Hello,

I have a wonderful winter supper that I love to serve and that my family loves to eat.  It’s called Poulet Provencal or Chicken Provencal.  And it is so easy to make but fanastically delicious to eat. 

 Image couresy of Romulo Yanes from www.epicurious.com

Here is the recipe:

Ingredients

Preparation

Preheat convection oven to 400°F for regular oven to 425°F with rack in middle.

Toss together tomatoes, onion, olives, sliced garlic, 2 tablespoons oil, 1 teaspoon herbes de Provence, fennel seeds, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and 1/4 teaspoon pepper in a 13- by 9-inch or other 3-quart shallow baking dish. Push vegetables to sides of dish to make room for chicken.

Stir together minced garlic, 1 teaspoon salt, 1/2 teaspoon pepper, remaining teaspoon herbes de Provence, and remaining tablespoon olive oil.

Remove excess fat from chicken and pat dry, then rub inside and out with seasoning mixture. Tie legs together with string, then put chicken in baking dish.

Roast until an instant-read thermometer inserted into thickest part of a thigh (do not touch bone) registers 170°F, about 1 hour in convection oven; 1 to 1 1/4 hours in regular oven.

Let chicken stand 10 minutes before carving. Serve with vegetables and pan juices.

Read More http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Braised-Chicken-with-Tomatoes-and-Olives-em-Poulet-Provencal-em-241766#ixzz0fescPKUD

I serve this with a wonderful crusty French bread to sop up the amazing juices and a frisee salad with chunks of bacon and dressed with a good vinaigrette.  The amount of effort involved is minimal and the taste is absolutely amazing.

Now wouldn’t it be truly transcendental to have this meal here:

Image via Elle Decor UK. 

This kitchen is housed in a medieval building in Italy.  Isn’t it almost ethereal? I love the vaulted brick ceiling and beautifully plastered walls.  The stone floor is gorgeous, and who doesn’t want a stag’s head in their kitchen?  The juxtaposition of ancient and contemporary is very masterful.  This juxtaposition is something that we saw a great deal of when we lived in England and traveled in Europe.  I really became enamored with the notion while we were living there.  While I didn’t use this extreme contrast in my own home,  it was definitely an influence in the decisions that we made.

Or would you prefer to dine somewhere like this?

Image via Maison Cote Ouest

Isn’t this lovely, too? This has a bit in common with the other kitchen.  I do love the vaults in this ceiling and the beautiful beams and rustic stone floor.  But this kitchen is all warm and mellowed colors and textures.  The fireplace is just so beautifully proportioned and just magnificently weathered.  The cabinet to the left of it is stunning.  And in their own way, the slatted chairs are as much of a surprise in this setting as the black chairs above.  And I do seem to love multiple pendants or lanterns over a table….And yes, I am aware that neither of  these beautiful kitchens is from Provence.

I would love to sit down in either of these kitchens with this wonderful meal, a full-bodied red wine, and my amazing family and friends.  That’s a recipe for bliss.

Kristin

Hello!

Velvet and Linen and Things That Inspire have had their bedrooms on the brain.  I’ve been re-arranging my bedroom like a madwoman.  And as we have just celebrated Valentine’s day, I think many of us are thinking about what makes a bedroom romantic.  I know no rules, but I am full of opinions!

I think Brooke started out with what for me is the most important part of a romantic bedroom - the bedding!  From a design point of view it can be the starting point for pattern and texture for the whole room.  From a personal point of view, those sheets, pillowcases and duvets have to feel good on your skin, settle on your body softly, and yet withstand the rigors of dogs, cats and children and granchildren. 

John and I started out as newlyweds in a platform bed in our apartment in NY that sat in a sleeping loft on a wooden platform.  If you sat up quickly you banged your head on the ceiling.  I am sure that our sheets were wedding gifts, so they were someone else’s idea of comfortable and fashionable.  I don’t remember them being either.   We went through our Americana stage with eyelet sheets, our eclectic stage with peach and mint green - God help me, but it’s true-, our Old World stage with Ralph Lauren brocade printed sheets, and now our current and hopefully lasting bedding, which is pure white linen - and pure bliss.  I was finally convinced that with enough washing, linen really would soften up to a buttery texture.  And it is true!  These are the softest sheets I have ever slept on, bar none.  Adding to the sumptuousness of our bed is our feather mattress.  It sits on top of our regular mattress, which we purchased in a firm to give support to the feather mattress.  It is heaven. 

