Category Archives: Lighting

Fall in Line with Fashion

Posted in Designer Profiles, Lighting, Uncategorized by

The Gates have opened even wider with Elements of Style, Erin Gates new product line entitled:  Elements.  Whoever said “success begets success” was referencing just these types of phenomenon.  Blog, booming design business, book(s) – a second is underway, jewelry line, pottery line, and now full blown product lines which can be found on Wayfair and All Modern.

elements

Erin Gates brings Elements of Affordable Style to your home through Wayfair and                  All Modern.

You’ll find pillows in her signature leopard print.  This is an element of her style that precedes this Fall’s trend, and is near and dear to her heart.  Not only does she have quite a few pairs of shoes in this spotted animal print but she wasn’t afraid to bring a little of this Sub-Saharan grace to the runner on the stairs in her entry.  Meow.

Elements . Leopard Print Pillow $48.
Zara . Leopard Print Shirt $39.

Left:  Elements. Leopard Print Pillow $48. Allmodern.com  Right:  Zara . Leopard Print Shirt $39. Zara.com

The bold black and white stripes that to me seem so very French make an appearance in throw and lumbar pillows, as well as the wrap on the scented candles.  Sweet Smoke, Lavender Leaves, and Blackberry Pumpkin, Juniper Moss, and Currant Rose are the alluring combinations she has imagined to fill the air in your home.

Zara . Off the Shoulder .
Elements . Stripe Throw Pillow . All Modern $38.

Left:  Zara .  Off the Shoulder $39.  Right:  Elements . Solid Stripe Throw Pillos $38.

Throws and ottomans, baskets, and lamps in warm hues, cozy fabrics, clean lines, make it appear as if it’s easy just to throw it all together.  I wonder how much Erin would charge for a paint by numbers guide?

Max Mara . Striped Skirt . $595.
Elements . Sweet Smoke Candle . All Modern $18.

Left:  Max Mara . Striped Skirt . $595. maxmara.com  Right:  Elements . Sweet Smoke $18.

The line was well received – many items sold out almost immediately.  Still others never made it to the site, but Erin assures us, that like any product launch, bugs need to be worked out of the system.  Elements 2.0 will be along shortly.  Your wallet might just welcome the pause.

Elements . Ottoman . $68.
Max Mara . Gray Coat . $2,850.

Left:  Elements . Ottoman $68.  All Modern  Right:  Max Mara . Gray Coat . $2,850.

Congratulations Erin, and thank you for opening the “Gates” to a beautiful and affordable collection of home wonders.

Wanting it in the “Wearst” Way

Posted in Designer Profiles, Lighting, Uncategorized by

A mon avis, Kelly Wearstler is an obsession worth having.  She is Modern Glamour  – and if you love design, and don’t have her book that shares this title, move your little fingers as fast as they’ll go to Amazon, and buy-it.  You’ve got 1-Click purchase power don’t you?

kw-cleo-2100

Kelly Wearstler . Cleo Chandelier $2100. 14 – 16 week lead time.  www.kellywearstler.com/lighting

She’s a fashionista, an Interior Designer, a Mom, a Surfer, a textile, furniture, linen’s, object d’art, and lighting designer.  How she manages to look so serine in her photographs when clearly she is buzzing with energy and inspiration, is a mystery to me.  Her world is seen in bold accent colors, and through the lens of geometric shapes.

souffle-chair

Defying Gravity . Kelly Wearstler’s        Souffle Chair . $7900.

The objects she populates her spaces with, for the most part, convey solidity and presence,  and demand attention.  Now and again she throws in something a little softer, like the Souffle Chair in its buttery pleated leather.  It’s tiny legs supporting its dumpling of a body like a baby giraffe, defying gravity.

I first made the acquaintance of Wearstler’s aesthetic prowess at Bergdorf Goodman’s BG Restaurant on Central Park in NYC.  It served as the inspiration for my first project, though all her beautiful diamond and molding adorned walls, which were to blanket my tiny 500SF in their loveliness, were value engineered out of my project.  Two little doors, with their high relief diamonds, moldings, and ornate paint job, were all that I could squeak into my budget.  When I left, those where the only thing I regretted leaving behind.

kw-cleo

Kelly Wearstler . Cleo Pendant . Antique Brass . $840.  14 – 16 week lead.

Her recent foray into lighting design has me glowing with excitement.  Several of the pieces, for which I had an unhealthy obsession, she most certainly drew inspiration from the collection of Jean De Merry.  A lighting and furniture design house rooted in French Artisanal Craftsmanship, who found their way to LA.  They brought their own bright lights with them, and Kelly used their flush mount sea urchin brilliance, and mermaid scones in the BG project.  You’ll note a striking resemblance to her Strada Large Flush Mount fixture, and to her Strada Chandeliers.  I wanted that Flush Mount Sea Urchin in Charlestown – two actually.  One for the living room and one for the bedroom, so badly I would dream about it.  Sadly, the living room got an Expo Close-out Chandelier, which looked pretty good and ran me $400., and the bedroom got stuck with a Home Depot $8. flush mount fixture.  So, all in all, I saved $9,502. on that lighting, but I’ll never forget what could have been, if only money were no object.

kwstrada

Kelly Wearstler . Strada Large Flush Mount . Aged Iron . $1260. 2 – 6 week lead.

