Quick Little Trip ...

Scott and I whisked ourselves away this weekend for a little vacation in the Brandywine Valley. It was much needed, trust me! If you read the blog with any regularity, you know I love the Brandywine Valley, that beautiful, Eden-like area where Philadelphia meets Delaware and Maryland. We had a reason to go, Patti LuPone (broadway legend) was performing her show "Coulda, Shoulda, Woulda ... Played that Part" at Longwood Gardens, but our only reason for staying the long weekend was exploration, relaxation, and restoration.

We started at one of my favorite stores in Glen Mills, Pa, Terrain at Styers. Terrain is the brainchild of the Anthropologie brand. A store devoted to gardening and plants, it's a nursery done only the way that Anthropologie could possibly pull off. Unique, one-of treasures are mixed with hand crafted soaps and beauty products, plants and gardening equipment strewn about the lush pebble carpeted grounds with glimpses of fine upholstery, art, and home décor through every window and open door. It's a magical place, and I'm constantly and irrevocably inspired every time we visit:

 

Next we headed off down the road for a little antique store shopping. There are 4 antique stores on Baltimore Pike, all of which carry a variety of things and operate in a Co-Op format with vendors renting small spaces and filling it with literally, whatever they want. Sometimes it's good - and sometimes it's not.

 

At one of these antique stores, a large open air porch wraps the entire house turned shop, and I couldn't resist playing Alice when I saw this awesome oversized chair:

 



How fun is this? I don't think it's for sale, because it's been here every time we stopped in to the store. Architectural fragment litters the porch, everything from windows and doors, to fireplace surrounds and columns are ripe for the picking. Inside, I thought this little sign was brilliant for the baker or cook who likes a little whimsy:

Keep Calm and Add Butter

 

 

Next we checked into our hotel, unpacked our bags, and then headed back to Longwood Gardens for a quick spin around the gardens before Patti's show. (I'm totally on a first name basis with her!)

 

 

 

 

 

 

I even got inspiration for our kitchen remodel from the antique kitchen on view in the home turned museum of Longwood Gardens' creator and benefactor, Peirce duPont.

 

 

Then we headed over to the stage, to grab our seats before Patti came on to perform. Now, if you know anything at all about her, you know that pulling your camera out to take pictures while she's on stage is begging for an embarrassing invitation to leave, so I left my phone tucked neatly into my white pants, and enjoyed the concert! She's an amazing performer!

 

 

The next day we headed into Baltimore, but before getting there, we stopped off at Ladew Topiary Gardens by recommendation of my friend Amy. It was lovely!

 

 

It was a lovely garden, and the weather couldn't have been more perfect. The inside of the Ladew house is spectacular, a home I could move right into without changing a thing! Unfortunately, they do not allow interior photographs. Next we headed down to Baltimore, and to the National Aquarium. I'm a huge aqua-nerd, so, anytime we are near an aquarium of any repute, we go.

 

 

While it was a lovely aquarium, the highlight had to be the introduction to Calypso, the 490-pound green sea turtle missing its left, front flipper. Found off the Long Island coast in 2000, the turtle was just 6-pounds when rescuers nursed the now mammoth turtle back to health. The missing left flipper, lost to a severe infection when Calypso was found, doesn't even seem to bother Calypso. We had a great time, but so far, nothing has compared to the Boston Aquarium.

 

We headed out to the harbor, strolling around the water and even taking a hike up Federal Hill to appreciate some of the architecture and available real estate!

 



 

We headed into the shops along the harbor, including the candy shop where they had laughable, oversized portions of popular candy bars, including my favorite: Sweettarts!

 

 

I didn't have any, but I had to take a picture in jest. As night fell, we took one more leisurely stroll around the harbor, before we headed back to the hotel.

 

 

 

The next day, we headed off in a northerly direction to Philadelphia. We had been to Philadelphia before, of course, but I wanted to run into IKEA quickly, and it's a great city.

 

We of course, made a stop at the Philadelphia Museum of Fine Art, where I ran those steps like a champ, showing Rocky a thing or two in my burlap Toms. Then we walked around the area, finding our way to Fairmount and the Eastern State Penitentiary, now a museum. They were closing up for the night, so we didn't get to tour - something I'm sure we'll make plans to do next time, but the restaurant across the street was intriguing.





