Leather and Lace(s)

Ya know, it’s a real buzz kill when you’re lacing up your boots to go out and shovel the thigh-high snow and the bootlaces break. This is what happened to me yesterday morning.  The original leather laces just snapped.  I was not surprised since leather will dry out and break, but this kind of thing always seems to happen at the most inopportune time. 

So I sighed and jury-rigged the broken lace to get me through the chore at hand.  After I had finished shoveling, I headed out for Saturday morning errands which included a trip to the grocery store.  My first thought was to replace the leather laces with the same but then I spied these cool red ones and thought, why not add a little spark to the footwear?  In the dreary winter days of winter while I may always be looking toward the skies for the light, now when I look down I have another reason to smile.

Photos by Joel Woodard

The Very Thaw of You

Unmeasurable snow with more  coming.   Cabin fever.   Nothing on the tube.  Those are some of the downsides of a prolonged winter season.  On the bright side, it’s an opportunity to get out and have a bit of fun as I did here with some gloves and scarves in the snow.  Just foolin’ around.  The pristine white canvas was a perfect background for the colorful accessories.  Now, back to the cocoa and a lazy day because the very thaw of you is Rustic Chic.

Photos by Joel Woodard

When the Day Brings Snow, Let the Night Bring Fire

Like a lot of people, I awoke yesterday morning to another heavy blanket of snow.   After the snowplow guy arrived to do his thing (yet again) to the driveway (man, he’s cleaning up in the cash department this season!), I had to get outside myself and do a bit of shoveling.  On the bright side the snow thus far has been light and powdery, not heavy and wet.  Winter is, to me at least, one of the most beautiful seasons but when the reality kicks in of having to deal with it, that’s something else.

In any event, wet boots and socks are just not a lot of fun and so around 5 pm I decided to light up the Rumford, have a B&B gently warmed by the fire’s glow, do a bit of drawing and dry out the footwear.  Alone with my thoughts of the clothes that hang in my head (and which I never seem to be able to find), my sketch pad and pens, a warm snifter of B&B and some schmaltzy music playing low, I spent a few hours in the land of Rustic Chic.

Photos by Joel Woodard

Thoughts on Blogging Rustic Chic

Today I received a wonderful comment about Rustic Chic that so moved me I had to share it. . . the message was in broken English but I am hopeful that I understand the writer’s intentions correctly.

The writer penned “I recently became aware of your blog posts and desired to say which I have definitely cherished studying your website content articles.  In any manner soon we will be opting-in to give the food to and I also we imagine you write-up again eventually.”

This is the type of response every blogger with a point of view wants to receive.  That someone “gets” and truly appreciates your message.

I have been writing Rustic Chic for a little over a year now and if you ask any blogger whose posts you follow regularly “what is your biggest challenge in writing your blog?”  you will likely get the response “fresh content”.  When I made the decision to write this blog I made a promise to myself that is was a lifestyle point of view and not a succession of flagrant product pitches.  And although I do my share of product pitches that fit the vibe of Rustic Chic, I am selective and discriminating (or so I believe) in what I post.

So hold on dear respondent.  Your words have touched me deeply – right to the root of my Rustic Chic heart.  I appreciate your words more than I can express!  Many thanks.  Joel

A New Slant on Grant Wood’s “American Gothic”

Everyone knows Grant Wood’s famous painting “American Gothic.”  As a memory refresher on the piece,  “American Gothic” caused quite a stir when it was first shown in 1930 at The Art Institute of Chicago.  It was also awarded a cash prize in the amount of a whopping three hundred dollars.  Newspapers across the country ran the story of a painting depicting a farm couple standing before a simple, Gothic Revival-style white house.  Legend has it that Wood asked his sister and his dentist to pose for the painting.  It is also interesting that Wood intended the subjects to be a farmer and his unmarried daughter, not the farmer’s wife.  Wood’s style rendered the scene in the manner of Northern Renaissance art, noted for its elongated and elegant treatment of the subject matter.

Well this great moment in art has met the stick figure in the form of Jeffrey Metzner’s note cards entitled “Great Moments in Art.”  I love these humorous note and thank you cards and I was instantly charmed at how Metzner took the basic elements of “American Gothic”, along with Munch’s “The Scream,” Botticelli’s “Birth of Venus,” and Da Vinci’s “Vitruvian Man,” boiled them down to their essence and still retained their spirit.

