REAL DECORATING: YSL and Pierre Berge: L'AMOUR FOU

OK. I don't know about you but, I've had it with what passes for good taste nowadays. Everything and everyone has gone mid century something with nice colors and nice lines and nice finishes and no personality at all. The Potttery Barning/Restortion/Stewarding of everything has left in it's wake miles of timid, tepid interiors with as much personality as milk toast.  

But it wasn't always so and for a segment of the population who have means [ not necessarily billions as in the following pictures]  but taste and an eye, decoration still flourishes.....and we will be doing a series on high style decoration......so be not afraid.....this 'good taste' phase too shall pass.

Views of the Entrance Hall, Sun Room and main Salon

The Library

Entrance Hall

Yves Sain Laurent and Pierre Berge Collection

Jasper Conran

Thinking about Modern and what that means....and when it goes awry

When minimalism goes too far....and when 'modern' becomes a style rather than a point of view...................

Mixing It Up

This is a view of a living room that my good friend RJ and I did a few years back. It's part of a grand old house on the Mainline with lots of paneling. We used an iron emulsion on the walls which was then oxidized and the floors were stained in a pattern that echoed the ceiling. All of the furniture is from the 20's 30's except for the petrified wood tables in front of the Duchess satin sofa. The modernist armchair, one of a pair is made of nickel with parchment blocks and upholstered in hides. Standing lamps and frog scones are by 'luminary' Warren Muller.

Drawings on Napkins

I tend to work really fast. Usually a project is done in my head within five minutes of being in a room, especially if I know the clients or if they've articulated what they want or if the space needs a specific treatment.

I like getting the images out of my head right away. I can then work on refining the schemes but, usually the first ideas tend to be the best....it's like what they say about a first impression. The sketches above were done during lunch just after having seen the spaces to be decorated. the floor plan, not to scale but just for and from memory. The first ideas for a home office. Furniture placement general feel and style.

An idea for a bracket to hold some mod chandelier. A floor plan for a tented, problematic guest room.  A dining room/library with industrial shelves and Regency furniture. The living room with fabric screens to disguise some problems and simple furnishings but stylish furnishings. As it's a temporary, rental apartment there is not a lot that we can do structurally, so it's purely decoration. I have suggested changing the sinks in the two bathrooms.....iron and marble with attached mirrors.....We shall see what happens.............................

Good Old 1033

By now you've guessed that I like classical decoration, albeit with a twist. I'm also not afraid of dark colors, especially in dark interiors. When we came down to Philadelphia we found ourselves in the E.L. of F. [ the Eternal Land of Farie ] as Ric likes to call it, beacuse of the great twilight. Our apartment, once part of a very large and grand townhouse is comprised of the old Breakfast Room, a few interstitial spaces, the old Dining Room and downstairs where we sleep, the old Kitchens....the saving grace downstairs is a small potted garden and the full windows.....as it's really an English basement.

A view into our Front Room. This used to be the Breakfast Room. 

We use it as a small library/dining room/entrance hall.

The Hall between Front room and Living Room was faux painted by my friend Beth Tafel.

I've started a collection of 19c grand tour bronzes two are by Barbidienne, the Dancing faun which is 18c Italian and the one on the far left which is modern.

Our main Living Room was once the dining room. It retains, as does the rest of the apartment, all of the original details which were restored by Javier Teran and painted a chalky white. You can see a sconce on the rear wall, one of a pair, by 'Luminary' Warren Muller. The Centennial chairs, you see one of eight, were given to me by Merle Hubbard when I was very young.....because one day I might want to have people over......and the Queen Anne chairs with 19c upholstery were from pickers.

A 19c desk in our bedroom with a great Deco Herakles from Leo Mavrovitis

We've kept the colors very somber as there's a lot of architecture and modern art by Ric and friends [ will do a story at a later date] so it's not for everyone, what with all the Centennial Revival moldings and the lack of light but, it has tons of character and at night it glistens.

WELCOME TO OUR FIRST CONTESTANT FOR THE LCDT AWARD! Critical Gaze: Horror on the Navesink

We here at the Good and the Beautiful have decided that like in Paris, it's a good idea to try every so often to encounter something a little visually offensive.....and if you've been to Paris you know that's hard to do but, here it's easier.......

Because as they say....there is no light without dark and no beauty without ugly.

The winner after 12 months will be awarded the LCDT Award! [Little Caesar Donald Trump Award] it has no intrinsic value other than the distinction of it having been earned, either by accident , design or lack thereof.

So without further adooo ....please visit our first contestant:

http://www.zillow.com/homedetails/21-Bellevue-Ave-Rumson-NJ-07760/39363926_zpid/

There are those individuals who think that a price tag is synonymous with taste, as the name of our award implies nothing could be further from the truth.

