Happy Surprise!! Traci Zeller and Lisa Mende In Traditional Home Magazine!!!

photo by Stacey Van Berkel

I'm so excited to share with you that Traci Zeller and I are honored to be featured in the October issue Traditional Home magazine along with a plethora of other fabulous designers.  The gentleman's dressing room we designed for the Adamsleigh Greensboro Junior League Show house, was highlighted in the latest issue, which just hit the stands!  Eric Cohler's chic room designed in partnership with Pearson Furniture made the cover!  Traci and I enjoyed getting to know Walker Hinnerman who oversaw the installation of the room.  Kuddos to the Eric Cohler team! Amazing job!

 I was walking back to my hotel in Paris last night, when I received a text from Traci saying we made the issue.   I had to laugh when I saw the picture used at the top of this post of our room, because on the chest is a book about the Louvre in Paris and I had toured the Louvre.    I feel really honored to be among such a star studded cast of designers.  Jason Oliver Nixon, John Loecke of Madcap Cottage, Suzanne Kasler, Lisa Kahn-Allen, Miles Redd, Warren Kessler, Jack Fhlillips, Megan Winters and Kara Cox.   I can't wait to see the issue when I return from my trip!!!  Thank you to Traditional Home Magazine for including us!!!  

P.S. Traci said the magazine is a must buy so grab your issue before they all disappear! 
Can't wait to get my own copy!  Hopefully I can find it in the airport if not, I'm sure it will be in my mailbox when I return from Europe!

Thanks to all of our wonderful partners in our room: Sharon Coppede & Custom Window Treatments of Charlotte, Hiddell Brooks Gallery,  Madegoods,  Leontine Linens,  PVE Design, Holly Blalock & C.R. Laine, Donna Stanley of J.R. Stanley, Christopher Spitzmiller, Century Furniture & Comer Wear, Stark, Ruby and Sarah Design Studios, Thibaut, Restoration Hardware,Circa Lighting,  HandyMan of Greensboro, Kris Hampton of Hampton Hardwoods, and Brian Sine. 

 Tomorrow I take the chunnel to London!!  Bon Nuit!

Interior design by Lisa Mende and Traci Zeller, showhouse partners-in-crime.  Photography by Stacey van Berkel. 

Adamsleigh Show House Inspiration

Here is a little sneak peek of elements in our Junior League of Greensboro/Traditional Homes Show House Room which is scheduled to open tomorrow April 20th.  The inspiration for our design was the original homeowner himself, Mr John Hampton Adams.  Mr. Adams retained noted architect, Luther Lashmit to design his 15,000 sq ft home in 1929.  When Traci and I saw the original drawings we knew we wanted to create custom wallpaper from them.  We toyed with using design elements, and finally decided we liked the elevations tightly overlapping creating a modern twist on a toile effect pattern.  Our custom wallpaper designers, Sarah and Ruby Studios from California, worked fabulously with us in creating this custom feature.  It was the first time Traci and I had created custom wallpaper.  Sarah and Ruby really made our job pleasant.  We are so happy with the final results.  We decided rather than go with the current trend of oversized designs, we would pay homage to the fact this house is steeped with history and keep the designs traditional in nature so it is timeless. Our room is a mere 9' x 10' so we feel the scale is perfect for a small room.  We chose instead to have oversized bold horizontal stripes on the floor and a larger window pane Thibault wallpaper for the ceilings.  We then trimmed out the entire space with emerald green grosgrain ribbon and 1" nailheads. (Can't wait to share how we did that, since there are no tutorials currently online!)

Here is a close up of the wallpaper.  We chose graphite designs with a white background to keep the space crisp and graphic.  The room only has one window, so by keeping the wall background white, this keeps the room from being so dark.  

When Hamp Adams first moved to Greensboro and went to work at Millis Hoisery Company he produced 200 black hosiery/socks a day, hence "Adamsleigh" has the casual monicker "The Mansion that socks built", so Traci and I thought it would be fun to have custom wallpaper created for the closet!  We love the end product Sarah and Ruby created for us!

In keeping with our ode to Hamp Adams our room will remind you of all the finer details of a gentleman's fine bespoke suit!  Noted items in our room include a 1930's Art Deco Pendant valued at $45,000 from Modernaire, original owner's black crocodile luggage in the closet, beautiful Century Malachite Chest, Circa lighting, Christopher Spitzmiller lamps, CR Laine Chair, Restoration Hardware sink, Leontine Linens custom monogrammed in John Hampton Adams personal monogram, Thibault wallpaper, Kathryn McCoy accessories, C2 paint, and NDI arrangement.  We also have many take away ideas you can use in our own home!

