I Love Clever People

Easy and Elegant Life, my dear friend and the co-founder of April Food Day, sometimes has the most interesting posts by a guest writer with the moniker, “Square with Flair”. The posts are always comprehensive, fascinating and informative. They are a little lesson on esoteric topics that are worth learning more about. Square’s post on Easy & Elegant Life on Tiffany Blue is a case in point. Starting with vintage Tiffany catalogues, moving on to a Tiffany blue leather jacket and Dior sweater, and then to china in the signature blue, it’s a lesson in colour and culture.

Another excellent guest post on E&E was for Yves Saint-Laurent on Valentine’s Day, and was illustrated by some of Square’s fabulous photography. In vain, I always clicked on Square’s profile, hoping that there would be a blog to follow. One chilly winter afternoon, I clicked, and like magic, a blog appeared. It’s called “Square with Flair” and is an excellent place to while away some time.

Square is quiet clever and made a little classical garden pavilion out of bristol board and sharpie markers. It’s more fun that anything I’ve seen in a long time and is a treasure. Not only is the garden pavilion a delight, but Square’s photography is warm and charming. Please go over and visit my new friend, Square with Flair, and say that Easy and I sent you.

Tour de Baltimore Details

After weeks of planning and scheming, I’ve got the schedule for this Friday and Saturday’s Tour de Baltimore. Both of the days’ schedules will be quite similar, although the Saturday schedule will include a trip to the Book Thing, which is only open on weekends. I am including links to each of the places we will visit, so that you will have a general idea of where we are heading.

Here’s the general schedule. The only time that is firm is the starting time, and as we move through the day, we can be very flexible.

• 9:00 to 9:30 – Meet at DeBois Textiles. This is just off the Washington Boulevard of I-95 north. I will have coffee and donuts there for everyone. They will be opening early for the group. There is plenty of free parking at DeBois and since we will probably carpool, you may leave your car there or at Housewerks, our next stop. They’re getting in a shipment of fabrics this week, so there will be lots of new yardages for everyone to see and buy. Also, they have a massive selection of vintage clothes.
• Housewerks – From DeBois, we will head a few blocks to Housewerks Architectural Antiques to see their fabulous collection of goods. They just took apart a convent in Pennsylvania and have lots of interesting artifacts from Catholic Schools in the 1960’s to 1990’s. 
• From Housewerks, we will head uptown to Gore Dean, one of my favourite shops in Baltimore. Everything here is a treasure, from the fabulous china and crystal, to the amazing antiques.  There is a Starbucks in the center in case anyone is desperate for coffee at that point.
• We will then head south on Falls Road to the quirky neighbourhood of Hampden where there are several great home decorating shops, including Red Tree with its organic and hand made items, and The Antique Exchange with their classical taste. We will stop for lunch at one of the area’s restaurants, most likely, Cafe Hon, an essential Baltimore place to eat!
• On Friday, we will head downtown to McLain Wiesand, to see what great items David Wiesand has in stock. David’s range includes antiques and hand-crafted furniture. On Saturday, David will be opening the shop specially for the group, and we will probably go there after we visit Housewerks. Don’t forget to check out David’s blog, here.
• On Saturday, we will head to the Book Thing and then go on to McLain Wiesand. As you might know, all of the books at Book Thing are FREE! As many as you want. All FREE.

Some more details:

• Please e-mail me and let me know which day you’re coming and how many there will be. In the interest of being “green” we might carpool, so if you drive a mini-van, bring it! 
• The tour should wrap up mid-afternoon on both days, but we will try especially hard to finish by 3:00 on Friday, so you can avoid the rush-hour traffic.
• There is no cost for the tour. I am just happy to show people around the treasures of Baltimore.

I am looking forward to seeing everyone on Friday or Saturday. Cross thumbs for great weather!

John Robshaw in Person

I was lucky enough to be invited to a small party to meet textile designer, John Robshaw, last evening. In addition to being very talented, he’s also charming, warm and great-looking!

