The Holiday Season at Hound Hill Design

Wishing you all the most magical holiday! Now that the store has been decorated I am off to bake the cookies....

The holiday theme for the village of Southampton is white. Well, that is easy for me! The front display window of the store ready for the season. The winter white owl watches the activity in the courtyard in front of the store and out on the street...see some of my favorite ornaments on the little tree including the polar bear in front. Remember to click on any photo to enlarge to see details...

Close up shot of this pretty arrangement of greenery with my favorite dogs in the background.

I love these charming gilded quails so much I use them all year round at home.
The floral Bennison pillows are perfect to add a bit of red for a holiday theme.

Old peely cracked planter is perfect for this holiday display.

I like these burlap covered dining chairs mixed in with the elegant Limoge plates. And of course the mix of white with the dark oak dining table custom made in England. Overhead is a chalk white horn chandelier.

Nice vintage swan decoy with original horse shoe weight underneath.

My current favorite piece in the store: this large old wood mirror has a great texture on the frame. Nice heavy stone planter with the paper whites just starting to give off their heady fragrance. New natural selenite snow ball votives sparkle when lit.

This chair just arrived at the store. Very exciting to unpack something with the winning combination of good looking and comfortable.

Twigs and flowers have white and silver sparkle all over - so pretty!

Oooh... Santa just arrived. Oh, my mistake, just the FedEx guy with new merchandise!

Have to go back to work now.

Wishing you all a warm and wonderful holiday with your friends and family....

Hamptons Cottages & Gardens Ads

Summer 2010
July / 2010

August / 2010

August / 2010

Labor Day / 2010

This year for the first time we have advertised in Hamptons Cottages & Gardens magazine with a 40,000+ circulation. I put many hours into styling and photographing the merchandise from our store and I am happy to say it worked! I would love to hear which is your favorite shot – and remember to click on any photo to enlarge.

Hope everyone had a wonderful summer!

PUBLISHED!!

A petite pretty lady showed up enexpectedly at my store and we started having a friendly conversation that led to her coming over the next day to my home.

Jacqueline de Montravel, the editor of Romantic Homes magazine, together with Jickie Torres put together this wonderful article about my home and store in their current issue. Needless to say, we are thrilled with the outcome!

Jacqueline travels coast to coast, most recently meeting with Brooke over at Velvet and Linen
for an upcoming article in Romantic Homes.

Have a look - Don't you think she has done a great job of combining all these photos into a cohesive collage focusing in on the brown, blue, and coral colors shown both at home and at the store? And please notice my beloved whippet, Tigger. She would not budge from her blankie heaven on the sofa even for Romantic Homes magazine!

Click on any photo to enlarge to see detail.

Bedroom/ Before, After and a Contest!

Hound Hill Design starts a new project. After many years of a blue bedroom it was time for a much needed fresher look.

Interior design by Hound Hill Design.
Custom headboard, curtains, bedcover, pillows, furnishings and accessories all from Hound Hill Design custom department and our store. Please contact us for design consultation, product questions or to purchase @ 631.377.3165.

Remember to click on any photo to enlarge.

Ceiling fan and old vents are removed, and fresh coats of paint are put on. New dark wood wide planked floors would have been our first choice, but the wall to wall carpet had to stay.

Sketching the proposed headboard directly on the primed walls! We wanted to make sure the wonderful detailed curves and nailhead were going to show above the pillows.

A start for a new design scheme. As you will see, the room became much less busy than what is shown on this first board. The gorgeous, heavily textured hyacinth wallpaper was used in the hallway leading into the bedroom.

Completed new bedroom enveloped in cream linen making a much more serene, light feeling room. The side table will eventually be replaced when just the right piece comes along and a beautiful simple crystal chandelier is on its way.

Close up showing the rich color of the aubergine velvet European square pillows, the intricately patterned China Seas fabric used on the long pillow, and the lavender silk monogrammed boudoir pillow.

Again, showing you the bedroom before, and after completion of the project. Now, our contest question for all of you:

WHO SLEEPS HERE?

Analyze who this room was designed for - what personality would be happy here? If there are twenty or more comments coming in, the person closest to answering correctly wins something special shown in the room... so put your design minds to work!

A GREAT SALE! HHD WEEKLY PICK No.2

Description: Hand Painted Rooster Motif Table - Wood Top/ Metal Base

Measures: 30"Diameter x 30"High

Design Ideas: Great in a kitchen area or as a side table

1 - In stock

Original Price: $1820.00

SALE through JAN 22: $500.00

Description: One Pair of Stationery Curtain Panels / Fabric: Brunschwig & Fils Linen

Design Ideas: Multi colored on off white background adds warmth to any room

1 - Pair in stock

Original Price: $1600.00

SALE through JAN 22: $900.00/ pair

Description: Wheat Sheath Chairs - Walnut Wood with Rush Seat

Measures: 18"Wide x 20.5"Deep x 38"High

Design Ideas: Small scale, very comfortable - ideal for kitchen or dining area or as an extra pull up chair.

4 - In stock

Original Price: $425.00

SALE through JAN 22: $250.00/ea

Please call us @ 631.377.3165 for additional information or to purchase.

