Ten Hideous Things

Houzz had a funny and cute post, 10 Things People Really Don't Want in Their Homes.

Of course, I took I look around my home and found a few of the dreaded ten things. Sometimes these things cannot be avoided. You buy a house that has something you cannot afford to change. Or you rent a place where you are not allowed to make a change.

The dreaded recliner - photo from Houzz

I believe you can always work with what you have through the super powers of the decorator and the magical use of smoke and mirrors, the offensive can be made tolerable and sometimes even beautiful.

Guilty guilty guilty! Laminate floors came with the house - I actually don't hate them -They are the easiest thing to keep clean - Fabric on wall is meant to look like wallpaper - Fake flower cherry blossoms are mixed with real ones for the photo shoot  - photo by Sara Essex Bradley

I also believe that one woman's/man's ugly is another ones beauty. It's your home and it should be the way it makes you happy.

Now when it comes to clients, they may love fake plants or something that doesn't jibe with a designers vision or aesthetic. Our talent is to make it work, because we don't live there. Just stash the plant for the photo shoot.

Guilty, guilty, guilty! Fake flowers on nightstands, walls painted to look like wallpaper (by Mitchell Settoon), laminate floor, and does this rug qualify for carpet? What about the padded fabric covered wall behind the bed? Photo by Sara Essex Bradley which appears in Susana Salk's New book Decorate Fearlessly published by Rizzoli - Get that book!

Decorate Fearlessly by Susanna Salk - From Rizoli: "Featuring inspiring interiors from today’s top designers, Decorate Fearlessly shows us how to be bold and personal with our design choices, creating spaces that we love to live in. Decorate Fearlessly is both a photographic trove of fabulously designed homes—by such renowned designers as Mary McDonald, Ashley Hicks, Alex Papachristidis, and Jonathan Adler, among many others—and an inspirational how-to-decorate volume with spirit and verve."  I am one of the "many others" - There are two photos of my work in this book!

I went through some of my pictures to show you the offending things I have that Houzz says that people really don't want in their homes.

Guilty! My walls are not perfect enough to install wallpaper, and I can't afford the wallpaper I love, so I faked wallpaper in my office - photo by Sara Essex Bradley

Here's the real wallpaper done by designer Eric Cohler that appeared in House Beautiful

Guilty! My office, where I faked a Tricia Guild wallpaper - actually Mitchell Settoon painted the ombre wall for me - photo by Sara Essex Bradley

Tricia Guild wallpaper

Here's the list:
1. Carpet (I don't have it, I have area rugs on the dreaded laminate)
2. Laminate flooring (guilty!)
3. Taxidermy (don't have it now, but I have had it)
4. Vertical blinds (don't have them)
5. Fake flowers (guilty)
6. Wallpaper (guilty kind of) 
7. Too many knick-knacks (Duh. Define too many)
8. Fluorescent lighting (don't have it)
9. Recliners (don't have one but I have wrestled with having them in the past, trying to find a cute one)
10. Clowns (now that depends on whose coming over) 

Send in the clown - or is it an undercover decor police officer

Before the decor police come and fine me or take me off to rehab, fess up and tell us: Which of the 10 things people really don't want in their homes do you have?

Shopping Sources For Things In My New Office

I love my new office!!!! I re-purposed things I already had, but I did get a few new things too.

Platner style chair recovered in Rubelli silk damask brocade

I used this Rubelli brocaded damask called Granafei

I also used it for one of the three drapery panels - I had 3 remnant pieces of this fabric so 2 were turned with the pattern going sideways and sewn together to make one long panel - The third piece was used to recover the chair

The remnant I had was turned on it's side

Some of you asked about the Fornasetti TV nook.

Fornasetti TV nook

I used paper cut outs of Fornasetti plates to create "wallpaper". You can get some at Etsy!

Get these cool Fornasetti prints at Etsy and just cut out the circle and slap it on the wall with Modge Podge

Whilst on Etsy I found affordable Melamine Fornasetti plates!!! Perfect to hang on the wall, or use for dining. 

I love this Fornasetti Melamine plate I found on Etsy

You can also get Fornasetti wallpaper if your budget allows.

You can Fornasetti wallpaper HERE

Go to Houzz to get shopping links to everything I used to decorate my new office

My Guest Picks at Houzz have links to all the things I used for my new office. Go take a look.

