Rushed

You know how it is...Rushed and still wanting to post.
Flipped through the current Lonny with my coffee, and chose a few great ideas.

Mod-Trad Christmas

The New York apartment of Eddie Ross and Jaithan Kocher - It's nice to see an article by them since they have been too busy to blog on a regular basis

V is for Vamp! At least in my mind's eye ha ha

A Union Jack ceiling!!!

A desk under a desk! Kind of genius layering

Books over a door frame - Great idea even if you live in a larger space than this nifty studio apartment

Painted parquet floor in black - LOVE it in theory, but I know it will need constant cleaning

 Working on a mo' better best for you to post in a day or two...

 

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Hip Hip Hurray! Hip Hip Hurray! Hip Hip Hurray!

The Queen's Jubilee looks so awesome and like so much fun! Wish it was on TV here in the USA! Anyone out there blogging on it? Send me the link!

Angelika Wagner from Ohio, United States, sits on the Mall while waiting for the start of a pop music concert at Buckingham Palace to help celebrate Britain's Queen Elizabeth II's 60-year reign during Diamond Jubilee celebrations in London, Monday, June 4, 2012. (AP Photo/Tim Hales)

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Shop Keepers Homes - Maria and Simon Hardeveld - Antiques On Jackson

A beloved couple owns a shop beloved by many here in New Orleans called Antiques on Jackson.
Their home is featured in the January issue of Our Louisiana Magazine. Unfortunately the magazine web site doesn't have the article or any photos up, so I pulled some from another story about them done in CUE Magazine some time ago.

The home of Maria and Simon Hardeveld owners of Antiques on Jackson in the January 2012 issue of Our Louisiana

If you see the current issue of Our Louisiana pick it up so you can see the most current gorgeous shots of Maria and Simon's amazing home. I never get tired of seeing a home I love shown again either on blogs, in another magazine, or in books. Too many editors don't understand that decor devotees in fact like to look at things they love over and over again. Every photographer, writer, and stylist puts a new spin on things even if they have been shot before. And every home owner is always tweaking and revising and revamping their rooms because that's what they love to do, so you always can see something changed, added, or subtracted. The personal evolution of a home owner who does decor and design is ever fascinating. And the body of work of a designer is there to be enjoyed over and over again, in as many outlets as possible.

The home of Maria and Simon Hardeveld in CUE Magazine - all photos by Theresa Cassagne, story by Lee Cutrone

I think we need to let editors know this! They need to update their thinking and policies to reflect the age of the internet and social media where the flow and sharing of information is forever changed. Images will be repeated, especially the ones that strike a chord. No one seems to mind when the same fashion or celebrity photos constantly reappear. The idea of the exclusive is powerful, but becoming less realistic with the free flow of information.
So Bravo! Our Lousiana for doing another story on the Hardeveld's fabulous home.

Still life in the Hardeveld's home - They personify Patina Style!!!

For designers and decorators, creating a body of work takes time. Rooms and houses are months long projects segueing into years.  Waiting to have something new to present to editors is difficult. I think some leeway can be given to designers allowing them to share the same project with multiple outlets. There are levels on exposure: local publications and blogs all the way up to national magazines and books, and also television and You Tube exposure. Except for the media and decor mavens the general public does not focus on when they last saw something. Eye candy is disposable. For the mavens, repeating things with another point of view is welcome.

More great objet at the Hardevelds

What do you say? 

The master bedroom -  "We buy things that have their original finishes and surfaces," says Maria, a native New Orleanian whose love for antiques was instilled by relatives who emigrated to New Orleans from Italy.

Go to Antiques on Jackson to get some of the great Hardeveld style

Maria and Simon - He is an artist who creates iconic New Orleans signs - A native of Chamonix, France and former chef, Simon shares his wife's affinity for antique, distressed and hand-hewn wares, taking satisfaction in their daily use.

Alberto and I purchased a sign from Simon for our tango dance studio back in 2001 - It now hangs in our home studio where we teach private tango lessons - I  think it looks fab with the Union Jack armoire Alberto painted for me - photo Valorie Hart

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Warm and Cozy With Brown Velvet

This is the front door to our house
The Union Jack armoire is our coat closet
This room is our dance studio

I had another old ratty vintage chair reupholstered. I bought it for $20. eleven years ago, and it was in such good shape, it stayed the way I found it, gold velvet with brown wood arms and legs.
The chair has good classic lines, so I decided I would re-up it.

Leonels has done all the upholstery in our home, and we use them at perch. the high end home furnishings shop I work in. They are simply the best for workmanship, and they are fair with pricing.

