Jingle All The Way
Wow. That’s all I can say. Not only are the Georgetown Jingle trees at the Four Seasons decorated with spectacular creativity and imagination, but the cause is equally impressive: Georgetown University Hospital’s Pediatric Hematology, Oncology, Blood and Marrow Transplantation Program.
David Iatesta’s tree was sold on the spot to a generous Four Seasons guest.
Fourteen designers – each partnered with a young Georgetown patient – dressed up holiday trees to be auctioned at the Jingle on Dec. 13, but only 13 trees will be on the block. That’s because a “regular VIP guest” of the Four Seasons snapped up David Iatesta’s striking driftwood tree just hours after his team completed it yesterday – to the tune of $15,000. Not only that, but he donated it right back to Georgetown, to be given to a young patient or to display at the hospital.
David Iatesta’s Molly Zlokovitz and Matt Quinn
“I got the phone call this morning. It almost brought tears to my eyes,” said Matt Quinn, Iatesta’s chief executive officer. The tree, which took 500 man hours to build, is assembled from driftwood collected throughout the summer on the shores of the Chesapeake Bay. It’s strung like one of Iatesta’s exquisite chandeliers, using $3,000 worth of European crystal, and lit with the help of 20 battery packs hidden under the tree skirt.
Here are some notable details:
Individual limbs were either drilled or screwed into the central “trunk,” and then epoxied and faux painted at the joints to make it look authentic.
Several different types of crystal grace the tree.
There are many more amazing trees to go. Get yourself a cup of cocoa, settled into your chair, and read on.
Jerry Begley, Dawson Begley Design
“A Nordic Christmas”
Designer Jerry Begley’s tree hearkens back to his mod childhood in 1960s Los Angeles.
Jerry Begley had two goals in creating this tree: To cue his “early 60s youth” with multi-colored trees in all their metallic fabulousness; and more importantly, to introduce the United States to the work of his friend Helge Brink, a Danish designer who makes glass ornaments by hand.
Jerry Begley
Brink used to work with Georg Jensen and Royal Copenhagen, and wanted to revive the tradition of handmade ornaments, Begley said. The Jingle marks their U.S. debut, and Begley noted that Queen Elizabeth ordered “a ton” of them for this year’s decorations at Buckingham Palace. Check out the details:
Gloria de Lourdes Blalock, Blalock Interiors LLC
“Let There Be Light”
Blalock’s tree has 1,000 lights, hopefully lighting the way to a cure for childhood cancer.
From a distance, Gloria Blalock’s tree merely looks like a lovely tree. Step closer, and you’ll see that all the ornaments represent peace, light, and happiness. “Gloria has a very spiritual nature – it’s very much about the energy of the holiday,” said her friend, Designer Brad Weesner. (Blalock was unable to attend yesterday’s press preview.)
Shazalynn Cavin-Winfrey, SCW Interiors
“It’s a Jungle Out There”
Shazalynn incorporated furniture and a rug into her vignette.
Shazalynn Cavin-Winfrey was not only designing for her patient-partner, Hayden Z., but also for the memory of her cousin, “Kelly Girl” Rogers, who died of brain cancer when she was only 9.
Shazalynn Cavin-Winfrey
“It is indeed a jungle out there, and nothing better gives a child a sense of ease in the world than a perfectly composed seating nook of their very own this holiday season,” she wrote in the program.
Notable details include Anthropologie’s Dream Menagerie rug:
The delicate trim on the Cowtan & Tout upholstery:
And the delightful jungle animals hanging from the flocked tree branches.
Paul Corrie, Paul Corrie Interiors
“Tree of Hope”
“The idea behind the ‘Tree of Hope’ is that we can all better ourselves as individuals and live united – in our personal goals, our relationships, our interactions with family, friends, neighbors, and our surrounding world,” Paul Corrie wrote in the program.
He was unable to attend the preview, but I loved his small porcelain reminders that we can all do better – and follow our passions.
Wendy Danziger, Danziger Design
“Children’s Tea Party”
Being Jewish, Wendy Danziger said this was her first time ever decorating a tree, and what a brilliant beginning. The tea party theme was inspired by her mother’s love of tea, her granddaughter’s tea set, and the fact that her patient-partner, Katie, has her own tea set.
Wendy Danziger
Katie provided input on the design, and Danziger’s mother painstakingly wrapped each little tea bag in each little teacup with tulle.
And her assistant Mary Biletnikoff made all the ballerina tutus, which are all different. Wow.
Karen Luria, Karen Luria Interior Identity Inc.
“Holiday on Ice”
Karen Luria’s “tree” was fabricated from acrylic through the local design firm Spectrum, which we featured in a piece on local furniture makers in January.
Karen Luria
“I thought I’d really like to create a very different interpretation of a tree,” Luria said. “It’s really a sculpture. It transforms the rest of the year into a floor lamp.” There’s a hole at the top for a light, and a ridge down one of the sides to string the cord. How cool is that?
Even more, Luria got figure skater Scott Hamilton to sign a pair of ice skates at the “tree’s” base.
That means the winning auction bidder will not only get a stylized Christmas tree, but she or he will also get signed skates and a super-cool floor lamp for the rest of the year.
Lynni Megginson, L&M Designs
“Aspen Holiday”
Lynni Megginson’s tree is all about Nicholas, her patient-partner.
“Nicholas, he loves Christmas. He loves everything about Christmas. I wanted to evoke the dream of what Christmas would be – all the winter elements, combined with the fact that the tree is done in his honor,” Megginson said.
Lynni Megginson
Can’t you just imagine yourself in the mountains, with the snow, the pinecones, the deer in the snow – along with the steadfast encouragement to “believe.”
Marika Meyer, Marika Meyer Interiors
“A Natural Nantucket Christmas”
“I wanted to do something timely and really resonate with the way people are decorating for Christmas right now,” said Marika Meyer, explaining that the tree, inspired by her favorite place, is all very natural and organic.
Marika Meyer
Shells, garlands made of bark, and the classic Nantucket lightship baskets and whale weathervane grace the tree.
Her favorite find was the “Nantucket red” fabric from Murray’s Toggery, trimmed with gorgeous shells on linen from Samuel & Son.
Darren Miller, And Beige
“Winter Nights Dream”
Darren Miller, founder and owner of And Beige, used natural elements for this mantel decoration, as if they were “stumbled upon in a forest environment during a winters nigh exploration,” he wrote. (He couldn’t be at the preview.) He used deer antlers and pine cones, which beautifully accent the Four Seasons’ black and white marble mantel and surround.
Michael Roberson, Michael Roberson Interior Design
“Joy to the World”
A truly joyous vignette for Michael Roberson’s patient-partner, Tyeshia, who loves bright colors. Roberson named the setting after Tyeshia’s favorite Christmas carol. (Roberson was unable to attend the preview.)
Camille Saum, Camille Saum Interior Design
“L’Arbre de Noel Elegant”
When Camille Saum begins a project, she doesn’t immediately know where it’s going to go. “It just comes out” along the way, she said.
