Sewell House in St. Michaels, MD

WARNING: If you're feeling the least bit unpatriotic, this blog post is not for you.

The good people of St. Michaels, Maryland have decided that Independence Day is their holiday. And why not? It's "The Town That Fooled the British," after all: in 1813 its citizens foiled a British attack by hanging lanterns high in the trees and on ships' masts, thereby causing the Redcoats' cannons to overshoot the town. Pretty clever, really (if it's true).

In other words, the town has history - and charm - to spare.

So every July 4th, St. Michaels hosts a celebration that involves wrapping anything standing still in red, white, and blue crepe paper. There's a children's parade, in which kids and dogs march proudly around the block in their festooned bikes, trikes, wagons, and scooters. The American Flag is hoisted to the top of a flagpole and the Pledge of Allegiance solemnly recited. There's face painting, balloons, kids' games, a fife & drum corps, hot dogs and ice cream, and - my husband's favorite - a word-for-word reading of the Declaration of Independence.

Ok, fine. You get it. So what's my point?

The point is that all of this takes place in front of a tiny house museum on St. Mary's Square.

And this house, Sewell House, the building on the right in the picture above, is a gentle reminder that we Americans - inventors of the McMansion; drivers of the largest, land-ravaging, child-devouring cars on earth; believers in our strength and power above every other nation's - were once capable of living in much smaller spaces. And happily so.

The house was built around 1865 by a waterman named Jeremiah Sewell for himself "and his family of six." (All of this info. is lifted from the St. Michaels Museum brochure, by the way.)

"Family of six." I'm not sure if this means Jeremiah and his better half plus four children, or whether there are 5 kids or 6...doesn't really matter. What matters is that this family lived in these four rooms.

The living room is the first you enter (these pictures make the spaces seem larger than they are):

(I'm pretty certain that the open doorway below didn't exist - or it led to the outside - when the Sewells lived here.)

This is a middle-class family, by the way. Being a St. Michaels waterman (fisherman) was - still is - a perfectly fine thing to be.

Here's the cozy kitchen-slash-dining room - an "eat-in kitchen," if you will:

The stairs from the living room lead to the main bedroom, which isn't tiny, actually:

And beyond it is a much smaller bedroom:

A middle-class family of six, living comfortably in four rooms. Extreme by today's standards, but it's all relative, isn't it? New Yorkers manage to live comfortably - luxuriously, even - in much smaller spaces than their brothers and sisters in the suburbs. Yet when we grow dissatisfied with our homes, our first impulse usually is to expand.

Don't get me wrong: you couldn't pay me enough to put my family of four in a house this size.

But you have to admit that there's a case to be made for making a home perfect before making it bigger.

Desgin House: REALLY the final installment

Going...
Going...
Gone.

Design House: The final installment

It's over. The Design House, which many of you visited (thank you!) and even more of you read about (thank you again!), has closed. Officially, we have one week to clear everything out.

If we want to go on vacation, though, we have about 48 hours.

My husband and I went down today to get a jump on the demolition. I have to remove the wallcovering, lighting, faux elevator...everything that I don't think the next designer would want to work with. (e.g.: the "silk" walls? Coming down. The adjusted door frames and new moulding? Staying.)

Here's John hacking away at the upholstered walls:

I do love a man with a utility knife.

More destruction:


Pretty gruesome, isn't it? The first stab was hard, but after that...well, let's just say I tapped my inner B-movie slasher and got on with it.

The person who did the walls was able to help today (thanks again, Roya), and hopefully she'll be able to re-use some of the wall fabric and backing. The custom-made bench (Beachley furniture) and entry panel will go to the Stroheim showroom - they donated ALL of the fabric for this project, which was pretty amazing. The art goes back to Heineman Myers Contemporary Art until the folks who expressed interest in buying it follow through. And all of the furniture, lighting, and accessories, including the beautiful bowl on the entry table, will return to the Design House showrooms from whence they came - Robert Allen, Ebanista, Odegard, Baker, and Niermann Weeks, and J. Lambeth - until they, too, find new homes beyond the walls of the Design Center.

Thanks again, everyone. All in all, it was an extremely valuable experience.

You asked...about decorating a narrow apartment, on a budget

Hi Annie,
I'll be a medical student next year and have finally rented a place where the landlord will let me paint the walls and decorate as I wish....I have no idea where to start!

I was trying to think of what would go well with [the black kitchen counters and my tan couch, similar to the chair at right], and I can only think of some shade of red. Would that work and are there any other options? I was mulling over the idea about only accent painting the wall with the main window.

Also, the apartment is long but very narrow - are there any designs which would help me utilize the space as well as possible without it looking too small?...

Thanks so much! I love your blog!
Sincerely, Lucy



A: Hi, Lucy. Check out a Washington Post article from last week on this very topic - there might be some good tips there for you.

In your new apartment, the kitchen floor takes up too much darn space. So let's use a bold, colorful rug to make the living room floor bigger. This should be your primary investment.

