Office Ideas

First, thank you so much for all of your wonderful suggestions. They were right along the lines of some of the things I was thinking about. House of Beauty and Culture suggested numerous frames with calligraphied statements, which was one of my original ideas.

Our kids have 14 character traits, including Courage,Integrity, Goal Setting, Perseverance, Self Control and others. I thought it would be great to have those 14, along with the organization's name and maybe the logo, which would make 16, and I could do a four-square. The wall opposite my desk has a large door to the CEO's office, so that's hard to do something with.

I will probably get some curtains and hang them. Probably just some sort of sheers because the office is on the north side of the house and will be pretty dark as the days draw in. I do need a lamp or two, as well. I noticed during a storm, it got pretty dim in there. Since the windowsills are about 16" deep, I can put a table lamp on the far window, or put a floor lamp next to the conference table.

Last night, I was at the dollar store, and they had 16 black double-matted frames, which I snapped up in a heart-beat. I thought I would get an interesting font and some nice paper and print the 16 words off and frame them. I have to be conscious of the costs and appearances of the office, since I am asking people to give money. We have two farmers markets here and it's a great place for cut flowers. I have a large vase which would be the right proportion for the fireplace. I photo-shopped the original photo and came up with this...

What do you think?

RIP Brooke Astor

Brooke Astor died this afternoon at age 105. She's the personification of the word "lady". Gracious, charming and giving. New York City would not be the place that it is today, culturally and philathropically, without the generosity of Mrs. Astor. Current New York "socialites" should take a page from her book and do things for others less fortunate. Rest In Peace, Mrs. Astor.

Photo: New York Times

A Weekend Project

My mother and I drove down to Virginia today to see the new twins, who are now almost a month old, and cute as little buttons. I took about 150 photographs, which is the blessing of a digital camera. If the focus isn't right, or someone moves, zap...it's gone!

A couple of weeks ago, I was at Plaza Art Supplies getting some artist's canvas when I saw a great little kit. It's an accordian album that you put together yourself. Two cardboard covers, a piece of 7" x 40" folded and scored paper and that's it. I found some great end papers in pink and blue (girl and boy twins) and glued it to the boards. Then I took a ribbon to tie the album with and glued it that down. Then I glued the accordian pages to the end boards, and stuck photos on the pages... one side for him and one for her.

I had taken close up photos of each of their hands and photo-shopped their names onto the pictures. I printed one or two out in black and white for effect and tied the ribbon into a bow.

Carolyne Roehm - At Long Last!

YAY! I just got the new Carolyne Roehm Presentations e-mail and she's paying tribute to two classic guys... Bill Blass and Baltimore's own Billy Baldwin. She mentions that she's got a new book coming in Fall of 2008 about Blue & White, and if anyone knows classic combinations, Carolyne Roehm does. The summer e-magazine Presentations will give you lots of inspirations. There's something wonderful on every page.

Source Perrier Sale

I usually don't write about shopping, but one of my favourite catalogues is having a sale... Lots of cool stuff at great prices at Source Perrier. I think that Anita Tiburzi, who is their President, has wonderful taste and a great eye. If you follow directions, you get an additional 20% off!

Frank Zappa Day in Baltimore

Just thought you all would want to know...it's today.

Office Design

I started my new job yesterday, and got to see my office for the first time. I trusted that my new boss wouldn't put me in a cubicle. The building where I am working is an old estate that was owned by two well-known Baltimore families. One gave the money for the first free public library system and the other owned the local newspaper. The campus is loaded with 100+ year old oak and pine trees, which date to the building of the house. We have just gotten an estimate and a lovely donor to pay the $180k it will cost to paint the trim on the house.

