Spring/Summer Switch Up

One of the things that I've always loved about the change of seasons outside, is the prompting for the change of seasons inside. We each do this in our own way, whether by putting up garlands and Christmas trees in December, or by switching out velvet pillows for linen in the summer.

When I moved into my apartment, I knew that the living and dining rooms would get a summer switch up - nothing crazy, just a shift to more color, and pattern and a more playful attitude. Today being the first day of Spring, I started to lay the frame work for this mini-shift, at least in my mind.

A room I've long admired for this type of change is the living room of decorator Suzanne Rheinstein at her California home. In the winter months, marked only by the calendar in southern California, Suzanne's living room sports upholstered pieces in velvet, and jacquard stripes.

In the summer, Suzanne pulls out the glacial green and white stripe slipcovers, which are matched to every piece of furniture in the living room:

And she recently had a second set of slips made for the living room from her new fabric line:

It didn't take a full tilt redecoration of the space to get a completely different look. By simply using different fabrics on the furniture, she was able to lighten the mood and formality of her winter look. Another California designer who uses slipcovers to change her interiors with the seasons is Penelope Bianchi.

Her home in Montecito, California is nothing short of extraordinary. Just look at this image, is this not the most enchanting thing you've ever seen?

The living room is quite large, and is separated by a round table in the center of the room. On the left, a seating group at the fireplace gets a refreshing change with each season. In the fall, paisley slipcovers are mixed with antique Flemish tapestry pillows, Scalamandre silk velvet, and African animal hide.

In the spring, stripes, and Jardinere toiles meet up with more Flemish tapestry and silk velvet, this time on small upholstered ottomans. 

And in the summer, white matelasse covers all of the pieces, and is used to fully skirt the normally open legs of the diminutive wingback chairs.

Here, you can see the open legs of the two chairs that face the fireplace. Slipcovers completely change the feeling of these two chairs for Spring and Summer. I've never personally met Penelope, but in my few conversations with her via email and the blog, she exudes warmth and creativity. The photos of her scattered about blogland paint her as graceful and stylish, elegant without any effort. If I ever break myself away from responsibilities and get out to California, I hope to meet her. 

My friend Joni, interior designer and author of Cote de Texas, redecorated her formal living room a few years ago. While it stays like this now, I wanted to use the change to illustrate the point of how simple changes (which could be temporary for the seasons) can completely change the feeling of a room. 

Joni's formal living room with pieces upholstered in Bennison fabrics, a luxury Britain-based fabric house. 

Today, everything slipcovered in beautiful white linen. You'll notice that the furniture didn't change in this space, nor did the layout. By simply slipcovering the pieces in white, and replacing the antique Aubusson rug with a creamy white cowhide, she completely lightened the mood of the room. 

ADDITION 2/21/17: 

Another friend who makes changes to the inside of her beautiful home with the seasonal changes outside is Joan, who blogs at for the love of a house. In the winter, the roaring fire of her plaster finished, custom built fireplace keeps her and her 3 beautiful pups warm on the cushions of her linen slipcovered sofas covered in harvest colored velvet pillows. 

In the Spring and Summer, the pillows change and Joan pulls up the antique woven rugs in favor of a striped wool dhurrie.

This beautiful space has direct access to a gravel terrace through two sets of french doors on either side of the fireplace, which doubles the livable space in the summer season. This room is a wonderful example of how changes as simple as pillow covers and a rug can completely lighten the feeling of a space.

So, what do you do to switch up your rooms for the seasons? Are you chomping at the bit to add those spring and summer touches to your space? Tell me about it! Lord knows, I am! 

Rheinstein Got New Slips!

Does everyone shop at One Kings Lane? Even just window shop? Recently, well - semi-recently they started doing features on designers, showcasing rooms and homes, usually private. A few days ago, they posted an interview with Suzanne Rheinstein, owner of Hollyhock, about her Christmas décor. While the décor: fresh greens, pinecones, cloved oranges and ornamental cumquats, is absolutely lovely, what I immediately noticed was that Suzanne had gotten new slipcovers! Her home has had a few published variations. So I thought that it'd be fun to see how the room has been transformed with fabric. Indulge me, won't you!?

Going way, way back. Suzanne's Hancock Park living room decked out in pattern over pattern over pattern, chintz, chintz, chintz, and color galore! Very 80's - but still high end. Then, she and her husband, also an avid collector of antiques, purchased the antique divan that we begin to see having a recurring center room role. In December of 1993, the room stole the cover of House Beautiful for their Christmas issue:

A little while later, however, the room got a much more serene and subdued color palate. No furniture changed, well, not much of it anyway - but the upholstery did. The internet was in place by now, and the room sorta spread like crazy. People loved it! And why wouldn't you?

 

The color went from persimmon to glacial green. The art moved to make way for a butler's desk, the antique Aubusson carpets made way for one, much larger seagrass rug, the Scalamandre taffeta curtains made way for these, much less fussy ones, and the room began to open itself up. The furniture was reupholstered, but for the most part, all of the pieces in the room stayed put, except for the addition of the French bergere chairs that are fireside.

 

Some gilded pieces came in, upholstered in a sumptuous velvet. A pair, actually.

 



 

And with those, a few other things came too. New winter carpets, the seagrass rolled away til' summer in favor of this oriental.

 

 

Back now, probably in the summer, the seagrass is down, and the velvet chairs have stayed. That divan still looking gorgeous in it's tailored stripes. Then, all of the furniture was fitted for slips, and wow, what a change!

 

 

First there was no seagrass. It was just about the wood and the fabric. Because this look was and is probably (well, until you see the new slips!) the most popular there are no limit to the number of photos you can find showing off this beautiful slipcovered space.

 

 

 

 

 

 

It seems that at different points Suzanne moved around the chairs in the room, maybe just for a little change here and there, but again, for the most part, slipcovers did all that she needed. No huge re-design, no spending additional thousands in new furniture, no regrets about selling the pieces she used to own. She bought what she loved, and she gave it new clothes to suit her taste in that moment. That, my friends, is the transformative power of a slipcover. It has nothing to do with helping cover ugly furniture, or a lower cost alternative to upholstery, or masking bad upholstery - even when you have amazing furniture, slips can be a less expensive way to change the entire face of the room - for a week, for a month, you choose. 

 

And now, for the new slips!

 

 

Beautiful right? You're wondering what the fabric is, aren't you!? Well, maybe some of you know this already. But for those of you who do not, it's Lee Jofa's: Garden Roses, designed by Suzanne and part of her collection with the fabric powerhouse, sold at her store Hollyhock, for $196/yard.

 

This colorway, Beige/Aqua is one option, but there is a second, called Lime/Leaf, and a discontinued colorway: Buff/Sage. If you are a fan of Suzanne's work, or if you follow along with the once a year Greystone Mansion transformations, you've already seen this fabric in a room by Rheinstein, way back in March of 2009 when Veranda covered the Greystone Showhouse that year:

 

 

 

I'm really in love with the new slips at Suzanne's house, and I'm glad she's embraced chintz in her home again. What say ye?