Camille Saum
What came out in this case was inspired by France, “where elegance is a fact of life, [and] Christmas décor is a serious fashion statement.” Saum’s paint company painted her tree white, and then her team used silver spray paint on top of the white. She then covered the branches in glitter,
used endless white and silver ribbon,
and filled the holes with silver “stretchy paper.”
The star on top – made from a pillow – is in honor of her partner-patient, Cinzia.
Brad Weesner, Brad Weesner Design
“Modern Tree of Crystal”
Brad Weesner was still awaiting the completion of his high-tech tree on Wednesday, but he had these cool sketches to demonstrate what it will look like:
It will be clear acrylic sheets embedded with crushed glass, with LED lights flickering and changing color underneath the glass. A triangle base will be upholstered in silver fabric.
Brad Weesner and his patient-partner, Kara Amey
Kara’s story is “light and inspiration,” which he tried to reflect in his tree, Weesner said. “She’s ahead of her years, and I knew immediately that she was never going to let her disease define who she was going to be.” In fact, the two have hit it off, he said, and she’s already showing some of her own design skills at age 17.
Sarah Wessel, Sarah Wessel Designs Ltd.
“Secret Garden”
The children’s classic, The Secret Garden by Francis Hodgson Burnett, was one of Sarah Wessel’s all-time favorites, and she used it as the inspiration for her tree.
Sarah Wessel
You have to look up close to see all the wonderful details of this tree, including the book itself and a handsome set of old-fashioned keys.
Peer into the tree (the “secret” won’t reveal itself if you stand at a distance), and you will see gardening implements, wheelbarrows, flowers, birds, and nests. How enchanting.
The Jingle is 4-8 p.m. on Dec. 13 at the Four Seasons. Tickets are $150 per person, family packages are available for $350, and kids 3-18 are $50/ under 2 are free. The event will feature gourmet fare from area restaurants, holiday music and live entertainment, a “Santa’s workshop” for the kids that offers activities, crafts, cookies and kid-friendly food, and a meeting with Santa. The trees will be auctioned, along with many other amazing packages in a silent auction.
And considering the brave kids at Georgetown the proceeds will support, it’s the best money you will spend this season.
Designers (and Those Who Think Like Them) Make a Difference
I’ve heard people discuss design communities as insular, catty bunches. Some are, it’s true – but most designers I’ve met, especially in this community, show sincere interest in preserving and respecting beauty and the environment, in improving the quality of people’s lives.
Last night I had the pleasure of listening to journalist and author Warren Berger at the Corcoran Gallery of Art. Berger’s new (and well-received) book, Glimmer: How Design Can Transform Your Life, and Maybe Even the World began as an investigative project to dig around in the minds of designers to figure out how they came to certain ideas and how they tackle problems – and then bring that conversation to an audience of non-designers.
The book covers a lot of ground and goes deep. Some of Berger’s topics are familiar territory, such as the ideas of Designer Bruce Mau and the blooming industry of biomimicry. He spent time discussing how designers are always doing the darnedest things – they’re hoarders and huddlers, they draw while they talk, and the best ones watch people for clues and subtext rather than listen because “people can’t always tell you what they need.”
Berger collected doodles from the designers he interviewed, and said they express solutions best visually.
And he got into specific examples where one “a-ha” design fixes something that generations have struggled with without solving or even questioning. Deborah Adler, for example, re-designed prescription bottles, which Target now uses, to be legible and color-coded for each family member:
…Van Phillips, who designed the Flex-Foot prosthetic that allowed him (and many others) to run competitively after losing a limb:
…and Gauri Nanda, whose Clocky alarm clock goes the extra mile – after one snooze, the clock begins rolling around the room looking for a place to hide, so the sleeper has to get up and chase it.
If you ask me, sheer brilliance.
Berger’s book is full of pointed anecdotes and visual examples of how things become easier through design breakthroughs. His larger point is that designers find elegant solutions through questioning what others accept as reality – that prescription bottles must be round and hard to read, or that an amputee will never run again, or that the only way to get up for class is through pure force of will.
A couple more insightful nuggets from Berger:
- It’s OK to fail, everyone does. But when you do, “fail forward” – that is, learn and adapt from each experiment, rather than just chucking the lot.
- Focus energy on recombining existing ideas – there may not be any totally original ideas under the sun, but there are always untried combinations for old ones.
- Look at the world around you as a working draft, and always carry a pen.
Celebrating Our Fifth Anniversary
The traditional fifth-anniversary gift is made of wood, and if last night’s party at Turnberry Tower Arlington was any indication of our first five years of publishing unforgettable homes in the DC region, let’s knock on some wood for continued success in the same vein.
At least 200 of the region’s best designers, architects, builders, and home-interior tradespeople gathered to help us celebrate – and to tour Turnberry’s fabulous $7.1 million Tower Suite, which is situated above the penthouses.
Imagine waking up to views of the Lincoln Memorial, Washington Monument, and Kennedy Center, or sipping wine in the living room as you gaze down at what look like strands of diamonds and rubies streaming back and forth over Key Bridge and the inky Potomac River below, while the lights of Georgetown twinkle in the background.
It’s kind of unimaginable, actually, and we want to extend huge thanks and gratitude to Turnberry Tower, which opened the space to us and catered the party with scrumptious hors d’oeuvres from Windows Catering and red velvet cupcakes from Georgetown Cupcake.
Jim Cohen, vice president of sales for Turnberry Ltd., poses with his wife, Diana.
Washington Spaces Editor in Chief Trish Donnally stands with Senoir Vice President Ron Smith and Executive Vice President Ann Scully of Mayhood, the sales agents for Turnberry.
The walls of the unfinished space were lined with gigantic images of the magazine’s 31 covers to date, and everyone was asked to vote for their favorite.
Here’s the ballot box,
And here’s Daniel Steinkoler, owner of Superior Home Services, getting busted as he tried to stuff the box with his favorite pick. Sorry, Danny!
The winner, shot by photographer Morgan Howarth, was our striking Fall 2008 cover of Architect Lavinia Fici Pasquina’s house in Bethesda, MD.
This cover is among the few we’ve ever done of a home’s exterior, which caused a bit of a debate when we were choosing it, but now that the votes are in, we’re glad we did.
In addition to a spectacular setting, we had a stellar group of guests. We wouldn’t be where we are now without the amazing people in the home-design industry who supported us along the way. Here’s to you.
Here we all are toasting our guests who made our fifth anniversary possible. From left: Trish Donnally, her husband, Robert Donnally, Associate Publisher Heather Heider, Associate Art Director Susan Chong, Senior Graphic Designer Kevin Tseng, Senior Account Executive Emilia Philip, Senior Editor Jennifer Sergent, Senior Staff Writer Emily Lyons, and Account Executive Jill Yager.
Designer Barry Dixon stands with the Early Winter 2007 cover, which features his kitchen at the stately Elway Hall in Warrenton, VA.
Now Barry stands with Trish Donnally, analyzing the composition of another cover.
Photographer Kenneth M. Wyner and his fiancée, Alice Ng, stand before two covers he shot for our magazine.
Jonas Carnemark, whose gorgeous Konst Kitchen Interior Design showroom was the setting of our Best of Architecture design awards two weeks ago, stands with Architect Nuray Anahtar of NOA Architecture Planning Interiors.