Enjoy and feel free to cast a vote for your favorite/least favorite.......or submit a candidate for our consideration.....and we are doing this in the spirit of fun......we're not really being mean....

Glamourous Entry

My friend RJ Thornburgh and I have done two collaborations in the last three years. Here is our first. It's a Hallway in a grand Greek Revival House in Chestnut Hill, Philadelphia. The walls are reverse painted plexiglass panels that are held in place by large and small bronze rivets. We used Faro and Ball's  'Dead Salmon' as the background color.  Doors and skirting are ebonized and the only furniture in this part of the Hall is a vintage Donghia table with a marble bust of Lucius Verus Commodus and a glass apple. Large silk linen curtains divide the space in two. I will post other pictures in the coming days.

Vogue Regency in Gladwynne

A bed room in a house on the Mainline

When I first arrived to this house on the Mainline in Philadelphia the young family had had some of the rooms decorated by another designer. Luckily the upstairs Master Bed Room and adjoining Sitting Room were untouched. They wanted a stylish house, furnished with antiques but, the house was decidedly heading towards Victorian. After a few weeks of discussing and really looking at what they liked and the wife's very stylish wardrobe, we decided that Victorian was not in the cards. A much lighter Vogue Regency style was needed. The Sitting Room which was really a passage was turned into a mirrored Dressing Room anchored by a 1940's slate toped garden table over which hangs a French opaline chandelier from Victor Carl.

The Master Bed Room is upholstered in vintage moire of which there was enough to do walls and curtains. The new trim work which our great small jobs specialist, Javier Teran, installed and painted along with making the closets, adds some much needed architectural interest to that bane of my existence.....the tray ceiling! why are those in every Master Bed Room now?

Medallions of the Four Seasons by Danish artist Thorvaldsen are the only artwork except for the embroidered fabric on the headboard and French chairs that holds the color scheme together.

We are awaiting the arrival of a pair of silver lamps from Christie's....off at the restorer's and then these rooms are done....next on the list is a redo of the other previously done spaces.....sometimes I love my job!

What I'm Looking at Today: Shell

I'm always looking for simple materials that are somehow transformed......here are some objects made of shell...all are new...none are expensive....all are from OLY Studios.

What I'm Loooking at Today: The Dangers of Being A Decorator

Every once in a while my inner 'DECORATOR' comes out to play and I have to have a really, really over the top and not especially necessary or practical item. 

I don't know why I NEED this but I truly want it. To make matters worse I'm sure it's a mess that neither plays or will need a gazillion dollars to whip into shape and in any event who plays a harpsicorde.....luckily, Ric doesn't and we don't sing....

                    A 17th c Italian harpsicord with polychrome decoration.


But I just remember Nureyev's apartment on Quai Voltaire with it's lustrous gilt leather walls and his super harpsicord by the windows with their krazy quilt velvet curtains.....it was such a piece of sculpture, over the top and vital to the room. Oh well as I don't live in Paris at present I guess I don't really, really need it but, I may just have to buy it....just in case.

Hemlock Hill

There's a lot of big old houses up in Bedford NY, one such pile is Hemlock Hill. It used to belong to a Mr. Gutterman who added a huge addition in the 1980's for his painting collection. I worked on the house well after he had lost it. The new owners were intent on bringing the neglected property back to life.

Half of the main house on the hill, smaller pics are the Living Room and the Ball Room [about 80'x40' decorated by someone fancier than I]

One of the original rooms was a charming low ceilinged paneled room that they called ' the library' but, there were no books. They had a few great pieces including the Carlton House desk and from there the room grew into a non store bought/inherited look. The green on green rug took about six months to make, it looked great with the linen curtains and took your eye into the dining room......however, there was lady 'friend' of the clients' who had ' great flair'....."she should have been a 'decorator' "who came by and said it 'clashed'......with what I wondered....so she suggested red! a bright RED RED RED rug......and so it was changed....same pattern that I had come up with, same hand hooked, same 5 figures to make....same time frame....I thought it was horrible.......but the client 'loved it'......... oh well....... Sadly the house changed hands again and it's been redecorated one more time. I would love to see what the new owners kept.

Stairs in Armonk

We have been working on a project in Armonk for the last two or three years......mostly on paper but we're at the point now where construction is under way and you can start seeing what the house is really going to do. It was a builder's house [ McMainsion] so the details were non existent and nowhere was it worse than the front entry and the stairs in particular. Working with architect Lucio deLeo of Studio RAI the new Front Hall is acquiring much needed grace. All traces of new construction will soon be gone.......

A drawing of the new stairs, the pitch was changed necessitating taking a foot off of the library and squaring off the room. I wish I had pictures of the before which was tragic.

