Over the years, the hosts Susanna Salk and I feature in our video series have inspired us just as you have said they do you. And in this special episode, Susanna invites us into her own Connecticut country home to show how she has interpreted many of their unique styles to inspire you to perhaps do the same.
As our video series has grown and we have collected a stable of over 100 episodes featuring top designers and tastemakers around the world, it occurred to us that a printed collection might be in order. So, I am delighted to share that a book, to be published next year, is in the works, as Susanna describes, “kind of a reverse course of the video series: taking some of our favorite visits over the years and distilling them back into still pictures and giving them their own chapter and adding my memories.” A few wise words from Susanna’s introduction serves as the perfect segue to this video as well.
“I’m always preaching to others the idea of plagiarizing when it comes to design because it’s never a direct translation: if you love the salmon color that Timothy Corrigan painted the dining room in his chateau in France, try it in the guest bathroom of your Chicago apartment. If Bunny William’s custom terrazzo tile floor in her Manhattan kitchen dazzles you but is beyond your budget, consider stenciling your own design to bring yours to life. Obsessed by how Alexa Hampton creates visual landscapes via her collections of classical treasures but you’re not a seasoned collector? In fact, you don’t collect anything yet? Buy three of something you love. There: you’ve started collecting just the way she did.
But what I didn’t expect was the infectious power of the designers’ homes upon my own little one. No how far we traveled and how long it took to get home, I’d cross my own threshold always elated. My inspiration cup was full and I somehow had to pour it somewhere into my own rooms.
I came back after shooting in some of the grandest English country houses and bought a porcelian vase for flowers at a local consignment shop for twenty-five bucks. I would have walked right by it before. I loved how Johnson Hartig cheekily pinned his own luxurious Schumacher wallpaper trompe l’oeil pattern of blue and white platters behind his stove that I immediately ordered a yard and then cut and arranged it myself soon as I got home, complete with thumbtacks.
That visual gratification always makes the leap for me: if I have an emotional response seeing other people live with something I love, then why not treat myself to seeing something similar every day?” While these are all images from Susanna’s lovely Connecticut country home, you’ll have to watch the video to see where the inspiration from each arose. So, happy viewing, be fearless and feel free to plagiarize.
all photos by Stacey Bewkes for Quintessence
These videos & commentary are my dessert! They are so well done & I enJOY every one of them. THANK YOU SO MUCH. franki
I am always excited to receive a Quintessence email in my inbox! This one was extraordinary!
I loved your tips on decor and the explanations of the sources. I’m headed out to find some small Oriental rug for the bathroom! Very chic!
So fun to see your home.
Keep your tours coming!
Love this one!!! And can’t wait for the book!
FANTASTIC! Absolutely loved this video. Okay, Stacy, it’s your turn… pretty please?
You two fabulous ladies are the top of the heap!
I’m delighted that you are back with us to share your brilliant words and magnificent photos.
Don’t forget the Ol’ and very true chestnut…
“Imitation Is The Greatest Form Of Flattery.”
You are truly the very best.
Can’t wait for the new book of magic spaces !
Your fan ,
Susan Bowers
Hi Pie.💛
“Fabrics… Forks….or Furniture”….
You,Susanna…are FABULOUS !
Thank you,
Susan
🌿🌟🌿
This is one of my very favorite Quintessence videos of all time! A fun look back and a wonderful way forward. Thank you so much for sharing!!!
What fun to see your personal home. I love the variety and the story behind how/where and from whom you drew inspiration from. LOVE the pups too. Thank you for sharing!
Generous and inspiring – so beautiful! The warm and cozy window seat in bedroom – divine!
love love love every bit of this share — thank you for revealing YOUR style inspos, SS!! well done!!
among other things, i am cuckoo for cocoa puffs over the walls in your son’s bathroom! is that a ramped-up DIY or is it wallpaper? you ladies bring BIG inspiration into my life (and so fun quick glimpse of sis-in-law pingpong match!) — best of best regards……..
