Thursday, February 16, 2012

Love Affair

I am having a love affair with John and Carolyn Malone's new old homestead featured in the current issue of Garden & Gun, which has become one of my favorite magazines. When I was in high school my family moved to the small community where my father was raised, Goodes Georgia, and lately I've been in a mode of re-discovering all that I loved about living in a rural, small Southern town. These images speak to the beauty that one finds in the slower paced life living among a time forgotten home where lush green life abounds. Enjoy!











Thursday, January 26, 2012

Our creative selves

Designing and decorating one's home is an essential part of being human. This is not a superficial, "keeping up with the Jones" sort thing. Home. Nest. Shelter. These words conjure up a variety of memories like the sent of home baked cookies that greets one upon entering the front door when coming home from school or work, or perhaps yours is a memory of cuddling up under a quilt with a parent or sibling, or just knowing that upon stepping one's foot upon home base you feel safe, comfortable and at last can be fully oneself. Whatever it means to you, I hope that you can discover a creative part of yourself through the designing of a room.  Most importantly make it functional and personal, filling it with the things you love. "The personal" is of utmost importance in selecting a designer. A home owner must forge an intimate relationship with one's designer. When you enter a person's home not as a family member or friend but instead as a professional it is a delicate dance to learn about, embrace and respect the person, the family and the home for which you are designing. Hopefully, if I've done my job correctly, a new lasting friendship ensues.

I encourage my clients to use their homes as a way to express themselves. As very young children we are almost immediately pulled away from our creative selves. For finding a creative path, we must go to a messy place, a place of mistakes. Luckily, one does not have to have the skill set of an artist to be creative at home. One may simply surround oneself with things she loves. Although, even this, can become a strange quest raising questions like "What do I truly love?," " What can I live without?" "Why am I so attached to...?" This is where hiring a professional can help.

Believe it or not, floor coverings can be wonderful way to be creative in you home. A custom area rug can be made to mimic your child's art work or a family portrait or just a burst of one's favorite color. Hard surfaces, though more permanent, can also be lovely exhibits of self-expression. Perhaps, these images below can be of some inspiration to you...





The patterns above are hand tufted custom area rugs available through Moore Floor Coverings via DCI. 

I love the textile art of Arlene Blackburn. Love this black bird on wire piece.



I have a great custom rug program that I can easily switch out the colors in standard patterns, creating an easier approach for making a custom carpet. This last one is suppose to be for a boys room... A City Planning idea...?

Wednesday, January 18, 2012

Our Design Predictions for 2012

Dali's Melting Clock

Predictions are is a  It's time for the ubiquitous design trends or forecasts for the New Year. As much as I hate clichés, I do find trends fascinating. Perhaps trends are not merely driven and forced upon us by the design industries, but, instead, I like to think, arise out of our collective unconscious of the great timeless desire for beautiful ascetics and more useful technologies. Either way, these trends do determine how we shop, buy, wear and live the material world. Even if you are, like myself, a constant forager of that which has been tossed aside by one in order for another to make new again. Here's what folks are saying for the new Now:

Moore says:
Whooo doesn't love Owls. They are everywhere these days. For one thing, it's difficult to miss the huge gold owl on top of the TBS building overlooking I-85 here in the capital of The South. It took me a second to figure out why the owl? Then I remembered the Conan O'Brien ads showing the host of  newish TBS late night show with a white owl on his shoulder. So, anyone want an custom owl rug, maybe for a child's room?

TBS ad for the Conan O'Brien Show

Artist Leah Duncan

Hand hooked area rug by Claire Murray
Love this signage pulled from Vogue & Friends blog


If our latest carpet samples are any indication of what's to come in home fashions, I can tell ya right now that a washed pallet will be around for a while. Very Neutral but with punches of richer colors like, plum, matte blacks, golds, orange reds. Also, for carpet expect super soft, high luster nylons. Although I'm a natural fibers sort of gal, I do have to say that these latest man made fibers feel just like silk but are as tough as steel.
The lovely Darden Straus snapped a pic of the newest Rosecore Samples while in our showroom the other day. These feel and look like silk, but are a man made fiber... not (quite ; ) as expensive.






By now we've all know about Pantone's 2012 color Tangerine, but I feel blues will be here for a bit longer, I believe but are showing up more in Navy tones.Also, read my previous post on Who's Blue?  Also, I love a soft plum.
Handmade in Nepal, this dark navy area reg is available in standard sizes.    
Not sure how I feel about all the elements in this room, but the colors!
I love a pale blue with purples. Here the blue area rug sets off those chairs perfectly. Photo taken from Patricia Gray.

