Monthly Archives: March 2017

Pillow Pile Up

Posted in Designer Profiles, Uncategorized by

Not everyone can be expected to buy a new house every time you want to change up your decor like I do.  I understand entirely.  Trust me when I tell you…you need not be jealous.  As I write this I sit in a state of what could only be referred to as … total disaster.  Stacks of broken down boxes block the front door.

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Erin Gates for Wayfair . Starburst $38.

I wish they were the only boxes lying in wait.  There are half opened boxes, their contents awaiting their final home on the wall or cabinet or wherever they are intended to go.  Sadly, some haven’t even been opened yet, so I’m not sure what’s in them.  I’ll find out, but it’s going to take more time than this weekend allots to me.

Pillows provide an answer for the sane home owner looking to breath a little fresh air into their design, without upending the living room, and blocking the television from the view of avid March Madness watchers.  Much safer, and in my opinion, more fun than preparing to paint.  I love the way a new coat of paint can transform a space, but it’s not as easy as some of the DIY shows, or sites claim.  A good paint job is 90% preparation, cleaning, and filling, and protecting, and taping.  You get the drill, when you actually arrive at the painting part most folks have had it, and rush through to completion, splattering paint on sills and radiators, and leaving unseemly drips on the wall.  That simply won’t do.

Erin Gates for Wayfair:  Left Greek Key – $48.  Right:  Palm Print Knife Edge $30.

Pillows are the answer.  Many designers create lines for the spring and fall.  Darker hues, seasonal references to nature, and heavier fabrics are common for winter.  I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention a Santa or Snowman pillow in the mix, but as I have no children, you won’t find them in my house, no matter the season.  No judgement if you choose to accent a chair, sofa, or bed with one.  I think it’s important to celebrate the child in all of us.

Left:  Arianna Belle Blush Pink Velvet with light gold piping $142.  Left:  Etsy . Schumacher Lotus Garden Lilac $75.oo

The spring pillow punt got me kicking into gear to see what some of my favorite designers had been up to during the cold winter months.  Erin Gates has created a new line for Wayfair, that is worthy of a look, and in my case, action.  Her love of animal prints is expressed in a spring Zebra pattern.  She remains true to her traditional Greek Key standard with a lovely array of pastel, and kicky coral shades in two styles.  I think my favorite of the bunch is the Starburst.  It reminds me of a Dandelion gone to seed.  Whimsical and pretty.

Left:  Arianna Belle . Pale Pink Linen with Greek Key $178.  Right:  Etsy . Color Style . Kelley Wearstler . Bengal Bazzar $75.00

I love wild tropical flowers, and chinoiserie.  I like birds, and bold pops of color that draw the eye and surprise.  Not too many.  I like my home to be calming, but every room must have some element that is a bit unexpected.  Etsy is a great place to shop affordable pillows.  Arianna Belle at arriannabelle.com has a beautiful selection, some are a little on the pricey side but worth it in my opinion.

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Arianna Belle . Lotus Garden Parchment $104.

I’m ready to spring to action.  Are you?

La . La . Laduree: ain’t we livin’ the dream

Posted in Designer Profiles, Paint Colors, Uncategorized by
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Geometry . Beautiful

Every once and again I come across a restaurant or a retail store that I want to move right into.  I think to myself, who needs a kitchen (in the case of a clothing store), or who needs a closet?  Well, I absolutely need a closet, but I could pull in beautiful lucite racks made by the caring and talented hands of the Brooklyn Gals at Lux Holdups.  Those would work.  Those would most definitely work.  There’s a timelessness to lucite that makes the installation glide seamlessly into any era. Masculine or feminine – ca march – it works.

I first visited Laduree in Paris on the Rue Royale when I was just 19 years old.  Now they have locations is fab cities everywhere.  Their pale green bags and boxes, accented with gold, won me over before the first French Macaroon, in all its pastel, delicate elegance melted on my tongue.  They are like rose petals in every hue, and my love of color has me mesmerized by the silver dollar sized delights.  It doesn’t stop there though. The stores design is perfection, as my friend Samantha House would say.  Pastel perfection with a geometric twist.  I love screens, and diamonds, and circles, and squares.  It provides a viewfinder to something beyond.  Draws your attention to a scene, or color or space, that you might otherwise not notice.

