What Guests Want (on the nightstand)

I recently had the pleasure of staying with friends and couldn’t get over their attention to details when it came to making me comfortable.  If you are looking to make a guest happy there is an easy way to figure out what your guest room is missing… spend a night in it.  A clean and comfortable bed is key, do your best with this… great linens, a blanket and a down duvet is mandatory.  An air-bed is a step up from sofa surfing, if you don’t have a guest room, invest in an air-bed.  Some place to put luggage is essential, you don’t want it stacked on your good upholstered furniture.  A luggage rack for apartment dwellers will suffice but if you have a guest room, make sure to leave several drawers or shelves open to allow your guest unpack.  Fresh towels and bathroom amenities are also key, just double-check you have towels for everyone and needed supplies are within reach.  That about sums it up for basics… but we’re just getting started.  Everyone will appreciate: A bottle of water and a glass, note paper and a pen or pencils, a good reading light, a power source for phone, laptop and other personal electric devices, and reading material, a book or magazines, a snack of some sort AND fresh flowers.  Your effort and thoughtfulness will not go unnoticed and hey… you might even want to sleep in the guest room every now and then and enjoy it.

San Francisco

One of my Favorite cities, San Francisco has so much to offer.  It has, hands down some the most beautiful views in the world.  I am reminded each time I return to my hometown that there is natural and man-made beauty everywhere.  I haven’t done a SNAPshot blog in a while so here are a few really good ones.  Thanks for indulging me, if you haven’t been, go!  If you have, don’t you want to go back?  And if you live there, you know how lucky you are.

Designing The Perfect Bar

To create the perfect bar, you’ll need to start with where you set it up  and the perfect bar needs a perfect bar table or cabinet.  Everyones version of perfect will be different but I think a classic butlers tray is a great choice.  It takes up the minimum amount of room to offer all the necessary liquors & mixers as well as ice, glasses and a few of your favorite bar accessories.  36″ or so is the right hight and tucks away when you need space.  If you have more space and more money a proper bar with bottle storage, tools, and storage for glassware would really keep the party classy.  Once you have decided where there are jus a few things you’ll need to pick up…

1 bottle of bourbon
1 bottle of gin
1 bottle of rum (light)
1 bottle of tequila (100 percent agave)
1 bottle of orange liqueur, such as Cointreau or Grand Marnier
2 bottles of vodka —1 plain and 1 infused, such as Hangar One’s Mandarin Blossom (keep 1 in the freezer at all times and 1 on the bar)
Angostura Bitters
Champagne or sparkling wine
1 bottle of dry vermouth
1 bottle of sweet vermouth
1 bottle each of white and redwine

TOOLS

Boston cocktail shaker
Hawthorne strainer
Double jigger
Bar spoon
Basic cocktail glassware such as rocks glasses, collins glasses, wineglasses, and champagne flutes
Citrus squeezer
Muddler
Waiter’s corkscrew
Champagne stopper
Cutting boards
Paring knife
Bowl for ice
Ice tongs
Toothpicks
Paper cocktail napkins

And then there are the mixers.  You can’t please everyone all the time with the mixers, but you can try.  It’s easy to keep a can of coke on the bar and maybe a fizzy water and a diet something. Here are the things your bar should really not be without.

Big bottle of cranberry juice
Big bottle of orange juice
Soda water (seltzer)
Tonic water
Cola
Ginger ale or ginger beer
Lemon-lime soda
Brandied cherries (we’re not into maraschino cherries)
Cocktail onions
Green olives with pimientos
Superfine sugar

So now you have a pretty “adult” bar, and hopefully the proper glassware to go along with all the right bottles.  This last list are the things that you should grab fresh, or check your stock before you assume you have these things, they are a deal breaker.

Limes
Mint
Ice

That should just about do it.  Brace yourself, this project will not be cheap.  Do I even have to tell you that brand name bottles will taste better and are less likely to give you a hangover?  Buy the best you can afford and drink responsibly.

Fortuny

Mariano FORTUNY Y MADRAZO (1871-1949)

Spanish dress and fabric designer-artist

Mariano Fortuny y Madrazo was one of the most creative minds of his time. He mainly worked in Italy and he was renowned for his Art Nouveau textiles that included fine-pleated silk gowns, lustrous silk and velvet scarves.

Mariano Fortuny y Madrazo was born in 1871 in Granada, Spain and his father, Mariano Fortuny y Marsal, was also a painter and an eclectic collector of Ancient oriental tissues and carpets, rare potteries and metal armories.

