StyleCarrot

Sunday Bouquet: Rustic Autumn Centerpiece

Roses and greenery in a scooped out log.
Cachepot Floral Design

Design Diary: Boston Design Home’s Net Zero Energy House

Sunday is the last day to see Boston Magazine’s Design Home. This year, Design Home is a net-zero energy house, built, owned, and soon to be lived in, by real people. Homeowners Natalie and Tom Treat, along with Ridgeview Construction and National Grid, collaborated with Design Home to promote awareness of energy efficient design and raise money for Boston Children’s Hospital. (Tickets are $25, all of which goes to Boston Children’s Hospital.)

The 2,400-square foot, single-family home in Salisbury, Massachusetts is a brand new modular construction designed by BrightBuilt Home. It features energy efficient building techniques and systems, as well as eco-friendly finishes and furnishings, all from local sources, overseen by architectural and interior designer Lisa Sivan Wasserman.

It’s the last weekend to take the tour and see the whole thing in person. Here’s a preview of some of the spaces, along with decor details you won’t find anywhere else. (I wrote all the copy for the Design House again this year, so I’ve got plenty of extra scoop. If you’re more interested in the energy efficiency aspect, let me know, as I’ve got a lot of information on that as well, and can direct you to the experts.)

In the entry, gray slate tile bridges the exterior and interior and requires minimum maintenance. Sunlight streams through the cut in the family room wall. The elephant mahogany console table on curvilinear steel base, is by Ray Bachand of 60nobscot, and the vintage rug is from Landry & Arcari, which provided the rugs in every room. The Walsingham Gallery in Newburyport provided the artwork throughout the house, often done by local artists depicting local subjects. This seascape in oil is by Robert Bolster.

To the right, the reclaimed antique wood bench with sleek acrylic legs is also from 60nobscot. Low VOC paint from Benjamin Moore was used throughout.

Lynn Dayton of Dayton Home, a home furnishings shop in Wellesley, decorated the family room. Dayton was inspired by natural woods, minerals, grasses and stone. She used natural linen on the windows to reflect the commitment to organic. Plus, they allow for privacy but also light and heat. (Dayton supplied the fabrics for the window treatments, which were sewn by Adorna, a local to the trade custom workroom.) Sofa is by Wesley Hall and glass table lamp Arteriors Home.

The sunroom was an add-on that will make the Treats feel like they’re in the New Hampshire woods, right in their backyard. Low maintenance indoor/outdoor furniture from Yankee Fireplace. I love the unfinished beadboard cathedral ceiling.

The upstairs palette is much lighter, and the vibe more relaxed. A vegetable-dyed, hand-spun wool rug in seafoam green with a terracotta lotus tree pattern from Landry & Arcari provides soft color on the floor. The reclaimed wood flooring throughout was supplied by Jewett Farms + Co. Upstairs they used wide planks of live sawn old growth white oak. The landscape paintings, Darlou Gams‘ diptych “Morning” and “Breezing Marsh,” reinforce the dreamy feel, and a pair of vintage rattan stools found on eBay add texture.

The child’s bedroom, designed by Emily Lacouture of NOW Interiors, a design studio and retail shop in Acton, is playful and sophisticated. The patchwork quilt with animal spine pattern is handmade by a RISD-trained artist Meg Callahan. The stump side table is locally made chainsaw art by Vermont craftsman Barre Pinske and the wooly llama foot stool is by Eli Parker. The life size baby giraffe sculpture by Ocean Sole is made out of flip flops retrieved and recycled from the beaches of Kenya.

On the other side of the room, an abstract cityscape by Boston artist Beatrice Dauge-Kaufman and an on-trend polished copper spotlight sits on a glossy black console.

LaCouture also decorated the guest room, in which she used a hand-painted 1960s vintage folding screen from France as a headboard. The reclaimed wood bench at the foot of the bed is an nice juxtaposition to the smooth pale wood Fan chair by Tom Dixon, which is a contemporary take on the classic Windsor chair. That chunky, handknit throw is delicious.

