Livia, Livia Oh, Have You Seen Livia, Oh Livia's Painted Dinning Room?

It's good to be the Emperor and I will bet it's even better to be his wife.....assuming that like Livia, you're a bit ruthless and more than willing to do away with anyone that stands in your way. It's amazing that we know so much about people and that anything survives from so long ago and there's an amazing painted room at the Palazzo Massimo alle Termini in Rome.

The room is a dining room from the Villa Prima Porta, Livia's private house where she married Augustus. It seems that it was a propitious union sanctioned by Zeus himself as an eagle dropped a white hen holding a fruited laurel...the house was after that called 'ad gallina alba'. Turns out that the hen survived and was used to breed her chickens and the laurel became a huge grove which provided the wreaths worn in imperial triumphs....until Nero when all the trees withered and according to Suetonius the entire flock of birds died.

As we've seen in previous posts Romans built many rooms underground and this dining room, windowless and cool would have been used in the heat of summer.

The garden has a huge variety of flora. All of the evergreens and firs, flowers and fruit tress are easily identifiable. It's a wonderful room, full of character, and entirely whimsical. All of the diverse trees and plants are in full bloom. there are various birds perched on branches and a charming reed fence.

The room wasn't discovered until 1863, but it's amazing how vivid it is. If you are in Rome, take an hour at then end of a day and run over to this great museum.

Street Food In Istanbul

It's a gray rainy day in NYC today, and winter is most certainly in the air, so it seems that food is in order...but why not go somewhere warm and sunny....so I went through some pics from last year and found Istanbul street food...

Some nice mussels off Istiklal Street. The food in Istanbul was great....simple and fresh....think Greek food prepared intelligently.

Fresh fruits and veggies always good to snack on....and great colors

Really beautiful produce.

Fresh baked bread...tastes great and smells even better.

Hand made ice cream......mmmm

candy, candy candy....and candied fruit....

Fresh juice....I really love street food and I'm thinking I might need another little trip to Istanbul soon...

What I'm Looking At Today: Working on a Bathroom

I've been working on a redo in Armonk for about a year with architect Lucio de Leo and it's finally coming together.....this is the Master Bath, which went thru a few changes before it got to this point, the clients wanted something modern but the house is pretty classic, so this was our compromise. Clean lines and simple materials with just a bit of detailing on the walls and ceiling.

I came a cross the milk glass fixture which was just right for the space. The tub is getting silver leafed and there's going to be a wool sheer at the window.

We decided on 18" square marble tile and a warm gray for the walls. His and her's vanities mirror each other. Getting there......

What I'm Looking At Today: HI-LOW

A long time ago, when I was still in school, one of my favorite teachers gave me a great piece of advice.....'never compete with your clients' she said. Better words were never spoken and so now that I have been working for about 20 years, where does the time go? I have accumulated a good amount of stuff.....most all of it is from friends or things from various houses throughout the years, none of it is precious in any way.....nothing is terribly expensive but it all has a look and a good memory, so every time my eye lands on an object I remember a happy time or a friend.

I had always wanted a Biedermeier vitrine...don't ask me why.....They were popular in the 80's and 90's and there was a fabulous shop on 10th St, Bernd Goeckler,  that had a huge assortment....and then there was  Niall Smith with his great collection....I eventually found a nice one which we still have....filled with books, on top sits a Deco bust of Hercules from my friend Leo Mavrovitis. Beyond the door is our living room, small but charming, we're decidedly old school but not afraid of a few new tricks 

Plain colors, all earth tones with a bit of blue. The rug came from an auction down south, the sofa is from Crate and Barrel, but the chairs and curtains are custom. The Chinese low table came from my friend Danny. Inexpensive modern lighting and some cool pillows keep it fresh.

The 19 thc portrait is a new find, Ric wants to paint 'Where am I' or 'Who am I' in a translucent glaze...we've started calling it Dorian Gray. The small drawing is from our friend Jim Bloom, the frame came from the Clingancourt flea market and the landscape above it is from a small shop on Rue Jacob in Paris.

One of Ric's pictures above an unsigned  WPA painting. I had bought one of these drop leaf tables years ago at the now defunct B. Altmans....what a great store that was.... and sold it...then we came across a pair that now have a home in our living room....for now...

The Regency bookcase is probably the best bit we own. I got it from A.I.D.S. when I was still in school...eating Ramen noodles and paying off Virgil. The bust was the first Xmas gift Ric got me....so it's always around. Sitting on the right is a small David Salle......I had worked briefly in the 80's with his wife Carol Armitage...there's a small octagonal box from the 80's as well...I got that from Norman Crider when I was his assistant for the armory shows.....funny how everything is something...

Table came from Freeman's, rug is 19th Indian from one of my pickers as is the cartonnier. I think we've had at least 6 different sets of chairs, these are Jansen, the last batch were Madeliene Castaigne, the ones before were 1940 iron and the ones before that are wonderful centennial chairs given to me by Merle Hubbard in the 80's...industrial bookshelves hold a fraction of Ric's books.

Another view looking at our small hallway with another drawing by Jim Bloom and a series of flower prints by Ric. All in all, I'm pretty lucky that I have lots of artist friends and pickers...or I really wouldn't be able to afford myself.....but it's really about having things that are fun and not too precious and as with everything, all meant to be used. And above all making sure that it's not too OTT.

