Specimens And Vignettes At Ruby Beets

The Vamp Valorie Hart, with The Hipster Honey Wolters

- I have a ton of pictures from my birthday trip to New York this past July in a folder labelled "Photos To Be Processed." Amongst them are a zillion vignettes from my friends' store in Sag Harbor, New York, a little place called Ruby Beets.

I have known the owners Honey Wolters and Sharone Einhorn from our glory days in Soho (which took place many years ago). We were all associated with the restaurant The Soho Charcuterie in one way or the other.

Through the doors of that restaurant passed some people who worked there, or hung out there, who have become notables: Gina Davis (then only a model & wife of one of the waiters Richie Emilo), Ellen Barkin (actress & a waitress up the street at The Spring Street Bar), Max Blagg (poet & a bartender at Raul's who hung out with the Charcuterie staff), Jim Farmer (composer & Max's sidekick then), Annie Philbin (museum curator & wait staff at the Charc), Gretchen (beuatiful Valkyrie bartender & muscian), Jerri Bokeno (singer with Phil Spector & wait staff), Suzanne White (producer & bookkeeper and bartender), Elizabeth Streb (dancer & hung out with us), Nancy Alfaro (wait staff & dancer), Philip Maberry and Scott Walker (artists & hung out with us), Susan Salinger (wait staff & photographer), another Susan (wait staff and protege of Lou Reed), Robert Maplethorpe (photographer - hung out with us) Pat Iuto (fashion maven - hung out with us) and her husband Michael Schatz, Bruce Cliborne (chef), Jude Bartlett (wait staff & dancer), Brenda Norton (wait staff and singer in Loup Garou), Laura Zarubin (food maven who hung out with us), Anne Wright (chef & daughter of Russel Wright), and of course Sharone and Honey, and many more wonderful artistic souls whose names I can't remember.
The celebrity clientele was monster: Richard Gere, Susan Sarandon, Tommy Tune, Twiggy, Joni Mitchell, Meryl Steep, Warren Beatty, Julie Christie, Bette Midler, Dolly Parton, the rock group The Police, Adam Ant, Mary Boone, Julian Schnabel, David Brenner, Rod Stewart, Barry Bostwick, Betsey Johnson, and many more I am sure I have forgotten. Paul Prudhomme cooked there one night to launch his first cook book.
The Soho Charcuterie owned by Francine Scherer and Madeleine Poley was one of those magical places at a magical time in my history.

Sharone and Honey were the coolest chicks. Sharone looked like a rock star. She was rail thin, and always looked totally right. Her demeanor was sardonic and mysterious. She was totally rockin' and hot. I worshiped her. Honey was a glam hipster, and always laid back, always had this Mona Lisa smile, this killer body, a sensual creature with wit and a tell-it-like-is attitude. Both of them had tremendous style. They set trends in fashion, and how they lived.

Honey worked in a place in Soho called Craft Caravan, an importer of textiles and amber and all kinds of ethnic stuff from Africa, and other exotic places. She also did a stint at a jewelry store called Art Wear on West Broadway. She knew about objects like no one I had ever met.

Years went by and the Soho Charcuterie closed its doors. I worked there for six fabulous years. It launched my rock and roll career, and also my event design business. After it closed we all dispersed, kind like we graduated from this funky crazy school of booze, good food, drugs, sex, and roll.

Look at the cash box! It's the little vintage mini box. And I spy our card on the desk!

I met up with them again when I started working in the Hamptons a couple od years later. They had opened a store in this 11 room farm house in Bridgehampton called Ruby Beets. And these cool New Yorkers had left the city and were living in the Hamptons too! If I have to name one of the biggest influences that formed me as a decorator, I have to say it was Honey and Sharone and what they did at the original Ruby Beets.

I would love to own this painting!

Each room was lovingly decorated, and it used to kill them when people actually bought stuff, disturbing their perfect encapsulations. And boy did the people buy! Whole rooms could be wiped out by Donna Karen and her friend Babs. In fact Honey and Sharone got me a job doing the weekly house flowers for Donna Karan.

