Lynn von Kersting Shares Cottage Style Know How

Lynn von Kersting has another feature in the Summer 2008 issue of decorating, one of those special interest publications done by Better Homes and Gardens. At $5.99 these slim quarterly issues are nice little spin-off money makers. One wonders what makes an editor choose to put a major designer/decorator such as Lynn von K in the spin-off, rather than feature her in the main magazine. Anyway, it is a pleasant surprise, that makes an otherwise ordinary super market magazine rack offering very special. And of course that's why I bought it, instead of putting it back on the impulse buy rack once my checkout was completed. In all fairness, the enitire slim issue packs in several nice offerings.
I had to do a double take, since I saw another von K house featured in the June/July issue of Western Interiors HERE
Both homes are in the Los Angeles area, and both have similar use of fabrics and furniture, but they are not one and the same home. So if you're a Lynn von Kersting fan, pick up this issue.

Signature von K elements: prints, comfort, color, collections

Ticking stripes and shell covered mirror look fresh again,
and I love the colored silk Burmese lanterns

Lynn does another brilliant DR chair -
remember the red stripe one we all love in Western Interiors?

I have not seen this much editorial on Lynn von Kersting. Joni Webb at Cote de Texas did a wonderful piece on her, naming her #7 on the Cote de Texas Top Ten Designers list, where she used several von K photos HERE. Joni noted that published pictures of Lynn's work are rare, and that there is no von Kersting book. You can of course see her work at her store in Los Angeles. Lynn is a special type of designer - she owns a restaurant (The Ivy) that has been a watering hole for the celeb set for a long time (maybe 20 years by now). She has her store Indigo Seas, which is styled to the nines. Through the store, and by word of mouth of many happy clients, comes her commissions to do interior design and decoration.
It is so refreshing to see Lynn keep traditional and romantic decor alive and well and current, especially in the Los Angeles/Palm Springs mecca of all things Mid Century fabulous.
It is curious that her work is appearing in what I think of as off- shoot and regional publications (Western Interiors and decorating). The big two guns left standing, Elle Decor and Domino, haven't published any of Lynn's current work yet.
I predict we will see a Lynn von Kersting book very soon!

The entryway: More stripe ticking
Note the white tile floor - something many of us have
How "green" of her not to rip it up, but make it work

A guest room using all the things that we love,
that have been discarded for the Domino groovy rooms:
Chintz, florals, quilts, wicker!

The master bedroom - there's that red stripe we love
used on another style of chair to great effect


Detail of a corner in the master bedroom -
Another fab shell covered mirror -
Love the turquoise accent color
used throughout the entire house

Below: Another dining area on the sun porch
I love the straw fan display on the mantle

Do Style Bloggers Have To Be Beautiful And Young? Photos Of Your Favorite Bloggers

I am just catching up with the decor and design blog postings, as I have been distracted and detached lately. I subscribe to a few faves, and Mrs. Blandings posted this photo of herself (on the left), and Heather of Habitually Chic. They met on the Inter Net, and Heather visited Kansas City, where Mrs. Blandings lives, and they got together and made a festive time of it HERE
Many commented on how adorable they both look. Indeed they are just what you would think authors of blogs to do with design, decor, and style would look like.

Elaine from Decorno


Melissa from Sneaky Chic

I have been e-mailing a few other popular bloggers, asking them for their photos for a survey, guessing game, or article I had in mind. Some have declined. Most have sent me a photo, or told me where I could find one of them or of a fellow blogger. Most of these bloggers are women, and most are very attractive, and most are young or young looking.
Does it matter if a blogger is good looking or young or well groomed or stylish in order to have credibility with their readers while making pronouncements on matters of style? Should bloggers hide what they look like? Some ask not to be photographed. As blogs become more important as on line magazines, other media outlets do feature stories on them, and often publish a photo of the face behind the beautiful-to-look-at, and well written blog.

Joni from Cote De Texas
with her daughter

I have so many nice photos, and I thank you all for sending them. Blogs are often a launch point for media recognition, and many photos are in the public domain (mine included). And of course the face and space sites are wildly popular, and have kind of taken the edge off personal revelations at every level.
So many of us work at home either full or part time these days, wearing and working in PJs all day, only pulling ourselves together for a video conference call, or to run errands outside the house. Those are photos we don't have to see LOL!
For fun, I will publish three or four photos of the top design bloggers every week. Would you like me to tell you who the bloginista is, or would you like to guess?
I like having a face to associate the writer with. So many other things are revealed in our blogs, some of it personal, so why not see a photo of who we invite into our homes on daily basis?

