Just What the Doctor Ordered

Who knew that it would be so easy to fall in love with a medicine cabinet? Truly, I think this is the most stylish one I've ever seen, but I guess that's no surprise as it's in the bathroom of Thomas O'Brien. It's like the hit parade of everything I love- nickel frame, lights on the side, and in the words of O'Brien, it's reminiscent of "a vitrine from a 1930s store". Well, you know that the 1930s reference just sealed the deal for me.

And then take a look inside the cabinet. It's like a mini-Zitomer or something. O'Brien collects fragrances, so there are numerous fragrance flaçons and bottles. I believe I spy some Acqua di Parma as well as Kiehls. It's really making me rethink my 1960s medicine cabinets which are accessorized with Crest, Sure, and Bausch & Lomb-not so peak of chic. I think that I might need to upgrade my sundries.

For a little more in the way of swell bathrooms, I'm including images from O'Brien's soon to be released American Modern. Sure these rooms might look modern, but I'd also add that they're timeless too.




Yet another enviable medicine cabinet. I like how clean the bathroom looks, and I'm not just talking about the decor. Light and white always looks germ free to me. The sink and bath hardware are part of O'Brien's Aero collection for Waterworks.


In the same house, the man's bath features a washstand with tall nickel feet- such a clever detail.


Another shot of O'Brien's bathroom. OK, so maybe I now want a blue bathroom rather than white. The walls are dark blue ceramic tile, and the sink is the same type of marble used in the Empire State Building: Breccia Antica.

(Image at top plus O'Brien's quote from House Beautiful, April 2010; other images from American Modern, Laura Resen photographer)

Home Truths

If any of you are planning to be at the AmericasMart this Saturday, I invite you to attend Home Truths, a panel discussion led by Atlanta Homes & Lifestyles Editorial Director Clinton Smith. I'll be on the panel along with designer Phoebe Howard and architect Stan Dixon. We'll discuss decorating trends as well as the changing face of design. The event begins at 10am and will be held in Building 1, Floor 14, 14-D-9. Hope to see some of you there!

Watch This Movie: My Man Godfrey

Who me? A flair for the dramatic? Well, perhaps a little. I tried acting in Junior High. While I wasn't bad, I also wasn't going to win any awards either. So, I guess that I decided to pursue drama in other areas of my life, and what I found is that drama in interiors has fewer consequences and produces fewer headaches than drama in other areas of one's life. We're talking guilt-free drama. Don't you agree?

Perhaps this explains my fascination with set decoration, especially that from the 1930s. One of my favorite sets is that of My Man Godfrey, a 1936 screwball comedy starring William Powell and Carole Lombard. We all know that on movie sets, everything has to be bigger and larger than life in order to register on film. There's drama in scale, color, and in the case of films from the 1930s and 40s, in quirky decorative details too. I think it's this pastiche that captivates me. I mean, on the one hand, it's a little tacky, but it's also charming in an exuberant and hopeful kind of way.

If I had the space, I would seriously consider decorating a few rooms in the spirit of my favorite 1930s movies. Sure people might think I had lost control of my mental faculties, but it would be fun. And more importantly, it would be a most proper venue in which to wear my satin bed jackets, something which recently amused a friend who was touring my house. Who knows, I might even graduate to marabou bed jackets soon à la Carole Lombard. Because you know, I just can't give up the drama.


Do you think this would be ridiculous to wear for lounging and sleeping?



My favorite era of kitchen design is the 1930s. How many kitchens have you seen with such glitz? I'm taken with that chrome trim on the walls.


A kitchen like this would not be complete with a charming butler, plenty of silver serving pieces, and a battalion of cocktail glasses.


Here is a better shot of that modernist handrail that was in the kitchen.



1930s sets were filled with decorative oddities like painted motifs that were stuck everywhere...on doors, screens, walls. Plaster reliefs were also popular- like this one that adorned a door. I think this beats your average paneled door any day.



Something else that fascinates me are 1930s bathrooms. Note the frosted glass shower door; it looks like it has an underwater theme to it. I think I see fish.



Fireplaces were always ripe for high drama. This baroque fantasy had that large circular mirror complete with that plaster figure on a bracket. It's so....theatrical.


A white klismos chair in the spirit of T.H. Robsjohn-Gibbings.


Calla lilies were huge during this decade; this arrangement has me rethinking them.


It might be a little difficult to see, but take a look at that register (or is it a radiator cover?) underneath the window. I think that something like this needs to be put back into production, although I know that the pat answer would be that it costs too much.


This diamond and circular trellis is quintessential Hollywood. It almost looks like a bird cage.

(All images from My Man Godfrey, Universal Pictures)

An Oscar Worthy Event

I write often about entertaining at home as I'm afraid more and more people are either forgetting to do it or are becoming indifferent to it. I've blogged about hosting small dinner parties on a school night, having people over for drinks, and entertaining guests at large cocktail parties. But what I haven't written so much about is hosting a charity event at one's home. It happens more often than you think. Say you're involved with an organization that appeals to you to host a dinner for said charity. What to do?

Danielle Rollins of Atlanta held just such an event at her home last fall. Danielle and her husband are actively involved in Children's Healthcare of Atlanta, so along with Neiman Marcus they decided to host a dinner in which CHOA was the beneficiary. And to make it even more special, Oscar de la Renta was a guest. Now let's stop here- imagine having Oscar to your home. Can you imagine? Would you panic? Freak out? If you answered "yes" and "yes", then you're not alone. Fortunately, Danielle is an accomplished hostess so she knew just what to do.

