One Man's Trash...

True story:

I am 9 1/2 months pregnant with my first kid and walking the dog on the little streets from New Rochelle to Pelham (Westchester, NY), when we spot a huge amount of trash piled up for removal next to a house that's being gutted. Of course my dog begs me to go check it, and since there's nothing more interesting to do on a sleepy Sunday morning, I indulge her.

The first to catch my eye (obviously) is a 6' x 10' oil painting (Hudson River School?) of a ship on the stormy waters - magnificent, but impossible to carry in my condition. There's a medley of small pieces of furniture obstructed by my belly, and I decide not to check them out so that I don't ruin my (already precariously off) center of gravity. However, sitting pretty on its four legs there's a mid-century coffee table I just have to have, and that I just might be able to carry back home, provided my dog agrees to walk by my side unleashed (I don't give birth clutching it, if that's what you're wondering right now).

For the next ten years, the coffee table followed us from home to home and state to state until last week when, for its latest re-positioning (in the upstairs sitting room of my home), I give it another cleaning. And there, glued underneath the tabletop, there's the (previously covered by old paint) little tag: R Jens Risom Design Inc.

The Return of the Sink-In Sofa

It is being explained as a direct corellation between the depressed economy and the need to uber-cocoon (take Faith Popcorn's "cocooning" from 2001 and remove cashmere, gold and brocade from you holiday shopping list): the tougher the times, the deeper and cuddlier the sofa. And so it comes that Mrs. Ashwell's barely deceased stores were resurrected within a matter of months, with a twist: the oversized sofa in her Shabby Chic Couture line (with a price tag so that it can be easily differentiated from the Target offerings) is even larger and squishier than before.

I succumbed to the uber-cocooning need early this year, when I purchased a humongous Regency House sofa that came with 4 equally oversized pillows (and one which is just dainty). If my mini dog wants to climb on it next to me we have to get a pillow out of the way to prevent suffocation. Its enveloping quality became an instant favorite of the family's and a magnet to anybody entering the family room, my old tufted velvet recamier for now being totally overlooked as a seating option.

I am knowingly smiling as my clients request chairs that are big and comfy, tactile fabrics and moody rooms. Yes, Yes and Yes!

Venting about The Housepainting Artist

I have been working over the past couple of months on a gorgeous condo on the 39th floor of Philly's new Murano building and was away for 10 days during the painting phase. My directions to the painter my client had insisted on were clear, complete with pictures, measurements and paint chips; I even traced on the walls of one room the outline of the circles to be painted. What I couldn't have known at the time was the fact that my client's painter was a true Artist (not a good one, though), bursting at the seams with creativity and willfully unwilling to bend under the confining directions of a designer.

A few days into my vacation, my client called to let me know that he was less than thrilled with the way the walls came out in three of the rooms, and once back at the condo I realized why: those rooms looked nothing like what I had specified. My client's Artist House Painter had convinced him to go the "creative" way, with particleboard circles covered in an Asian-inspired silver fabric, hand painted canvases glued to the walls vertically instead of horizontally and a mustard library instead of a chocolate brown one. Deep breath. Another one. We are now being delayed for weeks. It is of course a lesson for me too, about saying "no" when I just know better (and having my own painters on my job).

After years of doing mostly traditional interiors in NY and NJ McMansions I am looking forward though to finalize the creation of an utterly modern interior. I was so thrilled to even find, at Roche Bobois, a very aptly named Murano sofa table, although their Marco Polo is still the perfect one for the glass-enclosed Living Room.

New York International Gift Fair

Collectionneurs rejoice: between August 15 and 20, Manhattan will host again the best in home, gift and lifestyle resources under one roof in the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center. The target audience of the Fair is resellers, but don't let that discourage you from embarking on a visual Odyssey of accessory excess. From design-led merchandise and over-the top cookery to sophisticated furnishings and garden statuary, anything that can be made will be made and desplayed there for you to be tempted with, whether your passion is to-die-for tchotchkes, Design House Stockholm's seriously edited designs, or anything in-between. In any case, I promise you it's worth it - see you there!

Outdoor Spaces - it's time to Buy-Buy Baby!

My inbox is filled these days with emails from manufacturers and resellers of outdoor furnishings alike, while my brain, bombarded with images of luxurious loungers and high-end outdoor kitchens and still sorting through the visual overload of Italian outdoor furniture from the gorgeous pool settings visited during last month's vacation to Mexico, has a hard time getting back into indoors mode. I have daydreams about my little acre re-landscaped as a Palladian garden, complete with an octagonal central blue mosaic fountain set in a circle of pure white marble pebbles and bordered by soaring deep green cypresses. My eyes are set on a a pretty little orangerie greenhouse for the back of the property, which will house my most delicate plants and my Brown Jordan dining set, freeing up the patio for a shaded white double daybed, secure in the knowledge that thanks to global warming, I'll have extra time to enjoy my share of terrestrial paradise before another snow-deprived winter arrives. So it's time to Buy-Buy Baby!

