Houston, do we have a problem?

When we decided to start a blog for Huff Harrington Fine Art, we'd be the first to admit that we really didn't know what we were doing. Of course, we have never let that stop us from charging ahead.

When we asked ourselves what we really wanted to create and say in our love letters to life, we did what any self-respecting amateurs would do: We researched blogs that we loved and that inspired us. The list was long and so totally entertaining. Being in Atlanta, we are guilty of unconditionally loving on Things That Inspire, Stylecourt, The Peak of Chic, and Atlanta Homes and Lifestyle. All these blogs make us so proud to be Atlantans.

Velvet and Linen has us California Dreaming and French Essence takes us to France when the airlines don't. Are there such things as 'blog stalkers'? If so, we may be guilty as charged!

But in our "blog design meetings", we always refer to our all-time favorite blog, Cote de Texas written by the lovely and talented Joni Webb from Houston, Texas. This blog is our inspiration, stimulation, obsession and motivation. In the Huffington dictionary, next to blog goddess, we have Joni's photo. Her blog is creative, entertaining, informative, detailed and oh, so much fun. When we read her posts, we always feel like we've just had a satisfying luncheon with a fabulous friend. We find ourselves coming up with ideas for our blog and then asking "What would Joni say?" We even talked of shooting off an e-mail to Joni headed "Houston, we have a problem" and then have her respond in her delightful Texan drawl (which somehow comes through even in e-mails) with the perfect solution. Let's face it, Joni is our imaginary friend at all our blog discussions.

SOOOOO....imagine our delight and surprise when we went live with our first blog with much trepidation and sat and waited to see if anyone would be reading. On our January 26 posting, A Huffington in House Beautiful, you can imagine our surprise and delight to have Joni,( yes, our imaginary friend from Cote de Texas), leave a charming comment about our post. We were burning up the e-mail trail between all of us shooting off virtual high- fives and celebrating in cyberspace.

So today, we are going to have some fun with Joni's latest posting. (We did this in our February 25 posting Having Some Fun about a posting from another favorite blog, Velvet and Linen. Beautiful Brooke sent us the cutest comments on that blog which made it even more fun.)

Joni has been working on a design project for her neighbor across the street (wouldn't we all love to live across the street from Joni?).

In her post on March 5, Webb Design: The Albans House, we got to see Joni at her best, designing a beautiful home for a family whom she cares about. We couldn't resist letting our inner child out again and playing dress up with our art in this fabulous living room.

We saw this mantel, and we couldn't help ourselves: Imagine how it would look with a wonderful Lorraine Christie , whose soft romantic art transports you to another place with her evocative images and soft palette?

Lorraine Christie, Marry Me, oil on canvas, 24 x 36”

Or an abstract from Jeffrey Terreson, like Storm Break, mixed media on canvas, 40 x 54”

Doug Foltz, A Momentary Opening, oil on canvas, 36 x 60”

Angie Renfro, San Francisco Heights, oil on board, 24 x 16”

Michael Bowman, Provence Views, oil on linen, 18 x 24”

And for another gorgeous wall that immediately grabbed our attention, we took our inspiration from the photos of the clients' young daughters. Here, we thought of our artist, Angela Nesbit, who paints such dreamy portrayals of children that seem to suspend their playful personalities in time as a reminder of how fleeting childhood really is.

Angela Nesbit, Skipping Girl Study, oil on canvas, 14 x 18”

Or a beautiful landscape by Nancy Franke, entitled Watercolor Skies

Angela Nesbit, Yellow Roses Study, oil on canvas, 16 x 12”

Elizabeth Stockton, Unwind, 36 x 24"

Georges Nasri, La Femme au Marche, watercolor, 25 x 21”

So no, Houston, we don't have a problem. Instead, we thank you, Joni, our favorite Houston, for being such a great role model for all of us.

Ta ta!

HH

A Huffington in House Beautiful

Yesterday morning as I was jogging on the treadmill trying to shed those uninvited Christmas pounds, I listened to one of my favorite podcasts, The Skirted Roundtable, in a discussion between three designers who all have fabulous blogs and insights into the world of design. In this segment, they interviewed Stephen Drucker, the Editor in Chief of House Beautiful magazine. I hadn’t realized that HB has been around for over 100 years, but I had noticed that in the last few years, it seems to be getting better and better. While other magazines are shedding pages or suffering even worse demises, HB seems to be getting stronger, thicker, with great big pictures, wonderfully varied design features, fabulous “how to’s” and a focus that is both aspirational and approachable.

I always look forward to getting my issue of HB in the mail, but unfortunately my subscription didn’t follow our recent move, and I have missed the last two issues. This became evident when the three ladies went on and on about how fabulous the recent Dec/Jan issue was and particularly praised the cover and story of Jill Brinson’s house in Atlanta. Hmmm, I thought, I don’t remember seeing this. So I sent out a quick S-O-S to a few friends, and was delighted when one responded immediately and brought that issue in to the gallery.

Sure enough, it was a great cover with the pale mauve House Beautiful logo underscored by a gorgeous, chunky rustic beam across the center. But what really caught my eye and jumped right off the page was the painting of a horse by Georges Nasri, smack in the middle of the cover! You have to understand that our paintings are a little bit like our children, and we are enormously proud and excited when we see pictures of little Huffingtons in magazines. Admittedly, not everyone would have noticed this painting at all. But to me, it was glaringly obvious and terribly exciting, kind of like having your child's artwork picked for the cover of the school poetry magazine (never happened to me).

See the Nasri horse hiding to the right of the couch?

I admit that we work hard to get our artist's work published, which is one of the reasons we’re delighted to contribute to show houses and work with designers. But this was the freebie that we’d never dreamed of -- the cover of House Beautiful magazine! We immediately poured over every detail of the article and were thrilled to read about this talented designer and her creative and quirky house in Atlanta. And we were enormously proud that a painting by our very own Monsieur Nasri graced the walls of her amazing sitting room – and upon further inspection, the living room as well!

Spot the Nasri over the mantle?

Monsieur Nasri’s work has universal appeal, but he is especially appreciated among the designer community. His work was also recently featured in Charlotte Moss’s room at the 2008 Kips Bay Show House. So it was no surprise to see him pop up in a beautifully decorated house by a talented Atlanta based designer. Bravo to Georges, and hats off to Jill for her exquisite taste.

By the way, since we became aware of the article, we've now seen lots of coverage of Jill Brinson's gorgeous house, most recently in yesterday's Cote de Texas blog. What a funny coincidence! But the attention on Jill's house is no surprise: It is deservedly delicious. If you haven't feasted your eyes on it yet, this is a treat for you to savor!

Enjoy,

Ta ta,

A.

Jill Brinson's Rustic and Luxurious Design

Understated elegance in the foyer

A place to compose your thoughts in the library

Bright and airy kitchen

Wall of windows in the kitchen

Tranquil dining room

Functional simplicity in the master bathroom

Master bedroom

Interior designer Jill Brinson, owner of Jill Sharp Style and also Creative Director of Ballard Designs, mixes rough, salvaged beams with Moroccan tapestries and industrial steel shelves in her renovated cottage home in Atlanta.

Visit Cote de Texas and House Beautiful for additional information.

By Lisa Cregan

Photo Credit: Simon Upton