The Goodrum House

If you live in Atlanta or have spent any time here, then you're likely familiar with the Goodrum House.  Fondly known as the "Peacock House" (or, at least, it was when I was a child), the 1929 house, located at the corner of West Paces Ferry and Habersham Road, was designed by architect Philip Shutze.  You might remember that I wrote about the house in 2008, when the house was on the market and uncertainty about the house's future ensued.  But, thankfully, the house was purchased by the Watson-Brown Foundation, which has embarked on a major restoration of the house and its gardens.

A few weeks ago, I found these black-and-white photos of the house and its gardens in some 1932 and 1933 issues of House & Garden.  The house was originally decorated by Porter and Porter, which was Atlanta's prominent decorating firm of the day.  Although the house looked more pulled together in 1932 than it did in the 2008 photos, below (taken when the house was on the market after having served as headquarters for the Southern Center for International Studies), you can see that what made the home's interiors so enchanting- the Chinese red Chippendale banister, the dining room's Chinoiserie mural that was painted by Allyn Cox, and the exquisite breakfast room that was painted by Athos Menaboni to resemble a bird cage- have remained intact.

I don't know how the gardens fared over the years, although, like the house, the gardens are currently being restored.  However, I'm really taken with the serpentine walls that appear in the 1933 photos, above.  But really strikes me (and will likely strike those of you who grew up or currently live in the area) is how uninhabited the neighborhood looked back in 1933.  Just look at the road beyond the garden walls; there are no other houses lining this section of the street.  Needless to say, the neighborhood has been heavily developed since that time.


As it appeared in 2008 photos:

The Classics: The Brumby Rocker

Ask most Southerners to name their favorite chair, and they'll likely respond, "A Brumby Rocker, of course." As Southern as sweet tea and monograms, the Brumby Rocker is hands-down the rocker of choice in the South and beyond. And it has been that way for ages, too, because the chair's maker, The Brumby Chair Company, has been making these gracious chairs since 1878, three years after the company was founded. Located in Marietta, Georgia, the company is still being led by the Brumby family, with sisters Anna Brumby and Spain Brumby Gregory at the helm.

What makes these rocking chairs so special is that, first and foremost, they are extremely comfortable. I should know, because I grew up with white Brumby Rockers on my front porch. Believe me, few things in life are as relaxing as rocking back and forth in a Brumby Rocker. The chairs are extremely sturdy, too, thanks to their oak frames and their cane backs and seats, which are tightly woven in a herringbone-pattern. And finally, they are so durable that they seem to last forever. But should your Brumby Rockers need it, the company offers a restoration service, which does wonders on, say, eighty or ninety-year-old Brumby Rockers, ensuring their use for the next hundred years.

There are a number of styles of rockers, including a Baby Rocker for children and a Courting Rocker that is wide enough for a couple or a few small children, but the classic style for which the company is so well-known is the Jumbo Rocker. Although the rockers come in a variety of stains and enamels, I am partial to both the white and the black painted finishes. Both colors give the rockers a polished look that is suited to traditional settings and modern-minded houses alike. And I would be remiss not to mention that the Rockers are well-suited to The White House, too, where President Jimmy Carter assembled a number of Brumby Rockers, which, I assume, reminded him of his home state.

Honestly, I can't think of a better chair in which to set a spell, especially at this time of year and, preferably, with family or friends.  For more information, or to buy your own Brumby Rocker (lucky you), please visit The Brumby Chair Company website.

The Blues

Some people consider the color blue as too cold to be welcomed into a comfortable house.  Not so, said Dorothy Draper, who believed that, "Blue can be delicate and yet warm at the same time."  It's a sentiment with which I wholeheartedly agree. Blue, in all of its various guises, is not only my favorite color, it's the essence of my home, making appearances in every room of my apartment, which, I've been told, is warm and inviting.  (Draper also said, "Just as the main theme appears and reappears throughout a symphony, so you can carry one note of color through your whole house to beautiful effect.") Back in 1932 and 1933, the editors of House & Garden were likewise advocates of decorating with blue.  Look at the magazine's color photographs from this time period, and you'll see that blue is notably featured in most of them. In some interior photos, the color permeated a room, such as in the Manhattan living room, seen above and below, of Mrs. Robert A. Lovett.  Mrs. Lovett obviously had a yen for inky blue, because not only did she choose the shade for her living room, she used it in her bathroom as well.  (Seen in the third photograph, the bathroom walls were painted with a mural that shows a colonnaded view of the ocean.)