I really like many of the designers' comments in a recent Elle Decor article on the trend subject.

From Elle Decor-
 “I adore books and cannot imagine life, or my home, without them,” says Ronda Carman, of All the Best Blog. But for her, books as props have a short shelf life. “Rose Tarlow put it best: ‘An object added for effect instead of affection will always look like an affectation.’”
• Antiques dealer Richard Shapiro has modernism malaise, calling out the “monotony of one midcentury room after another, all with predictable, gratuitous, gimmicky accessories.” He lobbies for collecting objects from different periods and styles that all have a bit of soul.
• It’s time to retire brightly lacquered Hollywood Regency furniture, says decorator Mary McDonald: “I think we all have seen enough garage-sale junk sprayed in high-gloss Skittles colors to last through the next century.”
• Designer Mario Buatta singles out “dysfunctional decoration,” his term for interiors that don’t relate to people. “Everything is done for styling, and nothing has to do with living— there’s no place to have a conversation or set down a drink,” he says. “The best time to look at a room is the day after you’ve had a party because you see the way people used the space.”
• The DIY craze has run its course, says decorator Sheila Bridges, who has seen her share of “earthy, handmade concoctions. Just because it can be reclaimed doesn’t mean it should be.”

~ Sloane






Tuesday, November 29, 2011

Art in your city

In my opinion it's important to support the arts in your space place. Don't you think? Culture is local. I think Shakespeare says it best "To be or not to be? That is the question." So, what did The Bard intend? To be or not to be, what? Involved! So, with your extra time off for the holidays stay in your town and catch some exhibits, music, dance, plays... yes! by all means play! And you may find your creative-self revived for the new year.

A few musts for my town:

Susan Crawley, curator of Folk Art at the High Museum presents a lecture on Henry Church find the 411.


I will definitely be checking out the Kiki Smith exhibit at the High, as well.


At Moca be sure to catch the Dec. 3 Gretchen Hupfel event. Here's a great article by Karen Tauches from Burn Away.


Gyun Hur's solo show opens on Dec. 6 at Hudgens Center for the Arts. Hur won the Hudgens prize for 2011.
http://gyunhur.com/home.html


Poem88 is one of my new favorite galleries in Atlanta. Located in the trendy West Side, Poem88 is a clean, beautiful space. This month Kristin Gorell shows Abstractions. These paintings are layered in drip and cloud like softness, floating experiences... check it out http://poem88.net/kristen_gorell_2011.html

As always there is the Swan Coach House Art Gallery that offers small pieces for the art collector on your list. http://www.swancoachhouse.com/art_gallery/current_exhibition/little_things_2011.aspx

I'll give an update of other arts events for the month of December next month! Until then, support you local art and culture. It's where great design begins.-sc

Monday, November 28, 2011

Striped Area Rugs!






I think I probably post on striped area rugs and carpet too often but here are a few handmade beauties that come in standard sizes at affordable prices. Very Somethings Got to Give.

Thursday, July 21, 2011

Happy New-ness


How fun it is to open newly arrived sample and area rug packages. We just received new Nourison, Axminster samples and a few beautiful hand knotted area rugs  I love this new area rug. It's hand knotted with a super soft, high luster yarn and a wool felted loop pile yarn that forms the pattern. The color is peaceful, a light birch-y/ vanilla/ taupe.  It comes 4 x 6, 5 x 8 and 8 x 11. P.s. The price is very affordable.


Tuesday, June 7, 2011

Yes, We Are Still Here.

O.k. I admit I am not a tech savy person. I want my technology devices to work when I need them to work; I don't want to spend hours (that I don't have in the first place) to figure out how to make a machine work, go, etc. when I'm in a creative space and wanting to post or print or burn cd, etc. We were having a computer issues here at Moore Floor Coverings a bit ago and it really got me off track from posting on the blogs. I've recovered and am excited to get back involved in the blog-o-sphere.

Here are the new Fibreworks sisals that we expect to arrive at the shop over the next 6 weeks. Sisal is becoming more and more important in the design world as folks want to "green" their homes and live with natural products. These reflect the sophisticated styling of today's sisal... very different from the one or two sisal boucles offered ten years ago in the Atlanta market. Love this look!- SC