A Star Is Born: Decor In Movies

Judy Garland as Vicky Lester in the film "A Star Is Born"
in the fabulous Mid Century Malibu living room set
designed by Gene Allen and decorated by George James Hopkins

Billy Haines designed all three of these rooms;
his was the main influence on the set design

Lindley Associates, located in Los Angeles, California is carrying on
the Haines legacy by faithfully reproducing the original Haines furniture designs -
Peter Schifando and J. Jonathan Joseph are extending
the Haines aesthetic with painstaking accuracy
and fulfilling the current demand for Hollywood Regency design

You can go to William Haines Designs HERE

I have been watching television, and the other day the old movie "A Star Is Born" came on. There are three versions - one from the 1930's with Janet Gaynor and Frederic March; one from the 195o's with Judy Garland and James Mason; and the third from the 1970's with Barbra Streisand and Kris Kristofferson. I watched the one from 1954.
The other star of this movie, is the fabulous set design. The Malibu home of the newly married Vicky and Norman (Judy and James), is an ode to the best of Mid Century Modern.
The influence of Billy Haines is attributed, though I see alot of Tony Duquette influence as well. It's all very swell and grand and fun, and it is the image I hold in my mind as the essential version of Hollywood glam, only to be compared to the great Art Deco Moderne sets of the 1930's Astaire and Rogers films.
As usual there are not many film stills or photographs of this important set design. So you must rent the movie and see it for yourself.
I like to play a little game with film sets I like. The game is, could I recreate it (money no object). I made a list of the things I saw, and started looking on the Internet, the best place to shop. Of course you can find nearly everything, if not the same designs, certainly one can find pieces of similar look and era and pedigree. So I put together a little photo essay with some of the things I found including rooms by Billy Haines and Tony Duquette. While searching I found an excellent article about the interior design done for the film at Jet Set Modern HERE
Below is an excerpt, along with photos of various sites I scouted online to build my dream A Star Is Born living room.

Tony Duquette Hollywood Glam

Playing with color pillows in my living room

"A STAR IS MODERN" by Sandy McLendon

Gene Allen was tapped to design the sets, George James Hopkins to do the set decoration, and George Hoyningen-Huene to consult on color.

The Malibu location specified in the story was already known to audiences as a scenic, desirable place to live, and the house could be showcased in a production number planned for the movie. Titled "Someone At Last", it was the last section of the movie that could be considered lighthearted; the story careened into its darkest territory after the number ended.

Set designer Gene Allen took his cues on building the house from several sources. There was his own familiarity with how movie stars lived. He had seen the Case Study Houses being built in Los Angeles. And he knew just how far he could go with lavishness, because he worked for Jack L. Warner.

Warner had one of the finest estates in Hollywood- nine acres landscaped by Florence Yoch, who had landscaped Tara for Gone With the Wind. The house itself could only be called magnificent; it had been decorated by the most expensive interior designer in Hollywood, Billy Haines.

Jack Warner home done by Billy Haines -
Note the Chinoiserie wallpaper on the right

Done in an eclectic mixture of Georgian, Chinese, and Billy Haines-designed moderne, the décor was the most famous in town. Gene Allen appropriated several Haines "touches" for his set design; the borrowings were necessary because using Haines himself was out of the question.

The first reason was that Billy Haines was considered pricey even by the standards of a town where money flowed like water. The second was that Haines had had a taste of working in the movies, and wasn't interested in going back to them. He'd been an M-G-M star back in the silent era, becoming very popular and doing excellent work, notably in 1928's Show People, with Marion Davies. His performing career ended over his personal life: Haines was gay, and he didn't care who knew it. M-G-M head Louis B. Mayer did care, and dumped Haines at the first slump in his box-office popularity. Unfazed, Haines drew on his established talent as a decorator- his own house was the most beautiful in town- and built a whole new career. Gene Allen emulated the chinoiserie Haines had sold Warner, as well as the mogul's private projection system, with a screen that rose from the floor, assisted by a water-powered pump. In addition to paying homage to Haines' work for Warner, Allen also may have been inspired by a house Haines had decorated for Fox mogul William Goetz and his wife Edie, who was, curiously enough in view of Haines' movie-career downfall, Louis B. Mayer's daughter. The Goetz residence had glowing light-grey walls, modern furniture, and a collection of Modern and Impressionist art so extravagant it encompassed Picassos and Renoirs.