Wanting it in the “Wearst Way” just got a little easier with K’s new line.  The prices are far more accessible than those of Jean De Merry.  This surprised and delighted me, as that Souffle Chair, which I also dream about regularly, is $7900.  OUT of my budget, and unless I win the lottery, or Kelly decides to take pity on me and gift me a floor model, I will not be getting that billowy meringue delight any time soon.

kw-utopia

Kelly Wearstler . Utopia 5 Arm Chandelier . Gild . $1671. 14 – 16 week lead.

Note that the lead times for these fixtures is long – 14 to 16 weeks, which is 4 months to you and me!  I know all about waiting.  That’s just what I will be doing as I continue my search.  Waiting.  The property that I had set my intention on purchasing turns out to be located next to a BRA (that’s Boston Redevelopment Authority) transitional home for homeless men.  No, no, et non – not for me.  Too hard to sell down the road.  That Cleo would have been divine in the bedroom.  Alas, the search continues.

Heart of Stone…

Posted in Coastal Design, Lighting, Uncategorized by

If one’s heart turned to stone,  I could only hope it was Croatian Limestone.  Something that might have been sad would instead be incredibly beautiful.  Here in Croatia, limestone is in abundance, from the most laid back island, to those likely to be featured in Life Styles of the Rich and Famous, nary a foot falls without landing on this hard, bleached ivory stone.  Well suited to the seaside climate, the stone’s durability allowed for structures built during the reign of Rome, when their quarries could be found lining the coastal waterfront.

brac 1

Bol . Brac . Historic Center . Croatia

Brac – pronounced BRATCH produced the stone that the Town of Split was built with in the 4th Century BC.  The limestone doesn’t just hang around Europe either.  The columns of the Whitehouse in Washington DC are made of Croatian Limestone, and Battery Park in NYC features statues made of it.

Mondavo . Hvar . Croatia

It’s the small stone cottages, and restaurants tucked into the hillside that I find particularly appealing.  It’s elegant, and cozy all at the same time.  It feels historic and modern, clean and dusty.  While I appreciate the polished version, it’s in its honed form for which my heart is aflutter.  I want to hand select my slabs, wrap a pallet, reserve my spot on a cargo ship, and await it’s arrival back in Boston.

I think I will hunt for a condo that needs a kitchen renovation.  Honed countertop, Zebra Wood veneer kitchen cabinets, 4 x 4 honed limestone floor, Venetian Plaster backsplash.  I can see it so clearly in my mind’s eye…can you?

Brac 9

Love in bloom . Hear Wedding . Banj Les Bains

 

I

Seeing the Light

Posted in Lighting, Uncategorized by

Statistics – who would think a gal like me would love them so much.  They help set the stage, create the appropriate amount of awe – outlining the sheer magnitude of the effort.  If I just told you I bought a chandelier in Paris, and had it hung in my condo, that wouldn’t be much of a story.

marche aux

Marche aux Puces . Paris

For those following along, you know first that I bought it a very long time ago, back in September.  You’ll remember that my good friend Tiffany, and international treasuring hunting partner and I were scouring the Marchè aux Puces when we turned the corner, and there she was… my heart skipped a beat, and I knew I had to have her.  An offer was tendered, laughter followed by a sinking panic, additional requests, mild pleading, a whimper of consent, and a relinquishing of ghastly amounts of Euros.

Accounts were opened to handle shipping, wire transfers established, the trans Atlantic voyage complete.  An assessment of the structural capacity of the ceiling, the electrical box, and associated components designed to carry the weight of the chandelier – rendered a verdict of insufficient.  Modifications were made, plaster medallions were broken.  Then the rewiring commenced, followed by the discovery that Regis Royant and his Gallery of the same name – shipped me a chandelier that was similar, but not the same as the one I purchased from him.  Buyer beware.  After I got over that shock I took an ill-advised ride with the chandelier in the back of a pick-up truck.  That almost cost me a finger or two.

 

The initial installation was short lived as I discovered that once the following was assembled:

  • 65 main branches
  • 832 small branches
  • 808 glass discs or petals
  • 832 screw top components

It hung so low, it needed to be taken apart, branches carefully stored, orb and conduit back to the shop to be cut down.  Three Electricians later – can you believe no one wanted to do some star gazing – and after a very long night of reassembly, the curtain has been raised.  I will admit to being a little nervous about it crashing down in dramatic fashion…but one mustn’t live their life in a constant state of worry.  I’ll acclimate.

FullSizeRender (8)

For all the broken promises and heartache.  I’d do it all again.  This chandelier is a work of art, a wonder, a Broadway set in my living room, with all the magic a first rate production engenders.  It is stunning.  It is a showpiece.  It will steal the show, night after night, even if its only audience is me.

Happy Saturday.

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.

sofa5

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

 

Beginning to See the Light

Posted in Lighting by

After having laid on my back in bed for nearly two weeks I’ve gained a new appreciation for a number of things.  One of them being the importance of what’s on your ceiling.  My ceiling is pretty darn amazing by all accounts, but sitting smack dab in the center of it is a china tea cup of a chandelier that’s made me wish someone would put my lights out.  Is that too dramatic?  Perhaps I still have some residual delirium from the virus.  None-the-less, the chandelier will be performing its final act some evening in the near future.  Once I make my selection – it’s lights out.

The following are strong contenders.  Which do you think would steal the show?  Please do let me know.


Aerin Claret Tall Mill Ceiling Light

Both from Aerin Lauder’s Home Collection, the first is called the Claret Tall on sale now through Neiman Marcus for $3750.  The second called the Mill Ceiling Light is offered on her site at $2722.

 

Calais 34

The Niermann Weeks, Calais Chandelier available through circalighting.com $3142.