You don’t have to own a historic home to enjoy paint colors rich in history and character. Any estate will do — whether it is 100 years or 100 days old. Let your walls be your canvas, and celebrate America’s heritage with hues rich in tradition and lore.

“When choosing paint colors for clients, I am naturally drawn to historic colors in the paint deck; almost always, I look at the name and, sure enough, it’s from the historic collection,” says interior decorator Bryn Dunn, of bryn alexandra interiors.

The National Trust historic color line, created by Valspar and offered exclusively at Lowe's, offers a palette of 250 colors, and a portion of sales go to the National Trust for Historic Preservation.

Fresh Faced

And Ready For Spring

While Fashion Week is typically viewed as a time for fashion industry aficionados to predict what will be “in” next season, the same is true for beauty mavens in-the-know. Professional makeup artist Christopher Drummond — creator of the all-natural, vegan, mineral makeup line Christopher Drummond Beauty — scoured the runways during Spring/Summer New York Fashion Week this past September to come up with makeup trends that would complement the collections. He then took those trends and incorporated them into his line in a workable way, so the everyday woman could look fashion forward, but not over-the-top.

“Spring is a time when women are looking to break out of the dreary colors they have been wearing all winter,” Drummond says. “I figured that this spring, women would want a fresh change, but they would also want to incorporate a little bit of fun into their beauty routines, regardless of their age.”

According to Drummond, spring 2010 makeup is all about beautiful but muted colors; coral lips; and an emphasis on the bottom eyelid. His trend predictions for spring 2010 include:

Cover Off

Go Behind The Scenes With TCW

PHOTOGRAPHY BY SCOTT STILES

Photo shoots — especially for something as important as a magazine cover — are rarely simple affairs. The amount of work that goes into pulling off a successful shoot can be overwhelming. Getting the schedules of a handful of individuals to mesh for a three  to five hour period is difficult enough. Then, the proper place must be procured. From there, throw in the need for wardrobe choices, and intriguing backdrops. Imagine that the meter is running the entire time — all of the parties involved are on a tight schedule, and we need only one stellar photo for the cover! We’d be lying if we said this pressure cooker was no fun (we do thrive on this kind of “excitement”), but it is also enough to frazzle the steeliest of editors, art directors, and photographers.

One look at our March 2010 cover is proof, happily, that we hit our mark at the fashion photo shoot of Carolina Talent’s Nyquell Mashay on Feb. 1 — a snow day, no less — at Hodges Taylor Gallery. We had a blast, and we wanted to take you along on a behind-the-scenes look at one of the interesting parts of putting the magazine together. The March cover shoot was engineered by Michelle Young Hubacher and Anita O’Hara, and styled by Nicole Sinclair, creator of Style Sanctum. And, thanks to photographer Scott Stiles, we walked away with several covers from which to choose!

The Luck Of The Irish

Celebrate St. Patty’s With Chocolate Mint Brownies

Every March, families celebrate the annual Irish tradition of St. Patrick’s Day in a variety of ways, whether by attending a parade, celebrating the “wearin’ of the green,” or by preparing and enjoying an elaborate Irish meal. This St. Patrick’s Day, entertain your little leprechauns with chocolate mint brownies.