A Tutorial On Mirrors By Guest Blogger Renya Ramli

It's been tough for me to get back to blogging, so when I got the following note, I felt relieved:

Hi Valorie!
My name is Reyna and I'm wondering if you would like a guest blog post regarding mirrors or ‘What Everyone Should Know about Mirrors’. I have experience in the interior design field and I love writing...

So take it away Renya, and thank you for guest blogging today.

And my dear Vamp readers I am coming back, and please leave Renya a nice comment...

Mirrors have had a long and illustrious history since our ancestors stopped gazing into pools of still dark water and created the first known convex mirror from volcanic glass in 6000 BC. Many manufacturing processes and materials followed, each more advanced than the last. During Renaissance times, the first example of our modern day glass mirror was created in Venice. Its reflective quality was so dazzling, the new Venetian mirrors became all the rage with Europeís wealthiest. Paris would see the height of this trend among its aristocrats, with Louis XIV, whose collection of 535 mirrors was not enough to please him, so he had the Hall of Mirrors built in Versailles.

Framed Mirror from Uttermost

Mirrors in Decorating

Like Louis XIV and his love affair with mirrors, many homeowners and designers today, use mirrors for their dazzling brilliance as purely aesthetic elements in a roomís dÈcor. The majority of todayís mirrors are created using modern inexpensive processes and materials which make for very affordable mirrors. Of course, the cost rises according to the mirrorís size, frame, decorative accents and beveling or etching.

Perhaps the most versatile of all home decor accessories, decorative mirrors can be used in any room, with any style. They tend to be neutral unless their frame or decorative accent lends itself to a certain style. For example, an ornate gold framed mirror lends itself to a more formal style in which grand architecture, furniture and accessories are used to attract attention. A smooth black framed mirror would tend to look more contemporary. When choosing a frame, consider how it fits with the rest of your decor.

One rule to remember when using decorative mirrors is to consider what they will reflect from any chosen position? If placed above the fireplace, will the reflection be that of a plain white wall or if hung on a wall opposite a window, reflect a view you donít care to look at once, much less twice? Strategic placement of a decorative mirror doubles the beauty of a room. Reflecting lavish and colorful window treatments or a piece of wall art is an ideal way to use mirrors to your advantage.

Mirrors for Practical Purposes

They can be used for a purely aesthetic purpose like those mentioned above or they can be beautiful and practical at the same time. Examples of double-duty mirrors include: bathroom vanity mirrors and powder room mirrors used for grooming and as a focal point in the room when paired with wall sconce lights on each side; entryway or foyer mirrors used to check one's reflection when coming and going and to make a stunning focal point when accompanied by other supporting elements such as a demi lune, or crescent moon shaped table.

Oval Mirror from Quoizel

Their reflection extends the lines of sight and can be used to solve architectural problems. A bulky wall is lightened by the hanging of a large mirror on it. Shorten a lengthy room with windows by placing mirrors on the opposite wall to reflect a nice outdoor scene. Floor to ceiling mirrors in a small living room reflect the roomís beauty and add a sense of spaciousness to the small space


Mirror Shapes and Sizes

Geometrically speaking, mirrors run the gamut. Think of a shape and more than likely you can find a mirror to match. Popular shapes include: oval mirrors, rectangular mirrors, square mirrors, and round mirrors or circular mirrors. When choosing the shape of a decorative mirror, consider how you will use it and where it will be placed. For example, placing a wide rectangular mirror above a smaller width round entry table would overwhelm the table and look out of place with the shape. A good rule of thumb is to make any mirror subordinate, or smaller, than any piece of furniture placed near it. So the hall table above should be wider than the mirror placed above it. This is true for any room, accessory or piece of furniture.

Mirror Types

The most common mirrors are framed wall mirrors. They can be used in all rooms of the house without looking overdone. A mirror goes nicely above the sofa with sconces on either side, in a bedroom hung by itself, in the kitchen as a backsplash behind canisters or other decorative items, and by the doors of the home so one can check their appearance before heading out of the home.

The majority of decorative mirrors are framed. The frame will normally be considered once the size and shape of the mirror is determined. Some framed mirrors are not just used for decoration, but are made for grooming as well, this group of mirrors includes bathroom mirrors, table mirrors, lighted mirrors and makeup mirrors.

Floor Mirror from Uttermost

Large floor mirrors, or peering glasses, have become increasingly popular amongst designers. Leaning an oversized floor mirror against the wall can brighten a space dramatically, and with strategic placement create a stunning focal point especially if the mirror is framed with a chunky wood or metal frame in a metallic finish such as matte nickel or soft gold.

