What I've Been Up to Over the Past Year: Inspired Design

Goodness. It feels strange writing a blog post after a year-long hiatus. I was worried that I may have forgotten how to blog, but it seems that after eleven years of writing The Peak of Chic, blogging has become second nature. It feels good to be back.

As some of you know, I have spent the past year writing my latest book, Inspired Design: The 100 Most Important Interior Designers of the Past 100 Years (Vendome Press). I spent countless hours doing research (thank heavens for my library of design books and shelter magazines), writing, and selecting the photos that defined the careers of the featured 100 designers. In fact, I spent so much time working on this book while cloistered in my home, some of my neighbors assumed I had died or moved.

Now that the hard work is behind me, I can say that it was well worth it. The end result is a book that I feel honors a very diverse, influential, and talented group of individuals. The featured designers hail from around the world, including America, England, Yugoslavia, and even Iran. There are living designers who are currently at the heights of their careers, while others experienced their heydays back in the 1930s and '40s. A number of the designers can be classified as traditionalists, but for each of them, there is a designer whose work was, or is, at the cutting-edge. Some were known for their reserved personalities, while others aren't afraid to make statements with their appearances. Peter Marino, that would be you.

Did your favorite designer make the list? You'll have to wait until October 2, the book's publication date, to see the list in its entirety. In the meantime, we'll be releasing glimpses via my blog as well as on Instagram. For those who can't wait, visit the Vendome Press website today for a peek.

To pre-order the book, please visit Vendome's website for more information.

I'll be embarking on my book tour later this fall, so I hope to see many of you soon!

A Home That Feels Right for Right Now

I'm still working my way through Manhattan Style (a great book, by the way) and was happy to find the chapter on the Manhattan apartment of the late Stanley Barrows. Barrows was regarded as one of the finest and most erudite design historians of the twentieth century. As head of the interior design department at Parsons and later at FIT, Barrows taught the history of interior design to the likes of Albert Hadley, Mario Buatta, and Angelo Donghia amongst many others. He truly was the éminence grise of design history.

What makes this home so appealing to me is the sense of elegant comfort and coziness. Yes, it is filled with distinguished antiques, but they are arranged and displayed in such a way that is hardly pretentious. This was obviously the home of a man who treasured his collections, namely his library of 5000+ books, but they weren't displayed for show. Isn't that refreshing after years of conspicuous displays of art and antiques? And the apartment was somewhat small too, but there was still a place for everything- a small dining area, a seating area, and copious bookshelves. Barrows may not have had an endless amount of space with which to work, but he still managed to create a pretty fabulous home.

I think that what I'm trying to get at is that Barrows' home is such a wonderful example of how you can live, and live grandly, on a smaller scale surrounded by things that you love. You shouldn't let your style and creativity be hampered by a lack of space or a lack of trendy objects and accessories. And stick to what you love and what you'd love to live with years from now. Would you be surprised to know that this apartment was photographed around 1990? Almost twenty years later and it still looks like a home I'd gladly live in. Just a little food for thought.


A liberal use of red can be a little tricky, but it just really works in this apartment.


The dining area within the living room. Wouldn't dinner at a cozy table like this be far more fun and lively than at a restaurant?


The Boulle cabinet that was used as honest to goodness bookshelves. Look how the books were piled willy-nilly. I'm a stickler for symmetry, but I think this looks just great.


Fine antiques were mixed with more contemporary pieces like the red upholstered slipper chairs.

Image at top: A bedroom filled with more books. This might have been a tad cluttered for my tastes, but I appreciate it nonetheless.

Design Legend Melanie Kahane

The late decorator Melanie Kahane understood color. And the other thing she "got" was the importance of publicity. Because Kahane did not have the social connections that designers like Mrs. Parish and Dorothy Draper had, Kahane had to prove herself by concocting eye-catching rooms- rooms that were sure to garner attention. The image at top was from a showroom that Kahane designed in 1949, and based on what I've read this room was one of the most photographed and published rooms of the year. Back at that time, black, white, and pumpkin orange was a rather daring color scheme. Don't you think it still looks pretty fresh today?

Kahane (b.1910-d.1988) was not one to shy away from color, and pink was one of her favorites. She could create interiors that were subtle and sophisticated, but I prefer her colorful confections more. I like the bold bursts of color that she injected in her interiors as well as the daring color combinations with which Kahane experimented. Pink and orange anyone?

Design Legend Anthony Hail

The late Anthony Hail is a designer about whom I know little. But I will say that I have been struck on more than one occasion by old photos of his interiors. I feel that only an elegant person could have created beautiful interiors such as these.