 

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Green and gold, black and white …it’s all stunning.

Laduree is a garden party, it is a fairy tale, it is a fantasy.  Life can be well…exhausting.  Laduree, and spaces like it, are replenishing.  Your shoulders drop, your lungs fill with oxygen, your synapses start firing.  I tingle, just a little bit, and not in a way that I think I am having a stroke, and need to google WedMD to see if I am dying.  In the good way, like I am a child again, and possibility, creativity, and imagination reign free – in a place before the adults told you otherwise.  That’s Laduree.  It’s Alice in Wonderland without the creepy animal heads at the tea party.

Ladurée Celebrates Its New Beverly Hills Boutique With Jimmy Choo

Peachy Pink Perfection and Lattice Delight.

The ice cream parlor green, peachy pink, the black and white diamond floors, and daisy accented walls, the layers of lattice, and pastel pallet of paints is precisely what I long to reference when I design No. 5.  Finding a millwork specialist that is willing to do something out of the ordinary – and not charge me an arm and a leg, will be the challenge. I’ll find them.  This week, after being turned down three times by Electrical Contractors too busy to help, I pulled a guy off the street to do the work.  I literally saw them out the window, dragged them into my unit, and begged them to finish the job that my contractor  could not finish himself.  Thank you Giroux Electrical Contractors.  girouxelectric.com.  You were my Knight in shining armor.

Final Selects Ladurée store in Beverly Hills, Los Angeles, CA

Getting close friends.  Really close to finished now.  No. 5 doesn’t seem so far away.  Happy Saturday.

You know how to whistle don’t you?  Just put your lips together and blow.  Whistle worthy desserts.

Re-Making of the Manse

Posted in Architecture, Coastal Design, DIY, renovation, Shop Locally, Uncategorized, wall paper by
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The Manse . circa 1789

Finding new life after more than two hundred years shows fortitude and resilience.  Jo-Jo’s late 18th century home sat directly on the frozen earth, no modern barriers of protection, its only insulation the newspaper and sail cloth that lined the walls underneath the wall paper.  Who knew wallpaper wasn’t all form, it was a big part function.  I stand educated.  Perhaps all these less technical methods allowed the house to breath.  One’s survival depends on it, after all.  I thought the old girl would crumble when she was jacked up, when that carefully preserved earth was shoveled from under her, when her old bones, which were crooked with age, were laid gently down on her new foundation, miraculously, they did not break.

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The new addition.

She rested, and settled, and straightened herself out.  When they say “built to last”  this is what they mean.  Like a surgeon at work on a poor souls scoliosis riddled back, when the builders were done, she’d grown taller.  Nearly a foot of ceiling height was gained, a modest 6′ addition added to the rear of the house to accommodate another bedroom. She underwent eye surgery of sorts, getting all new windows, and a hair cut in the form of asphalt shingles.  Her every day dress is shingled on three sides, but she’s wears her Sunday best, in the form of pale grey painted clapboards, and Nantucket Red painted doors, on her front facade, greeting Parishioners as they head to Holy Trinity just steps away.

She has been an excellent patient, allowing her team to work wonders as they fortify her skeletal structure, remove and strip the toxins – mold, lead, termites – that took up residence at 261 Main, and prepare to insert an entirely new respiratory system (Heat and AC where it didn’t exist before), and a sparkle in her eye, in the form of all new wiring and lighting.  Somehow, even now, with not a light on, she manages to shine.

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The took the whole tree trunk …why not?

This weekend was all about the big push to outfit her.  A gal can’t be expected to wear only one outfit for the next 200 years.  Flooring, hardware, appliances, fixtures, paint colors, wallpaper, you name it.  My head is swimming.  We visited Stonewood Products . 15 Greatwestern Road. W. Harwich to look at flooring and interior siding options.  Rough Sawn Fir, and Schoolhouse Oak, Shiplap in Pine.  I looked at Smeg, Blue Star, Miele, Bosch, Fisher Paykel, refrigerators and stoves at KAM Appliances . 210 Yarmouth Road . Hyannis, MA.  Martha Stewart, Woodman, and Kraft Made kitchen cabinets, and tile, Home Depot.  Subway, penny, Carrera, fish scale, Tileworks . 705 Main Street . Harwich. MA.  Vanities, sinks, color combinations.  Decisions, decisions, decisions.

