We love Erin’s musings in her Elements of Style blog.  For those who don’t know her, Erin Gates is an interior designer and stylist based in Boston.  She’s young and has a great eye for style and color, but what we really appreciate about her is how down-to-earth she is.
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We got a really good response from Sferra’s table linen sale last week, so I wanted to make sure you knew about their sale on bed linens, coverlets, throws, and pillows.  These are also 25% off now.  If you’ve been eyeing any of these beautiful linens for yourself or if you are expecting guests this holiday season, now’s the time to stock up.  To take a look at the entire line of bedding on sale, click here.
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Flowers, butterflies and insects can all have a place in the home.  Maybe not necessarily real ones, but the ones that have been recreated in such detail they’re practically dancing before your eyes.  Anna Weatherley’s dinnerware is the perfect way to add a touch of botanicals to your home.  Once you are finished dining, you can do what many designers do and hang them on the wall.

Every piece of Anna Weatherley dinnerware is hand painted in Hungary by a group of master artisans, each of whom specialize in a particular design.  The flowers and fruits are painted mostly by men, while women tend to be the experts in painting the charming bugs and butterflies with miniature detailed wings and legs and gold-dipped eyes. The grasshopper is a favorite and each one is given a different personality. To finish, softly brushed golden borders on the porcelain are painted by a single painter with special mastery in this special application technique.

Ms. Weatherley was inspired by the work of botanical illustrators of the 18^th Century.  You can clearly see the same attention to detail and appreciation for natural beauty in all of her pieces.  Eighteenth-century European illustrators such as Pierre Joseph Redoute, William Hooker, and Georg Dionysius Ehret are considered the masters of botanicals.  For instance, pictured below are two pieces by Redoute.  It’s easy to see the inspiration that Ms. Weatherley has drawn from these historical pieces. Each work of art is simple, beautiful and in vivid detail.  While Anna Weatherley’s designs are refreshingly rooted in history, they are equally at home in contemporary or traditional settings.  Prints of these botanicals have long been a staple in many decorators’ repertoires.  Framed and hung in groupings on a wall, they offer maximum style to a home.

The same can be said for dinnerware by Anna Weatherley, which has just as much impact on a wall as it does on the table.  I love the idea of a table filled with her plates and saucers, alongside tiny finger sandwiches and a few pots of delicious tea.  Guests will certainly smile when they discover a butterfly, ready to spread its wings, or a tulip that’s as wonderful as the real thing.  If you are like me, and are just starting to add botanicals to your home, you might simply tuck one of Ms. Weatherley’s plates next to your bed on your nightstand, or in the entryway to catch your keys and daily trappings.  What a beautiful way to add a bit of whimsy to your home!

To see our whole collection of Anna Weatherley dinnerware, visit us here.

Gracious Style is an online retailer of sophisticated, high-quality products for every room in the house.  We love helping others create warm and welcoming rooms for themselves.  To read more, visit our blog.

I just heard from Sferra Brothers that they’re putting some of their table linens on sale now, in time for the holiday season.  So this year, instead of waiting until after year-end for a discount, you can get your table linens at 25% off now and use them for holiday entertaining or as gifts.

The following collections (or colors, where applicable) are being discontinued, so they are now 25% off.  Quantities are limited, so don’t wait – come view all the styles on sale now.

Chiara Table Linens – Italian linen collection with oversized cocktail napkins, napkins, and placemats; available in a range of pretty pastels.

Taylor Table Linens – available with a graceful botanical jacquard motif, this cotton/linen blendcollection has colors that are perfect for fall:

The lake blue color in the easy-care Orchard Table Linens is on sale; featuring a graceful scrollwork design and treated with a stain-repellant finish, this is perfect for everyday use.

If you like roses, Darby features an old-fashioned, intertwined rose damask in pure linen:

And Festival Colorblock is a great, modern take on our classic Festival linens:

To see the entire collection of table linens on sale, click here.

Gracious Style is an online retailer of sophisticated, high-quality products for every room in the house.  We love helping others create warm and welcoming rooms for themselves.  To read more, visit our blog.

If you’ve ever wanted to own Varga Art Crystal’s extraordinary crystal, this may be your best chance.  While quantities last, a limited number of pieces are now on sale.

Those of you who know Varga know that these pieces are works of art: they are made entirely by hand and feature exquisite diamond and copper-wheel engraving.  Varga Art Crystal is found in museums, embassies, palaces, and private residences around the world, and every piece is signed by hand.  Normally, these stems range from $115 – $325 each, and they are now on sale at up to 35% off.  These make really special wedding and anniversary presents.

Take a look.  If you love sea life, the Pacifica collection is available in six different designs:

The classic Renaissance looks positively regal:

Barcelona is exquisitely detailed:

And Captiva is clean and classic:

To see our whole collection of Varga Art Crystal stemware and barware, visit us here.

Gracious Style is an online retailer of sophisticated, high-quality products for every room in the house.  We love helping others create warm and welcoming rooms for themselves.  To read more, visit our blog.

Grey is my favorite color for the home.  I love how it creates a perfect canvas for any color you use against it.  In our home, we have grey everywhere.  Our living room walls are a medium grey, and they look great against the dark wood floors, white paneling, and coffered ceilings.  In the bathrooms, the light grey walls are wonderful against all our white windows, our white subbway tiles, white and grey marble floors, and nickel fixtures.
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We have a great sale going on all of our 1891 by Sferra duvet covers, shams, sheets, and pillows.  Sferra is not planning to introduce any new 1891 by Sferra styles for Fall 2010, so we’re thrilled to be able to pass along savings on all existing stock to you.  These collections will not be reordered, so it is strictly first-come, first-serve.
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Once our theme was set, I spent a lot of time online looking through Style Me Pretty, Martha Stewart Weddings, and The Knot.  I wanted something elegant and feminine which incorporated orchids.  Also, because it was a birthday party and I did not want the room to look like it was set up for a wedding, so I stayed away from all-white themes.  I found this image at finestationery.com, which I used for inspiration:

Since so many people were contributing to Aunt Carmen’s party, we needed to keep our costs low.  The best way to do this was to use as many the hotel’s services as possible, so I started with the room.  The hotel’s Arboleda salon is surrounded by windows and reminded me of a conservatory, so I thought it would be fun to turn each table into a miniature floral garden.
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To make Aunt Carmen’s 80th birthday party memorable, we needed to come up with a theme.  Great parties need themes to make them flow and focus the event.  We wanted this to be a celebration of her life, so we started by asking: what does she like?  Aunt Carmen has owned shops, hotels, and restaurants, designed shoes, and developed real estate.  But her latest passion is … slot machines!
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