Monthly Archives: February 2016

Still Here?

Posted in Designer Profiles, Furniture, Uncategorized by

Only I would have a furniture sale where I ended up with more furniture than I started with, would sell things that weren’t intended for sale, and effectively finish with the same challenge for which I started!  There really is no point hiding who I am.  It all eventually comes out in the wash.  I hope you’ll grow to love these idiosyncrasies as they are quintessentially me, and therefore unlikely to change.

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Handsome Devil’s – circa 1967 Carlo Jensen

When I loaded those Carlo Jensen’s into the house this morning, I was fairly certain the handsome pair were going to stay with me.  They’re an excellent vintage, circa 1967, and are stamped for authenticity.  A mid-century modern designer, Carlo’s country of origin was Denmark.  While I cannot find much out about the gent, I know this – he loved Rosewood, and I love him for it.  It has an air of majesty about it.  It’s simple and elegant, and simply elegant.  So there you have it, I fell for them, and for him.  Who doesn’t like a man of mystery?

Several married gals popped in to investigate the sale, and while I could tell they were aflutter with excitement over many of the fine pieces on display, I suspected they held back their amorous feelings due to their other half.  I nearly had Ruth Anne with a carefully crafted pitch, designed to explain why she was bringing an astonishingly expensive piece of art home, without having consulted her husband first.  I still contend that if I had a little more time with her, practicing the delivery, he would have been thanking her for her brilliance.  So goes the sale, she departed without it.

Going Once

Still Lots to see here…

I implore you to have a heart, and pop by tomorrow between 10am – 2pm, and make one of these beauties your own.  Love need not be limited to a single thing – your heart will grow exponentially to hold all the fondness that abounds in this room and elsewhere.  Promise.

Seeing Spots

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Is almost as good as seeing stars.  Who doesn’t love going starry eyed for some mouth watering man.  Design shouldn’t be too buttoned up.

Target - Oh Joy 79 Dotty

Target – Oh Joy $79.00

When I flip through the pages of a magazine, I am both in awe of the beautiful spaces people create, and sometimes made to feel a little sad for them.  They look so serious, beyond perfection, unlivable, unlaughable (as an artist I am taking license here with my made-up word…it just feels right) spaces where silence abounds and no cocktails are permitted. Quelle Domage and no way.  Certainly not a place that I would want to pass the time.

Dots, spots, and polkas bring a little happy, and infuse a little realism.  Perfect doesn’t exist except in photo shoots.  To strive for it is surely to ask to be disappointed.  Whimsy can be hidden on a high shelf of your built-in, begging a guest to discover what other delights you have hidden beneath the surface – many – just as an FYI,  and to bring a smile to their face as pleasant surprise dawns.

Happy can burst forth in the form of a wall covering that demands your attention, pulling a purr from your pretty lips at the perfection of those polka d’s.  It may be scattered about – a dotted umbrella stand, a confetti scattered table, a freckled surface splashed across a porcelain vase.  You’re the boss of you, so you should do what you do, in your own way.  A china frog, a furry barking dog, I digress, and I think you get the point (which is another dot) don’t forget that people and places that have a little kid at heart, are among the most frequented, and desired of acquaintances.

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Even dots can be high brow if that’s your preference, as I have shown here.  Kate Spade had practically built an empire on polk dots, showing us all how to have both a perfectly appointed home, and one that just invites a good time.  So dot your i’s and cross your t’s if you must, but don’t hesitate to roll out those spots.

Ostrich Wallpaper

Ostrich Wallpaper

Furniture Sale: Going once. twice…

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Technically I am not having an estate sale, since I am not dead.  I’m afraid I need to invent my own term for my antics.  I am also not having a garage sale, since I have no garage, or a yard sale…no yard, and I am most certainly not getting rid of a bunch of junk.  I am not a junk collector.  In fact, whatever the opposite of a hoarder is…well, that’s me.  I have a carefully curated sense of what works in a space and without a storage unit on hand, or a big old barn on my sprawling property (I own no land, but am permitted to breath the air from the studs in, within the confines of my condo – in fairness you are permitted to do the same), I must part ways with some really beautiful furnishings and other treasured finds.

(2) Carlo Jensen Designed Sideboards for Hundevad . Danish . Furniture Control Stamped.  Rosewood. Circa 1967.

