already? though it doesn’t seem possible, if baby jesus, santa and frosty are all here, it must be december 24th.
and so: merry christmas to all, and to all a good night.
diy boutique & teaching studio
by stephanie
by stephanie
nothing nearly as poetic as the twelve days of christmas, but this week seems to have become all about large quantities of things:
two little joneses taking eight final exams, twenty-eight wrapped packages for the 5th grade class angel family, fourteen coffee cakes for teachers, forty-eight special treats for friends, two projects left to wrap up, and one more trip to the post office.
hope holiday preparations are going smoothly for all of you.
by stephanie
the process that mr. jones calls our “selena-fication” continues. he’s referring, of course, to selena mcadams (brilliant, unerring interior designer & owner of spruce) who has been helping us pull things together around here, slowly but surely, for the past, well, years. the final touches in our living room: the little joneses’ silhouettes (by clay rice) are finally framed and hanging (thank you, too, chris garner!) and the inside of the front door is painted in the same raspberry red as the curtains.
this is the part where i introduce to you my new crush, emmett fiore, senior staff colorist (and chief gentleman) at fine paints of europe. he is super-lovely, and beyond excellent at his job, taking my “it’s a little like this and close to that” and creating the perfect shade of hollandlac:
(as will jones would say: emmett, dude, you so nailed it.)
and so now we are a little more selena-fied:
by stephanie
way better than an extra dessert after thanksgiving dinner: an on-a-whim trip to the nashville flea market with my fun, fabulous, and incredibly obliging sister-in-law, betsy. table after table of treasures beckoned…some were the typical flea finds…others, like the vintage cowboy boots, were totally “music city”:
despite the many paintable furniture-related temptations, mrs. jones’s big splurge of the day was this vintage shawl-collared cashmere coat with sparkly jet buttons – a little glam! – and swingy gathers across the back yoke. (if you guessed that the kooky little pagoda on the label helped tip my buying decision, you’re correct.) are any of you familiar with siari? or maybe know the original era for the style?
for mr. jones’s clan, all roads lead home to columbia, tennessee. there, you have wagging doggies to greet you, beautiful nieces and wonderful cousins-by-the-dozens to see, young men shed of their navy blazers to play football with, plenty of rolls – and everything else! – to go around twice (and butter turkeys to go along), friendly horses and cows that come looking for apples, and never quite enough time.
in short, so much to be grateful for that there is not enough room to express it all here. i hope all of you had a happy thanksgiving too.
by stephanie
what a coincidence that as i found on our fence this one lonely last rose, today’s postcard from provence was arriving in my in-box:
thrilling me that julian merrow-smith, halfway around the world, was having a pink novmeber rose moment, too.
while a chandelier and table were drying in the studio (pictures shortly!), mrs. jones snuck out to give a program for the swank and savvy ladies of the les passees fine arts club. we ran through some ideas for last-minute centerpieces: gilded pumpkins, pomegranates and pears for thanksgiving and christmas, ways to liven up the holiday “kids’ tables” with chalkboard paints, quick asian-import glazed pots for the chinese new year, shimmery metallics for valentine’s day, right through to aged stone (okay, they’re really concrete) bunnies for easter tables, with a brief stop at distressed paint techniques. (and of course, thank you, they served a lovely lunch afterwards!)
by stephanie
what? you are in tucson, and have not yet made plans to attend “fresh paint” at the university of arizona’s art museum? well, what are you waiting for? here are the details: saturday, november 14, 6 until 9:30 pm, great music – two bands! – yummy appies & drinks, and live and silent auctions featuring affordable art in a wide variety of media by some of the region’s most exciting emerging artists, as well as work by established favorites. with tickets so reasonable, you can’t afford to stay home.