There's a hall at the top of the stairs which is being separated from the main volume by columns. The railings will go in between. We are tweaking the placement of the columns...sometimes an inch makes all the difference.

The new stairs have a gracious pitch and a lovely curve.

We had to work out the height of the railings. Code says they need to be 36" tall but that would have made them look much too high. The solution was to make the facia a little taller making the iron work seem shorter. We also made the ovals very light and added steel balls top and bottom to break up the pattern......they look 30" tall but are actually to the specified code height. Greg McKenna the very capable and talented GC of McKenna Custom trying them out.

Curtain Details in Bronxville

We are working on a house in Bronxville NY for a young family. The program is for a modern take on Continental ie; Italian decorating. The table came from Christie's we removed the scagliola top [ using it on a simple base in another room] and replaced it with raw wood planks. But the major element in the room are the curtains. The room is about 18 feet tall, I love dressmaker details and handwork, the curtains are made of vanilla colored wool with suzani fabrics that were painstakingly cut and hand sewn by Michael Fulkerson. The panels were then given to Bill Corrado and he then made the curtains which are lined in red silk and cast a warm glow in the room.

Giverny: Show me the Monet

The gardens of Giverny are justly famous both for the actual flowers and for the paintings done in the 19c by Mr. Monet. But the house is quite special too.

The Entrance Hall has wonderful Japanese prints.

The kitchen with it's great cast iron stove and blue and white tiles. State of the art for the time.

The Dining Room is painted yellow.....bright sunlight yellow with a collection of blue and white. The dishes can still be purchased from Limoges.

The famous water lilies and the japanese footbridge.

Four Dining Rooms

I like working in different styles....Here are four Dining Rooms two in Bedford NY, one down the road in Armonk and one a little ways farther away in Bronxville. They are however, worlds apart.

In Bronxville a Romantic room with a lead garden ornament and custom chairs, under the 19c American mirror is a Jansen sideboard and a great Arts and Crafts chandelier completes the look.

In Bedford copper walls framed in lacewood and ebony with parchment walls and ceiling. The table and chairs are mid century from Alan Moss, the sideboard is by Gio Ponti and the paper shade is Azuma.

This room is very traditional, with walls upholstered in Kirkbrummel damask. George II chairs and a George III table from Sotheby's the chandelier is 19c Egyptian.

The last is more mod with a Murano chandelier that the clients found in Venice, the chairs are upholstered in Bergamo. The table was designed by Lucio deLeo at studio RAI. The fringed banquet by Bill Corrado makes a definate statement. Walls and ceilings are silvered.

Gardens

I'm sometimes asked to help with gardens. Last Saturday I went shopping for garden ornaments. We're planning to place a large statue out in the woods on axis with the main doors of the house to draw your eye across the garden.

This is a 19c statue of Hebe.....

This is a 1940's statue representing Fall.

A back garden in Armonk. It's cottage style with lots of vegetables and some fruit trees.

There's a boxwood hedge and some wonderful old wisteria that was planted three years ago....it's really taken over and looks as if it's been there forever.

This is not one of mine but, I love that the stone is aging beautifully in the this garden and the lead pots are very low key with their boxwood plantings.

The State Theater

I'm a big fan of 'Star Trek', the original series, so there's a soft spot in my heart for anything International Style and I particularly love the State Theater........

The beaded curtain that rises the full length of the front windows is made up of 8,000,000 gold colored beads, now sunbleached, one for every New Yorker in 1964 when the theater was built.

My friend Nina and I were just there last night to watch Balanchine's black and white ballets....what better way to spend an evening than Hindemith, Stravinski, Balanchine and Philip Johnson!

Standing on the travertine balcony looking at the chandeliers......Johnson said that if it was good enough for God, it's good enough for us.....St Peter's is built of travertine.....

The gigantic Elie Nadleman sculptures ' Circus Women and 'Two Nudes' are carved from virgin vein Carrara marble, purportedly the last such huge pieces. Lincoln Kirsten had them brought in before the last wall was completed....when the Lincoln Center leadership saw the 'goils' they ordered them removed but, it was too late......the last wall had been completed so they had to remain......they're affectionately known as the hermaphrodites.

I particularly love the Promenade reminiscent of piazzas which you might find in the great capitals of Europe but ours is under an 18k gold ceiling......it's been replaced 3 times so far.

The central globe chandelier weighs two tons, has 55 faceted diadems and uses 500 bulbs and 5,000 watts of electricity. It's supposed to resemble trumpets. The best part of the theater is the stage...I don't have pictures but I did dance there...it's floors are beautifully sprung and looking out onto the house is like looking at a giant jewelry box.