Border Prints are Back

I received my April issue of House Beautiful yesterday. It's a really terrific issue, but then again, I'm a little biased! One article that especially caught my eye was the Fabrics column that featured border prints. Just last month, I attended a Travers event at Ainsworth-Noah where Erin Finn, Travers' Design Director, also mentioned that border prints are making a comeback.

Border prints can be found in an array of styles ranging from traditional florals to ethnic prints and even geometrics. (Take a look above at that jazzy pink octagonal print from Designers Guild. It certainly makes a statement.) But the real beauty of border print fabric is that it's like two prints for the price of one. Use the border along the leading edge of curtain panels and you can forgo any additional trim. Border prints work well on pillows, too.

Magnificent Baths by Massimo Listri

Review copies of upcoming Spring book releases are starting to arrive, and one that has caught my attention is Magnificent Baths: Private Indulgences from Baroque to Minimalist by Massimo Listri. (Rizzoli, 2012.) I've long been a fan of Listri's gorgeous interior photography, so it was a nice treat for me to see a book devoted solely to his photographs of baths. These aren't ordinary bathrooms, mind you, but ones that are, as the title says, magnificent. The kind of baths about which many of us can only dream.

While the book is comprised of a mix of traditional and contemporary baths, it's the old and old-looking baths that appeal to me most. Hyper contemporary bathrooms don't do a thing for me, but if you like them, you'll find those as well in this book. The book's text is minimal, but that doesn't detract from the book as it's really about the photos, and beautiful ones at that.

Take a look below at some of the baths that caught my eye. If you're a fan of Listri or if you simply love to look at photos of stunning baths, then you should consider adding this book to your library.




Photographer Massimo Listri's bath in Florence, Italy.




Sammezzano Castle, Regello, Italy.




Caserta Palace, Naples, Italy.





Château du Champ-de-Bataille, Normandy, France.




Castello di Scerpena, Manciano, Italy.




Royal Suite Bath at Florence's Four Seasons Hotel, designed by Pierre-Yves Rochon.




A bath in the London home of designer Anouska Hempel.




Casa Parodi-Amirfeiz, Genoa.


All photos from Magnificent Baths: Private Indulgences from Baroque to Minimalist by Massimo Listri; Massimo Listri, photographer; Rizzoli publishers, 2012. Photos used with express permission from the publisher.

The Flowers of Tiffany & Co.

Years ago, Tiffany & Co. used to have the loveliest floral print china. Tulip lovers and wildflower fans alike could find a pattern that struck their fancies. That must be a thing of the past because a recent search on their website yielded only one such pattern.

I admit that if I were allowed to have only one china pattern, it would not be floral. I would have to choose a Chinoiserie pattern. However, I do find floral patterns to be very charming. Can't you see using floral print dinner plates for a Spring or Summer dinner party or ladies lunch? What about serving dessert on a set of flowery dessert plates? A berry dessert would look lovely against the backdrop of delicate flowers.

I realize that to some, floral china looks old-fashioned. And in a way, it does, but that's the charm of it. I searched the internet high and low for photos of discontinued Tiffany & Co. floral china, and if you ask me, I don't think any of the patterns look old nor stodgy.




I've always loved Sybil Connolly's Mrs. Delany's Flowers for Tiffany & Co. The black background is a nice twist.






Tiffany Tulips




Fleurettes, Tiffany Private Stock





Wildflowers





Famille Noir





Tiffany Garden



Image at top: Tiffany's Biedermeier earthenware; photo from Tiffany Taste; the other two tabletop photos from New Tiffany Table Settings.

Big Style in a Small Space

Whenever a home of Richard Lambertson and John Truex is published in a magazine, the blogosphere goes wild and an inevitable flurry of blog posts ensues. It's no surprise, of course, as Lambertson and Truex always create very chic homes for themselves. I believe that had blogging been around in 1988, we might very well have been aflutter over this apartment of Richard Lambertson, published in the November 1988 issue of House & Garden. Lambertson, who at the time was the Creative Director at Geoffrey Beene, lived in a 350 square foot apartment. Because of the apartment's small size, furniture had to be multi-functional. A 19th century fainting sofa doubled as a guest bed, while a console table with a leaf became a dining table when needed. But I have to say that it was the leopard print carpet that caught my eye. I think it's the carpet that really made the space.

As you can imagine, most of the article's photos were detail shots as there weren't many potential room shots. Still, the article gives us a look at the well-edited and chic style of the budding handbag designer extraordinaire. And by the way, thanks to my friend Aida, I had the opportunity to meet Mr. Lambertson here in Atlanta, and he is as nice as he is chic!



In the living space, a sofa did double duty as a guest bed. An antique alligator suitcase resting on a tea tray served as a coffee table.



A Louis XVI chair in front of a portrait purchased at a flea market.




Lambertson used an Hermès scarf as a pillow cover which he had quilted.




French Directoire chairs against a wall.




A twig table held bibelots.


All images from House & Garden, November 1988, Michael Mundy photographer.

A Thing of the Past?

Last week, The New York Times Dining section had an interesting article on the venerable Philadelphia restaurant Le Bec-Fin and the retirement of its star chef Georges Perrier. For forty two years, Perrier, who some deem to be America's version of Paul Bocuse, has been responsible for making Le Bec-Fin one of this country's most esteemed restaurants. But what has not boded well for Le Bec-Fin nor Perrier is its formal, elegant atmosphere and its lauded menu of classic French cuisine. It seems that few people feel comfortable dining in a formal restaurant anymore, and that's truly a shame.