A room by Tony Duquette, using the same elements of Impressionist art,
glowing grey walls, Chinoiserie, modern furniture,
that inspired the decor in the film

More Duquette Hollywood Glam

Following standard movie-making practice of the time, the Malibu house Allen designed was built mainly as an interior set; only a small portion of the exterior was built. Matte painting superimposed a painted house on real Malibu footage for exterior shots. The major portion of the house seen onscreen was the living room, and for all its apparent Fifties Modern simplicity, it was one of the most complicated and expensive sets in ASIB to design, furnish, and decorate.

Allen gave the house a Fifties Modern look loosely based on the Case Study Houses, but "warmed up" for mass-audience consumption with pickled oak paneling and details. Set decorator George James Hopkins was responsible for choosing the furniture and accessories for the living room, and his sensitivity to the needs of the movie resulted in what may be the best work of Hopkins' long career. He began with two Edward Wormley sofas by Dunbar, one brown, one gold. He also turned to Dunbar for a Wormley game table and chairs that were very reminiscent of Billy Haines' famous furniture designs.

Top photo shows Judy sitting at the game table;
second photo is Billy Haines game table and chairs;
third photo is a chair in the same vein now on istdibs

His lighting choices included an Arteluce three-arm adjustable pole lamp designed by Gino Sarfatti in 1950, and the latest fad of the early 50's in the game room- a Gotham Lighting pull-down fixture. A Paul Frankl table for Johnson Furniture was in the living room, as was a most curious pair of Barcelona chairs with ottomans.

Above: Frankl style coffee table now at istdibs

Tony Duquette living room with Frankl style coffee table

White Barcelona chair behind Judy Garland

The chairs appear to be the Knoll version, but the ottomans are clearly copies, perhaps to lighten the weight Judy Garland would have to handle as she moved them during the sequence. In addition, the chairs are obviously re-upholstered; the cushions are not as well detailed as original Knoll cushions would have been, appearing somewhat overstuffed. This was probably due to Hopkins' choice of white for their color. The furnishings were complimented by Impressionist and Modern art that included a real Maurice de Vlaminck painting, and by some Chinese pieces that included a lamp and a T'ang Dynasty camel sculpture.

Chinese camels turned into lamps at istdibs with politically correct shades

To complete the set, Hopkins found many small accessories that looked perfectly appropriate and innocuous, but which would become props for Judy Garland's send-up of M-G-M musical production numbers.

The problem was that it served as the setting for "Someone At Last"; in that song, Judy Garland performed a delicious spoof of all the M-G-M musical numbers she was famous for, creating the fantasy that the room and its furnishings had become the ultimate Hollywood soundstage. Everything in the room had to support the premise, and serve the number's action.

And how well it all worked! "Someone At Last" began with Garland calling "Lights! Camera! Action!" as she swiveled the Arteluce lamp's arms into position for lights,

Arteluce lamp like the one Judy used-you can get it on istdibs

rolled her tea cart into the shot to serve as a "camera",

Vintage tea cart on eBay HERE

and swung into the action of the number. As the music played on a Fifties hi-fi system built into a chinoiserie cabinet,

Two hi fi cabinets - the top one is by Tommy Parzinger
the bottom one is unsigned - both are for sale at 1stdibs

and the CinemaScope cameras played lovingly over the expansive set, Garland lip-synched, and simulated everything found in a Hollywood production number with what was to be found in the living room. One of the Barcelona ottomans was stripped of its cushion so that its straps could be played as a harp

X-base stool like the one used as a harp - you can get this on istdibs

Barcelona chair like the ones used in the set design -
you can see why the structure of the chair would lend itself
to being imagined as the harp Judy played

("there's always a harp in a dream sequence!"), and the Dunbar table and chairs became the Eiffel Tower for a lampoon of Edith Piaf. Garland plucked two leaves from a philodendron in a bullet planter

Bullet planter on eBay HERE

to use them as a stripper costume, holding them to her bosom and then dropping them in a merciless send-up of every bored blasé strip-tease "artiste" who ever was. Since 1954 was not a politically correct era, the number included Judy as a Chinese girl in a coolie hat improvised from- of course- the coolie lampshade from her Chinese lamp. The room's tiger-skin rug became a tiger costume for Garland in an African-inspired moment. Even the sofa pillows got into the act:

Multi color pillows in a Tony Duquette room
very much like the ones Judy played with

Judy used a striped bolster as a concertina and a ruffled pink pillow as a can-can skirt. A pair of salt and pepper mills on the tea cart became maracas for the "Brazilian" part of the song. At the end of the sequence, Garland and Mason barricaded themselves into a fort devised from the Wormley sofas (like the ones pictured below currently on 1stdibs; also pictured is a pair of Billy Haines sofas that also look very much like the sofas used in the movie, and they are also on 1stdibs) and shot it out with imaginary bad guys in a Wild West bit.

