What Am I Looking At Today: Atlas Gets a New Home

One of the downsides of downsizing is that you can't keep everything....especially when you're a 7' bronze sculpture of Atlas and so, alas, two years ago I sold him to superstar designer Kelly Wearstler. Below are pics of Atlas when I had him and the last pic is Ms Wearstler's new home for him...I think he'll be happy there.

Below is the Architectural Digest spread of Kelly Wearstler's project with my Atlas in it's new home. I LOVE her floors, super glam.

[Pic by AD]

And that's all I've got today.

L

What Am I Looking At Today: Good old 838

Greetings All,

So yesterday, James Swan of '101 Things I Hate About Your House' and the wonderful Carter Dayton Home asked me what I hated and liked most about my house and it was an easy question to answer....we have a rental in NYC, not fancy or trendy in any way and most definitely not in a stylish neighborhood...we usually avoid those and manage to do very well....I hate the kitchen and bathroom...both are old and very NYC...meaning tiny... but there's much more to like than not and here's a few pics of good old 838.

The little vestibule with our William IV bookcase and Deco Herakles

The Dining room looking to the hall with pics by Ric and friends

Doubles as a library....always good to do

The Living room with one of Ric's big pictures and a Grand Tour bronze

Dorian Gray with some smalls on a side table

The Living Room...small,but I'm always thinking there's room for two more chairs...

Our still unpainted Bed Room, Ric loved some curtains that I did for a client and asked me to make them for us....and so I did with the the help of our friend Mike Fulkerson's expert sewing....so this is good old 838 in NYC.....no room for a tree, but it works for us....and that's all I've got for today.

Till next time.

L

P.S. Be sure to visit...

http://www.carterdaytonhome.com/

What Am I Looking At Today: A Wine Fridge in the Living Room

Greetings All,

So I have been working on a house in Colorado, and it's pretty modern with a big nod to comfort and one of the creature comforts insisted upon is a fridge in the living room. Now that could be a problem, but luckily, I have a really great cabinetmaker named Nils Caspargus who we enlisted to make a bar with the fridge below. We decided to make it from natural mica and lightly cerused oak, my client and I have a running joke that it's the flavor of the month, cerused oak. Every showroom in Manhattan is littered with the stuff...but this is a really pretty cabinet and the silver mica shimmers.

I had the mica made to resemble paneling, so there's a subtle frame.

Lucite and silvered pulls keep it simple.

I love working on custom pieces, always fun and  great to have a client that lets you make odd, now little used materials, like mica into beautiful furniture.

What Am I Looking At Today: Some Custom Furniture

Happy Wednesday,

I've been working on a project in Vail, Co and the furniture is finally being delivered....so here are pics of the finished pieces still in the workshop.

Limed oak and bronze frames with Osborne and Little fabric.

A desk with bronze sides

Glass top table with cerused oak base.

Can't wait to get it all in and see it in place.

Thanks Berman Rosetti,  looks great!

What Am I Looking At Today: Bieder-Deco

Greetings All,

Happy Sunday, here I am doing a little cyber shopping and I came across these cool pieces. They are most definitely out of period, but they are very cool. 

Not something you curl up in to read a book, but nice pieces that will give a space character.

These are a nice small size. I find it's always a good idea to have different scale chairs in a room...keeps it from looking like a furniture showroom and while I don't usually do deco, these could live just about anywhere.

Well, that's it for today.

Have a great day.

L

Election Day

President and Mrs. Obama celebrating Passover at the White House.

!VOTE!

JUST SAY YES

What Am I Looking At Today: Neoclassical and a Tortoise Shell

So, as I am still unable to really work anywhere....still a bit of a disaster area in NYC and environs, I've been shopping online.....looking at a few neoclassical items.

A huge mirror....7'x7' really nice gilding

William IV pier table...I have a thing for William IV and tho this is a bit shiny, it's got nice legs

Always like pairs of things and these stands could be used just about anywhere

Simple chairs can also be used in various places and schemes

Tortoise shells...I always buy these when i find them...they can be mounted as lamps or simply put on a wall or shelf...they're great

Well, that's it for now.....off to do some more surfing...but I may try and make way way downtown a bit see what it's like....

What I'mLooking At Today: My still Un-named House

So here I am still waiting for my new abode and I have been sketching out some ideas about what this thing is going to do.....let me say this clearly.....when I was a kid, we were allowed one toy a week, it was usually something small and I always chose models, now my models always looked like the picture on the cover, but I always ended up with 'extra' parts....I am NOT a craftsman/direction follower.....lol...but I fear that I may have to become one.....

I'm hoping this thing has high ceilings.....but it may not, additionally it's only 24" w x 24"high do they mean to the roof, being a decorator I am thinking it should be to the top room....hmm guess we'll have to wait and see as there were no room dimensions.

In my mind I should be able to do three 8" rooms on the ground floor, but I should take walls into account, so there may be two 8"and one 6" hall.....The stairs are just for show...I'm going for an 18thc toy feel....charming and a bit fun....and home made looking....but not cute. I DON'T DO CUTE.