Art for Your FLOR

I've never hidden my admiration for all things Swiss, which I've got to experience for quite a few years first-hand as a former resident of said country (Switzerland). The ghost of Le Corbusier was ever-present (a dear family-friend was an enthusiastic follower) but then there are, pelle-melle the Giacometti brothers, Mario Botta, Paul Klee, Herzog & de Meuron, H.R. Giger, Frisch and Dürrenmatt, Rosset and Federer, and let's not forget Louis Chevrolet, whose car has provided happy memories to generations of American teenagers. Which brings me to the Robert brothers, François and Jean, and their happy faces found in objects like mops, electrical outlets and door handles.

FLOR, the company responsible for manufacturing "green" carpets years before it was so hip to do so (I'm proud to have been an outspoken fan of theirs since 2002) has brought to floors the whimsical photographs of François Robert in their newest (and by far the best until now) carpet tile collection, Find A Face. Just in time for my newest project, a condo in Philadelphia's Murano building!

Shop talk - Wallpaper Murals

I have just looked on 1stdibs at a fabulous 19th century wallpaper panel "Vues d'Italie" (above) and for once I didn't wish I had this particular fabulous offering. I could do with a reproduction (top) - I'd rather have a reproduction, something that I wouldn't mourn over if my kids' games damaged it or if my cleaning lady decided to wash the dust off it.

Pet peeve: while hand-painted wallpaper panels 100 - 200 years old are still being celebrated as the artisanal artworks that they are, their mass-produced modern counterparts, good-looking and inexpensive by any standards, are yet to be accepted in American homes as the fabulous decorating tools they are.

And we're not talking that gaudy, flowery wallpaper from your grandparents' home which would come off only with part of the wall attached to it. From rustic to trompe l'oeil to the oversized painted image of a harbour, these wallpapers are not only easy to install but can be peeled off by hand once you're ready to change your decor. And until then, you'd have had have instant drama in a space devoid of any architectural merit, with badly placed windows and low doors (guess I've been in too many houses built at the beginning of this century).

Not only kids' rooms but also windowless powder rooms, tiny dining rooms, two-story tall but narrow foyers, boring bedrooms, scarily bland finished basements - they can all be personalised, dignified or just jazzed-up with the right wallpaper mural. As a trained faux-finisher (studied with Pierre Finkelstein), I've been painting some pretty interesting walls for a few select clients, but it breaks my heart to think that all my work will be gone once it's time to redecorate or sell.

So this is my call to action for today: Use Wallpaper Murals!

GLAMOUR!

During the last few years, designers and their clients have rediscovered (and reinterpreted in many ways) the luminous opulence of the Hollywood Regency style. Crystal and lacquer, velvet, silk, sculpted carpets contrast with the daintiness of elegant little chairs almost fading into the background.

And while any pieces from the great Dorothy Draper or William Haines are a wonderful to live with investment, pretty much anybody can recreate the look on a budget (think spray-painting a Queen Anne chair in high gloss creamy white). The beauty of it is that you can go in any direction: eclectic, modern, rustic - your imagination is the limit, proven by the new book from Metropolitan Home's Michael Lassell, aptly named GLAMOUR. A suspended Corian fireplace acts as a wall, Christian Liaigre furniture floats in a room were the chocolate brown walls recede into the shadows, a staircase of intertwined circles becomes the statement in an all-white foyer. Not rooms on a (regular) budget, but what inspiration...

Not immune to the trends, I have just redone my study in a glossy aubergine wall color, with my limed oak italianate dining table taking center stage as an oversized desk, a black & white print of Vienna's Belvedere Castle breaking up the darkness of the wall behind it and gauzy white panels framing the view of flower beds in my front yard - with the furniture repurposed from other areas, it is instant glamour for the price of a gallon of paint and a roll of masking tape!

Deborah Buck's TABLEAU

Because my mom has been painting them all her life, I have always been fascinated by what Mrs. Buck calls "tableaux", complex still lives of pure decorative beauty. As an adult, I've been creating them myself in my homes and in my clients', and this book elevates them to art form. As you turn the pages from one amazing "tableau" to the next, you might eventually feel the urge to grab your kid's pastels or look for a long dried out box of water based paints and add bright spots of color to the back of your latest fax. It's that inspiring.

If I managed to pique your curiosity, you might be interested to know that you can join Madeline Weinrib to celebrate Deborah Buck's "Tableau" at her Atelier at ABC Carpet & Home in NYC on March 9, 2009 6:30 to 8:30 pm. Please RSVP first at madelineweinribevents@abchome.com 212.828.3123. See you there!