Love your enthusiasm Stephanie!! And so glad you enjoyed! Susanna’s boys’ bathroom walls are covered in pages from John Derian’s book, which Susanna plotted out and then had shellacked!
PS.
sort of have to have “despite the cost of living it’s still popular” pillow made….. TOO GOOD.
This video was absolutely the best!!! So wonderfully well done and so enlightening. I am so looking forward to your book. Thank you for sharing….it was a wonderful way to begin my day.
I’m obsessing over all of your inspirations and how you translated them to your home, love this post and the video (thank you!).
THIS MADE MY DAY!
SENDING TO A GIRLFRIEND WHO LOVES BLUE & WHITE AS SHE NEEDS THAT PLATE WALLPAPER!
WHEN IS THE BOOK COMING OUT?
NAME OF BOOK CAN WE PRE-ORDER?
I CAN”T WAIT!!
Thank you Elizabeth!!! The book will come out next year – not ready for pre-order. Stay tuned!
Where have you two been? Or, how have I missed you!
I love your travels, and so nice to see the culmination
of inspiration in Susanna’s chic home.
And how about that person behind the camera?
The unsung hero of it all.
Keep ’em comin’, ladies!
Hi Paul – we have been here, publishing a new visit every month! So glad you enjoyed and thank you for your kind words! 🙏🏻
Always awesome.
Feeling so incredibly inspired! Thank you for showing the ways of turning a house into a home while allowing your individualality to still shine through. No matter the level of decor experience or budget – so much inspiration to draw from.
Ladies, thank you for this lovely respite from the challenges we have going on right now. I adore all your videos, especially the ones that feature table settings and gardens along with the interiors of a home. It was great to have a peak inside of Susanna’s home. Stacey, are you next? Please?
Sincerely,
Tracy
It was a snowy day in Annapolis and spent off and on all day mesmerized by your fabulous fun designer interviews!! I love it all ! The striking elegant inspirations will last for years!!
Loved the video! Is this the same house that was in House Beautiful? The kitchen looks completely different.
So glad you enjoyed and no, it is not the same house, although very close in location! Susanna has since moved.
Delicious and oh so delightful video- thank you so much. I plan to rewatch this treat many times.
As a longtime subscriber, I am so grateful to you both for your wonderful videos! Each one is such a treat. Susanna, your home is so chic, yet also looks so comfortable and fun! Would you please advise the source for the pair of entry rugs? The colors are so beautiful. Thank you!
Thank you Marybeth! Susanna says the rugs are from Overstock!
This is absolutely amazing! What a buffet of delicious-ness you have incorporated into your own home! Love it and so happy you have a barn! This video is scrumptious and I thank you both for your devotion and love for true exotic decor that is inspirational. Cannot wait to see what is coming down the pipe. Don’t you just adore a velvet sofa? I recently purchased a tufted velvet sofa in a saffron color and when my daughter comes to visit she is drawn to it like a magnet.
Love you girls sooooooo
CAMEOXOXOXO
Always enjoy your videos and the book is a great idea. Thanks for the inspiration.
These photos just fascinate me! Everything looks so beautiful! Not to mention how cool the kitchen looks! It’s my dream to have a kitchen without drawers on top! She immediately becomes so cozy and beautiful) The color scheme of the kitchen is just wonderful and I really like this blue pattern! And what lovely animals) it’s so cool to have a pool near your house, in which you can swim whenever you want! Oh, how did you understand the mood of such beauty! I wanted to go and remodel the forge at home) thanks!
This photos is very amazing! Really love the scenery and the design in your home it’s very good the kitchen is outstanding. Really love it! Fence Contractors Thornton
Susanna, your home is truly amazing! I love the design, I love the style and I absolutely love the dogs :) Thank you for sharing!
That’s one beautiful house. I love it.