Pretty Recycled Leathergoods

By Haskell Harris | May 20, 2010 | Design

I'm one of those people who has not given into technology—yet. I still use an old-school leather desk calendar to stay organized and I still make to-do lists in a real notebook. And that's exactly why I'm a fan of the beautiful recycled leather goods (made from scraps and remnants that would otherwise end up in a landfill) by North Carolina artist Gillian Dewberry (examples follow below).

Dewberry creates everyday objects that are inspiring to look at it, soft to touch, and completely reusable again and again (from her notebooks to her photo albums, all of her designs have interior pockets that allow you to add new paper when you need it). And I absolutely love the antique illustrations that emblazon each of her pieces. They're delicate without being fussy.

I plan on using Gillian's notebooks for a long time to come, but I don't think I could ever have too many sources for beautiful leather and papergoods that are made by artisans in the South. Who else is creating great-looking things in this genre that I don't know about? 

A Piece of Charleston History

By Haskell Harris | May 12, 2010 | Design

A year ago next month, I moved out of this circa 1796 Charleston house on Meeting Street and into a circa 1831 kitchen house in Harleston Village (photo below that I took early this morning, pardon my amateur photo skills).

The little outbuilding has survived all manner of historic events, including the Civil War, Restoration, and the whallop that was Hurricane Hugo in 1989, which just goes to show that houses built right go the distance.

And even though parts of its past are deeply sad and haunting, it has come a long way in over a century, offering shelter to all kinds of tenants, including young musicians here in town. I love that it’s small (and it is small, as in dollhouse proportions small—but charming). I love that it has four working fireplaces. I love that it holds court in the middle of a garden and is a miniature version of the big house it sits behind. But most of all I love that it has real, operable shutters, and that those shutters are painted Charleston Green (photo below).

I’ve talked to several folks around town, including the Historic Charleston Foundation  and Jane Thornhill, the city’s beloved tour guide, but it seems everybody has a different story about the origin of the color. The most prominent oral history has something to do with Union troops sending down buckets of black paint to help the economically decimated city keep up appearances. True to form, colorful Charlestonians added green and yellow paint to the buckets, creating a brighter version of the funereal black. You can purchase the color through the Historic Charleston Foundation’s paint collection with Sherwin-Williams or try your hand at mixing the color. The recipe below was given to Mrs. Thornhill by another local history buff:

• 10 ounces black paint
• 4 ounces green paint
• ½ ounce yellow paint 

Does anyone else know of another story about the color’s history? 

Inventive Entertaining Ideas

By Haskell Harris | May 5, 2010 | Design

I've never really been much of a formal entertainer. Don't get me wrong, I love great food and having friends to celebrate with, but I'm a fan of casual parties that make people feel at ease and not worried in the least about what fork they're using. But I do have a real appreciation for the artistry of putting a great-looking tablescape together, and that's why I love the new entertaining book, Flair, by legendary interior designer Joe Nye. There is plenty of finery to go around, but more often than not, the book is filled with practical, affordable takeaway ideas that could be applied to any decorating setup. 

Here are a couple of ideas I'm planning to try:

1) Hand-written invitations. This idea came to Nye when he ran out of time to have invitations printed for a party. Undaunted, he bought thick, off-white card stock and penned one invite simply and slowly (and legibly!)  with a red sharpie. Then he had Kinkos color copy the handwritten invite onto the rest of the store-bought cards. All he had to do from there was address the envelopes in red and add great-looking stamps. 

2) Chic and cheap flowers. The book is full of inventive ways to use inexpensive, grocery store variety flowers. Nye even found a way to make baby's breath incredibly stylish. His rule? Always use it by itself. In the photos below, it's such a lovely, informal counterpoint to the fancy chinoiserie wallpaper in a dining area and the antiques in an entryway. 

***Another great chapter in the book talked about easy and unexpected centerpieces, like placing fresh lemons in a white bowl (shiny leaves still attached). What are some of your favorite, low-key centerpiece ideas? Small ferns planted in pretty terra cotta pots? Glass hurricanes filled with shells?

Photo credits: Reprinted with permission from Rizzoli. Photos by Edmund Barr.