Mirrors have been an important aesthetic and practical part of the majority of successful interior designs and architecture for centuries now and they will surely remain a part of our everyday lives for many more to come.† Seemingly endless choices in styles, frames, shapes and sizes of mirrors abound. Make your choices with the suggestions above in mind for a beautiful home dÈcor.

Content provided by Arcadian Home Decor, a company that specializes in top quality home decor items at extremely affordable prices. Come visit us today!

Ballard Designs Great Copy Cat Chandeliers

Ballard Designs does it again! They have managed to reproduce a very good looking French style chandelier at a fraction of the cost of an antique or even a good looking reproduction.

Lourdes from Ballard looks like a Julie Neill chandelier

The Lourdes chandelier looks very much like a Julie Neill style chandelier. Even when I worked for JN I could not afford one of her lighting fixtures, nor could I talk her into rewarding me with even a sconce as a commission ha ha.

Lourdes is a miracle for only $299.
A Julie Neill reproduction chandy goes for thousands

If you have a some DIY savvy, you could doll up the Lourdes with a little gold leaf. It's pretty easy to do.

Julie Neill chandelier

Genevieve is another great looking copy cat chic chandelier

There is also another great looking chandelier at Ballard that is a little fancier, dripping with glass beads. It's called Genevieve. While neither of these may be as high quality as a hand crafted designer chandelier, they are very good looking for the price, and are certainly more attainable.
I hate when stylish pretty things are reserved only for those with lots of money, and that's why I love Ballard. They make design a bit more democratic.

Genevieve retails for $469. instead of $4699.

I got the latest Ballard catalog the other day and found a couple of more things I like.

This giclee is described: "California artist, Samantha Carlisle, uses layers of color and script to give her canvases endless depth and lingering mood. In this romantic print, the gown and French script background seems to glow from within with a soft, ethereal light."

Giclee of a dress $349. at Ballard HERE

This Samantha Carlisle print would be so pretty in my house

Ballard also has alot of Christmas stuff on sale. Check out the Ballard Estate Sale online. I love this pre-lit slim tree because it is 9 feet tall, perfect for the tall ceilings in New Orleans.

50% off at Ballard HERE

Concorde Medallion panels on sale at Ballard HERE

I also like these curtains found in the Estate Sale section.

Concorde Medallion panels from Ballard Designs

These panels remind me of Jill Sharp Brinson who is the creative director at Ballard, and had one of the all time favorite covers and editorial features in House Beautiful in December 2009.

The living room of Jill Brinson

Jill Brinson had the best House Beautiful story of 2009

Go Get Your Subway Sign!

You picked this sign if you won the Giveaway from Subway-Sign.com.


Congratulations Deborah from Dumbwit Tellher!

Deborah Peterson Milne from Dumbwit Tellher
"Good taste isn't just on the tip of your tongue"

Deborah, please email Chris and claim your prize! And please send us a photo to show how you use it in your home.

AND Chris is offering a rebate to everyone else! Read her note:

Good Morning Valorie,

Thank you for the opportunity to show my subway sign art décor this past week in the giveaway!

Please share this with your readers:

For the readers of the wonderful blog, Visual Vamp, I have a limited time offer--

$5 rebate on any one sign purchased by midnight (MT), December 15th, 2010.

On checkout include rebate code: "ilovevisualvamp" in the notes to seller.

Offer expires midnight (MT), December 15, 2010.

Chris Subway-Sign.com

Thank you all for entering this fab giveaway!

Hope to get back to posting more regularly this week. You are all so wonderful for sticking with me during this difficult time. Alberto is feeling very very good and we are on track to moving ahead with enjoying life.

Subway Sign Giveaway!

Here is a great giveaway for you! Last two days to enter! Winner announced on Monday!

Chris from Subway-Sign.com offers a choice of any "standard" products sized 20" x 30" selected from Subway-Sign.com Subway, Metro and Streetcar 20" x 30" Photographs or Subway-Sign.com Destination/Personal History 20" x 30" Photographs
It is only available for shipping to USA addresses. The prize winner will need to provide her/his street address and email address.

You know the drill - please go to Subway-Sign.com HERE and look at all the cool choices. Come back here to Visual Vamp and leave a comment telling us which sign you like. The contest will go on for one week, and the winner by random choice will be announced next Monday. You must please leave a comment here on this post in order to win.

Visual Vamp has a subway sign in the kitchen!

Say what???!!!! Can this be the dreaded subway sign dissed on many a decor blog as another trend that bites the dust?

