Sunday By The Sea - The Unhampton Home

This is my kind of house. Actually it has the feeling of the cottage I once owned, and the feeling of a house Sharonne Einhorne owned when she opened her first Ruby Beets on the Montauk Highway in Bridgehampton. Donna Karan also had rich girl version of this type of decor, buying most of the furnishings from Ruby Beets. That was the 1990s.

It's girly and done in a thrift style that reminds one of English cottages. In fact the owner is an English decorator names Podge Bune, who explains her unusual name, "I was a 12-pound baby. When I came out, the midwife said, 'What a podge!' and that was it."

Holy gallery wall! Podge Bune decorates her house in the Hamptons in a untypical way that I love - The stones around the fireplace, the old carved mantle, the tiny boudoir chairs and footstools, velvet used at the beach (!), and all the cosy prints anchored by the symmetry of the mirrors and lamps and pairs of everything used everywhere

Chintz and pink! And I know you love the huge fish wich is an old fishmongers sign

A clever built in bookcase in the dining room - I have something similar in my dining room, but not this nice

You know I am a plate queen just a heartbeat away from being a hoarder, so these are quickening my pulse

Sweet blue chest looks like it might have come out of the old Ruby Beets store on the Montauck Highway

The perfect beach bedroom, complete with a posy of blue hydrangea, the flower most identified with the Hamptons - Where's my long white cotton nightdress?

A very cute bathroom vanity - Note the old mirror and how pretty the very common hardware store handles and knobs are, and of course the chandelier is to die for, all tricked English style with little shades

The back deck with a water view and access - this I did not have - I had to walk across the street and put a two person red kayak in the pond behind The Springs General Store

Podge's water view - Love the weathered driftwood posts

A little garden shed painted green and pink - so very un-Hamptons and so very cute

The picket fence, arch, and rose garden leading up the front walk - I had a picket fence, and brick walkway with two Gothic style iron arches, and my garden was a riot of English flowers, with a stand of sunflowers that got nearly as tall as the arches

The front of the house of Podge Bune is perfection and very un-Hampton

Off you go to House Beautiful to read the entire article by Christine Pittel. It's charming and informative and I know you will like Podge. And here's a link to the slide show with the photos by Francesco Lagnese. The captions are very informative too.

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New Orleans Home Featured In Elle Decor

Are all the editors of all the shelter magazines mind readers? So many times similar features appear in the same month in the different magazines. Like if one is doing a pink issue, another one does it too. This month two different New Orleans homes are featured in two different magazines. Yay! I love to see New Orleans talent featured. I posted about the one in Architectural Digest, and now here's a heads up about one published in the September 2012 issue of Elle Decor.

But before I talk about the NOLA house, I just have to say a word about how dark Elle Decor is this month. Almost drab. It's like the color is off in the whole printing of the magazine.

So Julia Reed's New Orleans home is published this month, and it looks so dark. It's a shame because the house is vibrant in person.

The House On First Street in the September issue of Elle Decor

It is almost two years to the post since I first got to see the inside of Julia Reed's home. I was thrilled. I asked if I could take photos, and was granted permission by Julia's husband. I felt like a number one jerky geeky blogger, but I just had to get a few pictures. Embarrassed, I took them off the cuff, with little care for focus and composition, and they are not the greatest, but my silly little snapshots HERE show more life than what's in Elle Decor.

The home of Julia Reed in Elle Decor

A few months ago, I was in Julia's home again. This time as a stylist and the writer of an article for New Orleans Homes & Lifestyle Magazine. It was a story just about her kitchen. I was thrilled to see the house again, and told Julia I was doing a decor book and asked if she would like to be included.

Alas, I was too late to the rodeo, because she told me that Elle Decor was doing a shoot, and that her friend Thomas Jayne is also doing a book and her house will be included in that. I always believe the pie is big enough for everyone to have a piece of, so I was happy Julia's beautiful home was being published, even if I couldn't have it in my book.

Even though I think the Elle Decor photos are dark,  I am still very happy to see the article. Julia wrote it herself, and no one writes about decorating like she does.

Pick up the September issue of Elle Decor and let me know what you think. So far the Julia Reed house is not on the Elle Decor web site, so you will have to buy the magazine to see it. You should buy magazines and books always. Don't let them die out and become extinct.


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Wedding Orchids

I have done the flowers and decor and planning for many weddings over the years, but not lately. Everyone once in awhile I get pulled out of "retirement", called upon to do a wedding. I am doing one for a client's son and future daughter-in-law this October at a small, elegant venue right on the Mississippi River in New Orleans.