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Jim Falla . The Architect in the midst of his creation.

I’ve never seen the point of troubling too much over the decisions.  You make them.  Some are good, some are bad.  You do your research and then take action.  The amount of time you worry over whether or not it’s a good decision, doesn’t seem to impact the outcome for me, one way or the other.  So, since time is money.  I make them quickly.  Jo-Jo does not.  There will be a lot of coaxing to get her to commit.  She makes me put together design boards with three options for every space.  She insists that she is my Client, in the way only Jo-Jo could.  In the way only the youngest in the family could get away with.  Much love Jo-Jo – you’re boards are in the process of being assembled.  Get ready to decide.

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Stonewood Products . I wish you could smell this place…heaven.

As I sit and look at the snow falling in the back yard, I envision a tiny house in its farthest corner.  This tiny spit of land already holds two homes, but I feel strongly that it could accommodate one more. It would be tiny after all.

ART in Fact: ARTEFACT offers hidden gems

Posted in Lighting, Shop Locally, Uncategorized by

artefact4Where it not for my dear friend Joanne Difrancesco of JDCommunications, I may never have found this quietly dignified Home and Garden store in Belmont . MA.  ARTEFACT . 1000 Pleasant Street. Belmont . MA  www.artefacthome.com,  owned by two sisters, Sue and Maureen Walsh, is an oasis off of a busy suburban street.  It was a lovely surprise…why you ask?  It features furnishings, and art that is one of a kind, or nearly one of a kind.  As a professional shopper(the kind that only spends money, doesn’t get paid to shop for others), I can assure you I run into the same lines again and again.  I nearly ran over the designers assembled, eager to receive their continuing education credits for the presentation that was to follow, in my frantic desire to grab a glass of wine, and get an up close look at those gold guilted mirrors.  Quel beauty.  They were worth the stares I received.

While the mirrors may have been the first thing to catch my eye, they weren’t the last.  The lighting that was displayed is dramatic, and very unusual.  Statement pieces abounded, and as I circled the showroom floor and later chatted with Maureen, I learned that they represent local artisans.  The floating shelves, made by an wood worker out of Beverly are so uber chic.  My love of sixties design has me envisioning them in a sleek bachelor bad, displaying a “floating bar” with the perfect bottle of bourbon, and a glass carafe for stirring up an early evening aperitif.  Admittedly, my eyes might be glued to the 6’2″ male model of a man, making me that cocktail, but for you, I offer this dark, sleek, floating vision of perfection.  Enjoy.

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Floating Shelves:  18″w x 14″d x 4″h $1500.  36″w x 14″d x 4″h $3000.

The event featured Verellen – a Belgian Furniture Maker, and Libeco, the Belgian Linen supplier with whom they partner.  I own a Verellen.  It’s the only sofa I ever owned that I have never wanted to be something other than it is.  It’s deep, comforting, has sexy lines, and is perfectly crafted.  I had no idea that there was a Tom Verellen, son of Ellen, that was responsible for my beautifully crafted piece.

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Sue Walsh and Tom Verellen confer before the presentation.

Mine is called the Charlotte, and while I admitted to Tom that it’s beautiful Belgian Slip Cover got tossed last year, it held up well through dinner parties and red wine spills, little sticky hands, and hard to identify stains.  I washed it, and scrubbed it, and loved it.  In the end, it’s pale gray color was ruined by chocolate.  If only I had known Catherine of Libeco, I could have gotten that out of it too.  No worries, I reupholstered it, and love it all over again in its new streamlined form.

Verellen, like true Artisans does not sell to big companies, but rather chooses small business owners with whom to partner, and select just one or two in the city or region.  This means, you simply must visit ARTETACT to see what their chairs, sofas, and chaises are all about.  The pieces, made by real people, on a farm with chickens – I am not making this up, are not inexpensive.  Something made with that much love, shouldn’t be.  Having said that, they are coming out with a new line in just a few weeks that will be at a more affordable price point for those starting out…..Happy Nest.  Please, I don’t think adorning the name anymore is possible.  My Quest for the Nest will be making good use of these happy pieces.  While options are limited, they are super quick ship, and will be made with the same exacting standards for which Verellen is known.

