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.