't follow trends, they set them.  Big difference; there is very little to be said of a trendsetter but so much to learn from a stylesetter.

So often lately I hear 'blogging is dead' and 'who cares about blogs'. I believe this may in part be a backlash to their popularity 10 years ago and also because so many blogs were created, following the TREND, that had no substance and nothing to say. Every business website one visits has a 'blog' section and those are indeed incredibly dull; they have nothing to say. However blogs still MATTER because they are written for the most part (at least the good ones) by people who are passionate;  Interested enough to put their thoughts and research out into the online universe, generally for free, because they're passionate about their subject.  Whether it be architecture, travel, history, style, or interior design;  Passion, Knowledge and Interest transcend trends. When bloggers cover a subject it's a 21st century technique of passing content - magazines for our century!  I have learned so much about the history of 20th century design through Gaye's blog and her book is a distillation of her many years of research on the topic. I bet if asked she could write another 10 volumes on stylish women (and I would eagerly await each tome)!

Anyone reading this blog, or Gaye's, will love 'How They Decorated' and should definitely include it in their reference library. Also be sure to follow her blog as she passionately covers the history of design. I learn something new from her every posting and now through her book!

Images Copyright from How They Decorated: Inspiration from Great Women of the Twentieth Century by P. Gaye Tapp, Rizzoli NY 2017

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Couch vs. sofa - a dialogue

I was thrilled to have lunch recently with one of my favorite bloggers, The Blue Remembered Hills, while he was traveling through DC. As so often happens when bloggers meet for the first time we began chatting at once like old friends and eventually the topic naturally veered towards design.

Both of us have 'pet peeves' with wordage, his being the incorrect use of the word couch instead of sofa (mine is the incorrect use of home vs. house). Above you see the famous couch of Madame Recamier.

The term sofa is what we normally are talking about, the article of furniture found in everyone's living room. It's not a 'formal' term or interchangeable with couch -they are DIFFERENT things. A couch is a specific term reserved for pieces of furniture on which one lies. I immediately thought of Madame Recamier, so well known for having been painted in repose by numerous artists.

While in the Louvre on my last visit I loved Madame Recamier's furniture made for her by Georges Jacob as well as 2 very well known paintings of her, in which she is lying on a couch.

 The rest of her furniture is really beautiful and I just had to have an excuse to post!

In the future think of Madame Recamier on her couch and the sofa you have at home; unless you have a fainting couch or daybed, well then that's another story!

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