Category Archives: personal essays

sister parish

SisterParish3

Sister Parish has always been a design inspiration to me. I have kept this quote of hers for years in a prominent place, to remind me how down to earth she was. I have always strived to follow her advice, follow my gut, and my “eye”. I may not use color as strongly as she did, but I am a big believer of using things you love in your designs, and not worrying so much about “matching”. 

“It is only my eye that has helped me. I am still hopeless with that thing called a scale ruler. I love color, but that comes very naturally to me. From the beginning, I never followed trends. If I was aware of them, I didn’t care, for I believed as I do now, that rooms should be timeless and very personal. And I certainly don’t have a “look”-just a mishmash of everything that somehow, by instinct, usually turns out to be a warm, imaginative, ‘living room’. 

-Sister Parish 

 

(image is of a Parish influenced room by another of my design idols, Bunny Williams. Bunny is an alumni of Parish-Hadley Design. Image courtesy of the book Sister Parish Design-a design essential!)

 

louise bourgeois

Spider

Just read the news that Paris-born modern artist Louise Bourgeois passed away. I was not familiar with her work until last year when we “mini-mooned” in DC. We made a trip to the Hirshhorn in search of a certain Pollock painting, but instead discovered Bourgeois’ work. As you can tell from the photo, I get major heeby jeebies over spiders….so this particular art installment was uncomfortable for me. However, it was fascinating to learn of her legacy…highly emotional sculptures mostly exploring women’s deepest feelings.  I love her message…”Tell your own story, and you will be interesting. Don’t get the green disease of envy. Don’t be fooled by success and money. Don’t let anything come between you and your work.”

-Louise Bourgeois 1911-2010
 

roses

Grampy

Not long after my last post about the roses scent I love so much, I realized yesterday would have been my grandfather’s birthday. He passed away in 2002…but he is always with me. My father was military and we moved a lot, so the one constant in my life was my grandparent’s home in Wyckoff, NJ.  We had a very special relationship, and spent many afternoons in his rose garden. He treated me with the same gentleness and care that he did his roses, and I think of him every time I see one. And I smile.