Creamy Corn Soup

Carolyne Roehm photo

Hello Everyone! I hope you are all in for a marvelous Sunday. In my little part of the world, the weather has turned cold and gray-- just perfect for enjoying the warmth inside. So for lunch today, I'm making a rich and creamy corn soup. It's not for dieters; buy hey, everyone needs a "free day" or  two, right? The recipe is from Carolyne Roehm, created by Nancy who works for Carolyne at her Weatherstone estate in Connecticut. I have made several of Nancy's recipes, and they're always delicious.

   Carolyne Roehm photo

The ingredients:

1 tablespoon butter

1 tablespoon olive oil

3/4 cup coarsely chopped shallots

1 tablespoon chopped garlic

2 pounds frozen corn or 4 cups fresh off the cob

1 quart 1% milk

1 1/2 cups chicken broth

3 tablespoons creme fraiche

sage leaves (garnish)

salt and pepper to taste

The directions:

1.In a medium sized soup pot on medium high heat, melt the butter with the olive oil and add the shallots and garlic.  Saute for 3 minutes, add the corn and the milk and bring to boil.  Reduce the heat to low and simmer for 15 minutes.  remove from heat and cool for 10 minutes.

2.  Process in a blender in 3 batches adding 1/2 cup of chicken broth and 1 tablespoon of creme fraiche to each batch and blend on high speed until smooth.  Add salt and pepper to taste. Re-heat if necessary, then add fried sage leaves on top, for garnish and serve.  

3.  Can be made ahead and refrigerated up to 3 days.  

Enjoy the soup, and enjoy your Sunday!

xo Keri

A Pam Pierce Project

Houston designer Pam Pierce works her magic on this family room. A large French blue cabinet from Watkins Culver sets the stage. Sapphire Fortuny pillows add a splash of color.

Ever since Houston interior designer Pamela Pierce entered my consciousness several years ago, I have eagerly gobbled up stories and photos from her many beautiful design projects. Betty Lou Phillips books, Veranda magazine articles and numerous blog posts have all been the object of my rapt attention when interiors by Pam Pierce have been featured. Never fussy or stuffy, Pam's designs appeal to an aesthetic of simple elegance. 

The round dining table is surrounded by dining chairs slip-covered in linen from Rose Tarlow. Elegant dusty blue silk taffeta curtains puddle on the floor.

In this home, featured by Antiques Shops and Designers magazine, Pam collaborated with the homeowner, Ollabelle, to create interiors for Ollabelle and her husband's newly constructed home. Ollabelle is described as a woman of great energy and strong opinions, & she wanted to be very involved in every aspect of her new home project. She also loves the colors red and purple. When I thought about the many Pam Pierce houses that I've seen, I couldn't recall seeing red many times if any, and I could recall purple in muted or grayish tones. Without seeing how these colors have been put together you might think (at least I did) -- red & purple? More like a grand convening of The Red Hat Society than a home with the Pam Pierce "look". But never fear, team Pam and Ollabelle, under Pam's expert and talented lead, have created interiors that are both serene and interesting. Broad swaths of white as well as blue & white porcelains are used throughout the house and have a uniting effect.

In the kitchen cabinets are a deep, plummy red and coordinate perfectly with the tiles over the range. 

In the family room which adjoins the kitchen, a pair of French winery doors hang to separate the two rooms. The deep red color of the doors also ties in with the reds from the kitchen. 

In the guest bedroom gray and white stripes on the walls, white bedspreads and linen bedskirts set atop sea grass carpet combine for a look that is fresh and very Pam Pierce. 

In the master bedroom, the homeowner's love of purple is indulged in deep aubergine on the custom mohair velvet headboard and skirt and purple Fortuny on the pillows and bench.

In the home's library, comfortable chairs are slipped in a soft purple stripe. Blue and white porcelain is again used in this room as it is throughout the house.

To view more Pam Pierce inspiration visit here online gallery HERE. Antiques Shops & Designers magazine is available through Barnes & Noble stores. It is a relative new-comer to the magazine stands & is a real treat; definitely worth a look.

Have a blissful weekend, my friends!

xo Keri

Inspiration in White

Hi Friends, Happy Friday! Isn't there something so fabulous about Friday? I think so. I love spending Friday nights filled with fun and people I love,  then getting up early on Saturday mornings, (because I don't have to) and taking in as much of the weekend as I can, indulging in favorites-- books, blogs, pastimes and family. 

