Maitland-Smith

Nautical Nantucket

The coasts of North and South Carolina have some beautiful beaches that most of us North Carolinians are very familiar with.  This past market, Maitland-Smith introduced an assortment of items with a coastal, nautical feel with finish names such as "Nantucket White," and "Dark Nantucket."  This made me curious to know more about this northern island, so a quick visit to the Nantucket official town and county website  gave the following information:  

Nantucket Island, "The Faraway Land" as translated from the language of the native Wampanoag tribe is located 30 miles off the south coast of Cape Cod.  The island is 14 miles in length and 3 1/2 miles wide.  It is a beautiful oasis of over 40% conservation land with plentiful beaches accessible to the public for all to respect and enjoy.   

The photo on the left shows how it looks from outer space - from a photo taken by NASA.

The photo on the right shows its location in relation to the rest of Massachusetts. 

Here are Nantucket photos that we can relate to - lots of sun, sand, surf, and sailboats -  in other words ... heaven. 

With this heavenly place as inspiration, Maitland-Smith introduced a new polished teakwood and mahogany game table with Dark Nantucket finish, a leather top, and nickel finished brass accents. This table is sure to remind you of the sleek, clean lines of a classic sailing sloop with fine, hand polished teak detailing and brass accents.   

Next we have the perfect easy chair for relaxing on the porch while enjoying the breeze and reading that best seller. 

It, too, has a Dark Nantucket finish with woven seagrass and slubby linen upholstery. 

Last we switch to the new Nantucket White finish seen on a gorgeous chest of drawers that is perfect for your seaside home.   In a bedroom or hallway, it is functional as well as beautiful. 

 

The top is crushed bamboo and the custom hardware is bamboo-shaped brass.  The drawer fronts have cut-out fretwork, which adds interesting detail. 

There is just something about being near the water that relaxes and restores.  The sound of the waves, the warmth of the sun, and the feeling of toes in the warm sand somehow take the stress away.   

It's great to have a summer cottage, but if you only dream of one, you can do the next best thing and  decorate with a nautical theme. These and more nautical Maitland-Smith items will be available in your local fine furnishings retail store in late fall, ready for you to enjoy.

Elegant and distinctive pieces for your home today, with quality and style to last a lifetime... Do you have a Maitland-Smith treasure?  www.maitland-smith.com

 

 

 

Art Deco A La The Great Gatsby

With the recent release of the movie, The Great Gatsby, our thoughts take us to the 1920's -- to that period of joy and decadence characterizing the ten years leading up to the Great Depression. Jazz and dancing were the rage.  The hair cut for women was the bob, their dresses were short, showing their knees, and times had definitely changed.

Architectural shapes changed during that period as well. 

The Empire State and Chrysler buildings in New York City are examples of Art Deco architecture, having been built in the late 1920's.  Art Deco is the visual arts design style of the period and consisted of rich colors,  bold geometric shapes and lavish ornamentation.    Triangles and straight lines on the top of the Chrysler building make it unique.   

Maitland-Smith  introduced some Art Deco-inspired pieces during the recent April Furniture Market. 

Geometrics are seen in the black waxstone and snow white stone box with brass accents from our new, Celerie Kemble for Maitland-Smith collection. 

Use of mirrors was typical of the period.  An example  is the mirrored bar with black glass top below. 

The table torchere from our lighting collection also reminds us of the Art Deco style.  Made of brass, the finish is a golden bronze patina with a stone base and white stone shade. 

 If you can't resist that young, Leonardo DiCaprio, then The Great Gatsby movie is for you. Perhaps it will have you thinking of the 1920's style in home furnishings as well.  

 www.maitland-smith.com

 

Celerie Kemble for Maitland-Smith

Our exciting new collection, Celerie Kemble for Maitland-Smith, was recently unveiled at the April Furniture market to rave reviews.  

Consisting of lighting, accessories and accent pieces, Celerie's design aesthetic is fresh, innovative, and brimming with personality.  She loves bamboo motifs, and bamboo was seen in her brass and glass bar cart, her place cards, and her wall shelves, just to name a few.  Even the lettering of the company logo is bamboo.  Using stone, an assortment of different shells and leather, her collection is defined with texture, color, and a variety of materials.  Seen here is a small accent table that can easily be moved chairside to hold a drink.  Made of cast brass and glass, the bird's wings are iridescent paua shells. 