At Halcyon House in Baltimore, they’re having a trunk show of John’s fabrics today, as well as a number of the beautiful Indian textiles he’s importing and making into pillows (just like me!), table runners, prints on paper and more. Halcyon House is one of the few places in the area that carries John’s goods, including quilts, pillow shams and pillows. Halcyon House is filled with exemplary selections of ikat pillows, Uzbekistani robes, gorgeous table top items, and as always, loads of fresh flowers! Some of the guests last evening included several of Baltimore’s top designers – Alex Baer and Mona Hajj – and architects – Ziger Snead, who had designed the residential buildings at Woodbourne - as well as my great friend David Wiesand. Earlier in the day, I had stopped by DeBois Textiles, where I found a beautiful Afghanistani crewel-work coat. I took it home and made some alterations and wore it to the party. I thought that since John is a textile designer who does a lot of travelling, it would be of interest to him… Actually, almost everyone commented on it, and it fit perfectly with the theme of the evening.

John Robshaw will be at Halcyon House today, from noon until five p.m. Go visit him!

Thanks to Stiles for including me in the evening’s events! And thanks, too, for the gift bag with some swatches of John’s stellar fabrics and a notebook that John’s making exclusively for Barnes & Noble.

More Royal Mail

I love the stamps issued by the UK’s Royal Mail. They are so much more fun than the ghastly ones issued by the US Post Office. There’s a new series of stamps just issued commemorating 150 years of the Battersea Dogs Home in London.

Which do you like the most?

And the winner is…

Ricki! She sent in her answer via e-mail and I posted it on the comments, but here it is…

Having a comfortable home that's kid-friendly and dog-friendly has always been our focus and sometimes a challenge. When we have guests, we want them to make themselves at home, to feel at ease and relaxed.

These are the rules we've tried to keep:
1. Make sofas and chairs comfortable enough to curl up in, but durable enough to withstand spills, etc. I don'[t want to have to worry if someone puts their feet up, or is juggling wine and drippy food.

2. Choose floor coverings that are forgiving, i.e. glazed Mexican tile in the kitchen---nothing shows on it! Hardwood if possible with, preferably old, Oriental or Oriental-style rugs. Ditto, nothing shows!

3. Slipcover chairs and sofas if possible. I actually have a Mitchell Gold sofa in our house in Canada from Pottery Barn (one of the only benefits to living in Memphis is that they have a Pottery Barn Outlet and used to have warehouse sales with unbelievable discounts!). It and the chairs are covered in an off white twill. The slipcovers have survived everything from chocolate, mud, red wine spills--and we're talking about an entire glass! The savior was soaking for 4 days in Oxyclean and washing in the machine and drying in the sun.

4. If you don't like slipcovers, we have ultra-suede type on our sofas in Memphis. I actually took samples of the fabric, allowed Winston and Georgia, our Shar Peis to drool on it (Winston especially drools like a bulldog), let it dry and wiped it with a damp cloth. Voila, no stains! The damp cloth really takes out the worry.

5. Give people things to look at in your home: stacks of books, gatherings of found objects, a grouping of photos or small painting, manageable groups of something you collect. etc. Make it warm with little vignettes that draw the eye and make people want to pick it up and look at it or touch it. It doesn't need to be fine art, just something interesting or feels good in a tactile way.

6. Think about which colors give you a sense of completeness: beach tones, warm and cozy, neutrals so you have a free palette.

7. Always have plenty of food and drink. It doesn't have to be the best wine or the fanciest food, just let friends and family feel welcome. Don't be absent in the kitchen, choose things that can be prepared ahead of time or things that your friends can make themselves: fondue, spring rolls, tacos. Or have a big pot of soup, gumbo, stew, or chili. 8. Let music set the mood, but don't overpower conversation.

