At Chestnut Hall, between Christmas and New Years we’re counting down the days to a fresh new year and counting our blessings in 2011.  As we close up a festive Holiday season, we think of ways to progress in the New Year and bring fresh style and enjoyment to your home.  Year to year, our philosophy remains that Home should be the most comfortable place a person goes to, while stimulating, changing with, and reflecting the lives lived within.  As your home adapts to your life in 2012, here are 5 style trends we’re excited to countdown in our showroom this year!

5. For those of us who went completely clean and serene with neutrals, you may want to add a little spike back to the punch with color. Hot colors like fuschia, citrine, aquamarine, persimmon, and purple brought in with accents are adding freshness to these calm spaces.

A quiet bedroom is awakened with a punch of bright accents.

4.  Lucky for Memphis, a traditionally Traditional market, style is reflecting a lot of classics this year. We’re seeing the Chesterfield sofa popular again and flanked by its old friends the Wing Back chairs.  Newness is added to these pieces with modernized lines, less likely lighter fabrics and uses in more casual spaces.

The Chesterfield sofa lightened with cream fabric and used in a casual sunroom.

3.  Man up.  Menswear, particularly English, is on the rise and it fits right in with Traditional design. Loads of new patterns are available in houndstooth, plaids, pinstripes, and tweeds.  Available in all colorways, including feminine colors too!, heavier textures are adding extra interest to these classics in wool, flannel, suedes and embossed leathers.

2. Escape to somewhere exotic. Global patterns such as ikats and suzani prints were all over Fall Market included in Traditional settings as well.  We enjoyed the spice these unconventional patterns and colors brought to the table.

1. Our favorite trend is nothing new and is here to stay.  However, it’s lately fresh on all our minds. American Made is the best way to buy great quality.  Most of our highest quality vendors manufacture casegoods and upholstery right here in the United States. We enjoy passing along to you not only fine hand-craftsmanship at affordable prices, but customer service that can only be provided with direct relationships with manufacturers we have come to know personally. Come see what’s Made in America for Chestnut Hall!

Mahogany Four Poster Bed with Satinwood Cross-banding made by Councill in Denton, North Carolina.

Happy New Year!

Lana

Lillian August's version of the Chesterfield shows the softer side of the robust sofa, upholstered in oatmeal linen.

Chesterfield sofas in dark leathers may conjure images of sophisticated, masculine salons where men in suits talk politics through foggy, swirling cigar smoke…. dark woods, damask and houndstooth, leather bound books and hunting scenes on the walls…. This may be nostalgic and romantic, but we’ve got news for you….Put your cigar out, the Chesterfield has left the library!

The Chesterfield is a robust, tufted sofa with roll arms the same height as the back. Comfortable and luxurious, it moves with ease to the family room in linen or velvet. Getting more creative, a Chesterfield settee could make a great banquette in the breakfast area or a cozy place to lounge at the foot of a bed.  Last Market, nearly every upholstery showroom had a version, most often given new life covered in fabric or colored leather instead of traditional dark leather. Designers have also modified the frame.

The "Englishness" of a Chesterfield settee in the Pearson showroom, Spring Market 2011, is set off by Union Jack ottomans!

The Chesterfield has seen waves of popularity over its time but is so classic it never goes out of style, having passed trend status into the tenure of the Classics the same way Chippendale or Louis XVI chairs are never retired. The origin is debatable. Some believe the sofa was named after the English town of Chesterfield, while others believe it was named after the 4th Earl of Chesterfield, Philippe Stanhope, a writer, politician and trendsetter, who possibly commissioned the sofa.

We couldn’t resist. Our first Chesterfield has arrived, upholstered in cream linen, bringing softness to a traditionally masculine style. Come try it out, we don’t expect it to stay long. Check out some of our favorite versions and variations below.

Yours,

Lana

Chestnut Hall's Chesterfield!

Wesley Hall's Hollywood glam version of the Chesterfield.

Lillian August's Chesterfield chair

The Cowboy's Chesterfield by Hancock & Moore

The Chesterfield goes to the Jersey Shore....!

Covered in velvet, the Chesterfield takes on a different personality, soft but sophisticated.

The furniture world's conjoined twins! The Chesterfield double sofa by Old Hickory Tannery is a dramatic statement when floating in a large room.

In addition to great local restaurants, unique shops and creative culture, a major perk of being a Midtowner is living among so much beautiful architecture. A walk or run around Central Gardens or the Evergreen Historic District provides endless eye candy for anyone who loves history and design.  So many styles neighbor each other on the same streets, such as Arts & Crafts, Colonial, Tudor, Victorian, and the occasional Mid-Century surprise.  But mostly, we’re just witnessing the front facades, so when there’s a chance to step inside, I happily oblige and in some cases, I don’t even mind waiting in line….