Celerie Kemble, interior designer and author, comes from a background of design, growing up the daughter of Mimi Maddock McMakin who founded Kemble Interiors, Palm Beach, in 1982.  Talent is in the genes, so it is natural that Celerie would follow in her mother's footsteps and become a designer herself.  Today she is a partner with her mother in the New York office of Kemble Interiors.

Also partnering with our sister company, Henredon, Celerie designed upholstery and furniture that, with the Maitland-Smith accessories and lighting, create a cohesive, complementary blend.      

Interesting to note that four of the nine High Point Market Authority Style Spotters "spotted" Celerie's pieces as home fashions trends.  These style spotters posted their trend images to a Pinterest board, where they gained points by "likes" and repins of their images.  The winning Style Spotter, Michelle Jennings Wiebe, President of Interior design firm, Studio M, selected two Celerie Kemble pieces as trends: The Henredon Yves dining table and the Maitland-Smith gold gilded polished brass chandelier.  Said she, "I loved, loved, loved Celerie Kemble's new collections!  Impressive."  Congratulations to our new friend, Michelle, for her win!

Other style spotters "spotting" Celerie's pieces included  Stacy Bewkes, Quintessence, Raina Kattleson, A Stylists Life, and Marisa Marcantonio, Stylebeat.  To see the home fashion trends that are hot right now, check out all the Style Spotter's Pinterest Boards.  Some of our other sister companies were also spotted there. 

Celerie's new collections for Maitland-Smith and Henredon will be available through designers and fine furniture retailers in the fall, so be on the lookout. 

 Elegant and distinctive pieces for your home today, with quality and style to last a lifetime.... Do you have a Maitland-Smith treasure?  www.maitland-smith.com/

 

Love Is In The Air

Today is Valentines Day - a special day set aside to express love to those dear to us. 

Red is the color of love, perhaps because it is a deep, passionate color.  Red gets our attention, whether in roses, rubies, or red velvet cake and strawberries!

A red convertible gets all the notice from the girls, and a red front door sets your home apart.

Tradition calls for gifts for our valentines.  Home furnishings can be a great gift for this day because a carefully chosen piece will be in your home for many years to come.   Long after the chocolates have been eaten and the flowers have faded, your home furnishings will continue to add function and style to your home. 

 

Each table in this set of four has a top in one of the shapes of the four card suits.  Inlaid in red leather with brass playing card accents, they are perfect for the game room.  Small and lightweight, they can easily be moved where needed when friends gather. 

 
Shanghai red lacquer is the finish for this handsome writing desk with bamboo motif and inlaid leather on the top and shelves. Custom made antique brass finished pagoda-shaped pulls finish the piece. 

Painted Shanghai red with hand-painted blossoms, the trunk has generous hardware created in our foundry by the centuries old lost-wax brass casting process.  A gorgeous accent piece, it also is functional with storage. 

For your valentine, consider a gift of home furnishings to show your love.  Who knows, you may be rewarded with even more red - red lipstick kisses, that is. 

Elegant and distinctive pieces for your home today, with quality and style to last a lifetime.... Do you have a Maitland-Smith treasure?  www.maitland-smith.com

Let It Snow, Let It Snow, Let It Snow

We woke up this morning to the first snow of the season in Piedmont North Carolina. It looked so beautiful, and made me want to stay indoors, sip hot chocolate while curled up in my easy chair, with a good book in front of the fire. 

There is something about the pop and crackle of a wood burning fire that creates a coziness in a room.  Today more and more houses are forgoing the traditional wood-burning fireplace, for one with gas logs.  True, it is less messy and ready to be enjoyed in an instant, but gas logs really don't compare to the real thing.

If you happen to have the "real thing," you need a functional as well as beautiful fire screen.

  A  functional one has a fine screen to prevent the sparks from hitting the carpet or floor such as this brass, three piece fire screen with the fleur-de-lys front and center.  It has so much detail, from the gallery at the top to the pierced design around the bottom edge.

The feet are cast brass made in our foundry using the centuries old lost wax cast brass process.  This fire screen was introduced during the October furniture market, so it won't be available for a few months.  If you love it as I do, plan now to have this one in front of your fireplace next winter. 

These next two fireplaces are for look and style, rather than function.  

I grew up in a home that had the "real thing," but I too, have given in to the convenience of gas logs.  That being the case, there is still room in front of a gas logs fireplace to make a design statement.

This may not be the last of our winter snows, so get the cocoa and marshmallows ready.     We really don't need the excuse of snow to enjoy the warmth and coziness of a fire in the fireplace.  Cheers!

