Behind the Velvet Walls

I still can't get Alberto Pinto: Table Settings out of my head. I've already told you how gorgeous the photos are and how enviable Pinto's collection of china, linens, and flatware is. But there is one image in particular that really caught my eye: that of Pinto's dining room. Is it because of the table? The Rose topiary? Yes, and yes. But what really makes this room so memorable to me are those green velvet covered walls. Pinto even covered the shell niches with the fabric! The way the light hits it, it almost looks radioactive.

One might argue that Pinto really gilded the lily with his use of velvet on walls and niches, and perhaps he did. There is a very fine line between fabulous and frightful when that much velvet is involved. And to some of us, copious amounts of green velvet bring to mind images of Scarlett O'Hara in her curtain dress...or Carol Burnett in her Bob Mackie curtain-rod version. But in this case, I think it's pretty terrific. Both the setting and the furnishings are right for this kind of luxury. Would it work in a late 1960s high rise in Buckhead? Probably not. But in an elegant Paris dwelling? Yes. In fact, here are some other examples of velvet clad rooms, all of which happen to be in France.



Both the walls and the crown molding were dressed in moss green velvet.



Dove gray velvet walls were made even more elegant with that embroidered valance.



The Paris living room of Raymond Guest as decorated by Emilio Terry. That bold rug gave an edge to an otherwise proper room.



Love the velvet walls, green velvet chair, and leopard print velvet sofa. Too much? Not in my book.



If velvet is too fancy for you, how about corduroy? Corduroy sofa, corduroy walls, and corduroy curtains. I suppose it's no surprise that this Paris apartment was owned by an American. Corduroy is, in a way, like the American version of velvet.

(Top image from Alberto Pinto: Table Settings by Alberto Pinto, Giorgio Baroni photographer; other images from The Finest Rooms in France)

Chinese...If You Please

I went to the Schumacher showroom at ADAC the other day with the express purpose of looking at the new print Nanjing in person. That's it above in a Schumacher vignette. Big. Bold. Blue. Oh, and it's, of course, Chinoiserie. What's not to love?



The linen fabric comes in Porcelain and Jade, both shown above, as well as Coral and Smoke. I'm usually not crazy about green, but this Jade is a little like a bottle green. Such great colors. And then a few days later, I found photos of this kitchen loaded with blue and white accents, including an exuberant Chinoiserie print fabric.



That blown-up print looks great on the rather plain Queen Anne chairs. It really perked things up. Obviously, it's not the same print as the Schumacher, but it has a similar look.



The same fabric was even used to line glass-front kitchen cabinets.

So think about how great a red kitchen would look with the Coral Nanjing lining fronts of cabinets or used for window shades. Or, what about Porcelain or Jade used somewhere- anywhere!- in a peacock colored room. There are so many possibilities. I just need to narrow it down to how and where I'll use it in my home.

(Images #1 and #2 from Schumacher; #3 and #4 from Southern Accents; the date? Ages ago.)

A Beaton Beatification

It was a Cecil Beaton kind of week. Not that that's a bad thing- far from it. It just seems as though everywhere I looked, there he was.

First, I bought a book that showed his London home from the early 1960s. It was not what I expected as I'm more familiar with Beaton's romantic, eccentric style of decor. (Or perhaps I should say "romantical"...a term coined by Paula Deen. Actually, every time I hear her say that, it drives me up the wall.) This particular version of Beaton's home has a French Billy Baldwin kind of feel to it. That is, if Billy Baldwin had been born and raised in France.

The two images at top were Beaton's living room in which the walls were covered in black velvet. Yes, black velvet- how great is that? What might be even more interesting is that the velvet is trimmed in gold and silver Spanish embroidery. Fortunately, you do not need to imagine what it looked like. Here is a detail shot:

The marquetry floor was saved from a Rothschild house that was demolished. The corner banquettes are vermilion with pillows made of obis. Both the floor lamp and the cocktail table were by Diego Giacometti. And notice too (in the photo at the very top) the painting of Beaton by Christian Bérard.




