Book Klatch

For those of you in Atlanta, I'd like to invite you to a talk I'm giving tomorrow night on one of my favorite subjects- design books. The event is scheduled for Tuesday, November 11 at the Barnes & Noble at the Peach shopping center (2900 Peachtree Road). We'll start gathering around 7pm, and the talk will begin at 7:30. The proceeds from sales will benefit the Cathedral Preschool. Come support a worthy cause!

A Very Chic Party

I'm sorry that I won't be able to visit the Veranda show house at Greystone Mansion in Beverly Hills because it sounds pretty incredible. I'm even more disappointed that I didn't attend the opening night party because I hear that was quite an event!

Nathan Turner (whose career is on fire right now- see below) chaired the opening night party with Mary McDonald and Ann Getty and was kind enough to forward these photos to me. Nathan and Mary worked with the theme "Chinoiserie au Jardin", and just look what they came up with. I know that I got a few ideas for my next party from these images, but unfortunately I'll have to do it on a smaller scale- on my 8th floor balcony!

The show house runs through November 16. In addition to Nathan and Mary, the roster of design talent includes Suzanne Rheinstein, Windsor Smith, Peter Dunham, Tim Clarke, Ames Ingham, Kathryn Ireland, and many others. For more information, visit the website.

(Not only does Nathan have a wonderful store in Los Angeles, but he also just finished his second collection for Elite Leather. I don't know how he does it all and still manages to look so young!)






Image at top: Nathan Turner, Ann Getty, and Mary McDonald

Let the Good Times Roll

When I planned this post over the weekend, I intended for the topic to be solely about home bars from the 1920s through the 40s. And then I realized that this post would be published today- the day after the election. So I suppose I could say that these images might serve as some inspiration for those of you who are celebrating today.

All kidding aside, have you ever thought about putting a bar like one of these in your home? It would certainly be a far cry from the drinks tray or table that most of us have. Back during Prohibition, some of the design magazines gave tips for designing home bars. Since you couldn't imbibe in public, you had to drink your bathtub gin at home (far safer than hanging out at a gin joint). And it couldn't just be any old bar. It had to be rather swell. The kind of place that would elevate your hooch into something far more refined.

While most of us don't have the luxury of space to create a home bar, it's fun to imagine what it would be like to have a room devoted entirely to recreational fun- or vice, depending on how you look at it!


Elsie de Wolfe designed this bar for her Beverly Hills home After All. That black and white tented ceiling is pretty fabulous, but I would think that it might cause a little dizziness after one too many Singapore Slings.


This bar was designed by the old design firm Thedlow. Rather gutsy to render the doors as giant playing cards.


This was a serious little bar for the hardcore home barkeep. But how great is that floor?

Image at top: This bar decorated by Frances Elkins is seriously cool. And those bar stools have to be the all-time best bar stools ever designed. Period.

Doris Leslie Blau and Our Favorite Designers

I'm currently on the hunt for rugs for both my living room and dining room, and the timing couldn't be better. Why? Because Doris Leslie Blau has just introduced the new 2009 Designer Carpet Collection, and most of our favorite designers are featured. Albert Hadley, Miles Redd, Todd Romano, Markham Roberts, and 42 other designers have created modern carpet designs for this venerable company. (That's Mr. Hadley's design at top.)

I really like the range of designs. Roger Jones' carpet is very cool and elegant. Now that one would look great in my dining room, but I could also see it in a icy blue bedroom too. And the other designs? Can't you see them in living room with a Ventry Ltd. sofa, upholstered in a neutral of course, and a chrome or lucite cocktail table? I'm thinking something very Billy Baldwin. What do you think?

(The designer collection carpets are made from various materials including silk, wool, and banana-leaf fiber and come in different weaves. For more information, visit the Doris Leslie Blau website.)


Todd Alexander Romano


Markham Roberts


Miles Redd


Roger Jones of Colefax & Fowler


Veere Grenney

Good Drama

You know what I've been taken with lately? Uplights. Are you still with me? Have I lost a few readers??

I know that uplights are considered by some to be gauche, perhaps due to their use and abuse back in the 1970s and 80s. I suppose they might, and I stress might, be in the same league as those big and bad track lights from a few decades back. But you know what? I think that when used tastefully, uplights can be quite practical. And the light they give off can really add some drama to a room. Need some light in a dark corner? Stick an uplight on the floor. Want to give that bust on a column some brooding personality? Put an uplight on the floor at the base of the column. Or, shine a little light on a piece of wall art- preferably a large canvas- with an uplight.

There are different options available for uplights, but to get the most bang for your buck I would suggest the canister lights from CB2. Available in black or white, they're only $19.95 a piece. For that price, you can go crazy with uplighting. I bought one in black and I'm having fun trying it out in different areas of my home. And you know what I've realized? Dramatic lights are a lot easier to stomach than dramatic lives!


John Stefanidis used this chrome canister to light this large painting.


Mica Ertegun used an uplight behind this screen. Positioning an uplight behind a screen seems to be a big decorating trick of the trade.




David Hicks... On Uplights. When I think of uplights, I immediately think of Hicks. Here, he has used them to light blank walls (both painted and upholstered) and to light a corner of a room concealed by a screen.


CB2's Can Lights, available in black or white, are a great way to experiment with uplights.

Image at top: Even back in the late 1920s, people used uplights for a bit of drama. Don't you love that shadow that the calla lilies cast?

