The Lady of Cincinnati

I mentioned in my previous post that Mom and I were headed to Cincinnati to see our good friend Gary.  We decided that the waning days of summer was really the only time left to get out of our oyster and head to up to see "Giggi" and get inspired after a long summer. Giggi is a decorator in her own right and was Mom's very first flower partner over 25 years ago. She's since moved to Ohio but visits often because her sister and our good friend and shop gal, Hazel, live right across the street.
 It was my first trip to see her beautiful home in Amberley. She and her husband Mark, made us feel perfectly at home.  Giggi has impeccable taste. She toted us around to all of her favorite haunts and in the evening we had wine on her back terrace. 

 

Pinot G debriefing

We ooohed and ahhhed all over Giggi and Mark's lovely home. Between her period antiques, silver and chinoserie and his collection of engravings and lithographs and rugs, I spent a lot of time just wandering around admiring things. We took a couple snaps of some her interiors to show off, but then got pretty involved in our wine drinking and looking out for the wildlife that live, quite literally in the backyard.

 A view from Giggi's "Ya Ya Room"

Corner chair covered in the Union Jack

Can I live in this bathroom?

Like, I said there are plenty of beautiful rooms and vignettes in Giggi's house to take pictures of, but we got a little involved in wine drinking and looking for deer. Giggi and Mark's house backs up to French Park and they always have deer destroying all of their plants, frolicking in the backyard. Plus, the weather was so nice and cool in Cincy, no one really felt like going inside. 

We've just gotten a truckload of furniture in at the shop, so I'll have to stop here for now, but be looking for more pics and finds from our trip in the next post.

  

 

On the Road

Sometimes you just need to get away.  Mom and I decided on a whim to take a little "Lady Trip" to see our sistah, Gigi, all the way up in Cincinnati, Ohio.  Gigi is an expatriated North Carolinian and decorator extraordinaire (more on that later).  We decided that since our route took us directly by the famed Greenbrier Resort, we just had to stop by and see Dorothy Draper and Carlton Varney's handiwork.  We have a friend who recently was married at the Greenbrier and have been salivating over pictures ever since.  Arriving in the rain did not diminish the impressive facade of the mountain resort.

                     

The plan was to go in and check out some of the Greenbrier, our friend Renee told us "Go check out the bathrooms!!" After all the Diet Coke we had between Newport News and White Sulpher Springs, bathrooms were definitely on our minds. We valeted the van (how posh!) and headed on in.

 Everything about the Greenbrier is bright and mostly everything about the Greenbrier is over the top. From a design perspective there were quite a few things we really, REALLY, liked, admittedly though, there were a few things that left us scratching our heads.

 This shot is heading down to the lower level

We adored these doors

And the shell pediments

 And pretty much all the mirrors

 The list could go on and on and so could the pictures. This was one of those time that I wish I had taken a photography class. Maybe this winter?

Anyway, we decided to have lunch before we hit the road for Cincinnati again. If you ask me a Southern Caprese Salad and French Onion soup at the Greenbrier will beat Wendy's any day.  Stay tuned for the next leg of our trip!