Vermilion made another appearance in Beaton's bedroom, though this time in the form of flocked walls. The bed is a rather simple affair of steel with brass pineapple finials, and according to the book's text it was covered in white draperies in the summertime. Both the bedside cabinets as well as the room's doors (not shown here) were white with gilt detail. I admit that I'm not too crazy about the carpet, but it was a different era and perhaps we would have found it attractive at that time.




Beaton's bathroom with sumptuous silk curtains and a gouache by Denis Hawkins. The mahogany bath fixtures were from Wilton House.



A grainy photo I know, but this landing sported animal print chairs and a jardinière filled with plants.

So after having studied these photos, I later attended an event at my friend Jared's showroom which fêted Cecil Beaton fabrics. More Beaton, but just in the flesh. Well, Beaton wasn't there in the flesh, but the textiles inspired by his sketches were. Here are a few that caught my eye:




(Beaton home photographs from The Best in European Decoration)

Suzanne Tucker Home

Suzanne Tucker is on fire right now! First, there was her recently published book, Rooms to Remember: The Classic Interiors of Suzanne Tucker. (The images above are all from the book.) Reading it is pure escapism. I want to crawl right into the book and settle into one of the featured homes. Even better, I want to live in one of these bedrooms; they're so luxurious that I would end up spending the entire day in one conducting business and taking my meals. Oh well, I can fantasize, can't I?

Suzanne has also launched Suzanne Tucker Home, a line that currently includes fabric, although tabletop, furniture, and lighting is planned for the near future. What struck me is how sophisticated these fabrics are. There are traditional silks, brocades, and damasks as well as cotton and linen, but rather than being boring, there is a richness and complexity to the fabrics that I find really appealing. These are refined fabrics, a nice shift from the cute and kicky fabrics that we've seen so much of lately. Of course, the fact that they're inspired by document prints and antique textiles makes me like them that much more. OK, so enough about why I like the line. Take a look at just a few of her fabrics.

(To see the entire fabric line, visit Suzanne Tucker Home. Fabric can be purchased through Holland & Sherry showrooms as well as Shears & Window in San Francisco and Thomas Lavin in Los Angeles.)




Top left: "Botanique" linen in Lapis; inspired by 18th c. Anglo-Indian prints. Top right: "Hatley" linen in Azure; adapted from an English document print c. 1830. Bottom: Cotton "Peacock Toile" in Cerulean; based on a 19th c. French toile.




Top left: "Sherri", a silk, cotton, and viscose brocade, in Turquoise; inspired by an 18th c. document. Top right: "Brighton Bizarre" in Golden; a truly stunning silk brocade. Bottom: Silk "Pagoda" in Coral; inspiration came from an 18th c. English watered silk.




Top row: Linen "Kiku" in Jade and Aubergine; according to the website, this was "reinterpreted from an 19th c. Japanese futon cover." Bottom: "Olivier" in Marigold; this print came from an 18th c. French Oberkampf Foulard.

(Room images from Rooms to Remember: The Classic Interiors of Suzanne Tucker. Fabric photos by Jennifer Boles)

Tobacco Road

I admit that I don't know all of the whys and wherefores of chintz, but I do feel it's my civic duty to correct the misguided belief that all chintz is floral. Chintz can take the guise of florals, Chinoiserie prints, stripes, or a myriad of other patterns. Truth be told, I'm not so crazy about floral chintz, but that's simply because I'm not really a floral print person. But there is one chintz that makes me giddy as a schoolgirl: tobacco leaf print glazed cotton.

When I was young, we had a sofa in our library that was covered in a tobacco leaf chintz. My mother can't remember from which fabric house it came, but let me just say that it was mighty fine. The background was a clear, vibrant yellow against which the blues, purples, and gold of the tobacco leaf played their roles. Sure it was quite traditional- after all, the print is based on Chinese export tobacco leaf porcelain- but it also had Style with a capital "S". The only problem was that the fabric was a bit too delicate for a high traffic piece of furniture. Two daughters and a Springer Spaniel were a bit too much for the tobacco leaf. It started to look a little shabby a little too quickly, but you know, shabby is not so difficult to pull off.