Anthropologie's Arcadian Garden Rug in black would be a wonderful choice. The allover pattern is preferable to stripes or geometric shapes: the pattern de-emphasizes the narrow boxiness of the apartment. Plus the black would be great with the kitchen counters.
Place the rug so that a good 2' of it overlaps the seam between the wall-to-wall carpeting and the kitchen tile. (The short side of the rug should be parallel to the back window wall.) So the rug is mostly on the carpeting, but by extending past it, it makes the living area appear bigger.

Then, because there isn't much space for too much else, adorn your sofa to make it the focal point of the apartment. (And a cushy-looking place to lounge.)

Hopefully, your sofa will fit across the double window on the carpeted side of the apartment. (The rug would start in front of - not under - the sofa.) No coffee table; a single small table next to or off-center in front of the sofa would be sufficient. This blog post has a good table suggestion.

To make the sofa seem less massive, put a red throw/blanket across the back middle section of the sofa, but leave edges of the back cushions exposed. Then add a few throw pillows for comfort and visual interest, picking up red, blue and/or purple from the rug.

This Purpley Mod pillow from kthurm (via Etsy) would be fun with the Arcadia rug:


And a red Eco Cushion from Olofs Daughters (also via Etsy) would pick up the red. Avoid florals in the pillows; the rug is enough:


In the dining area, a small ROUND table and 2 chairs from a thrift shop would be perfect. If you don't have time to comb thrifty-type places, Ikea's Billsta table has a 27-1/2" diameter, which should be perfect. Put it with 2 black Gilbert chairs.


Do all of this, Lucy, and you may not even have to paint the walls. If you still want to, though, pick up one of the light greens - or greeny yellow - from the rug. And paint ALL of the walls in the living/dining area. Accent walls will just chop up the space further.

I hope this is helpful, Lucy. Please keep me posted!

Farrow & Ball's Rosslyn papers, installed!

Remember when I mentioned Farrow & Ball's Rosslyn papers as an exquisite example of wallpaper's return?

Today I saw its installation in a powder room. Please excuse the "in progress" shot, but I just couldn't wait to show you.

The metallic gold pattern will add sparkle to this small space; like many powder rooms, it has no natural light.

The client and I are pretty excited about this "Reverse Painted Glass Mirror" with the wallpaper, too. It's from Ten Thousand Villages. I think it will look smashing.

Thumbs up on wallpaper in the powder room; it's a self-contained space for a risk. At best: a delightful surprise. At worst: just clooooooossssse the door...

In praise of the small kitchen

Seems as though yesterday's post about a small kitchen really set off a firestorm. Not because the kitchen was small, but because it was untidy.

Well. We all know that cluttered counters are an indication of depravity.


I saw a bossy basic client not too long ago, and while the focus of my visit was elsewhere, I was charmed by the tiny kitchen.


Each wall has a different function and an assortment of cabinetry. Natural cherry and white on the sink wall, green painted cabinets surrounding the fridge...

The only tile in the room is on the stove wall, with a little red stripe for fun.


The overall effect is quite pleasing. And according to the client, it's perfect for her. She travels a lot, and even when she's home, she doesn't cook much.

I loved the eensy-weensy kitchen I renovated in my husband's and my first condo together.

We replaced dark brown laminate (NEVER in style, from what I can gather) with grey concrete; a peeling vinyl floor with Marmoleum tile; and random appliances in varying states of decay with spiffy but inexpensive white fixtures.

(Look! A phone with a cord! Isn't that quaint?) The kitchen was small, but everything had a place. And it was efficient: a step or a pivot let you reach anything you needed.

It's a myth that having a big, fancy kitchen will make you a better chef. Mark Bittman, the NYT's food writer, has a miniscule kitchen, evidently.


My kitchen now has 80's oak cabinets and salmon-colored Formica counters. But it's not that tiny, and the layout makes sense. Even though I desperately want to remodel, a new kitchen won't make me a more inspired cook.

If Mark Bittman can slog through and live to tell the tale, well, I suppose I can, too.

Picture of Mr. Bittman braising turkey breasts by Kelly Doe for the New York Times.

Hip solution for a small, less than stellar kitchen

Quick: you have a cute house with a less than cute kitchen. What do you do?

If you're a Santa Fe artist and member of Tete de Veau Design Collective, you rip off the cabinet doors and paint the insides green.

Everything else fades away: the focus is on the green. The ordinary stuff on the shelves looks sculptural.

Plus the open shelves add depth to a smallish space. And how's this for a bonus:
She painted the pipes and undersides of the sinks orange, and then added coordinating plastic bins. It totally enlivens a neglected spot.

Then if you're REALLY this Santa Fe artist, after admiring your handiwork, you proceed into your living room for a Tete de Veau dress fitting against the backdrop of your own paintings.

Which is even cooler than painting your cabinets green.