NYC Day 1

I am lucky enough to live within a few hours drive of New York City, so when I get the urge to go up there, it’s not too difficult. Sometimes, I just go for the day, but on this trip, I went for two days, in part because I was going to an evening lecture. But then some opportunities presented themselves for the second day, so I was glad I’d chosen to stay over.

When I arrived, I checked in to the hotel, and hopped in a cab to head down to Soho. I’ve been hearing about the shop, C. Wonder for ages, and thought I’d check it out. The founder of C. Wonder is Tory Burch’s ex-husband and while there’s some overlap between their two styles, but he was in the fashion business way before she was. Although C. Wonder’s pieces look good on-line, I was glad I checked them out in person before I purchased anything.The store is great-looking and I especially loved the Chinoiserie paper in the back room with the huge skylight. The merchandising was great, the merchandise wasn’t.

After I left C. Wonder and had some lunch, I wandered around and took lots of pictures of great looking buildings, which are legion in NYC.

Finally, I headed uptown to the “design district” and before the lecture began, I had a few moments to stop into Gracious Home, an amazing store! They have everything from gorgeous china, glassware and silver, 

to aisles of kitchen equipment,

from kitchen towels to bath towels,

and even a sink or two!

Finally, it was time for Mitchell Owens’ lecture on decorator, Ruby Ross Wood, presented by the Decorators Club. I was greeted at the New York School of Interior Design by none other than fellow blogger and friend, Emily Eerdmans! It was such a treat to see a familiar face, the first of several that evening. I finally got to meet Mitch Owens, whom I’ve been e-mailing and Facebooking with for ages. He’s every single bit as charming, knowledgeable and interesting in person as I suspected he’d be.

His lecture on Ruby Ross Wood was fascinating and although she’s no longer well-known, her work stands the test of time. She was Billy Baldwin’s mentor for a number of years, until he went out on his own.  She was a very versatile decorator and even designed her own home on Long Island.

One house Mitch spoke about was in Jamaica and had the problem of only being used a few times a year (!) and termites. So Mrs. Wood furnished the house with pieces made of metal, including this faux painted cabinet.

This is the other side of the orange sofa,

I love the squiggly-legged side table! (Sorry about the bad pictures – they were taken with my phone of slides Mitch was showing. )

After the lecture, I was kindly included at a small dinner for Mitch. I met some new friends there, including Nancy Boszhardt, President of the Decorators Club, who was recently featured in the House section of New York Social Diary. Also at the table was Robyn Pocker, president of J. Pocker Framing, whom I will introduce you to tomorrow, and both Mitch and Emily. Lots of fun and fascinating conversation.

All in all, it was an excellent day in NYC, filled with new and old friends and lots of laughter!

NYC Mini-Wrap

I had a whirlwind trip to NYC over the past two days. The main reason for going was to hear the amazing Mitchell Owens speak about the early 20th century decorator, Ruby Ross Wood. When House Beautiful printed a “family tree” of American decorators, Ruby Ross Wood was right at the base of the tree, and all others sprang from her. I know this is pretty small, but you can download a PDF of it here. 

Although Mitch and I have been e-mailing and Facebooking for years, we’d never met in person. So it was a huge privilege to finally have the opportunity to meet him in person, and then to hear him give a lecture, and then to have dinner with him!

I was lucky enough to be included at a small dinner for Mitch after the lecture, with some amazing women, including sometime blogger and noted author, Emily Eerdmans, who is hard at work finishing her latest book; Robyn Pocker, third generation owner of framers, J. Pocker, about which I will tell you later and several more. It was one of those sparkling dinners filled with laughter and much affection.

I also attended the Architectural Digest’s Home Show, held on Pier 94. It all started out with a “Marys and Mimosas” tweet-up, and hand-caramelized doughnuts. 

I also had a chance to speak with The Cocktail Whisperer. Hey, I am the Junk Whisperer! Maybe we’re related. He carries an early 20th century gnome with him where-ever he goes. I don’t.

