Friday Favorites 10/28/2011

Kyle Hoepner, Editor-in-Chief
Today I can’t resist sharing this photo of our contributing editor, Karin Lidbeck Brent. It was taken by gifted photographer (and, not coincidentally, frequent New England Home contributor) Laura Moss as the two of them worked to style and photograph a charming house that will appear in the next issue of New England Home’s Connecticut.

New England Home contributing editor Karin Lidbeck Brent at work

In case you’re wondering, the house belongs to and is decorated by New Preston–based antiques dealer Paulette Peden. Here are three more glimpses of what Karin and Laura have created for our readers’ delectation in January

All photos by Laura Moss, produced and styled by Karin Lidbeck Brent

Paula M. Bodah, Senior Editor
Thos. Moser‘s new Ellipse collection is a perfect example of the company’s talent for blending utility and beauty. The collection of midcentury modern pieces–a collaboration between father and son Tom and David Moser–is simple and clean, totally practical and thoroughly beautiful. Like everything that comes out of the company’s Auburn, Maine, workshop, the Ellipse pieces are handcrafted using traditional techniques. They not only look great, they’re built to last for generations.

The dining table and chairs look light and airy with their slender legs, but mortise-and-tenon construction ensures their durability. In the Mosers’ words, they have “strength without mass,†an apt description. The company makes a square table, too, for smaller spaces.

Photos courtesy of Thos. Moser

The sideboard has a confident simplicity with its tapered legs, exposed end grain and elliptical drawer pulls. Like the table and chairs, the sideboard can be crafted from cherry, shown here, or walnut.

Cheryl Katz, Contributing Editor
Sometime during the early 1970s, my parents, after years of scrimping, finally had enough money saved to refurbish our living room. My mother, priding herself on knowing just what best suited her taste, decided that what the room desperately needed was a modern approach.

She recovered our well-worn sofa in a graphic black-and-white fabric, painted a pair of 1950s Louis XIV chairs white and added a white lacquer Parsons table, on which she displayed an oversized black lamp and a black tin toile vase that she stuffed with white silk blossoms. (Did I mention that she planted the whole mix on emerald green wall-to-wall carpet?)

At the time, I remember being more than a little embarrassed by the bold room, preferring the more tasteful floral fabric interiors of my friends’ houses. Now, some forty years later, I think my mother just might have been a trendsetter. At any rate, she certainly would be pleased with my Friday Favorites.

Hugo Guinness drawing, photo courtesy of johnderian.com

Shyrdak felt pillows, photo courtesy of lavivahome.com

Almonds Ink rug, photo courtesy of dwellstudio.com