Architectural Digest Patricia Gray

Well here it is....I commissioned Anne Harwell of Annechovie to render a room of mine that was published in Architectural Digest December 2006. She has done a brilliant rendition of this all white room. Thank-you Anne.

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Gray Chic

“Real elegance is in the mind; if you have got that the rest comes from it.”

Dianna Vreeland

The use of a gray color color scheme gives a very sophisticated, upscale feeling to a room. I like to combine grays with creams, or gray with white. Dark brown wood tones are a beautiful accents in gray rooms, as are touches of black. (I think that every room should have a touch of black.) Natural materials like sisal carpets or warms tones in leather can warm up an otherwise cooler gray color pallette. Gray rooms have a timeless, refined, elegant quality to them.

Fox Nahem Design

Fox Nahem Design San Franscisco townhouse

Fornasetti Wallpaper from Cole and Son I am wanting to use this wallpaper in a Powder Room. I think it would be a lot of fun.

William Haines He was known for his lamps and his fetish of having no cords showing. A feat for a lamp in the middle of a dining table.
Phyllis Morris Marrakech Gate Wallpaper
This wallpaper reminds me of Maryam in Marrakech. Hi MaryamBarbara Barry via Studio Annetta
A very sophistocated bedroom.

S R Gambrel What great coffered ceilings in these 2 pictures.

S R Gambrel
West Elm I love the ceramic stool at the end of the bed.
Kelly Wearstler Do you think she used a West Elm bed?
Gracie Wallpaper I love this dreamy wallpaper. It fits in so well with the canopy bed and the tufted sofa. I could live forever in this bedroom! Interior Design by Greg Jordan
Gray and white cabinetry designed by Steven Sclaroff via Peak of Chic This room makes me want to sit down and cozy up with a book and a cup of tea and enjoy the crackling fire.

Mary McDonald bedroom via Peak of Chic Very fresh and very Chic..

Kelly Wearstler

Elegant Neutral: Gray is a neutral, balanced color. It is a cool, conservative color.


Nature of Gray: The lighter side of black, gray is a cool color seen in storm clouds and some metals.

Culture of Gray: Like black, gray is used as a color of mourning as well as a color of formality. Along with blue suits, gray suits are part of the uniform of the corporate world. Dark, charcoal gray carries with it some of the strengh and mystery of black. It is a sophisticated color without much of the negative attributes of black. Lighter grays are similar to white.

Using Gray: All shades of gray can be good, neutral background colors. Use lighter grays in place of white and darker gray in place of black. Taupe, a grayish brown neutral is a conservative, slightly earthy, warm shade of gray.

Gray Words: These words are synonymous with gray or represent various shades of the color gray. Charcoal, slate, iron gray, ashen, lead, mousy, gunmetal, silver, dove gray, powder grey, oyster, pearl, taupe, sere, Payne's gray.


Some of my favourite Benjamin Moore gray paint colors:Gull Wing Gray, Cement Gray, Silver Lining, Nickel, Smoke Gray, Pewter, Steel Wool, Shadow Gray

Click here to see other posts on Color

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The Fountainhead

Julie Snow Architect Koehler Residence New Brunswick, Canada

“Most people build as they live - as a matter of routine…..

But a few understand that building is a great symbol.

We live in our minds, and existence is the attempt to bring that life

into physical reality, to state it in gesture and form.

For the man who understands this,

a house he owns is a statement of his life,

a visible shape for his life.”

Ayn Rand The Fountainhead

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Follow-up on Gambier

In my last post I talked about my Island property that I purchased 1 1/2 years ago and have not been to since. So on Sunday I set sail with friends and got to see my little bit heaven from the water.

Leaving Vancouver Harbour and setting sail for my Island .

Approaching Gambier and locating my property from the water...

There it is behind me. I am so excited to be able to see it from this angle. It is a totally different perspective than approaching it via land. There is the creek bed that leads into a small protected cove, where I plan to have a dock.

