Shop Keepers Homes 5

In this edition of Shop Keepers Homes, I give you Andrew and Shannon Newsom, proprietors of the online emporium Wistera. They also have a blog HERE.


These two have impeccable design pedigrees that come down family lines. Andrew's is Lisa Newsom, editor of Veranda; and Shannon's is Jane Moore, a Houston interior designer and antiques dealer. The couple also share a dedication to social change, evident in the catalog's devotion to a different nonprofit group in each issue.
They are experts at romancing the home.


Once upon a time this newly married couple looked for, but couldn’t find, beautiful antiques and decorative objects to furnish their first home—at least, not at a price they could afford.

So they got the idea of starting a catalog to offer such merchandise, which became a web site, and, in classic Internet start-up style from its earliest origins at a kitchen table, Wisteria.com was born.

Wisteria.com got started on this kitchen table

Wisteria.com marries high-touch sensibilities that distinguish its catalog to the high-tech sales medium of the web.

Andrew is president of the company, and co-founder Shannon, writes most of the catalog copy that also goes on the site. She brings a distinctive first-person voice to the company that offers a tip of the hat to the early Banana Republic and J. Peterman catalogs in its ability to not just sell, but romance a product.

Inventory is sourced from around the world. By finding small, local suppliers in Third World countries, the Newsoms have found a way to keep prices lower than for comparable goods produced elsewhere, while offering the unusual and unique in a spare, clean-looking and easy to navigate site.

“Pottery Barn sells great products, but given the measure of their business, they have to be standardized in what they sell,” Andrew says. “We are small enough that we can find and sell 200 to 400 units. A huge company couldn’t do that.”

The artful photography that characterizes the catalog loses nothing in its translation to the web site, and the web medium makes contributes of its own: incremental sales and a younger customer.

Market research had determined that Wisteria’s core customer contains a large group of those in their 50s. “That catalog buyer has both disposable income and time,” says Andrew. “My sense is our Internet audience has disposable income, is decorating their first home, but doesn’t have a lot of time. They get online at night after they put their kids to bed and they shop then, because it’s more convenient.”

Internet sales are increasing in dollar volume and as a percentage of overall sales.
“There’s an opportunity here to go deeper than our catalog in telling more about the products and the story of the brand,” says Andrew.

All images (except for the top three which are from the Wisteria catalog) are of the home of Shannon and Andrew Newsom, and are from the hot new design book Swedish Country Interiors by Rhonda Eleish and Edie Van Breems. The book is not only filled with beautiful images, but with very insightful writing on the subject. You'll really learn something when you read this book by two of the foremost experts on 18th and 19th century Swedish antiques. Buy it HERE or at your local book store.

Some of this post is excerpted from various web sources.

In Bed With Bryan Batt - Happy Weekend!

I had to do some crappy scanning to show you this:

Bryan Batt in November 2009 House Beautiful
Click on image for larger view

I love me some Bryan Batt!
I've blogged on him in one way or another seven times! Go HERE to read one of those posts, and/or look for the label bearing his name to read more.
Just got my November 2009 issue of House Beautiful, and there is a cute and sexy interview with New Orleans guy Bryan. It's called I Love My Bed. It's not online yet, so I'm retyping it for you all to read, maybe this weekend in the bed you love.
I think you will appreciate and enjoy how down to earth, and warm Bryan is. He also has some great decor advice (he was once an interior designer - I keep thinking he's the next glam movie star-decorator ala Billy Haines). I've bold faced some tidbits in the interview. Enjoy!

A good issue this month! Buy it or subscribe - don't let magazines and books, that you can hold in your hands, die

From House Beautiful:

HB: I LIKE HOW THE PAINTING FITS PERFECTLY OVER YOUR HEADBOARD.
BRYAN: The painting is the whole point of the room. It's by a friend of mine, Suzie Allain, who's a local artist here in New Orleans. She showed some things at Hazelnut, my store here, and I fell in love with this series of bamboo stalks. She did this for me custom and then the room evolved around it.

SO YOU MADE THE BIG SILVERY PILLOWS TO SORT OF GO WITH IT?
Well, the fabric was left over from a design job I did years ago. I loved it and was always trying to find a place to use it. I had just enough for the pillows.

AND WHAT IS THE FABRIC?
I really don't know. I got it from one of those wholesale places on 39th Street in New York. It's stenciled with metallic paint. The ones in the front are by Dransfield & Ross. We sell them at the store.