James (as Norman) and Judy (as Vicky)
sitting on the Dunbar sofas -
note the color toss pillows

Top photo below shows a pair of Billy Haines sofas
that look very much like the ones in the movie
The second photo is a Dunbar sofa both are for sale on 1stdibs
The third photo is a current Billy Haines sofa made for William Haines Designs

The most inspired moment may have been when James Mason manipulated the controls of the room's private movie projection system, making its screen rise from the floor and its projector run without film. Garland cavorted in front of the screen; the flickering, strobing beam from the projector made her look as if she was performing in a silent movie.

I leave you with one last photo of Judy rehearsing the big living room number -
It shows the fabulous drapes and a bit of the Arteluce lamp
casting a shadow in the left hand corner

Stephanie From The O.C. Makes It To Become The 9th Contestant On HGTV Design Star

She won the online vote
to become the 9th contestant
on the third season of
HGTV Design Star

It's cheesy and riveting. It had the tears of a queen, and lots of squeals and groans. The first challenge of the group having to build there own shelter can't be for real. There they were with their luggage in the rain with the WTF look on their faces. I'll be watching on Sunday, and afterwards the premiere of Rate My Space.
Here's a letter from HGTV that I got, and pass onto to you:

Hello Valorie,

I hope your Monday is going well. I’m curious if you had a chance to see the season three premiere of Design Star on HGTV last evening. I am eager to hear your thoughts on the final contestant revealed as well as the design samples the finalists presented.

I also wanted to send a quick reminder about the sweepstakes that started this past Friday, June 6th where viewers can enter for a chance to win a $5,000 shopping spree to Sears or a $5,000 gift card from Lumber Liquidators.
http://www.hgtv.com/hgtv/design_star/

And be sure to check out your Design Star IQ to learn some fun facts about the show and contestants such as whose childhood dream it was to marry David Bowie….

I hope you’ll tune in Sunday at 9pm to see which designer wins the first challenge and to find out who gets eliminated. As always, do feel free to contact me at any time with questions or comments.

Thanks,
Margot Inzetta
360i on behalf of HGTV

In The Pink

Whew!
From Italian Vogue

Everything is fine!
Bringing him home today.
Life is amazing.
To quote a great Southern belle: I've always depended on the kindness of strangers...
The people we met at the hospital from the surgeon to the nurses, to the other folks waiting around for news of their loved ones, to the cafeteria and gift shop workers, to the volunteers manning the help desk - well you take it all for granted as just being there, until you feel like you're going to break into a million little pieces, and then they are all there to keep you in one piece.
And this Yankee gal also depends on the kindness of friends who have become our family, and on the love of our families by birth right.
Thank you all for being there, for the comments, the e-mails, the phone calls, for taking Cholo out for a walk while we were at the hospital, for the flowers being sent, for reminding us that we matter.
Life is so enjoyable.

Barry Wine, An Original Decorator

I love the mannequins and the rug and the Barcelona chairs
Can you be kooky and have good taste?

I can't sleep, so I am reading The Sunday New York Times on line. I came across this article, which made me smile. Lately I have been wondering about all the original decorators out there, like are they a dying breed? Nowadays with so much HGTV (and other TV design, decor, DYI, flipped out houses), more decor magazines coming and going, design and decor blogs, it seems like most people want to aspire to making their personal spaces look like someone else's. To sell a house, we have to neuter it. To be magazine worthy, we have to ape what the magazines sell us.
I come from a place and time where such conformity was mocked, and certainly not appreciated as talent. I myself have been mocked for my decorating point of view, which I always prided as being unique. A stint on Rate My Space knocked me silly, and had me rushing to conform for approval. Luckily I came to my senses, and got back in touch with who I am, and thus, I have left the vintage medical hand colored illustrations of life size skeletons (front and back view) hanging in the guest room, along with a collection of crosses. I also kept my Gris Gris altar, something many New Orleans homes wouldn't be without.
So here we have Barry Wine's home as featured in The Sunday New York Times, and it feels so good to see somebody from my tribe getting some ink.

The headboard is fashioned from antique frames
glued together and hung from the ceiling
I love the collection of saint paintings -
I have a collection of women saint paintings

In the guest bathroom downstairs,
the limited-edition Nana polyester shower curtain
by the painter Lisa Yuskavage cost $1,500
"a very extravagant shower curtain," Mr. Wine said.
He bought it during Art Basel Miami Beach in 2006.

