Tag Archives: design books

Thoroughly Modern Me

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Do you take books on vacation?  You know, actual books?  Not a grainy seventy-five percent screen of text on an electronic tablet.  Books.

I do.  This trip I took A Moveable Feast, A Passage to India, The Hunger Games, Scat and a broad collection of  Poppleton.  Also, Metropolitan Home’s Design 100: The Last Word on Modern Interiors.  Normally, I do not take design books on vacation.  I often buy design books on vacation, happy to lug them home, but usually I don’t pack them to go along.

This time I did.  I miss Met Home and its unique, and I think broad, definition of “modern.”  The book is a wonderful collection of some of the highlights of the magazine’s thirty years of coverage.  There are great, large glossy pictures and short bits of copy, a happy balance for the design crazy.  This particular image, above, has stuck in my head for years.  I hunted through a stack of old issues five times to try to find it before giving up.  The work of architects David Lake and Ted Flato, I have thought of it half-a-dozen times since it was published; I am happy to have it in hand again.

Particularly charming is editor Michael Lassell’s introduction; it is the kind of writing that makes you think you might want to hang out with him and have a beer after work.  Which is kind of what he’s doing with the book.  Even if your design library leans a bit traditional, you should find good inspiration here.

Photo, top, photography by Erik Johanson, next, photography by John Ellis and last, photography by Langdon Clay, all images courtesy of Filipacchi Publishing 2010 for Design 100: The Last Word on Modern Interiors.

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Wandering Minds Want to Know

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As I push furniture and measure windows, I am thinking about what I want. What I want, which is something entirely different from what readers want or what is best or what is on-trend. As I think it over, or over think it, my mind’s eye is drawn to a couple of things. One, was Thomas Jayne’s new year resolution at Elle Decor, “I resolve to listen to my design instincts. At this point in my experience and education, my first reactions are often the best ones.”

The second was in Albert Hadley’s advice to those who are starting out on Architectural Digest’s web page, “The best rooms have history and meaning: photographs that remind you of someone, furniture that has a story. Whatever you put in your house should be interesting. I may not like it, but that doesn’t make any difference. And decorating is not about dollars and cents; it’s an emotional thing, it’s passion.”

I don’t have Jayne’s education and experience, of course, but I think his resolution and Hadley’s observation go hand in hand. I’m making my home. Mine.

And all this ruminating led me back to the books, as usual. This Los Angeles home in Hancock Park was built in 1938. Almost ’40’s, the decade whose aesthetic seems to be wired into my hard drive. The grounds, the patio, the wrought iron awning, all delightful.

But the dining room ceiling, a modification of the owner, is an update that enchanted me. It’s dramatic and subtle at the same time, reminiscent of plaster ceilings of the past while being clearly modern.
Further, the collage panels in the powder room contain butterflies, the heads of which are photos of family friends. And what struck me, was that these details are so completely personal. Nine people out of ten, perhaps anyone whose picture was not included, would walk by that wall without a second glance. But for the owners it is a treasure trove of sentiment.

Hadley, again, “Decorating has never been superficial. It has always represented the best of times. Now I’m talking about the rich, who have always furnished their houses elaborately. But even a cottage is a castle to the person who lives in it.”

Image, top, from Thomas Jayne; next, a Hadley design via Arch Digest for an on-line interview; the profile in the magazine was by Mitch Owens; all remaining images, Classic Homes of Los Angeles, which I received as a review copy, by Douglas Wells; photography by Melba Levick.

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Beguiling

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I’m a flirt. I always have been. I like a little playful banter that makes any hum-drum here or there feel like skipping through the park.

There was a time when I practiced the art in white shirt, plaid skirt. Now, the sideways glance coupled with a rapier sharp repartee turns any obligation into a bit of a tour de force. (OK, it’s true, I did not always choose my sparring partner based on wit; that came later.)

And why not? Now, it’s harmless. Genteel grown-up fun as long as boundaries are very carefully observed.

So will I keep driving by White Wall’s house? Happen to be up at school just as he is leaving basketball practice? Call and hang up when he answers the phone? (There are those of us who remember being able to do this before technology became such a narc.)

Can I let color be the sauce upon the noodles? The curry on the rice? We’ll see, but I have certainly altered my route to pep club and the grocery store and my best friend’s house. Just to catch a glimpse of him walking out the door.

All images Farrow & Ball, Living with Colour by Ros Byam Shaw (which contains lots – lots – of great images with color on the walls as well); photography by Jan Baldwin.
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The Finest Rooms in America

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I was in New York last week and was delighted that I was able to talk with Thomas Jayne about his new book, The Finest Rooms in America.


Many of you may have The Finest Rooms by America’s Great Decorators published in 1965. While several of the selections in the vintage book have a very similar feel, Jayne’s do not. As Jayne said, “It was a microcosm of New York decorating. Today there is not a clear group [of decorators], not a single shared aesthetic. Not everyone wants a French room.”

He notes that his book is a completely subjective compilation. Once he’d conceived the project he sat down to make a list of the thirty rooms he would like to see in the book. He had it in short measure. He then went back to fill in the gaps, “like the big, flouncy chintz room. It needed that.” He was able to secure nearly every room on his wish list.

There are not “new” projects in the book, though there were a few that were new to me. In addition, many of my favorite rooms do appear on the pages and I did not have them in printed form before, like the Brody House by Billy Haines and the Menil house by Charles James. I told Jayne that Suzanne Trocme’s Influential Interiors was, yes, influential to me. Perhaps a retread to others, Trocme’s book introduced me to many names in design history.

This is part of the value of Jayne’s book as well, to see a clear perspective, a distinct point of view, in what will last; it is a bonus to have them all in one lovely place.
For a schedule of book signings click here.
All images from The Finest Rooms in America courtesy of Monacelli Press. From top, Monticello photographed by Paul Rocheleau; Hadley’s sitting room by Kerri McCaffety; Mary Cooper House, McCaffety; Oceanfront House, Scott Frances; Francis Brody House, Oberto Gili.
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Bringing the World to You

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The World of Madeleine Castaing. Leopard and turquoise and garden seats with a little black and white thrown in.

Really, I think we might have been friends.

Fortunately, Emily Evans Eerdmans, Castaing’s biographer, and I are friends and she’s coming to Kansas City to sign books on Friday. Emily will be at Parrin & Co., Barbara Farmer’s beautiful shop (pictured above) at 45th and State Line. All the shops will be open and, yes, I do think it will be a bit of a party.
Parrin & Co.
1717 W. 45th St.
4:30 – 7:30
I am going to try and be there most of the time (anything for a free drink) and would love to see you there. Give Barbara a ring if you have any questions – 816/753-7959. Copies of the book will be on hand for purchase.
Images, two top, from the World of Madeleine Castaing, photographs by Roland Beaufre.
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