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the elegantly simplistic designs of Kay Douglass

I was happy to see the spread in Veranda's latest issue of the 1920's house designed by Atlanta designer Kay Douglass.

the september issue of Veranda on my kitchen floor.

image from this month's veranda - this "sunflower bathroom" is for the owners' daughter. lucky girl!

Jack and I were so happy to visit Kay Douglass' fabulous store called South of Market when we visited Atlanta a few weeks ago. (For more on that fun trip click here.)

Kay Douglass' design style is all about simplicity and it is edited to perfection. As she says in the Veranda article, "I like using fewer but more impactful items."

Her store reflects that method.

One of my favorite vignettes in her shop was this one as we first walked in. Its so simple yet inspired.

white linen for the sofa paired with pops of her signature kelly green in the graphic patterned batik hanging on the wall and a perfectly matching pendant light.

I love how the round coffee table made of sticks takes you back up into the circles of the tapestry.

There is something raw & rustic about the pieces she uses but her fabrics give it an air of gracefulness and femininity.

how cute is this vintage yellow metal lounge chair?

and a green one!

Like myself, Douglass often uses botanicals in her projects. While these are antique they appear so wonderfully modern in the style of framing - "floating" between layers of glass.

Jack "perch. textile guru" was particularly inspired by how they have hung their fabric samples.

fabric sample options for sofas hang on these uber thick nautical ropes.

Sorry Kay. We'll be stealing this clever idea for our showroom at perch. hope you don't mind. :-) we'll give you props of course!

I fell in love with this set of dining room chairs. The sales lady told me that Douglass found one just like this on a trip to France and now has them custom made for clients.

custom made dining/occasional chair

an assemblage of colorful art & throws

a vignette in a variation of neutrals. notice the clock-face for the coffee table top.

jack takes a peek at the price while I snap a photo of this great old photograph.

nautical cogs generate a sense of modernity when put in a grouping.

as do these aeronautical fans in a pair.

We also fell in love with the larger than life letters and numbers taken from old signs used as art.

especially the "U"!

Visit South of Market on your next visit to the ATL! You'll be glad you did.

vintage table by Anthony Redmile comes to perch.

From time to time we come across a one of a kind vintage piece that I know will be incredibly hard to part with. This rams’ head coffee table is definitely one of those.

Attributed to Anthony Redmile, the “master of the unusual” in furniture design, this coffee table is certainly a collectable and most definitely a conversation piece.

two brass bases in the form of sculpted ram's heads gracefully & evenly distribute the weight of a thick rectangular piece of glass.

like many of Redmile’s designs, malachite is utilized. here it is in between each pair of eyes.

This piece was made in the 1970’s when he was creating similarly unique styles of furniture like this grasshopper coffee table we found for sale on 1stDibs for $9300 at Robert Massello Antiques.

notice the use of malachite for the eyes and brass for the legs of the grasshopper.

This frog vessel made of an ostrich egg with bronze head and legs and again a piece of malachite for the handle is for sale at Fat Chance on 1stDibs for $4600.

our beautiful Anthony Redmile Ram's Head coffee table is available here at perch. for $3500. Buy a fabulous piece of design history for a great price before its gone!

Anthony Redmile coffee table

$3500

29"d x 67"w x 18"h

call us at 504-899-2122

The Paris Wife

I feel like I need to chug from a snifter of brandy and smoke a cigar, which my husband and two year old might find more than a little strange since I’m not in the habit of doing either one, but especially given the fact that its Monday at 9:00 in the morning.

I’ve just finished reading The Paris Wife by Paula McLain, a historical fiction from the viewpoint of Ernest Hemingway’s first wife Elizabeth Hadley Richardson and the life they lived as expats in Paris in the 1920’s.

cover of The Paris Wife by Paula McLain

Ernest Hemingway's Passport Picture from 1922

Like the habits of Hemingway in real life and his characters in his famous books, A Sun Also Rises and A Moveable Feast, boozing it up with an “eye-opener” at breakfast, wine at lunch, some mulled wine at dinner, a toddy afterwards, a little "hootch" at bedtime and a swig of cognac intermittently throughout the day was a regular thing.

