Hello friends,A few days ago, seeking inspiration, I wondered into Barnes and Noble. I headed to the Interior Design section(of course) and ran across a new book by Jennifer Boles, author of The Peak of Chic Blog, http://thepeakofchic.blogspot.com. Her new book is entitled In With The Old and is a wonderful tribute to many of the classics that I love so much!   Almost as wonderful as the book itself is the forward by the infamous Alexa Hampton, absolutely love this girl! I had the privilege of meeting Alexa while in New York for Blogfest 2012. She is really entertaining and so very intelligent and talented with all things design.  

For more about Alexa and her world of Interior Design go here.

As the cover of Jennifer's new book suggests, the inside is full of all things old but classic; black and white checkerboard floors, sunburst mirrors, needlepoint, acrylic furniture, slipper chairs, monograms and leopard print; the list goes on and on detailing each classic design element and giving us a new appreciation for it.

I love that Jennifer references the great American designers like Dorothy Draper, Billy Baldwin, Albert Hadley and Mark Hampton. For it is from these great American designers that we have all learned to appreciate the  classics mentioned within her book. Each designer bringing their own style to the use of these traditional elements and delighting us all along the way.

To begin a discussion about the classic of design, you must begin with Dorothy Draper herself, the first woman to proclaim interior design as a profession. She is the epitome of great design and a pioneer in mixing things up. Take a look at a few of her rooms below. Keep in mind that she opened her business in 1923. Her design work is legendary for it's use of color and pattern and for mixing up classic, traditional elements. She steered away from "period" room design which was in those days the only way to design a room. (Period design meaning when everything in the room was essentially from the same period which was typical of the day).

Jennifer says "Classic design never goes out of style, whether in fashion(think of Audrey Hepburn's little black dress in Breakfast at Tiffany's) or interior decorating." She says that the secret to decorating with traditional elements is that "sometimes something old requires a little tweaking, through color, finish or scale, to transform it into something altogether new." And I couldn't agree more.

Have some fun with traditional elements and mix things up! Take it from Dorothy and Jennifer, it's more fun to mix it up and do something unexpected and at the same time honor the history of those that have gone before us. I know that that is why I do what I do; it's why I love collecting and living with vintage pieces.

I highly recommend Jennifer's new book. It's is truly a work of art in itself. And if you want to dig further into the history of the great American designers mentioned above be sure to click their names above.

Have a wonderful Saturday!

Kim