White paint was slapped on alot of stuff back then. And this is the first store I saw (and bought) taxidermy from to use as decoration. Those girls love specimen collecting. I really think Ruby Beets invented what we call shabby chic now. I still own at least four pieces of furniture I bought way back then, and I still love them and use them.

It was such a hassle when they sold out of merchandise. Of course they wanted and needed to make money, but in those days they rented a huge truck, and drove hundreds of miles picking antiques and vintage stuff for the store. The shopped, loaded the truck, drove it back to Bridgehampton, unloaded the truck, painted and repaired the stuff, arranged the store, and BAM! it would all be sold in a weekend, and they'd be on the road again.

Stacked stone lamp base!

Honey had two young boys then, so it was hard running the business and being a single mom. Now those boys are grown. Sharone has kids now too.

A still life waiting to happen

So this past summer it was a sweet reunion. I had not been to the Hamptons in over 10 0r 12 years.


Yet when I walked into the store Honey acted like I had been out just for a few minutes.

Conversation picked up where we left off. Sharone called to say hi to me on the phone.

I need to get a couple of these waste baskets!

The new store was a marvel to me. Even with working in retail now myself at the most stylish shop in New Orleans, I was still disarmed and charmed by the things at Ruby Beets.

I couldn't stop taking photos. And Honey filled me in on every object I was attracted to.

Shades of Fornasetti!

She offered to share their sources with perch. in New Orleans, something so generous, and very much appreciated for sure.

This new Ruby Beets is tiny in comparison to the old 11 room house. Somehow it's assembled like the perfect puzzle and treasure trove.

The girls still like old things, and specimens, but they also have contemporary furniture and textiles made just for the store.

This wooden model of a whale is spectacular!

They have added modern accessories too, keeping in step with how we all decorate now with that required mix of vintage, antique, and contemporary.

Ruby Beets was always a legend, and even more so when the girls closed the old place, and took a break for five years. Everyone talked about the great stuff they got from Ruby Beets, and missed it being out on the Montauk Highway.

So now open again for a couple of years, the new Ruby Beets is a media darling, and I am so happy for them. The internet hastens every one's fame these days.

I hope you enjoy all these photos I took. I think it's the largest collection of photos of the store.

Please feel free to use them. I think they are great studies to perhaps do a painting from. You have to love a store that sells a scent library.

Library of Scents - too divine!

They carry Cara Croninger a fabulous jewelry artist from the old Soho days. I used to have a couple of these hearts, but lost them one night at The Mudd Club or maybe at Heartbreak or Area. I still have a pair of Cara heart earrings!

Cara Croninger hearts - I Heart these! Are you listening Santa?

I love all the scientific gadgetry they have.

And they love glass.
They are masters of layering object upon object.
Here's an updated take on taxidermy.
This teeeny chartreuse bust just slayed me!
And here are the flat weave rugs they have manufactured for the store.
The whole place reminded me of country version of perch. I could move right in!
The huge beet hanging out front harkens back to the days of 17th and 18th century shop signs.
The store front is so elegant.
Here are the girls in their glam shot done for a Shop Talk story at 1st Dibs. Sharone used to have black hair! But man she still looks sexy. And who could resist Honey?
These last couple of photos are from 1st Dibs.
I don't know how they stopped at a half dozen ha ha.
This last photo is mine. It says it all: Old and New!

Click on images for larger views...

Do You Know How To Build A Snowman?

The news tells us that 2/3 of the USA is in a deep winter freeze, with a ton of snow falling. I feel kind of guilty here in New Orleans. It was 75 degrees yesterday. But let's make lemonade from the proverbial lemon. Or a sno-cone from a bunch of ice.


I am sure you remember the first snow of past seasons, and perhaps making a celebratory snowman.