And to make the morning even better, I was able to catch a talk by AD Editor, Margaret Russell and decorator Nate Berkus.

Both were relaxed, charming and fun. Nate’s starting a new show in the spring called Renovation Nation, and it’s going to focus on quality, not quickness. They hope to feature some of the trades that are being lost. It’s on network television, not cable!

After the AD show, I headed to the Upper East Side to meet with the staff at J. Pocker Framing. I will tell you about this in a later post, but suffice to say, it was a great experience!

I have dozens of photographs, which I need to edit, so look for some posts about NYC next week.

Placeholder Pooch

I am in NYC at a lecture given by the amazing Mitchell Owens, and won’t have time to post, so I am leaving you with a placeholder post… filled with pictures of my adorable Connor.

He’s being well-taken care of by our walker, Matt, who lives at the end of our lane. He’s so helpful, and it’s wonderful to see how much Connor likes him!

He loves this eiderdown that I’ve had for ages, and I really try and discourage him from sleeping on it. But sometimes, I just let him.

He’s getting old, maybe about 12, and is slowing down a lot. That makes me sad.

OKL: Aerin Lauder’s Vintage Office Picks

I do get on OKL about some of their pieces and prices, but I try and give them credit when they do it right.

Aerin Lauder is launching her home designs line later this spring, and she’s going to be the speaker at the press breakfast at the High Point Furniture Market in mid-April. She comes by her style naturally, being the grand-daughter of the famed Estée Lauder, the make-up queen.

Her home has been photographed for numerous shelter magazines, always to great acclaim and many pins!

So when I saw she was having a sale on One King’s Lane, I was looking forward to seeing what she’d picked for the sale. I have to mention that it was only after looking at some of the pieces in the sale, that I realized that she’d “picked” the pieces for the sale, and that most of them were not her things. Regardless, it was fun to see what she’d chosen. A vibrant Quadrille pillow.

A gorgeous lush Paul Lange print.

A pair of MCM club chairs.

A fun book I remember reading ages ago.

I did take a look at another sale, and found this travesty:

Badminton racquets

Not badminton racquets.

Oh well.

Lee Bailey’s Books

Over the past week, I’ve come across two of Lee Bailey’s cookbooks. These were great favourites of mine years ago, and I had “de-accessioned” them when I moved to the UK. If you don’t know Lee Bailey, he was Martha before she ever came on the scene. He could also be described as the male Ina Garten.

He wrote the most gorgeous lifestyle books, some about cooking, some about flowers – eighteen in all!  Lee Bailey came about this naturally – he was a Southerner. But he also had a food and accessories boutique at Henri Bendel that later moved to Saks Fifth Avenue, and also designed home furnishings. He was also a columnist and contributing editor for Food and Wine magazine.

Bailey’s books had great titles like Southern Food and Plantation Houses which was a culinary and historical tour of Natchez, Mississippi, and was the main reason I took a detour on a road trip to Louisiana to visit the town.

He did a similar format for New Orleans, a city that is renowned for its excellent cooking and beautiful architecture. As he was a native of Louisiana, it was probably a fun book to produce.

In Country Weekends, he took you through a weekend of eating at a friend’s country house, all with gorgeous images and delicious recipes.

In my early years of entertaining, his Good Parties taught me the tricks of the trade and how to plan and then pace a party.

His City Food gave me a glimpse into what a sophisticated dinner party in New York could be like.

One of the really fun books was Cooking for Friends and he numbered among his friends people like Liz Smith, Nora Ephron and Elaine Stritch.

While his books are no longer in print, they are widely available at Amazon and other on-line book sellers. Take a look at these books, they’re a treasure trove!

Tray Très Bonne Idée

I love collecting beautiful metal trays, and have found numerous uses for them, other than serving drinks. Metal or tin trays are pretty easy to find, but many of them are rather ghastly looking. Luckily, I’ve managed to collect some very attractive ones, usually made by Daher, a company that used to be in Long Island City, NY, but now no longer seems to exist.