The Bride has requested white orchids and hydrangea. She especially loves phalaenopsis orchids, sometimes called moth or butterfly orchids.

A Bride's bouquet I did over 20 years ago using white Phael orchids - It's perched on a chair covered with a damask slipcover, so in vogue back in those days - photo by Juris Mardwig - flowers- Valorie Hart Designs

So I pulled together a look-book, that I hope you will enjoy just as much as the bride does.

Lush and simple - Colin Cowie

Floating flowers in glass cylinders is a great way to keep the budget down - Colin Cowie

Floating candles with a single bloom - budget friendly and chic

Using orchid plants is an option, and the guests would love to take them home - Colin Cowie

Not our color, but we could float single white blooms in a pretty vessel  - Colin Cowie

Very Autumnal and a big visual for not so much money - I would use white branches - Colin Cowie

Low, classic, and packed arrangements - Colin Cowie

Love the Lucite tray with single blooms and votives - Colin Cowie

Small vases packed with white orchids - Colin Cowie

More floating orchids - Colin Cowie

Cascading orchids in a tall vase - i would use white hydrangea in shorter vases - Colin Cowie

Single blooms for the cake - Colin Cowie

Love this composition for the Bride and/or the Bridesmaids - Colin Cowie

Great boutonniere - Colin Cowie

This could be a corsage- Colin Cowie

Orchids arranged in a posy style

Orchids and white hydrangea bridal bouquet

I love the looseness of this Brides bouquet

Classic cascade let's the orchids follow their natural form

Going to see the venue on Friday. Will keep you posted on how it all turns out.

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Architectural Digest Features A Fabulous New Orleans Home

Another stellar issue of Architectural Digest just came out (September 2012). Fresh, exciting, luxe, and inspiring editorials fill page after page.

But the one that really thrilled me is a feature on the New Orleans home of Sidney Torres IV, with the interior decoration by architect Lee Ledbetter. 

While the article describes the home of Sidney Torres as having a black and white color scheme, you can see by this photo that a deep brown is the dominant color in the living room - I love the keyhole mirror, the custom sofa designed by Lee Ledbetter, and all the accents and accessories strike the perfect balance in the mix of new and old

New Orleans has so many talented architects and designers and decorators, and I always love when they are showcased in a national publication.

Sidney Torres is a very handsome and savvy man about town, who made garbage collection and street cleaning glam. After Katrina he sent out an army of chic black garbage and street cleaning trucks, with his guys wearing equally chic tight black T-shirts, to clean up the post Katrina mess. He and his company and guys became folk heroes as they washed away our Katrina gloom. Go to his web site and read his fascinating story.

Sidney Torres IV - The glam garbage man!

The article in Architectural Digest by Mimi Reed is very entertaining, and informative, and the photos of of Sidney's home by Pieter Estersohn are gorgeous. Howard Christian produced the article. Lee Ledbetter's design is flawless, combing old an new in a fresh and exciting way.

The dining room - 1930's Jansen chairs, custom made table, art work by Robert Gordy, the bronze lantern by Herve Van der Straeten  - Walls are painted Benjamin Moore Cloud White - photo by Pieter Estersohn for Architectural Digest

The den - I love the striae gray walls, the gilt mirror, the built in banquettes designed by Ledbetter, and of course the 1960's Murano chandelier and the Yasumasa Morrimura print  - This is a perfectly mixed cocktail of a room!

This guest bedroom adjoins the den, so the same decor scheme continues - How fab to find two matching 1960's Murano chandeliers! The symmetry of the two rooms is sublime!

This is the Master Suite - White. elegant, sexy, and exciting - Again the symmetry is flawless - two fireplaces, two gilt mirrors, two fabulous matching chandeliers

The kitchen and the library - Note the Beni rug in the library, and another banquette - I am dying to use banquettes in a project - photo by Pieter Estersohn for Architectural Digest

The exterior of the home in the Fauborg Marigny neighborhood in New Orleans - A perfect example of a Swamp Palazzo!

Pick up the current issue of Architectural Digest. There are killer features on Michael Smith, Steven Grambel, Atelier AM, Lococo and Carter, and Jamie Drake. There's also a great AD shopping section, and a feature about the 2012 AD Innovators. I am proud to say the web based design site Houzz was named!

Architectural Digest September 2012 issue is timelessly great! Get it today!