The snowman still conjures up childhood innocence, and a simple (and healthy) activity that anyone and everyone can do. And don't forget the snowball fights! And the snow forts!
So in the spirit of this first blast of winter I present Jim Sysko who is going to tell us how to build a snowman (in case we forgot).

How To Build A Snowman by Jim Sysko

Assessing The Snow: If the snow depth is two inches or less, don't attempt to make your snowman too big. A five foot tall snowman can be made from a two-inch-deep snow cover using only an area of about 20 feet by 20 feet. If the snow is deeper and you have lots of help, try a 7 - or 8 foot snowman.

Geography: Assuming you have good sticky snow, start by selecting a spot for the snowman that is in the geographical center of the area of snow you will be rolling. Put him in the shade for longest "life."

Rolling Snow: Start by rolling the first ball around the outside of the area, gradually tending toward the middle, all the while making it as round as possible for easy rolling.

When it's big enough or you can't roll it anymore, brace the ball by packing lots of snow around its base.

Roll the second and third balls, remembering that dense snow can be heavy, so be careful when lifting these. Recruit friends to help -the more hands the better! If you are building with a small group, use a wide wooden plank as an inclined ramp to roll or slide your snowballs up.

Longevity: Pack bracing snow at the belt line and neck to keep the guy together. If you want a face to last as long as possible, carve and create the features on the side of the head that is away from the sun.

You will want to show off your creation so place and face your snowman in the direction that gets the most visibilty.

Dress him up...
...and if you have time and ambition, make a whole family to keep him company.

Remember that snowmen usually don't long in this world, except in our memories, so treat them well. Snowmen have a way of paying us back by making us all a little younger.
///.....


Jim Sysko is the engineer who led the team the built the world's tallest snowman (113 feet 7 1/2 inches) in Bethel, Maine, in 1999.

Jim Sysko's World's Tallest Snowman

How's This For Down Sizing?

Have you ever stayed in a tiny hotel room in Paris? Or maybe in New York? You have no room to store you suitcase, and you might have to climb over one another to get to the bathroom. Since it's a room somewhere wonderful, and you're not in it all day, and it's temporary, the small quarters had a certain charm.

Or what about those first apartments many of us had (and some of us still do), called studio apartments, or bachelor apartments. One small room for everything, with a small bathroom.
Many empty nesters are down sizing too. But I doubt that many are moving into one room arrangements.

Meet Zaarath and Christopher Prokop -- and their two cats. They live in the smallest apartment in New York City, a 175-square-foot "microstudio" in Morningside Heights the couple bought three months ago for $150,000.

At 14.9 feet long and 10 feet wide, it's about as narrow as a subway car and as claustrophobic as a jail cell. But to the Prokops, it's a castle.

"When you first see it, the first thing you say is, 'Holy crap, this place is small,' " said Zaarath, 37, an accountant for liquor company Remy Martin. "But when I saw it, all I could think of is, I can do something with this. This is perfect for us. We love it."

The co-op is on the 16th floor of a doorman building on 110th Street, between Broadway and Amsterdam Avenue. But it's only accessible by a staircase on the 15th floor.

It has two small windows with views of upper Manhattan; hardwood floors; a tiny kitchen with a mini-fridge and hotplate; and a closet-sized bathroom with a shower, sink and toilet.

"I'm amazed we can fit two people and two cats in there," Zaarath said. "But it's harmonious at this point. I have friends who say they could never live with their husbands in a place this small. It's a good thing we like each other enough to live there."

The couple wakes up every morning in their queen-size bed, which takes up one-third of the living space.

They then walk five feet toward the tiny kitchen, where they pull out their workout clothes, which are folded neatly in two cabinets above the sink. A third cabinet holds several containers of espresso for their only kitchen appliance, a cappuccino maker.

They turn off their hotplate, and use the space on the counter as a feeding area for their cats, Esmeralda and Beauregard.

"We don't cook," Zaarath said, adding that their fridge never has any food in it. "So when you don't cook, you don't need plates or pots or pans. So we use that space for our clothes."

