Where I’ve Been and Where I’m Going!!!

It’s been so long since I’ve posted. Thank you to everyone who has emailed me enquiring if I am okay and well. Yes, I am fine, just been busy with my family, my design clients and …….a new beach house!

Summer was outstanding! Africa was beyond amazing! Dave had a fabulous birthday trip and checked one off his Bucket List! Here is a photo of us in Cape Town!

And here is the dining room of the gorgeous Cape Grace Hotel. I hope to do another specific post in the future of all the amazing things we saw and encountered, but suffice to say it really was a trip of lifetime.

Zambia was also incredible – each day was an adventure in every sense of the word.

The Singita Ebony Lodge in Sabi Sands was like a dream. I have never in my life encountered a more spectacular place.

The people, the landscape, the animals, the places we stayed were incredible.

I have been touched by Africa

and we all agreed that we returned home changed by our experiences. Memories to last a lifetime.

When we got back I fulfilled something on my own Bucket List – I was in the Annisquam summer musical –The Wizard of Oz.  I was the Wicked Witch of the West!  Ha, ha – so funny, right?! 

I shared the stage with my son, niece and nephew and my sweet sister, who was backstage supporting me and the rest of the cast.  What fun we all had! More memories to last a lifetime!

At the end of the summer we sold our lovely, beach house and bought another house three doors away; closer to the ocean and the lighthouse.  It’s a 1920’s shingle style and over the next six months we will be renovating it and making it ours.  Meanwhile, I have been busy with my design clients, my family and the children’s school.  I admire the Bloggers who masterfully balance it all (but I just keep falling over)!!

(sunset on the Zambezi River, Zambia)

For the next few months, I will not be posting often. Please forgive the blogging break and my inevitable, erratic future posts, but things have gotten so busy and I can’t commit the hours to the computer that I used to.  If you want to follow my crazy schedule it would be best to subscribe to Willow Décor via email. My posts will go directly to your email, so you won’t miss anything. Also, to all my dear readers, please let me know how YOU are doing! I so enjoy your emails and comments – I read and try to reply to every one!! (Thank you menopause, for keeping me awake from 2 am at 4 am, I get all my emails done!)

 

(Victoria Falls – Zambia)

So until I can keep all the balls in the air at the same time, I will try to keep dodging the ones falling on my head.  Know I will be back, and until then I am wishing you lots of happiness and beautiful spaces.

xox- Gina

 

(all photos and content property of Willow Decor and not to be copied with out permission)

My Bucket List Trip

This year is my husband’s 50th Birthday and also our 20th Wedding Anniversary – so much to celebrate! Because it’s Dave’s big year he wanted to take a Bucket List Trip – for my international readers a Bucket List is a list of things you want to do before you die; a once in a lifetime excursion! We have rarely traveled without our children and this trip is no exception. I have been planning it for months and months and so excited to share it with you.  Later this summer where are we off to……..AFRICA!!!

Our first stop will be gorgeous Cape Town, South Africa.  We will be staying at the beautiful Cape Grace Hotel on the Victoria and Alfred waterfront. This photo also shows the spectacular Table Mountain in the distance.

You may be familiar with the Cape Grace Hotel. It’s been recently remodeled by the fabulous South African Designer, Kathi Weixelbaumer.

She used local hand painted fabrics created by the artists at African Sketchbook as wall coverings, drapes and upholstery to depict the story and history of Cape Town. You can read more about the beautiful Cape Grace Hotel and the décor HERE in a wonderful post by Joni of Cote De Texas

The fabrics are extraordinary.  Here is another room done by Kathi Weixelbaumer that highlights the beautiful fabrics.

I will be meeting with the African Sketchbook folks and we will be touring the wonderful factory/studio to see how all the fabrics come to life. You see each fabric is hand painted and is a perfect work of art!

We will take in all the sites of Cape Town and the surrounding wine country.

And of course visit the Nelson Mandela Gateway and Robben Island Museum. What a great education for the kids.  Then we are on to Zambia!!

We will be visiting Victoria Falls, one of the seven wonders of the world. (and I thought Niagara Falls was big!)

Then off the Sanctuary Sussi and Chuma Lodge along the edges of the Zambezi River.

Apparently we shouldn’t  be surprised if a herd of elephants come up on our deck and drink out of our pool!

We will also spend time at the Nakatindi Village and Community School. We can't wait to meet some of the local children.

Then we are headed back to South Africa and Kruger National Park to go on safari to see the big 5 - elephant, rhino, lion, leopard and buffalo!

We will be staying in Sabi Sands, the center of the Kruger National Park at the Singita Ebony Lodge.

The lodge is lit entirely by gas lanterns, so you really get the “Out of Africa” experience.

The lodge looks spectacular. You can take your meals indoors in the “library” or

on your private veranda over looking the River…

or outdoors in the “Boma”.  I’ll let you know which is best.

Of course I am a bit of a worrier – the tiny planes to get there are freaking me out.  And what if the kids get malaria or are attacked by lions?  I know I’m thinking crazy thoughts, but you know how mothers can be. 

 

Still, we are all excited and looking forward to a life changing experience! We will have many evenings to celebrate Dave’s 50th and our 20th Wedding Anniversary.  I am sure I will find inspiration at every turn.  I will be sketching and writing notes the entire time.  I can’t wait to show you all my photos!  If any readers have been, I would love to hear about your experiences before we go!!