Jill Yager relaxes with the dashing Bret Anderson, president of Pyramid Builders.
Our beautiful art directors Susan Chong and Angie Grandizio enjoy the celebration.
Designers Miriam Dillon, left, and Rebecca Foley flank Architect Mark Sullenberger, all of Custom Design Concepts Architecture + Interiors.
Amanda Kaufman of Charles Luck Stone Center, left, stands with her date, Jason Levitt, and Daniel Steinkoler and Kelly Sullivan of Superior Home Services.
Trish Donnally poses with Shimon Garibi of Elite Kitchens.
Heather Heider, left, and Jennifer Sergent mug with Architect Brad Mellor in the Tower Suite’s incredible Snaidero kitchen.
Brigitte Reyes, left, and husband Mills Davis, right, who own Reyes + Davis Independent Exhibitions, are embraced by artist James Huckenpahler.
Emilia Philip poses with Berkay Demirkan, marketing director for Tatari Construction, and his date, Anastasia Ivanova.
Marty Valentine of Advertising Your Way, and Heather Heider.
Jennifer Sergent finds herself between two handsome men – Ilan Fulop, left, and Tom Fulop of Rockville Interiors.
Emily Lyons shares a laugh with Architect Andreas Charalambous of Forma Design.
Trish and Robert Donnally stand before the poster of our current cover, hoping for five, 15, 25 more years, and then some!
The Suave Bill Sofield
Meeting Bill Sofield was one of the highlights of my recent trip to High Point, NC. This is a guy who earned three degrees from Princeton University – in art, architecture, and urban planning – in four years. He has also designed stores for Gucci, Tom Ford, Yves Saint Laurent, Boucheron, and Bottega Veneta. Plus, he decorated Ralph Lauren’s homes in Montauk and Bedford, NY. He’s currently working on the flagship store for Santa Eulalia in Barcelona.
Superstar Architectural and Interior Designer Bill Sofield in his Baker showroom in High Point, NC, pauses for a moment during the recent fall market.
What struck me most is that Sofield is such a stealth designer. Take the Bill Sofield collection he designs for Baker. It makes me dream. I look at the Crawford Vanity, for instance, and imagine prinking for glamorous black tie events. (It’s fun to fantasize.) I see refined, thoughtful, high quality design, rather than some designer’s immediately recognizable fingerprint on furniture.
“If I do a really good job, nobody will know I existed,” said Sofield, who has the greatest respect for his clients’ individuality and personalities.
The Crawford Vanity provides storage, and even dips down in the back so that cords will disappear.
“Most of my job is about problem solving,” Sofield said. For instance, people often put their sweaty cocktails down on tables and leave watermarks, so he designed a sophisticated glass bar cart.
The urbane bar cart precludes watermarks.
The masterful workmanship in his designs is a big part of the appeal, too. Inlaid, exotic wood, such as in the Wisteria Table here is exceptional.
I was particularly surprised to learn that his Gracie bed is king size.
The way Sofield designed this king-size bed creates the illusion that it’s smaller than it really is. It doesn’t overwhelm a room at all.
“I travel all the time and I pull from everywhere,” said Sofield, who lives in New York.
I was struck by the sense of luxurious refinement and timelessness of his furniture designs. “These pieces are going to be expensive, so damn it, they should look expensive and have staying power,” he said, his eyes smiling.
Put Amy Lau on Your Couch
If only we could all put the delightful (and gorgeous!) New York Designer Amy Lau on our couch for cosmos and conversation…
But now, with her funky new fabric line for S. Harris, we can import some of her taste and style into our homes.
Amy was in town last night to launch the line at the chic PS 7’s in Chinatown. She was there with Ann and Jim Lambeth, and the whole crew from J. Lambeth, which will represent her here at The Washington Design Center.
I’ve always admired Amy from a distance, ever since I saw her designs for two Kips Bay show houses in New York, and I blogged about her earlier this year. So it was really exciting to finally meet her, and chat about the influences behind these fabrics, the look of which is a signature of much of her work, as you can see below.
The new patterns are based on American abstract art, she told me, referring to the likes of Morris Louis,
Mark Rothko,
and Bridget Riley.
“We put art up on the walls – why can’t these fabrics start having a dialogue with the art?” Amy asked.
Her fabrics, with their blocks, dots, and wavy lines, will have a lively conversation indeed with any modern art collection. And beyond all the shapes and colors, the fabrics are meticulously painted with watercolors by hand and embroidered in her studio, which makes them feel just as good as they look.
David Klaristenfeld, vice president of S. Harris, described Amy as a life force. “She cornered me” at a luncheon, he said, and told him that his company, which owns Fabricut and Vervain, should be going in new directions with its designs. She was not to be refused. “I said, ‘Amy, why don’t you just tell me what you want, and we’ll do a line,’ ” he said, laughing in resignation. “Amy brought a completely new aesthetic that none of our designers would have ever thought of.”
She’s also bringing a new look to the J. Lambeth showroom, which is known mostly for its more traditional fabrics. “It’ll be really interesting to see how this is received. It’s very modern,” Ann Lambeth said.
Ann graciously pointed to Washington Spaces as evidence that there is a growing modern influence on design in DC. “DC is getting more modern, and we want to be a part of it,” she said.
As such, they are working on a new contemporary gallery within their showroom. And if Amy is any indication of what they’ll have to offer, I can’t wait to see it.
I’ll leave you now with pictures from last night’s party, which brought out a cool crowd of designers. Ciao!
Amy poses with Barry Dixon, who will debut his own line of green fabrics for Vervain – an S. Harris company – through J. Lambeth in January.
Ann and Jim Lambeth pose with their celebrity designers.
Designer Liz Levin, right, stands with her co-designer, Heather Safferstone.
Gloria de Lourdes Blalock, left, stands with Camille Saum.
Designer Sally Steponkus mugs with Jim Lambeth
Michael Smith Comes to Washington
To borrow one of Michael Smith’s favorite terms, the White House decorator is extraordinary. And despite his high profile, he’s extraordinarily down to earth and fun to talk to.
We sat with him yesterday before he gave an hour-and-a-half talk at the Corcoran Gallery of Art, – with Ali Wentworth jumping in as his hilarious sidekick – to a sold-out crowd.
Michael Smith poses at the Corcoran before giving his design talk. All photography by Matthew Dandy.
Sadly, he stayed mum on his work for the Obamas’ private quarters in the White House. “I never really talk about any of my clients,” Smith demurred. But we managed to squeeze in a few White House questions that he did answer.
We wanted to know how he connected with the Obamas in the first place. A mutual friend, White House Social Secretary Desiree Rogers, introduced them, he said.
How has his life changed since being thrust into the limelight after being selected to decorate the White House? “It’s like getting an extraordinary seat in history. Nobody could anticipate how much attention this White House would get,” Smith said. “It’s extraordinary that the White House has had so many interesting incarnations and so many diverse voices. To be a part of it is amazing, and to work for people I have such profound respect for is an incredible honor.”
Naturally, Smith was involved in helping to find the distinctive array of art that the Obamas have recently added to the White House.
