'Granny meets punk' in NYC

If it's true that a room's decor should tell a story about the person who lives there, what do the rooms you've decorated say to the world?
Would anyone know who you are?
You know from the bold patterns and colors in the picture shown here that the occupant is no shrinking violet.
Meredith German, the resident, was born in the South and makes her living as a New York fashion designer. That's the story she asked Charlotte interior designer Barrie Benson to help her tell in her roughly 850-square-foot Upper West Side apartment.

The chairs are done in chintz – with black patent leather trim. This modern use for a fabric that many consider frumpy earned Benson a spot in Southern Living's April magazine.
"We call it 'a little granny meets punk,'" Benson said of the project.
A second Charlotte designer, Ruthie Sommers, also offers the magazine ideas for decorating with the shiny printed fabric. "It's coming back," Benson says confidently.
Benson's client wanted the Fazenda Lily pattern because she often admired it while growing up as a neighbor to The Greenbrier resort in White Sulphur Springs, W.Va.
More recently, German was a lead designer for fashion icon Marc Jacobs, Benson said. Visually representing both aspects of her life resulted in a room that's daring with a soft side.
"I think it's really neat that a female designer in New York still wants to bring a little of her Southern past into the house," Benson said.
"It's a neat story," Benson said.

Sullivan: http://homelifeclt.blogspot.com and @sullivan_obs on Twitter

Shopping is nearly free at online 'sharing' marketplace

Now there's a nearly free online marketplace to fix all the shopping days gone wrong and clear out the gifts that are yet to be regifted.
The website and Apple app for "sharing" lightly used goods is called yerdle (yes, lowercase). Sign up for an account, and you can have what others no longer want for a $2 to $4 flat-rate shipping fee.
The founders – a former Wal-mart exec and a former Sierra Club president – think this is a way we all can save money and cut waste. Why buy something new when you can dust off a similar version?
The butterfly tea set shown here, for example, was available on yerdle for 65 credits and $3 shipping. I got 250 points just for opening the account. The cheerful mortar and pestle, below, was available for 50 credits and $3 shipping.

Changing our ideas about shopping would be good for the planet and our consumerism problem, yerdle's handlers say.
Does this arrangement really get us a pass?
We've all got donation centers just a detour away. I just dropped off a trunkload of books at one. Eventually I'll probably stop to unload a box of tag sale dishes that my mom couldn't pass on years ago.
OK, the founders might be kind of right about the unchecked shopping. Mom convinced herself that I'd squeak at the sight of the circa-1950 pink floral imprints on those four-piece place settings.
And maybe somebody on yerdle would still want to set the table as Grammy did. If so, I could earn more points to use for shopping – uh, “sharing” – on yerdle.
But I keep wondering how far that box would have to travel to reach a “green” home?

Sullivan: http://homelifeclt.blogspot.com and @sullivan_obs on Twitter

Smart homes aren't just for the luxury market

You date yourself by admitting you were an adult by the time you sent your first text message.
Now, it seems coming home to a dark house, a chilly living room and cold stove will soon make you a cultural relic.
Generation automation is here.
Researchers predict that 50 million buildings globally – the majority of them residential – will be equipped for automation by 2018, according to a report from On World, a technology research firm.
“In the past three to four years, we’ve seen a huge change in the number smart homes,” said Mareca Hatler, On World’s research director. “It used to be pretty much a luxury market.”
With costs dropping, consumers are buying automation to control energy use, lighting, security and entertainment systems, On World says in its “Smart Building Set” forecast.
Annual shipments of wireless gadgets are expected to increase by more than 600 percent over the next five years, the report predicts.
Getting home late tonight? Adjust the thermostat to save a few dollars.
Wi-Fi and Bluetooth will still be popular for in-home networks. ZigBee, Z-Wave and EnOcean are also names to watch for entertainment, fitness, medical and monitoring tools.
When the doorbell rings, live video on your smartphone lets you see who is outside. Tap the screen to unlock the door. Yes, your keys are headed to the time capsule, too.

Sullivan: homelifeclt.blogspot.com and @sullivan_obs on Twitter

22 types of lavender are highlight of garden tour

There are lots of garden tours in our area every year, but this one is different.
You take a drive along country roads in York County, S.C. Before long you're sitting in front of lavender fields, Italian cypress trees and a handsome Mediterranean-style home. It's a bit surreal.
Owner Chris Pinard, a landscape designer who was born in southern France, has planted more than 3,000 plants, including 22 types of lavender, 22 varieties of rosemary and around 50 different salvias.
You can sign up now for a tour of La Bastide des Lavandes, or the lavender homestead, for $25 at www.sclavender.com.
Pinard is booking 20 tours between May 31 and July 26, after which he plans to harvest the lavender.
If you've struggled with growing lavender and other Mediterranean herbs, you can learn from Pinard's technique for establishing these popular plants in our climate.
He plants lavender in winter in mounded rows of clay soil – with no special amendments. So there's hope that other Piedmont gardeners can have success with these plants, too.
In Charlotte, see more local residential gardens during “Art in the Garden,” presented April 26 and 27 by Charlotte Garden Club, www.charlottegardenclub.org.

Wing Haven's annual Gardener's Garden tour, May 10 and 11, also offers a peek at residential landscapes, www.winghavengardens.com.