Tag Archives: Designers

At Home

March 3, 2009UncategorizedDesignersMrs. Blandings

This is the room where I crept and studied, brushing silk and running my hand behind the beaded passamenterie of the curtains while Bruce and I talked and he rummaged through books.

This is where designer Bruce Burstert lives and works and while it is tidy and photo ready here, it had more of the creative jumble that you see on the pages of World of Interiors when I was there.

Across the front hall is the music room. Bruce took his inspiration for the curtains from Albert Hadley’s sitting room for Mrs. John Hay Whitney.

He needed fifteen mercury glass tie-backs to complete the project.

“That,” he says, “was not a cheap date.”

The color of the walls is nothing short of magic. Bruce mixed and applied the chrome green glaze himself.

You can see that the entire project was a labor of love, and project it was. The house was built in 1838 and is the oldest frame house in the county.

Bruce’s careful renovation and his love of Missouri and Midwest furniture have restored its luster.

I love a little home grown talent. Pictures of the shop tomorrow.

All images courtesy of Kansas City Home Design; photography by Bob Greenspan.

At Work

March 2, 2009UncategorizedDesignersMrs. Blandings

Hunting and gathering for Spaces has offered up some good quests. While unearthing treasures at Christopher Filley’s for blown glass I asked him where else I should go.

“Well, you have to go see Bruce.” Bruce Burstert. Until recently Bruce operated out of a shop on Southwest Boulevard. He had a reputation for being the go-to guy for rugs, but he also carried a fine selection of primarily American antiques.

Bruce grew up in Richmond, Missouri and has an affinity for the state and for Missouri history. He has owned a home in Lexington, about an hour east of Kansas City, for the last several years. Recently, he moved there full time and opened a shop in the basement of the River Reader bookstore downtown.

“If you’re lucky, maybe you can meet him at the house. You’ll love it,” said Chris. Oh, he does know me. Meeting with Bruce was a treat. We talked about glass and collecting and living in Lexington.

Then he said, “Have you seen the Bingham of Mrs. Shackelford?” and we were off. He searched through bookcases and stacks for his Bingham book while I moved slowly about the space admiring his things and enjoying the stories of how they came to be a part of his home.

I was aware that he was an interior designer as well. One book lay open to Nancy Lancaster’s butter yellow drawing room and I was curious what inspiration he was drawing from the image, one that he must have seen a million times. The Bingham book did not turn up, but he pulled from a stack an older Kansas City Home Design featuring one of his projects.

“Bruce, I must,” and he demurred. Pictures of his own home will appear here tomorrow.

All images courtesy of Kansas City Home Design, Sept./Oct. 2007, photography by Bob Greenspan.

Surprised?

February 25, 2009UncategorizedDesignersMrs. Blandings

When I posted Dee Dee Arnold’s apartment recently a few folks asked if I could get my mitts on any more images of George Terbovich’s work. Unlikely, I thought, until my editor from Spaces reminded me that they had run another of George’s projects in their June/July 2006 issue.

A little surreal, isn’t it? I know, I’ve been off for a few days and you are thinking that I am a bit confused, but no. Same George.

And the thing is, neither of these homes typifies his look. I’ve seen three others besides these two that Spaces has published and they are completely distinct.

There are some similarities. An intense focus on detail. A commitment to wait for the right piece. Truly, perfect pitch. Each time.

There is the unobtrusive mix of old and new.

A dedication to revealing the voice of the owner, not the decorator.

OK, I’m gushing.

I see these images and wonder what George would think of my jumble of color and hand-me-downs and nonsense.

I do know he wouldn’t come in and wave his arm and say, “White! It needs to be all white!” Because that isn’t me and he isn’t interested in inflicting his taste on anyone.

But we should be so lucky.

All photos courtesy of Spaces; photography by Landon Collis.

I Have the Blues

February 11, 2009UncategorizedDesignersMrs. Blandings

You might remember that a while back I had a wonderful evening in the home of a very chic woman-about-town.

I had my camera with me (I almost always do) and I longed to snap her home right then and there, but my editor at Spaces beat me to the punch.

So, I waited. Fortunately, not long, as this month’s issue features Dee Dee Arnold’s captivating condo.

I was besotted, of course, because the space is so distinctly personal. While there Dee Dee gave us the full tour and each piece has a little story.

Do not ask me for the paint color. To begin, it’s custom, and further it’s been translated twice, first by the camera and then by your screen. But, yes, it is divine.

Dee Dee is dear friends with my former employer, designer George Terbovich. He is directly responsible for the paint color, inspired by Madeleine Castaing, and the black moldings.

And maybe a thing or two here and there, but the beauty of George’s work is that, when complete, it looks like its owner and not its designer.

Many of Arnold’s pieces were inherited from her family and some has been acquired here and there about town.

If you are thinking “dramatic” or “stunning” or “bright,” well, yes, it’s all those things.

Just like Dee Dee.

Vintage Seals the Deal

January 22, 2009UncategorizedDesignersMrs. Blandings

Courtney Barnes of Style Court posted a while back on repurposing a piece of your grandmother’s needlepoint to add a soulful touch to modern digs. While going through the House & Gardens I ran across this charming vignette from Annie Selke from July 2006. The hooked fan pillow is particularly charming. While not your grandmother’s, it gives a new room additional vintage charm. It appears the pillow is still part of Selke’s collection through Dash and Albert.

There were several other elements of this home that would be inexpensive ways to freshen up. Lusterware plates like these can be found at several of the antique malls here in Kansas City.

In addition, there are currently framed, pressed botanicals at Pear Tree, Curious Sofa and Christopher Filley’s. While not quite as inexpensive as the plates, Selke does a nice job with this arrangement by using just one. One might be in the budget.

The same could be said of the butterfly print on the table, above. A framed print on an easel might just brighten up a tired tablescape.

And, while slightly more ambitious, the craftiest among you could reproduce the bamboo below the chair rail from Selke’s dining room.

The bathtub, sadly, may cost more than my car, but that glimpse of white wicker? The vintage mirror? These as well as the light fixture and portrait can easily be found in one trip River Market Antiques or something similar in your town. Keep the backgrounds clean and fresh, as Selke has done here, and these inexpensive, vintage pieces will shine like treasures.

Dash and Albert available in town at Stuff in Brookside. By the way, I have not torn one page from the stack of House & Gardens. I just keep pulling them out and saying, “Oh! Oh, yes, I loved this one,” and then putting them back on the shelf. Photography on the images above Andrew Bordwin.