What I have been able to find out is that Hail was either a Texan or a Tennessean (conflicting reports on the internet) who was raised in Denmark and France. He studied under Walter Gropius at Harvard's Graduate School of Design, served as a correspondent for various magazines, and set up his own interior design business in San Francisco in the late 1950s. For years, Hail was the éminence grise of the San Francisco design community. In his obituary from 2006, Hail was described as one who understood living on a grand-scale. It also seems that Hail was a bon vivant who counted Alexis, Baron de Rédé, Arturo Lopez-Willshaw, and Truman Capote as friends. This worldliness of Hail's certainly seemed to shine through in his work.

If any of you have additional information on Hail, I'd love for you to post it in the comment section.

Design Legend Joseph Braswell

Today, I'm featuring the work of the late Joseph Braswell, a designer who seemed to have quite a range. As you can see here, he could design masculine, neoclassically inspired interiors. Or, he could do kicky and colorful or elegant and serene. No matter the style in which he was working, his interiors seemed to be elegant, appropriate, and quietly confident.

An Alabama boy who later graduated from Parsons School of Design, Braswell worked for leaders of the field including Melanie Kahane and Raymond Loewy. It was when he set up his own business back in the mid-1950s that his career really took off. I found a quote of Mr. Braswell's on the internet that I think is just terrific, and I'd like to share it with you.

Blessed are the beautifiers, for they see God in everything they do. This work may deal in things, but it is really, truly, at heart, about the people who occupy the space, use the things. If design is good, it makes the people whom it serves better people. It is very difficult to be mean spirited in an uplifting environment. That, ultimately, is what I try, at my best, to deliver.

I'd say he delivered, and with such style and grace.







Braswell quote from Interior Design Magazine

Rose Cumming and an Ode to the Eccentrics

A few weeks ago I lamented the dearth of true and passionate collectors. In that same vein, I've decided to write about the vanishing eccentric. Whatever happened to those individuals who were bizarre, squirrely, or downright kooky? Of course, where I come from we have our fair share of eccentrics, and they hold a special place in our hearts. After all, they make for good story telling during family affairs. But sadly they are a dying breed.

And in the design world, was there anyone more eccentric than Rose Cumming? Stories abound about this force of nature. First, there was her unusual appearance. A powder puff mass of blue hair was the first clue that this woman was no shrinking violet (or perhaps I should say shrinking periwinkle). In Legendary Decorators of the Twentieth Century, Mark Hampton wrote of the time that Cumming attended a party at Sister Parish's home wearing a very long bright green crepe dress that was cinched around her waist with a gold tieback. And in her hair were plastic fern fronds! That's certainly a look I could not pull off, but I admire the effort nonetheless.

In terms of her work as a decorator, Cumming's look was hard to define. In the book The Finest Rooms, Cumming wrote that she liked Gothic, Chippendale, Austrian Baroque, and early Victorian, just to name a few of the periods she admired. She loved "lush things", birdcages, silk fabrics, and pure color. Her dislikes were as extensive as her likes: faux beams on ceilings; figural wallpaper (unless it was a silver paper or old Chinese); and coffee tables. Oh, and wall to wall carpeting too, unless it was in a bedroom or on a staircase. When Cumming decorated a room, she tended to throw a lot of her likes into a room, making it a melting pot of styles. But in a weird way it seemed to work. Many times her work was quite beautiful, and at the very least it was unforgettable. In his book, Hampton did a wonderful job at describing this enigmatic figure. He remarked that "her version of reality was not like anyone else's". I think that would describe most noncomformists. They certainly march to the beat of their own drummers, but they also possess the courage of their convictions. Perhaps there is something that can be learned from Cumming and her ilk, plastic fern fronds and all.




I first saw these images around ten years ago, and I've never forgotten them. This sitting room was in Cumming's brownstone in New York. Cumming chose to use macabre objects in this room, supposedly as a "reaction against the usual conception of prettiness in decorating." Note the Audubon prints above the sofa that represent animals of prey. The fireplace was adorned with plates of snakes. The unusual curtains were really Indian saris. And what about that unusual lampshade? It's an Indonesian parasol. It's all rather bizarre... but quite interesting too.


Cumming's bedroom was evocative of the 1920s. The curtains are blue lame, which in this room actually works against the backdrop of blue-mauve metallic wallpaper. The 18th century Persian child's bed was used as a low table. Hampton wrote that
Cumming preferred to show her home at night. Can you just imagine what this room must have looked like, especially if it was lit by candlelight?


Cumming could also decorate rooms that were down right gorgeous. I am so smitten with this room, especially that black wallpaper with the gold stars. This room was in Cumming's home circa 1929.

Images at top: A young Rose Cumming in her drawing room circa 1930. An older Cumming appeared in a Harper's Bazaar article in July 1964. Here Rose was photographed in her legendary shop. Thank you to a very kind reader for providing me with these two images.