Valorie Hart June 2013 Guest Picks at Houzz

Valorie Hart bohemian luxury office

If there's something you see that I didn't include, just leave a comment or drop me an email.

Over dyed cabbage rose pillow

AND, I have two extra over dyed pillow covers that I would love to give to one of you. If you love vintage, not perfect things, these are for you. Just leave a comment, and Cholo and Kitty Kitty Bang Bang will pick a winner.

I have two of these pillow covers to give away to you! Just leave a comment

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The Office

I have been on the fence for months about turning the guest room into my office. Well, I finally did it. It took about a month. Come on in!

Valorie Hart office - all photos by Sara Essex Bradley

Here's what the guest room looked for nearly seven years, with just the bedding and some accessories changing once in a while.

The guest room as it was for seven years

My inspiration for the new office was Tricia Guild. Like many of you, I have loved her work for years. I have always wanted to do something using her fabrics and wallpapers, so I decided to do it for myself, to do something that maybe a client would not embrace.

This image with a room designed by Tricia Guild was my inspiration for my office

Of course I am on a budget, so as much as I wanted to, I couldn't ring up Designers Guild and order fabric, wallpaper, and accessories. But I could make use of the signature gestures.

My office inspired by Tricia Guild

Key elements include:

• Ombre wall
• Bold color
• Three different drapery panels
• Mix of prints
• Mid century elements
• Classic antique elements 
• Flowers

My jumping off point was the wall and the fabric for the curtains. I asked Mitchell Settoon to paint the ombre wall, and chose three Sherwin Williams colors. They are Forward Fuchsia, Exuberant Pink, and Vivacious Pink. My other strong colors are turquoise and chartreuse.

I tried several different fabrics, before I realized I had some silk remnants stored away. There was enough to make one drapery panel and to recover a chair! I ended up just buying a couple of yards of sheer fabric from fabric.com for one of the panels, and used an old velvet panel I had made 13 years ago for our French Quarter apartment. The silk was the perfect color.

Tricia Guild likes to use the Platner chair, antique mirrors, and Saarinen tables - She reupholsters the Platner chair in her gorgeous mix of fabric

My Platner style chair - I chose to use a silk remnant and had Leonels reupholster it

The trick is to use a floral, a solid, and a sheer. Tricia uses rings on a simple rod, and I just used clip rings with the most humble brass rod that has rusted to perfection over the years in a storage closet. I keep things that I change out for others, and they always come in handy.

I kept the base wall color (Vamp Greige) and just refreshed it were it was needed. I removed drop cloth panels that were once behind the bed hiding a connecting door to the living room. My office is now opened up to pretty sight lines into the living room. I painted the back of the door with black chalkboard paint. I don't know if I will write on it, but I like the matte chalky finish of the paint, it suits old houses. Drop cloth draping remained on another wall, hiding a door that goes into the master bedroom. If you look at the new space, you will see elements from the old space re-purposed.

Drop cloth draping stayed on one wall - Chandelier was lowered over desk, and a second one that I had in my magic closet was added - I even found a dreaded cord cover in the closet and dyed it turquoise - I added shades found on the clearance at Steinmart for $1.95 each - The chartreuse over dyed rug is an eBay bargain

The settee moved from the living room into the office, and one of my favorite paintings worked perfectly - I used fabric samples that didn't make it for drapes and chair upholstery for new pillow covers - And I over dyed some faded floral pillow covers turquoise, that I had for over 20 years!

I over dyed the faded cabbage rose pillow cover

Another DIY project was painting a Chinoiserie desk that was upstairs in Alberto's office. I bought it for about $20. maybe 10 years ago. I used Sherwin Williams Blue Mosque. The top of the desk had some issues, so I just recovered it with turquoise faux leather. I added a pair of vintage brass lamps I got on eBay for 99 cents! Tricia Guild uses colorful damask prints in her designs, so I had a pair of damask lamp shades.

I painted my desk and added a faux leather top

Here's the Tricia Guild room again - I liked the ledge in the back with the antique  portraits of a lady and man - Mmmmm how could I do that?