And speaking of favorites-- white is one of them, especially in the wintertime. I know that white is usually associated with summer, but its contributions to the beautiful when the weather is cold and the light is scarce are also fantastic. With its light-reflecting qualities it brightens up dark winter days, and depending on the light that is cast onto it, its hue can run the spectrum becoming at varying times creams, greens, grays and more. In these photos white is not at all stark or cold. It is at once warm and refreshing.

Above photos Campagne Deocoration

Country Living, this photo & next 3

The White Company

Have a beautiful weekend!

xo Keri

Small House - Grand Style

A few weeks ago my husband and I spent a decent part of Friday evening, after we had tucked the kiddos into bed, discussing the state of the economy and its effects, and our own goals-- where we are with them and what parts of them need tweaking. The "needs tweaking" list was, shall we say, healthy and robust. Why do things take so much longer to accomplish than I originally plan? Probably because patience is not my natural-born virtue, but I digress. One of the items on the "To Tweak" list was the size, layout and overall practicality of our daughters' rooms. That's code for: Wouldn't it be so much easier to be organized if we had a bigger house?!

Our daughters are eight and two, and particularly the 8-year-old (who has recently let us know that she is now teenager-ish) has an ever-growing assortment of interests, activities and all the accompanying stuff treasures. So I was completely thrown off the morning after the economy conversation when she told us (I'm not making this up) that she wanted to trade rooms with her sister whose room is considerably smaller! She said it would be easier to stay organized in a smaller room. (huh?!) I thought maybe our conversation the night before had been overheard, but no, it turned out that she was just ready for what she considered more grown-up digs. Despite the smaller bedroom's diminutive square footage, it has ceilings that rise to 14 feet & are outfitted with wood beams, and there are tall casement windows that let in tons of natural light, & to her it was cozier. So we gave our okay. I found her move across the hall very telling. She left behind almost everything in her old room & asked me to put them somewhere else. All she wanted to take to the "new" room was her bed, desk, a lamp, a few very special toys and her books. Apparently, she had learned an early lesson in editing. (A complete post on her room later.)

My little girl's mini-editing lesson is age-old and for lots of people one that is worth repeating frequently not just for practicality or necessity, but for style as well. Thoreau touted the virtues of living simply and discussed the possibility of making ones life less complex by living in a small space. Churchill said, "Out of intense complexities, intense simplicities emerge." And Leonardo DaVinci said that "Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication."

Sophistication in simplicity is what this beautiful, hewn limestone San Antonio home is all about.  I have kept photos of it in my files as a go-to for edited elegance without being at all minimalist and cold. When the owner, antiques dealer and interior design consultant Linda Keenan first saw it she said, "The house was small, but I sensed it wanted to be grand. I knew I would put grand things in it." You may remember it from the cover of Veranda magazine a few years ago.  Linda paid close attention to the the scale of each room adding oversized architectural pieces and large antique furnishings for drama. The walls of the house were stripped to its bones, then replastered, waxed and buffed.

A view of the living room. The ceiling was made from wood salvaged from old barns and a schoolhouse, then coffered and painted with Texas animal scenes painted in 18th century style. The pine floors are original to the house and were stripped and left bare.

Another view of the living room. The French 18th century limestone fireplace surround adds a feeling of greatness. The view of the adjoining room past antique English doors makes you wonder whats just around the corner.

And just around the corner in the room that adjoins the living room a pretty wall of windows lets in the Texas sunlight. The tile floor is original to the house.

On the other side of the room is a 17th century French sofa covered in 19th century linen. The large European limestone saint figure is in keeping with the grand scale of the furnishings. Linda was careful not to "clutter" the small spaces with too many little things that would've made the rooms feel smaller. The gorgeous ceiling and doors were designed by local architect Don B. McDonald who was hired to help with the renovation.

An antique French trestle table is combined with Italian 18th century church benches. So charming! The torch is an Italian antique. The shutter panels are from an antique Spanish cupboard.

French street cobblestones cover the wall over an 18th century butcher block in the kitchen alongside a Lacanche stove.

To me, the prettiest room in the house is the master bedroom. The ceiling is again reclaimed barn wood. The canopy and side tables are French, 18th century. Toile bed hangings are 18th century antiques as well.

I love this house for the obvious visual treat that it is. But secondly, it is a fantastic reminder of the optical illusions that can make a small house seem bigger and grander.