In other photographs, and in a few illustrations, too, blue appeared as an accent color.  Take, for example, the charming illustration of the living room of Richardson Wright, then editor-in-chief of House & Garden, and his decorator wife, Agnes Foster Wright.  In this room, the Wrights lived beneath a vibrant, bright blue ceiling.  A similar shade can also be seen in the illustration of Condé Nast's paragon-of-chic ballroom, where Elsie de Wolfe chose an 18th-century Chinese wallpaper with a splash of refreshing blue.

But perhaps no photo captures the beauty of blue better than the Edward Steichen photograph, seen below, which shows a woman seemingly enraptured by the blue Delphiniums that grew in Steichen's garden.  I understand the way that woman felt, because the spectrum of blues always dazzles me, too. 

The three photos above show the Manhattan apartment of Mrs. Robert A. Lovett, who decorated her home.

A photo by Edward Steichen, which was taken in his garden.

This illustration shows the living room of Richardson and Agnes Foster Wright.

An illustration of Condé Nast's ballroom.


All images from various 1932 and 1933 issues of House & Garden

Even More Blues from the Lee Ann Thornton Home Collection

Congratulations go to Greenwich, Connecticut-based designer Lee Ann Thornton, who recently launched her own home furnishings collection.  Consisting of twenty-five pieces, including upholstered seating, pillows, and even games tables, the furniture and accessories have that classic, tailored look that lends a home polish.  What especially caught my eye are the collection's fabric options.  Curated by Lee Ann herself, the fabrics, from such lines as Raoul Textiles, Lisa Fine, and China Seas, are in shades of blue and white.  Whether you choose to mix a ticking-striped sofa with a botanical print pillow,  all of the fabrics (which you can see above) are designed to work together, bringing a cohesive look to a room.  Very clever.

Lee Ann plans to explore other colors in future collections, but for this debut collection, the blue-and-white theme has started things off with a bang.  I urge you to learn more about this collection, which can be viewed on Lee Ann's website.  I've seen one of her pillows in person, and I am thoroughly impressed.

 For more information, or to see photos of Lee Ann's design work, please visit her website.



Games Tables:

Ottomans:

Headboards:

Pillows:

Dining Chairs:

Upholstered Furniture:

All images from Lee Ann Thornton's website

Beaton by Bailey

I recently found my new favorite Roku channel: M2M, or Made to Measure, the video channel of IMG, which, among other services, produces fashion weeks around the world. The channel's programming focuses on fashion, of course, and includes such documentaries as Valentino: The Last Emperor, Diana Vreeland: The Eye Has to Travel, and Battle at Versailles. One of the featured documentaries, which I had never before seen, was Beaton by Bailey, the 1971 documentary on Cecil Beaton. Produced by famed fashion photographer David Bailey, the documentary is fascinating, but not for the reasons one might expect. Although I found Beaton's reflections and commentary interesting, I really did not discover anything new about the man.  Once you've read his diaries, you know Beaton and his personality well- sometimes, too well.

But what did interest me in this film were the glimpses into rooms whose photographed interiors we've studied for years.  There is a memorable scene in which Beaton is interviewed in his winter garden at Reddish House, his Wiltshire estate:

The winter garden at Reddish House

There is also a party scene in Beaton's black-velvet clad London drawing room:

Different views of Beaton's London drawing room

A few of the notable party guests included photographer Patrick Lichfield and artist David Hockney.  Once the party was over, Bailey interviewed Beaton's cook, who declared the party a success because the guests enjoyed the Chili con carne that was served to them.

What is also fun about the documentary are the scenes with Beaton's friends and colleagues.  They include friend and former schoolmate, Cyril Connolly, who joins Beaton for lunch at The Ritz, as well as Beaton's sisters, Nancy and Baba, who animatedly recall the old days.  We've seen so many glamorous photos of the sisters in their youth, so it's interesting to see them as mature women.

Nancy and Baba Beaton, photographed by their brother in 1925

But my favorite scene in the documentary has to be the interview with Diana Vreeland and Truman Capote, who were filmed in Vreeland's famous "Garden in Hell" living room.  It's worth watching this documentary for these scenes alone.