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Verellen in Libeco’s Belgian Linen.

I didn’t get out of the store before securing a hold on a pair of French Art Deco, flush mount fixtures.  They are indeed pieces of art.  I spied them across the room.  I found myself catching their eye again and again throughout the evening.  We’ll meet again.  I have just the place for you.

 

 

Freeze Frame: heART stopping collections

Posted in artwork, Uncategorized by
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Just the way I style . single pieces that match the decor.

For the longest time I owned very little art that could be considered worthy of collection.  Some of my very first pieces, a pair of black and white photos I took on a barge trip down the Canal du Midi in France, a small original abstract painted in oil by a friend, I took care in framing.  I made these disparate pieces come together by using the same thick mat, its bevel at a sharp angle to draw the eye in, and the use of matching black frames.  I still love these pieces, but they often end up stowed in the back of a closet in their moving boxes.  Why?  My own inability to combine them with newer works of art I have collected along the way.

Living in the South End allows my voyeuristic tendencies to be satisfied without the police getting involved.  As I wonder the streets at night, homes are lit and visual access abounds.  There is one home on the corner of Union Park and Tremont that has a wall of artwork that leaves bare only small pockets of space between pieces.  When I dine at Aquitaine I can see it’s not a single wall, it’s a least two, I suspect the whole room is littered with artwork.  This displays a fearlessness that I do not possess, but admire.

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OKL . The use of architectural moldings to frame pictures within frames.

I dated a guy recently that subscribed to the same aesthetic philosophy – every square inch was spoken for with his photographs and rock band posters.  While the remainder of his place could have used a redesign, he got the art work right, well at least that which he hung on his wall.  I was the most precious piece of art he was likely to come across, and his curatorial instincts passed right over this little gem.  A story for another time.

OKL . left: artwork hung on walls  and rested on furniture.  Right:  black frames pull together different media.

As a flipper I often draw inspiration from a new single piece of artwork.  I want this piece to take center stage, but I don’t want to make all my other artwork feel unloved.  It got me thinking about what the experts would do.  I offer up this advice to you all, but respectfully ask you to forgive me for not deploying all the techniques.   I need to protect my investment and spare myself a hole filling expedition prior to handing over the keys.

OKL . Left the use of gold frames and similar color ways tie these pieces together. Right:  Keeping it simple, matching hues.

Grouping Art:  thematic art (nature, seascapes, portraits, etc. can be the theme that ties a display together)  similar colors, the same or similar media – oil, watercolor, black and white photography, magazine covers, etc.) can help pull together pieces that otherwise don’t have a direct relationship.

Framing:  in matching or complimentary frames, pieces that otherwise have no apparent relationship look like two peas in a pod, likewise, bringing a color palette together through the use of matting works nicely, using wall moldings to act as a frame for several pieces can bring them together in a non-traditional way, and bring organization within those borders.

Scale:  While everything need not be the same size, if that is your visual preference, mat and frame smaller pieces to match larger, hanging a smaller piece of artwork directly next to a larger one, and at eye level can invite the viewer in for a closer look.

Layering and Stacking:  hang it on the wall or not.  Desks, bureaus, mantels, counters and other surfaces offer opportunities to display art, playing with scale and size, largest pieces in the back, smallest toward the front, ensures all will be seen.

House Beautiful . Left:  Boldly using wall space – black and gold frames tie pieces together, but it looks professionally hung.  Right:  Birds and butterflies tie this rooms art together, while the black painted wall acts as one large mat.

I am not at that stage in my life where I would consider hiring an Art Consultant.  Maybe when my quest is complete.  Having said that, I call on my artist friend, John Vinton from whom I have purchased a number of abstract seascape of my native Cape Cod.  John is a wonderful talent, and a generous man.  He comes and helps me hang my most sacred pieces at the completion of each renovation.  He makes me smile.  If you don’t know John, and live in the Boston area, you could try these folks:

Jacquline Becker . Fine Arts Consulting Services . www.beckerfinearts.com . 617.527.6169 or Haley & Steel . www.haleyandsteel.com . 617.536.6339.

