Interesting facts about green....

The word green is closely related to the Old English verb growan, "to grow".
It is sometimes used to describe someone who is inexperienced, jealous or sick.

You may hear someone say "green around the gills" to describe a person who looks ill.
Green occupies more space in the spectrum visible to the human eye than most colors.

Green was the favorite color of George Washington, the first President of the United States.

And lastly, here are just a few brands who picked green for their logo . . . . Starbucks, BP, Heineken, John Deere, The Masters Golf Tournament, and Rolling Rock.

Mind The Gap

Mind the Gap - like you, we will be with our family and friends enjoying the holidays. See you soon in the new year!

Boxing Day

Ever wonder whist our friends across the pond do on the 26th of December? Well, here you go - Boxing Day is whist they celebrate.

Boxing Day is a public holiday that is celebrated on December 26th or the first or second weekday after Christmas in the UK. It began in 19th-century England under the reign of Queen Victoria. One belief is the legend of clergy opening the alms boxes on the day after Christmas to hand out money to the poor. Another opinion is that the name came from merchants handing out boxes of food or clothing to their workers the day after Christmas as a Victorian-era bonus. Today, Brits associate Boxing Day with Christmas leftovers, family gatherings, and shopping. This custom, too, can be tied to Victorian England, when servants who worked on Christmas day, headed home to their families the next day, with boxes full of their employer’s family's leftovers.

Christ Church, Oxford

Does this remind you of a Harry Potter scene perhaps? This is actually an interior view of Christ Church, which is part of one of the largest colleges in England, the University of Oxford. Christ Church was established in 1546 - when Queen Elizabeth I ruled. The Great Hall was inspiration to the set directors of Harry Potter movies. In addition, Lewis Carroll's Alice In Wonderland was based on many situations and buildings in Oxford and at Christ Church.

Rose Tarlow

To keep the celebration going with our month of green, we thought we would feature another one of our favorite artist, Rose Tarlow. No one in the industry has inspired us more year after year. Below are two ways this iconic designer uses the color green, in a simple but strong way. Rose Tarlow began R. Tarlow Antiques in Los Angeles in 1976 which later became Melrose House - a must see when visiting LA. In 1997, she introduced her own line of textiles to compliment her furniture including sheer, velvet, and outdoor fabrics and later leathers, trims and wall coverings.

Bobby McAlpine

We love seeing and being inspired by elements of nature all around us in design and architecture. We thought you too would enjoy seeing what inspired architect Bobby McAlpine to design two chairs for our McAlpine Home collection. He looked around at two popular staples in most Southern landscapes, ferns and oak trees. See below our fern knuckle chair, inspired by the fiddlehead fern, and the oak leaf wing chair inspired by the profile of an oak leaf.

Here are a few quotes we found worth sharing regarding nature.
* Adopt the pace of nature: her secret is patience. ~Ralph Waldo Emerson
* I believe that there is a subtle magnetism in Nature, which, if we unconsciously yield to it, will direct us aright. ~Henry David Thoreau
* The human spirit needs places where nature has not been rearranged by the hand of man. ~Author Unknown
* I believe in God, only I spell it Nature. ~Frank Lloyd Wright

Tartans

Tartans have long been close to our hearts. Check out our MacRae tartan below as well as other popular tartans such as the Black Watch and Royal Stewart. Tartans are linked to ancient Celtic populations from 400 BC to 100 BC. The use of Tartan as a means of Scottish clan identification began during the 19th century - much later than many realize. So, if you are in need of a holiday outfit see Town & Country's recommendations below and dress your man in a kilt!

Green Finds

Quatrefoil Design

We love all forms of quatrefoil in architecture, table tops, mirrors, jewelry, and furniture. We have seen others do as well of late! Quatrefoil means "four leaves" and is representation of a flower or leaf with four petals or leaflets, which is a symbol of good luck. This design detail became popular during the Greek Revival and Renaissance.

A few interesting facts about the Quatrefoil:
* This detail can be seen on the doors of the Baptistery in Florence.
* It is a decoration on U.S. Marine Corps officers' uniforms.
* It is the national symbol of Phi Mu sorority.
* In Celtic culture the quatrefoil symbolizes "the wheel of being".
* In Native American culture, the four leaves of the quatrefoil symbolize the four ends of the earth. This represents Native American prayers to the North, South,East and West.

Suzanne Kasler

What better combination - Suzanne Kasler, Lee Jofa and New York! If you are heading up to the big apple anytime soon, take a peek at the recently created room in Lee Jofa’s New York Showroom. Thank you Suzanne for featuring MacRae's furniture so beautifully!

Suzanne was recently featured in this month's Atlanta Homes & Lifestyles. In 2009, Suzanne’s first book Inspired Interiors was published - a must read for any of you who have added this to your library!