Diana Vreeland's Garden in Hell Living Room

Although Vreeland appeared to put a positive spin on Beaton's sometime-insufferable personality, Capote made no effort to do so.  His waspish comments include this quip about Beaton's penchant for making enemies:  "He gathers enemies the way others gather roses."  Now imagine that comment uttered in Capote's babyish drawl, and you'll understand why I found this scene, and the rest of the documentary, delectable.

If you'd like to watch it yourself (and I strongly urge you to do so), check out M2M on Roku and Apple TV.  You can also watch the documentary on the channel's website.

The Home that Red-Headed Woman Furnished

Over the years, I have come across this thirties-era photo on numerous occasions. It's hard not to pause and study it, because the photo captures that early-1930s glamour and sophistication, which never ceases to fascinate me. The photo caption, which I'll get to shortly, describes the room as the study of writer Katharine Brush:

I always wondered who Katharine Brush was, because her place of writing was so different from the bolt-holes and jumbled messes in which most authors write. But it wasn't until a month or so ago that I finally took the time to Google Katharine Brush. It turns out that not only was she an O. Henry Award winner (1929), but she also wrote the 1931 novel, Red-Headed Woman, which, a year later, was made into a rather tawdry Pre-Code picture starring Jean Harlow and Chester Morris.  (By the way, the film's screenplay was written by Anita Loos, who took over after F. Scott Fitzgerald's first draft proved unsuccessful.)  For the film's title role, Harlow might have traded her platinum-blonde tresses for red locks, but she remained consistent, playing, yet again, a rough-around-the-edges femme fatale, carrying on multiple affairs while stealing a married man away from his respectable wife.  Like I said, it is tawdry, but it sure is fun to watch.

But back to Brush's sweeping, circular study, which looks not unlike a Thirties film-set.  The room, and the rest of Brush's Manhattan apartment, was designed by the Austrian-American architect, Joseph Urban, who was one of the leading proponents of the American Art Deco style.  According to the photo's caption, the room was decorated with, "California redwood burl with German silver moldings and green leather wainscot welted in black. Chairs are black satin corded in green, the desk redwood burl with green leather top.  Carpet is green and black."  Whew.  That's a mouthful of high-style.  I can only imagine that, in person, this green and black chamber, a splashy testament to Brush's success, must have looked sensational.

I also found two additional photos of Brush's Urban-designed living room.  Like the study, this room is notable for Urban's use of a variety of materials.  The fireplace is white marble, while white leather was used to line all of the room's niches, including those positioned on other side of the fireplace.  The upholstered seating within these two niches was also covered in white leather, while the legs were made of glass.  Urban also chose to trim the niches and the floor with polished silver molding.  It's worth noting that the intriguing silver bust, which adorned one of the bookshelves, was made by Wiener Werkstätte artist, Josef Hoffmann, while the silver basket on the fireplace mantel, used here to hold flowers, was the work of fellow Viennese artist, Dagobert Peche.  Finally, I have to mention the pair of large, circular mirrors, which might look dated today but were really quite the thing at that time.

They say that sex sells, and that seems to be the case with Red-Headed Woman.  Thanks to the book's immense success, Katharine Brush ended up with an awfully chic home, one that wouldn't look out of place in a Jean Harlow picture.

The Southeastern Designer Showhouse and Gardens

You haven't heard from me in a while because life has been taking me away from blogging.  By life, I mean work, illness, and a flooded kitchen.  As they say, when it rains, it pours.  (Or, in the case of my kitchen, floods.)

Until I get back to regular blogging (which, I hope, will be later this week), I do want to encourage readers to attend the inaugural Southeastern Designer Showhouse & Gardens, which is sponsored by Atlanta Homes & Lifestyles.  Located in Buckhead, the showhouse features rooms by some of the South's most talented designers.  I was able to attend the preview party week before last, and I can truthfully say that the house is one of the most cohesive-looking showhouses I've seen.  You can see a few of the rooms below, but there are so many more great rooms whose photos, unfortunately, didn't turn out so well thanks to my crummy iPhone camera.

The showhouse runs through May 15.  For more information, please visit the website.

 The chic great room was designed by Atlanta designer Barbara Westbrook.

 Dining room by Suzanne Kasler, who was honorary chair of the showhouse.

 Alison Womack Jowers and Cheryl Womack of Womack Jowers Interiors decorated the glamorous dressing room.

The study by Robert Brown Interior Design