Valentina: American Couture and the Cult of Celebrity

What a woman! Her story has everything: rags to riches, love triangles, rich and famous, exotic locales and accents and the missing link in American couture. How come nobody's been talking about her for all these years? Beautiful, talented, outrageously independent and opinionated, makes me wish I were her, today. Who still has the aplomb (elegant for "balls") to say things like: "My house and my shop are like a clinic where I treat my patients for bad taste" - my favorite, or "Mink is for football" and then the famous: "You ask price for dress that change your whole life?!"? I cannot wait for the book to arrive.

The exhibition will start on Valentine's Day (of course) at the Museum of the City of New York, where I'll be savoring each display right before we go see Jane Fonda on Broadway. Hmmm... another woman to look up to.

Home, Dream Home

Who wouldn't want a second home in Napa Valley or Sonoma? I can't imagine, unless it's somebody who already owns one there :) So I've been seriously instructed by my 9 years old son to participate in HGTV's sweepstakes after he saw the Dream Home's kids' room on TV, which prompted me to check out the decor online. I was also looking for a blow-your-mind beautiful picture to put on this blog.

I probably went through quite a few tens of cautiously chic images, the Ethan Allen furniture carefully selected to appeal to the largest number of viewers. Where's the "Wow"?!?! It was like going through the pages of any Ballard Designs or Pottery Barn catalogue, pretty but oh-so-boring, so aseptically safe. When something sparkles, it almost does so apologetically, even the emboldened red of the dining room tempered by tons of cream. The master bedroom is definitely not boring, but I personally believe it's not a place for crisp, cool colors. It should be more akin to a boudoir, inspiring thoughts I cannot talk about here.

Which doesn't mean that I will not enter the sweepstakes. The house is beautiful, the appliances top of the line and, most importantly, I don't have a second home in either Napa or Sonoma.

Happy Dreaming and A HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Botanist - No Ornamentation

As proven by Botanist, whose eco-friendly furniture brings together amazing designers (think Karim Rashid, Milton Glaser, Dario Antonioni, Yves Behar etc.) in a collaborative effort to create socially responsible products that raise funds and awareness for charitable organizations worldwide, design has the power to make the world a better place.

On Botanist's home page, Sir Richard Branson's quote sums up beutifully their philosophy:

"There is such a thing as enlightened self-interest, and we should encourage it. It is possible to turn a profit while making the world a better place."

Speaking of designers, I have to admit I'm quite partial to Claude Zellweger: he's extremely talented, generous, Swiss and well, really good-looking. And his amazingly cool tables for Botanist are this month 20% off their quite hefty price. What's not to like?

Light in Motion: Aqua Creations

I have been a long time admirer of Aqua Creations' creations. It is the stuff decorating dreams are made of: incredibly beautiful, of impeccable quality, wildly creative and useful, too. I didn't make the trip home to Switzerland to see this exhibit, but I enjoyed the pictures and the YouTube segment (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bPHF59JLIhM) as much as I'm certain you will.

"On 8-9 November 2008 Designers' Saturday took place in Langenthal, Switzerland for the twelfth time. Aiming to provide an inspiration for top performance, Aqua Creations in collaboration with its Swiss distributor Sphinx Lichttechnik, chose to exhibit at Creation Baumann's warehouse.

Having the designs return to their place of origin– the factory– or as Le Corbusier envisioned "the birthplace of cultural renewal", an extraordinary and magnificent event took form. Given the dramatic, unconventional, and challenging exhibition space of an entryway and two 1.8 meters/ 5.9" wide, 40 meters / 131.23" long, and 25 meters/ 82" high aisles, Aqua Creations and renowned designer Michael Azulay were prompted to create a total environment that included movement, sound, and light, thus providing visitors with an unforgettable visit alluding to a deep sea dive. The music, the movement, and the rich display of timeless Aqua favorites installed in the darkened corridors provided a view of the splendor, exoticism and delicate craftsmanship which stand at the core of Ayala Serfaty's designs."

Opulence

1stdibs and Van Cleef & Arpels sponsor the Opening Night Gala Preview Party for the International Art+ Design Fair, Thursday, October 2nd, 2008, to benefit the Bard Graduate Center for Studies in the Decorative Arts, Design, and Culture.

And while decorating is threatening to become an esoteric notion these days, when a financial crisis is threatening to become a full-blown economic one, I cannot but encourage you to visit the Loan Exhibition, 2008: Knoll Textiles: The Designer's Vision - Installation by Proenza Schouler.

It is my firm belief that window shopping (not unlike taking in just the aroma of patisseries) never hurt anyone, instead refining the aesthetic sensibilities of a few. Enjoy!

Ballard and Oprah team up for charity project

One of my favorite decorating catalogs, Ballard Designs, teamed up with the Oprah Winfrey Show to furnish a Katrina victim's home, and we can all see the results (and really cute designer Nate the Great) today in Oprah's show.

