Jane Cumberbatch Home, Pure Style, photos ©Sue Schlabach www.129twigandvine.com

I feel well familiar with whiteness right now. Our landscape remains monochrome, blanketed with snow.

But I leave for London tomorrow where the grass is green and the air is mild.

Mild never sounded so good.

Jane Cumberbatch photo ©Sue Schlabach, www.129twigandvine.com

I’ve been remiss in writing about an afternoon I spent with Jane Cumberbatch in London last fall, and since whiteness and brightness reigns in her home, it seems only fitting to finally share it.

Jane’s books about her Pure Style approach to life are the cat’s meow, and she showed me her latest bit of color accent: hand-painted striped borders. In all the whiteness and brightness, a stripe of color would do anyone good. I came home with quince (a cheery acid yellow) and cake tin (a green-tinged robin’s egg blue). Both sit on my studio shelf saying, “stop being afraid and do something with us!” Maybe when I get back…. I do have ideas for where stripes would be just the ticket around here.

Jane Cumberbatch home photo ©Sue Schlabach, www.129twigandvine.comJane Cumberbatch home photo ©Sue Schlabach, www.129twigandvine.comJane Cumberbatch home photo ©Sue Schlabach, www.129twigandvine.com

And so, we ate apple cake and drank delicious strong coffee. I wandered the sunny rooms of Jane’s south facing house and found recognition around each corner, since her home is used as a styling location for magazine shoots and throughout her books. And plenty of surprises too, of course.

Jane Cumberbatch home photo ©Sue Schlabach, www.129twigandvine.comJane Cumberbatch home photo ©Sue Schlabach, www.129twigandvine.comJane Cumberbatch home photo ©Sue Schlabach, www.129twigandvine.com

See the two at the bottom center? Quince and cake tin. Ready to bring some color back into my world.

Soon. Soon.

Jane Cumberbatch home photo ©Sue Schlabach, www.129twigandvine.com