Like many of you, as a trend gets popular and trickles down to entrepreneurs like Chris, it becomes affordable and accessible to us mere mortals, of which I am certainly one.

I am a great fan of the art of typography, and have loved vintage subway signs, since I saw one hanging in a friend's loft in New York twenty years ago. These genuine vintage signs have become rare and collectible and pretty expensive, and I have always had my eye out for that miracle flea market find.

Buenos Aires subway sign HERE
Visual Vamp kitchen

Over the past three years printed reproductions have been cropping up most notably at Restoration Hardware and Pottery Barn. Oh the kiss of death for sure for so many that wouldn't be caught dead using such pedestrian stuff. And the signs were pricey. And then one showed up in a JLo movie, and the coffin lid was creaking shut.

Visual Vamp kitchen with chicken wire insets on upper cabinets

As many of you who read Visual Vamp know, Alberto and I have been working on a progressive kitchen project HERE, as in we progress when we have some money and energy to DIY improve our kitchen. It is a quirky space in an old New Orleans shotgun house. Alberto has been refacing the cabinets, and yay! he felt well enough to hang the last two cabinet doors he made with chicken wire inserts to show off the white ironstone.

Eventually we will replace countertops, and maybe do a new backsplash. In the meantime a concrete treatment I did six years is holding up, and I love the color. There is a boxed in chimney from an old fireplace that has also been walled in (by the previous owners), and this provides a very long and narrow wall space to uh hang something. I have always envisioned a subway sign in this space. Read more HERE

Of course I always thought it would be a New York subway sign of some sort. Or maybe a sign with the streetcar stops in New Orleans. Or maybe a Paris metro sign.

New Orleans streetcar stops from Subway-Signs.com
It was added to Chris' great selection at my suggestion

But since our devastating trip to Canada, Alberto and I realize we may never be able to fly to Buenos Aires again. So what does this have to with our kitchen and subway signs? Well after trying several art options on the long narrow wall space, with nothing looking right, I bit the bullet, swallowed my pride, and gasp, started looking for a subway sign for that wall. I immediately knew I wanted to have one from the B Line from the Buenos Aires subway, and couldn't find any such thing, because, uh, it doesn't exist.

I found several sites that do custom signs, and I found Chris and he/she (still don't know if Chris is a man or a woman ha ha) immediately came up with a design based on the information I sent.
I wanted do the canvas sign, but the size I needed is not available. So I opted for the paper sign, a super glorified poster, great quality on a superior heavy paper stock, and at a terrific affordable price.

The Buenos Aires subway sign is so perfect for anyone who loves the city, or for a tango lover. Two of the stops on the B Line are named for two important and beloved tango personalities: Carlos Gardel and Osvaldo Pugliese.

The sign did need to be framed, and a huge custom frame job like that would break the already broken piggy bank. After a little Google shopping I found a DIY frame and ordered that too from HERE

Framing it was a two person job, and not that easy, and I am sure there is a hair or two and a speck of something under the plexiglass. But all and all, it came out so great, and Alberto and I love it.

I sometimes let the idea that something is "out", influence my decor choices. Often this is valid concern and a good thing. But sometimes when you know something that has been trend trashed is really right, and it is something you really like, you just have to say fuck it, I like it, and that's that.

Enter the giveaway - you will love having one of the high quality signs from Subway-Signs.com in your home, or giving it as a holiday gift.

If you don't win this time, just buy one! It won't break the bank.

And thank you Chris for providing this wonderful holiday giveaway to the readers of Visual Vamp!

5th And State And Carla Fox And Art By Karena

I am overwhelmed. I promise to get back to regular blogging soon.

In the meantime three lovely ladies, Debra Philips of the blog, 5th and State, and artist, Carla Fox, and artist, Karena have cooked up a little thoughtfulness for Alberto.

Go HERE to see!

Key To The Heart

Mona at Providence Design is still having her wonderful grand opening of her online shop.
The shop features the bijoux of designer Kay Smith with Ava J Creations. Don't wait until Black Friday to shop! Please shop now with Mona, because she is generously giving 10% of all sales during the grand opening sale which ends Novemeber 22 to Alberto Paz for the fund raiser on his behalf.

Go HERE to read more and shop!

Win A Trip To Spend Christmas In New Orleans!