“For the first time to attempt to bring not only contemporary but also some traditional work in the White House is amazing. It’s been extraordinary to work for Bill Allman (the White House curator). The opportunity to have so many new voices in the building, that is history, and it touched a lot of people.” Smith said that the diversity of the Obamas’ choices “represents the best of American ingenuity.”
He added, “The president and Mrs. Obama are incredibly thoughtful and respectful for what this means.”
Smith grew increasingly uncomfortable with the White House questions, so we moved on to his design philosophies in general.
SMITH’S DESIGN APPROACH
Smith strives to create the “culture of a house” when decorating for clients, and does so by keeping three things in mind:
1. A client’s personality and taste
2. The architecture of the house and where it’s located
3. His ability to go in and edit
“I try to hone things down. The house has a particular voice that’s their voice more than mine, but that’s molded by my presence and where they are (i.e. location).”
THE WELL-DECORATED ROOM
Rooms that look beautiful in photos aren’t necessarily “good” rooms to live in.
“Decorating a room is like playing three-dimensional chess. You’re constantly moving things, which impacts other things. The way they live in a house is fundamental.” You consider all the different elements. “You need to think about how these rooms are going to move forward and change. Rooms need to fit comfortably and be flexible,” Smith said, adding that they shouldn’t be so static and specific that you can’t evolve and move forward. “You don’t want a room where you can’t one day decide to hang folk art or your children’s drawings. They shouldn’t ruin a room.” A room might look perfect in a photo, but “how does it feel on a rainy day in February, or when your kid brings home six kids from junior high?” he asked.
CHILDREN’S ROOMS
Smith mentioned that kids’ rooms in particular need to be flexible, because “childrens’ tastes evolve and change in a really accelerated way. Today’s cowboy is tomorrrow’s fireman.”
Furniture is expensive, so it needs to last longer than a child’s momentary whim. “Listen, nobody wanted a car bed more than me,” he joked. But don’t decorate for the moment. “Your 7-year-old is not going to want a car bed when he’s 16. He’s going to want a car when he’s 16.”
Smith tries to be “conscious and judicious, thoughtful and careful. You’re talking about people’s workmanship and people’s time.” He said his clients often move furniture from house to house. They recover it, but if it has “a classical shape and well-made upholstery,” the investment will last a long time.
WASHINGTON HIGHLIGHTS
Smith’s favorite building aside from the White House? The Octagon
“I find it so, so extraordinary. I love the quirkiness of it. I love the color. There’s something about it that’s kind of great. It feels so extraordinarily American.”
Shopping? “I love to walk around in Georgetown and look at shops. I love John Rosselli. I love to walk into the Pottery Barn and the Baker store. The experience of shopping in Georgetown is so amazing and kind of great. It’s so village-y.”
DC Style? “It’s very smart. You have the benefit of having extraordinary buildings and extraordinary houses.” He loves the combination of historic, “really charming and amazing architecture,” combined with contemporary architecture. “The architecture’s not as homogenous as other cities. You have a quintessential idea of a New York apartment. I don’t think you have a quintessential idea of DC … It lends itself to really distinctive points of view.”
SMITH’S DESIGN PHILOSOPHY
“Personality is so important … The best rooms are personal and eccentric in a way … With the proliferation of design books and curators of our lives, I think that individuality has gone out of people’s minds a little bit.”
We live in a culture where you can get sushi anywhere, “but you don’t necessarily want sushi everywhere. There’s a real opportunity in design … It needs to be personal and expressive, and it’s going to be a better investment for you in the long run.”
Some clients “want trucks to back up and an instant life to go in. I don’t want that.” He later added, “It’s uninteresting. It’s boring, and I think it’s ultimately doing a disservice. It’s like wearing somebody else’s sweater. It’s probably not going to fit you like one you buy yourself – and it’s probably going to smell like their cigarette smoke.”
Michael mugs with Ali Wentworth at a cocktail party with Washington Spaces at the W Hotel after his speech.
HIGHLIGHTS OF HIS TALK
Smith began his speech with slides: One was of him looking debonair with a martini in his hand in a London drawing room – his public persona. The second was of him jet-lagged in his sweats, hood pulled over his head, sacked out on a day bed with his dog. “That’s more true,” he said to huge laughter.
Smith, a history buff, gets obsessed with certain periods in time. He read Shogun when he was 10, “and all I would eat was Japanese food.” Everything then had to be Japanese. “You can imagine what kind of kid I was … I tend to have these obsessions with a particular period.”
He showed slides that illustrate his vast draw on history and cultural influence, such as a kitchen that combines the looks of 17th-century architecture with a Japanese shogun castle. (Shogun strikes again.)
- Smith loves eccentric collections – he’s learned a lot from the interests and collections of his clients, from Mid-century Italian art to 20th-century photography.
- He loves the idea of discord, “the element that makes a room different,” i.e. mixing a Renaissance painting with contemporary furnishings. He mentioned an Old Master painting on an easel in Philip Johnson’s glass house.
- He also showed the home of Jennifer Garner and Ben Affleck, which originally looked like a “1982 MTV slumber party.” He stripped it down so it now is an homage to early ranch houses.
- He gets passionate about furniture when he wants a client to purchase something for their home. Discussing one round table, he said, “I think I made my head turn all the way around to get them to buy it … I’ve been known to actually kiss a piece of furniture, saying ‘See, you should buy it!’ ”
- “The dining room for me is always interesting.” You dine in there, pay your taxes there, make Halloween costumes in there. “For me, it’s always about being able to create something that’s beautiful in the day and night.”
- “It’s really hard to find an ideal carpet size, so I layer it over sisal a lot.” That is, buy a basic sisal rug in the size you need, and then put the rug you’ve found whose colors are perfect for your room over the top of it.
But houses do change. Smith talked about a dining room where he hired a decorative painter to make the walls look like Indian sandstone, but the next owner asked him to paint it all over in white. “Decorating is like sand painting for me. It just gets washed away.”
Ali Wentworth, who joined Smith on stage during the question and answer session, commented on what a perfectionist Smith is in terms of creating specific looks and moods in a room. When she hosted a dinner for him at her Georgetown home, “I was sent the tablecloth. I was sent the china. I was told how to hang the globe lights,” she said. Decorating a house for him “is literally soup to nuts… I’m lucky I got a seat at my own dinner.”
Thom Filicia, In Great Shape
Thom Filicia wears Spanx – or at least he said he does.
Thom Filicia poses for a second in front of the Saratoga sofa in his showroom.
Designers Filicia and Alexa Hampton were guest speakers at a breakfast in High Point, NC, over the weekend and when Hampton was introduced, it came up that in addition to all of her work – she designs collections for Hickory Chair and Stark Carpets, among other projects – she has three children under age 3. Hampton turned to the audience and said, “I’m currently wearing a pair of Spanx under my skirt.”
Filicia, known for his appearances on Queer Eye for the Straight Guy, his celeb clients including J. Lo and Marc Anthony, his show Dress My Nest, his designs for W Hotels, and his namesake furniture collection, was next. Following his introduction, Filicia quipped, “First, I’d like to say, I’m also wearing Spanx.”