The house is sort of Italianate, mid-1800's and is old field stone. This is actually the original back of the house, but we use it as the front. The hall is black and white marble tile. The building has 15-foot ceilings on the first floor and 12-foot ones on the second floor where I am. I have two huge windows which are north-facing, so the light is good. But the very best thing is that I have a huge marble fireplace! It doesn't work though.
The walls in the office are cream (ew) but I can't paint because we're going to be doing some historic colours in the near future. I want to get a great picture for over the fireplace and then some more for the walls. The windowsills are about 15" deep, so I will put some plants there to bring some life to the room.

Before I did anything on my first day, I turned off the overhead flouresent light and put a high wattage bulb in the table lamp on my desk. Whew, that made lots of difference. Do you have any suggestions for cheap and chic additions to make my office a bit more warm and friendly... after all, I am asking people for money!
This building is the school we run. We're the fifth oldest children's welfare agency in the country, having been founded in 1798.

Weekend Edition

Even though it's August, and summer's almost over (hopefully), I am still looking at summer handbags. I found great one at a yard sale last summer. It's exectly the kind I like for summer - a rattan/wicker/bamboo handbag. I just found another one at a favourite haunt last week for $5.00. The bag I found last year is brown rattan with bamboo handles, and the one I found last week is black with white accents.

Both bags hold a surprising amount, including wallet, phone, filofax, camera, make-up and keys. They are also both vintage, probably mid-1960's, and one was made in Hong Kong. There are a bunch on ebay right now.

I stopped by the Book Thing today and did pretty well. I found some early 2000's Victoria magazines. That magazine stopped publishing a while ago, but I understand they're relaunching it. I also got Jessica Mitford's Daughters and Rebels, an autobiography. (if you click on the link, you get to the most hideous site about Jessica Mitford, aka Decca) She's one of the famous Mitford sisters. This promises to be very interesting.

I also got Cornelia Otis Skinner's Nuts in May, a series of essays from the New Yorker. She wrote the play, Our Hearts Were Young and Gay. When I went to Book Thing today, I took a bunch of books I had previously gotten there, but decided not to keep. As I said before, just like a lending library, but you can keep what you really like... and they're all free!

Tomorrow, I begin my new job... yep another one. The one I started in June turned out not to be what I had expected, but this one returns me to my first love, fundraising for non-profits. I had actually worked at this new place before, and am going back because I love what they do - working with children in the foster care system, and in juvenile justice. I have always had so much, and I feel the best way I can effect changes in our world is by raising money for groups who do the work.

McKim, Mead & White

I was reading something about Newport "cottages" in the New York Times today, and it reminded me of the turn of the century (19-->20th) architectural firm McKim, Mead & White, which is no longer in existance. The houses and buildings that came out of this firm are spectacular to say the most and classic, to say the least. Their works include the Arch at Washington Square, the Harvard Club in NYC and the Boston Public Library, along with summer cottages on Long Island and one of the original Madison Square Garden buildings.

Baltimore is lucky enough to have a couple of these buildings, and I was fortunate to work in one of them for a couple of years. Stanford White is the most well-known of the three partners in the firm, both because of his enormous talent and the fact that he was killed in a love triangle, on which the book/film Ragtime was based.

While the Garrett-Jacobs Mansion where I worked was the grandest and largest house ever built in Baltimore, it was the small touches that were most appealing. In the small dining room, amidst lots of carving and detail, there was a carving of the nursery rhyme where the dish ran away with the spoon and the cow jumped over the moon... In one of the bathrooms, the walls were marble, and there were pastoral scenes painted on the marble, so the paint, which looked like watercolour, saturated the marble, and then the marble was polished. This bath also had solid gold taps and spigots, which never tarnished.

Some of the interiors of the Garrett-Jacobs Mansion were used in the 1995 movie "Twelve Monkeys" with Brad Pitt and Bruce Willis.

Lulu Channels Dorothy

I just got my occasional newsletter from favourite designer, Lulu Guinness. This season Lulu draws inspiration from 1950's interior decorator Dorothy Draper. Her striking prints and embroidery give Lulu's bags a fresh new look for Autumn/Winter. Check them out!