Christmas is just around the corner–and where better to spend the joyous season than in the most joyous city – New Orleans! But don’t take it from me, take it from one of our favorite local actors and Mad Men star Bryan Batt. Plus, this holiday, you could win a $4000 shopping spree, plus a three-night stay at the Loews Hotel, free airfare, and two Reveillon dinners. Very jolly indeed! Go HERE to enter, and happy holidays!

via GoNOLA.com

Divine Providence By Design

Providence Ltd. Design Shop
Grand Opening of their great online shop

Alberto is doing better this week. We both have post traumatic stress, but lots of rest is helping.
One thing we do everyday is read all the blog comments, and emails, and Facebook comments wishing us well. We marvel at the Paypal donations still coming in. And we love when our friends in New Orleans stop by to visit us, bearing food, donations, and hugs and kisses.
A New Orleans friend paid for the Flying Nurses with her credit card at the time of our flight home, and I must pay her back in full by December 1, so every donation is so appreciated.

With tears in his eyes, Alberto tells me he is most touched by the bloggers. He still can't wrap his mind around strangers helping us, and not judging us. I keep telling him, this is what bloggers do, this is what bloggers are about. You are not strangers, but a unique family of friends.

The other day I got an email out of the blue. I share it with you:

Valorie,

You probably don't know me. I have followed your blog for some time and commented occasionally. The situation with your husband Alberto, really touches my heart.

When you said that you held Alberto and he was as if an infant, I felt your pain.

OK, I am launching an online store tomorrow. We are going to promote it every way we can. We are doing all sorts of giveaways and E-mail blasts etc. We think eventually, it will be a good thing for us. We don't have a clue if we will sell anything out of the chute or not, but we want to give you and your husband 10% of anything we do through the grand opening . The grand opening is the 16th through the 22nd. I'm going to E-mail Décor To Adore and see if we can add this to the link auction, even though it is not really an auction.

I'm sorry this is so last minute. We have been extremely busy. I'm not really ready to launch the store but things are never going to slow down, so I'm just going for it.

I hope we do a lot of business and can send you a big check. You are already in my prayers. Mona

I read this to Alberto, my voice filled with tears. This is what bloggers do.

So please go over to Mona's new online store, Providence Ltd. Design Shop HERE, and have some fun shopping.

Also check out her blog Providence Design HERE.

And please continue to donate on Paypal HERE - you just type in our Paypal email address: boutique@planet-tango.com

Sleeping In Our Own Bed

I brought Alberto home on from the hospital on Tuesday. Alberto is making his recovery. His poor body took a beating (he has some broken ribs from the very aggressive CPR that saved his life in the airport), though he is in pretty good shape and seems "normal" most of the time. We are just trying to rest, and control our panic attacks. The image of him laying dying on the airport floor Calgary is tough for me to shake. Fortunately Alberto has no memory of what happened to him. In time he will be able to do all the things we love: live, love, and dance tango. Thank you for your prayers and/or donation. You got us home for the care and treatment he needed, and where he needed it.

The bedroom Alberto came home to, thanks to all of you!

The hospital in Calgary was a dump. It was shocking by American standards. It is old and crowded, with very small spaces allotted for a patient on a recovery ward. Still our family infused it with love and life, and made it homey. Ripped curtains, shabby bedding, worn out floors, ugly walls, a crowded coed ward, out dated bathrooms, all receded as we only saw Alberto and him getting stronger.

The nurses, nurses aides, cleaning staff, and doctors gave him good care. They saved his life. The family (his two amazing and loving children Gina and Albie, and me) brought him back full throttle, with round-the-clock love and care. Alberto is so courageous and an amazing force and he improved daily as no one in the hospital expected him to. We called ourselves Team Alberto, and we never doubted that we would win.

The bedroom of Alberto Paz and The Visual Vamp
Dwell Studio just sent us this beautiful duvet,
for a photo shoot with Brian Patrick Flynn in New Orleans

Then they held us hostage. They only wanted one treatment for Alberto, and when our doctor in New Orleans disagreed and requested we be released to fly home commercially, they refused. They gave us two options: Open heart surgery or travel by Medivac which we had to pay $35,000 upfront for. They seemed incredulous that an American family couldn't raise this money instantly.

Visual Vamp dining room
Patricia (PVE) and her husband John Charles,
sent us the most amazing box of fruit and healthy goodies

Days went by with no solution, until his children found an organization called Flying Nurses International. The cost was $10,000. to have us fly home with a medical escort. At first the Canadian doctor who held all the cards, refused. The manager from Flying Nurses, a high level cardiac nurse finally got the doctor to listen to her, and a compromise was struck and the doctor released us. All of your donations made it possible to come home, and Alberto, me, and our family will be forever grateful.