We hope you will come to see the house!  Every room is fab!

Click Here for more info and to purchase tickets!

Show House runs from April 20th - May 5th!

The Gala is tonight so I am off to get my hair and nails done!

"Adamsleigh" Opens April 20th!!

"Adamsleigh"

3301 Alamance Road Greensboro,NC

Art by Patricia Van Essche

 This is an event you don't want to miss!  The collage below is a tiny piece of the design ideas being shared by the talented designers involved in the show house!  The architecture alone is worthy of note but add the beautifully crafted details added by the designers in each room and you have a visual feast!  The designers brought their "A Game" to the project! There are so many ideas you can steal for your own house.  I have shown some of them below such as ceiling treatments, drapery trims, original art, ways to accessorize, hand painted fabrics, unique floral arrangements, outdoor living ideas, couture details on upholstery and more!  

Traci Zeller and I have had so much fun with our Gentleman's Dressing Area and Bath. Our inspiration was a gentleman's fine bespoke suit!  Think Savile Row quality.  Hamp Adams was a man who enjoyed the finest in life, so we decided our modern day ode to "Mr Adams" must do the same.  Our color palette is anthracite, emerald and bright cadet blue. We were so fortunate to have Sarah and Ruby Studios create our custom wallpaper to tell our story. As you know a show house takes the effort of so many, not just the designers. We will be posting about each person and company who made our vision a reality.  

Sharon Coppede and her fabulous workroom Custom Window Treatments, made our beautiful pillows and window treatment.  I want to get a better picture of the window treatment before I post about it.  Look how perfectly she mitered our pillow!  The window treatment is equally as impressive!  Thank You Sharon and your team for a job well done!  Sharon also did the drapery for Circa and Baker in the show house.  If you go, make sure to notice the beautiful drapery and attention to detail that Sharon prides herself in creating.  I adore her work and always enjoy working with Sharon!

Sharon Coppede owner of Custom Window Treatments, Charlotte, NC

Click Here for more info and to "like" her Facebook page

I hope you will make plans to visit Adamsleigh! 

Click Here to purchase tickets and learn more about the event!

A Little Monday Motivation

Via Lana Kole

 Time for a little inspiration as I roll out the door to work on

final installations for the show house.  It's down to the wire.

Today is officially D-Day for us! Our only day to work this

week until Friday!  Our rooms are to be completed on Friday

by 5:00, so the photographers for Traditional Homes can

begin shooting over the weekend.  Traci and I, have other

obligations, which will prevent us from being at the show

house again until Friday, so we will be working like busy

 little bees today!  I know we will get it done! I have total confidence!  

Actually the issue isn't us, we are waiting on others

 to deliver, but we have full confidence in them as well!

  Come on furniture! Please get there today!!!

Via

 I have always been a stubborn sort.  Tell me I can't do something and I will prove you wrong or die trying.  I truly believe that when you set your mind to something, you can make it happen.  What is it you want to accomplish today?  The only thing holding you back is your belief that you can get it done.  Go for it!  Whether it is a simple task like getting your house straight after a weekend with kids at home, choosing new paint colors or winning that big deal, breathe deep, and take one moment at a time.  Make a plan and work your plan!

Call in the professionals if you need help!  You can get it done! Trust me, sometimes picking up the phone and hiring others is your best plan of action!  If you can't DIY(do it yourself), then HIY (hire it yourself)!

Remember the luggage I found last week in the attic at "Adamsleigh"? If not, you can find a refresher here!  After a few "yucks, that luggage looks awful", I have to admit I was in a quandary myself.  I put three coats of leather cleaner on it and it still turned  cloudy and gray.  I was beginning to wonder if I need to take it to a shoe shop and get a professional to work on it.  That's when I decided to do a little research (online of course) and change my products from cleaners to dying! Black shoe polish did the trick.   Look at it now! Just like new!   

"Life is a succession of lessons, which must be lived to be understood."

- Ralph Waldo Emerson

You may have to readjust your expectations, but you will get done exactly what you make a priority today! 

Go conquer your Monday!!!  

