Friday, June 27, 2008

Elizabeth Allen is in the house!


I just love Elizabeth Allen, fabric and bedding designer extraordinaire. Well, I've only met her once and she is delightful, but what I love is her design aesthetic and the way she's passionately put her collection together. We just got our first shipment of her wonderful bedding at Pomegranate Downtown, and we're all just ga-ga over it (Robert will not admit to being ga-ga over anything -- except maybe a trout, but he'll come around, just see).

Her cottons have the softest hand, and are light and luxurious, perfect for summer evenings. The finishing touches are exquisite and little details are a surprise on their own. We've paired some of her shams here with an all-white Bella Notte bed for a clean, fresh summer look. The new Bella Notte pieces are fabulous, too: in this photo we're showing a Diamond Jacquard coverlet (hemp and organic cotton), the embroidered linen neckroll, and their newest pillow, which I love love love: pure linen with crochet edge trim. Okay, I can already hear some of you going: uh oh, all white? Are you kidding? The dog lands on this just once, and it's all over. Here's the beauty: Bella Notte comes in 21 color palettes, from soothing white, to chocolate, to charcoal (gray is the new black, people) and the best colors in between (all washable). The hundred plus Elizabeth Allen patterned fabrics go so well with it all, from soft and feminine, to simple and modern. If you're not so into the shabby chic look we put together here, you'll be surprised at how many ways all these fabrics can come together. You might want to check out the Elizabeth Allen website; she tells her story better than I. Download the beautiful catalog and take a look at how brilliantly she combines funky and Parisian and modern and cottage in her different looks. Love the baby line, too!

P.S. Could someone please come up with a phrase other than "shabby chic"? I hesitate to even write those words here because it's all so overused and inaccurate. Shabby? Shabby was that peeling naugahyde sofa our neighbors had when I was growing up.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Went to the Elizabeth Allen website, nice fabrics, very retro looking... her sale page has prices that are scary, hope the prices are not so steep.. will have to check them out. Found a funny, they list your address as 150 Minnisota... now, that is how my aunties from Minnesota used to say it.. Minnie Sooota... My dad grew up there in the 1920's H.

shopping monkey said...

Well, her line is not inexpensive, true. Neither is Bella Notte, which we also carry. It's not in the crazy, beyond belief price category of some of the fine Italian linens, but more than the average stuff out there, for sure. But when you feel the hand of her cottons and look at the construction (superb; she came from the couture world), it all makes sense. And, it's made in the US. Wish that fact alone didn't mean higher prices, but generally it does... and that's okay.