It's Showtime!

If you haven't made plans to come to the Las Vegas show yet, there's still time! This will be the biggest and best with more accessories and new vendors than ever. I will post just a few pictures here as time is running out, but I will try to post more during the week. These were taken during set-up, so now the showroom Postcards Home is even more beautiful! You will see my bedding, of course - but I have added a brand new style of curtain, as well. Notice the extremely deep pencil pleated curtains, one with ruffle and one without. We have decided to double the size of the ruffle and I am really excited about these! I am so happy to be showing with my friend the very talented Jackie Von Tobel! She is debuting her line of gorgeous fabrics. There are many other well known and plenty of brand new vendors, as well - so come on and join us for the fun!

I've Moved!

Sorry for my absence, but I have moved both my home and office! It is not much fun and I am still unpacking, but looking forward to redecorating a new place! Hopefully, I will eventually be able to post some pictures of the new place. In the meantime, this is how I feel...
Cool photo courtesy of The English Muse blog.

Going Green

I would be remiss if I didn't post something in honor of my Irish ancestry. Well, part of my ancestry anyway. Like most Americans I have an eclectic mix, but I do know about my green roots. I have to say that I tend towards the paler shades of green and the more blue in them the better, but for today I will try to stay true to the more traditional greens. Kelly, olive, emerald, lime, forest and just one turquoise since I love it! Of course, I like to tell my tales in bedroom pictures, so the below shots run from saturated in green or just the tiniest touch.

One of my favorite memories from childhood was getting my school supplies every year. My favorite thing was the big box of Crayola® crayons. I would spend hours arranging and rearranging the colors to suit my fancy. My favorite color of all was "Sea Green". As you can tell by my website - it is still my favorite color! I have added the link to the history of Crayola® colors, it's quite interesting. The photo above makes me really wish I were in NYC for today's celebration. How cool is this dining area in The Crosby Street Hotel?

This is one of their guest rooms. By the way, the hotel is very "green" environmentally speaking.


Again, I would be remiss if I didn't add one of my own designs to celebrate the day!

Our Slip Covered Bench in Country Living!

If you haven't seen the brand new Country Living March issue, you need to check it out! I'm thrilled because they have shown our slip covered bench on a full page and it looks wonderful. It is in an article entitled "Ravishing Ruffles" and it is an eight page spread filled with drop-dead gorgeous images! What is nice is that they have shown fashions as well as home fashions. The rest of the issue is equally fabulous, so make sure and get your own copy! Remember, we have over 100 colors of linen to choose from and we also do COM (customers own material). Our benches come in any size but we make them primarily to go at the end of your bed, so twin, full, queen, king and Cal king are our typical lengths. Since these are slipcovers, we have many customers that have a lighter color for summer and a darker color for winter!

Meet me in Las Vegas!

Welcome to the World Market Center in Las Vegas this week! I am so honored that Papillon Linens is included in the selection of home furnishings to be represented by interior designers, Craig Dye and Donna Johnson. Their new showroom, Postcards Home located in Building A, suite 119 will be open year-round and is incredibly vibrant and beautiful! Please come see us this week for market, or anytime during the year. I will post more pictures later in the week...

Traditional Embroidery

When I first started this company, one of my first purchases was the incredibly beautiful and informative book The Book of Fine Linen by Françoise de Bonneville. This is an incredible resource book with gorgeous photography and a complete history of linen through the ages. It is a large book worthy of any linen lover’s coffee table or library. I was especially intrigued because of its emphasis on 100% linen and all of the traditional styles of embroidery and needlework that have become almost a lost art. On the cover above you can see monogramming in bourbon embroidery, the classic satin stitch and seed stitching edged with broderi Anglaise and Renaissance lace. To me these are all masterpieces, and the women that made them - artists!

I have collected antique and vintage linens for years, and wanted to bring back this look in our best selling collection “Brussels”. My inspiration for our “universal monogram” came from the hundreds of real antique monograms that I researched for this classic look. I wanted to share a few of them with you. White embroidery on white linen has been the most common, but over the centuries, there have been other colors of embroidery thread and each had its own symbolic reason.

With that said, I am so pleased to announce that Papillon Linens will now be offering our “universal monogram” in any color! Now that we offer such a wide range of colors of linen, we can now customize to your own taste. We will continue to offer our “Brussels” collection with the 4” ruffle – with or without the embroidery, and will now add the option of embroidery to our more tailored “Ghent” collection. Imagine the possibilities, tone on tone, colors on white or colors on color – let your own tastes and creativity combine for a truly customized look. Stay tuned for examples of our new offering…

Head to Bed

I warned you I had a passion for the bedroom, so here are a few more elaborate designs and ideas from some of my favorite magazines. Also, as I have said before and apologize ahead of time - I have been clipping pictures for so many years and never thought to label them before, thinking they would be for my eyes only. Now, that I am sharing through blogging, I very carefully label the source before filing my favorites away! Unless I get distracted... The photo above is from Elle Decor, October, 2009. It is so stunning in every detail, I especially love the curvaceous upholstered headboard.

I love artwork above a bed! Plus the two mirrored screens and matching bedside tables. I'm not a matchy-match person in general, but in this case the symmetry is stunning!


Now this is what I call layering! From Cottage Style, this is either a very unusual placement for a bed or they are using a free standing antique fireplace as the headboard. Either way it is so much fun and I love the mixture of crystal and shells!


What a gorgeous antique bed! Is it by Thonet or in the Art Nouveau style? This is one of those cases where I clipped wildly not even noting the source, just knowing it was a work of art in itself!


This is what I call cocooning! From the minimalist leather panels to miles of silk enclosing the bed - just makes me want to crawl in and call it home.


Cool and sophisticated, this is rich mahogany paneling with cream suede upholstered panels. A gorgeous master bedroom retreat featured in Luxe Interiors & Design, fall issue 2009.


From Southern Accents - Our Most Beautiful Bedrooms issue, Summer, 2009. I couldn't agree more! This stunning antique Indian palampore (bed hanging) in a popular "Tree of Life" motif, makes this bedroom so serene and lovely. I love all of these bedrooms and each and every one of them lend themselves well to simple bedcovers. Imagine they could all be done with Papillon Linens;-)