The master bedroom palette is soft and soothing. Kerry Vaughan of Red Bird Trading Company in Newburyport decorated the room, using a statement making, Phillip Jeffries Driftwood grasscloth-covered four-poster bed by Lee Industries as its centerpiece. A diamond quilted linen coverlet and white linens keeps the palette perfectly pared down, while a locally made linen throw with velvet backing, mohair and velvet throw pillows, and lamp shades custom made in Maine from marbleized paper add a touch of texture and color. The nailhead trim bench, covered in cotton velvet is also Lee Industries. The room is grounded by a wool and silk rib rug in a lustrous gray from Landry & Arcari.

A narrow grasscloth covered console table doubles as a vanity, accessorized with a swirly distressed wood mirror.

The children’s room and guest room share the spa-like blue and white bathroom that opens off the upstairs hall. The space saving vanity is from Peabody Supply Company; its bottom drawer and storage shelf supplement the narrow linen closet next to the shower. Accessories fromNOW Interiors, such as the rattan mirror and aqua striped Turkish towel reinforce the bath’s coastal vibe. Both this and the master bath feature radiant flooring, an energy saving alternative to baseboard heaters.

Kerry Vaughan of Red Bird Trading conjured an artist’s atelier as inspiration. The décor, like that elsewhere in the home, draws from natural elements and sticks to the spirit of using locally made and reworked pieces. An extra long sectional by Lee Industries is upholstered in heavily textured, oyster white Belgian linen, and sits on an overdyed Turkish rug. Above is an industrial style raw brass light fixture.

Under the eaves is a recycled cot from Maine, covered in cowhide.

Another area features a drafting table.

Coastal Windows & Exteriors provided the home’s triple pane argon windows, which reduce solar gain from the sun in summer and prevent heat from escaping in winter. The 27 Sunbug Solar panels on the roof will generate at least as much power as the home uses each year. The Treats expect to have saved enough on energy bills to compensate for the cost of their panels within four to five years. An electric circuit monitor by PowerWise will gather data about how much electric the home’s lighting, appliances, etc. consumes, so they can analyze where to cut back and where waste might be occurring.

Michael J. Lee Photography

• • •

S H O P the P O S T

[show_shopthepost_widget id=”302828″]

Get the Look: 42 Modern Desks For Your Home Office

I’ve been so focused on Florida (though not nearly enough, as I’ve yet to order rugs, shades, or decide on the pink problem in the bathroom), that I’ve neglected organizing and upgrading in Boston. Coming back in the fall from the Cape, I’m always bothered by the amount of stuff we have. Too. Much. Stuff. It’s particularly striking because not only is the place on the Cape a lot bigger, being a house instead of an apartment, it’s white and virtually empty.

Here, in addition to crown moldings and bookshelves lined with coffee table books (one of the best perks of being a blogger), there’s , well, everything. The piles of dishes still not put away from the bar mitzvah in February (because, after all, we’re having another one this coming February), our bicycles in the living room until it gets too cold to ride and we store them, etc.

I’ve been promising my younger son that I would work on his bedroom. Meaning, I would clear out all the outgrown clothing and extra bedding I’ve been keeping in there. Done! He has the upholstered armchair that I used to nurse them on when they were babies. It’s taking up a ton of space that would be better used for a desk. He’s starting to get a fair amount of homework, plus, like me, he’s very organized, so I think he’d love to have drawers where he can store supplies.

Our other son has a little desk from IKEA, which when it’s cleared, he actually likes to use (not for homework, though). When he was away at a boarding school program this summer he lived in student housing, with a room furnished in typical dorm style (by a company like Peelmount) that outfits dorm rooms with sturdy wood beds, desks, and dressers. It’s kind of incredible that those designs haven’t changed, in like, ever. Blocky oak stands the test of time, I suppose. In any case, I’m not looking for anything as practical as all that. A small, affordable, modern desk is all we need.

Here are 42 modern desks, almost all of them well-priced (and one very extravagant example) from StyleCarrot partner sites and other great resources.

