Posted By admin on July 9, 2010
Jeanette Chasworth, whom clients call the House Whisperer, designs interiors with both her client and the house in mind. Jeanette has a unique ability to create warm, elegant spaces full of color and texture that not only express the personality of the owner, but also embody the individuality of the house itself. If you want to live in a house that welcomes you home and recharges your spirit, you will want Jeanette to be your House Whisperer.
Posted By admin on April 18, 2011
All eyes are on Britain. The upcoming wedding has got the world in a tizzy. Amongst all the bad news that the media loves to revel in, we have a wonderful wedding to look forward to. A new wedding, the hope of a brand new future, a new beginning and the sparkling innocence and reaffirming of love. Yes, I think we need this hope. And for many of us, it brings back memories of Diana and Charles. And even though she isn’t here anymore, somehow this wedding seems to have her blessing, she is definitely part of it. Because of the media, or because of the level of royal spectacle but you can’t help but look at this young couple and think, “Mum would be proud.”
There are more than eyes on these royal lovebirds. They, like many royals past, have become trendsetters. Kate’s fashions are mimicked all over the shops and the colors she wears are influencing fashions of all kinds. Copies of “the ring” are available from numerous sources. Her hats are recreated and you know, when the wedding dress is finally revealed, there will be designers rushing to their sketchbooks to create dresses that imitate Kate’s dress. Like Diana, people are looking at Kate for a sense of fashion and mimicking it. But it doesn’t just stop there. The same elements in her clothes and colors she chooses are also being seen in home goods as well. And while it’s been a long time since the “British invasion” of the 80’s, now there are union jacks everywhere. This wedding, this couple, is celebrating so much more than a wedding and sharing it with the world.
This elegant, dramatic, public wedding is bringing out more elegant, extravagant fabrics and furniture. For awhile, people were afraid to appear frivolous and veered away from these things but now, the furniture trends are embracing these ideas. We need to have some luxury. We need to have some fun. We need to be in touch with our inner princess even if it’s just in small doses. There is a lot more “bling” out there in furniture - more mirror, more crystal, more dramatic pieces - that say “hey look at me”. A little bit of luxury can go a long way in feeling special and people are beginning to desire that elegance again.
This is not the first time however that royalty has had this much effect. For centuries, furniture styles were named after the monarch in power at the time. Some really cared about style, some didn’t but the style was named after them. In the design world, these names are common, Elizabethan, Tudor, William and Mary, Louis XIII, Louis XIV, Louis XV and the list goes on. It has been intriguing to me to see how this wedding has had an affect on my industry and will continue to do so for awhile.
In the meantime, my best wishes to the young couple and I wish you a life of happiness.
Posted By admin on March 18, 2011
So, as many of you know, I have been working on my pond and it has taught me quite a few lessons. One I talked about a few blogs ago is the importance of asking for help. The second one has much more deep reaching affects.
It starte
d with the solar pond pump. Every morning I would get up and see if it was working, the sun was catching it and did the raccoons decide if it was a toy or not. That wasn’t a big deal but it was “one more thing on my list.” It quickly became routine and I really didn’t think about it. Then we got electricity out there and that actually caused more problems. Who would think that something to make things easier would make it harder? The electricity was nice but now there were issues with the spitter. First was the Frog. The frog was a large ceramic piece that had been adapted to be a spitter, the new pump was pretty powerful and the noise of the water falling the 18″ or so from his mouth into the pond was way too loud. I could hear it halfway around the house and while nobody complained, I am sure the neighbors didn’t like it. Then I got clever and put a nozzle on it with a lighter spray. You would think that would solve the problem. It did solve the problem of the noise but then there wasn’t a constant stream of water flow, sometimes it would spit far, sometimes closes. Inevitably, the water would end up OUTSIDE the pond. So then I was checking on the pond level, several times a day to make sure the fish had water.
As you can imagine – that got boring, so then I got a turtle. The turtle had worked well with the solar pump so it seemed like a good choice. Nope. The nozzle in the turtle’s mouth was too small and it would get “stuck.” Once again its spitting distance constantly changed and I would have to watch it several times a day.
Enter plan D. I found a fish, the fish has a larger nozzle and it’s close to the ground so that the noise of the water spilling into the pond isn’t so loud. Guess what? This works. In the meantime, I had created a habit of watching the pond several times a day. It caused a great deal of stress but because it came on slowly, I really didn’t notice how much until I had finally found the right tool to make it work without my constant attention. It’s taken a few days but I can finally go back to just feeding the fish and letting the pond take care of itself.
I find that there are many things we do in our lives that resemble this. Could I have solved the problem quicker if I had asked for help? Yes. Could it have saved me sleepless nights and lots of stress if I knew someone who knew the right tools? YES. But I didn’t realize how much it was interfering in my life.
Do you have something like that going on in your life? In your home? Does that door always stick but you are used to the extra tug so you don’t fix it? Does the toilet handle need to be jiggled in order to work but you don’t even realize it anymore? Does the garage light work backwards – push up to shut off, down to turn on – but that’s just the way it is? Do you have to walk too far to put your dishes away but that’s where they put the pantry? Do you hit your knee on the side of the Roman tub every day when you take a shower, but it’s just the way it is? Do you put your clothes on chairs because there’s no room in your badly designed closet?
What are you compensating for? What if you didn’t have to worry about it anymore? What if a change could make your home not just prettier but easier to live in? What if it could save you time and save you energy so you could enjoy your spouse, kids or pets? What if you could have less stress in your life and actually feel comfortable and safe in your home?
Design isn’t just about being pretty. It’s about HOW you live and making your home WORK for you! What have you let slip away? What has become hard? What if you could have the right tool and the right information to erase it? Don’t put up with unnecessary complications in your life.
Chasworth Place