(full disclosure: mrs. jones’s mom, jan johns, is the chairman of the museum partners board, supporting our friend, super-talented artist genii pell, who’s chairing “fresh paint”. these ladies know how to throw a party! don’t dare miss it.)
tiny ham biscuits with onion-balsamic jam, curried butternut squash soup and mrs. jones were all on the program today at the november meeting of the suburban garden club. many thanks to all the lovely members for a wonderful afternoon, fabulous lunch, and lively discussion after my demonstration of centerpiece ideas featuring – what else? – painted pots.
by stephanie
by stephanie
with our menfolk at the farm hosting what’s affectionately known as the annual redneck bar mitzvah (or, twra youth hunt weekend) it was time for meg and me to jammie up and pop in some dvd’s. we can’t wait to find out – again – if nancy drew will find the missing will hidden in the shop in chinatown, but i’m completely distracted by the gorgeous combination of orange, red and aqua everywhere in that scene. and watching the brothers bloom for the second time made it easier to obsess less about the twistiness of the storyline and more about penelope’s (rachel weisz’s) incredible wardrobe…gorgeous! and oh my stars, grey gardens !…all i can say is that if mr. jones and our boys ever vamoose a-la phelan beale and his sons, it would be all big edie and little edie around here in no time, but with paintbrushes instead of piano, and dachshunds replacing cats.
it’s a sort of well-kept secret that mrs. jones runs a very selective summer sweatshop internship program. only the most exceedingly qualified applicants are considered! this year, the choice was easy, and lovely libby moore spent some time with me covering furniture painting basics. she then (with only a tiny bit of help) made over two pieces from the family attic for her college apartment. she’s super-talented, darling, and a natural at this, and i look forward to working with her again when she’s home.
here are some photos of her work that week, including some that she just sent from her cute digs in knoxville:
and here, a sample of work from her hutchison school portfolio…a portait of her brother, sam, based on a photograph by her amazingly talented photographer/artist mom (and my precious friend) beth moore:
by stephanie
alas, no taylor swift tickets to be had. but plenty of fun at the lincoln park zoo and at clinton kelly’s “make over america” fashion show, terrific meals at rosebud, (so good, we had to go to carmine’s, too) foodlife, homer’s (with margaret!), toast, oak tree, tony afternoon tea at the four seasons and the ritz-carlton, and genuflections at our favorite stations of the shopping cross: art effect, isis, lori’s shoes, paul frank, anthropologie (this just in: they’re opening a new location on state street, that great street, to be co-managed by my pal ashley) mexican shop, and of course, american girl place. (which is even more fun when you’re all frango‘d up.)
one thing i love about my hometown: i always know what time it is.
can’t wait until it’s time to go back.
by stephanie
with mr. jones and the boys off to south carolina to hunt, it seems clear: all signs point north for meg, kit kittredge and me. so please excuse us for a few days, and of course i’ll have the full chicago debriefing for you next week.
by stephanie
here are sample boards inspired by helen morris’s excellent print room workshop in july (and using the great stencil she gave each of us). this one is done using joe eula’s charming illustrations from the 1961 book tiffany’s table manners for teenagers by walter hoving. the background is benjamin moore’s linen white with some white streaked in, stenciled on with pratt & lambert’s hyacinth dream, #22.10, (the closest thing i had on hand to tiffany’s signature blue) and then dirtied up with some aging glaze.
this one uses benjamin moore’s pale pink satin, #008 (thomas jayne’s choice pink!), and pelham gray light (pratt & lambert’s #cw.819), accented with silver leaf, and featuring photos of my fabulous mom (“honey” to the little joneses) that were scanned in and sepia’d using picasa.
at le cadeau last week, it was so much fun brainstorming with visitors about other applications for helen’s print room concept. one idea involves the bar area in a home, displaying menus collected from special meals, using the “blenheim repeat” scheme; another, using the “jacobean” design on just one wall of a teenage girl’s room, allowing her to run creatively wild with her favorite photos, within the structure of the pattern. endless possibilities!
600 south perkins road
(adjacent to social boutique)
memphis 38117
901.494.8786
open hours: tues-fri 10-5, sat 10-2,
and by appointment or chance.
our germantown
and midtown locations merged in east memphis in 2019. we're on the southeast corner of perkins road and southern avenue, with parking and entry on the southern avenue side of the building. look for the ivy and black awnings!
in midtown? visit us within palladio antiques at 2169 central avenue, for a selection of your fave supplies!