Tuesday, June 21, 2011

Five Simple Summer Essentials



Happy First Day of Summer!  Here are my five simple summer essentials.  What are yours?


1. Aviator Sunglasses make me feel like a movie star even when I have skipped my make up! 
Ralph Lauren Women's 0RL7002 Aviator Sunglasses 


2. White Jeans are a summer staple.  I pair them with everything from simple striped tee-shirts to lacey tops and heels for the evening. 
AG Denim Belle Low Rise Five Pocket Jean in White 


3.  I wear Jack Rogers sandals almost every day in the summer!  They are so comfortable and have a very Jackie O in Palm Beach look so I don't feel sloppy.  Jack Rogers - Palm Beach Navajo Flat  


4.  I use the classic LL Bean totes all summer.  They are great for travel and they make a fantastic beach bag!


5. Even when I am not there, I love to smell like the beach!  Bobbi brown makes the most amazing Beach fragrance and I love the body scrub and soap bar too! Bobbi Brown Beach Body Scrub 6.9 Oz.  

Friday, June 17, 2011

A Father's Day Tablescape

What are you doing to celebrate Father's Day?  

Here is a tablescape that I set and is included in my book, Tablescapes: Setting the Table with Style.



Our table was set up in the library next to a window with a fun view.  I used a folding table and rental chairs to make the extra dining area.  The room was perfect because it had a masculine feel anyway!  I purchased the  fabric for the table cloth from an inexpensive shop that sells fabric for men's clothing.  It is a hounds tooth that would have been great for a suit!



The napkins were made from men's shirt fabric and we folded them to resemble a shirt pocket.

The overlay was made from a garbage bag full of ties that I picked up at the local Salvation Army for a few dollars.  We sewed them together to make an overlay that would really honor dad!  We wrapped gifts in the stock pages of the Wall Street Journal and curled strips of the paper to make a "bow."

Thursday, June 16, 2011

Style Icon: Ann Bonfoey Taylor

I adore the amazing Charlotte Moss and I love the article she contributed to the Wall Street Journal about Ann Bonfoey Taylor.  She was part athlete and part lady but she was always styled to perfection.  Click here to read the article.  




Sunday, June 12, 2011

Summer Style: A Long White Dress



I die over this long white Halston Heritage Long Pleated Dress in White !  What a gorgeous crisp summer look.  Just remember that you can't wear white to a wedding unless you are the bride or Pippa Middleton!  


Another gorgeous option is this Graham & Spencer One Sleeve Long Dress.  Isn't it chic?  You could take this one to the beach for a night out or a gala with an amazing necklace! 


This option looks so comfortable and elegant.  Add a fantastic pair of earrings and this ADAM Chiffon Dress with Lace Yoke can be worn almost anywhere!

Thursday, June 9, 2011

With Sara Evans on the Red Carpet at the CMT Music Awards
Did you catch my interviews for Southern Living on the Red Carpet at the CMT Music Awards?  Here is a highlight reel!  I loved asking Country Music's biggest stars about their favorite southern dish, advice from their mothers, and their favorite southern traditions.  Sara Evans, The Band Perry, The JaneDear Girls, Kristen Chenoweth, Laura Bell Bundy, and many more had a great time sharing! Enjoy!

With Hunter Hayes on the Red Carpet at the CMT Music Awards.  He is about to go on tour with Taylor Swift!
With Laura Bell Bundy on the Red Carpet at the CMT Music Awards.
With Ludacris on the Red Carpet.  His performance with Jason Aldean was amazing!
With Jerrod Niemann on the Red Carpet at the CMT Music Awards

Sail Away Summer Tablescape

I can't believe how summer has flown by!  It was a really busy one in the Whitman household!  We spent as much time as we could at our house on the beach in Canada.  It is the home that I lived in until I was eight years old and moved to Texas!  We love living in Texas (as my mother always quotes "I wasn't born in Texas but I got here as fast as I could!") but I must say that our Canadian summers are a great way to beat the heat.

In my book, Tablescapes: Setting the Table With Style, I featured several tablescapes from our beach cottage.  I thought it would be fun to post the photos here and maybe they would provide some inspiration for you!  