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OKL . Layered for interest . keeping it eye level.

While I am not the type of person that has the patience to nudge and mark and measure and remeasure, if you are attempting to do this on your own, I recommend laying it out on the floor, or creating templates.  This is particularly important if you are selecting a pattern that is complex, or asymmetrical.  Better safe than sorry.  Happy Hanging.

 

 

Tap twice if it’s love…Instagram

Posted in Designer Profiles, Uncategorized by
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Blue Print Store . Dallas . TX – I would go every day if I could.

Back when I worked in the architecture firm I used to browse the aisles of the design library in awe of all the materials. Samples of wood, tile, plastic laminate – yes, and ugh, Forbo sport flooring, paint decks, you name it, it lined the shelves.  I loved it, and had no idea that it wasn’t sexy.  We designed public schools and libraries — the materials primary characteristics where durability and durability.  Still, I was inspired, and longed to be one of the lucky few that got to put together the design sample boards for Client approval.  It feels like a long time ago now.

Visiting The Design Center in Boston (now called the Innovation Center) was a rare, and intimidating adventure.  Back in the day, a non-designer like me, was not welcome.  They made it abundantly clear that they’d rather I leave.  My desire to see, touch, and be exposed to all those lovely textures, furnishings, materials and wall coverings, superseded my need to follow the rules, and I tamped down my fear of those foreboding dictatresses of design, in favor of five minutes inside the vault.  They exhibit a modicum of welcome nowadays.  Do go in.  It’s worth it.  Act like you own the place – pretend you’re French.  You’ll be fine.

Pink perfection….

In-between these rare visits  I scoured design magazine for inspiration.  This remains a favorite pastime, but with just 12 editions annually the mags can’t fulfill my rapacious desire for design.  Enter stage right….Instagram.  It’s like an old friend that one day you awake to realize is full blown love.  It delivers constant inspiration.  It connects me to people, and places I would never have known, or visited.  I see old things in a new light.  New businesses that harken back to a time when things weren’t mass produced.  I see just how I will design No. 5, and I owe it to InstaG.

As I scroll through the feed I feel almost as happy as if I’ve received a love note, aka a text, from a boy I really like.  That vulnerable spot between my belly, and my breast is aflutter with wonder.  Everything I have ever wanted, and some that I never knew I needed, is there.  The tech savvy of the grammers, use tags.  These tags tell you the designers or materials that are the point of focus in the photo.  Fear not, if the item you are interested in isn’t tagged (by the way, you won’t see these tags unless you tap the photo once), you can simply send a note through the comment section to get the product details.

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The community is so friendly, so willing to share.  So happy to promote others.  It’s lovely.  Today I will open the boxes that arrived this week (I have not intentionally been delaying the moment of gratification), and examine my new lucite and brass curtain rods, courtesy of LuxHoldups via Etsy.  These I found on Instagram through Collins Interiors, a sister design firm to Blue Print Store in Dallas Texas.  My favorite.  Lux is a Brooklyn based woman-owned company that does amazing things with lucite.  Do check it out, and if you don’t already have an Instagram account, what are you waiting for?

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Money Can’t Buy Me Love: Finding a way

Posted in DIY, Paint Colors, Uncategorized, wallpaper by

Money…what a disdainful word.  I sometimes love it, sometimes hate it, and often live in fear I won’t have enough of it.  This is all normal.  Everyone must make choices, decisions, look longingly at an item, or a destination that must wait for another time.  This longing is a good thing.  It forces you to ask why you want something (in my case it’s typically because it’s beautifully designed),  and it keeps me up at night, devising ways in which I might obtain said object, or falling into a fitful sleep where I dream I own it. That about sums up my obsessiveness in a nutshell.

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Amir Khamneipur’s . Gold Table

Unrequited love got me thinking about this.  A few months back I read House Beautiful’s edition about small spaces.  They featured an interior designer’s home in Manhattan.  Just 700SF.  Amir Khamneipur’s home is exactly the home I would craft if I had that kind of money.  It’s so clever, it’s a grey goddess of color beauty, and it’s accented by mirrors, and metallics.  I am a big fan of all.  It features a gold dining table with a powder coated base in off white.  It’s heaven, and I have been like a lovesick teenager doodling images of it on the pages of my notebooks, expressing my adoration at every turn, and finding a way to bring it up, casually in conversation.  Ugh, a fool for love.