What I'm Looking At Today: ME....A Shameless Plug

        This is what I spend my days doing......making the world a better place...one room at a time 

                         

                http://www.louisnavarretedecoration.com/#!home/mainPage

Sta Caterina da Siena

The Basilica of St Catherine and St Dominic begun in 1226 on the hill of Camporegio.

A view of the church. St Catherine spent most of her life within the walls.

The view of the Duomo from St Catherine

The church is a very simple affair by Italian standards. It's, as are all of these buildings very large, but simply decorated.

The sacred head.

St Catherine was canonized in 1461. The most important relic in the church is the head of St Catherine which was brought from Rome to Siena in 1383 by the Blessed Raymond of Capua. It was originally placed in a copper container, then in a silver one with a wicked upside down crown, still on display, and in 1711 to a silver lamp designed by Giovanni Piamontini. In 1947 the Dominican Fathers thought it better to place it in a silver urn inside a small Gothic temple.....you can see her in the middle of the picture above. they sell grisly pictures of her head and ask that you not take picture. but I couldn't resist as she seemed to be winking at me.

There has been some talk that it is, in fact, not the head of St Catherine, but it has been in the church for a long time.

The very impressive Maesta by Guido di Siena dated 1221, he is the first known master of Sienese art.

The old sacristy

Looking up at remnants of the ceiling.

Critical Gaze: Istanbul Decoration

It's Friday and I've had a long week so I thought it might be nice to get away, what better place to go than to Beyoglu design district in Istanbul. It's always fun to see how other people live and what other cultures consider luxurious. Istanbul seems to like fancy, super extra special fancy, didn't get much while i was there but certainly got an eyeful.

There were so many of these ceramic shops, all of various quality....visual and other, the metalware was  more to my liking

This shop was enormous...they went for silver rather than the more splashy gold

Lots of heavily carved furniture of unknown date or provenance

The green chair was of really high quality

There were so many tchotchke shops.....

And a few high style shops with good quality items.

So much fun....can't wait to go back.

What Am I Looking At Today: Items To Finish Up A Project...

I've been working on a house on the Mainline, and we are getting to the end of the project, as always there are those few items left which would finish up some of the rooms. Luckily, the rooms are lovely  as they are and these items would add a bit of gloss.

A large pair of urns which would live to either side of a large window

A pair of framed cameos for the powder room

A cool chair for one of the boy's rooms...can you say Dr Who?

For the same room, small tree trunk tables

Hopefully these items will find a great home.....we shall see.

What I'm Looking At Today: A Dining Room

Working on a dining room in Armonk, finally starting to come together. The picture above shows the room reflected in a mirror acquired at Christie's.

What I'm Looking At Today: A few Neoclassical items

Not too many words today....just looking at some decorative items

What I'm Looking At Today: God Is PRO-CHOICE

{leonardo DaVinci Annunciacione 1472}

She was asked....and she could have said NO!

What I'm Looking At Today: A GREAT Dress and a GREAT First Lady

[ picture from Queerty]

Tracie Reese floral print dress and a FABULOUS speech

What I did Last Summer: Poggio ai Riadi

When I was a kid, as with all kids, September meant back to school and inevitably the first assignment in English class was an essay on what I did last summer. Now mind you, I never did anything. We were not well off, so summer meant long lazy days or playing with all of my friends on the hot streets, riding bikes down 'red house hill'  and going to Bobbie's pool....everyone we knew was at that pool......shoehorned in as best we could...fun, but not exotic or interesting in any way. The good thing about school, in retrospect, is that it prepared me to get out of Elizabeth, NJ as soon as I turned 18 and happily, now that I am much older, I get to go to all of the places that I never did when I was a kid. So this last summer my BF Ric and I went to our friend Melissa's house in Tuscany,  in a little town called Poggio ai Riadi. It's a 500+ year old farmhouse just outside the town. We only walked around town for a few minutes as there's only a church [always closed] and one restaurant that's open once a week, but there are many other hill towns.....and they have a pool....which came in handy as that Tuscan sun can be hot hot hot.

Looking at the house which sits on a berm with lavender hedges.

There's a nice olive grove 

Looking at the pool...Maddy and Ric are hiding in the shade.

Every room has an amazing view

We would sit back here in the evenings and look at the stars, which are very bright....living in NYC, you don't really see stars outside of Broadway.

There's a really nice bird house built into the side of the house.....I'm thinking back in the 13th c this was city chicken.

The house is decorated in a really simple, pleasant way. Nothing is fancy or done up, you're meant to relax and I must say that after about 15 minutes I was very happy.

Lavender....I have such fond memories of lavender as when I was little in Cuba my grandmother would make lavender water perfume and tac the flowers in closets and drawers.

The view from the kitchen and fresh eggs with tomatoes and herbs from the garden. The food was amazing and Melissa being a chef made us some perfect pasta......

Poggio is a tiny Medieval town  with a few stone houses, a church with a bell tower and a lot of charm.

Getting to town. You could walk from the house, but we, being Americans drove.....and then went off to Siena.

Our charming hostess Senora Brannon channelling Esther Williams

Our happy little group on a day trip to Florence. Magic Mirror, who do I see? I see:

Scott and Tim and Maddy and Melissa and Ric and me....

Had we stayed any longer there wouldn't be a bottle of wine in all of Italy......and that's what I did last summer....