His father died when he was only three and his mother, also much involved with art, moved the family to Paris where Mariano started painting. In 1889, the family moved to Venice, Italy, and Mariano Fortuny y Madrazo established his atelier-laboratory in a magnificent palace (Palazzo Pesaro Orfei), which eventually became the Palazzo Fortuny, now the Fortuny Museum.   His life was dedicated to Art as he was not only an accomplished dress and fabric designer, but he also excelledin various disciplines such as interior and stage design, painting, photography, architecture, lighting. Fortuny also invented new methods of textile dyeing and of printing processes onto fabrics, reproducing the depth, color and beauty of ancient brocades, velvets and tapestries.  Mariano Fortuny y Madrazo died in his Venetian Palace 1949 and was burried in the Verano Cimetery in Rome.

At the turn of the century, he experimented applying the newly invented electric light to stage design and worked also with the famous Italian writer Gabriele D’Annunzio.

For internal decoration he created the elegant Fortuny’s lamps, which diffused subtle light through opalescent silk shades, stretched over delicate wire form. The silk was hand-painted with gold motifs inspired by Oriental art and as a finishing touch, the lamps were decorated with glass beads and silk cording.

Drawn To This

You know I will post anything I think is well designed, be it a Hand bag, a car, or an illustration.  I stumbled across this rendering on an architect’s website the other day and was so drawn ( pun intended ) to the style of the work.  So simple and yet such a strong point of view in how the artist/architect chose to represent the house.  We are drawn to things for many different reasons but one of those reasons is a memory is jogged, something touches us from somewhere in the past and we like the feeling, it’s safe a secure.  Thats how I feel about the house in this drawing, and the style in which its depicted.  If I had to guess I would say the style of drawing reminds me of my mother and sister who both good artists, and there is a Maxfield Parrish quality to it .. the house looks like the house my aunt lived in when I was a boy…  it is also just very well drawn.

Albert Sack for Hickory Chair

I have a crush on Albert Sack.  Well, what I mean to say is I have a crush on his furniture line for Hickory Chair.  As you already know from bilblog I’m mad for the quality furniture produced by  Hickory Chair made for the most part in North Carolina, and this line is no exception.  Look at the beautiful lines in this eclectic bunch of home furnishings, it isnt supposed to all go together but somehow it does.  These pictures are stills from Hickory Chairs on-line catalog, they are hands down one of my favorites when it comes to upholstery and case-goods.

Albert Sack’s 73 year career as an American antique dealer, scholar and author is unrivaled.  He was a principal and buyer for the renowned firm of Israel Sack from 1934 to 2002.  Mr. Sack wrote the book “Fine Points of Furniture,Early American” in 1950, known throughout the field as “Good, Better, Best”.  And now he has this wonderful line of furniture through Hickory Chair.  What an achievement.

Amethyst – part II

These vases ( from OLY available through Surroundings and Interior Designers ) are a perfect example of a great accessory that can add a richness and an unexpected splash of amethyst.  I love these grouped together empty or with white hydrangea.  Purples look best greens and oranges for a colorful palette, and taupe and gray for a more muted palette…if you’re daring, its complimentary color is yellow – that would give you one strong room unless you keep the yellows to small accents like fresh roses and maybe a pillow.  You know me, I’d keep it tonal with shades or purple from lavender to deep Amethyst like this bedroom.

I don’t think you should even be afraid to use a dark amethyst for upholstery, just keep the other colors neutral and lay off a lot of pattern.  Keep the look fresh and sleek if you go with a color on upholstered furniture or make sure the entire room is all that color.  Those are really the only two ways to pull off bold-color upholstery.

Amethyst – part I

Purple has long been considered a royal color so it is not surprising that amethyst has been so much in demand during history. Fine amethysts are featured in the British Crown Jewels and were also a favorite of Catherine the Great and Egyptian royalty. Amethyst, transparent purple quartz, is the most important quartz variety used in jewelry.

Leonardo Da Vinci wrote that amethyst was able to dissipate evil thoughts and quicken the intelligence.  In Tibet, amethyst is considered to be sacred to Buddha and rosaries are often fashioned from it.  The Greek work “amethystos” basically can be translated as “not drunken.” Amethyst was considered to be a strong antidote against drunkenness, which is why wine goblets were often carved from it! The gemstone still symbolizes sobriety.