MY NON-ESTATE SALE….ESTATE SALE will take place:

Saturday, 27 February . 10am – 4pm . 94 Waltham Street . Apartment #3 . Boston.

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Vintage Italianate Dresser $315.00

It’s hard, love is hard, and love these special pieces I did.  How could I not?  I set out with an air of determination and energy in my pursuit of them.  There were obstacles between me and my beloveds.  The things one will do for love, well sometimes its just unspeakable.

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Merida Carpet 6’4″x 9’10” $225.00

The indelicacy of it all.  Suffice to say, these items were not a passing crush.  I HAD to have them, and so I did.  Now you should not feel as if they have been cast away, that they lack worth because I no longer have room for them.  They are intrinsically valuable.  It’s not them, it’s me.  You understand.  They’ll be happier with you, where they will be cherished anew.  They will always have a special place in my heart.  I wish them nothing but the very best in their new homes.

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Verellen . Charlotte Sofa . Pale Gray $600.00

So don’t miss out.  Undeniably love connections will be made here next Saturday.  My prediction is that they will be made early, and with a shocking intensity.   Send comments and questions, and remember the immortal words of John Lennon:

Vintage Arm Chair . Upholstered in Pale Gray Knoll Fabric $325.00

“LOVE IS THE ANSWER, and you know that for sure.”

Kardiel MOM in the style of Arne Jacobson’s Egg Chair $550.00 Samsung LED 32″ TV $100.00 Original Art Work, 6 Arm Wrought Iron Chandelier $115.00, Vintage Table Lamp $100.00.

Chairs - Red with black seat

Carimate Chairs by Vico Magistretti designed for Cassina.  Red Laquer with Black Leather Seats (6)

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Custom Gucci Pillows $225. Designer Guild Pillows, Baldwin Hardware and Top Knob Hardware.

Speaking Theoretically: Color Rules

Posted in Paint Colors, Uncategorized by

Most everything in life can be split into two camps – heart and mind.  In all art there is science, in color one can experience a Kettle Pond of emotion so deep it seems limitless, and so steeped in theory it boggles my beautiful brain.  “It makes my down go up.” (a slightly modified version of a lyric by Eric Church…a current obsession!)

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Eric Church . Mr. Misunderstood Album

Color mixing, and visual effects of specific color combinations is a study based on facts, for which the heart responds.  Primary, Secondary, Tertiary – Lightness, Saturation, and Hue all play a role in what we find pleasing.  Who the heck started all this studying?  Well apparently a dude did.  Not just any dude though, a Roman named Leon Battista Alberti.  Who I am tickled pink to report was born on Valentine’s Day in 1404.  A Humanist, Artist, Author, Poet, Architect, Priest, Linguist, and Cryptographer.  He wrote about color theory. Leonardo Da Vinci made it a topic of his literary efforts too, and wouldn’t be outdone by Leon.

It had long since come to my attention that people of accomplishment rarely sat back and let things happen to them.  They went out and happened to things.”  Leonardo Da Vinci

Considered by many to be the greatest painter of all time, he was also an inventor – the tank, helicopter, and parachute are attributed to Leo – a Sculptor, Architect, Scientist, Musician, Mathematician, Engineer, with additional interests in geology, botany, writing, history, and cartography.  Together these “guys” are known as Polymath’s, Renaissance Men….Universal Geniuses.  I ask you, is there anything sexier?  Talk it over.

VDay Tiff copy

A Valentine’s Bouquet – Lucky Tiffany!

As a tradition, Color Theory really took off in the 18th Century, and is widely practiced and taught today.  Me, I fall in love with color, its power to draw you in, eliciting heady sensations.  It’s true not all the feelings that get stirred up are good but I enjoy the process of testing color combinations, picking palettes, and experiencing that bubble of excitement that rises from my belly over a belle jolie compilation.

While I had selected my base colors for the living room, I had not settled on accent colors, until I awoke from a recent dream, and knew with certainty, that they would be chartreuse green and violet.  I’ve placed my faith in these hues.  I’ve decided to lean toward, tip into, dive, submerge, surround…breath in, and become breathless.  I think you know which camp my pretty polished toes reside.