• Use a limited color palette that flows throughout the entire house. Notice how the walls of this house are the same color throughout, and with the exception of the exposed limestone walls, the same texture too.
•  Don't clutter a small space with lots of tiny items. Use fewer well-selected pieces of grander scale to create the illusion of space. The tapestries used throughout this house are a great example.
• Use antiques when you can to give a small space, any space for that matter, character and depth. When it isn't possible to use antiques, use pieces that were created in traditional period style to create a feeling of warmth rather than sparseness.
• And this last item has nothing to do with space, it's here just because. Add fresh florals. They can bring a room to life. In this house all the floral arrangements are either soft coral tones or white - another example of the restrained use of color. The floral arrangements are all by Danny Cuellar's Trinity Flowers in San Antonio.

And wherever in the world you happen to live, big or small, grand or not-so-grand, I hope you dream great-big, grand dreams! 

xo Keri

Perfect English

There is something so endearing to me about English homes. I love looking through British publications for that unpretentious, un-staged, timeless look of comfort and elegance. When I see a gorgeous English home in photographs, reality is suspended for just a second, & I'm sure I could just step through the page, knock on the door and be welcomed by a gracious English host speaking in that lovely British accent, a cup of Earl Grey tea and a chair with overstuffed down cushions to settle into.

Great English houses look like there is never the need to rush around and make everything pristine for guests because the style of the house allows for the beauty of being lived in; the interiors show signs of life and of lives lived fully. Stacks of well-worn books, collected treasures from travels, gathered floral arrangements, displayed family photographs in vintage silver frames and the family pets lying lazily about the house all contribute to the look of imperfect perfection.  The mix of styles and influences strike such a pleasant balance. Furniture with French influence mingles happily with Chinese export porcelain, chinoiserie and bamboo, domestic family heirlooms, floral chintz, and wall-to-wall seagrass carpet.

So with my fondness for English style, you can imagine my delight when I recently discovered Kate Forman, an English textile company that produces pretty linens, decorative accessories, trimmings and wallpapers, influenced somewhat by 19th century French style, and all handmade and printed in England. While inspiration photos from a product line like Kate Forman are certainly staged, the style of the wares themselves are perfectly lent to the look of a "lived-in" English home and lifestyle.

Cushions in a mixture of Kate Forman's printed linens.

Christmas stockings are constructed from a variety of Kate Forman's velvets and printed linens.

A drop-dead gorgeous sofa upholstered in 'Red Velvet', a soft but rich red with a hint of pink.

A chair upholstered in 'Red Ticking' linen fits the current linen-ticking-stripe-rage perfectly. The window shade is 'Roses' in raspberry reds, pinks and sage greens.

A wing chair looking glamorous in 'Red Velvet'. Drapery is 'Isobella'.

Settee upholstered in 'Sage Roses'; window shade in 'Green Ticking'; drapery fabric is 'Sage Eliza'.

Chair upholstered in a classic French check: 'Blue Check' linen, 'Red Ticking' for drapery.

The cat soaks up some sun next to a pretty drapery in linen 'Sprig' trimmed in red 'Pom Pom'.

Window shades in 'Blue Roses'; chairs 'Cameo Ribbons Swedish Blue' and 'Blue Check; tablecloth is 'Blue Eliza'.

Reading chair is slipcovered in 'Roses'.

Just the right shade of blue: drapery in 'Cameo Ribbons Swedish Blue'.

Cushions in 'Blue Velvet' and 'Cameo Rose'.

So pretty in 'Amelia', a faded design with the softest pink and grey.

Bedding in 'Isobella' and 'Pink Ticking'.

What can I say? Is this not the perfect room for the dapper young lad? Bedding in 'Red Ticking' stripe with 'Red Velvet' cushions.

Lamp shade and cupboard drapery in 'Matilda'. Stuffed toy bear in 'Agatha'. 

Upholstery in 'Agatha'; bedding in 'Kitty'.

Chair in 'Duck Egg Christobel'. Sconce shades in 'Cameo Rose'.

Charming pattern mixing with headboard slipcovered in 'Cameo Rose', bedding in 'Blue Roses' and cushion in 'Roses'.

Another mix of patterns: 'Pandora' on chair, 'Cameo Rose' chair cushion and headboard upholstery. 'Red Ticking' appears to have been combined with a plain linen for a creative and attractive window shade.

Bathroom with a light and airy feel outfitted in 'Agatha' linen.

 'Pink Sophia' and 'Agatha' are combined to make a sweet spot to slumber.

These laundry sacks are perfect for travel or hiding the laundry anytime.

For more room inspiration visit Kate Forman HERE where you can also request brochures and cuttings.

Last, but not least, I discovered Kate Forman through the beautiful blog The Paper Mulberry, written by Glenda Steel who is renovating a 500 year old, Grade II listed Elizabethan farmhouse in England. I love going to her site for great room inspiration. Visit her HERE.

Have a beautiful weekend, my friends!

-Keri