 Elegant and distinctive pieces for your home today, with quality and style to last a lifetime...Do you have a Maitland-Smith treasure?    www.maitland-smith.com 

 

 

 

 

 

Shelf Confidence

The holidays are over and it's too early to think about gardening, and besides that, it's cold outside.  While we are spending time indoors,  it's a good opportunity to begin to get things organized.

One great way is to add to your home some gorgeous bookcase shelving, which can be welcome additions to most rooms of the house.  Besides holding books, bookcases can be used to showcase prized possessions, photos, decorative objects or whatever you love and want to see every day. 

Let's start with considering a large, grand bookcase that is loaded with detail as seen in the moldings and carvings.  It even has a rolling ladder to help reach the top shelves.  The center shelves are wood surrounding glass so that the lighting from above can shine through from top to bottom.  This bookcase has plenty of shelves for a variety of displayed items as well as several lower cabinets with doors for stashing items out of sight, yet within reach when needed.  

At the other extreme is this smaller display cabinet with glass shelves for your treasures. 

This one will fit in anywhere as it's width is only 16".  The mahogany is hand-carved and the doors are glazed.  Two drawers and a cabinet below add additional storage space.

Bookcases and display cabinets can be found in all styles, from contemporary, clean lines, to 18th century carvings and pediments, or no embellishment at all.   Finishes can range from beautiful mahogany's and other wood finishes to lacquers and colorful painted finishes.  They can be built-ins or free standing.  The sky is the limit.

Once you have the bookcase, creating a pleasing arrangement is an art.  For helpful suggestions, you might be interested in this article I found from May-June  St. Louis at Home, where Celerie Kemble, of Kemble Interiors, is being interviewed on this subject.   

 We are very excited that Celerie will be debuting a new home furnishings collection with our sister company, Henredon, in April, and at the same time, Maitland-Smith will introduce some of her amazing lighting and accessories.  We will share more on the new collection as we get closer to the April market, but believe me, you won't want to miss them. 

The next open bookcase/etagere has clean lines with a blend of Mocha Zebrano and black lacquer finishes with  polished stainless steel accents.   

This striking bookcase is hand carved with Aged Regency and Black Vendome finishes with gilded accents.  Smaller in scale, it can be placed on a small wall, or a pair or even three of these bookcases can be placed side by side to fill up a larger space. 

We've looked at only a small sampling of the variety of styles of bookcase shelving and display cabinets available.  They come in every price point, taste and style so you are sure to find just what suits you best.   

Stay warm this winter and while you are indoors, perhaps you will decide to organize your home with the addition of new bookshelves and display cabinets. 

Elegant and distinctive pieces for your home today, with quality and style to last a lifetime....Do you have a Maitland-Smith treasure?   www.maitland-smith.com

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It's January - Time for Downton Abbey's Third Season to Begin

January 6 is the day we have been waiting for to get back to our weekly Sunday night fix of Downton Abbey on PBS.  Once again we can immerse ourselves in the lives of the artistocrats who live upstairs and the people downstairs who keep everything running smoothly. 

Yesterday I found some great information from the Traditional Home Magazine newsletter.  Written by Cathy Whitlock, it is loaded with interesting facts about the Highclere Castle, the estate used in Downton Abbey, and the furnishings.   The beautiful estate contains exquisite antiques and art from the 17th century onward, so a feast for the eyes and the imagination awaits.   If you're like me, you dream and wonder what it would be like to have a ladies maid to do your hair and help you dress for dinner each evening.  Ahhh......

If you would like to create a little Downton Abbey aura in your home, Maitland-Smith has just the thing, particularly for the dining room.

 

 

 Even though you might still have to prepare the meal and serve it yourself, it is nice to do so in beautiful surroundings.  The table is crotch mahogany veneer with cross banding, and the chairs are mahogany with hand-carved heart-shaped shield backs with silk upholstery.  With your fine china and crystal, it is sure to be special. 

Happy New Year, everyone from Maitland-Smith and La Barge. 

Elegant and distinctive pieces for your home today with quality and style to last a lifetime....   Do you have a Maitland-Smith treasure?  www.maitland-smith.com

 

Love That Emerald Green

Pantone announced yesterday that Emerald Green is the color of the year for 2013. 

 

After this year's Tangerine Tango, this is a dramatic change from such a warm color to the deep dark color of Christmas as well as Spring, the color of the sea, and the grass and shamrocks of Ireland - and of course, we can't forget those gorgeous gemstones!

 Who doesn't love this color?  It has recently graced the European fashion runways, and we have seen it appearing more and more in home decor. Now we can anticipate seeing it everywhere in 2013. 

