Pacific Galleries and Auction House

After fifteen years of living in Seattle, I finally went on a field trip to Pacific Galleries. Where to begin because everything I could possibly want is being sold there: beautiful rugs, great furniture, pieces for staging events and stores, vintage hats and jewelry, lighting, really everything. I had a lot of fun taking pictures and will share some of the better ones with you, dear readers, all this week. Enjoy. --Rebecca

Wedgwood. Lit.

This picture tells you everything you need to know about Wedgwood and the kind of folks who live here. It's festive, it's funny, it's firs, it's fifties.

Learn more about this little slice of Seattle and the folks who are working hard to make it a great neighborhood--The Wedgwood Community Council.-R

Glassy Babies. Georgtown Ballroom.

Lighting rule number one: There can never be too many candles.  Rule number two: You can never own too many glassy babies.

Please visit the glassy baby website http://www.glassybaby.com/  and learn how this wonderful company came to be and why they donate ten percent of their profits to cancer research and cancer patient care.-R

p.s.do you see the lanterns reflected in the glass? Yum.

Perfect Stool. Perfectly lit.

Under-bar lighting. Can it get any better than this? Now you can see why I love the Jelly Bar and, by the way, I have yet to sit on a more comfortable stool.-R

Bar Lights. Downtown Seattle.

Don't these light fixtures remind you of the Chinese lanterns I posted yesterday? I thought so too. Same idea, different form. I saw these lights in my new favorite bar, the Jelly Bar. Great food, great atmosphere, great lighting.-R

The resulting clandestine hideaway is a serene, fire-accented fantasy-land graced with banana palms and jellyfish.
Providence Cicero, The Seattle Times, July 24, 2009

Lighting is Everything.

Last week my BFF, Carol Dole, and I went to see the movie "9".  The movie was a 5, Penelope Cruz was a 10, and the lighting was a 12. My favorite example of Well Done Lighting in this film was of tables that were lit from the inside--under the tablecloths. The image that sprung to my mind was of camping tents at night with lanterns burning inside. I loved it.

I'm going to find great examples of Well Done lighting and feature them on the blog this week. Today's picture was taken by Carol. We attended a function at the Georgetown Ballroom and the lighting was spot on. The atmosphere was festive and elegant, and everyone did look more beautiful in the soft, warm party light. -R

Japanese Lanterns. Wedgwood.

These neighbors keep the Japanese Lanterns in their tree all year long.  Come Christmas time, they light up the whole tree plus the lanterns.  So lovely and So Well Done.
-R

Deco Lights at Eckstein Middle School, Wedgwood.

The Art Deco Design of Eckstein Middle School is fantastic. Just ignore the smelly kids and look around at the lighting, the railing, the curve of the walls, the tile work. It's fantastic. We need yet another school levy to make sure this treasure is maintained. Well Done Middle School Design.

Today's Entry

Hi, While we are on the subject of entries, I wanted to share two very different WELL DONE entries; The one on top is a beautiful, large one on Mercer Island that I helped design last year. The second one is in the Bryant neighborhood, we spied it while house hunting with a friend. They both take my breath away. When cream colors and whites are used deliberately on walls with a rich contrasting color like black or blue, the effect is almost always elegant and classic. My favorite whites to use right now are "Icing" by Devine Paint and "Acadia White" by Ben Moore (except if you live near the water in which case use "Sail Cloth " by Ben Moore)

Speaking of entries my own is currently crowded with crap. Deep Breath. Sunday, time to eat pancakes and clean the entry.

Just put things together that match.

I know this sounds very unexciting, like organizing your sock drawer. However, if you feel that your home is too "eclectic", lacks style or is boring try this: Take things of the same material, color or height and put them together in a grouping. Make sure this grouping is under or near a light source.

I tried this by my entry with white vases from Value Village.. unbelievably more people comment about this display than many of my other highfalutin design choices :)

( the white vases cost about 1 dollar each)

And of course don't do it with ALL of your stuff ....

Well done decorating doesn't need to cost you big bucks ,dude. We all think the solution is

"at the store" to make our home beautiful or is unattainable to us ..... Is it?

Hooray for Hardware!

Simple hardware makes this garage door

a delight to the eye. Well Done Hardware.

"I scavenged for the crystals and then made it all glamorous-like"

Well done homemade chandelier.