Now Available: The Tony Duquette Collection

Big news for you Tony Duquette fans. Baker Furniture, in collaboration with Hutton Wilkinson and the Tony Duquette Foundation, has just introduced the new Tony Duquette collection of furniture and accessories. The new line consists of reproduction pieces that were originally designed by Duquette throughout his long and prolific career. I must admit I have a weakness for furniture and objects that have a story attached to them, so I'm prone to like these pieces because of their history and lineage. But I also like the fact that the collection is anything but cookie cutter- much like Duquette himself. It's quirky, a bit bizarre, and really quite chic. What do you think?

(To see the rest of the collection, visit Baker Furniture's site.)


Regency Pagoda Lamp. Duquette produced various resin pagoda lamps that were originally inspired by an antique pair that were in his possession. Light is dispersed from the tiny windows of the pagoda; I would love to see this piece in person.


Organic Baroque Chair. Duquette came up with the design of this chair while serving in the army in World War II, but it was not until the mid-1960s that Duquette actually had the chair fabricated.


Elsie Tabouret. Not a Duquette design, but this tabouret was an Elsie de Wolfe creation c. 1926. de Wolfe was a mentor to Duquette, and the original tabouret that inspired this piece is ensconced in the Duquette studio.


Abalone Chandelier. This chandelier was originally designed for Duquette's one-man exhibition in Los Angeles in 1952. After the exhibition closed, the chandelier was moved to the Charles and Palmer Ducommun home in Bel Air, where it hung for many years until Duquette purchased it back from the estate.


Sunburst Torchere. The original torchere was designed for the drawing room at Dawnridge circa 1949.

Image at top: The drawing room at Dawnridge with the famous Sunburst Torcheres.

David Mlinaric on Decorating

Until recently, I was only mildly familiar with David Mlinaric. OK, actually, I only recognized the name and that was it. So when I heard that there was an upcoming book about the British design legend, I was intrigued. I just got through reading Mlinaric on Decorating (by Mirabel Cecil & David Mlinaric), and I must say that I got the same feeling that I did when I first read one of David Hicks' books. I can't really tell you why, but I suppose it might be because I kept wondering, "Where has this man been all of my life?"

Mlinaric is considered to be one of the top British decorators of the second half of the twentieth century. (And he still is today seeing that he's only 69.) He has had clients ranging from Mick Jagger and Eric Clapton to Lord Rothschild. I think what amazes me about his work is his range. He's done mod and hip, shabby traditional, and clean contemporary, and all of these looks are included in this book. And Mlinaric seems just as comfortable redecorating the great properties of the National Trust as he does designing the interiors of a London flat.

It's really a shame that Mlinaric does not have the name recognition here in the States that he does overseas, but I do hope that this book remedies that. With page after page of photos of exquisite interiors, this book just might have you too wondering why you're not familiar with this talented man. I think that after reading this book, you will be glad to make the acquaintance of this remarkable designer. I know I was.



Mlinaric's studio at No. 33 Tite Street, Chelsea, c. 1960s


The dining room at the Tite Street studio. To me, this room is reminiscent of David Hicks- maybe it's the banding on the walls.


After John Fowler's death, Mlinaric became adviser to the National Trust. Mlinaric was responsible for the redecoration of the Assembly Rooms in Bath. This is a shot of the ballroom, the principal room of the Assembly Rooms.


The guest bedroom of an 18th c. Loire chateau, decorated between 1986 and 1991. The walls were hand-painted to look like cloth hanging from brass rails.


Glebe House, Chelsea, c. 1981-83

Billy Baldwin and Ventry Ltd.

It looks like Ventry Ltd. has updated their website with new photos of Billy Baldwin designed furniture (some of the pieces may not have actually been designed by Baldwin; instead, he may have lent his name to the pieces). If you've always dreamed of owning Billy B's classic slipper chair, Turkish ottoman, or metal bookcases, then take a look at the Ventry website. And if the unadorned pieces of furniture look a little vanilla on the website, not to worry. Just look at how Billy used these designs in his projects.


The classic Billy Baldwin slipper chair. According to Mitchell Owen's article in the New York Times (Nov. 5, 2000), Baldwin's slipper chair was supposedly designed with Pauline de Rothschild's tall, lean frame in mind (thus making it easier for her to strike a pose and extend her long legs).


Small slipper chair and Porter etagere in the apartment of Baldwin.


Porter etagere from Ventry Ltd. According to Owens, the Porter etagere was originally fabricated by PE Guerin (and is still available through them as well).


Another view of Baldwin's apartment with the Porter etagere and what appears to be a Studio Loveseat


Studio Loveseat from Ventry


The Turkish Ottoman from Ventry...


and in this Baldwin designed living room (the home of Mollie Parniss)


The home of Woodson Taulbee with the larger (?) slipper chair and the Studio Sofa, both upholstered in that famous Tree of Life print.


Large Slipper Chair from Ventry


Studio Sofa from Ventry


These metal tables have been attributed to Billy Baldwin, but there is debate as to whether he actually designed these tables or not. It's possible that he simply lent his name to this design.