Note card photos by Joel Woodard

The Latest in Rustic Chic Wheels – 2012 Jeep Gladiator

There are pickup trucks and then there are Rustic Chic pickup trucks.  Vintage ones are instantly Rustic Chic, especially when impeccably restored.  But a new RC offering is about to hit the fields and streams in the form of the 2012 Jeep Gladiator.  Originally produced between 1962 and 1970, the Jeep Gladiator was reintroduced in 2004 as a “concept”.  While not actually intended for sale, it was shown as a demonstration of what Jeep was planning on for the future.  Well the future is here at last. 

According to the specs, the Gladiator will feature an open-air canvas roof, fold-down windshield, removable doors and expandable truck bed.  It will come equipped with a 6-speed manual transmission and have a 2.8 liter, 4-cylinder turbo diesel engine.  The future has come to Rustic Chic!

Hats Off to Satya Twena!

As you know, here at Rustic Chic we have a particular point of view and “country” it necessarily ain’t.  As a case in point, take a gander at this uber-chic pillbox hat with hot pink “chicken wire” veiling by Satya Twena.  It’s sophisticated and urbane but Rustic Chic to boot.

Satya Twena (www.satyatwena.com) is an interior designer turned milliner, having previously worked with Studio Sofield in New York before launching her eponymous line of chapeaux in 2010.

According to Satya’s website “the Satya Twena collection is the product of the eclectic non-traditional background combined with the classic training of its designer, Satya Twena. Highly influenced by her childhood in an artistic family, experiences as an interior designer and an insatiable curiosity to learn, the collection is elegantly complex with a focus on construction, proportion and experimentation with high quality materials. Each hat is made in New York by hand utilizing vintage blocks and free-hand forming techniques to create wearable art.”

Satya Twena is open by appointment only and can be reached at 917 969 3935 or at studio@satyatwena.com.

Photos from www.satyatwena.com.

Thinking Inside the Box

A new year, indeed a new decade, is upon us.  There has been a lot of discussion during the past few months – on blogs, on design shows and in magazines –  about new approaches to interiors that dealt with self-examination of our needs versus our wants.  One story I closely followed was that of Newell Turner, the editor in chief of House Beautiful magazine (www.housebeautiful.com), in which he cataloged through the pages of the magazine and in his own blog, his personal journey in building his own country getaway in the Catskills.

Newell summed up his approach to the “new” building and design better than anyone when he stated in his first editorial letter to House Beautiful readers, and I’m paraphrasing here:  “I wanted a house that I could run, not one that would run me.”  His selections of building materials and decor were simple and chic as well as tidy and low-maintenance and hit the nail right on the head.

It was while following Newell’s sojourn that my mind kept going back to the lilliputian building pictured above and which I had seen “somewhere” in my travels over the years.  It is a replica of an 1810 Dutch house which famed socialite Mary Lou Whitney presented as a gift to her husband, Cornelius Vanderbilt Whitney, to serve as a chapel on the couple’s Saratoga Springs estate named Cady Hill House.  I had to search for a long time to find this image, which was taken from the book “Only the Best – A Celebration of Gift Giving in America.”

And while I don’t have photos of the interiors I can just imagine the simplicity and calm it contains.  It strikes just the right note for a new approach to divesting, downsizing and diverting, and not just to make things smaller for the vulgar sake of saving a buck, but because it’s more thoughtful and creative and definitely Rustic Chic to sometimes think inside the box.

Photo from “Only the Best – A Celebration of Gift Giving in America”‘; Abrams, 1985; by Stuart E. Jacobson

 

Another Year Gone . . .

It’s hard to believe another year has flown by.  For many it’s been tough and now is the time to stop, take a little respite and reflect not only on ourselves and our own achievements or frustrations, but moreso on how we can help others during the coming new year.  After all, that’s why I truly believe we’re here for!   Keep safe and warm, whether you take to the air or roads this season!  As for me, it’s hot chocolate by the fireside!  Best,  Joel

Photo by Joel Woodard

Rustic Chic Star Power

There’s nothing like a bit of antique mirror, here used in a Moravian star ceiling fixture, to add a spark of low level lustre and festivity.  The origin of the Moravian star is ages old and harkens back to the star which, according to the Biblical legend, led the shepherds and wise men to the manger in Bethlehem where Jesus was born.  These days the star is used more for its decorative impact.  I decided to place this one on a painted pedestal which imbued its setting with instant Rustic Chic star power.

Photos by Joel Woodard