SANITY FAIR

True devotees of Christmas know that the season officially begins on Black Friday (or Thanksgiving evening, if you're naughty)—not December 1. Let the decorating begin! I'm ringing in the season with a series on chinoiserie Christmas decorations, featuring...

Several years ago, I met my friend Meg Hoburg of Meg Hoburg Design, and the first time I visited her home on Capitol Hill, I knew (before we'd even compared notes on counties, colleges, or the SEC) that she was a fellow Southerner. Her home just radiated...

Design House days have come and gone, and I only managed to make it by on closing weekend—but this year was worth the cost of admission. A few highlights:
This Family Room, by Susan Nelson and Todd Martz of Home on Cameron, was a splash of sunshine, calmed down by the liberal use of blues throughout. Large doses of white space on the moldings, built-in, and even the curtain hems, keep the party from getting...

The cool simplicity of interior designer CeCe Barfield Thompson's Gramercy Park home leaps off the screen. It seems so attainably simple, doesn't it? Balancing all those textures and layers requires a refined eye, but it doesn't feel decorated–and that...