A GREAT SALE! - HHD WEEKLY PICK No.1

To start off the New Year in a nice way we thought here at Hound Hill Design we would start something new that perhaps you would all like. We will be offering every Monday a different favorite item from our store at a very special price for that week only. It only takes one or two unique pieces to give a whole new look to your room... so here is our first selection - hope you like it! Please give us a call for more information or to purchase.

Description: Beautiful oversized custom rectangular 100% linen pillow with matched pattern on both sides, self flange and zipper closure. Feather/down pillow stuffer included. Color: Grey and white

Measures: 36"Long x 22" High

Design Ideas: Use this as your center pillow on your sofa flanked by two square pillows for real impact or as part of a collection of pillows on your bed.

Original price: $360.00
SALE thru JAN 10: $185.00 SOLD!

Holiday Season at Hound Hill Design

The shop prepared for the 2009 Holiday season.

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Getting Attention!

You have about thirty seconds to get a potential clients attention as they walk down Jobs Lane in Southampton - so the display window is very important. I have to admit that I am sure other stores plan windows months in advance but that is not how it works for me. I need to be inspired and then I work very quickly to put it together. During my daily blog reading over at Willow Decor/ http://www.willowdecor.blogspot.com/ - I discover the beautiful grain sack pillows from 3 Fine Grains/ http://www.3finegrains.com/ - I contact Kymberley and before I know it we are doing a trunk show together at the shop! This window shows her unique pillows. Of course I put my favorite stork pillow on the chair. Another favorite piece is the vintage English zinc top garden table shown with her large rectangular pillow resting on top of it. Kymberley uses wonderful pillow stuffers in each of her pillows - they are full and soft. Remember to click on any photo to see the details. Any advice on how to shoot through glass would be much appreciated!

Quickly I put the next window together after the trunk show is over using the same basic layout switching and adding a few pieces literally in about twenty minutes. English florals are not my current favorite, however this window brought many people into the store. Having said that, I do love that Bennison print on the pillow on the chair which is backed with another Bennison soft taupe large scale damask. I like this as an accent in a room full of cream linen. Pure elegance....

This was the favorite window of the summer. Although blue and white is a favorite color combination out here in the Hamptons, I wanted to make a display that used these colors but in a different way other than the classic nautical. Those beautiful large urns sold the first day in the window as well as the pillows. Isn't the backdrop fabric drop dead dramatic? This fabric started the window display.

And this is my favorite window. The background colors appeal to me. I love everything displayed here! I bought that beautiful antique angel wing knowing that I might be the only one to appreciate it and therefore own it! Joni over at Cote de Texas/ http://www.cotedetexas.blogspot.com/ - provoked a lively discussion awhile back about tableskirts - but I think it is very elegant made in a greige colored linen with a pure linen bullion fringe. Wouldn't the fabric shown on the back board look fabulous as simple curtains in a room full of linen covered furniture and stone accessories? Which is your favorite display window?

Start to Finish

Now to recap from the first day finding the new shop location showing the former tenants belongings....

To this after lots of paint....

To this summer vignette opening week of the shop - all in a rushed four weeks!

Pressure to Open

Things are shaping up! Hound Hill has a proper sign. This is something I was never able to get for my former store location due to a whole host of reasons - so I made sure this time there was no question about getting legal signage. Here my friend is putting on the final coat of paint in my favorite grey/taupe color. The sun is out and everything has turned green. So different from the first time I saw the shop in March!

Remember to click on any photo to enlarge....

We start bringing in the larger furniture. At the warehouse my movers look worried looking at the large sofa. They let me know that they don't think the sofa will fit through the front door of the shop. I let them know that is not an option - it MUST fit - and thankfully it does! In this instance one of my worst traits of not listening to anyone pays off!

We place the furniture in the front display window just to see exactly how much is going to fit. Lots of experimenting here as it is the first window!

I decide to also decorate the back office. Since much of my time is spent here I thought I should make it nice enough for clients to come way in to the back and for me to enjoy my surroundings. This is going to take a bit of work here! I am thinking sort of Anglo-Raj/Caribbean: grasscloth on the walls, sisal for the floor, billowing (!) white linen sheer curtain over the door, white fabric and framed shells. Don't you think having beautiful things around you is constantly inspiring?

You see - look how messy it is already! This is the fabric area in the back of the store and you can see all the favorite colors used in the Hamptons being stacked up: blue, beige, cream, and all shades of white.

Here is the first window display backboard ready to be hung up with the Designers Guild wallpaper. I think it is quite eye catching and very fresh looking.

Getting the side display window ready. Love that pale blue octopus print!

Starting to work on the dining room vignette. Of course you would never put all these chairs together - but in a small store you must display as much as possible.

And here is the first display window. The night before opening my good friend Victoria quickly made this curtain panel so that we could take down the paper from the windows and open up the store! A little skimpy with no lining or interlining but fine for display. Click on the photo to see the pretty details in the window: crackled green garden stool, pale blue pillow with white embroidery,and the gorgeous tassel . I learn from this first window that in the strong sunlight these beautiful soft serene colors disappear. Moving forward the display fabrics are bolder and more vibrant. That pale aqua proved to be a very popular color for summer 2009. The store has opened for the Hamptons season!