His sense of humor alone made me beat a path to see the new Thom Filicia Home Collection that’s manufactured by Vanguard Furniture. All kidding aside, I like Filicia’s thoughtful approach to design. “It’s about honesty in design. Years ago, homes were about who we wanted to be. Today, our homes are about who we are,” he said. “It’s about connecting with yourself.”
Filicia said he wanted his eponymous collection to be fresh, have substance, and a timeless quality. “I want this to look great in 15 or 20 years,” he said. “I also wanted it to be accessible. I wanted people to see it and connect with it.”
The collection has an upbeat feeling, partly from the way he presented it. Take a look:
Love this Toggenburg chair and whimsical Solvay cocktail table.
The butterflies and birds flitting on the wallpaper give a light touch to Felicia’s Greek Peak chair… and his Durston Road console.
The design and workmanship on the Hogue Lane table is handsome.
A longtime champion of eco-friendly furnishings, Filicia’s faux boix fabric design for Kravet, which comes in gray and yellow, is eye candy, too.
Filicia uses color strategically.
His wing chair with hot tomato leather accents surprised me. “I’m a big fan of red. It’s rare that I design a space that doesn’t incorporate red. It’s such a fabulous, dynamic, and rich color,” he designer said. “I like fresh, fun pops that kind of float in space.”
Asked how the luxury market will change once we come out of this recession, Filicia said, “Consumers will demand a better product. They will be very thoughtful about the purchases they make.”
Whatever his choice of shapewear, I think he’s right.
Mariette Himes Gomez's Style Sensibilities
As promised yesterday when we blogged about New York designer Mariette Himes Gomez, who has been selected to decorate the presidential yacht, we’ll look at her elegant, eclectic style today.
Mariette Himes Gomez designed this space integrating an antique console.
The essence of Gomez’s designs is a purity and simplicity that’s hard to pinpoint. She often integrates exquisite antiques, which provide character to the rooms she designs, and she prefers muted tones, especially an array of whites that whisper. But to her credit, Gomez lets the lifestyles of her clients guide her designs rather than inserting herself in them too much. You don’t look at a room and automatically know she designed it. Rather, you look at a space and your eye lingers – you wonder, “What is it that makes this so appealing?”
Gomez, author of Houses, Inside and Out (2003, HarperCollins), and Rooms, Creating Luxurious, Livable Spaces (2007, HarperCollins), will launch Apartments, HarperCollins, in February, 2010. She gave a fascinating talk at the International Home Furnishings Market in High Point, NC, on Sunday, and used images from her books to illustrate her points.
The distinguished designer has an unfailing eye, and the spaces she designs are superbly edited. She selects art and furnishings for clients because she knows they’ll work well for that specific client, not because of their provenance.
Mariette Himes Gomez’s former flat in London includes a mirror that reflects the beautiful ceiling.
For example, Gomez once chose a particularly distinctive bookcase for a client because “he was a man who needed interesting things; they had to have integrity. I love art, I love great furniture. I don’t mind putting time into [searching for] that,” she said. “When you’re that earnest about things, you want them to have soul.” Gomez didn’t learn until years later that the bookcase she had found for her client was by Paul Frankl, the renowned Austrian art deco furniture designer, and was one of only two of the now famous Skyscraper bookcases he had made.
Gomez’s clients often request English antiques. “Everyone thinks that English furniture is so elegant and so serious and so wonderful.” She paused, and then said, “Well, some of it isn’t.”
The designer, who was reared in a small town – Alpena, MI – has a great love and appreciation for American antiques. “We forget that we have so little… Most of it is in museums.” She has often built entire rooms around a single rare and important antique, including here in Washington. “It’s to the credit of these people who can afford these things to actually live with them and not treat them like they’re in a museum.” She adds that serious furniture needs to be complemented with serious draperies and rugs, and art appropriate for the era of the furniture.
Bedrooms are among Gomez’s favorite rooms to design. This one’s a beauty.
Gomez’s boudoir chair for Hickory Chair is the perfect bedroom chair.
Subtlety reigns throughout Gomez’s designs. You won’t find bling. Instead, she works with nuances, such as ambient light. “We always ignore the immense possibilities of a lamp table… I have a thing about that… We always need more lamps and less recessed lighting,” she said.
Naturally, the designer understands scale. “All men need a good-sized desk, whether working in London or New York,” she said, while showing the image of the large round table in a London flat with a Knoll chair at it.
Gomez designed the Belle mirror and Continental demi-lune cabinet seen here for Hickory Chair.
Gomez loves mirrors. “Never underestimate mirrors. They open up any room – the bigger, the better.” Louvered shutters can provide privacy, plus a lot of light, she added.
For a spectacular room she decorated that has a water view, Gomez purposely chose spider-back chairs that don’t block the view.
Gomez was inspired by her flat in England when she designed the London arm chair for Hickory Chair.
Gomez introduces a large-scale circular artifact in this room that somehow feels just right.
It will be fascinating to see how Gomez decorates the Sequoia, the classic 1925 Trumpy yacht. She’s already taken hundreds of photos. When she’ll fit it into her schedule – between decorating homes for clients, designing a collection for Hickory Chair, and overseeing her store, The Shop in Manhattan, will be a challenge. But we expect smooth sailing from this international design star, who is expected to have the Sequoia shipshape by the spring of 2011.
Mariette Himes Gomez to Design Presidential Yacht
Mariette Himes Gomez has been asked to decorate the presidential yacht, the U.S.S. Sequoia. Gomez was named a Giant of Design by House Beautiful in 2004 and a Dean of American Design by Architectural Digest in 2005. The great respect for American antiques she has revealed throughout her career shows that Gomez is an excellent choice to decorate the Sequoia in time for its 85th anniversary in 2010-2011.
Mariette Himes Gomez
What does Gomez think of being selected? “Major! To do something that’s this important that’s part of our history is major,” she said today. “I really think of it as a museum. I’m very honored and very humbled,” she said, as she was preparing to fly back to New York from the furniture market in High Point, NC.
The U.S.S. Sequoia
Gomez had a lengthy visit to the Sequoia. “I saw it in dry dock, I spent a couple of hours there,” said Gomez, who has designed the interiors of yachts and jets in the past. “You have to do something in a very different way for something on the water.”
The Sequoia was last decorated by Carleton Varney 25 years ago during the Reagan administration. The historic yacht is currently docked at the Gangplank Marina on the Potomac. “It’s been there for several years and is used for special events,” said Jack Cassidy, director of the board of the Sequoia Presidential Yacht Preservation Trust. “It’s continuously used and every year it goes through an intensive inspection by the Coast Guard.”
Stay tuned for more on Mariette Himes Gomez and her design style tomorrow.
Mixing High and Low with Annette Hannon
Interior Designer Annette Hannon recently sent us pictures of this really cool addition to a Great Falls, VA, home. What I love most about it is that she blends items from Crate & Barrel and Pottery Barn with high-end choices such as custom works by David Iatesta.