From The Sunday New York Times:

ON a recent afternoon, Barry Wine ladled out thick, homemade clam chowder to friends gathered around his marble kitchen island. Then he poured the leftovers into a steel canister and inserted the canister into his Pacojet, a $4,000 machine that will make ice cream out of nearly anything. If clam chowder ice cream turns out to be delicious, Mr. Wine, who was the owner and chef of the Quilted Giraffe in the 1970s and ’80s, will have scored another culinary triumph.
The same adventurous spirit that informs Mr. Wine’s cooking — Marian Burros in The New York Times called it “what other chefs aspired to” — pervades his freewheeling approach to interior design. In the living room, a mannequin is suspended from chains attached to the ceiling. Rorschach ink blots are displayed as art. On the second floor, an extra dining table that belonged to Mr. Wine’s father and stepmother in Detroit is set with plastic replicas of the foods he ate as a child. (The tub of fake cream cheese is utterly convincing.) A dozen or so Manolo Blahnik boxes, which Mr. Wine found outside the shoe store on West 54th Street in Manhattan, form a shrine-like sculpture.
The whimsical, anything-goes approach would seem more at home in a Williamsburg loft than on a bucolic estate in upstate New York with views of the Shawangunk Mountains. But Mr. Wine, 65, has always had the sensibility of a downtown artist and the ambitions of a country squire.
He has managed to satisfy both in one lifetime. He and his wife, Susan, opened the first Quilted Giraffe in New Paltz in 1975, after he gave up a career as a Wall Street lawyer. They moved the restaurant to Manhattan in 1979. Though Mr. Wine had never taken a cooking class — the closest he came, he said, was working at a McDonald’s in Milwaukee while he was in high school — he was lionized for his creations.In 1973, the couple had purchased 80 acres in New Paltz, which included a stone house built by Dutch Huguenots in 1797. They used it as their main home until they moved to Manhattan, when it became a weekend residence. In 1992, when their restaurant closed, they took up full-time residence again.

See more photos and read more HERE

And yes I dined at The Quilted Giraffe many times, and it had a fabulous decor as well as fabulous food.

Waiting

Valorie and Alberto
in their dance parlor at home
Sunday, June 8, 2008

A car winds its way through the dark streets of a sleepy residential neighborhood, tucked in for the night at the respectable hour of 10 o'clock. Like in postcards, the skyscrapers and bright lights of the city are visible at a distance, taunting the bedroom community of clock-watchers. On nearby hills, the fog rolls in. Here it's clear and the stars are competing with the skyline for center stage.
After circling around several times, he teases the car into a tight parking spot on the steep incline. She can hardly get out of the car because of the pitch of the hill causes the car door to close on her. He runs around to her side of the car and helps her out. Arm in arm, they trudge up the hill. A half-block away, they hear the faint sounds of an unusual instrument they know is a bandoneon. They quicken their pace. The music has them. Invisible tendrils of wispy arms encircle them and push them upward into the embrace of this delicious sound. They look up at the open windows and see the dancers in the dim light, a media luz. They reach the top of the hill now, and the entire city shines in front of them. They are on top of their world. One last look, and in they go, up the dark and winding stairway. Quick hellos, kisses, and hugs; they hurry to change shoes. Their eyes meet and lock onto each other's. He walks to her. She blends into his arms. They breathe deeply, and whoosh, they are on the dance floor, where they will remain for hours and hours, transported, transformed, renewed. They have lived another day to dance the tango.

We're waiting. Surgery today at 2 PM.
Our heartfelt thanks for all your prayers and good wishes.

Above excerpt is from our book Gotta Tango (by Alberto Paz and Valorie Hart)

Wedding-Annie Wright and Adam Anik

Annie Wright married Adam Anik at the house
her father Russel Wright built

in Garrison, New York called Dragon Rock He also designed pottery
Pitchers of his design were used
for the flower arrangements

The yellow stripe tent was chosen
to compliment the bride's favorite
flower, the California poppy

Stacks of Russel Wright plates
for the buffet service

I am stressed out. The hubs has to go for surgery on Tuesday to unclog his carotid artery. One is already shot, but one can be saved.
So I thought I'd post some pretty pictures of a happy time. I did not want to lead off the weekend with the funeral of dear Yves, so I thought I'd post a wedding.
The designer for the wedding was Valorie Hart Designs.