Love Where You Live: At Home in the Country arrived about the time I was getting my house ready to be shot for Spaces Kansas City. While I loved the book at first sight, I was momentarily distracted by an uncontrollable mania to "finish up" some things around here.
Then, earlier this week, I received a lovely email from an old friend that, while completely unrelated, served as a mental nudge to revisit Joan Osofsky's book. If you stop here to visit very often you know that I have an affinity for people who have emotional attachments to things.
Not things like BMWs and the recognizable jewel of the moment, but old things. Sometimes rusty things. Often not very expensive things.
So Osofsky, who owns Hammertown Barn, a handful of lifestyle stores in Hudson Valley and the Berkshires, struck a chord with her book of her customers' homes which echo her aesthetic of cozy sophistication.
Her own houses open and close the book and it was the later (the last) that drew a sharp intake of breath and elicited the thought, "I want to live just like that."
You can find Love Where You Live here and more about Osofsky and her shop and philosophy here.
All images courtesy of Rizzoli New York; photography John Gruen.Labels: Antique Dealers, design books