Which I did at the Central Gardens Association Home and Garden Tour with my friend and co-Midtowner Jessica Jackson.  We were both inspired by the architecture, which included Colonial Revival, Tudor Revival, Arts & Crafts, an English-style cottage, and a strange Prairie Style-Neoclassical hybrid, each built in the first quarter of the 20^th Century.  The interiors of most of the homes were very well-preserved, well-decorated and personal.  What I enjoyed the most was unexpected – most of these homeowners had incredible art collections. We viewed beautiful historic family portraits, Asian tapestries, contemporary works by noted Memphis artists such as Paul Edelstein and Jared Small, notable 20^th Century pieces by Burton Callicott and works on paper by Le Corbusier himself!  And that’s just to name a few.

Click through the gallery below to see some of the highlights of the tour. I hope you are inspired as well!

Yours,

Lana

There’s a reason Bruce Springsteen’s Born in the USA has been stuck in my head lately.  We’ve been celebrating all things American-made! We CH staffers have traveled to the factories of our American vendors along Thunder Road, oops I meant Tobacco Road, North Carolina, to explore the nuts and bolts of the fine furnishings we offer and to personally meet the talented craftsmen who build these products. These seasoned companies have been using time-tested methods and first-rate materials since the glory days of the furniture business in this area, and we couldn’t be prouder to present the wares of manufacturers such as Taylor King, Hancock & Moore, Pearson, Wesley Hall, Henkel Harris and many others. We’ve been beyond impressed with the high quality standards and human touch each piece receives in every stage of production. Just as we seek out restaurants with local fare and shop local foods and products at farmers markets to support local vendors and the local economy, buying American supports the American work force and the American economy, a worthy investment indeed.

This week we were privileged with the opportunity to share our support for American furniture manufacturers with all of the Mid South, with a feature in The Commercial Appeal Business Section!

Click here to view the article: Chestnut Hall Focuses on Quality Goods to Facilitate its Growth

And see a sampling of some of my favorite American-Made pieces currently in stock below. Are you singing Springsteen yet?

Yours,

Lana

Elegant dining chairs, hand-crafted and upholstered in Hickory, NC

Industrial cocktail table, built to last in Boone, North Carolina

Zuni Sunset loveseat, Made in Bedford, Virginia

This console with hidden wire management features corner finger joints and a subtle nod to the Ming Dynasty. Built with TLC in Denton, North Carolina

Skirted camelback sofa by Lillian August, tailored to perfection in Hickory, NC

This Henkel Harris chest is so fine, the dovetailing is hidden, built to last generations in Winchester, VA

Amish rocker handcrafted in New Wilmington, Pennsylvania

"An Orchid" by Georgia O'Keefe, 1941. Museum of Modern Art

In our opinion, plant life in a room is just as important as turning the lights on.  An interior space comes alive when a little of the outdoors is brought in, adding freshness and liveliness.  Simplicity is the M.O. for floral arrangements this Spring, and we’re excited about this, as it’s easier and less expensive.  A low maintenance arrangement of peonies in a short vase is both soft and grand, a bundle of hydrangeas makes a statement without a lot of fuss, and a potted succulent garden is striking and hardly ever has to be watered. Our favorite, however is the otherworldly orchid. Orchids are available in many varieties and colors, and are so delicate looking, it’s hard to believe these plants are as hearty as they are. Chestnut Hall’s floral designer Linda Perry has filled our showroom with stunning silk orchids and peonies, and we invite you to peruse our indoor garden of plants that, well, never have to be watered.  It doesn’t get any easier than that, folks. Take a look!

Yours,

Lana

Following last week’s blog about the uniquely American fabulousness of the Wild West and High Cowboy Style, I found myself in High Cowgirl mode, sporting my cowboy boots and slipping a braid or two in my hair as a tribute to Native American style. I’ve been looking around Chestnut Hall’s At the Cabin section for pieces to mix into my home, a feminized mid-century modern condo. Mixing Rustic organic lines with clean, modern style is a contrast I feel can be as striking as a Louis XIV chest with an Andy Warhol hung above it.  To my excitement, we just received a shipment of cool and whimsical Western accessories. I found gritty-glam paperweights to give as gifts or to place on my white lacquered Parsons desk to channel my inner Annie Oakley.  Also in this shipment were clean, white serving dishes featuring Western photography that can be used to serve pork & beans with corn dodgers, or to leave your turquoise jewelry in.

