MILIEU Spring 2021

Sometimes the most important element in a room isn’t a piece of furniture or an accessory. Rather, it’s something that rarely stays still, often makes noise, and is known to do a little accidental damage—yet also brings a big dose of love. I’m talking about our pet dogs. As much as I love interior design and the talent required to do it well, I often think that without my dogs, Baby and Maddy, the rooms of my house would be lacking in something. MILIEU staff members agree about the emotional and physical significance of dogs at home. We have no bias against cats, birds, or even bunnies. Over our years working together, we simply realized that many of us have dogs and that it was time to introduce them to one…

Lorenzo Castillo Spanish interior designer Lorenzo Castillo often cites his early-career experience in Madrid as an antiques dealer in decorative arts as fundamental to his success now. In a 2018 monograph of his work, Castillo wrote, “Without [my] experience in the decorative arts, I would not be the designer and interior decorator I am today. That may be what sets me apart from others and characterizes my style.” Barbara Westbrook Barbara Westbrook launched her Atlanta-based interior design firm, Westbrook Interiors, in 1992, after designing under the tutelage of venerable talents Nancy Braithwaite and Gandy/Peace. She has made her mark on Atlanta interiors, employing her signature style: tasteful, tactile, timeless, and elegant. With every project she undertakes, her goal is to make the design feel cohesive and reflect the character of the home and…

A PATCHWORK LIFE As an artist, Anna Maria Horner understands that the greatest source of inspiration is limitation. Although Horner designs fabrics and needlework patterns, paints paintings, teaches sewing workshops at her popular Nashville retail store, Craft South, makes clothing, and writes books about her mediums, it is in the designing of quilts that she seems to best understand how every artist works. “Quilters are a fascinating cross-section of mathematicians and artists,” she says. “Quilts are based on geometry, and the confines of a quilt are a very comfortable place for a certain kind of creator. Creating is about editing.” Horner is not only an artist, but also a kind of philosopher about art, too, referencing her Greek heritage as a reason for that. About quilts, which she has been making…

Thirty minutes and a world away from the bustle of Nashville, Bloomsbury Farm cultivates far more than organic vegetables. Its four hundred tranquil and beautiful acres in Smyrna, Tennessee, have become a popular destination for nature-lovers from far and wide. Owner and farmer Lauren Palmer tends not only bountiful crops, but also a vibrant community of customers and friends attracted by her produce and soothed by the presence of woodlands, water, and rolling hills. Bloomsbury Farm has been in Palmer’s family for generations. “My dad always told us to bloom where you’re planted,” says Palmer, “and that’s just what I’m doing.” She and her team work year-round, growing more than one hundred varieties of organic produce for their 300-member Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) group, as well as for weekend farmers’ markets,…