9. Have furniture close enough so people can really talk to each other.

10. Enjoy!

Thanks so much to everyone who entered and wrote such wonderful comments about what makes a home comfortable. Connor and I really enjoyed reading through them.

He and I both make ourselves comfortable, regardless of where we are!

Bits & Pieces

WOW. Today was just gorgeous. Clear and sunny and actually warm! Or at least in the 60’s. While there are still huge piles of snow in parking lots and on street corners, it’s almost beginning to feel like we’re through the bad winter weather. However, I’ve probably just jinxed the entire Mid-Atlantic area with that statement, as we’ve had some really bad snowstorms in mid-March.

Don’t forget to enter the contest for Mitchell Gold + Bob Williams’ new book, The Comfortable Home: How to Invest in Your Nest and Live Well for Less (Clarkson Potter/Melcher Media, 2009, $35.00). All you have to do to enter is leave a comment on this post or this post and tell us what makes a comfortable home for you.I have a special post planned for St. Patrick’s Day. Last year, I wrote about an abandoned church in Ireland that had been converted into a home. Well, Andrew Lohan, the owner of the Kilgallen Church wrote to me recently, and I asked him if he’d do a piece about the conversion of the house.  He will talk about the process, decisions made and the end result, and we’ll get some fabulous pictures. The Kilgallen Church is now available for rentals. Don’t forget about the Spring Tour de Baltimore coming up on Friday, March 19th and Saturday, March 20th. If you are interested, please drop me an e-mail here and let me know. I will be sending details by e-mail later this week. I’ve just added a number of new items to my Etsy shop, including some gorgeous French Art Deco forks. As I continue deaccessioning my things, I will be adding them to the site.  The link to the site is in the column to the right of the posts. As always, thanks for reading Pigtown*Design! I appreciate it more than you will ever know!

David Goes to L.A….

… and wants your help in finding fabulous places to visit.

My friend David Wiesand, proprietor of McLain Wiesand, about which I’ve written many times, is visiting LA next week with his daughter and is looking for some great places to visit. I made some suggestions, including the Pacific Design Center, Hollyhock, LACMA, the Getty Museum and the Getty Villa, and Melrose Avenue.

What are the places you think David, and his 21-year old daughter, Lexie, should visit? Leave your suggestions in the comments.  … And M21, are you available to meet up with him?

So Sari!

In one of my many visits to DeBois Textiles, I discovered a bin that is marked “Hippie Mix”, which is a very funny, if slightly inaccurate description.

This massive bin is filled to overflowing with Indian, Pakistani, Chinese, Japanese, African, South and Central American and other native and traditional clothing. I am always drawn the the incredible sparkle and sheer volume of traditional sub-Himalayan clothing. It may have something to do with living in Bethnal Green, a very Bangladeshi section of London.As you may remember, we visited Little India in Queens, New York in September and I marveled at all of the amazing jewelry and clothing. Although it’s a bit overwhelming sometimes, I can’t help but admiring the enormous craftsmanship that went into these things, even if some of it is machine-stitched!So it was with great fun that I plunged into a 6x6x6 foot box to see what I could find. I’d already snagged a serene taupe silk caftan with beautiful embroidery on it, and made it into a pillow cover. On that trip I also got a Korean wedding dress with huge hand-painted flowers on the hot pink silk, and a 10+ foot long sari wrap with metallic fibres running through it. My friend Lisa and I had a great time sorting through the “oriental” section with the colourful silks and cheong-sam dresses that look so incredible. Lisa scored a stunning obi sash in the most amazing greens that she thought would look fabulous as a table runner. What blew me away was a silk-satin skirt that must have weighed in at about ten lbs. It had hundreds of small beaded flowers on it and then a band of beading around the hem.

Mind you, this was not a straight pencil-skirt, but a huge full flowing skirt.

Aside from the mind-boggling workmanship on these clothes, what really has me in a spin is the price tag… about $5.00 each!