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Do the Draper

Monday, January 4, 2010

Hello! Yep…I think this thing’s still on.

Over the break I was back home in Lexington, and between reading, cooking with my new food processor (I want to slice EVERYTHING now) and milking my sister’s cow, Maybelle, I took a day trip to the Greenbrier in tiny White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia, decorated by legendary interiors maven Dorothy Draper. I’m not sure how I made it this long without ever going, but it was, in a word, inspiring. The interiors are colorful, bold and large in scale. She loved red, big florals and major window treatments. Lady Draper did not believe in boring, or sad, or safe. Instead, she believed in taking risks, following your gut, and surrounding yourself with what makes you happy. More than a few of her words of wisdom are inspiring me now, at the beginning of this new year:

There seems to be within all of us an innate yearning to be lifted momentarily out of our own lives into the realm of charm and make believe.

Have you ever stopped to think what fun this business of living can be? If you haven’t, and if you are one of those who insist upon believing that life is humdrum, grim and boring, then I’m afraid this department is not for you. For I don’t believe any such thing. I know that we can all free ourselves and live our lives fully, zestfully and joyfully!

I’ll always put in one controversial item, it makes people talk.

Birds are so much wiser than we! A robin builds a nest for robins. A seagull builds a nest for seagulls. They don’t copy each other – or build themselves nests as described in The Birds’ Decorating Magazine.

why, oh whyyy does my bathroom not look like this?!

This room is just off the upper lobby, where live music and complimentary tea & cookies is served up every afternoon in true Southern hospitality style.

Sparkly chandelier above….

…and reflected below huge black and white tiles

Such a wonderful way to spend an afternoon (if you go, make sure to have lunch in the Draper Cafe!) and then on the way home, I was treated to another stunning display, perfectly executed by life’s most fabulous and fickle decorator….

UPDATE – Check out the fabulously colorful photoshoot for the Meredith Wendell line at the Greenbrier, just posted on New York mag’s The Cut!

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