Dogs and Birds and Carol Sheehan: Oh My!

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My all time favorite coffee table book is “Living With Dogs.” While I do love its contents, it’s the cover that really does it for me. I have two copies of the books, because with time, the original cover got damaged, and so I replaced it. Of course!

The reason why I love the cover so much is this girl, Georgina (Georgie), my English Springer Spaniel.   This picture is from the story of my house in Houston House and Home magazine.   Ever since this photoshoot, Georgie has been terrorized by cameras and won’t pose for them anymore. Even if I just pretend to take her picture she goes scampering away.   We couldn’t get these two to pose together, so the photographer took a picture of Sammie Jo then, photoshopped Georgie onto to it.   Look how good they match my décor and the book!

The Webbs have long loved springers and Ben’s parents’ last dog was a very overweight gentleman named Duke. When Ben’s father died, his brother Kirk went out and bought this beauty, Quila. Later that week Ben’s older brother Pat got Zorro from the same litter. Of course, a week later, Ben brought home the last of the litter, our Georgie.   All three springers are healthy and are still with us.   Later, Kirk and Shannon got 3 more springers from the same mother. So – you can understand why I love that book cover so much. It looks like it was designed for my house – it perfectly matches my dog and my décor!   Inside the book is just as good – it has everything about the sport of dogs including dogs in design.   Written by the husband and wife team, Laurence and Carol Sheehan, this is just one in a series of sporting books these two have written, along with Kathryn Precourt and photographer William Stites.

If the name Carol Sheehan sounds familiar – she has had a long career writing design books and editing design magazines. She was the editor-in-chief for County Homes when it was at its best. She and Mary Emmerling are friends and together they made that magazine great.   Carol and Mary also wrote many books together – wonderful titles such as this:

One of the many books that Emmerling and Sheehan collaborated on.

Once the Sheehans married, they began writing the series of sporting/design books. There is one on fishing, sports, and gardening.   What I love so much about these books is that they combine the subject with design – thanks to Carol’s first love.

The Sheehan’s newest book, The Birding Life, was recently released.   It’s actually quite topical since birds have been showing up everywhere in design – on fabrics, wallpapers, and framed prints. Sheehan got her start in Houston as editor of a very early design magazine, Houston Home and Garden.   In this book, she returns to her roots – photographing several Houstonians who collect birds or nests. One beautiful feature is Kay O’ Toole’s house, a French enfilade located behind her antique store. These pictures are worth the price of book! Gorgeous!

A vignette from Kay O’Toole’s house – with a bird on the stone epaulet.

Another pretty spread is the home of bird lovers in Florida.   A big surprise was to see famous bloggers Hollister and Porter Hovey’s incredible New York apartment, filled with trendy taxidermy.

Birds in design are quite popular today – you can see this here in wallpaper and fabrics.

This week, we were honored to welcome author Carol Sheehan to the Skirted Roundtable. Carol talks about her books and magazines and her long and varied career.   To listen, please go HERE to the Skirted Roundtable blog.

To order Living With Dogs, go HERE.

And to order the new The Birding Life, go HERE.

So……what title is up next for the Sheehans? Listen to the Skirted Roundtable to find out HERE.