Jill Sharp Brinson Has Ideas

Idea board for Style Studio by Jill Sharp Brinson

I know you all remember Jill Sharp Brinson. She had one of the hottest covers ever to grace House Beautiful, and burned up the blogosphere acquiring hundreds of blog admirers along the way.

She is the creative director at Ballard Designs, as well being a wonderful interior designer, product developer, and star stylist.

HERE is a link to a feature she did at the Style Studio over at Ballard about what I call idea and inspiration boards.

I love a good idea board, don't you? They often become evolving collages that are very much like a work of art. Even with our desktop on our computers, nothing takes the place of a good old fashion tactile inspiration board. Do you have one?

Ballard Designs Great Copy Cat Chandeliers

Ballard Designs does it again! They have managed to reproduce a very good looking French style chandelier at a fraction of the cost of an antique or even a good looking reproduction.

Lourdes from Ballard looks like a Julie Neill chandelier

The Lourdes chandelier looks very much like a Julie Neill style chandelier. Even when I worked for JN I could not afford one of her lighting fixtures, nor could I talk her into rewarding me with even a sconce as a commission ha ha.

Lourdes is a miracle for only $299.
A Julie Neill reproduction chandy goes for thousands

If you have a some DIY savvy, you could doll up the Lourdes with a little gold leaf. It's pretty easy to do.

Julie Neill chandelier

Genevieve is another great looking copy cat chic chandelier

There is also another great looking chandelier at Ballard that is a little fancier, dripping with glass beads. It's called Genevieve. While neither of these may be as high quality as a hand crafted designer chandelier, they are very good looking for the price, and are certainly more attainable.
I hate when stylish pretty things are reserved only for those with lots of money, and that's why I love Ballard. They make design a bit more democratic.

Genevieve retails for $469. instead of $4699.

I got the latest Ballard catalog the other day and found a couple of more things I like.

This giclee is described: "California artist, Samantha Carlisle, uses layers of color and script to give her canvases endless depth and lingering mood. In this romantic print, the gown and French script background seems to glow from within with a soft, ethereal light."

Giclee of a dress $349. at Ballard HERE

This Samantha Carlisle print would be so pretty in my house

Ballard also has alot of Christmas stuff on sale. Check out the Ballard Estate Sale online. I love this pre-lit slim tree because it is 9 feet tall, perfect for the tall ceilings in New Orleans.

50% off at Ballard HERE

Concorde Medallion panels on sale at Ballard HERE

I also like these curtains found in the Estate Sale section.

Concorde Medallion panels from Ballard Designs

These panels remind me of Jill Sharp Brinson who is the creative director at Ballard, and had one of the all time favorite covers and editorial features in House Beautiful in December 2009.

The living room of Jill Brinson

Jill Brinson had the best House Beautiful story of 2009

Suzanne Kasler Hearts Ballard Designs

Did you get your Ballard Designs March 2010 catalog in the mail yet? A big part of it is dedicated to the rooms Suzanne Kasler did for them, using their merchandise.

Just a year ago I didn't know who Suzanne Kasler was. I never paid much attention to the names of the designers of rooms when I flipped through the eye candy of a magazine. I never read the copy or the captions. I just liked the pictures.


My former employer Julie Neill was gushing all over the place one day because she was going to get to meet Suzanne Kasler (who?) at a shop in Baton Rouge for a meet and greet, and then get to take SUZANNE KASLER to the airport!!!! Julie hoped having Suzanne Kasler captive in her car would be the CHANCE OF A LIFETIME to get Suzanne to use Julie's lighting fixtures.
My job was to get an extra special fancy expensive binder, and fill it with the best color photo copies of the fixtures, so Julie could slip it to Suzanne on the way to the airport.


Finally I had to ask: Who is Suzanne Kasler? And I was told, why she's the hottest designer in Atlanta and all the girls want her to decorate their houses. I went home and Googled her, and of course thought her work was very nice indeed.


I don't know if Julie ever sold a chandelier to Suzanne Kasler, but at least I wasn't a know- nothing anymore about this Hotlanta designer.