Gritty/glam inspirational paperweights (above)

Cowboy hors d’oeuvre dishes

Deviled egg plate

Teepee serving platter

Vintage Pendleton Ad

In light of recent events, I am really feeling my Americanness this week.  I am reflective of an event that broke our hearts and proud of our country for coming together during difficult times.  I’m also thinking about how glorious American culture is. I want to listen to blues and rock ‘n roll, I want a hamburger and a slice of apple pie, and you know what? I’m going to put on my cowboy boots!

The style of the American West is American in its purist form, one of the few American design styles not rooted in an international culture. Western style sprung from the States, and is natural, simple, functional, sturdy, stoic, and even spiritual, with the aesthetic often rooted in Native American culture. With colors evoking the landscape and sunset, the use of natural hides, organic wood forms, and stones from the earth, Western style is intrinsic and timeless.  With the shift in our interest lately towards organic, local, and handmade products, it’s fitting that we are visiting our American rustic roots.  We’ve seen a surge of interest in Western and Native American style in fashion, such as Pendleton’s collaboration with cutting edge fashion retailer Opening Ceremony. Interior Design trends are never far to follow.

Pendleton Meets Opening Ceremony 2010

We design enthusiasts are reminded of iconic Western designer Thomas Molesworth, whose distinct pieces made between 1931 and 1961 in Cody, Wyoming, put Western style on the map. Sometimes called High Cowboy Style, the scope of Molesworth’s work encompasses furniture, carpets, iron work, artwork and floor treatments.  He is known for incorporating horns, hides, silhouettes, Native American blankets and motifs, large brass tacks, fringe and bright colors. Molesworth furnished many famous American properties such as, appropriately, the Pendleton Hotel in Pendleton, Oregon.

An interior by Thomas Molesworth

Take a look at some of our favorite pieces of Western style available at Chestnut Hall, including Molesworth-inspired pieces and our own collaboration with Pendleton!  And best of all, all of it is Made in America.

Yours,

Lana

We fell in love with this aquamarine and citron silk settee at Lillian August.

Market was a wonderful whirlwind for Chestnut Hall! We accomplished quite a lot in four full days at the High Point Market and a fifth day touring factories. Karen, Michael and I decided to divide and conquer so we could cover the most ground possible, and we are very excited by the new furniture and accessories coming our way – some of which has already arrived! We also attended a lecture on trend forecasting, and attended some fabulous parties at Henredon, Theodore Alexander, Highland House, and Currey and Company.  We met Princess Diana’s butler, now designing furniture for Highland House, who gave us an endearing insider’s perspective of the Royal Family and Princess Diana. We met the Keno Brothers, who are so sleek, chic and approachable themselves, they seemed like walking, talking versions of their furniture.  Much like the lovely Lillian August we were happy to visit again in her showroom.  At the Pearson factory, we learned what a “Salem Rod” is and why it makes their upholstery so perfectly comfortable. We’re glad to be back and have so much to share with you.  Keep reading our blog for trends, the color of the year, and (not so dirty) dirt on the Royal Family!

Yours,

Lana

Welcome to our first blog entry!

Chestnut Hall designers have been working hard to bring Traditional beauty and comfort to homes in the MidSouth for 22 years this April!  Our customers return again and again because we understand that residential design is personal and tailored, and living spaces are organic and ever-changing, just like each unique family who lives among each piece in their homes.  A sofa becomes more than a beautiful piece of stuffed and fluffed furniture when it leaves our showroom and arrives in someone’s home. It becomes part of the framework of the family, as the place where ballgames and favorite movies are watched, where an important conversation takes place, where a power nap is taken or a makeshift bed is made when the house is full of guests. It may be the memorable spot where Christmas presents are opened and family prayers are said.

The glossy magazine photos of beautiful environments frozen in time look gorgeous with no one in the room, the accessories placed perfectly on the cocktail table, the curtains pulled just right, and the books on the shelf organized by color. But after the photographers leave, the room is unfrozen and returns to a living organism, as magazines get scattered on that cocktail table, an extra chair is pulled in from the next room for another guest, and a child leaves a toy on the floor.  In our eyes, this is when the room is the most beautiful.

As homes become reflections of the families who live in them, we believe Traditional design reflects a lifestyle of living well and living beautifully, which is about much more than acquiring beautiful things. Here we will post our style inspirations, the things that drive our taste, and tips on how to keep your home current and fresh while remaining timeless!

We invite you to comment and join our discussions, because you are our inspiration as well.

Stay tuned!

Lana Zepponi, Chestnut Hall Interior Designer