Tags
Argonauta, Ashley Van Etten, big bucket, clothes pin holder, Etsy, Narragansett, navy, Newport, pillow, pillow covers, Sea Horse Tea Towel, totes, white, Willywaw
As you know Etsy is filled with a plethora of wonderful hand-made goodies, and this week we wanted to share a local favorite: Willywaw. Ashley Van Etten’s studio is over the bridge from Newport, RI in Narragansett and it is an inspiring space to visit as well as shop. The Argonauta pillow above is one of many hand screen printed pillow covers that are now available on-line in addition to tea towels, totes, notecards and more.
Sea Horse Tea Towel
Clothes Pin Holder
Big Bucket Tote
Since all of the screen printing is done by hand at the studio, Willywaw is able to customize their designs to suit your decor. A friend’s porch was in need of navy and white pillows to complete the design, and look what Ashley created! I think the seaweed pillow is my favorite, but gather Sarah wants the whale pillow.
In addition to Willywaw’s Etsy shop, there are Open Studio days on the first Sunday of every month as well as a market stall on Saturday’s at the Winter Coastal Growers Farmers Market. Willywaw – named after the ferocious arctic winds that sweep down coastal mountains and blow onto the ocean – is sure to inspire all to bring a touch of inspired nature into your decor.
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Etsy Pick of the Week: Buoy Pillow
Caitlin Wilson Textiles Brings Classic Style to Modern Times
Cory Farms is Worth the Drive
I had so much fun on the Newport House Tour this past Sunday. All of the houses had incredible architecture and most of them had some truly fabulous decor. I went with six other highly critical women and we pretty much all agreed that we’d just like to run home and grab a few family photos and then move right into Seaweed that afternoon. This house is situated at the very end of Newport’s famed 
What was most interesting about the decor is that they used the exact same rugs and upholstery fabric in every room of the house. On the one hand, I think there is so much fabulous fabric out there, why on earth do such a thing, but on the other, with such spectacular views, why distract from them. The other genius thing about it that we can all use in our own lives is that it makes the furniture so much easier to re-arrange or to move from house to house. There were variations in the shape of the chairs and some of them had nailhead trim or other accents, but the fabric tied each room together. It was even on some upholstered headboards in the bedrooms. But how nice would it be to want to move a chair or couch to another room and not have to worry about whether it is going to match what is already there? This is a great idea for the person who likes to re-arrange their furniture on a regular basis. The walls were also almost all painted the same neutral color, but the wainscotting varied from room to room (see top photo), my favorite of which was the diamond pattern wainscotting, and there were some pale accent colors in beach tones on some of the ceilings and walls. All of the moldings were a beautiful bright white. I imagine they were probably originally a deep cherry or some other dark wood, but the white made it so much more light and airy like a beach house should be. This monotone look also worked well because the rooms of the house, including the bedrooms, all flowed from one to the next so it was nice not to have each room competing with the other. Unfortunately, because this was a house tour and not a designer showhouse, the details of what fabrics and products they used were not listed, but I’ve rounded up a few items that could provide a similar look on a much smaller budget.
This Tanzania Sisal Rug by Natural Area Rugs with its wide texture is similar to the ones used in the house except theirs had an even wider texture and I’m almost certain it was wool because it was so soft underfoot and it’s driving me crazy that I can’t find a similar one online so this is as close as I could get.
A neutral fabric like this 
The lamps were mostly oversized and glass with large cylindrical shades like this 
Additional lighting is provided by oversized hurricane lanterns like these 
Most of the accessories were oversized pieces of coral, sea fans (below) and other sealife (including a partial skeleton of what I think was a whale that was A-MAZ-ING) like these from 
The repetition wasn’t limited to the main rooms in the house. All of the bathrooms were done in navy and white with a matte finish, but they did have some fun here and there like adding a 
Unfortunately, we weren’t allowed to see the kitchen which is situated on the basement level (for the former servants of course) but I’m sure that was fabulous too. I LOVE color, but I seriously was ready to go home and paint my entire house white after touring this house. And it’s my understanding that this is the family’s summer home so it was probably a bit easier to edit to a more simple style, but I think there are some great lessons learned that can be used by all of us whether we live on this grand scale or a much, much, much, much smaller one.
Seaweed
Broadlawns
Sulthorne
Pelham House
Beacon Rock