The Lost Generation: Hemingway and the circle of ex-pat friends he later immortalised in The Sun Also Rises. - Hemingway, Harold Loeb, Lady Duff Twysden; Hadley, Don Stewart and Pat Guthrie at a cafe in Pamplona, Spain, July 1925)

Aside from all of the imbibing, the book has me thinking about the age of “The Lost Generation” and what it was like to live in Paris during the postwar 1920’s. Jazz music was all the rage and women were redefining womanhood with the age of the flapper.

cover of Life Magazine 1922

Finally free of the corset, Paul Poiret’s dresses were well into vogue. As McLain writes, “…inspired by the orientalism of the Ballet Russes, Paul Poiret dressed women in culotte harem pants and fringed turbans and ropes and ropes of pearls.”

Paul Poiret in his studio in Paris

Paul Poiret turban and harem pants from the 1920's

Paul Poiret "Hobble" evening dress

But according to an article from Flapper Magazine I found from 1922, Poiret’s once avant-garde styles were beginning to be on the outs.

It reads "M. Poiret, designer of Paris, has seen fit to take up the cudgels on behalf of the long skirt, and therefore he cannot object if the shafts of ridicule are hurled at him in return..."

Women were finding the lengths of his dresses too constricting and they were enthusiastically embracing Coco Chanel’s loose and shorter more practical lengths of dresses made of jersey (which had previously been popular for men’s underwear).

Coco Chanel in the 1920's.

Chanel Daydress made of comfortable knitted fabric circa 1924

shorter styles of dresses were in vogue.

3-book set includes on Chanel Fashion, Chanel Jewelry, and Chanel Perfume.

Available at perch.

Not everyone was spending their precious Francs on clothes though. As Gertrude Stein famously said, “You can either buy clothes or buy pictures. It's that simple.” She was a wise woman to choose art over clothes!

Stein was holding her Saturday evening salon gatherings at 27, rue du Fleurus, the home she shared with her lover/partner Alice B. Toklas. Her guest list was a who's who of artists and writers living in Paris during the early part of the twentieth century: Picasso, Matisse, Apollinaire, Hemingway, and Sherwood Anderson are only a few of the notables who came by to look at her famous art collection and to talk about the direction of Modernism.

Stein’s living room walls covered in works of art she collected

famous portrait of Gertrude Stein by Picasso

Incidentally, Stein’s amazing art collection is currently on display this Summer at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. (You can see a video on the exhibit as reported by PBS by clicking here.) It is up through September 6th. If you go or already did, please let us know and we'll feature your experience on the blog!

So pick up The Paris Wife along with a bottle of your favorite whiskey on your way home from work today and enjoy!

butterflies alight at perch.

"happiness is a butterfly, which when pursued, is always just beyond your grasp, but which, if you will sit down quietly will alight upon you."

-nathaniel hawthorne

we are happy to announce we are carrying the beautifully fanciful works of Louisiana artist Caroline Coe.

she collects vintage papers and maps and cuts each piece by hand to create these gorgeous butterflies that appear as if they are going to fly right out of the frames.

they are pinned and placed onto matte boards...

we can take custom orders for specific geographic places she will create them for your perfect place in the world!

each one is hand-framed in a genuine Larson Juhl frame.

we only have these two left.

call us to order before they fly away! 504-899-2122

at top in white frame 16" x 16" $600

at bottom in black frame 21" x 16" $700

custom orders available by calling perch. at 504-899-2122

Caroline & Jack descend on HOT-lanta!

Jack and I visited the ATL for market a couple of weeks ago to buy for the fall/winter. It was such a great trip!

Our options for a rental car were slim given all of the folks in town, so we weighed our two choices for a moment... Maroon PT Cruiser, bright yellow convertible Camaro, Maroon PT Cruiser, bright yellow convertible Camaro... After Jack had a bit of a Kim Zolciak moment, we went for the bright yellow Camaro!

me with our electric yellow Camaro

We stayed in the splendidly modern W Hotel near America's Mart.

