Hydrangea Hill Cottage: chintz

Monday, August 08, 2011

Oh, Mario.............!

Anyone who has ever had the faintest interest in interior design has to have come across the work of American designer Mario Buatta.......known as the 'Prince of Chintz'!

He has the ability to take any space and turn it into an English country setting. He is the first to admit, though, that his rooms "do not appear overnight from a department store showroom"......nor should they. He is a firm believer in collaborating with his clients so there are never any surprises. The final results of his rooms evolve with a great mix of antique and new furniture, his wonderful mix of fabrics - chintz, stripes, ginghams and his beautiful background colors that bring his rooms together. I also love that he appreciates 'collections' and displays them appropriately....his personal dog art collection is a delight!

I have chosen his floral, feminine rooms to post here, but this designer knows no bounds......his masculine rooms and his gender neutral rooms are to die for. His interiors are such classics!

The following rooms are samplings from some of the many different homes he has designed.

Hope you enjoy his look as much as I do.......

This is the first Mario Buatta room I ever saw and I have been

hooked ever since.

Kips Bay Show House

House Beautiful cover back in the 80s and I still have it!

All photos via Architectural Digest

Last photo from House Beautiful

Monday, July 18, 2011

American Coastal Retreat

In keeping with our international cottage and country decorating theme, I am today featuring the summer home of Galen and Hilary Weston, who are the owners of Canada's Loblaws Grocers, Atlantic Superstores, Holt Renfew in Toronto and Selfridge's in London, to name a few of their retail establishments. Galen was named by Forbes magazine this year as the second wealthiest person in Canada with an estimated fortune of $7.1 billion. Understandably, this is not a 'typical' coastal retreat......this is something only the very, very wealthy would have access to, so it is definitely worth a peek!

Galen began his career as a bag boy in his family's bakery business and through hard work, education and determination salvaged the floundering company in the 1970s and went on from there.

So, when their latest home appeared in AD this week, I was fascinated. It was built in their own community in Florida which was developed in the 90s called Windsor 'A Village by the Sea' ....... and the interiors were designed by John Stefanidis, who has worked with them on several of their other homes.

Enjoy!