(All content property of Willow Décor and not to be copied with out consent. All photos Google images)

Thibaut’s Furniture Launch at High Point & Giveaway Winner!

One of the most exciting new product launches at Market in High Point was the new furniture line by fabric and wallpaper company, Thibaut. The designs are young and fresh; and scaled perfectly for smaller rooms, which are so common here in Boston.

Pronounced TEE-BO, many of you are probably familiar with their beautiful fabric and wall coverings, like this lovely blue above.

Or this wonderful botanical floral – I love the Swedish feeling it has. Thibaut also has gorgeous complimentary fabrics as well. Notice the matching fabric on the seat cushion above.

In the past if you wanted to cover a sofa or chair, COM was your only option, so the addition of several new furniture pieces was a perfect marriage! Now walls and upholstery can easily coordinate and be available under one umbrella!

There are many wonderful new pieces. Several at Market were upholstered in bright, vibrant prints like this wonderful chair, the Brentwood. Above is it shown skirted, but in the first photo you can see it is shown with bamboo style legs.

They also showed several pieces in more neutral fabrics so you could see the beautiful lines of the furniture like this wonderful tufted ottoman. I also loved the additions of casters on many of the pieces. Thibaut’s styles are classic with a young, fresh twist!

Another favorite was the Kendall sofa –  again I liked simple lines, the tufting and the casters.  Notice the beautiful Thibaut wall covering on the walls. Isn’t this vignette lovely?

There is also three headboard styles to choose from. I really liked the Charleston with the nail head detailing.

I think my favorite chair is the Montclair. I especially love it upholstered in the Helix Grey fabric. It has such beautiful lines.  See how well the fabric matches up from cushion to frame – this is called matching and Thibaut does what is called a 4 way match (only the best upholsterers do a 4 way match) And it was so comfortable, with spring down cushions and real hardwood frames – very high quality inside and out!

Look at these Palisades Dining Chairs – another example of youthful and classic at the same time!

The Preston Ottoman could really go just about anywhere! Don’t you love the fun fabric and bamboo style legs? 

My dear friend, Architect and Designer, Linda Banks, has one of the largest displays of Thibaut in the area. She is opening a larger, more fabulous Simply Home Store in Portland, ME – but more about that in a future post.  


You can reach Linda Banks HERE and Simply Home HERE.

You can see all the new pieces in the Thibaut line by clicking HERE

I love this classic, young and hip line from Thibaut, but I’m anxious to hear what you think!

Finally, congratulations to our Segreto Book Winner, Vicki Bonne Amie – please send your address to willowdecormail@gmail.com.

(all content property of Willow Décor and not to be used without permission. Photos by Thibaut, used with permission)

Back From High Point Market with the Trends!!!

I had such a blast at High Point Market this week!  There was so much to see and so many great people to connect and reconnect with !!  Over the next few days I will go into more detail about the people I was with, but for now I wanted share some of the major trends I noticed.

1. COLOR!! Yay!! Color is back!  Of course Tangerine Tango was prominently featured but more interesting was the pairing of both green and gray blue with it. I adored the gray blue upholstery with the Tangerine – It was more my style – a bit conservative but with a fresh and exciting pop of color.

(Tobi Fairley Pinterest)

Although the Restoration Hardware look was still around, all the manufacturers were showing color.   Now don’t panic, if you have just committed to a neutral palette, new pillows are an inexpensive way to add some quick pops – but color is back, so in the next few months we will look at ways to re-introduce more color to your home.

(However, you will see most of my upholstery photos are grays, whites and beiges. I still prefer more neutral upholstery that can be refreshed with new pillows each season)

2.  Belgian Lines –  We still saw many upholstered pieces with Belgian lines. Think narrow arms, straight lines and one solid seat cushion. Lee Industries and Verellen had some beautiful and extremely comfortable examples.   I have actually been planning to write a post on “sofas with one solid seat cushion” for a while now – One seat cushion is my preferred configuration – I am so glad to see so many options. I love the sleek, almost modern lines.

3. Textured Fabrics and Velvets on Upholstery – In gray, beige and blue palettes. Lots of velvets, chenilles and textured linens.

I love all the nubby fabrics and the lush texture of velvet. Again we saw this in many of the larger upholstery showrooms.

4.  Nail Head Trim – I couldn’t believe how many pieces were sporting nail head detailing.

 

It seems to be the chair and sofa jewelry of choice. Also notice the chair above is in velvet.

Another example of the nail head trim.

5. Tufting – though not as prevalent, there was definitely a lot of tufted pieces – I love tufted upholstery – it is classic. Also notice the flange trim detail on the chairs above.

Tufting was shown at market in solid and in vibrant prints like these gorgeous pieces from the brand new furniture line just released by Thibaut. – I spent some time with the fabulous girls at Thibaut and have some spectacular photos share, but more about this fresh, new line in another post!

Anxious to see the photos from other bloggers, because there was so much that I didn’t see – just not enough time!! Check out Tobi Fairley’s Pinterest Boards and the other Market Style Spotters for more interesting items. 

I will back in few days profiling the Thibaut line and also my friend, the awesome designer, Linda Banks, with more exciting news!!

(all content copyrighted by Willow Décor and not to be used with out permission)