This is a pic I took with my phone - I had a great painting by Louis St. Lewis in the living room, so I moved it into the office - I purchased an inexpensive console table that is handy for storing office supplies - The tole candelabra has been in the garden shed for a few years and I was so happy to be able to use it again

The console table became a ledge for the painting

There's a space across from the desk that is quirky. It's a kind of a large cubby below a row of built-in cabinets that go to the ceiling. I have always kept a cedar chest in this nook. It's a space I have often thought would be perfect for a TV. The problem - no power source. But Alberto to the rescue! He snaked around cable and power cords, and wall mounted the TV that was in the original guest room. I like to watch TV when I work.

I had these cut-outs of Fornasetti plates that have been stashed away for years. I love Fornasetti, but I never could find a place to feature that love. Some people think he is so 1980s, but I admire the way he reinterpreted classical images in a mod way. Anyway, I created "wallpaper" in the TV nook with my collection of paper "plates". I added a shelf below the TV for the cable box and used it as an opportunity to add black and white accessories. I also repainted the cedar chest.

The Fornasetti TV nook

There is a small useful closet next to the TV nook. I removed the closet door years ago and had a drop cloth curtain instead. For my new office, I dug out a Fornasetti inspired shower curtain (I had the same one when I was 18 in my first apartment!).  It was too short, so I hot glued a band of white patent leather to the bottom.

The curtain on the closet door

I could not rest easy not having a place for a guest to sleep. So I got a white faux leather sofa bed, tufted in the Knoll style. When someone comes to stay I will rearrange the room, opening up the sofa to a bed, and camp out elsewhere to work during their visit.

There's still a place for guests to sleep

So there you have it! I have had so much fun making a room for me!!! I have already had a couple of business meetings here and the space works really well. Stay tuned for product info that I am always happy to share.

Valorie Hart office

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Is It Your Forever House?

I remember my childhood as a series of moving house. My parents were renters, until they retired to a lakeside camp where they owned a home fashioned from combining a collection of odd outbuildings. I remember at least six homes we lived in. I went to a different high school for each of the four years until graduation.

As an adult I had several apartments in New York. I can think of seven of them, and four summer rentals before I bought (and since sold) a summer home. Since I left New York, I have lived in four different homes, the fourth being the present one.

I like to think that this present house is our forever house. But you never know. Of course Mother Nature could take it away (hurricanes). Perhaps hard times would force us to sell. But if nothing drastic happens, this could be our forever house. I often joke that if money were no object, I could own one last great house, maybe a center hall house, or a townhouse (with parking) in the French Quarter.

Recently I did a post about Julia Reed's house being for sale. It seemed like her forever house as she wrote so lovingly about it in her book The House on First Street.  Everyone asks me why she is selling, and really I don't know, and can only hope that is a decision she made in order to move onto something good.

Tricia Guild has been inspiring me lately

I have been on Tricia Guild visual journey for the past few weeks, exploring her body of work through images. In my research I see she is selling her vacation home in Tuscany, a house she has owned for over 20 years. It seemed like a forever house if ever there was one.

For sale in Tuscany - could it be your forever house?

Tricia Guild's living room in Tuscany

The house has gotten plenty of press

Blue bedroom in Tricia Guild's Tuscan home

Another blue bedroom

This photo was in an article about Tricia Guild's Tuscan home, but clearly it is not a room in that house

This is another gorgeous Tricia Guild room

Loving the ombre Tricia Guild did in this room

More press for the villa in a Greek decor magazine

A guest room in the the Tuscan villa of Tricia Guild

The dining room in Tricia Guild's Tuscan villa

A pretty pink sitting room in Tricia Guild's Tuscan Villa

The kitchen in the villa of Tricia Guild

Love the citron

After twenty something years Tricia Guild is leaving her Tuscan villa

For sale HERE

Is the concept of a forever house a thing of the past? There are starter homes. Then there are larger homes to accommodate a larger family. And then there's the senior downsizing. And maybe that can change too if good health goes out the window.

Here in New Orleans, generations of families live in the same house over the years. Kids grow up and move into their own homes, but mom and pops stay put, and the house is often a legacy that goes back to the kids who tend to keep the house in the family. Hurricane Katrina wiped out many of those forever homes.

A sweet townhouse in the French Quarter for sale HERE

So, do you live in your forever house?

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