 





Situated perfectly inside of an old firehouse, Jack's Firehouse was a visual delight. Dark and moody, the food was amazing. I had their pulled pork piled high on corn chips seasoned with a blend of powdered spices, and their bone-sucking ribs. If you're ever in the area - I highly recommend it! After dinner, we went to the King of Prussia mall for a little retail therapy, and then back to the hotel.

 

The next day we were heading back to CDLV, but before we did that, we stopped off at Winterthur to make use of our Member passes. I could tour the house over, and over and over again. And have! In fact, blogging about it several times, here and here and here and here. This time we did a short tour, the introductory, which is free to members and takes about 45 minutes. On this tour, you get to see my favorite room in the house:

 

 

The Chinese parlor. This room was created around the wallpaper that Mr. DuPont found in Paris, although the paper had been hand painted in China. He brought the paper back to this house in the Brandywine Valley and had his architect create the room, size, height, and coved ceiling around the exact size available from the purchased paper. The rest of the room is filled with fine early American antiques and slipcovered furniture. You can see better pictures of this room, and read more history from the links above.

 

We got home last night, late, and fell into bed. Today started like any other day before we snuck away. Full of things to do, and people to see! If only we could afford to live like tourists 365-days a year!





Million Dollar Decorating Dreams: Mark D. Sikes Before and After

You ever wish you could throw caution to the wind, spend your life savings on decorating your surroundings so lushly that you could literally throw the doors open to any magazine at anytime for a front page feature spread? Yeah - I figured I was the only one.

Mark D. Sikes with H.R.H Lily in their L.A. Garden

 

I'm sure you're all familiar with Mark D. Sikes, the blogger and interior designer from Southern California whose blog and home have been featured in House Beautiful, and most recently Veranda, not to mention the countless blogs who have found inspiration in his beautiful work. I even did an interview with Mark on this very blog.

I've said a million times that if I had the opportunity to choose a new house, something different from the cottage I call CDLV, it would have a totally different look, and I thought that look would be what we all knew to be Mark's house from the feature spread done in House Beautiful. That was until his house, newly decorated, was featured in Veranda's July/August 2014 issue and I fell in love all over again!

No body likes a before and after more than me, except maybe you - so, why don't we take a look?

 

BEFORE



AFTER

Mark D. Sikes - Veranda July/August 2014

 

In the newly decorated living room Mark has kept the same neutral palette, accessorizing with his blue and white and abstract art, chinoiserie, boxes, and collection of coral tucked neatly in the fireplace.

 

In the video still, you can see a better view of the changes from the same angle, although the quality is not as nice as the photo above:

 



 

Gone are the curtains, rattan chairs, Chinese coffee table, zebra hide rug, and upholstered sofa. Mark brought in a new rug, still layered over his boucle jute, two English roll arm chairs covered in Quadrille fabrics, and switched out the large upholstered sofa for this beautiful settee that once sat in his dining room.

BEFORE

AFTER

 



Mark switched out his beautiful gilded rococo style marble top table for this octagonal table with a custom skirt ala Tom Scheerer, and flanked it with custom upholstered settees. Above the settees are beautiful Gracie screens.

There aren't a lot of "after" photos from Veranda, but keep this photo in mind, and take a look at this:

BEFORE

AFTER

 

As you can see, the mirrors are gone, Gracie screens in their place, and the beautiful gilded table also gone, now in the dining room. Curtains are gone from all of the windows and doors. Mark's house is sheltered from public view by both the lush green garden wall of ficus and climbing fig, and its hilltop construction. So, I gather that the curtains aren't needed for privacy. Plus, with the beautiful curved architecture of the ceiling and windows/doors, they aren't needed to soften the hard lines. As much as I love curtains, (and you know I do!) I actually think taking them out of this room was a brilliant move on Mark's part.

 

Another room that I loved in Mark's house was his dining room, clad in Gracie wallpaper.

 

BEFORE

 

 

Notice the settee in the niche under the mirror - now moved to the living room in lieu of the larger upholstered piece.

 

 

AFTER

 

 

Quite the difference, right? Mark went from traditional formal dining room, to sexy multi-purpose library. I know everyone who follows his instagram account was vying for that Gracie wallpaper the day he posted that it was coming down! The beautiful gilded rococo console table and books moved to where the settee once was, and the chairs were reupholstered in this spectacular hermes orange leather.

 

Gone are the cream curtains, crystal basket chandelier, and neutral natural fiber rug. When Mark decided to go sexy lounge, he went there. Antiqued mirrors take the place of his once coveted Gracie wallpaper, animal prints replace the neutrals, and the chandelier, though still crystal went from prim and proper to fiercely seductive.