Once in their running attire, the two change the cat litter box (stored under the sink) and start their small Rumba vacuum -- which operates automatically while they're out, picking up cat hair.

They then jog to their jobs in Midtown, picking up along the way their work clothes, which are "strategically stashed at various dry cleaners."

Just in case the cleaners are closed, both have emergency clothes at their offices.

"I have a closet at my office," Zaarath said. "You don't want to be standing outside a closed cleaners at 8:45 in your workout pants thinking, 'Greeeeeat' . . . It's a great strategy. You always have fresh things to wear."

The only other furniture in the apartment is a 27-inch flat-screen TV attached to the wall; a brown leather storage bench at the foot of the bed that stores linens but also acts as a sofa; a cat climbing "tree," and a shelf/wine rack system that holds a radio, cable box, and several bottles and glasses.

One of the kitchen cabinets is full of champagne because Zaarath's job allows them to order cases of it.

They don't have a trash can. The second something needs to be thrown out, they walk to the chute in the hallway.

The office area - see the laptop on the stool

Real-estate broker Steven Goldschmidt, senior vice president of Warburg Realty, showed the Prokops the apartment, which used to be one of about nine maid's quarters in the prewar building.

"We converted eight of them into four apartments," Goldschmidt said, with each apartment going for a little less than a half-million dollars.

"But we could not configure that one room within any of the floor plans we were looking at without spending oodles of money. So I came up with the idea to just make it the smallest apartment and see how it goes. I know a number of the luxury buildings are selling servants quarters and they're not this small."

He said he got "a lot of calls" from parents looking to find apartments for their Columbia students or business people looking for a pied-à-terre.

"It was not on the market all that long," he said. "And the Prokops made us a great offer, and that's it."

The couple will pay off their mortgage in two years, when they plan to remodel some of the apartment, adding a Murphy bed and larger windows. They will then be saddled only with their maintenance fee, which is just over $700 a month.

"It's like having a rent-controlled apartment," she said. "We're going to own something in Manhattan in two years. How many people can say that? And we're very happy doing more with less."

She added that because they save money on their home, they can spend money in "areas that make our lives better," like restaurants and vacations. The two just got back from Beijing and have been to Japan and other countries.

"We get to really experience life and enjoy ourselves," she said. "We eat out all the time. On the weekends, we're outside exploring the neighborhood. We're at Riverside Park all the time. We're not nesters. This apartment is perfect for someone active. If you want to stay home or entertain, this is just not the apartment for you."

She joked that the tiny apartment gets her out of hosting duties and dissuades long-term guests.

"No one ever stays too long," she said. "It's too small."

She said Christopher's parents stayed in the apartment while they were in China, and the two suitcases they brought was too much.

"They were sort of fumbling over each other," Zaarath said.

With the holidays coming, the Prokops plan to hang a wreath and put up Christmas bushes -- but in the hallway.

"Maybe I'll just get Christmas-tree pajamas and wear them around," laughed Zaarath. "That'll be good."

.....//// images and story from the New York Post

So what do you think of this idea of living really small so you can live really big?

Most people who live together need their own area to go to, a little space where you don't see each other all the time. It has not a negative thing, it's a human thing to need alone time. And what about bathroom sounds! I love the optimistic attitude of Zaarath and Christopher, but...

Cute Paris hotel room - small and cute for a few days!

Design Resolutions!

A really great new-to-me blogger is doing a series called Design Resolutions 2010. Her name is Kristin and she has the blog Discover: Interior Design. It's one of the most well organized blogs I have ever read.



Kristin says: "Well, it is with great pleasure that I finally share with you the design resolutions of not only me, but 12+ design bloggers. From now until January 2010, these amazing individuals will be divulging their design (and sometimes personal) resolutions every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. Some are short + sweet, some are cute + funny, and others are more in depth."



Anyhoo, check out this link for one of the first in the series HERE

And pray tell, what are your design resolutions for 2010?