After we booked with Flying Nurses the Canadian doctor had to nerve to tell us that Medivac "is a scam", that "Medicare is welfare medicine", and that our doctor was wrong. We were so happy to find Flying Nurses and we asked the social worker at the hospital to keep it on file for other families who might face our situation. She acted like she never heard of the Flying Nurses before.
The next day her assistant told us the hospital uses Flying Nurses "all the time, for far sicker patients tan Alberto".

I need to get back to work and I need some new calling cards
Anne Harewell (Annechovie) is making a gift of them to me and Alberto

Once we arrived in New Orleans, we were received at a beautiful sparkling hospital where "Medicare welfare" provided first class treatment. Alberto's doctor, Dr. Siddharta Bhansali did two stents the Canadian doctors refused to do. It took him 45 minutes, and Alberto's artery is wide open and gorgeous. Open heart bypass surgery is a very dangerous option for Alberto. Because of his artery disease there is 100% chance he would suffer a stroke if he survived it. Our doctor has been advising us to not do bypass for as long possible, which could be for 30 years.

Alberto Paz when we arrived at Ochsner Baptist Hospital in New Orleans

The Canadians are sending me a bill for our over extended stay in their hospital.
Somewhere around $200,000. Alberto's life is priceless, but...
Medicare kicks in $5000. to foreign hospitals. Travel insurance would have helped, except we were refused because Alberto has a pre-existing condition. He did have a check up just before we traveled, and he was given the okay to travel. The last six months have been amazing. Alberto had three stents done last May, and it was like we were given a new lease on life. He was in amazing shape, going to the gym, eating well, taking his meds, doing projects around the house, and we were dancing like we were 40 years old, just kicking ass and having so much fun, taking every opportunity to enjoy the second chance we were given, thanks to Dr. Bhansali.

I have heard that many of you did blog posts about us. Please email me the links so I can show them to Alberto. He is like a happy child when I show him all the donations, emails, and Facebook messages. Your love and support is the best medicine!

So now God has given us yet another chance, and we plan to enjoy every minute of life we have been given, with all of our love and endless gratitude. Again we thank all of you from our very core, and you will be remembered in our answered prayers forever.

Our friends have been stopping by our house, bringing groceries and food, and cheering us up with their embrace and conversation. Anyone in New Orleans please feel free to come by the house. Your company is very healing.

Donations are still being made at Paypal, by typing in our email address: boutique@planet-tango.com

Easing Into New Orleans

Alberto & Valorie in the hospital in Canada

Alberto and I are home in New Orleans. Back in the USA.

We got here last night, after a very long day of travel from Calgary, Canada, with a medical escort (Flying Nurses International).

It cost $10,000, and the money was raised by all of you bloggers, our tango students, mutual tango friends and dancers, and tango promoters all over the world.

We went directly from the airport by ambulance to Ochsner Baptist Hospital on Napoleon Avenue.

We decided to not tell too many people about the trip home. The pressure of communicating during this dangerous trip home was too much for us. Alberto asked that he be sequestered.
A handful of people were told, family members, and friends in New Orleans who helped expedite things for us. We wanted to ease in gently under the radar, and get Alberto safely tucked in.

Alberto is in good condition considering all that has happened. He memory is 99% back; he can talk, read, write, walk, eat and feed himself. He can dance a few steps. He seems so normal. But his artery disease is a ticking time bomb, and right now, right this very minute, he is back on the operating table for another angioplasty "surgery". So now more waiting and praying, because the blockage is in a tricky place, and the risks are high.

We are so happy to be back home and we hope to be out of the hospital and back in our house with Cholo very very soon.

Waiting and praying is something I have become expert at. Please join me.

I will be writing another post about this whole experience later - falling ill in a foreign country has been an experience I will never forget, and I have alot to say about it. It's been our "come to Jesus" moment and has changed our family's life forever.

Please keep donations coming. There is no socialized medicine in Canada for visitors, eh? And though Alberto has Medicare, it did not cross the border. The country of Canada is sending moi a whopping bill, and we racked up huge expenses just with day to to day things while caring for Alberto in Canada. Please give to: boutique@planet-tango.com

For all of you who have contributed, I will get to proper thank you notes sometime in the future.
In the meantime, let this suffice as a preliminary thank you note from the bottom of my heart, and from Alberto's healing heart.

Thank you from Alberto and Valorie
photo in the hospital in Canada taken by Alberto's daughter Gina

Update:

Alberto Paz is out of surgery in NEW ORLEANS! His doctor, Dr. Bhansali is brilliant! He did the stent in record time, and saved Alberto from having the dangerous open heart surgery the Canadian doctors were holding us hostage for. Thank you everyone for your donations and prayers to get us home! We hope to leave the hospital tomorrow or Wednesday! More later...xo xo