Knowing that Oscar was often the guest at glamorous events, Danielle wanted to keep it low-key and very "Georgia". Gardening is important to both Danielle and Oscar, so Danielle set up a long table for 60 people in the lower garden behind her lovely home. Ivory linen hemstitch tablecloths were sewn together to create one long cloth, and under this were custom made burlap cloths. Atlanta floral designer Michal Evans was responsible for the all white dahlia arrangements- so simple and yet so chic, while celebrated chef Anne Quatrano created a farm to table menu using only local ingredients for the event.

So on to the table. Neiman Marcus loaned Danielle the fall toned Herend plates, while she mixed her own sterling flatware with that of friends, a look that she prefers. The hostess' own iron candelabras stood prominently amongst borrowed William Yeoward crystal hurricanes and flower goblets. But truly, one of my favorite things about the table are Danielle's boxwood embroidered napkins with an "R". How gorgeous are they!

No post about entertaining and hostessing would be complete without mentioning that one must go with the flow at his or her parties. Danielle was all dressed for the event in a gray sequin Oscar shift when one of her guests arrived in the very same dress. Without skipping a beat, the hostess turned around, scooted up the stairs, and changed into a green Oscar dress...and she still had a marvelous time at her own party.

Image at top: The garden as it appeared before the guests arrived. Danielle's home is a Philip Shutze; if you think the exterior is pretty, then you need to see the interiors. You will want to move in ASAP!


Danielle with her guest Oscar de la Renta. This shot was obviously taken after the dress change.


The lovely table set with Herend china. Note the pretty place cards.


Danielle's iron candelabras set amongst the white dahlias and wheat grass.


Danielle's boxwood linens that I highly covet. How pretty would they look with a "B" on them?


Mixed flatware. I believe I spy Tiffany Hampton (my pattern as well), Chrysanthemum, and Shell and Thread.



As night fell. What an enchanted scene.

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.)

Black Steel

I normally wouldn't disclose any medical conditions on my blog, but I'm thinking I may have a hormone imbalance. Actually, I'm only kidding, but I have noticed a surge of testosterone in my design chemical makeup. It started with the aluminum blind thing and has now morphed itself into a current obsession with black and metal, two things typically associated with a masculine aesthetic. The estrogen seems to have taken a back seat.

So the black thing stems from a flashback that I had recently about a black galley kitchen that I saw back in the 1980s. It was in a suite at The Carlyle and it made a great impression on me, despite the fact that I was a preteen. I remember thinking "One day...". I have a dated kitchen that I'm thinking of tarting up (or perhaps I should say butching up) in black and more black- this despite the fact that Van Day Truex admonished anyone who dared decorate a kitchen in anything other than white. Black lacquer, black tile, black marble. It's all so aggressive. It's represents a strong point of view. It's confident. We need a shot of confidence, don't you think?

The fascination with metal came about when I was looking at Geoffrey Beene's Manhattan apartment. I really find all of that steel interesting. I can't say that I would encourage anyone to replicate this look exactly. But, if used with a light hand (a metal table, steel bookshelves, or even a steel clad wall), the cool metal could add a little swagger to a room.

And of course all of this talk about cocky design is timely as Oliver Stone's follow-up to Wall Street, Wall Street- Money Never Sleeps, is due to be released soon. Remember Charlie Sheen's slick kitchen replete with the de rigueur pasta maker? So very 1980s. In fact, does anyone remember if his kitchen was black??

It all comes full circle, doesn't it?

(Image at top: The bedroom of designer Michael Schaible c. 1985)

Black:


Melvin Dwork created this "winter" bedroom by using lacquered black/green walls. (OK, so not 100% black, but you get the idea.) Actually, I think very little about this room seems dated, despite the fact it was decorated over 20 years ago.


I'm still obsessing over this black kitchen from Lee Bailey's City Food cookbook. I know that you can't see the details, but I think this shot is evocative of that edgy drama so prevalent in interiors from 30 years ago.


Look past that shadow in the crease and you'll see a pretty fantastic room decorated by Joe D'Urso, a designer whose work just might make a modernist of me yet.

Metal:



Geoffrey Beene's Manhattan apartment was one big steel trap. I chose to show the one image that doesn't seem quite so dated. I love that industrial steel stair rail.


In small doses, metal doesn't seem quite so scary, especially if it's a drinks table like this one in this Jay Spectre designed home. Note too the steel cabinetry that houses a bar, audio equipment, and a TV. This brings up another point- remember when technology was sexy? When it played an aesthetically important role in a room? It just doesn't seem the same today.


In the same Spectre designed house. The dining room is thoroughly traditional except for that sleek dining table and steel and marble sideboard.


Aluminum panels decorate one wall in this home by Ron Wilson. There's something oddly intriguing about this room.

(Top photo: New York Interior Design, 1935-1985, Vol. 2: Masters of Modernism. Dwork photo: Manhattan Style; Beene photo courtesy of Celebrity Homes II: Architectural Digest presents the private worlds of thirty international personalities. D'Urso photo from The New York Times Book of Interior Design and Decoration. Spectre photos from Architectural Digest, September 1977, Jaime Ardiles-Arce photographer. Wilson photo from Architectural Digest, October 1977, Russell MacMasters photographer.)