An Architectural Alphabet

Remember how we all raved- for months- about Andrew Zega and Bernd Dams' Chinoiseries? Well, hold on to your hats because they are back with a new book that I think might be one of their best yet!

An Architectural Alphabet (Connaissance et Mémoires) is the new limited-edition artist's book that features the duo's watercolors of the alphabet. Each letter is featured in an architectural or garden related scene. In fact, a few lucky letters are painted against backdrops of Chinoiserie follies. How great is that?

The new book, with a forward by none other than Charlotte Moss (I told you this was good!), is hand-bound in silk, numbered, and slip-cased. Forget the jewelry, baubles, trinkets, and bibelots- this is what I want for Christmas. I better start writing Santa right now.

Cynthia Conigliaro and Will Rogers of Archivia Books and Catherine Cormery of Connaissance et Mémoires are hosting a book party where Zega and Dams' new book as well as some of their recent watercolors will be featured. The event takes place at Archivia Books on Thursday, November 20 from 6 until 8pm. To RSVP, call 212-570-9565.

Carolyne Roehm and her Passion for Blue and White

I just returned from San Francisco where I attended a lecture given by Carolyne Roehm. Held in conjunction with the San Francisco Antiques Show, the lecture, entitled "All Roads Lead to Roehm" (very clever!), was a celebration of all things blue and white, including her new book A Passion for Blue and White. I was lucky enough to get my hands on a copy, and I really think it might be one of my favorite Roehm books to date.

In both her lecture and the book, Roehm champions the versatility of this classic color combination. First, you have an array of shades with which to work- from icy blue to cornflower to navy and beyond. And blue and white also works well with other colors too such as pink, yellow, and red.

I believe that many of us think of blue and white as being casual, and it certainly can be. Really, what is chicer than a white blouse with a pair of blue jeans? But Roehm also makes the case for blue and white to be used in elegant and formal settings too. I suppose you can say that blue and white is like the perfect date- you can take it anywhere and it will fit in marvelously. No need to put lipstick on the pig! (Just kidding.)

I have to say that I admire Roehm's efforts at putting her passion into images and words. Roehm's love affair with blue and white began many years ago, and years later it is still going strong. While other colors might stir my passion more, I think I might be coming around to the whole blue and white thing.

Joe Nye New York will be hosting an afternoon tea in honor of Carolyne Roehm and her new book on Wednesday, November 5 at the Joe Nye New York showroom. To RSVP, contact Christina Juarez, tel 917-463-3685. Wish I could join you!



Blue and white can be laid back and informal


Or it can be quite grand and proper


Blue and white can be exuberant


And it's also quite breezy


And you know what? It looks quite smashing on a cake too.

(All images from A Passion for Blue & White, Carolyne Roehm, Broadway Books, 2008)

Amaze Me!

In Regency Redux: High Style Interiors: Napoleonic, Classical Moderne, and Hollywood Regency, author Emily Eerdmans mentions an anecdote in which couturier to the stars Adrian commissioned Tony Duquette to design his Beverly Hills dress salon. And the directive that Adrian gave Duquette was really quite simple- "Amaze me". How fabulous is that? I'm sure that for many of you designers, these two little words uttered by a client might be like manna from heaven. It's a directive that gives the designer license to pull out all of the stops and unleash the full force of one's creativity. But I suppose it's also a command that is fraught with uncertainty and that just might provoke stage freight.

I've been thinking about this story for a few weeks now because I would love to tell certain people "Amaze me"- my shoe salesperson at Neiman Marcus, my general contractor, and my hair stylist, for example (and all three are pretty fantastic so I feel confident that they could do so.) But in terms of design, sometimes you see an interior and you can just tell that the designer felt compelled to give the client something ultra special and well, amazing. I wonder if this might have been the case in the following interiors (and a garden too).


The Paris apartment of Charles de Beistegui, c. 1933. Designed by Le Corbusier and Pierre Jeanneret, the apartment featured this stunning cement staircase painted blue and white. Note too the crystal rail.


The entrance hall at Sa Torre Cega, Cala Ratjada, Mallorca, Spain. Carlos Ortiz-Cabrera of Maison Jansen was responsible for the Pop Art looking, trompe l'oeil painted floor in the foyer.



The Madrid bathroom of the Duchess of Alba, designed by Armand Rateau, c. 1925. The bath was carved from a single piece of white marble, and the walls were covered in gold lacquer with pastoral type scenes.


Landscape design can be used to amaze too, as seen here in the park of Mimi Pecci-Blunt's Paris home, c. 1926.

Images at top: The ultra chic, ultra glam studio of Adrian, designed by Tony Duquette

Todd's New Digs

One of my favorite stores in New York is Todd Alexander Romano Antiques and Decorations. Not only is Todd charming and friendly, but he has the type of style and flair that I hope to aspire to someday! Todd has recently traded up to bigger quarters in The Fine Arts Building on E. 59th., and I'm dying to visit the new shop in person. Todd and his assistant Nicole sent me some photos of the new digs to tide me over until my next trip to New York. But after seeing these images, I'm really thinking that I need to hightail it up there. Anyone care to join me?

(If you live in New York or are planning to visit there soon, make sure to stop by Todd's shop. The new location is The Fine Arts Building, 232 East 59th St., 4th floor. Tel. 212-421-7722.)

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.