Blooming with fresh, stylized flowers and warm colors, the lovely Whitney Quilt Collection adds a charming feminine note to any bedroom. The playful floral designs are inspired by the beds in the Watson Room in Biltmore House—a guest bedroom that was often occupied by one of George Vanderbilt’s nieces, like the elegant Miss Gertrude Vanderbilt (Whitney) for whom this collection is named.

 The Whitney Quilt Collection and other pieces are available from our partner Belk and our For Your Home Collection. See them here.

Gertrude’s Visit

George Vanderbilt opened Biltmore House to his family and friends for the first time on Christmas Eve in 1895. It was a merry house party by all accounts, and included his mother and many of his nieces and nephews—some of whom were close to George Vanderbilt in age.

Gertrude Vanderbilt was one of George Vanderbilt’s nieces, and she was 18 years old when she made that first Christmas visit to Biltmore in 1895. As a very fashionable young lady from New York, she was not too keen on spending the holidays at her uncle’s new home in North Carolina, far away from her friends and all the parties of the season.

Happily for Gertrude, the trip to Biltmore turned out to be much more interesting than she anticipated when George Vanderbilt’s close friend William Osgood Field arrived several days after Christmas. The dashing young bachelor captured Gertrude’s attention and kept her and the other young ladies entertained for several days.

An Inspiring Woman

Although another of George’s nieces eventually married the charming Willy Field, Gertrude

married Harry Payne Whitney, a noted sportsman from a distinguished family, less than a year after her visit to Biltmore. During a trip to Europe in 1901, Gertrude rediscovered her passion for art, embarked on serious study, and became a sculptress as well as a patron of women in the arts. In 1930, the Whitney’s founded the Whitney Museum of Art in New York City, which remains one of the country’s finest institutions focused on new and contemporary artists.

To see our entire line of For Your Home bedding available at Belk, click here.

After the holidays have ended and the decorations are packed away, your home can feel downright dull and in need of a pick-me-up.

We went to the experts—our friends at Larson-Juhl—who have created several families of frames featuring a six step hand-finished process and inspired by objects within the estate’s collection.

They offered several simple, creative ideas to freshen up your décor while also showcasing a few of your favorite things that may have been overlooked for a while.

Frame and Function

Custom framing is a fantastic resource when working to freshen your space—not only do custom frames look beautiful, but they can provide needed functionality too!

• Transform your jewelry into art and organize it at the same time by working with your custom framer to create a beautiful jewelry holder
• Help your whole family stay organized all year long with a message center that includes a custom framed chalk board and memo board—perfect for creating lists and keeping those important items in one place
• Organize all of those family photos you have stashed away by having them custom framed in a photo collage, which will perfectly meld with your style and allow you to enjoy those memories out in the open

New Year, New Display

• Breathe new life into your favorite artworks by having them re-framed for the new year in a style you’ll enjoy for many years to come

• De-clutter your shelves and bookcases by removing all those collectables you tucked into different spaces. Carefully dust and clean them, then have them preserved and put back on display by custom framing them in shadowboxes. Whether elegant or whimsical, anything from seashells and figurines to pins, spoons, and postcards can be framed!

Click here to discover the Biltmore Collection at Larson-Juhl or find a store near you.

Inspired by a design in Edith Dresser Vanderbilt’s bedroom at Biltmore House, the large-scale pattern of this gold and aqua bedding is very elegant, yet muted enough to harmonize with existing décor.

Studio portrait of Edith Dresser Vanderbilt

 We chose to honor the collection with Mrs. Vanderbilt’s family name because it reminds us of her classic style.

Find the Dresser Bedding Collection at Belk here.

Make a dramatic statement in rich cotton damask with our Pellegrini Bedding, drawn from the warm red tones in the Biltmore House Library and Giovanni Pellegrini’s The Chariot of Aurora ceiling painting soaring overhead. 

“The Chariot of Aurora” ceiling painting in the Biltmore House Library

Historical note: Pellegrini’s The Chariot of Aurora originally graced the ceiling of the Pisani Palace in Venice, and is one of very few of his works still in existence today.

Find the entire Pellegrini Bedding Collection at Belk here.

Find these and other outstanding bedding collections at belk.com.

The holidays are quickly approaching, which means it’s time to deck the halls with cheer. This year, don’t overlook the walls when adding festive touches.

An easy way to start is by going through old holiday photos. Consider framing photos of the children with Santa, or showing off family portraits in an attractive grouping. When Christmas is over, you can keep the photos out and enjoy beautiful memories year-round!

The holidays usually mean a mailbox overflowing with Christmas cards. Pick out some of your favorites, and display them around your home in frames. It’s an easy way to create instant artwork.

Need help getting started on your framing projects? We recommend selecting frames from our Biltmore Frame Collection by Larson-Juhl.

If you have outdoor containers, you can fill them with evergreens to bring color into your space–spruce, fir, magnolia, holly, and pine.  You can use Oasis (floral foam) to help arrange and hold moisture. The cuttings can go up to four weeks without water. If the container is in direct sunlight, the cuttings will brown out faster, even if they are watered and in Oasis. 

Hang wreaths or use garland to decorate other areas like your front door or other statues.  Add bows, berries, pinecones, or other pops of natural color to really showcase winter’s beauty.

Create an attractive arrangement in a container by using a taller evergreen surrounded by smaller plants around the outside.

Purchase a potted shrub that is slightly smaller than your container.  You can either remove it from the pot and plant it directly into the container in a potting soil mix, or place the pot into the container and use small pine bark nuggets to hold it in place as well as on top to hide the smaller pot.