Right now though, you should check Ballard's website for their sale on outdoor items. My personal favorite is the Outdoor Garden Stripe Fabric, for only $7.99/yard. They also sell chair and bench cushions in this fabric, but they're made to fit their furniture, so the cut fabric is ideal for recovering your own cushions at the end of the season. To make your patio umbrella tie in, just add a pretty ruffled valance of the fabric around its perimeter, and Voila! an (almost) brand new patio set come Spring for minimal investment.

Julian Chichester - Fall Elle Decor Ad Campaign‏

There are few tricks in a decorator's bag as useful as using mirrors to glamorize a space, and that's why I was thrilled when Julian Chichester (JC) came to the US. Not only does he create beautiful mirrors, but his mirrored furniture (cabinets, chests of drawers, side and vanity tables) is the most stylish on the market.

JC is high end, typically only selling to the trade, but some pieces are sold at Mecox Gardens (http://www.mecoxgardens.com/default.asp) . I also found some of his pieces at Hinson & Co. in the D&D Building, if you happened to be in Manhattan.

I had been thinking about different themes for a guest bedroom I'm doing, and this ad in Elle Decor (October issue) gave me the perfect starting point. The wallpaper is masculine and so are the table lamps, but the mirror is all soft curves and the cabinet is pure glamor. I'm going to my sketching pad right now.

Lalanne Sheep in My Living Room

François-Xavier (FX) Lalanne's sheep have a following that reads as a "Who's Who of the World's Most Famous", starting with Coco Chanel, who had a flock of them grazing in her living room. Obviously, the prices the artist's art commands these days are not something people in most zip codes could realistically afford.

Even the 1997 book about the Lalannes (FX and Claude), published by avid Lalanne collector Reed Krakoff, sells (used) on Amazon for $522 (+ shipping)...

So when my dad sent me this week $1,000 "to buy something I liked", I immediately thought about the Lalanne-inspired ewes that Source Perrier sells (see picture). With my designer discount, I could get two of them for the money!!!

My friends were a bit taken aback by the idea of woolly overpriced creatures as (stylish?) decor, but I fully endorse Frank Lloyd Wright's statement that we should "take care of life's luxuries, because the necessities will take care of themselves" (the quote might not be exact, but that's the gist of it). Which means that pretty soon I might have two adorable sheep grazing in my living room, too.

Alex Iordachescu - L'Enfance d'Icare

This is a picture of the set where my incredibly talented Swiss brother (Alex Iordachescu, left) and his equally amazing wife (Ruxandra Zenide, next to him) started shooting this month my brother's new movie, "L'Enfance d'Icare", starring Guillaume Depardieu (son of Gerard), and Alison Paradis (sister of Vanessa, Johnny Depp's partner).

I've never done any set decors, but I wish I had apprenticed on this one... As more pictures from the shooting are coming in every week, I cannot help but be amazed by the melancholic richness of the sets. I have translated the script from French into its English version and it's a beautifully harrowing story - not sure I'm allowed to say more (unless I wanted my brother to show up with a scythe at my front door, or just repudiate me for the rest of my breathing days).

Anyway, at this point I'm living vicariously his very exciting life through the pictures he posts on facebook, looking forward to the movie's premiere at Cannes - and the perfect excuse to get a new Armani gown...

Ralph Lauren's New Home Collections

Who wouldn't love a properly upholstered cello (we're not consulting cello players, of course, or their conductors, etc)?

Ralph Lauren does it again, with three new collections ready to swipe off their feet and plop them into cozy cocoons nouveaux riches and old money, with classical tastes, alike.

Heavily taking his cues from sources as disparate as Louis XV, Biedermeier, Regence and... China's Ming Dynasty, few of the pieces inspire "love it or hate it" feelings (Duke's Host chair, anyone?).

While pieces in the Hudson Valley collection are a bit too "Americana" for me, the Rue Royale with its gorgeous side table and desk (check the website for the dainty Noble Estate settee), or Bedford Manor's Hayden sofa (a sister of which I happily own in a gorgeous bottle green velvet) reawaken the francophile in me and make me want to do a "Park Avenue meets Place Vendome" living room RIGHT NOW!

Kitchen Envy

With unexpected time on my hands while recuperating after my accident, I found myself reading a lot of decorating magazines and books ("Axel Vervoordt: Timeless Interiors" is a must), perusing other designers' work. And every once in a while, finding something that leaves me yearning for it.

This is the kitchen of my dreams, designed by Dave Stimmel for a family in neighboring Princeton. I can hardly wait re-creating it for a client, just to get it out of my system. Oh, those floor-to-ceiling glass-fronted cabinets...

One of my friends was commenting on the fact that it must be hard to keep it clean, but this is why Merry Maids is franchising so successfully.