Why?

I'm too young to feel so out of touch with the times, but nevertheless, I do.  So many things leave me asking, "Why?"  Take, for example, the new Chelsea Handler show on Netflix.  Why do I want to see Chelsea Handler do drugs and promptly get sick in a bucket?  And why did Kate Hudson feel the need to Instagram a photo of herself, bare-bottomed and in a bubble bath, in an effort to make her boy toy, Nick Jonas, jealous?  Perhaps the question I ought to be asking myself is, "Why am I spending so much time reading about this trash on the Daily Mail?"

And after reading last week's New York Times article, "The Art of Home Staging", I felt even more out of touch than before.  If you haven't yet read it, I highly recommend doing so, because the piece confirms what most of us already knew- that flair and individuality, those once-lauded virtues in the world of interiors, have become real deal-killers when it comes to the buying and selling of residential real estate.  The way to sell your home quickly and for more money?  Hire a home stager to banish the old and bring in the new- and banal.

Before I go on, I should mention that I'm all for doing what is necessary to sell one's home.  If staging means more traffic and more offers, then by all means, do it.  What I find troubling is not home staging itself, but rather the innocuous décor that buyers seem to prefer.  If what real estate agents and home stagers say is true, home buyers want to see white walls, plain-jane curtains, contemporary furniture, and a live-edge coffee table.  Do these buyers not realize that the furniture moves away after closing?  And is it really that difficult for people to see past a home's paint and wallpaper, furniture, fabrics, and- heaven forbid- antiques in order to assess a home's bones?

What really struck me is that one of the article's examples of a successfully staged apartment was that of designer Jean-Paul Beaujard.  His New York City home was featured in Architectural Digest about five years ago, and I was so taken with the interiors that I actually wrote about it on my blog in 2011.  But, sadly, such interiors don't sell homes these days, so the apartment's listing agents at Corcoran suggested bringing in a home stager.  All of Beaujard's beautiful furniture was sent away to storage, while contemporary furniture and  plain white fabrics were brought in.  (Oh, and the walls were painted white, of course.)  Beaujard was quoted as saying, "It's the complete opposite of what I like," but admitted that, "now, you see the proportions of the apartment better. Even I was surprised."  The staging worked, because the designer recently accepted an offer on his apartment.

While I find traditional decor's lack of broad appeal to be depressing, I did take heart in readers' comments.  It seems that many of them, like me, preferred the pre-staged version of Beaujard's apartment, while others bemoaned home buyers' lack of imagination.  So with that in mind, I'm once again showing the "before" of Beaujard's apartment.  If you'd like to see how it looked after being staged, please click here to visit the Corcoran listing.

All photos from Architectural Digest, Miguel Flores-Vianna photographer.

From Paris to New York with Jean-Paul Beaujard

I must have offended somebody at the Postal Service because for whatever reason, I now receive all of my magazines two weeks after everybody else. Very annoying. I only just received the September issue of Architectural Digest at the end of last week, but that's okay. After reading it, I spent a pleasant weekend dreaming about antiques dealer and designer Jean-Paul Beaujard's Manhattan apartment. It's such a sumptuously elegant home.

I was not familiar with Beaujard's work, but a Google search showed that Beaujard's Paris apartment was featured in the September 2006 issue of Architectural Digest. You should visit the magazine's website to see the entire article, but what struck me is the similarity between the two apartments. Beaujard obviously has a well-defined vision of how he wants to live. Madeleine Castaing fabrics seem to be a favorite of Beaujard as evidenced by his use of it in both apartments. Also, his collection of antiques shows a great deal of consistency between both homes. (That is hardly a criticism, rather an observation.) In the 2006 article, Beaujard was quoted as saying, "I don't like to do fashionable decorating. I like things where you can close the room and open it up 10 years later and it doesn't look has-been." I think that "has-been" is a term that will never describe Beaujard nor his homes.



If you look at the photo at top of Beaujard's Manhattan apartment, you'll notice that the green velvet sofa has a gilt wood frame. In his Paris apartment, above, a gilt chair wears a darker green velvet. A collection of Old Paris plates is displayed behind.



In his New York home office, the walls are covered in a Castaing fabric while a swatch of a different Castaing print rests on the desk.




In his Paris guest room, the walls are covered in the very same Castaing print.




I remember tearing this page out of the 2006 Paris article because I was taken with the painted door, not to mention that beautiful Coromandel screen.




Beaujard has used an array of animal prints in both of his apartments. (Perhaps that's why I'm smitten with his work!) Here, in his Paris library, the designer covered the walls in a leopard print fabric. That's a very Castaing touch.


Paris photos plus quote from Architectural Digest, September 2006, Marina Faust photographer, text by Peter Haldeman. Manhattan apartment photos from Architectural Digest, September 2011, Miguel Flores-Vianna photographer.