Amethysts. These are coloured violet to dark purple and associate with increased nobility, spiritual awareness, meditative and psychic abilities and inner peace. It transforms negative energy into positive energy, brings an understanding of death and rebirth, amplifies healing and promotes altered states of consciousness and relieves stress. It is therefore one of the most important and powerful stones and probably the most spiritual.

What does all this have to do with decorating?  I believe it is an under appreciated color in the design world.  Yes, every popular fabric vendor is producing some fabrics in the purple, lavender, ameyhyst family.  it’s a nice color to be around and mixes well with grey, cream and taupe.  I’m thinking of adding a splash to my livingroom with just a few pillows in a solid silk.  try it, you’ll like it.

Borrowed Blog dornob

This wall unit desk was too cool not to repost this blog from dornob.  Love it.  The ultimate in visual and structural simplicity, the form of his combined home desk and shelving design by MisoSoup is composed of a single  strip of curved wood that wraps up to become as much a work of minimalist wall art as it is a multifunctional work station with useful space-saving storage lofted above.

Like a shelving units or other storage systems, this combined furniture is designed to sit flush against the surface of the wall making it fit well wherever it works within a bedroom, living room or office layout. However, getting such a long and awkwardly shaped wood structure into a small space in the first place might be a difficult trick (perhaps the next move is to make it convert or come apart in a few places.

Otherwise perfect for small apartments and cramped condo spaces, very little interior room is taken up by this combination computerdesk and bookshelf system. The keyboard slots back under the desktop surface and the chair slides in turn slides under the desk. Overhead, the shelves are non-obtrusive and, if anything, they help to shape space around them to make this miniature office feel more like a comfortable and enclosed interior space.

Faux Fur Sofa

These cozy faux fur couches were shown at this years Milan Furniture Fair. How fun are they? Plush material covers the multi-pieced seat and back in a variety of colors. The ‘fur’ is also available in a variety of lengths so you can customize it to your look and lifestyle.   I would choose the multi fur with light and dark shades, it really emphasizes the shapes of the sofa parts, the black model would look stunning in a modern space positioned on a super fluffy white shag rug.  Called Cipria, the sofas were designed by Fernando & Humberto Campana for Edra.  When a plain old sofa just won’t do.

PATTERNless

This is a beautifully decorated room,  I love it for its simplicity and the calming effect it has due to the lack of pattern ( ok,ok, the drapes have a subtle diamond pattern).  And the color palette is also serene and restful, nothing to aggressive or bold. These details allow the shapes and forms of the furnishings to stand out, like that beautiful bench with bolsters floating effortlessly in the middle of two seating areas.  The rug looks like chinchilla, thick and supple, I can only hope there is a fire-place just out of view.  The rich velvety texture of the rug is echoed on the club chair and the sofas pillows.  This is definitely a comfortable room designed to be used and enjoyed.

Trick or Treat

I love this time of year when the leaves are still changing and the nights are filled with the scent of fireplaces burning.  A time for sprits to visit, door bells to ring and children to dream and imagine being something else for a day.  I love knowing family will be together on coming holidays and enjoying friends on Halloween.  Have a safe and fun Halloween!

I Miss Summer (already)

East coast living has got its ups and it also has its downs.   A cold and wet ( and not to mention rainy ) weekend in New England has me missing summer.  Don’t get me wrong, I love a quiet snow and a mid-winter walk in the frozen park across the street.  But there’s nothing like fresh lobsta and sweet corn and a warm night outside with friends.  Saw this the other day on the Dransfield & Ross website and I felt a tug on a string attached to my heart, for just one more of those lazy days before we get the frozen parks, you know?  Maybe I will get some of these anyway so I have them for next year, I love setting a nice table, and I have said it before… it is even easier to set a table when you have a theme to work with.  These wonderful place mats practically set the table for you, with corn & lobster you don’t even need a fork, just a heavy supply of napkins.

