Bright And Shiny Object Disease

Swarovski Crystal Bright And Shiny Object

I have been meaning to add Maison 21 to my list of Faves and Raves for awhile. How can you not love a blog written in the third person?
Visual Vamp is having her morning coffee, and wasting her precious morning looking at her favorite blogs when she should be watering her heat stricken garden. Among HER top seven is the ever amusing and informative man about town Maison 21.
The most amusing Maison 21 post entitled True Confessions made Visual Vamp laugh so robustly that she dribbled a little coffee on her hostess pajamas. Being one who plays nice and shares her toys, Visual Vamp generously gives you the link to Maison 21's confession HERE

Inside Outside Garden Chair

When I did event design, I was always covering things with moss. I covered huge spheres and set them out in the garden, and covered smaller ones and cones and used them as centerpieces.
I covered a purse, and added one gardenia, and used this for a fashion photo shoot about chic bridesmaids' bouquets (mine was an homage to Chanel).
I made moss ball topiary up the wazoo. I made moss animals. I made moss tablecloths and covered entire tables, legs and all. Moss was the anchor for my famous woodland fantasy tablescapes foisted onto nature starved New Yorkers for a hefty price. I even covered chargers used as under plates with the stuff, and of course votive candle holders and boxes and vessels and pots and urns and pedestals and columns.
I stuffed it into everything too. I liked to tie three taper candles together and stuff them into a moss filled aged French terracotta flower pot, and use them along with table centerpieces. I did this for a wedding in the Rainbow Room in Rockefeller Center, and when the waiters lit the candles, somehow a few small fires ignited.
I also covered stuff with galax leaves.
What can I tell you? This was considered clever design irony in its day (and people ate expensive food off those mossy tables). It was the innocent mossy 1980's and 1990's.
I was also the first designer in New York City to use a flat of wheat grass as a "flower arrangement" in a fancy Park Avenue setting. I called it the urban lawn, perfect for any size apartment. It had its debut at The Kips Bay Decorator Showhouse (if I can dig up a photo in a musty scrapbook, I'll scan it for you later). I was mocked by my peers; I believe the words Green Acres, Hooterville, and Zsa Zsa's sister were used...
So when I saw this chair at Casa Sugar I had a chuckle and an urge to go out and get a case of the stuff, and cover one of my ratty cast off chairs.

If you want to do this:

• Cover the chair with wet newspaper
  
• Wrap and form chicken wire around the chair
• Stuff damp moss into chicken wire
• Give it a spritz of water daily and it should last a couple of months
• Wear shoulder pads and Norma Kamali when you spritz it
  

What Have You Been Up To Carla Coulson?

I recently wrote a note to Carla Coulson the photographer who took the photos for Vicki Archer's "My French Life" HERE. Carla's photos and Vicki's story are a perfect blend, and one could not be as beautiful as they are without the other.

I believe Carla is Australian (as is Vicki Archer). She has a beautiful web site HERE and a blog too - take a look HERE! She has her own book too, "Italian Joy", which you can get HERE

"Be swept away by Carla Coulson's luscious life in Italy. A visual delight that takes you into the heart of Italian life and culture. One can almost smell the delicious Italian coffee, hear the sounds of the warm, beautiful Italian voices echoing through the streets and delight in the vivid colours at the fresh food markets. Embrace the beauty of Italy through "Italian Joy". Carla really captures the heart of Italy through her beautiful photos and text. Go on a journey through this gorgeous country, meet the people and discover the heart of Italy".
(Amazon review)



Carla replied to my letter with the following:

Dear Valorie, Many thanks for contacting me regarding your blog. I had a look, it's fantastic and you did an incredible piece on My French Life. Thanks for that.I will send you a couple of separate email with images, some from Italian Joy, some fashion I do with Italian magazines and some photos I like. Take your pick.I have been living in Paris now for about three years working for Australian, Italian and English Magazines. I have managed to squeeze in shooting My French Life and my latest book on Paris that will be released in October this year called Paris Tango. It is a collection of images of contemporary Paris and there are photographs and interviews with Parisians about Haute Couture, Moulin Rouge, The Marais, Photography, Gardens, dogs and more....I would be pleased to answer any questions you have and you can have a look ato my blog, that might give you an idea of what I have been up to lately.
Best of luck and I look forward to hearing from you, Carla


Thanks for writing Carla, and thanks for sharing your wonderful work with all of us! I can hardly wait for your new book "Paris Tango"!!!