Via


Mark your calendar for April 20th- May 5th

to Visit  "Adamsleigh"



For more information visit the Junior League of Greensboro's

 Show House website here

or for updates and info visit their Facebook Page Here

Pre-Show Prep at "Adamsleigh" Show House

This is the view of the front yard at "Adamsleigh" when I arrived at the show house on Tuesday!  Currey and Co, is one of the industry partners in the house.  Their shipment  had arrived in full bounty and was waiting on the front lawn for sorting and delivery to the appropriate designer room.  Bethanne Matari, Head of PR for Currey & Co went out of her way to make sure everyone got what they needed.   

  There weren't many designers around, mostly just workers and boxes
 getting ready awaiting the "big" install next week. 

 I decided to take a couple of minutes and check on the progress of everyone's rooms.  It's so much fun to see the house in the stages of transforming from it's sleepy state to one of life and action.   I  took this picture of the stairwell to show you the iron gates which were installed for protection after the LIndbergh baby was kidnapped.  This prompted me to mosey up to the third floor to check out the walk in attic I've been hearing so much about.   It is the storage for anything removed from the rooms during the tour.  All items we removed must be   returned to their original spot once the show house is over.  The attic did not disappoint!  It was as huge as I had been hearing!  There were some interesting things up there which I will  share later in the post.

This is the awesome view of the nautilus stairway looking down from the third floor to the first floor.  That is a fountain you see at the base of the stairs.  

My new buddy Jason Nixon Oliver and John Loecke of Madcap Cottage are designing the breakfast room.  I found their rug properly marked and waiting its turn for installation.  Their room looks amazing!!  It has killer Thibaut wallpaper!!!  They kept the original paint color for all the millwork which you will love!  (By the way, they have a new pillow line coming out at High Point Market, which is going to be fab!!!! Can't wait to share that with you very soon!!!)

Next on my stroll I wandered into the stately dining room.  The walls in this room are paneled and the ceiling is ornamental plaster.  Baker is doing this room so I know it will be fabulous.

Here is a glimpse of the intricate ceiling pattern.  

The fireplace in the room has beautiful inlay and carved wood.    

The library also has an ornamental plaster ceiling in a serpentine pattern and

beautiful millwork.

Take a gander at the beautiful mantle in the living room Miles Redd is designing with Century Furniture.  

This pretty much it for my tour around the house... I promised to share what I found when I was up in the attic so I will do that now!  Great ready....it's a real treasure!!!!  Traci and I have looked high and low, trying to find luggage for our show room closet.  Yep, you got it!  Major score!  Black crocodile luggage!  We don't know if it actually belonged to "Mr Hamp Adams" the original owner and the inspiration for our room, but it fits his closet shelf perfectly!  Of course it needs a lot of love before it will be ready to be placed in the closet, but what an awesome find!  The luggage looks custom made. The interior fabric of the luggage actually matches our room!  Can't wait to get it cleaned up to see what kind of shape the leather is in.  There is a tattered tag on one of the pieces that says Carolina and below that Pinehurst.  The end of the tag is torn off right after Carolina, but I'll bet if it were complete it would say 'Carolina Inn". If you come to the show house look for it in our gentleman's dressing room closet.  Also, if you have any tips on how to clean it, please pass them along!  I used leather cleaner but it keeps dulling!  I think I need some saddle soap. 

As for the progress in our room,  the arched doorway leading into the closet is now trimmed out with paint.  Originally all of the walls were lined with a wallpaper like liner which had to be removed.  Since our main paper has a pattern, we decided it was best not to wrap it around these rounded corners, so we came up with the idea to paint a 3" border around the door.  The wallpaper will meet the border and where the two come together, a decorative trim will be applied.   The wallpaper hangers finished hanging the wallpaper yesterday.  Thanks to Sarah and Ruby Studios in California who took our ideas and made them come to life.  If you want custom wallpaper or textiles, this team really knows their stuff.  Our wallpaper hanger said it was quality paper which makes hanging it a breeze.  

The final installation should be this Friday.  Fingers and toes crossed we get finished! As with all projects there have been a few glitches, but all in all, things have gone really well.  Thanks to the Junior League of Greensboro team who have gone out of their way to be helpful and supportive.  Special thanks to Lauren Tilley who answers our emails at warp speed, even though I am sure she receives a gazillion daily from all the people working on the house.  I'm off to meet Traci at the house to get our sink installed and lighting hung!