Sitting Pretty .looking for the living room chairs

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I’m desperate in my search for the perfect living room chair(s).  I bracket my “s” because it’s hard to say with a 10′ ladder, my swinging chariot of a chandelier, and my misfit furniture whether I need one or two.  This will most definitely need to be worked out before I actually make the purchase…but for now just identifying the chair and making a love connection will do.  As it is Valentine’s Day, and most everything looks better through rose colored glasses I have collected some of the prettiest pink chairs I could find.  That is, in my opinion of course.

Valentine's

Don’t those just make your heart aflutter with excitement?  Perhaps it’s the kid in me, but a swivel chair is both playful and practical.  If there’s a dip in conversation or said conversation is decidedly boring, you can take yourself for a spin.  It makes turning to the television or toward that engaging chap to your right, and dare I dream, another just to your left, a sinch.  It’s rhythmic and relaxing and fabulously fashionable.  I’m very fond of the Jonathan Adler Bacharach Swivel pictured above. And it goes without saying that a Bergere is welcome in any home of mine.

souffle chair

Pink Confection of Perfection – Kelly Wearstler’s Souffle Chair

I am certain that Kelly Wearstler has many secret admirers – but I am not one of them.  I have made my obsession with her very public.  That is why I am certain you aren’t surprised to learn that her Souffle Chair, pictured to the left is my current crush.  What I am not crushing on is the price tag – at $7300.  I will have to wait for the rich and famous to get bored with the chair and sell it to me at a fraction of the price.  I’ll love it forever…and the name…it’s simply sublime.

Happy Valentine’s Day!

 

Time in Between: A DIY’ers guide to survival

Posted in DIY, Lighting, Paint Colors, Uncategorized by

I am reminded on this Eve of Valentine’s Day that most of life is about the Time in Between.  Reminded in part by a painting I bought many years ago that shared this posts title.  I didn’t know at first, that it even had a name. I would just come into the shop and stare at it.  Lost in the pink amorphous swishes of paint across canvas, and wonder at the black boxes that seemed to definitively interrupt the serenity of that moment. The one that I was in, and undoubtedly whatever notion or chaotic storm that caused the painter to dip her brush in the noir in the first place. In between starting and completion, Single and Married, construction debris and photo shoot ready.  I don’t think I am alone at sitting quietly in that time.  I’m a racer, a finisher, one set on accomplishment, and while I appreciate that isn’t all bad, I know too that it ain’t all good.

time in between

Time in Between

Last night I returned to find after a lengthy and phased process, the orb hanging from a custom hook designed to hold more than 200lbs.  It sat naked, stripped of its branches, and devoid of light in the dark expanse of my living room, awaiting the final stages of completion that will bring it to its full expression of brilliance.  I carefully over the course of three hours selected and screwed in, adjusted, and tweaked, reconfigured, and arranged – oh you get the point, but I was seriously delayed in the entry of this post because my poor little fingers are banged up from this tinker toy bonanza.  My dear sputnik must continue to circle around in space, living in between its Marche aux Puces home in Paris and Boston’s South end, because after all that re-wiring, retrofitting, hanging and barely hanging on – that chandelier hangs so low I can feel the bars of Sweet Chariot whistling past my ear.

paris chandelier

Sputnik – Burst of Brilliance

This is the point at which many would throw up their hands.  This is the point that I simply pretend as if someone pays me to do all this, and that I am not at all crazy.  Off with all 65 arms, down from the ceiling, back to Fun Antiques in Cambridge where the rod will be cut, refit, rewired, and the process will commence again, on its way to final completion.  I can only hope that it will receive as much attention, and contemplation, in its completed state, as it has received in its Time in Between….I think we’ve both earned it.

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Don’t make me blush!  Feeling the love for a project on the verge of completion.

 

Getting Studious . One King’s Lane’s got bricks

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Being an online purveyor of goods has it’s benefits.  Everyone’s doing it, or so I hear. When it comes to interior design and decorating, who the heck knows what the color setting on your computer monitor is going to do to your perfectly laid plans.  One of the great pleasures of this form of design is the sensory nature of it. 1 kings studio The vibrancy or subtle hues which set a tone for the story you want to tell.  The sheer pleasure of the tactile nature of this expression has me longing to reach through the computer screen and touch that blanket.  Will I balk at the scratchiness of the material or want to snuggle into it.  Will I want to walk barefoot across the carpet for the sheer pleasure of the silkiness underfoot, or question the odd thickness of it.  How is it possible for the two dimensional screen to express the quality, solidity, and craftsmanship of a piece.  It can’t.  You have to see it with your own eyes.  Touch it, sit in it, and experience the weight and massing of the object, to understand if it will play a starring role on your set or be a supporting cast member.