December Means Green

Welcome to our month of green. As you know we pick a color every month to celebrate, and this month is a traditional, old school, avocado green leaning towards emerald green for lack of a better description. Pratt & Lambert calls our green #17-16 Green Ravine which is catchy. Away we go . . . . .

Hugh Acheson

Driving on the left?

Ever wondered why the British drive on the left side of the road?

Well, during the Middle Ages, everyone kept to the left in case they came across an unfriendly stranger on the right, and needed to draw their sword easily. Keeping to the left became official in 1300 A.D. and continued until the late 1700s, when the US and France used wagons carring farm products pulled by several pairs of horses. The driver had to sit on the left rear horse in order to keep his right arm free to lash the horses, and to make sure he could see to stay clear of other wagon wheels passing. The first known keep-right law was enacted in Pennsylvania in 1792.

In England, however, they didn't use horse drawn wagons with a driver riding one of the horses. The driver sat on the right side of a seat mounted on the wagon, so the whip wouldn't get caught in the load behind him when he lashed the horses. Keeping left became English law in 1756,with the enactment of an ordinance governing traffic on the London Bridge.

Orange Super Friends

Today we thought we would provide you with a bit of serious and a bit of not so serious.

We love the pop of color both Jean-Philippe Demeyer and Kathryn M. Ireland used with orange. Can you image each room without this color now?!

And, for the close of our orange celebration we thought we would have a bit of fun. We could not resist sharing some of our favorite characters who wear orange day after day. Enjoy and thank you for helping us celebrate this month's dynamic color. Behold our super characters!

Missoni

Looks like we are not the only ones who love Missoni. Just ask Target - in September they offered a low cost collection by Missoni. Most everything sold out within 24 hours, as long lines of people waited for items to be restocked, and Target's website crashed frequently due to interest in the collection.

Missoni was founded by Ottavio and Rosita Missoni in 1953 in Varese, Italy. The company is famous for its exclusive knitwear in a variety of colorful patterns including stripes, geometrics, and floral designs, and many different fabrics including wool, cotton, linen, rayon and silk.

Rhodia Orange Notepads

Need a stylist notepad?

We highly recommend anything from Rhodia, oui, oui! A bit of history for you . . . The paper company, Rhodia, was founded in 1932 in Lyon, France by two brothers, Henri and Robert Verlhac. In 1934, the company moved to the French Alps and the production of their notepads began. The name “Rhodia” comes from the Rhone, a river that flows by Lyon and divides the Alps from the Massif Central. It has been said that the two fir trees on the cover symbolize the two founding brothers. The orange cover dates back to the 1930s and the design has never changed. The notebooks and pads are popular among artists, designers, and writers who love the grids, smooth paper, and the iconic cover. Personally, we think these brothers had it going on!

Ikat Fabrics

Ikat fabrics are everywhere these days and we cannot get enough! Look at what we found - The styles below are the Kaltacha which is a tunic style top with a slim waist, and the Kurta style which is a tunic style dress. Both are made of silk and cotton, and were traditional clothing worn by Uzbek women during the 5th-20th centuries, for casual wear or for celebrations. We think these would make smashing holiday attire this season!

Angel Tree

Here are some pictures from the IFDA’s 26th Anniversary Angel Tree party we hosted Tuesday night here in our showroom. Angel Tree is a wonderful project that brings holiday cheer in the form of presents to DFACS children, who would otherwise have none. We still have several “angels” who need sponsoring. Please come by our showroom if you are interested in helping make a child’s Christmas a joyous occasion. Wrapped presents will need to be returned to our showroom by December 2.

John Derian

John Derian is America’s master of decoupage, which is the art of decorating an object by cutting and pasting paper images. In 1989, he opened his own studio in New York, where he began piecing color reprints of the 18th and 19th century under glass, thereby producing a product line of plates, vases, trays, paperweights, desk accessories, cachepots, wall hangings, and many other items. John Derian launched a environment friendly furniture line with Cisco in 2008, and created an accessories line for Target in 2008 and 2010.

Orange In Design

In our opinion, no one uses the color orange better than Charleston designer, Amelia Handegan and Atlanta designer, Kay Douglass. Here are a few images to feast your eyes upon. Enjoy our continued celebration of orange.

Guy Fawkes Night

Did you remember the 5th of November?

Guy Fawkes Night was held this past Saturday November 5th in the UK. Guy Fawkes was a good Catholic who fought for the Spanish and organized the Gunpowder Plot of 1605, which failed. They wanted to get rid of Protestant rule, due discrimination against English Catholics, and sought to blow up the Houses of Parliament, while King James I, the whole Protestant, and many of the Catholic, aristocracy and nobility were inside. Guy Fawkes night is a celebration of the failed attempt to blow up the Houses of Parliament. Participants burn an effigy of Fawkes and fireworks are displayed to celebrate - sound like fun?

Orange

November means orange for us! We are kicking off with two images below of how stunning orange can look in any room. Enjoy.