Here’s a view of all the new spaces, looking from the living area to the dining area, through to the study on the left, and a hallway back to the kitchen on the right. I love the mix of materials – iron chandeliers, brick wall, giant painted wood trusses, and warm hardwood floors – all enhanced by the subtle colors of upholstery and window treatments – and illuminated by the gigantic skylights and windows. All photography by Angie Seckinger
The homeowners, who have three grown daughters, two sons-in-law, and two young grandsons, wanted their addition to be family friendly and big enough for entertaining. “They really wanted to have the kids come home – to create a great place for the kids’ vacation,” Hannon says.
And to make sure there was room for everyone, Hannon had David Iatesta create a huge dining table topped by equally impressive chandeliers.
Come closer, and you’ll see that the side chairs at this table are lovely – and they come from Crate & Barrel. Yet Hannon paired them with higher-quality armchairs at each end by Rose Tarlow for Melrose House. The Indian dhurrie rug is by Carpet Impressions in McLean, VA.
Just beyond the dining area, and behind the massive brick wall, is this cozy little jewel of a study, which used to be the home’s family room. You can just see the leather sofa in the foreground, which the couple already owned and which served as the foundation for the decor.
Hannon added chairs and a coffee table by Iatesta, and a rich cocoa grass cloth wallcovering by Phillip Jeffries Ltd. – like a blanket you just want to wrap yourself into. Hannon had the carpet custom-made through Carpet Impressions to bridge the home’s “cool blue living room” and the warm browns of the new great room.
Light was important to the owners when the addition was designed, and they didn’t want window treatments to interfere with it. So Hannon chose these creamy sheers by Pollack for the newly designed spaces.
Moving into the living room, Hannon chose muted colors for the furniture, so as not to distract the eye from the energy of the light and the room’s massive architectural features.
Sofa and club chairs by Edward Ferrell, and the coffee table is by Baker. The sofa fabric is chenille by Kravet, while the chairs are upholstered in Pollack’s Suede Charade: “The most divine Ultrasuede around!” Hannon wrote in an e-mail. “Why do we love it? No handprints or marks are ever seen; it wears like iron, and wipes up like a dream – even pen comes out easily.” Rug by Carpet Impressions.
The console and ottomans are by David Iatesta (I’m starting to see a theme here…). The ottomans are covered in chenille by Rogers & Goffigon. The unusual sculpture came from a trip to California. Lamps by Baker.
The Rogers & Goffigon fabric from the ottomans under the console carries through to this wing chair and ottoman that sit between the living and dining areas in a lovely vignette,
which is topped by an equally pretty sconce by David Iatesta.
While it’s great fun to design an addition, bridging the old construction with the new can be a challenge. Hannon had to design this pass-through from the kitchen to the great room in a way that would blend the looks from both spaces.
The kitchen tile had long since been discontinued, but she found larger tiles in a similar color. To make it look like she wasn’t trying – and failing – to match the kitchen tile, however, she used planks from the great-room hardwood to create a trellis pattern. “Now you look at the space, and there’s no way you can tell” it wasn’t always that way, Hannon says.
The chairs, furthermore, came from Crate & Barrel, and the table in between is a sculpture from the couple’s travels that Hannon topped with glass.
The throw pillows on the chairs are the same fabric as the grand Colefax & Fowler window treatments, which make an otherwise ordinary pass-through a space worthy of stopping and staying a while.
The owners didn’t know what to do with an old, rustic pitchfork they already had, but Hannon loved it, and knew exactly where it should go. “I said, if things get really rough in the kitchen, she can always use it!” Hannon also thought it would be great “to have this little roughness next to the Colefax & Fowler.”
Last but not least, Hannon designed this adorable changing room just off the pool, where the couple’s grandsons could change – and even nap – in between their outdoor adventures.
The ladder in the foreground leads up to a loft built especially for the boys. The built-in daybed is covered in durable – and inexpensive – pillows from Pottery Barn.
Let’s see. I have two young sons – and a handsome husband who is very handy around the house. I wonder if this energetic couple is looking to adopt any more grown daughters? I already live in Arlington – I wouldn’t even have to travel very far. Mom? Dad? What do you say?
Three Cheers for CharityWorks
Oh, what a night. Design stars of regional, national, and international renown were out at last night’s preview and reception for the CharityWorks GreenHouse (CWGH), opening tomorrow for tours. This house is the design event of the season.
Stephanie Odegard, center, founder and president of Odegard Inc., came down from New York for the reception. Several Odegard rugs were used in CWGH rooms. Beside her are sales associate Ruth DeHart, left, and showroom manager Monique Martin, from the Odegard showroom in The Washington Design Center.
Barry Dixon, chairman of the CWGH design committee, looks dapper in the great room he designed.
The finished house is pure eye candy and full of imaginative details. There’s a tableau of roses and mushrooms in Charlotte Lekakos’ guest bedroom; a dramatic, earthy sculpture by artist Barbara Liotta hanging from the ceiling in Architect Ernesto Santalla’s spa-like “retreat” space; and a row of sunny bud vases behind the outsize kitchen sink.
For extensive coverage of the house itself (for which Washington Spaces is thrilled to be the media sponsor) click here, here, and here. Scroll on to meet some of the gracious designers and supporters who made it all happen.
Rick Singleton, left, who made the sconce behind him from reclaimed mirrors for Victoria Neale’s dining room, stands with artist John Matthew Moore.
Skip Sroka, left, who designed the home office. His colleagues Liz Bausch and Amanda Bates pause in their finished space.
Cynthia Sayers used Pick Up Sticks, tiles made from scraps of stone, in the bathroom she designed. Architectural Ceramics provided nearly all the tile used in the house.
Designer Raji Radhakrishnan relaxes with CWGH Co-director Victoria Sabo.
Designers Seth van den Bergh and Susan Gulick pose in the media room they designed. Susan is sitting on a petrified-wood stool.
Nancy Colbert, left, takes a break in the tasting room she designed, with Washington Spaces Senior Writer Emily Lyons.
Champion figure skater Michael Weiss and his wife, Lisa Weiss, who designed the wine cellar.
Washington Spaces Editor in Chief Trish Donnally stands with VA Delegate Margaret Vanderhye, who represents the McLean district where the GreenHouse is located. A longtime environmental advocate, Vanderhye is on the House of Delegates’ Agriculture, Chesapeake, and Natural Resources Committee.
Spaces Associate Publisher Heather Heider, left, with Interior Designer Barbara Hawthorn, Hawthorn’s associate Fabrizia Hawes, and Designer Annette Hannon. Hawthorn designed the outdoor space; Hannon designed an upstairs bedroom.
A view to the pool from an upstairs bedroom as the party began.
Architect Ralph Cunningham, right, designed the GreenHouse with associate Michael Day, left.
Stephanie Odegard pauses with Victoria Neale, who featured a hemp Odegard rug in her lovely dining room design.
Shortly after we took this picture of Architect Ralph Cunningham eating his dinner at the table in Barry Dixon’s impeccable great room (with Architect Ernesto Santalla mugging it up next to him), a shocked CharityWorks Founder Leah Gansler promptly shooed him away.
Interior Designer Sandra Meyers, who decorated a guest room, and Suzanne Sanzone of Annette Hannon Interior Design Ltd.