At the fall furniture market Maitland-Smith introduced two new lamps with emerald shades.

This banker's desk lamp with tennis motif is cast brass with green dyed penshell inlaid in the shade and is part of our Prep School lifestyle. This lamp will definitely stand out in a room because of its colorful shade.

 

The other new table lamp with green dyed penshell has an unusual, dome shaped shade and is also brass.   

Though Kermit the Frog said, "It's not easy being green," 2013 will be the year of green - Emerald Green.  Besides your holiday garlands, you may wish to think about adding this refreshing color to your home decor, even before 2013. 

Elegant and distinctive pieces for your home today, with quality and style to last a lifetime....Do you have a Maitland-Smith treasure?      www.maitland-smith.com

 

Russian Rooms A La Anna Karenina

For my fellow Anglophiles who can't seem to get enough of period movies and actors such as Keira Knightley, Jude Law and Matthew Macfadyen (Mr. Darcy in Pride and Prejudice), we have only a few days to wait for the new Anna Karenina movie opening in theaters November 16.  The director, Joe Wright, and the producers worked together on Pride and Prejudice and Atonement, so we can expect another winner. 

Although this movie is set in Russia, rather than England, it will still more than satisfy our interest in the fashion, elegance, life and drama of the 19th Century.    Anna Karenina, the novel, is an epic, tragic love story written by Leo Tolstoy in installments from 1873 to 1877.  It is considered by many critics as one of the greatest novels ever written. 

At the recent fall furniture market, Maitland-Smith unveiled our own new lifestyle of lavish Russian-inspired furnishings with all the gilt, carvings and inlays that one expects of the period. 

 Here we have a handsome chest of drawers with hand carving, gilding and loads of brass pulls and escutcheons made in our own foundry.  The finish is a combination of black lacquer with polished mahogany and the top is black waxstone with a brass inlay.  You must agree that this is very regal indeed. 

Next we have a writing desk which also evokes the Russian Empire look with black lacquer and gilding, black leather inlay and brass accents.  I can almost picture Count Vronsky working here. 

Lastly we feature a tripod occasional table with gorgeous wood grain on the top and beautiful marquetry inlay.  Pierced interlocking circles of brass encircle the top and the black lacquered legs are gilded. 

While we hopeless romantics wait for the next season of Downton Abbey to begin, we can look forward to sitting in the dark very soon with a big bag of popcorn ready to transport ourselves to 19th Century Russia and experience Anna Karenina. 

These new Maitland-Smith pieces will be available at your local fine home furnishings store next summer should you wish to create your own Russian-inspired rooms. 

Elegant and distinctive pieces for your home today, with quality and style to last a lifetime... Do you have a Maitland-Smith treasure?  www.maitland-smith.com

Curator/Fort Lauderdale Global Luxury Event Tonight

Maitland-Smith is pleased to be a sponsor in the Curator/Fort Lauderdale Global Luxury Event held tonight and tomorrow night at the Sheltair Aviation Center in Fort Lauderdale. 

Held during the week of the Fort Lauderdale International Boat Show, this invitation-only event will showcase the finest in luxury automobiles, yacht charter services, private aviation, timepieces and exquisite jewelry, travel and real estate, art and antiques, wellness and beauty and more.  Part of the "and more" will be the display of one of our beautiful, artisan crafted pool tables with our shuffleboard and foosball tables and free standing cue rack.   Other sponsors include Ferrari, Fraser Yachts, Airbus Corporate Jets, just to name a few. 

The pool table has a mahogany finish with black leather inlay and mother of pearl and brass accents.  The playing surface is Burgundy Simonis cloth and the feet have adjustable brass levelers.  The cue rack is crotch mahogany with black leather inlay and includes slots for holding both 9 and 8 ball racks. 

Whimsy defines the foosball table as players are monkeys and lions.  The case has amazing detail and is finished with a combination of Napoleon Brown and Antique Aubergine.
The shuffleboard table definitely stands alone with its beautiful exterior with Aged Regency finish. The solid North American maple playing surface is made by McClure shuffleboards, and the table has climate adjusters which keep the playing surface true. 

The Curator event takes place in an airline hangar and should be loads of fun.  Curator calls it "A 360 degree interactive experience featuring the most exquisite and unique items available globally.  FLY IT.  WEAR IT. DRIVE IT. CRUISE IT. LIVE IT." 

Elegant and distinctive pieces for your home today, with quality and style to last a lifetime... Do you have a Maitland-Smith treasure?  www.maitland-smith.com