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One King’s Lane Studio . SOHO

This is unequivocally the way it works.  It’s all fine and good when you are buying  a pillow, returning a pillow, starting your pillow search over again.  What about your sofa?  Your credenza, your bed?  One’s fortitude and willingness for risk might weigh in a little lower on the register.  In the past this has deterred me from shopping on a site for which I have grown particularly fond.  One King’s Lane is an amazing online resource for home goods.  I search it tirelessly, but have remained parsimonious in my cart filling and check-out activities.  I absolutely hate to have to return things via the mail.

Well haven’t they just gone and solved my dilema.  My dear friend Tracey Barrett (a kindred design soul) discovered The One King’s Lane Studio is NYC’s SOHO. 1 king 2 The Studio, which offers free design services to those with an appointment, is not a showroom with products for sale, but an opportunity to see many of the offered goods in person.  To have that all important chance to touch, feel, see, and experience how a room comes together, and to benefit from the assistance of the design staff in tracking down pieces that will bring the design caliber of your space up a few notches.

Oh Tracey, I’m not sure whether to kiss you or send you hate mail.  I walked out of that studio on Saturday morning having purchased two lamps, two pillows and an antique desk.  All in combinations that were new to me, and that with the help of my design consultant Jessica Smith, I was able to see fit beautifully into my style and vision for my new place.

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Jessica Smith, OKL Designer

If your travels take you to NYC or to Greenwich, CT where they are planning a pop-up location at the Homestead Inn, I recommend a visit.

desk

my desk!

In the spirit of Valentine’s Day, I’ve decided to be magnanimous and send nothing but x’s and o’s to Tracey.  May your home be filled with love.

Seat at the Table

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For my female readers this title surely resonates, as much discussion about woman in the workplace today centers around the woeful representation of women on corporate boards. Everyone should now be well aware that the spot for which they choose to sit, when a meeting of heads of company convene, can be a career breaker – I don’t think I need to restate what is now “obvi”, or to downplay the navigational prowess required to swim your way through shark infested waters to the perfect seat, but not getting it right can have serious ramifications to your upward mobility….and your paycheck.

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Good bye your Royal Highness

Now how are you ever going to afford those outrageously expensive seats – which we so desperately want – if you don’t choose the right one to sit in, in the first place?

If your head isn’t reeling from this discussion yet, your a stronger gal than me.  I am going to focus on the seats for the dining room table instead of the board room table this morning.  Lest you think I am slacking off in any way, I’d like to reassure you that this is no less charged an issue.  That is, for me anyway.  You might remember that I wanted those Warren Platner, 18 karat gold beauties surrounding a perfect Saarinen Tulip Table topped in Calcutta Gold Marble.  A cheap date I am not, perhaps this has resulted in potential husbands clutching their wallets in a death grip while running swiftly in a direction clearly far from me.  Well let them.  I will not have my dreams marginalized for someone that doesn’t share my vision.  Alas, until I have a change in financial fate, I simply must pick another chair.

While I love my Louis Ghosts – and for those of you that are unaware – these translucent chairs are a work of genius by Philip Stark, and produced by Kartel.  They are an ode to one of the Louis, probably XIV, but could easily be attributed to XV or XVI, and they have an amazing versatility that should not be overlooked.  Why you ask?  Because you will end up using them as I have, in your dining room, as a desk chair, additional seating for party guests in the living room, on the patio.  They have turned into one of the most economical purchases I have ever made.  Take that you wallet clutching male, your fleeting figure a distant blur in my memory.  Still, I think it’s time to retire them from their leading role as cast members at the dining table, and find a suitably royal replacement.

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Jonathan Adler

So the hunt for a chair today ensues.  Whenever I am feeling a little blue about the breadth of resources, or lack thereof, in Boston, I hop the train to NYC where thoroughbreds abound.  My suitcase simply won’t accommodate six chairs and a man, so I will have to find another way to get them all home with me.  N’inquietez pas, this dreamer will find a way.