Friday Favorites 9/16/2011

September 16, 2011

Paula M. Bodah, Senior Editor
Whether you call it a porch, a deck, a piazza or a lanai, it’s probably your favorite spot in the warmer months. Relaxing on the porch, at home but still out in nature, is a homeowner’s great joy. Porch, a compact little book from Down East, celebrates these outdoor spaces with photos by Brian Vanden Brink (whose work has often graced the pages of New England Home) and text by Richard Grant. I’ll be gazing wistfully at my copy this winter when my snow-covered deck is off limits.

Karin Lidbeck Brent, Contributing Editor
Stacks of these colorful quilted coverlets caught my attention at Suit Your Mood, a small boutique in Woodbury, Connecticut. Each is a kaleidoscope of creative graphic patterns, organic shapes, animals, flora and fauna hand-dyed and hand-appliquÃ©d in India.

Imagine these colorful textiles as a sophisticated accent over the back of a white sofa, or as a playful coverlet on a child’s bed… but, thinking outside of the box, I would love to see them made into fabulous curtains, as a headboard for a bed or even upholstered over a large ottoman or covering a lounging chaise. What a statement that would make!

Kyle Hoepner, Editor-in-Chief
Oh, no! I thought it could never happen, but we seem finally to have pushed our audaciously talented, preternaturally workaholic Homes Editor Stacy Kunstel just a bit too far. Close on the heels of an overlong day of photography recently in Southport, Connecticut, the following image appeared in my in-box. Luckily the collapse seems to have occurred after all the necessary interiors had been captured in pixels, and you’ll be able to peruse the results in our next issue of New England Home’s Connecticut, due out at the end of September.