This is my waterfront and the property goes up to the top and (maybe) over the mountain.
A close up view of the creekbed, it needs to have a few fallen trees cleaned out of it and it looks like there is a nice flat spot up on the top of that rock cliff which would be perfect for a gazebo for seal watching. I think I am seeing a couple of fruit trees?? If so I have no idea how they got there.
This is a view directly across at the mountain range. The peak with some snow still left on it is a famous Vancouver landmark called The Lions Heads. The highway to Whistler runs along

the lower section of this mountain range.

My neighbours on Gambier coming to greet us.
The end of the day and we are returning to the marina and passing under the Lions Gate Bridge. It was a perfect day!!

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I've been tagged

Okay I've been tagged by Joni Cote de Texas , Laura Orange Beautiful and Susan The Kitchen Designer. That is three times now and I can see that there is no avoiding this any longer.......soooo the rules of the game are to divulge 7 facts/habits and bits of trivia about myself.....and try not to embarass myself in the process. Here goes:

1. My favourite color is yellow and always has been ever since I can remember, although I have never worn yellow or used it in my home but I did own a yellow car many years ago.

2. I love ironing. Yes as strange as it seems I find it relaxing and almost meditative. I was raised in a home where ironing was a fine art and I was taught how to properly iron everything from men's shirts to bedsheets and even underwear. To get a perfect ironing job, cotton & linen needs to be dampened and left to cure in the freezer. Then the iron has to be the perfect temperature. Voila perfect crisp ironing. Martha would be so proud of me.

3. I use ironed linen napkins and my silver cutlery at every meal.
4. I recently purchased a magnificent piece of oceanfront property. I fell in love with it on first sight. It is on an island that has no public boat transportation to it. You need to have your own boat to get to it and then you need to have a vehicle on the island to get to the property. The only way to get anything to the island is by barge. I have neither boat or vehicle. To further complicate matters there is no power or other amenities there and I am not exactly what you would call the outdoorsy type more like a girly girl type. But I am sure that I will be able to figure out all these minor details (ha) and one day build my dream home there. So this weekend will be the first time to my property since I purchased it 1 1/2 years ago. I have a friend who has a sail boat. And on Sunday we will set sail for my island property to spend the day. Here is a map of where my property is on Gambier Island.
5. I love dogs - all dogs and especially mine. She is a 4 1/2 pound (soaking wet) Yorkshire Terrier named Nicole. She has a collection of designer clothes and even a Balenciagia carrying bag. She goes to the office with me every day and has her own business card. Her job title is VP of Security. She guards the door against the postman and couriers and when they see her barking ferociously at them, they inevitably laugh .


7. I used to grow roses on my downtown roof top garden in pots and would enter my roses in competitions alongside others that had magnificent & stately acres of gardens. I was told that certain roses could not be grown in pots, especially the rose "Queen Elizabeth" which is of the Grandiflora variety and reaches heights of over 10 feet. I guess I like a challenge and won a blue ribbon for this rose.

7. I am the second person from Vancouver ever to be published in Architectural Digest magazine.There you are for what it's worth. Don't be afraid to leave a comment I won't tag you.

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Blissful Chairs

These watercolor renderings are done by Anne Harwell. She has a wonderful blog: Annchovie,
where she daily posts her paintings. Anne has a wonderful whimsical approach to capturing the essence of her subject matter. I love her technique and she also has a fetish for chairs as I do, so I feel we are kindred spirits. She takes commissions for paintings. I am commissioning her to do a painting of a home that I designed that was featured in Architectural Digest December 2006. Stay tuned I will post this painting of hers when it is completed. There is nothing like a hand painted and hand rendered piece of artwork. I think it is an art form that we need to support and encourage artists like Anne to continue. So please give her your support in whatever way you can. Art and artists are our life blood and they need to be supported and encouraged in their creativity.

Here are some of her whimsical painting of chairs.

"Artists help us to see and understand the world around us better." Patricia Gray

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