I was reminded of this fabric when I came across an old photo of the late designer Stephen Mallory's Rhinebeck, NY house. How disappointing that the photo is in black and white (see below), but just imagine the impact the fabric must have had when used on not just the sofa and armchairs but on the walls as well. I bet it was truly stunning in person. Oh, and it looks as though the upholstered pieces were quilted, something which seems to be making a comeback today.

And then my friend Barry recently wrote about a unit in our high rise building that had been decorated in the late 1960s by the same designer who worked on my childhood home, decorator David Byers III. I'm wondering how many homes in Atlanta got the tobacco leaf chintz treatment as he used it not only on our sofa but also on a sofa and some chairs in the aforementioned condo. (The photos are at top and below.)

Unfortunately, I'm not sure if this particular print is still in production. I do know that Carleton Varney has a tobacco leaf print, but it doesn't have the rich yellow background like the one that I adore. If I could find the fabric (and if I had an extra room lying around), I'd cover everything- walls, windows, and upholstered pieces- in the stuff. Now that would really be smoking.



David Byers III used tobacco leaf chintz in the Plaza Towers unit of Mrs. Robert R. Snodgrass. The print stands up well to the other yellows and acid greens used in the home. The photo at the top is the Music Room/Library, while the one directly above is Mrs. Snodgrass' Sitting Room.



The late Stephen Mallory covered walls, sofa, and chairs in the chintz. It was not completely crazy...but it almost was.


Carleton Varney's version of Tobacco Leaf


And of course, Mottahedeh's Tobacco Leaf china is a classic.

(Photos of the Snodgrass apartment from Landmark Homes of Georgia 1733-1983; Mallory photo from New York Interior Design, 1935-1985, Vol. 1: Inventors of Tradition)

Carolina, Adrienne, and Cole

You know that I love pretty textiles. Actually, make that wallpapers too. That's why I was excited to meet Cole Deming, an Atlantan who covers the Southeast for both Carolina Irving Textiles as well as Adrienne Neff Uzu Collection.

Now, I know that most of you are familiar with Carolina Irving. Her hand printed linen fabric satisfies our need for that dash of the exotic in our homes. But, Adrienne Neff might be a new name to you (it was for me). Neff recently established her eponymous wallpaper line, one characterized by prints that are ethnic in spirit and yet also contemporary in feel. Inspiration for the prints include 16th c. Japanese screens, cut agate rock, onions (yes, onions), and Pueblo Indian ceramic water jars c. 1,000 AD. Obviously, Neff is one informed woman. Oh, the paper, hand blocked in water-based inks on recycled paper, is made in Brooklyn, just as Irving's fabrics are hand screened in Los Angeles. Let's hear it for American made fabrics and wallpapers.

I've included images from both lines. The unprofessional photos of Cole's fabric samples are ones that I took; keep in mind that because the linen is so soft, it can't help but get creases when folded! That's part of its beauty. The professional Uzu photos are quite clever; the wallpaper was used as book bindings, something which only adds to the paper's charm.

If you would like more information on these lines or to order samples, please contact Cole Deming at coledeming@gmail.com or (404) 754-9673.

Adrienne Neff Uzu Collection:


Acoma



Jagged Agate, Yamanoma, and Renjyu



Uzu, Jagged Agate, Yamanoma, and Acoma


That's Giant Onion on the book at top, and Uzu in the background

Carolina Irving Textiles:


Patmos



This is a new version of Patmos Stripe; it's white on a gorgeous blue dyed linen fabric. Seriously stunning.



Palermo




Mimosa Vine



Chios

Print at top: Calico in a beautiful charcoal gray colorway.

(Wallpaper images courtesy of Adrienne Neff Uzu. Irving photos by Jennifer Boles.)