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Pale & Interesting…More Mirrors From Dave Coote and Atlanta Bartlett

So my subconscious kept percolating about this little book on my coffee table – The Relaxed Home by Atlanta Bartlett – and the idea of links between it and my last post on mirrors. A little gift from a friend for design inspiration after we bought our beach house, I have enjoyed its photographs of pretty vignettes and romantic rooms. I decided to do a little research about Ms. Bartlett and it turns out that she and her husband Dave Coote are both bigwigs in the world of styling and interior design. She is a stylist with a series of books under her belt and he is an interior and furniture designer known for his use of reclaimed materials. Between the two of their websites and portfolios, I seem to have hit the mother lode of grouped plateaus and other vintage mirrors. At this point, if you had no interest in yesterday’s post, you might stop reading, but if you loved it, time to open up your Pinterest page, because you will surely be pinning!

His portfolio is full of simply styled rooms chock full of detail, like these three engraved mirrors hanging above a bed.

There is a sparkling all white and silver Christmas mantle.

I guess Dave Coote saw and loved the 2003 Martha Stewart Living cover too.

Another mirrored grouping in an entry hall.

And again, above a daybed in a rustic cabin.

Together they also have an online store called Pale & Interesting, where this incredible antique mirror is for sale.

While their aesthetic is definitely linked to Martha Stewart and Rachel Ashwell of Shabby Chic, they add their particularly casual Aussie-Kiwi white sensibility to the spaces they design. You can just tell that all of the following kitchens are not found in the USA.

They paint floors white or pickle them a light color in many of the spaces for a dreamy look, like this white bedroom…

…and bath. If some of these spaces seem familiar to you it is because they also run a photographic locations agency and many of their spaces have been styled in advertisements and shelter magazines.

This painty white aesthetic is also hugely popular in Japan and you see it in styling at clothing and home goods stores and even at some charming antique market booths, like these at the Oedo market.

This one is more French, but similar in overall feel.

I love these white spaces, but I am not sure I could give up color…What about you?

Image credits: All photos via Dave Coote or Atlanta Bartlett except the first and final two from me.

Apr 22, 2012 By tokyojinja in Books, Movies & TV, Color, Glass, Interior Design, Shrine Sales and Flea Markets 7 Comments Tags: Atlanta Bartlett, David Coote, etched mirror, mirrors, white, white interiors

Nature Lesson…Shades of White on a Fifteen Sand Dollar Day

Sand dollars are one of our magic summer talismans. The girls and I spend time combing the shoreline, sometimes for hours, and best when the tide is changing over from high to low. Our previous record had been 12 in a day, but we found fifteen of them on the 4th of July, marking it as our best haul ever. We brought them home to wash and dry in the sun and then they will go in a special glass jar. The girls have strict rules about what can be saved – we have to find them ourselves and they have to be full circles, although the centers can be broken. The sand dollars had great hues within their whites…greys, greens and beiges. As we marveled about the nuances in color and detail it got me thinking about how so many of our best color cues come from nature.

The color white has been a big subject around here lately. The Tokyo exodus has caused a lot of people to need decorating advice and one of the questions I get all the time is about the color white. The house here in Ocean Grove has a very bright white for its trim, but that was a conscious decision and not one that works everywhere. The colors I tend to recommend are warmer softer whites, particularly Benjamin Moore’s White Dove and China White. Both have enough grey in them to not read as yellowish. Sometimes we think about white as an absence of color, but it is actually a finely shaded color unto itself. In my last post I referenced Joanna Madden’s house in Point Pleasant – check out the full article in Country Living to see the full spectrum of whites she uses.

Someone else who gets white right is Lori Guyer of White Flower Farmhouse. Out on the north shore of Long Island, I remember visiting when she had first opened the shop and haven’t been able to go back since. She does have an online store and a few blogs detailing her great vintage and refurbished pieces as well as decorating projects. I love this photo of the store (note the Boston fern!) and believe the white on the walls is another favorite, Benjamin Moore’s Ballet White, which has a strong warm presence. A friend used it in recently in her living room and it really reads as a color on the walls, while remaining a white at the same time.

On my coffee table I have more studies in white in Beach by photographer Josie Iselin, a housewarming present from another friend.

And Josie Iselin proves it is not only whites we can get from nature…

And here is my own try at art photography after we added our loot to last summer’s finds…shot with Hipstamatic on an iPhone with Kodot XGrizzled film and a Watts lens.

Jul 7, 2011 By tokyojinja in Books, Movies & TV, Color, Interior Design 3 Comments Tags: paint, sand dollars, white, White Flower Farmhouse