While the Lobby was in the W's usual color palate of black to gray and well, more gray, these wire chairs were upholstered in a great aqua cut velvet for a pop of color.

the view of our wall to wall window

Our room was full of wonderful amenities including a huge flat screen tv for watching movies over room service.

Soft lilac dotted the room in the form of crushed velvet blankets on the beds and little throw pillows.

Jack wonders how he will fit his wardrobe into this tiny hot pink closet.

It was Christmas in July for us in "Hot-Lanta" and we found a multitude of holiday decor that we know everyone will love. Here's a little sneak peak of what's to come...

giant silver trees for hanging the massive amounts of ornaments we found.

how cute is this santa? He's 3 feet tall!

Next we scoured our favorite area of America's Mart - High Design - for the most exclusive designs by the creme de la creme of the design world. There, we bumped into our sweet friend and fellow New Orleanian Tara Shaw at her gorgeous booth. What a talented lady. We are so delighted by the success of her Maison Collection.

We kept on hunting and found some amazing things previously unavailable in New Orleans that perch. will be the exclusive dealers of including my favorite find, a collection of furnishings by the delightful and energetic Nancy Price for Design Legacy.

Nancy Price has an energy about her that is utterly contagious and she is

a design genius to boot!

How gorgeous are these high back leather chairs she designed?

and from the side... love it!

You can call us at perch. for more details, but we will definitely have more on this beautiful collection in just a few short weeks when we get everything in stock.

Nancy also designed this settee as well as this lucite bar cart which was inspired by a vintage design that will be available in 2012.

We also went to our favorite accessories and aromatherapy dealers including Nest Fragrances to see what's new. Get those olfactory senses ready because we have a great selection of their candles, diffusers and barsoaps on the way to fill your home with their famous fresh clean scents including bamboo and peony.

Nest diffusers are filled with a secret formula, which unlike most diffusers is alcohol free. They last for 3 months. How beautiful is the packaging. At $34 they make for the perfect hostess gift!

Our hotel was just across the street from FAB, yep FAB. THE restaurant and bar where the infamous wig yank happened on the Real Housewives of Atlanta. We just couldn't pass it up. Sadly, I cannot say we had a NeNe sighting, but the food was delicious.

Me in front of FAB.

Next we combed the city for its many great shopping opportunities. We went to the very cool Westside Provisions District which houses big name stores like Room and Board and Anthropologie, as well as some local but very compelling businesses including R Hughes.

Interior of R. Hughes which represents many lines based in Europe.

The Westside Provisions District is also home to the Seed Factory, an adorable children's store with a great collection of books, clothing, furniture and accessories.

some of the many fabulous furnishings at the seed factory.

Next we met up with one of my favorite people in the world McCall Blythe. She is an incredibly talented interior designer now based in Atlanta. (She's so busy with clients and her projects she hasn't had time to get her website up, but it is in the works! I'll have more on her designs very soon!)

Me and my sweet friend McCall Blythe (AKA "McCallawalladooby") She is a divine person and designer! Look at our serendipitously matching Tom Fords. hysterical

McCall took us to a great French restaurant called Bistro Niko. Outside we happened upon these cool sculptures by singer and Athens, Georgia native Michael Stipe.

Inside Bistro Niko we loved the authentic charcuterie design, an open kitchen and French chefs working away.

Wonderful selection of raw oysters at Bistro Niko.

J'adore the rooster plates!

We had such a great time, well except for one little incident that is. During one of our afternoon cruises around town we managed to get into a little bit of a fender bender with an SUV.

... Oops.

but it just wouldn't have been an adventure with Caroline and Jack without a run-in with local law enforcement, now would it?

jack posing with the ATL policecar.

jack looking scared as I work out the details with the police.

We love you Atlanta police department!

We said a little prayer to the insurance fairie and went on our way. We love our visit to ATL and can't wait to go back!