Rebecca Ray Designs

Hello! Our Rebecca Ray fans have been asking for our blog to feature more personal photos and adventures of the Rebecca Ray Team.  I thought I’d start with my house and share a sneak peek with you!!  We have been in our home almost 10 years now and have remodeled and redecorated from top to bottom.   A project like that literally takes ten years!  All along the way, my husband, Derek and I have collected our favorite animal and sporting art.  As we travel, I try to almost exclusively look for just “animal” related objects and art that catch my eye – sometimes they come from estate sales, antique shows, stops along the way, and every once and a while, a dumpster dive!  Many of these antique pieces become the inspiration for new products we develop for you.   Keep checking the blog as when I find more wonderful things, I’ll share them with you.  Hopefully this gives you more insight into the world of Rebecca Ray Designs and our lifestyle.

 Here is our front foyer/entry way.  We love our federal stars going up the steps!  The white pointing setter on the pine chest is from an estate of another long time English Setter breeder.  I fought hard for it in an auction and carried it home from a dog show on my lap!

This is our kitchen – when we moved in the island we worried it was too big – but now I do everything there and we love it!!  I have designed handbags there and laid out the Rebecca Ray Catalog on it before.  The horse in an antique paper mache mold.

This is our family room – I love collecting animal faces, often in chalkware or bronze.  The Hackney Pony sign on the left I found under a vendor’s table at Portobello in London and much to Derek’s dismay, I hand carried it through the streets of London (where, I might add, I could have sold it a few more times!)

This is my collection of miniature animals – most of them chalk, paper mache, lead or hand carved.  I’ve been collecting them since I was in college.  The top farm barn and animals were my 40th birthday present to myself!  The corner cabinet is Cherry, Federal about 1840 and the wallpaper was original to it when I bought it at auction.

More of our family room – the pencil drawing over the fireplace is a very well-known show dog of mine, Bradley.  My husband gave me this drawing for an anniversary and it is one of my favorite gifts from him.  Even though we lost Bradley at 14 a few years ago, this picture captures him perfectly and reminds me of him every day.

This is actually my favorite room in the whole house.  The paper depicts English Setters hunting and I’ve collected all of the oils and watercolors from all over.  The two steeple chasing prints are French and my Mom snagged them one summer at a house sale around the corner from us.

Here is the living room.  The couches were $25 garage sale frames that I upholstered in vintage Scalamandre napoleonic bee fabric.  The dapple gray horse in the corner in a Victorian training pony, so children could learn how to ride.  He is decked out in real tack, including a antique children’s side saddle. The horse over the fireplace came from a flea market in France.  Derek and I were first married and scraped our pennies together to buy him.  Then the airlines decided his tail was a potential weapon and they didn’t want me to carry him on board.  An hour and many tears later, he was on his way with us, tucked in 2 overhead bins!

The bedroom is our retreat!  The french figural lamps were a garage sale find and the snowflake quilt is applique. The barn picture over the fireplace is one of my best garage sale finds – the artist is a noted Cleveland Impressionist and the colors are perfect for the room.

Moo!  This is my cow – at the annual holiday event, once the wine is flowing, he inevitably ends up with a Santa hat on him – everyone teases me about him, but I love him!  We created the stone fireplace behind the range out of left over stone from our fireplace projects.  Hope that you have enjoyed the tour!  More next time!

{ 1 comment }