River House Diary

 Several online shopping sites give the same advice about coffee tables: The height should be the same as the seat height of your sofa and chairs, but no more than one to two inches lower. Since 18 inches is the standard seat heigh for upholstered pieces, 16 to 18 inches is typically the correct height for coffee tables. The length of the coffee table should be approximately two-thirds as long as your sofa. Since my sofa is 76 inches, I need a coffee table about 50 to 51 inches in length. Allow 12 to 18 inches of space between the coffee table and the seating around it and about 30 inches to other pieces of furniture such as media cabinets or bookshelves. This will usually determine the width your coffee table should be.  Our great room can accommodate a square or rectangular coffee table. So I am currently thinking about the Cayden Campaign Square Coffee Table in waxed natural oak and pewter from Restoration Hardware. Cayden Campaign Square Coffee Table Whether we can accomm...

 We purchased the Thurston Wing Chair  from Ballard Designs and had it custom upholstered in two gorgeous fabrics -- a velvet and a Suzani print. It lived in the master bedroom of our Oakton house. For the River House, we had it reupholstered in Anna Elisabeth Porcelain Blue . It's in the rear guest room, which we're thinking we should name "the Blue Room." Reupholstered wing chair

We purchased these Cooper Upholstered Cubes from Ballard Designs for the sunroom in our Oakton house and had them reupholstered in a Gabrielle Chambray, a fabric exclusive to Ballard Designs that had been discontinued before I made the decision. I was lucky enough to find enough yardage on eBay. Reupholstered ottomons

 The pillow situation has finally been resolved. I've written about it several times. Pillow Puzzles Pillow Puzzles Continue Pillow Puzzles Solved ... Finally! But it wasn't easy. In the second post, I found the discontinued Pottery Barn pillow I needed on BLINQ. However, when the insert finally arrived and I went to put the pillow cover on it, I discovered the cover was defective; no zipper. A day later Pottery Barn sent me an email that linked to their Romilly pillow cover asking if I was still interested in it. When I clicked on the link from the email, I learned the pillow was back in stock; so I quickly ordered one. The next problem was the lumbar pillow. I did buy the discontinued Ballard Designs fabric on eBay, but the work room made the pillow up in the wrong size. When they delivered the guest bedroom drapes , they delivered lumbar pillow take 2. And it was perfect. Sofa and throw pillows in the great room; personal collection

The nightstands and bed for our rear bedroom were delivered today. The nightstands are the Del Sol Bedside Table from Tommy Bahama's Bali Hai collection. They look terrific with the Mahogany Swirl chest from David Francis, which we love but has been discontinued. The upholstered bed is the Carmine bed from Eastern Accents , covered in Blick Denim .  New nightstands and bed for the rear bedroom; personal collection

 We moved the Thurston Wing Chair from the great room to the back guest room (Bedroom 3). It needs to be reupholstered to match the fabric selections Pete and I made for the furnishings and window treatments from Eastern Accents . We chose Anna Elisabeth B1422 Porcelain Blue : Anna Elisabeth B1422 Porcelain Blue

 There was a corner of the great room that was crying out for plant life. But it couldn't be a "fat" plant as it was near one of the traffic paths in the room. I found the perfect faux plant on Wayfair.com -- the Gracie Oaks 72" Ficus Tree . Faux ficus tree; personal collection A gallery wall of coastal themed art is being collected. I don't think there's an art gallery within a hundred miles of our house Pete and I haven't visited. And I have two small ottomans that will tuck in under the console table for extra seating when need, but they need to be reupholstered.

Once I decided on darker throw pillows for the sofa , the decision about the lumbar pillow was an easy one. The Gabrielle Chambray fabric from Ballard Designs would be perfect. Gabrielle Chambray fabric; courtesy of Ballard Designs It picked up the darker blue fabric as well as the beige-y gold sofa fabric. Of course, I ran into another issue, because nothing about the great room has been easy. Ballard Designs no longer carried the fabric. This time eBay came to the rescue and I was able to order enough for a lumbar pillow.

 Once I had decided on the dark Romilly Embroidered throw pillows for the great room sofa, I needed to order a second pillow. I had originally planned for it to "live" on a wingback chair so had ordered only one. Romilly 22" Square Embroidered Pillow; courtesy of Pottery Barn However, the pillow was no longer available from Pottery Barn. Google saved me. A website I had never heard of -- BLINQ  -- had three left in stock. The second Romilly pillow waiting for its insert; personal collection

 The decorative pillows for the sofa have been quite a puzzle. When the sofa was first delivered it looked like this: Sofa with the too dark lumbar pillow; personal collection The lumbar pillow was too dark and the Baker Furniture occasional tables overwhelmed the sofa. On to attempt number two: Three throw pillow option; personal collection Okay, kind of boring as there isn't much contrast between the pillows. The small occasional table on the left is too yellow. Five pillow option; personal collection Still not enough contrast and it looks a bit crowded with the extra long lumbar pillow (originally made for the bench), but the David Francis Mahogany Swirl end tables look great! Final option; personal collection Darker large pillows and and paisley fabric for a small lumbar pillow that picks up the color of the sofa and the darker blue.

I backed away from the edge of fabric selections that did not complement the coastal theme of our house. Instead, we hung the water color painting of the creek behind our old house in the back hallway. That got me back on track for some lovely blue and white fabrics for our primary guest bedroom -- the one with the river view and access to the screen porch. Eastern Accents Penelope bedding collection from Eastern Accents; courtesy of  Eastern Accents The draperies will be in the embroidered fern leaf fabric. They will be fully operable, blackout lined and stacked on the right hand side so there is easy access to the sliding glass doors. The bed will be the Carmine upholstered bed in Blick Denim -- the velvet fabric on the Euro shams in the photo above.  Penelope bedding swatches; personal collection Hopefully, everything gets delivered in time for Thanksgiving. Also, in the room are the David Francis Charleston Mahogany Swirl chest (which has been discontinued), the Uttermost...

