Shelf Life

March 3, 2010Uncategorizedblogs, Designers, Product, Vintage DesignMrs. Blandings

Jennifer Boles at the Peak of Chic recently posted about how fresh Albert Hadley’s work is. Even ten years after his apartment was published in Elle Decor it appears current. Timeless.

As I have been having a fantasy love affair with “Trixie” – the Red/Black on Off-White has been on my desk for months – I have noticed Hadley’s wallpapers popping up hear and there.

Here is Trixie in chic black and grey in Kate Rheinstein Brodsky’s New York kitchen.

Splatter in Eddie Ross’s window at Bloomingdale’s.

Reddish Rose in Elizabeth Mayhew’s daughter’s bedroom.

And local designer, Ann Egan’s, kitchen in the December/January issue of Spaces.

Christopher Spitzmiller has a stylish lamp named “Hadley,” and while I love it in this matte finish

I can’t help wondering what it would like like with the “Miro” pattern applied tone-on-tone

by Roy Hamilton.

Images from top, Elle Decor, February 2000, photography by Fernando Bengoechea, via the Peak of Chic, Hadley’s Connecticut home from Albert Hadley, The Story of America’s Preeminent Interior Designer by Adam Lewis, photography by Fernando Bengoechea; Brodsky’s apartment, Elle Decor, March 2010, photography by William Waldron; Bloomingdale’s window via Eddie Ross; Egan’s kitchen, Spaces, December/January 2009/10, photography by Aaron Leimkuehler; Hadley lamps from Christopher Spitzmiller; last image, my own.

Gibby Shelter

March 2, 2010UncategorizedMusings from the Dream House, Vintage DesignMrs. Blandings

Driving home from school yesterday the eldest Blandings boy said somewhat out of the blue, “I’m thinking since I like math I will either be an architect or an engineer.” Architect, hooray, engineer, hmmm.

The middle responded, “I thought you were going to be a movie critic.” “Oh, yeah, I’m going to be a movie critic at night.” I chimed in, “I could be wrong on this, but I think movie critics have some kind of training. A degree. Work experience. Something. You can’t just be a movie critic.”

The middle, again, “I’m going to be one of those guys on cooking shows who says if stuff is good or not.” “What?” “Yeah, you don’t have to go to college for that.” He doesn’t want to go to college, you see, as word has leaked that you have to leave home to do so. “Actually, a lot of those guys, most, have been to culinary school. Which would be awesome.”

“Then I’m going to go to culinary school for just one day and learn to make really excellent cookies. Then I can be the cookie judge.”

“I,” declared the youngest looking out the window resolutely, “am going to be a night watchman. At the Nelson.”

Really, who am I to judge? I went to school to learn to boss people around behind the scenes of television new shows and have spent the last thirteen years honing my skills at crocodile stuffing and macaw manufacturing. I have seen enough school productions to qualify for critical review, though I generally share these insights only with friends in the parking lot.

Some of us get side-tracked. Take T. H. Robsjohn-Gibbings. He went to architectural school and wound up hawking knock-off chairs uptown. Oh, and he was also a critic.

All images of Robsjohn-Gibbings’s designs from House & Garden, June, 1991; photography not credited.

Mud Pies

February 25, 2010UncategorizedAntique Dealers, DesignersMrs. Blandings

I was just telling local antique dealer, Rich Hoffman, “I have all these brown things. I don’t think I have enough stuff, yet I look around and I have all these brown things. And if you asked me, ‘Do you like brown things?’ I would say, ‘No, not really.'” I was telling him because I was admiring something brown at his and Christopher Filley’s shop.

Then, I ran across this picture of Steven Gambrel’s Sag Harbor entry. Featuring a bunch of brown things. Maybe I’m on to something.

Image from Annie Kelly’s Rooms to Inspire in the Country; photography by Tim Street-Porter.

(Will) I Love LA (?)

February 24, 2010UncategorizedOn AssignmentMrs. Blandings

Nick Olsen is California dreaming and so am I. I think I went to Los Angeles when I was a kid. I think. It’s a little foggy, but I have a vague memory of Disneyland. Megan Arquette at beachbungalow8 has been saying, “Come to LA!” for three years, but there’s always been the kids and their stuff and, well, it never happened. Then Elle Decor called and said, “Do you want to go to LA?” and I said, “Um. Sure!” Not that Elle Decor means more to me than Megan, but, well, you know.

Elle Decor is hosting a keynote panel on Wednesday, March 24th at 11a.m. moderated by editor, Margaret Russell. Panelist are Michael Bruno, founder of 1st dibs, interior designer, Vicente Wolf, Mayer Rus, Design and Culture Editor of the L.A. Times magazine – and me. Of, here. Funny, huh? The event takes place during WestWeek, which is all kinds of good design fun at the PDC.

I know it’s a month away, but it’s cold here and it’s warm there and I’m pretty darn excited. I’d love to see you there.

Bracelets I Cannot Afford

February 23, 2010UncategorizedBracelets I Cannot Afford, Musings from the Dream HouseMrs. Blandings

The newest selection in the on-going series now titled, “Bracelets I Cannot Afford.” While I love the black coral pictured above (it’s actually a necklace), I’d really like to have a bracelet made with the white branch coral pieces that I collected on my honeymoon. I wouldn’t even need the fittings to be jewel encrusted. That’s how grounded I am.

The necklace, and many other amazing pieces, at Kara Ross New York.

Image above from Elle, issue and photographer unknown.