 

 

BEFORE

 





 

The entry left corner of the dining room once had this beautiful collection of coral and blue and white porcelain atop a Chinese console.

 

 

 

Mark's collection of abstract art hangs along the mirrored walls, and books clutter the surface of the table top. A ledge was added to the existing moulding so that art can lean, rather than hang, and I assume be switched out as the mood strikes.

 

I loved Mark's previous dining room. The pairing of that stunning hand-painted Chinoiserie wallpaper with the taupe buffalo check on the chairs was and is my most favorite combination to date. But the sensuality of this room is provocative, and while they couldn't be more different, I love them both.

 

Another one of my favorite rooms in Mark's house, isn't a room at all. It's the back terrace. Adjacent to the kitchen/family room and the living room, this little brick alcove is an extension of their living space and is certainly as well appointed.

 

BEFORE

 

AFTER



 

Not a lot of change here. The gardens have grown in a bit, and the fig has started to creep even further along the stucco façade. Mark still has the same furniture, now just sporting the sky blue cushions, and his collection of blue and white porcelain still dots the brick patio. How many of you wouldn't mind an impromptu cocktail here?

 

Going back inside, but before heading upstairs, Mark did make a change in the foyer:

 

BEFORE

 

AFTER

 

The lantern was replaced in favor of this alabaster globe fixture. I think that it more appropriately ties the new look of the dining room to the living room. Though, that lantern was fabulous. As an aside, I wonder what Mark did with his cast off's? Does he have a friend who gets first dibs? Does he save them for a client? Is there a lucky assistant or contractor who cleans up at the end of the day? Or would it just be your lucky day, if you happened to be a garbage picker in West Hollywood?

 

Moving upstairs ... I was in love with Mark's black guest room. I thought it was a wonderful study in contrast and how to make it appear effortless.

 

BEFORE

 

AFTER

 

 

Can anyone say, Night and Day!? The walls are now upholstered with this gorgeous tree of life fabric, and the Hickory Chair bed loses it's slipcover in favor of new ticking upholstery. The chaise moves downstairs to the living room, and the zebra hide moves up here, now grounding a new seating arrangement of two chairs with ottomans. Mark often uses the hashtag, "blueandwhiteforever" with his instagram photos, and it's clear to see that no matter what changes he makes to his house, blue and white will always be found.

 





While I loved the black room, this room has now become my new favorite room of all time. This room is the exact vision I had of a collaboration between Mark D. Sikes and Charlotte Moss. It's classic, decadent, and comfortable all at the same time.

 

The additional guest room also got a bit of a make over.

 

BEFORE

 

This room is where Mark keeps his collection of shelter magazines that spans nearly 20-years. Before, the room was welcoming with a library feel due in large part to the round table centered in the room.

 

AFTER



 

Now it feels like a tented resort room on the lower Zambezi, am I right? The daybed is reupholstered in the same fabric that clads the ceiling and walls. Chairs that once lived in the living room are now thoughtfully placed against the custom shelving, which has also become the perfect place to showcase more of his beautiful collection of abstract art and photography.

 

The master bedroom is actually what spurred the whole remodel of Mark's house. The need for a larger space, bigger closets created the domino effect that landed the very talented designer in Veranda.

 

BEFORE



 

Both this room, and the guest bedroom now draped in tree of life fabric have balconies and views to the garden beyond.

 

 

The room certainly was a nice size before the renovation. And was beautiful decorated in a wash of grays and blues that felt almost resort like.

 

AFTER

 

Walls are now covered in Gracie wallpaper, something that Mark knew he had to have, and actually spurred the change in the dining room.

 

 

 

What I love most about the change at Mark's house was his clever reuse of the items that he already had. Some things just needed a different location, like this mirror that used to hang in the living room, others needed new upholstery, like the dining room chairs. While there were significant changes to the rooms, the integrity of this designer and his unique but clear vision stayed firmly intact, because he went with what he loved! Proof positive that if you buy what you love, and you invest in the classics, your interiors can stand the test of time.

 

Now, I'm off to play the lottery so I can offer Mark a substantial check to move out and leave everything behind! 

 

To read Mark's story on his Veranda feature, check out his blog post here. To see the video tour of his home on Veranda.com, click here. To join him on instagram, you can follow him here, and for even more photos of their house and garden, you can follow H.R.H. Lily on instagram here.