Along the way, my bed contained fewer and fewer pillows.  It seems that my forebearing husband really, really dislikes removing decorative pillows from the bed and never told me for years and years.  I haven’t given up entirely on pillows, but a tip for all of you pillowing types would be to check in with your honey to make sure he/she doesn’t mind the nightly ritual of taking them off the bed. 

Back to the romance.  I love a scented bedroom.  And there is one really lovely way of making sure that scent stays with you.  I spritz linen scent on our pillows.  I use either Jo Malone or Vervain - both are verbena based.  They are so lovely and it feels like I am staying in a hotel.   Candles, of course, provide a great scent and the irrestistable glow of candlelight.  Again, I like the Jo Malone candles- any of them! or Votivo Honey Provencal votives. 

And what girl wouldn’t love a fresh bloom or twelve in her bedroom?  I love orchids, but I would be happy with just about any posy- except for carnations - I hold a decades old grudge against them through no fault of their own, poor things. 

But what, you are probably asking, does a romantic bedroom look like?  What do I think is romantic?  Well, I guess the question is more along the lines of what do you think is romantic? Romance is such an individual notion in that what I find romantic may leave you cold and vice versa.  For some of you, the following bedrooms may be the ideal of romance.  These are more feminine, more obvious in their romanticism.

This bedroom belongs to Shannon Bowers and was featured in Veranda.

This bedroom is by Barry Dixon, photographed by Tria Giavon and from Veranda, I think.   

This bedroom is by Charlotte Moss, photographed by Pieter Esterson, and from Elle Decor. 

This lovely is from Southern Accent’s Reynolds Plantation by Barry Dixon.

This bedroom was designed by Celerie Kemble and photographed by Don Freeman.  What most of these feminine bedrooms share is the abundant use of fabric and the softness that adds to a room.  There is also a preponderance of floral or toile pattern.  Soft palettes predominate and graceful shapes abound.  And a four poster or canopy bed is another common element.  While these rooms are truly lovely, they are unabashedly and unapologetically feminine.   My own master bedroom decor tended toward this feeling for years.  But my husband always seemed more like a visitor in our bedroom than a resident.  His things looked out of place when he left them out - once in a blue moon.  I know that he would have felt more comfortable in a room like one of these below.

This bedroom is by Stephen Gambrel in Elle Decor by Eric Piasecki.

Jackye Lanham, from Southern Accents.  Now my husband would not love the two double beds, ( neither would I, honey!) but he surely would like the minimal pattern and clean lines of this space.

Darryl Carter designed this room, via Elle Decor.

Dominique Vorillon photographed this bedroom by Madeline Stuart for Elle Decor.  All of these bedrooms share strong, graphic lines and a good bit of conrast between light and dark.  This chiarascuro (Italian for light-dark) effect is very striking.  Fabrics are solid and there is not a blossom in sight -except for the floral arrangements brought in for the shoot, no doubt.   I really love the Darryl Carter bedroom, but I would want to add some more feminine touches if I were going to share it with John.  I can’t see myself and my things looking at home in any of these rooms as they are right now. 

So, are these bedrooms romantic?  I am sure that they are to their occupants.  Would they be for me?  I don’t think so.  So what do I think makes a bedroom romantic?  I think a romantic bedroom is one which expresses the duality of their occupants, the yin and yang of every couple.  These bedrooms below have elements of both the masculine and feminine and therefore. to me are incredibly romantic.

This bedroom was designed by Jeffrey Billhuber and photographed by Don Freeman.  This bedroom combines the softness and femininity of the draperies and with the clean lines of the canopy.  The graceful shapes of the chairs are anchored by the very masculine rain drums.  The rough texture of the ceiling covering is balanced by the softness and barely there pattern of the carpet.  The neutrals so prevalent in more masculine rooms are present but combined here with a very luscious deep lavender. 

This room by Bunny Williams is a wonderful blend of masculine and feminine elements.  The rough timbers on the ceiling, the masculine plaid throw, the leather chair, and bleached knotty pine bookcase are all undoubtedly masculine.  But those elements blend beautifully with the floral patterns on the walls, chair, bed and rug.  The end result is a wonderful and balanced haven for the lucky couple that lives here.

