July Design Favorites

Happy July 4th!

Most of us will be chillin' and grillin' this month, so we thought it only fitting that we feature a Howcast video on how to grill the perfect burger.

Gardening Guru

Fashion and garden maven Dianne Benson has opened up an amazing new website and online store, The Best at Dianne B, featuring her 10 must-have gardening items and accessories. Included in her edited-down list, the gardening author (her classic, Dirt, is excerpted here on Design2Share) and Garden Pundit for Hampton's Cottages & Gardens Magazine serves up the best trowel, gardening gloves, yard bag, clippers, Felco, tool belt, plant markers, garden ties, gardening shoes and boots (see the chic French pair above), and shovel (see the monogrammed pure steel shovel above).

Epic Book

We are blown away by the poetic beauty and power of author Russell Goings grand survey of the African American experience in the United States, The Children of Children Keep Coming. Goings' book is beautifully framed with images by Romare Bearden.

The author's life is a book in and of itself: a professional football player, the first African American brokerage manager for a NY Stock Exchange Member firm, the first owner of an African American company to manage Fortune 500 corporate assets, the first African American chairman of the Studio Museum of Harlem, the founder and chairman of Essence magazine, and an inductee into the Wall Street Hall of Fame.

Window Shopping

What could be easier than the online workroom at The Shade Store to create custom shades, blinds, drapery, and panel systems -- all with workroom-direct pricing? We love the way you can select a drapery treatment, for instance (above are examples of, from top to bottom: ripple fold, tailored pleat, cubicle, grommet, and rod pocket). The examples above are all from The Shade Store's new collaboration with Robert Allen, showcasing 100 specially edited fabrics. It's an amazing collection, and they're definitely reinventing the boring old window!

Atlanta Peach

 

 

We love the product line from Bradley Hughes, the high-end furnishings folks in Atlanta. Fashioned from acid mirror, colored glass, hand-forged iron, exotic woods, stones, and concrete, they work with top designers and artisans to create unique pieces that will look great in any home.