Bedroom

Miami’s Royal Palm hotel, white and serene, is now a distant memory

Annie Elliott | January 24, 2012

We returned from Miami to freezing temps and aspirational snow on the ground. Sad any way you look at it.

As I Tweeted, the hotel itself, the Royal Palm, was lovely. A page out of old Miami: a tidy and tasteful room (I'm not a believer in big bedrooms, let alone big hotel rooms) and a sweeping view.

For this color-obsessed design maven, the white walls, drapes and bedding - and I mean WHITE, not ivory, cream, light taupe, or gray - made a big impression....

» Bedroom, Color + paint color

Imaginary friends: Foolproof paint colors for a bachelor pad

Annie Elliott | December 6, 2011

I mean, why not? I can't work with every single person who contacts bossy color, tragically. But some fairly universal paint color challenges do exist, so I thought if I came up with some foolproof paint colors...
THE IMAGINARY FRIEND: a youngish bachelor.

THE IMAGINARY HOME: a one-bedroom apartment in the city....

» Bedroom, Color + paint color, Kitchen + bath

Thanks, Associated Press! “Carpet, the bolder the better, makes a comeback”

Annie Elliott | August 3, 2011

Do you remember reading my post about wall-to-wall carpeting a few months back? About how it's making a comeback?

Well if you didn't, now you won't have to! The AP interviewed me last week for a story about it, and it hit the papers - and the web-waves - yesterday. Newsday and The Washington Post lead the list....

» Art + accessories, Bedroom, Kids, Rugs

Dateline, St. Michaels: the girls’ bedroom

Annie Elliott | May 31, 2011

Boy, did I need that. Three days out of town, with our little nuclear family and dear friends, doing pretty much nothing. It was perfect.

Even more perfect was this: the tremendous calm I felt upon walking into a house that had been repainted, modestly renovated, and stripped of extraneous art and tchochkes.

It felt peaceful....

» Bedroom, Renovation

White trim before and after

Annie Elliott | March 24, 2011

Hello, Gentle Readers! I do love updates.

When we last spoke, I was debating whether the trim in this bedroom -- needed to be painted a deeper cream to match the ceiling (on which we used OC-9 Ballet White). That was the conundrum that led to 7 sanity-restoring rules about trim color. You remember....

Here's the result!

» Bedroom, Color + paint color

Patterned wall-to-wall carpeting. It’s baaaaack!

Annie Elliott | March 2, 2011

Over the weekend, the fabulous Rita Konig (you know, of Domino Magazine fame) had a snappy article in the Wall Street Journal called, "Not Your Grandma's Patterned Carpet: It's time to reconsider wall-to-wall."

Super fun. Here's my favorite part:...

» Bedroom, Rugs

Benjamin Moore, the new Pottery Barn catalog, and me

Annie Elliott | February 10, 2011

With all the Restoration Hardware bashing I've been doing recently, I'm feeling the need to be a bit, how shall I say?, nice.

So I opened my new Pottery Barn catalog determined to find something nice to say.

And guess what? It wasn't that hard!

In addition to a few items that weren't bad, such as these block-print linens at right,...

» Bedroom, Color + paint color, Dining room