Welcome Indian Summer

Summertime winding down is always a sad but exciting time.  I hate to see every season come to a close, but it's so much fun getting your home ready for the next season!  Summer comes to a close, kids start back to school, football season begins, and you know those holidays are just around the corner!

My design colleagues and I seem to have our homes ready for each season and holiday a little before it actually occurs.  And it is a good thing we do - because when our clients get ready to make the seasonal change, we have to start hoppin' & poppin'! 

Fortunately for us this is the busiest time of year - right up until Christmas, but UNFORTUNATELY, I only made it to two USC ballgames last year.  Oh well, you can't win 'em all!

At my home each season is more beautiful than the last.  I really love to watch the foliage on the river year round - it's true artwork! My mother only cares for the river in the summer time.  She and my sister are still avid sunbathers, and they both really enjoy coming down and laying out.  

Now you would think that when the leaves begin to fall and there is a chill in the air that my company would also fade away until the warmer weather reapproaches.  Hardly so.  I don't think my humble "hotel" has a quiet season.  Buckingham Cottage is open year round.  It might get too cold to get on the river, but it's never to cold to shag on the dock...no matter the month of the year! Besides..my chickens are happy little greeters, and Sheldon provides great entertainment!

So it is essential for me to prepare for the upcoming season early, so that I don't interfere with my clients' plans or arriving/departing houseguests.

Needless to say I've started packing up my Spring & Summer wardrobes, leaving just enough glimpses of my seersuckers, plaids, linens, and whites to get through Labor Day.  Oh I know people say you can wear whatever anytime and that these "funny old rules don't apply anymore," but if I sported some white slacks after labor day, my Grandma would snatch me up bald-headed!

Brian, another designer in our studio, will sport white 365 days of the year.  I think he dons his "winter white" just to get a reaction from me.  And yes, I realize it's 2012 and there is such a thing as "winter white!"  But this color is definetely a little off from a true white.  "Winter white" is not wearing your summer slacks in November and calling them a different name.  There is a difference.

I think people just have to go with what they are comfortable with, and for me, I'm most comfortable following the rules I was brought-up with....and of course in my personal opinion: "The Right Way!"

Homes are just as subject to the seasonal changes as personal wardrobes.  Next week it will be time to roll up the light, woven Summer rugs, and pull the oriental carpets from the attic.  The brightly colored, seasonal accessories will be replaced with more subtle, Indian Summer tones and colors.  Vibrant beddings is switched for something more subtle and in Earth-tones.  Just the words "Indian Summer" or "Harvest Season" paint an illustration of warmer and more rustic colors.

I am not as in-a-hurry to change over my home for the season as I am my wardrobe.  I usually take the month of September to make the home transition, trying to hold-on to Summer as long as possible.  However, when it comes to my clothes, I'm very "old school" and will not be caught dead in white after Labor Day.

When it's all said and done, I think you have to go with what you're most comfortable with doing.  For me I welcome the seasons and the changes...I just don't know what Sheldon and the chickens think about all this excitement though...oh well!