The article quotes a Philadelphia restaurant critic as saying that it's difficult to entice customers to dine in a restaurant that "looks like Louis XIV's boudoir." Dining room photos show a space that is exquisitely sumptuous, and who wouldn't want to get dressed up and dine in such a room, especially on special occasions? But the kicker, for me at least, was this statement that described the restaurant's stodgy ways: "Le Bec-Fin was still presenting butter under little silver domes." Well, what is wrong with that? I serve butter under a little silver dome at my dinner parties, and I don't consider that to be stuffy at all. It's an attractive and easy way to serve butter, and it obviously beats serving your "I Can't Believe It's Not Butter" from its plastic tub.

Unfortunately, fine dining is becoming something of a relic, and no where is that more true than in Atlanta. While I may not have many formal restaurants to support in my area, I can do my part by continuing to serve my butter from its silver domed dish.


Image at top: My Ercuis silver butter dish at the ready in my kitchen cabinet.



Christofle silverplated butter dish, designed by Andree Putman, available at Michael C. Fina.




Canard butter dish from Lauret Studio




Hammered silver butter dish from Orfevra




Buis Butter Dish by Ercuis




Ceramic and pewter butter dish by Match, available through Michael C. Fina.

A New Project from Christopher Leach

Back in 2010, I was wowed by a World of Interiors article (August, 2010) that featured the London apartment of designer Christopher Leach. The term "jewel box" is becoming overused when describing small apartments and homes, but Leach's flat really was like a jewel box, and a very elegantly appointed one at that. For the past few years, I've been hoping to find other magazine articles in which his work appears, and now my wait is over thanks to the March issue of British House & Garden.

This time, the featured project is a London townhouse decorated by Leach for his client, a Texan currently living in London. The client wanted "the feeling of a country house in London-English without the chintz." I think that Leach succeeded as the home has a strong British flavor to it, one that is masculine and dignified as well. But what really struck me is how the home's interior looks as though it was decorated over many years when in fact that's not the case. Somehow, Leach managed to design rooms that appear to have patina and age to them, and yet they're clean and crisp-looking too. That's a difficult balance to strike.

In a world where so many homes are "all hat and no cattle" (to borrow the old Texas phrase), it's nice to see a home that has both flair and substance.












All photos from British House & Garden, March 2012, Simon Brown photographer.

Let's Wing It

I absolutely love a classic wing chair, so much so that I have not one but two in my apartment. It would be nice, of course, to have them flanking a roaring fireplace, but alas this fantasy will have remain just that. My faux fireplace might be chic, but it's not very toasty.

The wing chair that has been on my mind over the past few weeks, though, is the one featured above, part of the Coup Studio Collection. (You can read my blog post about it here.) I love the eccentric shape of it, especially the wings that seem to flare back and that notched top. (Probably not the correct technical terms, but that's the way it looks to me.) Although this particular chair is new, its shape isn't. As I wasn't familiar with this style of wing chair, I consulted Barry Hutner of Parc Monceau Antiques. Barry informed me that this wing chair is William and Mary style with overscroll cresting and overscrolled arms.

It's not a wing chair that you see very often, something that made finding examples of it rather difficult. I was able to find two photos of a William and Mary wing chair in situ. (And honestly, I can't tell if the chair in the Castle Howard image is a William and Mary chair or not, but the shape does look similar.) In the photo immediately following the text, the bright red chair stole the show. At Castle Howard, well, not so much so, but the chair did have major competition from the room's architecture. Anyway, it's a chair that I personally would like to see more of. In fact, I'm even hoping that it supplants the now ubiquitous porters chair as the new "it" chair.




Now, who wouldn't want to cozy up to this chair? I believe that this chair might be the same reproduction piece as that below, only upholstered in a different fabric.



A 1950s reproduction wing chair upholstered in copper colored leather on the front with copper metallic chenille on the back. Available through Modlife.



A c. 1690 English Wing Chair, part of the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art



An antique wing chair of some type at Castle Howard.




Barry does not currently have any William and Mary style wing chairs in his inventory, but he does have these two wing chairs that I think are fetching. The leather one is an antique that he just purchased (gorgeous!) The other chair is part of Barry's custom furniture line. Based on a 19th c. English wing chair, this chair has such nice, clean lines, not to mention those terrific casters for feet. For information, email info@parcmonceau.com


Castle Howard photo from "The Great Houses and Finest Rooms of England" by Robert Harling; the photo of the red wing chair is from a 1970 issue House & Garden.

Mirror, Mirror on the Wall

Haven't you noticed that if there is something that really strikes your fancy, you find yourself using it throughout your entire house? For me, it's the color blue that makes appearances in every room in my home. For others, it might be Chinoiserie, porcelain vegetables, black and white photography, or...mirror. Yes, mirror.

My friend Jean loaned me her copy of The House and Garden Book of Classic Rooms last weekend, and while looking through the book I noticed several photos of the Paris apartment of designer Claude Vicario de la Iglesia. I like the apartment's high style look, but what really caught my eye was the designer's use of mirror throughout much of the apartment! (By the way, I think that exclamation point is warranted as it's not often that you see a home with this much mirror.) Even the bedroom was treated to it, though thankfully not on the ceiling.

I'm not sure what the explanation was for this copious use of mirror. The rooms seem spacious enough, so I don't think mirror was used to make the rooms appear larger. Then again, the rooms' perceived sizes might be the mirrors working their magic. I don't have an answer, but I do think it's interesting. See for yourself:




In the dining room/library, seen both above and at the top of the post, mirror lines the wall behind the sideboard as well as the wall that runs perpendicular to the bookshelves. Note too the mirrored panels on the doors.






The living room has all kinds of mirror, including a framed one over the fireplace as well as a mirrored wall along one side of the room. Even the door frame is surrounded by mirror.




Not to be denied, the bedroom too has mirrored walls both behind the bed and along the side wall, though that wall is curtained.

All photos from The House and Garden Book of Classic Rooms by Robert Harling.