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Folding French garden chairs pull up to a Swedish dining table. Ivy embellishes
the Italian tole chandelier and adjustable candelabara found at a Paris flea market;
a 1920's hooked rug continues the garden theme underfoot. |
At Ease in Seattle
A well-balanced mix of comfortable new furnishings
and flea market finds gives a clean-lined cottage a fresh country look.
Country Living, May 2000 -
As the owner of Great Jones Home, an innovative home furnishings shop in
downtown Seattle, Sarah Kaplan spends much of her time traveling to flea markets
and antiques fairs in Los Angeles, Chicago, Paris and all points in between in search
of "the kinds of things you can't find anywhere else." So when she and her husband,
Robert Aldrich, a New York-based fashion executive, return to their 1911 cottage in
the Madison Park neighborhood of Seattle, they revel in the simple pleasures of being
at home. "We decorate with elements form a variety of periods and styles," says Sarah,
"but the aesthetic is always the same: If it's comfortable, and you love it, it works."
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Washable cotton slipcovers make white loveseats practical in a lving room where,
as owner Sarah Kaplan explains, "everything is meant to be touched, used and enjoyed."
Caban stripes revive a $25 tag-sale investment, a cozy easy chair with rokcer mechanism.
Mercury glass, green McCoy pottery, and a portrait of Sarah's paternal grandfather
rest on a mantel that a talented friend modeled after a Paris flea-market treasure
Sarah had shipped home from France, only to discover that it didn't fit the space for
which she had intended it. |
Keeping it Simple. "I don't like 'rules of design,'" says Sarah Kaplan. Whether decorating
her Seattle cottage or seeking to replenish Great Jones Home's inventory, she sticks to
one simple principle: If you're going to live with it, you've got to love it.
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Halophane pendant lights, poured-concrete countertops, and a gray-painted wooden
floor contribute industrial-style good looks to the low-tech kitchen. |
Comfort Comes First. "Nothing in our home is too precious to be touched, used and enjoyed,"
says Sarah. Slipcovered furniture, flea-market finds, utilitarian antiques, and easy-care
floors all make life easier on people with children and/or pets.
Use Restraint. Surround yourself with collections of things that you find useful and
delightful and leave the rest behind. Similarly, when decorating or renovating, take care
to save or replace elements that give a house its architectural identity -- keep the original
windows, woodwork, floors, fixtures, and cabinetry whenever possible.
Know What Works for You. "Whenever I've done a room in color, I've tired of it quickly,"
admits Sarah, "but I always find white uplifting, calming, and relaxing -- and it works with
everything I put with it."
Enjoy. "With all the traveling my husband and I do, we really appreciate being home," says
Sarah. "All I need is my books, some flowers, candles (scented, preferably Diptyque), our
dogs, and I'm happy."
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A few well-chosen Items make the spare bedroom personal, comfortable, and inviting.
Pretty new sheets and a luxurious vintage eiderdown brought back from England dress a
carved and painted Victorian bed that Sarah spotted at the Heart Country Antiques Show
in Nashville. Guests stash theri things away in the 19th-century blue cupboard. "My mother
bought that wonderful piece for me in Dallas when I was living there," Sarah recalls.
"And the Victorian oil painting on top of it is one of my favorites. Robert -- who is a
total modernist -- gave it to me when we moved to Seattle." |
photography by KEITH SCOTT MORTON
produced by PAMELA ABRAHAMS
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