Inspired Room

Haven’t done an Inspired Room post in a long time ( if you’re new to BilBlog thats typically a post I dream up based on a specific item or theme ) so I thought I would do one based on this rug.  This is a client rug so hoping they’ll like what I come up with.  I’m going to start with darkening the walls to a soft golden brown with hints of mushroom, not as dark as root beer but darker than honey… brown sugar walls?!  That is it.  I want use a sofa upholstered in something lightish something close to the swiss coffee trim, a creamy warm white.  It’s texture could be subtle or a small geometric, but nothing too bold… wool would be nice.  Opposite the sofa I think, a pair of chairs skirted ( maybe on a swivel ) on each side of the fireplace.  The two pair of chairs will suit the scale of a large metal coffee table, reachable by all four chairs.  Drapes in this room, for sure.  But what color?  The strong aqua would be really striking, as would the orange but I think I’m going to keep the bold colors for the sofa pillows and use a celadon green and repeat that color in lamps beside the sofa.  What else?  Maybe a game table at one end of the room with two upholstered host chairs pulled up to the window seat, those chairs should be close in color to the walls.  the window seat ( and the four chairs around the fireplace ) can all be in a camel colored solid, maybe linen. Just for punch, final touches would be black shaded sconces over the fireplace, an antique black screen.  something big but soft over the sofa would fill space without dominating it.

White Kitchens

This beautiful kitchen was designed by the talented Erin Martin.  One thing i just love in this chefs paradise is the amazing marble hood.  Now that is a fresh look in an otherwise traditional kitchen, the clean smooth stone is so pretty without any adornment.  It looks like those shelves may be zinc, smart to have added under-mount lights to each shelf… the quality of light will be more balanced because the shelves are not translucent.  The other show-stopper is the islands perfectly executed corner detail, it keeps the room from going to sterile and adds warmth and detail…  I’d call it a happy shape.  I gotta go there though, the jury is still out for me on the round black pulls, think I would have gone zinc ( but I adore you Erin ) but I love that you put the column from the island to the edge of the cabinet wall. Genius!

I’m Working On It

This spectacular house is one of my favorite projects right now.  I am very happy with how it is coming together.  Love the dark color we chose for the windows and subtle trim make other details like the copper trimmed gallery window and arched roof line stand out.  There was a conscious effort to design this house to settle into it’s surroundings, the darker stain and natural materials help to achieve this.  Believe me… this house, even in it’s unfinished state, required many decisions… so far it looks like we made all the right ones.  We are choosing furniture now so I’m hoping next time I post about this project it will be pictures of furniture!  More later.

Family Photos

Lets keep em together! If you’re the type to put out pictures of loved ones, most of us are, please take a moment to think about how you choose to display them.  I believe en mass is the only way to make an impact with snap-shots in the home.  If they are on the wall, filling a round side table or an entire bookcase full, lets keep them together and keep open spaces on other surfaces to keep from looking cluttered.  Matching or like frames help too but as long as the frame selection doesn’t look like a penny sale, it is safe to mix frames.  I know I must sound a broken record to some of you BUT, remember your design style and pick frames accordingly.  Modern or contemporary or traditional or antique there are frames that will suit your homes look.

Jaguar E Type

The sleek and beautiful Jaguar E-Type was officially introduced to the world in March 1961 in Geneva, Switzerland. It was immediately well liked and is now a classic.  The styling and sensuous shape still gets rave reviews. The list of mechanical features was, for 1961, stunning: a double overhead cam engine, fully independent rear suspension and four wheel disc brakes (inboard at the rear no less, an exotic touch usually found only on race cars) proved the E-Type to be an advanced automobile. The price was $5,595 or £1,830 for the roadster at that time.  The low price-tag made the E-Type an exceptional bargain; the comparitively crude Corvette cost less but offerings from Aston Martin and Ferrari were considerably more. And, It’s pretty.  I might choose White, Brown or Black but this red one sure catches the eye.  The light soft top give it the “throw-back” look 60’s vintage.  From every angle this car delivers style.

SNAPshot

This picture is so powerful.  It reminded me instantly of the great work by Richard Barnes, a talented photographer who is well know for images including birds nests, bird formations and  the work that came out of a project funded by the National Endowment for the Arts and commissioned by The Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco to document the renovation of The California Palace of the Legion of Honor.  Please visit his website to see his work.

Animal Logic Series, Richard Barnes - Photographer

It’s In The Bag

I need a bag when I’m at the design center looking for fabrics, wall-coverings & furniture.  I appreciate a great bag, and a great looking bag.  I like the textures and patterns these logo’d bags offer becauce it’s a great pattern to mix with solids, stripes and other patterns found in fashion.  Perfect to mix in a small geometric in a neutral color, if you ever asked why these patterns were so popular, I think thats your answer.  If you approach dressing as one does in furnishing a room, a small pattern like these are the partner to the most popular patterns in clothing.  Of course there are times when you might want to throw a accent pillow in to your outfit, thats when you go for the red or green or yellow bag, but most of the time this bag will work as hard as you do, or harder.  These bags are offered by Louis Vuitton & Gucci.