Fashion photo by Carla Coulson

Photo taken in Italy by Carla Coulson

Positano by Carla Coulson

Paris: Hotel Ritz from "My French Life"

Fashion photo by Carla Coulson

Beautiful Bloggers, More Faces Behind The Blogs You And I Love

Though she's not a blogger, she's one of ours:
Deborah Needleman editor of Domino Magazine

Philip from The Perfect Red

Elaine from Decorno

Megan (and the hubs) from Beach Bungalow8

Jennifer from The Peak of Chic

Courtney from Style Court

Grace from Design Sponge

Congratulations To My Marrakech

Many people ask me why do I blog? What do I get out of it?
When I try to explain that in many ways blogging saved me, the essence of me from vanishing, eyes roll and glaze over.
I enjoy writing, and with letter writing reduced to disposable e-mail, blogging seemed like a good place to bang the keys and tell a story about the many things and people I love.
But the non blogger always asks why I spend so much time doing "it" when I don't get paid, like they always want to know what's in it for me?
Friendships for one. As we grow into adulthood, and possibly become mobile moving away from roots and old friends, it gets harder to make new friends. Petunia Face (a brilliant writer and blogger) wrote about this HERE. She talked about seeing a cool looking woman at Starbucks, someone that she was certain she could be friends with. But what do you do (she asked), send over a folded note with check the box YES if you'd like to be my friend or NO if you wouldn't. In this huge world of the inter net, the community of bloginistas is kind of cozy and all connecting. One good blog leads you to another. And blog girls and guys really do take time to read their e-mail and comments, and they do get back to you. Some of them really become friends. I'm actually going to have lunch with a blog friend tomorrow, and I can't wait!
Experts say that we will live longer and happier lives if we surround ourselves with friends and family, and do something that interests us, some work that keeps us going. Blogging is a great life line.
Anyhoo, I have found my way to My Marrakech, a really beautiful blog, well written, interesting, all the things you hope your own blog is.


And guess what? Maryam from My Marrakech got a book deal because of her wonderful work and writing on her blog! Congratulations to her!!! You can read about it HERE, and check out her lovely blog.
We all would like to make a little money and gain a little fame from the labor of love and fruits of that labor that is our blog, and I think if you do something you really love, success comes to you.
Maryam says: "As for the blogging girl's book-to-be -- part memoir and part Moroccan design treatise -- she would do her very best to make sure it was accessible (i.e. no hoity-toity-ness) and packed with plenty of inspiration. The book would not be a reprint of what was in this blog. Oh, no, no, no. It would go in a different (and super fun) direction and be filled with many special, beauty-saturated surprises....
The book would be all shiny and ready in 2009. Between now and then, the blogging girl would be rolling up her sleeves and getting to work. But you would still see her on this blog as always:)
Today's pinch-me-but-it's-true tale will end with flowers - roses picked from the garden and offered with thanks from me to you. Thank you for your friendship and support on this little blog -- you are my inspiration for this book-to-be. Many thanks also are due to Artisan's lovely Ingrid Abramovitch and Ann Bramson for showing me that the universe is an enchanted place where magical things can happen - and do - each and every day".

Again heartfelt congratulations to Maryam - I will be looking forward to seeing your book out in 2009!

Will The Sets From Sex And The City Influence Your Home Decor?

This is a terrific view of Carrie's entire living room -
The two cute matching settees and wood arm chair,
don't seem too cozy - once again her closet and bedroom
are comfort zones, while the public space of the
living room seems like a space to pass through, a sitting room
for the bedroom in the the style of a hotel suite

It's been a few weeks since the release of the movie Sex And The City. It seems like years.
Along with the plot line, the eye candy fashion, and the locations, the set decor got alot of buzz too HERE. Every once in awhile a set design and decor from a movie strikes a chord so deeply that it becomes a trend for off screen homes that we mere mortals inhabit. The most recent movie set that still resonates is the famous Hamptons house in Somethings Gotta Give.
Carrie's new apartment near the end of Sex And The City also struck a nerve. Her TV apartment was known and beloved, but not everyone was rushing out to find out what paint color the walls were (pale blue). There's a knockoff of the coffee table called The Bradshaw that you can get from Room & Board in San Francisco, or from their web site HERE
I doubt that The Bradshaw it will become a decor icon. I rather think the deco style mirrored vanity in the new Carrie bedroom would stand a better chance. The interiors Jeremy Conway and Lydia Marks created for the movie will no doubt play a role in purchases at paint and housewares stores.
"Based on the amount of inquiries I have had just in one week," Marks said soon after the movie's release, "I would say that this film is already affecting design trends."
According to Marks, some of the most asked about items include:

Carrie's mirrored vanity (a vintage piece from Alan Moss in New York,www.alanmossny.com)

her new paint color (custom, but similar to Benjamin Moore's "Electric Blue" No. 2061-40, www.benjaminmoore.com)

the LOVE wall hanging in Carrie's foyer (Paul Smith for the Rug Company, www.therugcompany.info)

and Charlotte's bed linens (Anichini, www.anichini.com)

Only time will tell if this set design creates the same kind of lasting longing that SGG did.
If you'd like to read a really terrific blog about decor in the movies go to Linda Merril's Silver Screen Surroundings HERE
My wonderful friend Sabina also sent me an article from the San Francisco Chronicle HERE

Beach House Accents You Can Afford

Joni Webb from Cote de Texas has been doing some mighty fine posting about beach houses HERE
She featured the work of Sally Wheat, including a house on the Texas Gulf on the Bolivar Peninsula. One of the many elements that caught my eye was this refreshing take on the sunburst mirror, done in weathered wood.The other day I got the Fall issue of the Pottery Barn catalog. I have a push-pull, love-hate relationship with my feelings towards Pottery Barn. On one hand I rant when people recreate the PB model room look. I also cannot afford many of the things, which makes me bitter. When PB prices are put in the perspective of a designer/decorator buying ready-to-wear, off-the-rack design elements for a client, the prices seem very reasonable for things that are decently made. I know many designers who "plug-in" with Pottery Barn merchandise when a client is on a realistic budget, and they do so with great effect. The trick is to pick and choose, and not copy the store display or catalog photo. Duh.
So I had a chuckle when I saw this wood sunburst mirror (only $199.!) in the current Fall catalog, very much in the vein of the one Sally Wheat used. It is amazing how PB picks trends. The driftwood lamps are also very interesting ($299. table lamp, $799. floor lamp - kind of pricey when a lamp costs as much as an average priced couch).
Joni also did a brilliant piece on the set design of the Hamptons beach house in the movie Somethings Gotta Give HERE
The decor in this movie has created design trends that are still being requested today by clients of interior designers and decorators, as well as being attempted by the DYI home talent out there.
Many things have become iconic: including the flat weave cotton blue and white stripe rug.
Again, Pottery Barn has the first rug of this type at a very good price point. The stripes are the correct width awning stripe, though the pattern is staggered. Staggered stripe dhurrie rugs are authentic, though not used in the SGG rooms. The PB rugs are not blue and white; the other color choice (black, orange, cherry red, or green) would allow you do an inspired-by room, instead of a knock-off. Prices range from $29. to $179., an incredible deal for so much style and PB quality. Also notice many other SGG type accents Pottery Barn has: black finishes, pendant lights, slipcovers, baskets, etc.
This is another photo from the current PB Fall catalog. It is so painterly looking. It jumps off the page! I thought I was looking at a Fifi Flowers painting, or one by PVE or Anne Harwell. It has nothing to do with anything, other than I liked it.

My Non French Life

While so many of you are going to the beach, or travelling elsewhere for your Summer vacation, we are staying at home. We travel most of the year for our work as traveling tango teachers, and though it's not exactly a vacation, it certainly fulfills the travel quota for wanderlust. We also live in a warm place, where Summer comes early and stays long, which kind of dulls the urge to run off somewhere else warm.
Ever since childhood, my vacation consisted of reading good books. Summer vacation, when school was out, was my favorite time of year to go to the library, choose my books, and then curl up inside or outside and read the Summer away.

"My French Life" by Vicki Archer (and photographs by Carla Coulson) was the darling book of all the girly lifestyle and decor bloggers last Summer. I picked it up again, and read it again, and really enjoyed it again. It's part coffee table book and part story telling book. I love the feel of it - when you remove the dust jacket you see a reproduction of an old quilt, and the book cover and back is actually quilted, and feels soft and squishy. It's a nice little detail.
Vicki Archer and her family are Australian, but now live full time in France and England (London). She is a traveler, and along the way she found her dream French farm house, and convinced her family to buy it and fix it up. Of course it was a ruin, and of course she found all the perfect work men and women to help her make it the picture of charm and perfection she shares with us in the book.
The stories are charming and the photos are pretty. Vicky takes us from Paris to the French country side. She shares her shopping haunts, as she looks for furnishings for her home.
She shares her family's love for the French lifestyle, very much involved with enjoying nature, enjoying food and markets, enjoying small town and big city life, and most of all enjoying each other.
I have been to France a few times, and I love Paris, and I love the French - they truly put style into life in every way. It is every girl's dream to own a farm house like Vicki's. While it may not become a reality for most of us, it is so pleasant to look through the pages of this book, into the perfect French farm house lifestyle as realized by ex-pats who can afford it.