Most of the time, we have wonderful weather in Canada and we eat on the deck but there are always a few evenings that require us to move inside.  The extended family and guests always gather around this antique Mennonite farm table.  It is so charming and has so much character because it is full of grooves and dents.  As we don't use this table daily, the sailboat in the center of the table is always left there for decoration.  Antique pine chairs line one side of the table and the long antique Mennonite bench (maybe from a church or community centre?) provides flexible seating on the other side.  When the table is not in use, we turn the bench around to face the seating group on the other side of table.  When dinner starts, we remove the sailboat and set it on a side buffet so that we can see each other across the table.

Selecting the table arrangements is one of my favorite things to do. I find it so relaxing and it is a great way to exercise my creativity!  I chose raffia placemats (from the flea market in the South of France) because I wanted something neutral to frame to amazing vintage plates that my mother found several years ago.  They were created for some sort of sailing ship and the crest has an S on it....perfect for my "Schlegel" side of the family!  The blue glassware is extremely inexpensive (about three dollars a piece!) from Pier One but it adds a fantastic dramatic punch to our fairly neutral tablesetting.  The navy and white geometric print napkins from Madison add a bit of a modern touch to to the vintage table and the navy handled nautical flatware is from Pottery Barn.





Although our entertaining at the beach is very informal, we still like to put place cards out when we have guests.  We like to ensure that our friends will get to know our family and the best way to do that is to mix up the seating plan!  These place cards have a navy border and gold sailors knot.

For our salad course, we used another set of vintage plates that my mother found.  This set has a nautical crest in gold at the top.  I love the way the navy rimmed plate underneath it frames the white plate and the raffia placemat highlights the gold crest.

I would love to see photographs of your Tablescapes!  Email me at askkim@kimberlyschlegel.com.

Sunday, June 5, 2011

Style Icon: Mrs. Kennedy



I just took a few minutes to browse through the addition to the JFK Library's Website of 30 images and descriptions of Mrs. Kennedy's dresses.  It is a lovely walk through history!  Thanks to my friend, Lori, for sharing it with me! Click here to view and let me know what you think!

Thursday, June 2, 2011

Monogram Mania!



I recently finished a photo shoot for the August issue of Southern Living that reminded me, once again, of how much I love monograms!  I had the idea for the table down and I knew what I wanted but as I set the table out in the days before the shoot, I realized that it still needed a bit of a punch!  I was excited about using crisp white linens but I just felt that something was missing.  I meandered in to one of my favorite stores, Madison, in Highland Park Village and discovered just what it was!  A monogram!  Madison rushed and made me the perfect monogram in green and white stripe thread and in an over sized design.  You will have to wait until August to see it but I promise it is worth the wait!  Thank you Madison!

Marking your linens goes way back to the medieval times when many generations of a family might reside under the same roof.  They would mark their initials on their linens so that they could keep track who owned what on laundry day!  Doesn't sound very glamorous!

In the 1950's there was a resurgence of monograms because technology allowed sewing machines to make them.  Everything from poodle skirts to cardigans was monogrammed just because it was the popular thing to do!

Today, the monogram is a lovely way to personalize your things when so many of our things seem mass produced.  It is a simple luxury and one that I love from a design perspective too!

I love anything monogrammed.  Here a few of my favorite things:


Sandals from Jack Rogers  $158.00


Bloomers and Diaper Covers from The Monogram Shop  $45.00


Bed Linens from Leontine Linens (prices at www.LeontineLinens.com)


LL Bean Boat & Tote Bags  (Starting at $17.95)

What do you have monogrammed?

Wednesday, June 1, 2011

Father's Day Gift Ideas

My first Father's Day suggestions require a bit of planning and pre-ordering but I hope you see that as a way to get ahead on your to-do list!

I love the customized bobble heads on www.Headbobble.com.  They are so great because they use a 3D computer to transform your photographs in to a Bobble Head!

Check out www.pinholepress.com for some amazing Father's Day photo-gifts.  The designs are amazing and their gift suggestions will impress even the most design-snobby dad!

Check back in next week for some additional suggestions!
 

design + development by kelly christine studio