Windsor Smith is one of my favorite designers. She is incredibly talented and she’s been influencing young designers around the country with her youthful and eclectic looks – part classic and part modern, dressy – yet casual at the same time. Here she mixes velvet and silk with a linen slipped ottoman; trendy zebra skins mix with traditional hand painted wallpaper.
I love her slipcovers – here she dresses down another living room with hand painted wallpaper by using casual white linen slipcovered sofas.
She has her own fabric and furniture line. Kravet sells her beautiful fabrics – which she recently updated – adding hot pink, green, black and brown to the colorways. The new colorsways are luscious. Here is a room I designed using Windsor’s fabrics – the stripe and the print.
One of Windsor’s trademarks is the trim on her slipped sofas – she calls it a butter pat. See the bottom edge – a short pleat that resembles, well, a pat of butter.
And here, again, the butter pat – on her back to back sofa, at her own house. She also likes to do longer pleats.
And here, on a chair from her own line – the butter pat trim again.
In her own kitchen, the longer pleats.
When choosing the houses to show today for the Readers Houses Series – I found two in the files that resembled each other and most interesting, both pay homage to Windsor Smith. I’m not sure if the owners were trying to emulate Windsor, but they certainly did.
And so, two new Reader’s Houses!! Enjoy!
HOUSE #1
The first house is located in a suburban development outside of Philadelphia. It is just 15 years old – but needed renovation, as it had been neglected when the owners bought it last year. It’s two stories with a basement, so the renovation was quite overwhelming to its new owners. All the changes were done on a strict budget. While some changes will have to wait until later, some just couldn’t wait. Like the floors. All the carpet was replaced with hardwoods. Tile went down in the kitchen and powder room floors. New lighting came from Craigslist. The kitchen was so dirty – it all had to go. An Amish carpenter was hired to make all the new beautiful custom cabinets. While the owner wanted a farm sink and white marble countertops – she went with a more cost effective granite hoping to save money for white marble later. Curtains were made with cheesecloth. She restained furniture herself and then began her own business offering her services to clients through her blog.
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In the entry, white walls, dark hardwoods and contrasting white linen – inspired by Windsor Smith? Love the horse painting and her black painted door! The homeowner redid this settee herself. Here’s how it once looked:
Much prettier with the new skirt.
The living room looks over the entry hall.
The living room continues the black and white theme – with toile curtains and two antique settees. This one, is slipped in white linens.
While this high, wingback settee is upholstered in a cream color.
The dining room is right next to the living room.
Looking from the dining room into the living room. The dark hardwoods are so pretty and rich looking!
The toile curtains are continued into this area. Love the botanicals. The chair backs are so pretty.
The family room is next to the breakfast room and kitchen. Here, Windsor-inspired short pleats on the slipcovered chair. Darling chandelier and pretty mantel!
A large wooden beam separates the two areas.
Tile floors run from the breakfast room to the new kitchen. Cute slips on the breakfast room chairs. Another pretty chandelier.
The new kitchen with cabinets custom made by an Amish carpenter – how lucky is that? Living in Pennsylvania does have its advantages – where else can you hire an Amish carpenter?? Granite countertops and tumbled stone backsplash.
All new stainless appliances.
The corners were angled instead of put in at a 90 degree angle. This is a great way to access extra cabinet space that would otherwise go unused. The upper corner cabinet is fronted with glass.
To contact the homeowner about furniture refinishing, go HERE. And a huge thank you for sharing your beautiful house with us!!
HOUSE #2
The next reader’s house is located nearer to me – in Dallas, Texas. The owner writes that she and her husband built their house about 2 years ago and have been furnishing it with ideas she gets from the blogs. As you will see, she also has gotten inspiration from Windsor Smith.
White walls and again, gorgeous dark, dark hardwoods which give a high contrast look to this house located in Dallas, Texas. Using Windsor as inspiration, the chairs and sofa are trimmed in “butter pat” pleats. To soften the wall of windows and shutters, the homeowner used curtain panels between each window – this is how a large window should usually be covered – rather than just using a panel at each end. A large mirror reflects the beautiful fireplace. Darling chandelier!!
Looking the other direction at the pretty fireplace mantel, all in white. The homeowner says she saved money by not custom cutting the seagrass – instead she bought it in a standard size. Good choice because this size does fit the room quite nicely. The kitchen is to the right of this room.
Love the painting with its oval top. Love the way the homeowner accessorized the mantel. Very pretty!
Great chair from Wisteria. Pretty lamp and coffee table. The blue of the pillows is a pretty accent color. This room reminds me of the Windsor Smith living room – shown before – with white slips and blue pillows.
A closeup look at the Windsor inspired butter pat pleats.
In the entry, a beautiful antique Swedish Mora clock stands next to the dining room.
The dining room has beautiful silk curtains in gray, and a gorgeous chandelier! I love her light fixtures. Notice the high wainscot. It adds so much to the room and is a great idea.
Past the dining room and stairs, looking towards the kitchen – great industrial style stools and nail heads accented desk chair. I love the dark floors that both these homeowners have. They are so rich looking. And – I don’t see any dust or footprints on them, either!! ha!
The kitchen and breakfast room, located off the living area. Instead of white marble, the homeowner chose a white and gray granite – it’s a really pretty one. Hopefully, she’ll share the name with us. Stainless appliances – and white subway tiles, all classic choices. White slips cover the French styled chairs.
Look at the beadboard island with its darling feet. So cute!
The master bedroom is white with pops of earth toned colors. The trendy lamp’s orange shades pick up the colors found in the suzani. Beautiful tufted headboard and ruffled bedding. Darling.
And another thank you to this homeowner for sharing her beautiful house with us.
I really enjoyed seeing how two women - from opposite sides of the country, both found inspiration from the same source – Windsor Smith’s Butter Pat trim - and claimed it for their own. You can find inspiration from so many places today – books, magazines, blogs, Pinterest (especially!) and designers’ web sites. I love how both homeowners used light walls and dark hardwoods with white slipcovers. While their houses should look alike because of these same elements – they don’t. House #1 seems more traditional, while House #2 seems a bit more contemporary and slightly more dressy. Do you have a designer who inspired you in such a way that you can point to that inspiration in your house?
I’ve written before how 20 years ago, I was inspired by Dan Carither’s room – and bought an entire room full of furniture upholstered in this exact same linen stripe – which I still love today.
Who has inspired you in your own home?
NOTE: If you have sent in pictures of your house or kitchen and it hasn’t been shown yet, please have patience. I try to weave an interesting (hopefully!!) story around your pictures so I can’t promise exactly when yours will be shown. Hopefully, I’ll get to them soon. If you haven’t sent in your pictures, but would like to – please do!! I hope to run this series for a long time, so it’s never too late.
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