Michael Simon, photographed by Simon Upton, and featured in Elle Decor.  This room has a more eclectic feeling, but has both masculine and feminine elements too.  The bed hangings feel very feminine and soft, while the bedding itself is more graphic and bold.  The lanterns are exotic and romantic and lend that contrast of dark and light that I noted in the more masculine rooms above.  The rug lends a softness, but is anchored against the solid carpet underneath.  Yin and yang….

This bedroom was designed by Mary McDonald for Greystone Mansion.  Interestingly, this is the Lady’s Bedroom.  However, I felt that it exemplified my ideal of a romantic bedroom.  There are some masculine elements here  - the color palette, for example.  The draperies and bedhangings are tailored and in a beautiful solid gray linen.  The strong and graphic lines of the lucite table also ground the room with a more masculine feel.  The graceful shapes of the fauteuils are feminine and lovely but generous enough for a man.  The painted screen is undeniably ethereal and graceful but it anchors a ceiling painted with bold stripes.  The contrast of the shimmering silk and rough sisal is yet another way that yin and yang meet. 

All of this is mere opinion, of course.  I believe that you make your own romance and ambience.  If a room filled with sleek modern furniture and contemporary art makes you feel sexy and sophisiticated, then perfect.  If a bedroom evokes a bygone era and you find that to be a romantic fantasy, then perfect.  A bedroom can evoke a place you’ve traveled either in your past or in your dreams and that can be romantic, too.  I have clients who need a place to curl up with their children and ones that need a place to curl up by themselves - and that can be romantic, too.

Take a look at your own bedroom and see what you can easily do to make it more romantic or serene.  If it’s become the catch all for the rest of your house - find another spot!  Add a candle or two, maybe a bouquet from the grocery store or an orchid from the florist.  Spritz some scent in the air and you’ll be amazed by how wonderful it feels.

Cheers!

Kristin

Hello from Snowy Dallas!

Yes, you read that right.  Dallas is blanketed with snow - and no, I do NOT wish to start a forum on climate change here!  I am at the moment having my boys knock snow off of our young birch trees in the back that are bowed under the weight of that fluffy white stuff.  I am weighing whether or not I can get my SUV out of the driveway for an installation I have scheduled today.  And I am recovering from the backache that sleeping on our sofa left me with.  Four of the five of us had to bed down in our family room in front of the fireplace last night as we lost power for most of the night.  Obviously, it’s back up and running.  This photo was taken early yesterday morning.

That blob of snow on the right arm of the statue covers the butterfly that alights very gracefully on her arm and which is visible 364 days a year.  She is a gift to me from my husband - sweet man.

Looking outside of my house and at all that snow has given me fresh perspective on our house, our yard and gardens.  I am looking at it in a whole new way.  And that fresh perspective is carrying through to my blog and website and I am looking at them in a whole new light.   I am revamping my website right now and also making some changes to the blog, so if it’s down for a few hours here and there, you will know why.  I am adding some new images, new blogs to my blogroll, and a couple of bells and whistles.

When I started my blog I wrote that I wanted to explore lots of different things.  This is what I posted: “Covetable Design won’t just be about interior design, but about easy and memorable entertaining, tablescapes and vignettes, and unique projects and clever use of everyday objects. ”   I haven’t done as much writing about entertaining, tablescapes, projects, etc. as I would like and that is going to change.  I love all of these things and I want to share that joy with you.   Good design can and does permeate so many aspects of our lives outside of just  interiors, so I am going to explore that more often.  I am also going to explore more about architecture and garden design as these are also passions of mine. 

But let’s talk interiors, shall we?  I started this blog with the intention of showing a lot more photos of my home and my work than I have.   But I started to worry that I might seem self-involved or pretentious, so I slowly began to write more and more about other people and their work.    But after a lot of thought I realized that the reason I started this blog was to share my creative ideas regardless of where or how they manifest themselves.  So, while I will definitely post photos of other people’s work as I have all along, I am going to share more of my own work whether it’s my own home or a project for a client.  I hope that you will like it.

I also hope that you continue to enjoy the blog and will like the tweaking that I’ll be doing.  The best way that you can let me know what you are thinking is to leave a comment - I know you are there, so go on ahead a say hi! 

Cheers!

Kristin