I seriously love Sarah Richardson.
For those of you not familiar with Sarah, she is a Canadian Interior Designer who has parlayed her abilities into not only a successful business, but a successful TV career, furniture and fabric design business, is the new Home Design Director for Good Housekeeping magazine and now, has added author to the mix.
Yesterday, her new book, Sarah Style hit the shelves:
It's actually on sale at Chapters this week for the ridiculously low price of $16 and so no surprise, it is winging its way to me at this very minute...
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| It looks like candy, doesn't it? |
I love Sarah because she can decorate high end, but she can also come down from the mountains to give advice and support to the rest of us.
I started watching Sarah years ago on Design Inc and continued to follow along on all of her TV projects.
She is usually assisted by the talented and crazy-funny, Tommy Smythe:
Tommy is the ying to Sarah's yang, and is a talented designer in his own right. I am particularly drawn to his use of old world and masculine touches in his decorating projects.
One of the things I vowed to do when I began to work and write from home was to never, ever, turn on the television. I do make exceptions of course, but they are rare.
I do not do this because I am a snob.
Au contraire.
I could so easily get sucked into the TV that I might never leave it and so have left my viewing habits till later in the evening with the family.
But then one day, I discovered that a local channel was running a continuous loop of Sarah's House and Sarah's Cottage. At twelve noon. Which just happened to be the time I stop and take lunch.
When I was a kid, there was a show on every day called Elwood Glover's Luncheon Date.
Elwood was a refined gentleman, if I recall, and the show is most famous in my mind for the fact that Stompin Tom got married live on air:
But my luncheon date is different.
Most days, you will find me in the kitchen, having lunch with Sarah and Tommy. I am now into the second cycle of watching the shows. I cannot seem to get sick of them. I'll take a slurp of yogurt and say "Tommy, you are a SCAMP!" or give a nod of affirmation when Sarah tells us something VERY IMPORTANT about design, something which, if I'd known about 20 years ago, might have saved me much heartache. But Sarah wasn't in my life then, and that's through no fault of hers.
Someday, when I am a rich authoress, I shall have Sarah and Tommy round to the MacKnight house, where, over canapes and champagne, they will explain to me just how and why things aren't quite jiving... Then I will say something wistful like "it would be so great if Toronto designers ever worked in New Brunswick" and they will immediately yell "WE HAVE ALWAYS WANTED TO DO A PROJECT IN NEW BRUNSWICK FOR A RICH AND FAMOUS AUTHORESS!" and there will be much hugging, some snide asides by Tommy about a paint colour or man-made countertop, and all will be well with my world.
Until then, I will be in the kitchen, eating with Sarah and Tommy. And thumbing through the book when it comes!
Stay safe out there! xoxo wendy
