Fantastic X 2

April 28, 2015UncategorizedMrs. Blandings

I have purchased three bookcases in the last year and I’m sure there are some people who think, “Seriously, show some restraint.” When it comes to books, I cannot.

I wondered if I could enjoy Nicky Haslam’s new book as much as I did the last, which was a lot. (You can find my review here.) While that book focused on Haslam’s house in the country, this is a broader view of his work and his philosophy as a designer.

It is filled with collages of newspaper clippings, sketches and personal photos that catalogue a life so full that I was almost overcome with envy. In addition, there are practical sections on decorative elements, the use of color and when it’s okay to cheat.

Haslam’s rooms may not, at first glance, strike you as easily translatable, but in fact, I gained a lot of inspiration from this book. (And not only that I want to be living a bigger and bolder life.) In addition, his voice is charmingly conversational and you will wish that you were seated next to him at a dinner party or side-by-side at a coffee shop. On the aching shelves of my bookcases, there are few decorators who include their craftspeople in their acknowledgements. So, basically, he had me at, “Hello.”

You can find Nicky Haslam: A Designer’s Life here.

All images courtesy Rizzoli New York, 2015.

Book It – Postwar Dream Home

April 27, 2015UncategorizedMrs. Blandings

Quick heads-up that there are two intriguing events through the Kansas City Public Library this week. The Postwar Dream Home: The Ranch House, a presentation by Mary van Balgooy, is at the Plaza Branch Tuesday, April 28 at 6:30. I would be there with bells on, but everything in my life is happening between 3 and 8 pm Tuesday evening. Balgooy is a leading authority on ranch houses and has written a biography on architect Cliff May. There is a reception preceding at 6:00. More information here.

Equally intriguing, for those with curious and creative minds, Joshua Wolf Shenk will discuss his new book Powers of Two: Finding the Essence of Innovation in Creative Pairs, on Wednesday, April 29th at 6:30 pm at the Central Library downtown. Again, there is a reception at 6:00. More information on this event here.

In general, there’s loads of good stuff happening at the library and you’d be smart to sign up for their weekly newsletter.

Image lifted with only the purest intent from KC Modern.

Time to Medicate

March 2, 2015UncategorizedMrs. Blandings

It’s foolish, really, to be so bothered by the weather. When I complained about the cold as a girl my best friend would say, “You just have to let it wash over you.” But my heat-seeking mind and body find that waves wash over, while cold is always a brutal assault.

Even as I typed, “I’m having serious trouble with this weather. Like ‘red rum’ trouble,” to a friend yesterday, I recognized my shortsightedness. 50’s and sunny by the end of the week. Florida coming into view on my calendar.

And then today there was a breath of spring in my in-box. Green and black and white is one of my favorite combinations and my sofa pillows are so tired. (Dexter and Rosie and I am looking at you.) What could be more harmless than using bold and graphic fabric to assuage the final assault of winter?

New pillows from Angela Adams can be found on her site here.

Wallflower

February 26, 2015UncategorizedMrs. Blandings

I was particularly out of sorts yesterday. Nothing was working. The words were not coming. The weather is awful. The wolf is at the door. I slumped and grumbled through my day.

One of my tasks yesterday was to create a poster for my oldest’s swim banquet, and I was struggling with both the details of what to put on it and the cosmic force that encourages mothers to create work for themselves for children who care nothing about things like swim posters. (Maybe girls do. Maybe some eighteen-year-old boys do. But I doubt it.)

After loads of time, more than I devoted to work certainly, sorting pictures both in boxes and on my desktop, I uploaded and printed and was ready to paste. My large, white poster board mocked me. “I dare you,” it said, “to leave me white. In fact, I double-dog dare you.” I could not, of course. I went out to look for wrapping paper that I could cut to fit, but was dissatisfied with either color or pattern. I came home surly and empty handed.

Looking down at a picture of my man-child standing on the side of the shallow end of the pool when he was two, his suit and hair dry, the shimmer of the water in the background looked so inviting. I pushed back my chair and opened the craft cabinet (which my boys call the “crap cabinet”) and pulled out my watercolors. In no time the poster and I were better. Paint, no surprise, was the answer.

While I paint on paper rarely, I paint on walls often. It’s difficult for me to keep my brushes from it. I’m midway through a project in my dining room (dining rooms being great spots for a little extra oomph) that is, again, white on a colored ground; for the last few weeks I’ve been creatively stalled. The chalk outlines call out to me, but I walk by pretending that I don’t see them. Spaces Kansas City’s 10th anniversary issue features a “celebration” on its cover. The table is beautifully styled, but this week I emailed my editor, “Whose house is that? And who is the artist?” It’s a mural that would delight as much at breakfast as New Year’s Eve. It inspired me, like the shimmer of the water in that photograph, to pick up my brushes again to sweep away the gloom of winter.

Mural by Tim Northcutt, T.J. Hawk’s Painting Plus. If you’d like contact information, please email me directly.

Circling Back Around

February 24, 2015UncategorizedMrs. Blandings

I wear bracelets every day. I don’t know why I have such an affinity for them. Even my watch, which is masculine and severe, is more bracelet than timepiece. Most days I wear the slim, hooked cuff that was my mother’s. Most days I wear the large link chain that I bought for myself to mark a milestone. Some days I wear the red beads that bring energy. Some days I wear the diamond bangles that mark the birth of my children.

As I contemplated a tattoo, there were a few phrases that lingered in my brain. For the last three New Year’s Eves, I have set an intention for the coming year. I write it on a thick, white card and seal it in an envelope that I keep on my desk. The idea is to open it on my birthday in August to see how I am doing. I usually cheat and open it earlier. Not too much earlier, but early.

So now I have three phrases that mean something to me; they have served me well. Too many, though, to ink upon my skin. But I like the idea of having them close to me. As with a tattoo, I didn’t need other people to be able to read them, not that I cared if they did, but the words were for me. I string some words for money, some for love and some for free, but a few I keep for myself.

I remembered that my friend, Sloane, has bracelets with words stamped into them. She represents the artist, Elle Binder, at her store, Stuff, and I asked her if I could have one made in gold. Gold, as you may or may not be aware, is quite expensive. Too expensive, it turns out, for someone who writes sometimes for money and love and free. But Binder also works in silver and is happy to finish her pieces in brass for those of us who need a warmer metal that is not so expensive.

“You need to have it sealed,” said Sloane when I picked it up. And I will. Soon. But for now I am delighted at the clear note it rings when it hits the links, a sound reminiscent of the bells in Mass calling my attention to the transformation, which is where my focus should be.