Slow and Steady Wins the Race

With the warmer months approaching, our calendar has been filling up at a rapid pace.  Before we know it, the long lazy days of winter will be replaced with summer garden parties, barbeques and weekend retreats.  It’s as we’re gearing up for the season that we really begin to appreciate the luxury of operating at a slower pace, which is exactly the lifestyle a cabin should celebrate.  With this leisurely attitude in mind, we turn to Mr. Tortoise from Aesop’s Fables for inspiration.  

1.  Bunny Williams

2.  Grand Tour nesting tables, Century Furniture

3.  Retrosuperfuture

1.  The Tides South Beach, by Kelly Wearstler

2.  Pony hide porter's chair

1.  Victorian Falls Venetian Mirror, Ralph Lauren Home

2.  Atlanta Homes & Lifestyles.  Architecture by Peter Block, interior design by Beth Webb.

1 & 2.  Nate Berkus

3.  Steuben Glass Tortoise Collection Ice Bucket

1.  Windsor Smith

2.  GQ Style UK

1.  Banana Republic

2.  Nicky Haslam

3.  French Art Deco tortoise glass perfume bottles, Douglas Rosin

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An Invitation We Couldn't Refuse

San Francisco based designer and fellow blogger Scot Meacham Wood of The Adventures of Tartanscot has graciously invited us to his cabin this week.  Well, not really, but we are extremely excited that Scot is sharing his ideal weekend hideaway with Bubble & Squeak. What makes this tartan clad gentleman's heart race with inspiration? Well, be quiet!...he's about to say something....

1.  Scot Meacham Wood

“Greetings y’all.  Welcome.  It seems as though we’re all leading such incredibly busy lives.  Over-booked.  Over-worked.  Over-stressed.  And we all need to find a place where our minds can go quiet.  Whether it’s the site of fresh snowfall, the sound of the ocean, or the smell of a verdant forest - we all crave a place of retreat.

For me, I’ve always been a mountain person.  I’d much rather spend the weekend in the remotest corner of Lake Tahoe, than in the finest hotel in Hawaii.  It’s just the way that I’m wired.  I was quite lucky as a young kid, growing up near Los Angeles, to have spent my summers at a camp near Big Bear Lake.  Waking to see the sun rise over the mountains.  Swimming  everyday in the chilled waters of the lake.  That is the genesis of the constant wanderlust to be under a secluded, star-filled sky in the woods.  

So, please come and join me next to the roaring fire.  I've even brought the marshmallows."

1.  Big Bear Lake, outside of Los Angeles, California.

2.  SMW Design - Lake Tahoe Project

1 & 2.  SMW Design - Lake Tahoe Project

3.  Hickory Side Chair, Flat Rock Furniture

1.  Scot and friends rafting on the American River, near Auburn, California.

2.  Caviness Paddles

3.  Chipper Joseph, from House Beautiful

1.  Charlotte Moss, from Elle Decor

2.  Ralph Lauren's Double RL Ranch, Colorado

3.  Ralph Lauren Home Collection, Fall 2009

A big "THANK YOU" to Scot for his generosity and support.  If you have an extra minute, we encourage you to check out his wonderfully inspiring and beautiful blog, The Adventures of Tartanscot where Scot shares his motivations and tribulations as an interior designer.  

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Dock...Dock...Moose

Let's just say, hypothetically, that we have the cabin.  Right now.  And let's just say that we're at the cabin.  Right now.  What the hell do we do while we're here?  Because, let's be real...you can't just sit around and do nothing all day.  So, with this thought, we're starting to lean towards owning a cabin in the woods...on a lake.  Because there's nothing better than a fabulous secluded abode with a boat!  If our cabin turns into a lake house...will it still be a cabin?  Who knows...but it will surely be as fabulous as the water-logged retreats below.  And honestly..."What's in a name?  That which we call a cabin by any other name would feel just as relaxing..."   

1.  The Ariston

2.  Missoni Home

1.  Cabeza de Nadador, Jesus Curia Perez, Ann Nathan Gallery

2.  Keira Knightley in Atonement

1.  Thom Filicia

2.  Nautical rope handrail

3.  Miniature Tabouret, Christian Astuguevieille

1 & 2.  Thom Filicia

3.  Matt Albiani

1 & 2.  James Huniford

3.  18th century Spanish trestle table

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Handsome Imperfections

April's showers bring on the flowers, but they also bring on some pretty dreary days in the meantime.  The cabin, like no other place on Earth, embraces the thunderstorms and overcast tantrums that Mother Nature throws our way.  Similarly, there is no other place where weathered wall treatments, time-worn carpets and subdued color palettes are more at home than at the cabin.  Antique furniture and well-tread stone floors are free to fraternize with chipping paint and handsome imperfections without fear of judgment.  This is, after all, supposed to be a more restful environment where we've given ourselves permission to unwind and relax.  If Lady Nature is having a bad day, come inside and wait until she cools off.

1.  Romantic Irish Homes

2.  Charles Francis Annesley Vosey designed Tulip Rug, c. 1920, Doris Leslie Blau

3.  Matthew Patrick Smyth

1.  Darryl Carter

2.  Por Vocacao Annapurna elbow detail knits 

3.  Irish mahogany serving table, c. 1830

1.  Romantic Irish Homes

2.  Brass eight arm chandelier, Ireland, c. 1880

3.  Arcobaleno

1 & 3.  Romantic Irish Homes

2.  Oak and cut crystal tantalus, England, 19th century

1 & 3.  Romantic Irish Homes

2.  Mark McNairy saddle derby shoe

1.  Peter Marino Architects

2.  The House Hotel, Istanbul

1.  Hawksmoor House, South Africa

2.  Matthew Patrick Smyth

3.  Swedish patinated bronze vessel, c. 1930


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The Lion Sleeps Tonight

Africa.  That enchanting and romantic continent across the pond teeming with wildlife and mystery.  This weekend, we're on a mission to discover what truly defines a glamourous rustic retreat.  Is it the structure, the contents, the surrounding or a combination of all three?  So, for the sake of research, we're off on a legendary African safari that even the greatest adventure men of the 20th century, Ernest Hemingway and Teddy Roosevelt, would be jealous of. Please keep your arms and legs inside this bus...it's going to be a bumpy ride.

1 & 4.  Louis Vuitton

2.  Imperial Japanese Navy aircraft carrier binoculars

3.  Abercrombie & Fitch prohibition era gallon size traveling flasks

1.  Louis Vuitton

2.  Cottar's 1920's Safari Camp, Kenya

3.  Woolrich Woolen Mills Brogue Boots

1.  Hugo Boss tweeds

2.  Abercrombie & Fitch rhinoceros footstool, English, 1950's 

1.  Cottar's 1920's Safari Camp, Kenya

2.  Patek Philippe Calatrava watch, c. 1940

3.  A Maasai herdsman

1.  Greystoke Mahale, Tanzania 

2.  Victoria Falls

3.  Devil's Pool at Victoria Falls

1.  Sterling silver champagne cooler, 1970's

2 & 3.  Cottar's 1920's Safari Camp, Kenya

4.  Barkcloth textile with painted geometric design, Kuba,

Democratic Republic of Congo

1.   Cottar's 1920's Safari Camp, Kenya

2.  Asante stool, Ghana, VW Home by Vicente Wolf

3.  Zafara Camp, Botswana

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