WHAT IS THE BEAUTIFUL COVERLET?
It's a Sferre Jacquard with the gray that's on the walls and the sheets. The sheets are similar to the wall color, which I believe, is Benjamin Moore Smoke Embers.

THE VARIOUS SHADES OF GRAY ARE VERY CHIC, BUT FEEL COZY TOO.
Your bedroom has to be one of two things. It either has to be bright and full of life or dark like a cocoon, and I always go for the dark. For years, having been in theater, I would go to sleep so late that I had to block out any light coming in so I could sleep in.

ARE YOU COMPULSIVE ABOUT MAKING THE BED IN THE MORNING?
I'm a slob! I'm a little bit like Oscar Madison, and my partner, Tom Cianfichi, is Felix Ungar. I'm the one who would come to bed with a cigar and a beer. Sometimes I do bring a martini, but there's no smoking allowed in bed.

IS WATCHING TV ALLOWED?
We've never had a TV in our bedroom. It's a rule.

BUT NO RULES AGAINST COMPUTERS.
I'm always on the computer in bed.

THE FLOOR-LAMP TABLES ARE A CLEVER SOLUTION TO THE NIGHT TABLE PROBLEM.
They're brass lamps as well as glass-topped tables. We sell them at Hazelnut. They're small, which is good, because we don;t have much room on either side of the bed. I have to have a king size bed. Once you go king, you can't go back.

WHAT'S THE LAST THING YOU DO BEFORE TURNING OFF THE LIGHTS AT NIGHT?
I try to have a little meditative moment, but usually I'm making sure the cell phone is being charged and there's a glass of water bedside.

WHAT'S THE FIRST THING YOU DO WHEN YOU WAKE?
Wish I could sleep longer before I take my walks in Audubon Park.

DO YOU EVER CHANGE THE LOOK OF THE BED?
There's the look when company is coming, and there's the daily look. My Boston terrier, Peggy, likes to live on the bed, and you don't want a dog with a bone on your best bedding.

WHOSE SHEETS ARE THESE?
I don't remember. But they're 620-thread-count-hotel-quality sateen sheets from Bed, Bath & Beyond. I believe in mixing things. It doesn't always have to be the highest end. If it looks good, it's good.

AND THE BED ITSELF?
It's from Crate and Barrel.

WHAT DO YOU LOOK FOR IN A BED?
Comfort. I used to think beauty over everything at all times, but at this age you really have to think about your back.

DO YOU HIDE THINGS UNDER THE BED?
Yes! I have big plastic storage containers, filled with photographs.

HAVE YOU IMAGINED WHAT THE BEDROOM OF SALVATORE ROMANO, YOUR MAD MEN CHARACTER WOULD LOOK LIKE?
By the time this comes out, you'll have seen his bedroom. It's tomato red - not a color I would choose, but it's perfect for Sal.

WOULD HE LIKE THIS BEDROOM?
Salvatore absolutely loves it.


Get House Beautiful to read more....

Shop Keepers Homes 4 - Caroline Robert Owner of Perch New Orleans

This edition of Shopkeepers Homes is my favorite, because it is the home of Caroline Robert the owner of Perch in New Orleans, the shop in which I lovingly work.


Her home is a grand old dame, a classic Uptown New Orleans beauty.
The house is filled with old and new things, very much in the way Caroline stocks the shop with beautiful wares. It is a family home, for the Roberts, with three children, and three dogs. It is home well lived in.


The hall table is antique, the painting vintage, the accessories of an ancient angel wing and a bowl of fresh picked apples is lovely.


To one side of the front door is the study. The house is well over 100 years old, and has some of the most beautiful original plaster work, which is offset by Caroline's signature color: Blue.


There ae a couple of grand old gilded mirrors around the house.


Off to one side in the study is this little antique settee under the striking portrait, flanked by the sumptuous blue silk drapes made in the workroom of Perch. And look at that plaster work! It looks like a wedding cake!


There's a handsome white ceramic dog too, unlike any I've ever seen.


Across the hall is the living room. Don't you love the ceiling! I spy a pair of vintage Murano lamps that Ed from Swank Lighting would die for!


Here's another view of the living room. The juxtaposition of the transitional sofa with the antique settee, and modern coffee table with a very cool vase holding yellow tulips, is so typical of the way Caroline designs interiors.