Many of their motifs are classical or Asian in origin, and the images are beautifully rendered, and most stand the test of time. I can’t remember when or where I found this tray, but it’s a pretty big size, about 22x18 inches. I have it hanging behind my stove, and it works wonderfully in that space.

I also have another tray right behind the sink, and although I wish I had a window above the sink, it’s just not going to work in this house.

I was struck with a brilliant idea this weekend, if I do say so myself! I was making dinner for friends on Saturday, and needed to constantly refer to the recipe. In a flash, I realized that I could stick the recipe to the tray with a little magnet, and have it right in front of me for reference. It was simple to chop, dice, cook and simmer, all with the recipe right at eye level, and out of my way.  And when I put the image up on my FB page, the delightful Lisa Porter, of The Lisa Porter Collection, said that she has a tray similar to this one above her stove, and it also recently occurred to her to stick her recipes on it. Great minds, and all that!

And yes, I made the delicious Country Captain again.

Baltimore Bits & Pieces

Scattered around some of Baltimore’s older neighbourhoods, there are about 200 houses designed by the architectural firm, Palmer & Lamdin. These houses are noticeable with their wonderful and sometimes quirky details. They’re loosely based on English cottages, or what everyone’s ideal of an English cottage is. When you see new faux English homes, this is what they’re trying to be. These Palmer-Lamdin houses don’t come on the market very often – the people who live in them, love them, and never want to leave. Despite what is probably the most motion-sickness-inducing video I’ve ever seen from the real estate agent (it’s about the house, please, not how many special effects you can cram into three minutes), several people arrived at the brokers open with contracts in hand!

The house is filled with quirky details, including a double height front entry way with a curved floating staircase.

There are interesting windows everywhere, here…

and here…

There are several arched doorways, this one out to the center courtyard, and this one from the first floor study to the front hall.

While the kitchen is a bit dated, and is sure to be ripped out, I did love the original pantry cabinets and shelves.

The house even has its original butler bell system.

This is one of two nearly identical and adjacent houses which share a center courtyard, now...

and in 1926. It looks like there was a garage in the courtyard, but it’s now the study in the house. You can also see that the house was originally white-painted brick, but it’s mellowed to a faded red now.The house retains so much of its original charm, and for less than $600k, it’s really a steal!

For more information on these Palmer Lamdin houses, about which I will be writing more at a later time, check out these two articles. One is by pal, Lisa Simeone, and the other by some-time boss, and fellow Architecture Foundation board member, Walter Schamu, who is preparing to write a book about these houses.

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My friend Andrea, co-owner of Bosom Buddy Bags, is having her annual “Scratch, Whoopsie and Retirement” sale next week at their warehouse/workshop just north of Baltimore. I have one of the Bosom Buddy Bags, and it was the bag I wore all summer, and it didn’t look any more worse for wear, than the day I got it! I stopped in to see the gals at BBB and to take some pictures of the items they have for their sale. Most of the bags in the sale are prototypes, or were show-room or advertising models, or have some small detail that’s not quite right.

They have about 200 bags that will be sold, first come, first served. CASH ONLY!

All of the bags are made in Bali and then finished here in Baltimore with unique colours and trims.

Andrea also showed me some of the new pieces in their collection. LOVE these tortoise shell cuffs. Of course, I love anything tortoise shell!

How great would these look with a warm summer tan?

Super cute raffia clutch, with BBB’s signature finish.

The sale is Friday, March 22nd at 1:00 p.m. (and not a damn second earlier, girls!) at BBB’s world HQ at 1505 Serpentine Road, Baltimore, MD 21209. Here’s the link to the FB event page.  If you’re not in Baltimore and would like a BBB, check their website for a retailer near you. And if you’re going to the April High Point Furniture Market, look for BBB at the Marketplace with their pop-up, cash & carry shop.

I saw some P*D readers there last year and hope to see even more of you this year! It’s a great event and you’re sure to find something you will LOVE!