Blogging has become an education unto itself. In two years I have learned the names and the signature looks of many designers. And I have learned alot about Suzanne Kasler.


All of the images here are of the work Suzanne Kasler did for the latest Ballard Designs catalog, using Ballard merchandise. When you think of the high end quality and cost of Suzanne's interior design projects, the Ballard rooms are a real deal.


There are also excerpts of an interview with Suzanne, a how-to guide of sorts that is filled with great advice and tips HERE

If you had to choose one piece to get a little bit of the Kasler look in your home, I would choose the Quatrefoil Mirror. The quatrefoil is one of Suzanne's signature design motifs. This mirror sells for $269., and is a generous 36" sqaure and comes in two finishes Flemish Oak (shown), and a darker English Oak. Go HERE to see more details and order.

Kasler style mirror for Ballard Designs in Flemish Oak - $269.

I loved getting my Ballard Designs catalog in the mail today!

PS I wonder if Ballard Designs Creative Director, Jill Sharp Brinson did alot of the styling for the March issue of the Ballard catalog, and if she had a huge hand in choosing the merchandise. I've asked her to be a guest blogger and tell us about her process for choosing merchandise, and styling the catalog.


Maybe it will be something like this behind the scene slide show HERE

Confessions Of A Stylist

We have all seen something in a magazine that inspires us so much that we want to try to replicate it our own homes. My imagination went on a pleasant journey courtesy of House Beautiful and Jill Brinson. Jill is an uber stylist now segueing into interior design.
I am a stylist as well. Most of my work takes place in the shop I work in. I style the displays, as well photograph merchandise for the web site, and for the shop blog I write and manage. Occasionally I do a free lance project too.

I decided to play, to create a Brinson-like vignette. Of course I don't have the same house or colors or the same things she has. I don't have the resources to go out and buy things to replicate the Brinson magic. And I don't have the talented Rob Brinson to do the photography. But I do have imagination and talent. And my trusty digital camera ha ha.

So I got together some things, begged and borrowed and bought on a budget, and spent a few days playing.

Valorie Hart Designs a fun FAUX House Beautiful Cover
You can make one f0r yourself too HERE

I looked for visual elements that had a similar feeling, not literal. For example, the circle of the clock filled in for the circles of the candle sconces. My little Saarinen stool filled in for Jill's ethnic one. I borrowed a higher coffee table. It's not as cool as Jill's metal one, but the scale was right. I added the antique French metal folding chair for my metal accent.

I picked up my rug, and added my white cow hide to the floor.


I purchased some very inexpensive paisley print pillows in the same vein as Jill's , but certainly not the quality of what looked to be Les Indiennes textiles.

I had a pink throw, so I thought I'd work off that color for the flower color choice. Jill's throw and flowers looked more fuchsia. Instead of a large vessel for the flowers, I used three antique mercury glass bottles I already own. I tried to use the same scale of objects that were on Jill's coffee table, although again it was not a literal copy. For instance I chose my Cara Croninger heart pendant in place of the white shell necklace.

I didn't have a small tray, so I used a framed photo, and an oyster shell instead of a rock. I also took the white cowhide off the floor and out of the picture all together. I traded it for the brown one - I mean I literally traded my white one for the brown one. My couch is a totally different shape and size than Jill's, but I think the general idea is conveyed.

Next I switched to lavender accents. Again I had the throw. I switched out the pink roses for purple stock. I don't have a table lamp like the one Jill has, but my old tin floor lamp and black shade have a nice gestalt in front of the side table stacked with books. My art work above the side table is about the same scale as Jill's. The lamp and table is on the opposite side as in the HB photo, but I didn't feel the need to switch them to the other side of the couch. Again, I was not trying to copy the look directly.

I switched out a neutral pillow for a lavender Ikat. The couch is longer than Jill's so I had to use more pillows to get the scale better. The brown pillows behind the paisley are my Ikat pillows turned to the back side.

Jill had an apple on her table. It was brown and mine is white. My stack of books is a set of small reference books I covered with white paper and tied with twine.

All the elements are there, but different.