Mark your calendar and  make plans to attend!  

There is so much to see in this 15,000 square foot house built in 1930-1931.  The house is amazing empty, I can only imagine what it will be like once all the designers finish!  Only 17 days til the house opens.  Make sure to buy your tickets now, to avoid the rush.  The profit from the house goes to support the Junior League of Greensboro's charities. 


By the way, "Adamsleigh" will be featured in the July issue of Traditional Homes magazine.  Just think you have the opportunity to see in person now, what will be on the pages of the magazine in July!  

For more information visit the Junior League of Greensboro's Show House website here
or for updates and info visit their Facebook Page Here

Want to See Something Fabulous?

Be sure to click the header to read all about this beauty and where it came from!

Thank You Scoop Charlotte!

Local interior designers design a room in the Traditional Home showhouse.

March 17, 2013

Local interior designers Traci Zeller and Lisa Mende have teamed up to design a room in the Traditional Home showhouse in Greensboro this April – benefitting the Junior League of Greensboro and open to the public from April 20 – May 5.  The spectacular mansion, known as Adamsleigh — has been chosen as this year’s show house.   Built for High Point textile magnate John Hampton (“Hamp”) Adams and his wife Elizabeth, Adamsleigh was finished in 1931, and is known as “Greensboro’s Grandest House,” or more casually as “the mansion that socks built.”   Mr Adams was co-founder of Adams-Millis Corporation, the first company in High Point to be listed on the New York Stock Exchange.

The girls are designing John Hampton Adam’s dressing area/bath which is part of the master suite, and have already begun their work.  We’ll be featuring insider interviews with Traci & Lisa on the details and tips, challenges and rewards of this project later during their process, but for now, congrats to them!  And start planning your visit now.

(more after the break)

Thank You Patricia Van Essche! ~ "Adamsleigh" Greensboro Junior League & Traditional Homes Show House Room

Adamsleigh by PVE Design

Adamsleigh Entrance by PVE Design

Adamsleigh Gentleman's Bath/Dressing by PVE Design

When Traci Zeller and I began designing a room in "Adamsleigh Manor", The Junior League of Greensboro Show House Sponsored by Traditional Homes Magazine, one of the top priorities was to have a spectacular rendering done of our room which was the gentleman's bath/dressing area.  Enter...Patricia Van Essche!  Patricia is the artist and founder of PVE Design.  Not only is she talented but also one of the nicest people I have ever known.   She do a fabulous rendering of our room and surprised us with a couple of renderings of the exterior of Adamsleigh as well!

Often when friends ask why I blog, I tell them about the wonderful online relationships I have developed with amazing people.  Patricia happens to be one of those people. We have never met in real life, but I feel she is truly a dear friend.  I look forward to her daily post to see what beauty she has created on her blog PVE Design.  She often shares a lovely drawing, sketch or painting like the one this past week on Good Manners. 

Patricia Van Essche of PVE Design

Born and raised in Louisville, Kentucky, Patricia worked for 15 years in New York as a designer and design director for Ralph Lauren, Liz Claiborne and Calvin Klein.  Patricia posses the rare gift of seeing things through an artist eye and shares it so eloquently with others.  I was trying to think of a way to explain how her art makes me feel, so I went to her website and there were the perfect words to describe what I was trying to say, which was "she captures the soul of a moment".  There are many talented artist out there, but not many who can capture the soul or essence of a subject quite like Patricia.  I often find myself looking at her art and thinking about how it would be to live in that room, or partake in whatever is happening in the painting.  Her work has an elegance which exudes a "life well lived".  Her work sparks imagination and engagement.

If you don't currently follow her blog, pop over and visit , but we warned, 

you will get hooked!   

Patricia has an etsy shop where you can retain her services for painting any moments you wish to capture, be it a sleeping child, a favorite pet, your home, your logo, a wedding or a special party.  The options of Patricia's offerings are endless.  She also creates custom textile designs for clients!  I especially adore her lovely custom monograms. 

Below are a few examples of her beautiful work!

PVE Design

PVE Design

PVE Design

PVE Design

Thank You dear Patricia for our beautiful renderings, we love them and you!!!

(All artwork used in this post is property of Patricia Van Essche & PVE Design)

Click Here for Details!!!

April 20th - May 5th

3301 Alamance Road

Greensboro, NC