Designer Miriam Dillon of Custom Design Concepts Architecture + Interiors, who decorated the family vestibule with Rebecca Foley, stands with her husband, John Dillon, and Designer Charlotte Lekakos, who designed a guest bedroom.
Designer Lynni Megginson, who decorated the virtual golf room, with Ernesto Santalla.
A guest takes a swing in Lynni’s lower-level golf room, which was truly a “hit.”
CharityWorks Founder Leah Gansler, left, with GreenHouse Co-Director Deanna Belli in Barry Dixon’s great room.
The food by Windows Catering was delectable and the desserts, unforgettable.
Heather Heider and Trish Donnally sample the sweets.
Barbara Hawthorn blows out the candles that lit her stunning poolside scene, ending a fabulous night.
Sustainable Style in DC's Backyard
Just a few more days until the CharityWorks GreenHouse opens its doors this Saturday, Oct. 10. I got a sneak peek of the finished house this morning at a press preview and – Wow, it’s fabulous! I’ll share some snippets, but I urge you to see it in person. It’s green, green, green, but most of all it’s gorgeous, which is why we at Washington Spaces are so proud to be the media sponsor.
For some ingenious ideas, take a look.
Victoria Neale crowns the dining room with a David Iatesta chandelier made from recycled scraps.
Charlotte Lekakos of Willard and Palmer uses naturally shed deer antlers as drapery tiebacks in the bedroom she designed.
In the library, Gary Lovejoy integrates a recycled mantle, which adds character to the new house.
Barry Dixon’s ECO by Cosentino countertop in the Konst kitchen is made from 75 percent recycled materials.
I adore the way Barry accessorizes. No one uses voluptuous vintage bottles to better effect than Barry.
Dee Thornton gives new life to an old potting table when she transforms it into a bar in the loggia.
I want the art Skip Sroka put in the home office he designed for my home office – or for my office office.
Ernesto Santalla found a very cool coffee table made of corrugated cardboard for the retreat he designed…
…and had the butterflies on the wall made from recycled beer cans.
I adore the vertical garden Barbara Hawthorn features in the outdoor space. Imagine growing these at condos and apartments.
Annette Hannon found a beautiful shell-framed mirror for one bathroom.
And her cozy and inviting built-in bed is one of the best small-space solutions I’ve seen.
Be sure to see Raji Radhakrishnan’s reading corner at the top of the stairs.
There’s so much more. Go see it yourself to get the big picture. Before you go, read these stories for background. Click here for the cover story on the GreenHouse in our current issue, and enter “CharityWorks” in the search box on our blog for several posts on the topic.
Ticket information, is right here.
Barclay Butera's Blues
It’s hard to ignore California Designer Barclay Butera as you enter The Washington Design Center these days, with his fabric collection for Kravet front and center when you open the doors.
Even better to find the man himself there on Tuesday, when Butera was in town to kick off this fall’s “The Business of Design” series with a lecture called “Decorating in a New Economy.”
Barclay Butera stands in front of his blue and white fabric collection in the Kravet showroom.
In addition to his lecture, Butera was also promoting his latest book.
The lecture was directed more towards designers and tips on running a design business, but he interspersed his comments with gorgeous pictures of his work, and his thought process when designing a room.
“I’m a huge pillow fan – huge,” he said. Indoors, or out.
As one can also see, he’s a huge fan of the blue and white combination – and of wallpaper. “I’m a wallpaper person. I wallpaper like crazy,” he said. This is Butera’s own living room. “I love my blues dropped in with a lot of different color schemes,” he added, such as the deep greens of live plants, and the browns from an animal print rug. “I always throw in an animal print.”
More plants, combined with dark wood furniture on top of a cool zebra-print rug, make this foyer look studied and natural at the same time.
Another important design rule for Butera is symmetry. “I’m huge in balance. I like my symmetry,” he said – right down to the corresponding teapots and orchids on each side of the huge (and perfectly symmetrical) bay window.
This great room exhibits more of that symmetry. On either side of the central fireplace, there are matching hurricane candles, topiaries, built-ins with similar accessories all in the same scale. In front of the hearth, opposing wing chairs and sofas (with Butera’s signature blue and white pillows) flank the central cocktail table.
And just when you thought you’d seen enough pillows? Rubbish, Butera would say. You can never have too many.
Note the nautical theme on the paintings over the fireplaces in the above pictures. This whole look comes from Butera’s “Beach” lifestyle. He’s come up with four lifestyles in his fabric, furniture, and wall covering collections – Beach, Town & Country, Mountain, and Desert – as a starting point for clients and customers: Choose a basic look, and then let him fill it in from there.
These fabrics and wall coverings combine Butera’s Mountain and City looks.
I wouldn’t mind having this Desert bedroom. Butera arranged found branches in huge zinc containers that flank the bed. “Have fun!” he told his audience of interior designers.
Butera designed this vintage-Hollywood guest suite for a designer show house in Bel Air sponsored by House Beautiful magazine in 2003. As he told Home Accents Today: “It had perfect balance and symmetry, represented an isolated era in time, and appealed to both the male and female aesthetic. It remains the most popular picture I have in my entire portfolio. It was a really fun project and was a defining moment in my design career.”
So, what’s he up to now? Butera just completed decorating a room for the 2009 Hearst Castle Overnight, which was just auctioned off to a lucky couple. The winning bidders will take eight friends there for the day to swim in the famed Neptune pool, play tennis, have dinner on the terrace, stroll the gardens, and watch a movie in the castle’s theater. Then the couple will spend the night in a bedroom designed by Butera, the first designer to work on a room there since William Randolph Hearst left the estate in 1947.
We don’t have a picture of the room yet, but will post when we do. In the meantime, here are some images from Butera’s Hearst Castle collection of pillows, for those of us who can’t have the real thing:
Potomac Fever, Neighborhood Pride at the Fall Design House
The Fall Design House at The Washington Design Center opens this Friday (the preview party is Thursday, get tickets now), and it’s packed with diverse, regional design references that don’t feel the least bit contrived. We have a rich pool of talent here, and the eight-room show house shows it off to great effect.
The tour starts off with a bang. Designer Beverly Claiborne of Beverly Claiborne Designs began her Le Droit Park-inspired foyer with a deep moss-hued Robert Allen sofa…
…and then she got going with currant and citrine accents and framed Swarovski-studded textiles. A luscious Alex Turco painting completes the look. Claiborne quotes neoclassical and Victorian influences, which are found throughout Le Droit Park row houses.
The bling continues in Designer Lori Ludwick’s U Street artist studio – a magenta lacquered tabletop sits on a carved wood base with a driftwood finish, and more Swarovski crystals are embedded in the rough wood of the back wall.
“I wanted the bones of the room to look like it was something we found,” Ludwick says, pointing at the tintype ceiling and the irregular plaster walls. There’s a hearty blend of inexpensive and high-end items, which is true to the neighborhood she’s referencing.
Next up: Kalorama.
“In Kalorama, you always walk through a vestibule,” Designer Dana Tydings says, so she inserted one in her formal parlor, complete with a faux koi pond painted by Billet Collins Studios.
Inside the parlor, unusual textures are everywhere: a Fendi Casa armoire in alligator, an enameled tobacco-leaf table. Luminous birch tree wallcoverings and an inventive “view” are unexpected delights.