Guest Blogger - Preston Bailey

Decorate With Flowers by Preston Bailey

In the 1970's I walked in to a home of two interior designers and I was captivated by an explosion of beautiful gladiolus in a glass vase. This one arrangement started the journey: my love of flowers. Since then I have always made an effort to have flowers in my home and in doing so have learned the dos and don'ts. Here I will share them with you.

The most important way to give off a feeling of what your home is about is to have welcoming flowers in the entrance. These could be a beautiful blossom or a cluster of flowers.


Each room in the home should make a flower statement. In a contemporary environment it is desirable to use the same kind of flowers. In a more traditional setting, you might mix a variety of flowers and play up the colors from the environment.
As you walk into your living room it is good to have flowers create intimacy, like on a coffee table or in a sitting area. When placing an arrangement on a coffee table, make sure it is not too overpowering and that it isn't so high that it prevents you from seeing across the sofa.

There are two rooms in which scented flowers are ideal. One is the bathroom and the other is the bedroom, beside your bed as you sleep at night, so that the first thing you smell when you awake is the wonderful scent of flowers.

The rule of thumb for choosing a vase is that the flowers should account for 60 percent of the height of the arrangement and the vase should account for 40 percent.


Some flowers last longer than others. Lilies and any kind of roses, once treated properly, have long lives. Spring flowers which include any blossoms, dogwoods, and lilacs, are tricky house flowers.
To maximize the life of your flowers:
1. Always make sure to buy freshly cut flowers. Most flowers only last 3 or 4 days after they bloom so buying fresh is important for the longevity of flowers.
2. Maximize water intake. If you plan to venture into blossoms I strongly recommend smashing the bottom of the branches with a hammer at the base to aid water absorption. When removing thorns from roses, make an angle cut to allow the rose to drink water.

3. Change the water daily. When there is an arrangement in water, leaves should never touch the water - they will give the water a bad smell.
4. Keep the water at room temperature. The cooler the temperature in the room surrounding the flower, the longer they will last.
5. Avoid direct sunlight. Most cut flowers need no sunlight.

One of my favorite ways to keep flowers in my house cost-effectively is to buy flowering plants.
They typically last 1 - 3 weeks, and the beauty is that if you get them in bulb form, you can watch them bloom and grow. Many bulbs don't need intense light, so indoor lighting is fine.

Narcissus (paperwhites), amaryllis, and hyacinths make great home-flowering plants. Most flowering plants will require water every other day. If the leaves start turning yellow, you are overwatering. If not, you are doing the right thing.

The best home investment is the orchid. Orchids are the most durable plants because they grow in extreme situations. If you hold on to the plant itself, it will bloom again. Some orchids bloom every 6 months, some every year.

Flowers are about life and joy. For maximum impact and beauty, pay attention to the seasonal ones. Here are some seasonal suggestions:

Winter: amaryllis, poinsettias, narcissues, potted flowers
Spring: branches, daffofils, tulips, peonies
Summer: sunflowers, lilies, roses, stocks
Fall: hydrangeas (they dry beautifully)

When sending flowers to a home, think about the person and his or her style, and convey that to the florist. When in doubt, it is much better to send a simple arrangement and to always send flowers with the lognest possible life.

I recommend sending flowers half open, not yet bloomed, but not bulbs, so that the recipient gets an appreciation for their beauty upon receiving them.

When buying for yourself you can buy completely tight bulbs.

It is always nicer to send flowers in a vase because the recipient can enjoy them right away rather than requiring them to perform work when the flowers arrive. (end of Preston's post...)


All of the images (except for the vase of gladiolus) are of Preston's home that he shares with his partner Theo Bleckmann. All of the furnishings and fabrics were done by Preston's long time close friend Vincent Wolfe (I'm sure you recognized the VW easel used for the flat screen television).
You can read a really great interview with Preston Bailey at New York Social Diary, from whence these images came from.