Another eye candy and gratuitous photo of Sidney Torres IV - Sorry girls, he just got engaged - Congratulations to Sidney and Jennifer Savoie - You have to love a guy who is getting married to a girl his mother introduced him to - Mama met the bride-to be at the hair salon and thought she would be perfect for her son

Jennifer Savoie and Sidney Torres IV on the balcony of their beautiful swamp palazzo

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Smart Girls

Smart girls shop now for Fall and Winter clothes. Sure it's a zillion degrees, but time flies fast and before we know it, we will want that perfect sweater on those first chilly days.

I'm a smart girl! I ordered my Fall knitwear from Beadboard Upcountry now!

Beadboard Upcountry is having their their third annual knitwear trunk show. And Marsha from Splendorosa is partnering with a jewelry trunk show.

Marsha Marsha Marsha! I want these earrings that you designed! They are Splenderosa!

The knits are handmade, gorgeous, and couture. These are custom made pieces at affordable prices, and you order now in time to have your pieces by Fall.

Red is the power color

Just drape me in purple!

This is a best seller with good reason

Get over to Beadboard Upcountry and Splendorosa today. You'll be glad you did come October.

Darling, don't need a sweater? Just buy the hand made rose to refresh a jacket you already own - Only $37.

 

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Hubig's Pies

Hubig's Pies is a New Orleans institution. Sweet fried pies in retro wrappers beloved by many. Their nearly century old bakery burned to the ground the other morning. Everyone is bummed out, and the remaining Hubig's Pies on the grocery shelves sold out immediately.

Hubig's Pies before - a beloved institution

But, Hubig's is not gone. Kitchens are being loaned to them, fund raisers are being organized, and everyone is helping out.

The fire at Hubig's Pies

I got this communique from the fabulous Ann Tuennerman from Tales of The Cocktail this morning. Come by tonight if you can. Lauren from Fleurty Girl is partnering this party tonight for Hubig's.

From Ann: This is a huBIG Deal In New Orleans, a Hubig’s pie isn’t just a treat. It’s a culinary tradition. So when a devastating fire destroyed the legendary Hubig’s factory last Friday morning, we knew we had to pitch in to keep that tradition alive. Hubig's Pies have been the official snack food of Tales of the Cocktail for many years and fed our staff and volunteers. Tales of the Cocktail has partnered with Fleurty Girl for a special Save Hubig’s event this Thursday, August 2nd from 5pm – 7pm at the Fleurty Girl store located at 3117 Magazine Street. Join us for a complimentary Hubigs-inspired cocktail created by Chris Hannah of French 75 and pick up one of Fleurty Girl’s exclusive Hubig’s t-shirts. All profits from the sale of each shirt will go directly to the Bowman and Ramsey families to help them rebuild their factory and put their legendary pies back on the shelf. Drew and Kathleen Ramsey will be in attendance.  Mourning Pie Cocktail Created by Chris Hannah Arnaud’s French 75 Bar  1 oz Plymouth Gin 3/4 oz. Pineapple juice 1/2 oz. Limoncello 1/2 oz. Lemon Juice 1/3 oz. Creme de Cacao Shake, pour over ice. Ann R. Tuennerman Founder Tales of the Cocktail 538 Louisa Street New Orleans, LA    70117 Office: (504) 948-0511 Cell: (504) 343-4285 Fax: (504) 948-0514 Twitter: @Mrs_Cocktail They'll be back Please add my NEW address to your blog list: http://thevisualvamp.blogspot.com And please become a Follower again (or for the first time) on this new blog

Where Did You Get That?

I did a post about a dinner for ten that Alberto and I recently hosted, and got a few queries about where I got a few things.

So I did a post of Guest Picks at Houzz, with links to everything you see on the table, including the table! So check it out. Houzz is getting to be more and more of a great go-to site for decorators.

When I researched the Houzz post, I found a plate similar to mine with an Italian name. I'm beginning to think the lobster was a very popular image, perhaps used for transferware.

The mark on the underside of my plates say "Hand Painted Made in France", and I think they are vintage, not antique. I have had them for twenty five years or so, when I first got them in an antique shop in New York for my little cottage in East Hampton. Perhaps the gold rim is hand painted, and the lobster is transferware.

Find out where to get these vintage lobster dinner plates and other great things for the table at Houzz

I always loved them, and use them on New Years, or when I serve shellfish. The lobster has morphed into a crawfish since the plates moved to from East Hampton to New Orleans.

Hope you enjoy my "finds" on Houzz!

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