Insider Tip: Our Venetian Urn is displayed at A Gardener’s Place, our garden-inspired gift shop, this winter with such an arrangement if you need some in-person inspiration!

The most important thing to remember is to water but not over water.  Plants still need water in the winter.  Once a week is a good rule of thumb for winter months, but check the soil moisture just in case!  If it’s staying dry, water more often.  If it is staying too wet, water less often.  You want the soil to be slightly moist but not saturated or powder dry.

 See our Unique Stone statuary for inspiration!  Unique Stone, a licensed partner with Biltmore For Your Home, carries on the visionary legacy left by Biltmore’s landscape architect, Frederick Law Olmsted. Throughout Biltmore inspiration was drawn to craft outdoor statues, benches, pedestals, and various other architectural elements in cast stone. Items are then hand finished for an aged patina.

1. Figure out what you like and commit to it. Art is essentially an extension and reflection of your personality – who you are and what you like and above everything the art in your home should make you happy. So ask yourself what you like. Do you like botanicals, abstracts, portraits, landscapes, or perhaps a combination? If you don’t know the answer to that question, ask yourself what mood you like to be in. For instance, do you like feeling happy, serious, motivated, contemplative, and what image or images provoke those feelings? For instance when you look at an image of your family, a certain flower, a particular color, a person, an animal, do you feel happy? Once you’ve pinpointed exactly what it is that you like, choosing art is a cinch.

2. Consider the room and its function. The kitchen – cooking and eating. The study or den – reading and thinking. The bedroom – sleeping. The feeling you want to relate in certain rooms will determine what kind of art you choose.

3. Size. One of the biggest mistakes in choosing art is choosing art that doesn’t fit the space. Ordinarily, it is disproportionate in relation to the dimensions of the room, the architectural details, and the furniture. Don’t be afraid to go big! The art you choose will be dwarfed by the size and shape of the room, not to mention everything else around it, so don’t be afraid to buy something slightly oversized.

See new art prints captured from the pages of George Vanderbilt’s library »

If you’re sentimental about corks from great bottles of wine or special events, here are some “corky” ideas from Molly Hensley, one of our Biltmore floral design experts.

“Whether you consider yourself crafty or not,” says Molly, “corks are a fun material to work with, and most of us already have a few lying around the house.”

Dish It Up    |    Corky Keepsake    |    Very Wreath-While

Recycle Corks

Have more corks than you know what to do with? Bring them to Biltmore and we’ll recycle them for you, both natural and synthetic.
Learn More

Dish It Up

Materials:

• 6 wine corks (per dish)
• Hot glue gun & glue sticks
• Raffia or ribbon

How to:
Lay three corks together side by side and glue together with hot glue. Make another set. After glue dries, tie the two sets firmly together with ribbon or raffia. Make enough sets for each dish on your buffet. Write or print the name of the dish on a plain index card and slip the card into the space above the ribbon between the wine corks. Place the card holder in front of the appropriate dish.

Tip: Include the list of ingredients, too—especially if the item includes allergens such as nuts or seafood.

Corky Keepsake

Materials:

• Wine corks (1 per guest)
• Screw eyes and key rings (1 each per guest; available at most hardware or craft stores)
• Fine point permanent marker
• Beads, ribbons, etc. (optional for decoration)

How to:
Work 1 screw eye into each cork and attach 1 key ring to each eye. Write the date on the end of the cork and voilà! An instant keepsake of your special occasion for each guest.

Tip: If you want to commemorate an event with the specific corks of the wine that was served, begin collecting corks well ahead of time. Ask friends, restaurants, or bars if they’ll save corks for you.

Very Wreath-While

Instead of the standard wine cork wreath in which a lot of corks are glued or wired over a wreath form, try this slightly quirky, easy-going craft that affirms your take on friendship and celebration!

Materials:

• Selection of wine corks (natural or synthetic)
• Large permanent marker
• Grapevine wreath (any size)
• Ribbon or raffia
• Hot glue (optional)
• 1 over-the-door wreath hanger

How to:
Using a permanent marker, write a word of affirmation such as dream, enjoy, love, wish, or hope on each wine cork. Tie one end of a short length of ribbon or raffia around the cork (may need to secure with hot glue) and tie the other end to the wreath. Repeat for each cork, using different lengths of ribbon to allow some corks to dangle and pull others snug against the wreath. Tie a loop of ribbon to the wreath and suspend it from the wreath door-hanger.

Tip: Place the wreath facing into a room if the words have personal meaning, or facing out if you want to share the message.

You can expand your own living space with the following ideas from our Biltmore For Your Home design experts:

Define Your Space. You can visually create a sense of four walls by using items such as an awning, large potted plants, or landscaping shrubs. Look for an outdoor rug that helps define both the space and your personal style—there are many options available.

Comfortable Seating. Seating can be as simple as benches or easy-to-move folding chairs or as luxurious as deep-seated, cushioned patio chairs. Arrange seating in a manner that allows conversation and contemplation to occur naturally. Be sure to include a sturdy table that will stand up to beverages, light snacks, and the weather. Protect your outdoor furniture with weatherproof outdoor fabric or appropriate sealants.

Lighting Matters. An outdoor awning is a real multi-tasker, providing shade from the sun on hot days, protection from cooler evenings, and helping establish the walls of your outdoor space. After dark, charm guests with the warm, intimate glow of hurricane lanterns, candles and candelabras, or solar lights.

Make It Personal. Bolder colors stand out against the more subtle natural tones of foliage, stone and wood, while lighter colors tend to show dirt and pollen more easily. Plants and planters are great ways to add visual interest, as well. Create texture by layering (weatherproof) accessories just as you would inside your home.