Black and White and Green All Over

October 17, 2011UncategorizedMrs. B at Home, Mrs. B DIYMrs. Blandings

A few months ago a dealer called and said, “I found some chairs you might like. I thought I might clean them up myself, but if you want them I’ll sell them to you.” At first I couldn’t decide if they were better than my old chairs, or just different. In the end I decided better.

Obviously, they needed to be painted. The dealer thought they should stay light, as did the landscape designer, but the curtains may have a Miles Redd-inspired ruffle and I thought the sweetness of the room needed to be cut a little bit. So I preceded to turn my dining room into a work room and, as Mr. Blandings is not me, he didn’t say a peep. For weeks.

Painting things black I got. The gold detailing is more vexing than the entire wall project. Times ten.

Still. I am determined.

Full Circle

October 13, 2011UncategorizedMusings from the Dream HouseMrs. Blandings

Truth be told, a great deal of the clothes in my closet could be from the boys’ department. Dungarees, oxfords and loafers. I still wear a watch, want a watch, need a watch and am pretty sure the only one that will ever grace my wrist will be a man’s. When I dress up, mostly my selection is lean. Sheath. Pencil skirt. Heels. I like the exclamation.

But I love a full skirt. I love the sway of it, the swing of it, the breeze of it. When you walk in a full skirt you can’t help but shift your hips a little. The same motion, form fitting, would shout “tart,” but here, encircled in yards of fabric, the movement just whispers “flirt.”

When you walk in a full skirt with a long stride, its folds can catch between your legs, wrap around your wrist. You feel the hem brushing the front of your shin, the back of your calf. When you stop, it still moves. A slight swirl before it rests. And in all that girlish vulnerability there is just a hint of easy accessibility.

Image of Jil Sander Spring Ready-to-Wear via Vogue.com.

New Heights

October 4, 2011UncategorizedOut and AboutMrs. Blandings

A reader recently asked me about the Kauffman Center for Performing Arts. In case you are out of the loops Kansas City, performing arts and architecture, the Center, designed by Moshe Safdie, is the recently completed home of our symphony, ballet and a venue for a variety of performing arts organizations in town.

Mr. Blandings and I took a hard hat tour last Fall and the space is remarkable.

I was working at the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation when his widow, Muriel McBrien Kauffman, began to envision this project.

While Mrs. Kauffman’s foundation could have absorbed much of the original projected costs of the building, the trustees felt it was significant that the community feel that the Center was its own. It is a testament to their leadership that it was built with private funds and the city has embraced it so completely.

Opening weekend was a few weeks ago with loads of hoopla, though Bill and I did not attend. I am taking our middle son to see Tom Sawyer next week and am filled with anticipation for the performance, but also with seeing the ballet, and the building, through 11-year-old eyes.

Seriously, you cannot take a bad picture of this remarkable structure; it soars. For more information on the Kauffman Center click here; to purchase tickets to Tom Sawyer, a new ballet choreographed by William Whitener, music by Maury Yeston, click here. To see a terrific slideshow of the space with images by Paul Warchol (including this one) at ArchDigest.com click here. All other images my own.

Out and About – Omaha

September 26, 2011UncategorizedOut and AboutMrs. Blandings

I was in Omaha last weekend to attend the Lauritzen Garden Antique Show. I had spoken to a few dealers before I left and all agreed that one of the draws of the show was the remarkable hospitality provided by their hostesses. I was the very grateful recipient of this hospitality, which extended to a wonderful dinner in a private home Friday night.

While we were having a tour of the house I stopped dead in the upstairs hall. Hanging there, nonchalant and elegant, vibrant and graphic, was Sonia Delauney. We’d met, Ms. Delauney and I, at the Cooper-Hewitt last spring and were surprised to bump into one another again in Omaha.

Charlotte Moss was the speaker at that day’s luncheon and she began her talk by noting that all of our experiences are tucked away somewhere and they surface as inspiration and reference points as we move through the world. I’d expected good things in Omaha, but I had not expected to be able to press my nose to the glass of a Sonia Delauney painting. There is wonder everywhere we go.

Image via the Cooper-Hewitt. This was not the painting in the hall, though it was similar. I did not, literally, press my nose to the glass. I swear.

Patchwork

September 22, 2011UncategorizedMusings from the Dream HouseMrs. Blandings

In one of the preschool grades of our children’s school there was a block on the curriculum entitled “TNT.” Try New Things. I thought it was delightful. Then again, when one is four there are so many new things coming toward you that I imagine the idea behind this is as much acquiring coping skills as broadening one’s horizons.

In the last few weeks we have started a number of new things. My oldest’s transition into high school has been remarkably smooth. And busy. I have started a couple of new projects at home and away. And Mr. Blandings and I have started taking horseback riding lessons. “Why?” seems to be the common response to this news and, as it was my idea, I feel the need to justify it somehow, but really it just sounded fun.

It is fun, but it is harder than I thought it would be. I was aware that I usually don’t want to try something at which I don’t think I will be successful. This doesn’t reflect well on me, I know, but there it is. I was, let’s say, impatient at the first lesson. I wasn’t getting it and Bill was and I found it annoying. (Both my not getting it and his getting it.) In addition, during the lesson I realized I don’t like it when people tell me what to do. Even this perfectly lovely and capable woman whom I was paying to instruct me. Who was helping me. Obviously, there were lessons that needed learning beyond keeping my feet flat and my knees in. TNT.

Thanks for your patience while I have patched things together over the last couple of weeks. I am headed to Omaha today to try another new thing. If you are anywhere near the area do come up, over or down to the Lauritzen Garden Antique Show. Lauritzen is one of the best antique shows in the country. Both Charlotte Moss and Suzanne Rheinstein will be there speaking and shopping. I will be wandering around as well. My second riding lesson was yesterday so if you see someone who looks like me with a little hitch in her get-along, please say “hello.” More information on the show and its events here.

Image, the work of Roberto Peregalli and Laura Sartori Rimini, featrured in Vogue, October 2011; photography by Andrea Passuell for Rizzoli.