It’s time to duck out for a nap on Embassy Row. Designer Karen Mitrano Snyder of Interiors of Washington Ltd. started with a phenomenal, high-contrast J. Asher rug and used a Suzani-inspired fabric from Pindler & Pindler sparingly in bedding, throw pillows, and drapes.
Oil paintings by Elio Lazzari and Farrow & Ball wallpaper add texture to the calm, softly lit room.
The Wesley Heights dining room by Designer Christine Hecht Payne of Christine Hecht Payne Interior Design is stuffed wall-to-wall with all things Washington – from the Jefferson Memorial centerpiece to the Liberty Toile standing screen, this is a room you couldn’t find in any other city.
Antique obelisks, 19th-century German paintings, and presidential place cards are a few of the room’s finer details.
The tour continues with a fun Navy Yard sports lounge by Designer Debbie Wiener of Designing Solutions, where everything looks elegant, but is of course made to be slob-proof for when the games get rowdy.
The Capitol Hill Congressional quarters and library, designed by William and Katherine Tarleton of Tarleton Interiors, includes, amid the more traditional textures, a stunning piece of mid-century expressionist art from the couple’s collection and a compelling, high-contrast piece painted by William Tarleton himself.
They quote the moody, powerful ambiance of the show “Mad Men” as an influence.
And finally, the centerpiece: the patriotic Georgetown social living room, designed by Brooke Steuart of Brooke Steuart Interiors LLC. A mosaic water wall invokes the mighty Potomac …
and a beautifully textured vignette showing the American flag superimposed over the iconic Marilyn Monroe brings it all home.
The Fall Design House is located at 300 D St., SW, Washington, DC, and opens Friday to the public.
My Consultation with Camille Saum
Opportunity was calling me when The Washington Design Center held its Find-A-Designer Consumer Day last week, which was sponsored by Washington Spaces. I signed up for a free consultation with one of 20 designers who were on hand that day, and as luck would have it, I was assigned to Camille Saum, whose work I’ve gotten to know well since I’ve been with the magazine.
Camille Saum greets me in the Kravet showroom.
I gave her two design dilemmas to solve.
First, my son’s bedroom. My 7-year-old has declared that it’s “too baby.” He may have a point.
Next, our dining room. We recently bought our fabulous chandelier from Viva Terra, and got new window treatments from a huge sale last year on Brunschwig & Fils fabric. We used the reverse of that fabric to re-upholster the dining room chairs. We also bought the black rug, and all of it complements our black and white photography on the walls. But the striped wallpaper – the last vestige of our home’s previous owners – has got to go.
So, what do you think, Camille?
We tackled the boys’ bedroom first. Henry fell in love with a quilt on an outing to Sperryville, VA, last weekend, so we had our inspiration piece to start a new look. I took the matching sham with me for reference:
I told Camille that I wanted a sleek new look for the boys’ room. Considering the “country” nature of this quilt, I didn’t want the room to devolve into some Holly Hobbie nightmare.
With barely a pause, the ideas started flowing. “I think this color on the walls,” she said, pointing to the brown background on the sham. “I think it’s sort of handsome looking.” That came as a bit of a shock – all that brown? But it might be growing on me, considering the trim, ceiling, louvered doors, and bookcases would be painted cream.
Then she told me to find a “tweedy” rug with a “salt and peppery” mix of navy and cream. I never would have thought of something like that, but more on the rug later.
We then tackled the window treatments. I told her Roman shades would be good, but what kind of fabric? Remember, I kept telling her, no Holly Hobbie. No gingham. No country look.
So we started in stripes.
While the selection at Kravet was lovely, it was also waaaay too expensive for a little boys’ room.
The Fabricut showroom was next. We found a good candidate.
Camille gets help from the lovely Jennifer Clark
A close-up of our first candidate – Fabricut’s Deer Grove
But Camille was trying to find a version of mattress ticking with some navy blue in it, which we both thought would look great. But we, along with Fabricut’s Jennifer Clark, made an interesting and rather depressing discovery: “Navy is actually a color I don’t see that often in textiles,” Jennifer remarked.
My pillow sham has dark, nearly-black navy blue in it, but no one seemed to have anything that runs dark enough.
Nope, won’t work.
Not quite.
On to Pindler & Pindler we went, without any more luck. But then we stopped into Schumacher on a whim, where Camille declared she had found The One.
Remember what I said about avoiding Holly Hobbie, and no gingham?
“I like this!” She said excitedly. “I think it goes!” Meanwhile, I’m getting bad, eye-twitching visions of some Kountry Kute explosion in my poor son’s bedroom.
What’s worse? This fabric is from Schumacher’s “Country House Cottons” collection. I can’t do it, Camille. I just can’t. Then the showroom rep, Mark Hall, produces a solid blue color. “I’m drawn to the solid,” I tell her. “Hmm” is her response, in a tone that’s more of a “Humph.”
She compromises. Try the solid with a wide trim in the check pattern, she says. Then she tells me to walk away from it, turn abruptly around, “and take a quick look – they do go.”
Oh, okay.
Here it is. I have since gotten the approval from Henry, who really likes the combination.
As for the rug, I’m pretty much on my own now, but I like Camille’s tweedy concept. Here are some options I’ve found online, which don’t approach the “salt and peppery” texture I’m after, but are worth considering.
From Flor:
Clockwise from upper left: Rake Me Over in Lagoon; Twist and Shout in Indigo; Velvet Rope in Cream and Indigo
From CompanyKids:
Flokati rug in Denim Blue
So let’s put the bedroom aside for now and check in on the dining room.
“I think we ought to try to do something from this light fixture,” Camille says. “I don’t want to scare you, but it looks like there’s a hint of peachy in here.”
And you know, she’s right! I came home and turned on the light, and there is a bit of a peachy glow from it, which is somehow appropriate because there are some peach tones in the adjacent living room.
In any event, she says, with all the blacks, whites and browns in this room, “You need color. You really need color.”
Now, here’s the second whammy: She says we should paint some peachy stripes where the wallpaper is now – only this time, they should be horizontal, and very wide – six to nine inches wide. She whips out a photo of a similar room she designed with wide, sorbet-yellow stripes, and I immediately see how horizontal stripes can make a tiny room like our dining room look much bigger.
But what kind of peach? Like the boys’ bedroom, I can see this going bad, fast. But this is why Camille is a designer and I’m not.
Camille started searching for a fabric in Pindler & Pindler’s cotton section that might emulate the paint color.
Hmmm. We’re not quite there yet. I started looking online, but again, paint needs to be viewed in person. The search is not over.
How about Farrow & Ball’s Fowler Pink? Maybe too pink.
Benjamin Moore’s Peach Sorbet? Maybe too peach. (I’m starting to feel like Goldilocks here…)
Sherwin Williams’ Pizazz Peach? Maybe?
Decisions, decisions. Thank you, Camille, for at least giving me a road map – one I never would have imagined if left to my own non-designer devices.
Anyone else have advice pour moi? This will likely be a year-long process, so there’s plenty of time to mull it over. I’ll keep you updated.