Lavender and olive trees on the property
How perfect!

Window boxes in Paris
I know exactly where this is!

One of my favorite stories has to do with Vicki and her Hermes bag (purse) going through security at the Paris airport. Like many non native speakers, she gets flustered with the language when she's under pressure. A stern looking security guard demanded to know whose bag (the Hermes) was coming down the conveyor belt, and at first Vicki didn't understand, and when she did, she felt panic, as if she had done something wrong. The guard ended up flashing a smile, and complimenting her on her beautiful Hermes bag. You have to love a man who loves a Kelly Birkin!
So, here I am, an arm chair traveller this Summer. Plane tickets cost too much. On time flights vanish as Summer thunderstorms erupt. Gas for the car costs too much. Food costs too much.
So we hunker down in our pretty New Orleans house, and I cook my favorite French woman's lunches, and if it's nice I'll set a pretty table outside in the yard, and we'll sip an aperitif of Kir or Lillet, and toast the wonderful Summer.
I've posted alot of photos from the book for you. You can also go to Vicki's web site www.vickiarcher.com There's not much there, just a few photos from the book, but it's still worth looking at. I wish she had a blog! If you don't have this book, treat yourself and get it HERE

The dining room....

...where meals are shared and savored.

Vicki's living room - stone floors, stone mantle,
perfect comfort and symmetry

I Am Not Stalking Petunia Face, But I Just Had To Borrow This From Her And Post It For All Of You

First of all if you don't know who Petunia Face is, run, don't walk to her brilliant blog HERE
I borrowed this from her blog - click HERE to read the fine print...and let's please get out the hot tranny mess vote!

Domino Magazine August 2008: An Issue To Make You Horny

I feel like writing one of those "Dear Domino" letters, but it's been done to death, and I don't think they care that much. The current issue, August 2008, is a snooze bordering on crap. This issue is almost as bad as their "green" issue published earlier this past Spring. I had to check what the magazine is about, and it says right on the cover it's "The Guide To Living With Style".
I don't buy magazines that have food or hardware in them, like Dwell, or Better Homes and Gardens, or Real Simple, or even Martha Stewart Living. I like decor, and I want to see it, lots of it. I think most Domino readers feel this way too. Domino dedicated two huge features to food this month, one about fish tacos (4 pages), and one on ripe tomatoes (6 pages). Then there was a page about projectors. And a few pages about organizing the garage. Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz. And one called "Down To Earth Glamour" which had no glam, and an ugly earth brown couch for sure. And the cover confuses me. I don't know who the girl is. I read the cover credits, and it gives the name of the photographer, the stylist, the hair and make-up, but not the location or who the girl is. And there is never an inside story about the cover shot. This issue was dedicated to doing things with "high style on a real-life budget", I suppose to mirror the current economy. I prefer a fake life budget. There was ONE high style feature, but it was just one small photo on one measly page (the $2,018 Hollywood Regency living room overhaul). Also a pretty pale pastel "neo Southern belle" spread was nice enough, but not spectacular. And the $250. Ikea wood four poster bed was served up at least three or four ways, hardly a news flash since it's been in the stores and catalog for some time now. Uh, Domino, I thought you knew that your readers are design savvy shoppers.
But the worst is five pages with pictures of animal horns being used as an accessory. I personally do not have anything against said item per say, but five pages of the things is really cruddy editing. And animal horns seem to be a trend past its prime.
I have been so out of the loop, I didn't even sit by the mailbox this month waiting for Domino. I guess I got used to getting my subscription after it's already in the stores. So it was a pleasant surprise, and I really looked forward to savoring the new issue. I hunkered down on the couch with an adult beverage, and started to read and browse. I felt a tingle of disappointment, but thought, nah, I'm just not focusing. Pay attention. Read it again. Look at it more slowly. Actually read the words. I did this several times, hovering in an uncomfortable state of denial, and felt numb with disappointment. What is happening here?
There is an article called "A Godfather Of Design" in which the designer David Netto says "...magazines chronicling every flash-in-the-pan decorator before the paint dries on their first projects..."
Was the entire Domino staff out for Summer vacation, leaving this issue to be produced by the temp help? Or has the paint not only dried, but dried up?
Dearest Domino, you may be one of the last decor magazines standing, but that doesn't mean you won't disappear before you're ready to go.

Thom Filicia's horny lake house

Alice Turner's horny kitchen

More horny hot mess at Thom's - two photos!

Alice's wall o' horns

And just one more set of horns in Alice's living room
You go girl!