Leonels is the upholsterer to Visual Vamp
View from the living room into the dance studio

I meant the chair for the dance studio, placed by a window, a nice spot to just sit and gaze, or an handy place to change into dance shoes, or sit and teach from the chair ha ha.

Uh, no. Too "Mr. and Mrs."
So I broke up the romance, & moved Mrs. Brown Velvet Chair

But I got seduced by the "newness" and moved the chair into the living room. It didn't quite fit, and paired with the lime green wing chair, it looked a little too much like "Mr. and Mrs. Chair", too granny even for this granny.

Mrs. Brown Velvet does a tango in the dance studio

So Back to the dance studio it went.

I painted the arms and legs of the chair white, and distressed the paint a bit. The new fabric is brown velvet, purchased from Fabric.com. The old chair had nail heads, but for the new version I chose self-piping. I have nail heads on the couch and French settee, and my breakfast room chairs, and just thought, "enough with the nail heads already."

A place to gaze or change into dance shoes

Then I moved it back to the living room, and moved it this way and that way. Fuss and fidget, fuss and fidget. Oh the silly restless illness of a decor addict. Don't judge/laugh. I know you do the same thing.

I moved the chair this way...

Then I moved the chair that way...

And then I finally moved it back to the studio where I wanted it to be in the first damn place! So now the chairs are all at rest for the moment, cozy on this winter day.

Striped doors in the dance studio adjoin the living room

Visual Vamp living room February 2011
Cozy - Do you see Cholo?

I have some exciting news. The Preservation Resource Center invited Alberto and I to be on the first Shotgun House Tour since Hurricane Katrina. We are so honored and excited. It's Saturday April 2 in case you are in New Orleans.

I needed to snap some photos, and I got a new camera from Alberto for Christmas, so I am experimenting with settings and exposures. I always shoot with natural light which is tricky, since even though our house doesn't feel gloomy, it's not exactly flooded with light.

So these photos are part of the learning curve, and since I had them I thought I'd share them, in hopes to give you something to look at during the MONSTER STORM OF THE CENTURY!

Visual Vamp living room looking into the dance studio - 2011

PS Thank you all for the great response to my project with the apricot silk drapes. Next week I will show you another room....

British Invasion! Fab!

The British Invasion happened back in the 1960's with rock groups "invading" the USA, including the most famous Beatles. It also launched a whole fashion style and decor trend. Everybody wanted to wear Mary Quant and Biba, and have a piece of pop art kicky plastic furniture in their home.

Emily Henderson styles a British Invasion living room

Emily Henderson, star of HGTV's Secrets From A Stylist, recently showed a living room she decorated in a style she called "British Invasion". The low slung modern couch, and kicky fabrics, and sleek metal trunk were her gestalt touchstones. Not one Union Jack in the room. Emily is too cool for school to use that in a room called British Invasion style.

Pink Union Jack rug via Design Blahg HERE

Vivienne Westwood rug hung on the wall as art

The Union Jack has had a tremendous revival as a decor object. Somehow it just adds a little cool factor. I don't think any flag except perhaps the Jasper Johns series of the USA flag has such panache in the decor world.

Chaise lounge upholstered in a Union Jack fabric

The Union Jack is used as upholstery, and on rugs, and on painted furniture.

Union Jack rug

Dresser painted with the Union Jack at Decor Demon HERE

Appliances even get covered with it.

Visual Vamp kitchen with Union Jack dishwasher

I like it as a graphic image, although I think you can only have one thing in a room using it, or perhaps only one thing in the entire house.

Union Jack even looks fab with pink!

My friend Sabina recently passed onto me a deco style armoire. She just moved to a new home, and had no room for this piece. We might have trashed it, but I just can't seem to abandon any old piece of furniture with some life left in it.

Old armorie - before

At first I thought of just giving it to the local thrift shop, but then I thought: British Invasion!
What a perfect piece to paint the Union Jack on! Not that I needed another project ha ha, but what the hell.

Primed and taped

I found an image on the internet of a refrigerator covered with the Union Jack, which was perfect, since this humble little closet resembles the shape of a refrigerator.

Many more hours were spent taping and painting

I primed it first, then taped off the stripes, and the Jack started to emerge. Alberto helped out alot, fascinated by my project. The red is called Spanish Red, and the blue is Old Navy, and both are by Benjamin Moore, and the white is some Kilz white cabinet paint we have around due to the kitchen project.

The Union Jack armoire - styled for a child's room

It turned out so cute! I never meant to keep it. I think it would be so perfect in a child's room, so I am going to put it on Craigslist at a very good price.

So what do you think of the British Invasion in decorating? Do you have any pieces in your home?

Cheerio!