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www.thechroniclesofhome.com – Jen’s DIY Grasscloth coffee table.

This table is in fact, one of Mr. Khamneipur’s own designs.  You can buy it.  This tiny little bit of a table, just 2 feet wide by 44 inches long, runs at a cool $7900.  Well that price made my love go stone cold.  The table is too small for even my little dining nook.  If I am completely honest I had a moment of total insanity when I contemplated getting two to fill the space.  Please!  It clearly was not meant to be.  Fate has a plan for me, and it’s not Amir’s table.

Left:  Grasscloth Wallpaper . Wallpaper Direct  Right:  Benjamin Moore’s Peach Cloud

I got to thinking about customizing a piece that will appropriately fit the space.  I do want that gold top, but the logistics and timing, not to mention the cost, had me considering another option altogether.  What about grasscloth?  How hard could it be to do make one on your own?  Surely, there must be someone out there that does just this thing.  Well in fact there is.  I found a gal who has a blog called The Chronicles of Home.  Jen even lives locally.  Now she is a DIY’er, and I am not.  I like to say – “You Can Do it….I can help”!  Jen made her own custom grasscloth covered coffee table.  Quite lovely.  She riffed on a World’s Away Design, covering the base in grasscloth as well.  Me, I plan to have my Dad construct the table, and my wall covering expert paper it.  Once it’s papered I plan to run two fat gold metallic stripes down the center with a peach stripe crisply inserted between the two before I varnish the whole thing.  I may paint the legs gold too instead of covering them in the grass cloth.

Left:  Ralph Lauren’s Metallic Gold Paint Right:  Farrow and Ball’s Lotus Wallpaper.

Love should be willing to meet you at least half way, don’t you think?  Happy Home Adventures.

 

 

Spring Coat

Posted in DIY, Shop Locally, Uncategorized by

Spring…it’s so full of promise. The fresh air that puffs in through the crack in the window, freed from the confines of its casing after the long winter.  The smell of cut grass and the sound of birds chirping – children’s laughter.

Left:  Mulberry Spring line . 2013 . Right:  Rhianna in Dior.

It’s natural to think of the outdoors, but why should your fence have all the fun?  Your furnishings are just as deserving of a fresh coat of paint as those wind ravaged planks.  When you live in locals that celebrate the seasons, it’s natures way of saying, “dress for the weather”.  Your interior should adjust to the change in temperature and temperament – just as your exterior does.  Hello spring shopping.  While its true I don’t need a change in season to signal a time for shopping, but others might.

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Bungalow5 . Taboret . In need of a new shade, but it’s 8 years old, is the perfect size for my small apartments, and works so well!

A fresh coat of paint on a piece of furniture can change the mood from cozy, dark, and mysterious, to playful and light. Now I am not suggesting you paint your furniture every four months, you’d never get it out of the shop before it was time to do it again.  Putting it on the curb isn’t the solution either.  Perfectly good pieces deserve a second chance.  When you buy furniture that is well made and classic, it can not only withstand the ages, but your whims.

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B5 . Powder Blue . What a pretty hue.

As I look around my admittedly chaotic, and cluttered home (construction is not yet complete, and my carefully orchestrated existence is exposed…quelle horror), I spy the pieces that I have carefully curated, and consider which will go to the shop to be sprayed.  If you are a DIY’er, or just someone that aspires to the same, there are plenty of resources out there to guide you on your skills journey.  Whenever I am desperate to learn something  new, super fast, I turn to YouTube.  Don’t laugh.  Everything you ever wanted to learn is packaged in easy to understand, instructional videos.  Pause as many times as you want, until you are certain you’ve got it right.  Me, I don’t have time for that.  Someday, but now, my minutes are accounted for, and I must use them wisely.

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B5 . What color would you choose?

My Bungalow5 Taboret will find its way down to Porcelain Patch & Glaze . 140 Watertown Street . Watertown . MA – www.porcelainpatch.com  where it will buy its new spring coat!