Coco Chanel Inspired

Nicolette inquired about spaces inspired by unrelated objects when I did my Snapple / lipstick blog. I told her about an indoor pool room inspired by Coco Chanel. The room as actully inspired by one of her designs ~ a beautiful pink dress. They had the dress in the room when I visited the National Symphony's Showhouse in 2004. I will never forget that outing. My daughter was ~18 months old. No children were allowed in the house but I did not have a sitter so I brought her with me. I went with my lovely friend, Andie Smarrelli. I will write more about Andie in a later blog. Naturally we had to take turns going in the house. After my turn in the house, I found my daughter giggling in Andie's arms. They kept repeating "cheers" and clinking their hands together. While I was inside, Andie taught her to do a traditional Cheers! with a drinking glass. To this day my daughter Cheers! my husband and I at dinner every evening. Thank you Andie, we love it! Back to the pool room ~ I found it. It was a room designed by Barbara Hawthorn, a Washington, DC interior design icon. I believe the dress was this one - worn by Jackie O.

Here is a snipet from an article written about the Showhouse in the Capital Annapolis:

"The Women's Committee for the National Symphony Orchestra has selected Chateau Peyrenc de Moras as the site for the 32nd NSO Decorators' Show House....

The interior, which covers an area of 13,000 square feet, features 25 rooms including a grand foyer, formal and informal dining rooms, two libraries, numerous balconies, seven bedrooms and eight full bathrooms. Marble and hardwood floors, intricately carved plaster moldings and 10 fireplaces lend to the elegance, while indoor and outdoor swimming pools and a grass tennis court add to the homeowners' pleasure.

Our talented designers have certainly worked their magic at the chateau," says 2004 Show House Chairman Bonnie Curry Brose.....

Once through this space, room after room will be discovered before coming upon designer Barbara Hawthorn's brilliant interpretation of the indoor pool room - a tribute to Coco Chanel."

The room is at the top. Here are additional photos!

I will try to locate one room I have in mind that was inspired by a car for tomorrow's blog. I will also show you some inspiration photos from Disney. What I would like to do is take some of the Disney pictures and design a room or two based on them. That will be a fun exercise for me.

Here is one photo from Disney. I saw so many Disney tee shirts while I was there. Some were traditional Disney tee shirts; others, wild and crazy. I came upon a family that had the most tasteful and beautiful Disney tee shirts on so I asked the mom if I could take a picture. She said, "Sure!" Meet the Cathey Family ~

Dad was there too but he did not have on a cool tee shirt :) That is him drinking his soda. The mom's had pretty muted tones of pink, yellow, teal, and gray and a tasteful design. The beautiful little girl had on a unique vibrant pink shirt with a wonderful butterfly, flowers and curlicue embellishments. The adorable little boy ~ well, he just wanted to be in the picture and who could resist that face?! Certainly not me & it was his birthday!

Disney is such a happy place. I'll leave you with a few thoughts and pictures. I was in smitten by the many, many languages I heard while there. So many families from all over the world. Even though the languages were different, I could understand the joy, excitement, occassional fear, but mostly awe on each child's face. Multi-generational families were plentiful ~ I enjoyed that never having met my grandparents. One of the images that has stuck in my mind was a very large, muscular gentleman ~ seriously, his arms were as big as my husband's legs ~ every time I saw him, he was carrying a tiny baby girl dressed in a pink and white baby doll. His hand was large enough to support her etire body and yet, he was so gentle, so loving, it made me smile. I saw them several times and every time, it was the same ~ holding her close, giving her little kisses. It was so sweet. While in line for food, a very long line, another large man with broad shoulders. Laying across them was a toddler no more than 16 months sound asleep. Dad was holding him there with one arm. The toddler looked so content; the dad looked hot. Not hot as in oo la la, but temperature wise. It is amazing what parents will do for their kids. I found myself contorting my body to be the most comfortable piece of furniture I could be so my daughter could sleep on the way back to our hotel. All worth it. Here is my daughter at the Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique becoming a princess (as if she wasn't one already!).


I thought it fitting to start and end the blog with pink.

Margaret Horton Edsall. "Away We Go: Unique spaces fill NSO show house." Capital (Annapolis). Annapolis Capital. 2004. HighBeam Research. 23 Jun. 2009 <http://www.highbeam.com/>.