Cholo keeps me company whenever I do anything. After I styled this all up I decided that the bare floors don't work visually for the room. I also am getting back my white Saarinen coffee table! I am a cottage lady from way back so I thought this antique tea table would make me swoon, but after living with for a few days, I'm bringing back my modern edge ha ha.

This is the room after the fantasy shoot. I put my original rug back, and my original pillows.

I like the brown cowhide on the couch. I thought that the two cowhides would feel like Rancho Vamp, but actually they work very well together.



Things never turn out like they look in the magazine. Still it's fun to play. I think the key is not to copy literally, but to use your own things and personality in conjunction with what inspires you.

Hope you enjoyed my little my flight of fancy.

More Jill Brinson

I got a nice anon message!
In fact it was a very good tip about the blogosphere's new favorite designer, Jill Brinson.
My gentle reader gave me the link to the Jill Brinson web site which I would never have found, since it's under her maiden name of Jill Sharp. It's an unusual web site in that it doesn't scream me, me, me, and hence there is not much in the way of chatty biographical information. But from exploring the site, I gathered Jill Sharp is married to photographer Rob Brinson, hence her being credited in the December 2009 issue of House Beautiful as Jill Brinson.

Jill Brinson House Beautiful December 2009

I have gathered some images from the web site for you.


I think I personally respond to Jill's rooms, because we use so many of the same things in decorating our homes. I love white furniture, big clocks, industrial metal things, cowhide rugs, interesting textiles, old shutters, white ironstone, big lanterns, pretty flowers, light bare floors, quirky objects, and pretty rooms.


I've tried to bust out of my cottage lady ways with color and a modern dose of accents, but I always revert back to the things Jill loves.

A different view of Jill Brinson's Living Room
Rolls of wallpaper seem to be hanging from the balcony instead of fabric!

I approach decorating more as a stylist than a designer. Jill Brinson is an uber stylist and style maker, and her interiors reflect an eye for the photo shoot.

One of the things my generous anon commenter stated is that in a recent Skirted Roundtable interview with House Beautiful editor Stephen Drucker, is that we were a bit misled by Stephen saying that he really didn't know of Jill's work until it came "over the transom" at House Beautiful, kind of implying that she was unknown at House Beautiful, and further planting a seed in the minds of us wishful thinkers that anyone might have a chance at the cover (or maybe at least get a mention as a design blogger ha ha) by throwing our work over the transom.


In fact, Jill had been published in House Beautiful before. Maybe before Stephen Drucker's time there (he's been there five years).

Jill Brinson in a earlier House Beautiful editorial
Very pretty Cottage Lady

Since Jill is creative director for Ballard Designs, I like to call her early House Beautiful editorial "Early Ballard" and her present House Beautiful editorial "Later Ballard." Of course she hasn't furnished her homes with stuff from Ballard, but you can see the original objects and furniture she's collected, and how it is translated for the masses via the Ballard catalog.
"Early Ballard" has much more color and cottage lady fussiness, "Later Ballard" is more evolved, more sleek.

Jill Brinson in an earlier editorial in House Beautiful

Very "Early Ballard"

Even though Jill Brinson is not yet a household name in the world of interior design, she has had a great career. Maybe she'll go the way of national success as fellow Atlanta designer Suzanne Kasler.


She and her husband Rob, seem to be well known in Atlanta where they make their home.


So here are a few more photos of their Atlanta home. It's interesting to see it styled differently than the House Beautiful shoot.

Jill Brinson with no fabric hanging from the loft balcony
No paisley pillows from France either and no cowhide of the sofa

But here are the pillows and the quirky wallpaper hanging off the railing
The parsons table desk, the silver pouf, and the side tables are different
And I much prefer the color of flowers to the green plant

The cowhide on the table

The table sans cowhide originally published in Southern Accents

Another different view and styling of the dining area off the living room

Here's an excerpt of the comment that got me to do this post for you:

Anonymous said... Valorie - below is cut & paste copy of a comment left on the SRT Drucker post. Very interesting. Jill's web site is beautiful. Perhaps you can share it with your readers.

Thank you so very much for the excellent tip! I really enjoyed seeing more of Jill Brinson's work, and I'm sure the Visual Vamp readers have too!


Most images from: Jill Sharp Style