Nestled in a corner is a sophisticated contemporay chair, and in the background you can see a classic French antique table. And the bouquet of coral roses is just the perfect grace note. Do you notice the very pale antique Oriental carpet? As much as I love sea grass, it just wouldn't work in this room.


The original marble mantle looks great with a piece of modern art flanked by antique torcheres.


To one side of the mantle is an antique English campaign chest, and the dark wood tone is a great contrast to the lighter pieces in the room. The painting is done by the head designer and manager of Perch, Jack Mayberry.


I love the stack of books with the ancient Roman foot resting on them. And check out the detail of the frame of the painting, how Jack incorporates the frame making it an important element of the painting.


Now we're moving into the expansive dining room, a place the Roberts gather in regularly for huge dinner parties with friends and family. The breakfront looks original to the house, but it's really a more recent piece Caroline acquired from Tara Shaw. And note the uber dental molding!


The French antique chandelier spoils you - no reproduction can truly capture this kind of beauty!


Across the hall is a room for the man of the house, a classic billiards room, done in a dark and sexy palette reminiscent of an English gentleman's club.


Moving down the hall is the kitchen. Painted cabinets, soapstone counters, and brick floors are a nice departure from the cookie cutter SGG kitchen. I spy some nice oyster plates hanging on the wall.



The modern paper mache artichoke lamp looks great in the kitchen.


Old kitchen windows, overlooking the garden.


Across the kitchen is the breakfast room. More drop dead gorgeous drapes, a French wood turned chandelier, and a zinc clad dining table all add up to a welcoming spot. I love baby Eli's little cradle in this room!


Here's a better look at the precious cradle, and you can also see the fantastic brick floor that runs throughout the kitchen, breakfast room, and family room.


And here's a little peek of the family room: White slips on the sofa, great art work including a lamp by the artist Viorel.


Off the kitchen are doors leading to the garden. Of course there's a classic New Orleans courtyard with a beautiful fountain!


The patio is set up for lounging. I love this tropical print on the furniture.


And this super rustic table is the spot to be for alfresco dining.


There's a yard big enough for the dogs and kids.


And a guest house over the garage too.


And a lovely swimming pool that is well used by this family during the long months of hot weather in New Orleans.


We've seen most of the first floor. There are three floors of the house. I did not photograph the guest room (it was occupied) or the older kids rooms.
We're moving to the second floor. Don't you love the old leaded glass windows and this window seat on the stair landing! Caroline likes to read here.


The master bedroom has a magical and romantic bed. Simple elegant bed coverings with luxe monogrammed pillows are so pretty.


But the real star of the second floor is baby Eli's new nursery. The painting above the crib was done by Caroline for her new son.


The room is very large, and there's a queen size bed in there, ready for Eli to grow into. The canopy above was suggested to Caroline by Jack. It's an antique piece from an old church. I spy some very cute owl lamps. Doesn't baby Eli look darling on his big boy bed!


The linen drapes are from Perch, as are the zinc clad dresser (used as a changing table) and the zinc clad frame. The soft gray tones of the weathered zinc work so well with Caroline's signature palette of blue. And the grasshopper rocking toy is a fabulous folk art accent.


The vignette with white peonies is understated and so pretty.


There's a little round turret off the main room of the nursery, just large enough for mommy's chair to rock baby in. The lamp is Kartell. The Roman shades are made from the same linen as the draperies.


There's a great bookcase in the nursery, filled with more animals. The animal theme sort of evolved with a collection of things Caroline had: an antique carousel horse, a paper mache snail, butterfly prints, and one special yellow toy on the left side of the shelf which was a gift to Eli from Jack. It was Jack's baby toy! And I spy the baby Philippe Starck Lou Lou Ghost Chair!


There are many wonderful paintings in the house, and I love this portrait of Caroline. She had it done as wedding present for her husband Andre, telling him "what you see is what you get."


And here's Caroline! She arranged the luscious bouquet of peonies in the breakfast room.


And here's her mom Mrs. Elaine Smith, or Miss Lainie as we call her, with baby Eli in the living room.


Here's handsome Mike, Caroline's dad in the kitchen. Happy Fathers Day to Mike and all the dads out there!


And here I am with Caroline, my boss, my mentor, and my friend.
I was at her house taking snap shots while her home was being photographed for CUE Magazine coming out on the newsstands, Sunday June 21. I will be posting this editorial next week on the Perch blog, and I'm sure you'll see better pictures, and read a wonderful story too.