An idea for the hall. I want to make it seem as if this house is much more grand than it is, so the rooms might not be their full 12" deep and there might be doors on the back walls....have to see what happens...I'm thinking as with all these kit items, I'll be modifying it a lot.

Thinking there will be a sitting room to the right of the hall on the ground floor, maybe a 7 sided room with niches...paneling all painted out a French griege 

To the left of the hall I'm putting in a library...dark paneling

Up on the 3rd floor thinking about a tented room.....I don't sew....yet.

Second floor above the sitting room, I think will be the dining room with the stair hall beyond.

Just one bed room, Thinking grisaille paper that I will paint, thinking the bed will be ebonized... 

I'm thinking that I will add a piece of plywood to each side to break up the flatness and also to secure handles.

I'm thinking my facade is an improvement of the model, a bit more grand, but not too OTT....although I wouldn't mind if it got a little crazy. Thinking that I might place some urns with tin leaves on my plinths....well at least I'm still having fun sketching it out....I'm already bald, so won't be able to pull out my hair when this thing arrives.

What I'm Looking At Today: Miniature Furniture

So now that my mini house has been shipped, and I am anxiously waiting for it's arrival, I have started scouring for vintage as well as new furnishings....well, what a rude awakening i'm having!!! it's not that there isn't a lot of furniture out there, there is.....but some of the items I'd love to have cost as much as the real deal!!!! now granted, I can mix as in real life, but there's some really amazing  stuff out there....and I'm sad to say that i may have to splurge every once in a while....

Since this isn't a period exercise and I'm just decorating rooms as I would for myself or a client, there's going to be a good mix and a healthy dose of modern art...but I am planning a rather severe bed room and thought this El Greco might be nice over the fireplace.

I'm planning a tented room and thought a little Empire might be fun

two different sets of tables...I can always put a pair in the hallway...

collectors are insatiable  and these are really nice....as are the globes below....thinking I'm going to need a library....

below are fantastic William IV bookcases and a kneehole desk....pricey but great quality....

I'm thinking I will need to take up furniture making as soon as I finish building the house.....

What I'm Looking at Today: A NEW Hobby

Being a little impetuous, I've decided, much to poor Ric's chagrin, to take up model making.....again....albeit not plastic ships and planes. I am now waiting to join the ranks of the miniature  world....As I write this, Ric's making fun of me....saying I need an alarm system and a subway stop so people can get to it....but I am now waiting for my Gloucester Front Opening Dollhouse from Greenleaf....and have made copious sketches for it's improvement.

We live in NYC, so finding the right house was a bit difficult. I wanted something grand but not ridiculously so and it had to be a front opening house, because turning it back and forth is not an option....as it is, I have NO idea where it's going to live, but it will find it's place once it arrives. As in real life, every door is in the wrong place and the stairs need to be moved, and the facade should look dandy once the front has rusticated stone on the ground floor and four pilasters above....Brick or stucco...I'm thinking stucco, like london houses...painted white..balustrade and maybe a balcony at the parlor floor...there are only six rooms,so forget a kitchen, it's a city house anyway, they'll eat out..maybe a tented room ala Malmaison upstairs and I'm thinking a Tudor or Jacobean bedroom with grissaille painted walls....but I want lots of modern art....will have to commission Ric to make some...

The box that will be the house..have to give it a name....Ric says Bestopia or Ricistan....I'm thinking...NO.

Sketches of what I'm thinking it should do...now after the house is built, I'll have to find furniture...in all honesty, I've already bought a few items and will have to ferret out others..or maybe make them...when will I find the time?

The entrance hall, have to think how I'm going to situate the stairs...trying to make it seem as if it's larger than it is....

What I'm Looking At Today: A Mini World

 I'm in interior decoration and for the last several years I've been working on pretty large houses around the country and trying to make the world a better place one room at a time. I recently reconnected with an old friend, he's passionate about design and while not a decorator, he's spending a good deal of time thinking about design and creating a beautiful little world....and so now I've been introduced to the world of miniatures.......and I'm hooked.

I had known about the famous Quenn Mary's dolls house and the few other English 18thc houses with wonderful interiors, but there's an entire dolly world of grand palaces and sumptuous interiors.

Below are a few examples that I found while shopping for furniture. Now, I don't have much room in my tiny apartment in NYC, but I've started shopping for furniture.....just in case....

Three views of a grand Adam style ballroom by Ron Hubble in the Taiwan Museum

There are these wonderful makers, each specializing in their own type of interior, varying in quality, but never in scale.....these are in effect scale models 1:12...and there are countless obsessed individuals who make all their own furniture as well....now that's amazing.

Above is a paneled room by Robert Dawson

 Above is the Salon, part of the ballroom suite in the Taiwan Miniature Museum

Room Box by Ron Hubble

http://www.ronhubble.com/commissions.html

http://swanhousediy.com/site/index.php?main_page=index&manufacturers_id=20

Below are a few links of what people are doing......amazing

http://miniatureenthusiast.blogspot.com/2012/02/dining-room-fireplace.html

http://objetsdecharmeminiatures.blogspot.com/