 I've decided to move the Thurston Wing Chair from Ballard Designs that lived in our Oakton house master bedroom to the guest room that overlooks the water. That means I need a club chair for the great room. I think I've decided on the Maggie Chair also from Ballard Designs in the Gabrielle Chambray fabric. Maggie Chair in Gabrielle Chambray; courtesy Ballard Designs

I am hesitant to purchase more furniture for the great room until the sofa is delivered because mere inches determine which pieces will fit. So I am on hold until early September. I moved onto the screen porch because we're learning we spend most of our time there when we are at home. I finalized the furniture layout a few weeks ago. And took advantage of a Summer Classics 4th of July sale to purchase the second  wicker rocker we need. The store also confirmed what I suspected; Summer Classics is in the process of discontinuing their Classic Wicker collection. To complete the porch, we need a bench and coffee table for the lounging/seating area of the porch and a dining table and chairs. Zuniga Interiors confirmed my choice for the dining and and coffee tables -- Frontgate's Isola collection in a weathered finish. Isola weathered finish; courtesy Frontgate We would be purchasing the coffee table  and the expandable dining table . For the dining chairs and a benc...

The kitchen is almost complete. I am still fiddling with organization but have plenty of room for my pots, pans, utensils and tableware. For the main core of the house (foyer, great room, kitchen and pantry), we used house plan 51754HZ . The main changes we made to the kitchen were using Thermador columns for the refrigerator, freezer and wine chiller and using drawers instead of doors on the perimeter wall of base cabinets. We also added three Hudson Valley Lighting 15-inch Lambert pendants. The plan just had recessed lighting throughout the kitchen. The counter stools are the Capitola stools from Palecek. Getting to comfortable counter stools was a  saga ! We purchased the swan at the 32nd Decoy Festival  last December. Eventually, our sofa will be delivered and will be placed in front of the swan and the console table. Kitchen from great room; personal collection The doorway between the perimeter wall cabinets and the side board goes to the garage/master suite wi...

Ever since designing the furniture layout of the screen porch earlier this month, I have been worried that Summer Classics is in the process of discontinuing their Classic Wicker collection. Far fewer pieces of furniture from the collection are currently displayed on their website from when I originally purchased a sofa and rocker for our porch in Oakton. Classic Wicker rocker; personal collection I decided the safest thing to do would be to purchase the second rocker we need for the River House screen porch as soon as Summer Classics had a sale. I checked the website a few days ago and noticed they were having a 40 percent off 4th of July sale through July 6. The sales person confirmed the line was being discontinued but that I could still order a second rocker. Hooray! Unfortunately, the cute little dot cushion fabric is no longer available so I am purchasing two cushions in Sunbrella Sponge Pumice as it matches well with the Arch Spa fabric on the sofa -- one for the new ...

We have counter stools ... finally! Palecek Capitola Counter Stools; personal collection Counter stools have been quite the saga at River House. My first two choices were from Williams Sonoma Home and were no longer available when we tried to order them. My next two choices were from Serena & Lily and the seats were about 2 inches more narrow that standard. But the Capitola counter stools from Palecek are perfect. A close-up view; personal collection

I like to layout out furniture on a floor plan to ensure there is balance in the room and the furniture isn't "piled" up on one side making the room look out of balance or heavy on one side. Once I have the balance every room needs, I refine the layout to ensure each piece of furniture fits the space and that there is sufficient space for traffic flow. This is my first attempt at a furniture layout for the screen porch. The goal, again being balance. Screen porch furniture layout; personal collection The furniture is not drawn to scale -- that will come with later refinements. I have color coded the furniture so I know which pieces we already own (blue) and which pieces would need to be purchased (red). I've also identified which doors are active because I do not want to place furniture in front of those doors. The inactive panels may be treated as windows or walls. Another words, furniture may be placed in front of them.

I received bad news from Ethan Allen yesterday regarding our sofa for the great room. It won't be available to deliver until October 26 -- five months away. Everything else I want to buy for the room depends on how the sofa fits and if I can use two end tables or one. I'm stymied until November. So I'm moving onto the large screen porch that overlooks the river and is accessible from the great room via two French doors and the rear guest bedroom via a sliding door. Screen porch in our Oakton house; courtesy of Sotheby's We brought the wicker rocker and sofa, lounge chair and metal drum table with us, as well as the chainsaw carved pelican we have affectionately named "the Mayan Fertility God." All of the cushions and pillows are in fabrics no longer available but the color palette was spa blue and brown. Sofa; personal collection The sofa is the Classic Wicker Sofa from Summer Classics. The finish is Black Walnut and the cushions are covered i...

The new sideboard in the dining area of the kitchen has been styled with a large basket we bought in the Catskills made out of grape vines and vintage Japanese fishing floats I've been collecting since my first trip to Hawaii in 1982. A new piece of art from Horchow  arrived just before Memorial Day and we hung it yesterday. Kitchen eating area; personal collection

We own two Cooper Upholstered Cubes from Ballard Designs that need to be reupholstered to work in the great room. I plan to use Sunbrella's Piper fabric in Mineral. They will be placed under the console table behind the sofa available when extra seating is required. Cooper Upholstered Cube upholstered in Piper Mineral; courtesy of Ballard Designs