S H O P P I N G

1 Soft Modern Writing Desk by Sauder, $210 at All Modern.

2 MICKE desk, $49.99 at IKEA.

3 at All Modern.

4 Phillip Desk by Arteriors Home, $2,520 at All Modern.

5 Finch Desk by Gus Modern, $1,044.75 at Burke Decor.

6 Half Pipe Writing Desk by Offi, $899 at All Modern.

7 Ayers Writing Desk by Reual James, $1,338 at All Modern.

8 Jacques Desk, $3,495 at Jonathan Adler.

9 Homework Desk by Niels Bendtsen, $1,595 at DWR.

10 Reef Writing Desk by Tema, $720 at All Modern.

11 Paul McCobb Style Birch Desk, $2700 at Chairish.

12 Pilson Paprika Desk, $199 at Crate & Barrel.

13 Eames Desk Unit (EDU) by Herman Miller, $1,419 at Room & Board.

14 Rustic Storage Oak Desk, $499 at West Elm.

15 Radford Adjustable Desk in White design by Safavieh, $495 at Burke Decor.

16 Offi Wave Writing Desk, $999 at All Modern.

17 Royal Blue Vintage Campaign Desk, $795 at Chairish.

18 Executive Desk with Cabinet by Jesper Office, $2,374 at Bluefly.

19 Shutter Hall Desk, $1,350 at Furniturea.

20 Marco Desk, $799 at Crate & Barrel.

21 Delphine Desk, $1,950 at Jonathan Adler.

22 Hanh Left Desk by Euro Style, $552 at Burke Decor.

23 Eames Desk Unit (EDU) by Herman Miller, $1,419 at DWR.

24 Contrast Drawer Desk by Assembly Home, $369 at Urban Outfitters.

25 Slim Desk in Orange, $449 at Room & Board.

26 Nelson Swag Leg Desk by George Nelson for Herman Miller, $2,149 at DWR.

27 Mid-Century Desk in Thai Blue, $399 at West Elm.

28 Cant Writing Desk by Blu Dot, $599 at All Modern.

29 Poltrona Frau Fred Desk, $ stat Switch Modern.

30 Format Desk by BDI USA, $1,299 at All Modern.

31 Green Josephine Desk by Cost Plus, $199 at World Market.

32 Reclaimed Pine Cross Base Desk, $499 at West Elm.

33 Manon Desk by Italian Modern, $539.99 at All Modern.

34 Reale Desk by Moe’s Home Collection, $781.76 at Bellacor.

35 Junction Desk by Gus Modern, $1,255 at Burke Decor.

36 Emmerson Reclaimed Wood Storage Desk, $1,299 at West Elm.

37 Scrub Desk by Autobahn for De La Espada, $5,185 at Matter.

38 Fairfax Desk, $495 at Serena & Lily.

39 Companions Writing Desk by StudioIlse, $3,145 at The Future Perfect.

40 Lark Desk, $695 at Serena & Lily.

41 Pontus Desk by Pinch, $11,257 at The Future Perfect.

42 Remix Desk by Gesa Hansen , $3,065 at Matter.

ARTmonday: 12 Artworks from UGallery

I posted about UGallery back in January 2013 (28 Photographs from UGallery), when they asked me to curate a collection on the UGallery Pinterest boards. They’ve invited me to be a UGallery Guest Curator again, which of course I was more than happy to do. Any excuse to Pin as “work.”

True to my fascination (obsession?) with the portrayal of women in art, my recent effort, which can be found on Pinterest and UGallery’s site, is a simple but robust collection of 60 images of women. You may recognize some images as one’s I’ve featured before (sorry, they speak to me, long term), as well as new pieces by artists whose work I’ve featured. There are certainly new ones too.

To go along with my UGallery Guest Curator collection, I’ve pulled together a variety of 12 artworks from UGallery today, including landscapes, abstracts, still lifes, in acrylic, oil, and photography. If you love any, click through and investigate. UGallery prices are quite reasonable and they frame too. I’m about to order one for myself. I’ll show you when it arrives.