Country Living March 2020

A A Welcome from the Editor The other day, I spent a good five minutes envisioning a new life with my family on Prince Edward Island. We’d live in a quaint cottage overlooking the sea, and I’d pen future editor’s notes while eating oysters and looking out at the Gulf of St. Lawrence (thank you, Google Maps) through the wavy glass windows of my century-old property. This new existence—where I’d dry laundry on an honest-to-goodness clothesline and sport a perfectly imperfect side braid—came about courtesy of a real-estate listing on @cheapoldhouses, the most delightful detour on the internet, featuring endless what-ifs, as in, What if I moved to Vermont and knit chunky blankets from that beautifully beamed living room? What if I bought that Victorian Italianate in New Orleans and…

HUE FINDER Freshen up your space with this pastoral palette. Yeabridge Green Farrow & Ball Cream Jolie Paint Euphoric Lilac Sherwin-Williams FIELD NOTES Wildflower Wisdom While often confused with one another, Queen Anne’s lace and cow parsnip are not one in the same. Queen Anne’s lace grows about three feet tall and has a more delicate, rounded shape (see photo at far left and illustration, above). Legend says Queen Anne pricked her finger while making lace, thus inspiring the name based on the crimson dots in the blooms’ centers. Cow parsnip is a native plant that can grow up to six feet tall and sports defined clusters of white blooms (above).…

So, is it a place or a pottery? IT’S BOTH! The Dutch began making the tin-glazed, blue-and-white earthenware in the 1600s in Delft, a city also known as the hometown of artist Johannes Vermeer. Local potters used distinctive marks that noted a piece’s provenance. Some artisans were inspired by Chinese porcelain (hence its similarity), but others looked to religious motifs and pastoral scenery (So. Many. Windmills!). Production was prolific, with more than 800 million tiles made in 200 years. Recently, delft influences can be seen everywhere from trending colorways (like Classic Blue, Pantone’s 2020 Color of the Year) to the runway (pg. 16). Did You Know? THE DELFT EDITION IT’S A STATUS SYMBOL. Those who have flown business class on KLM Royal Dutch Airlines since the 1950s know that you…

NOW TRENDING BARK-ITECTURE Lately we’re seeing more and more home-improvement projects designed with the dog in mind. Take, for example, this bright, happy kitchen by designer Brooke Wagner, which features a built-in dog-bed cubby (no accidental tripping over Fido when the oven dings!) alongside custom cabinetry. More fetching dog-friendly updates to consider: a dog bed built into a kitchen island, a nook under the stairs, or even a half-shower in a mudroom, complete with a handy sprayer. (Bonus points if you create tiny paw prints with penny tile.) Denim for Dogs! New York–based sustainable denim company DL1961 now offers pet jackets—that’s right, jean jackets for dogs!—that coordinate adorably with its human apparel. Each one is made from comfy, ethically-sourced cotton, features a snap-button closure, and comes with a handy harness…

OBJECT LESSON:Russell & Erwin Door Hardware WHAT TO KNOW: In 1839, Frederick T. Stanley, H.E. Russell, and Cornelius Erwin joined forces to launch the New Britain, CT–based hardware company Stanley, Russell & Co. Twelve years and several comings and goings later, they reorganized as the Russell & Erwin Mfg. Co., which lasted until a turn-of-the-century merger with P. & F. Corbin, another hardware giant of the time. After the merger, they formed The American Hardware Corp. but continued to make products under their individual names. Russell & Erwin produced a full range of casted bronze and brass door hardware—knobs, backplates, cabinet latches, pocket door pulls, escutcheons, and mortise locks—with intricate designs achieved through their process of hydraulic casting, in which molten bronze was poured into sand molds and then hydraulic…

THE MAGPIE Hannah Betts Rochester, NY RADIO ROOTS: I grew up thrifting out of necessity, so I’ve always had an eye for treasures, like vintage radios. I went to the Fashion Institute of Technology for fashion photography and have always styled my own photo shoots. After my sister let me design her hair salon, the interior projects just kept coming. HISTORIC HOMAGE: When the team at Radio Social (a local restaurant, bowling alley, and event space) asked me to help design a space that would celebrate the building’s past (it was home to the Stromberg-Carlson stereo and electronics company for nearly a century), I donated some of my own radios to the wall but knew we needed some Stromberg-Carlsons in the collection. It was harder to find them than expected,…