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Showing posts with label Amy Howard. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Amy Howard. Show all posts

Sunday, November 25, 2007

Amy Howard Collection

A few years ago, I saw a chest of drawers from the Amy Howard Collection in a decorators showhouse. I was familiar with the company, as I had seen the ads in many of the design magazines, but I had never seen a piece in person. This is the piece that I saw:



This is the Serpentine Commode, one of Amy Howard's signature pieces. I frequently see this commode, often in the finish pictured (although there are dozens of finishes available), in the various design magazines that I subscribe to. In fact, this chest in one of the bedrooms featured in this month's House Beautiful.

Notice the Amy Howard Serpentine Chests used as side tables (House Beautiful, December 2007).


The Amy Howard Collection is a trade only furniture company that makes upscale hand-crafted, hand-painted interpretations of fine antiques, with a focus on classic 18th century French, Italian, Paris Moderne, and 30s Glamour. Their range of finishes is amazing, and reflects Amy Howard's background in decorative arts and mural painting. Her furniture collection now features over 300 pieces, and each piece reflects Amy's committment to quality and artistry. I noticed that the Amy Howard website has recently been redeveloped, and it is a great way to take a look at the many wonderful pieces of furniture in her collection.

Amy Howard Guinot console


Amy Howard's lovely home in Memphis has been featured in many design magazines. It is also featured on the website of the The French Mix, a McKinney, Texas store that features all sorts of lovely France sourced and France inspired items. The owner of the French Mix characterizes Amy Howard's furniture as on 'the leading edge of home decor, mixing classic French and Italian reproductions with modern pieces that work together to complete a new look of Modern European". According to the French Mix, "Old World is OUT. Modern European with a mix of classic is IN. It must be said that to blend classic style with contemporary is not an easy thing to do, but Amy Howard has taken the challenge and excelled in the task".

Charleston cocktail table, Amy Howard Collection

Here are a few pictures of Amy Howard's home, which beautifully illustrate the 'Modern European' look.

Family room of Amy Howard's Memphis home. I love the bold stripes of the window treatments contrasted with the graceful arms of the turned wood chandelier. Many of the furniture pieces in this room are from the Amy Howard Collection.




The library. I am normally not a big fan of dark libraries, but this one is gorgeous with the chocolate brown walls, the mirrored coffee table (from the Amy Howard Collection), and the green loveseat. The seagrass carpet, the mirrored surface, and the light green are a great counterbalance to the darkness of the walls.

The powder room off of the library. This is a very unique room, with the unusual sink and the lion head fountain for the water. It looks like the water is pumped with a foot pump. I love the grass on the side of the sink, but it seems like this would be very hard to maintain!

The kitchen dining area.

The 'friends entrance'; I assume this is the back entrance by the name, although this is such a balanced setting that it would be lovely at the front entrance!

View one of the salon. Look at that great chandelier. I remember seeing the floorplan for this house in a magazine last year. I recall that it has a long gallery across the front, which can be seen in this picture. The gothic lantern in the gallery mixes seamlessly with the more elaborate chandelier, doesn't it?

Salon, view two. A long room like this was probably hard to design, but the space is separated and defined by the round table in the middle.

Upstairs hall.

Upstairs loft. Look at the beautiful iron railings.

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Beautiful framed intaglios, available here:

Unique architectural renderings, available here:

Whimsical original crab and lobster paintings, as seen in House Beautiful, available here:



http://www.quatrefoildesign.com/


Tuesday, July 31, 2007

Devil Wears Prada

Please visit the Quatrefoil Design store for one of a kind items and more inspirational images!

http://www.quatrefoildesign.com/


I recently watched 'The Devil Wears Prada', and thought that the design for Miranda's Priestly's office was divine. The console in particular struck me, and I have kept an eye out for something similar ever since. I could only find a tiny picture with the console in it, but you can see on the left - black with a distinctive curve, very art deco.
The Amy Howard Guinot console has a similar look and feel, although it is not the same as the one in the movie:



When looking for images of the console, I found some interesting information on the set design of Miranda Priestly's office.

From Wikipedia:
"After touring some offices of real fashion magazines, Jess Gonchor (production designer) gave the Runway offices a clean, white look meant to suggest a makeup compact ("the chaste beiges and whites of impervious authority", Denby called it). Miranda's office bears some strong similarities to the real office of Anna Wintour, down to an octagonal mirror on the wall, photographs and a floral arrangement on the desk (a similarity so marked Wintour had her office redecorated after the movie). The magazine itself is very similar to Vogue, and one of the covers on the wall of the office, showing three models, is a direct homage to the August 2004 cover of that magazine."

Here is a great image I found, taken by starbuckscameron on flikr - it shows Anna Wintour's office compared with Miranda's office on the set:


Wouldn't it be great to design the set of a movie like this?


To visit my store, Quatrefoil Design, click here.

To subscribe to my blog by email, click here.

To follow my blog on Facebook, click here.


Beautiful framed intaglios, available here:

Unique architectural renderings, available here:

Whimsical original crab and lobster paintings, as seen in House Beautiful, available here:



http://www.quatrefoildesign.com/

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