Save the Date: Groundhog Day Party 2011

You might remember last year, I posted photographs of the fabulous Groundhog Day Party I attended, then was requested by the Venue which hosted the party to remove them immediately. Which I did… sort of. The Venue, which shall remain nameless, is once again hosting the Groundhog Day Party to benefit the Baltimore Architecture Foundation, on whose Board of Directors I serve. The date is Saturday, February 5th, from 7:30 to midnight. The party is lots of fun and it is a great opportunity to see the incredible interiors of a very private space. The band, The Swingin’ Swamis, is excellent. The Venue’s chef is renowned. The architecture is awesome and the auction items are brilliant. Amongst the items are a gift certificate to my favourite fabric house, DeBois Textiles; tickets to the National Aquarium at Baltimore and a personal tour for six with the curator of Evergreen House, James Archer Abbott.However, best of all, one of the auction items is a private cocktail party for four in the summer gardens of consummate hosts Stiles Colwill and Jonathan Gargiulo, owners of Halcyon House Antiques. This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to see an amazing estate and spend time with two incredible men. And I am not just saying this because they’re friends! Check out what Southern Accents had to say about Stiles and Jonathan’s entertaining style here and here. For tickets, or to leave an absentee bid on any of the items, click here. It’s going to be a GREAT party!

The Great Gatsby in 3D?

I read somewhere today that Baz Lurhmann’s planning to re-make The Great Gatsby… in 3D. Now, I understand making action movies or sci-fi movies in 3D, but The Great Gatsby? I’d think you’d want to concentrate on direction and set design, rather than 3D.Carey Mulligan’s slotted to play Daisy, a mis-step in my mind. She’s too gamine for the role. Leonardo DiCaprio and Tobey Maguire are also up for roles. What do you think of The Great Gatsby in 3D, and who do you think should play the lead roles?

Starting FIVE!

Today is the start of my fifth year of blogging.

When I started on January 8, 2007, I needed a distraction, and I wanted to keep my writing and photography skills fresh. Over the past four years, blogging has been more than I could have ever imagined and has brought me so much more than I would ever have guessed.

Over the past year, I have had several opportunities that wouldn’t have happened without my blog. I was interviewed by Elle Decor on a story about Baltimore. Through Pigtown*Design, a reporter and photographer from the Baltimore Sun accompanied me on a July morning of yard sale hunting. It was lots of fun, but the day we went was 102* and we were all wilting. In September, The Nate Berkus Show contacted me to appear on the show! They came down to Baltimore and filmed for a day, and then I went up to film a 13-minute segment at the studio. You can see me below with the cameraman, sound guy and producer. I have had the opportunity to meet some of the most wonderful people, some of them bloggers, and some readers, and it’s been such a rewarding experience each time.   All of my thanks go to you, my readers, who makes this all worthwhile for me. I love your comments, the dialogue we have, your opinions, your insights and your support.

I can’t wait to see what this next year has in store for me! C’mon along for the fun!

As always, thank you so much for reading Pigtown*Design!

Books: More Discussion on How Decorators Use Them

Today’s New York Times had an article about how decorators are using books in their interiors, doing things such as putting several shelves of old books with their pages facing out, bundling old coverless books a la Restoration Hardware, and covering all books exactly the same. One of the interesting comments was that clients want their books written in English, because as Alexa Hampton said “Now they want books they actually might read.” (Emphasis mine!) I actually don’t mind the way the books above are covered, since you can actually see the titles… Or the alleged title, since mention was made of covering old Danielle Steele books for a library!

As a committed book lover, I always have a hard time with the concepts of either books facing “spine in” or covering all of the books in identical paper or in a design that gives no indication of what book it’s covering.Funnily enough, the article talked about Restoration Hardware discontinuing the book bundles because of the ridicule from bloggers. Count me in as one of the hecklers, here!I don’t have any objection to a decorator assembling a collection, such as the one above for a house in Wyoming or Montana. But I do agree with the comment that if you’re going to have rows of law or medical books, perhaps it might be more credulous if you were a doctor or a lawyer.

Books have always been such a major part of my life and so it’s anathema for me to see books solely as a decorative element, and not something to be read and treasured.

What are your thoughts on this?

I’ll Take This… Settee

I was driving by my favourite consignment shop the other afternoon and spotted this sweet little settee out front, either waiting to go in for sale, or on the sidewalk, waiting to be loaded into the truck for delivery. What I especially love about this picture is how the shades of blue and green are all in the same range. The celadon green velvet on the little settee and then the olive green of the house directly behind it, and the blue of the house next door, all combine to make a fabulous palate of colour.

Go Fish!

I just wanted to let you all know that I am putting all most of the amazing fish knives on my Etsy shop this evening. There’s been a lot of call for me to get’em up! More will come shortly!They’ll be swimming in all evening long, and also over the next few days. Take a look!

Hermès Bag - DIY

A few years ago, I posted some instructions for making a teeny little Hermès Kelly bag. I found them on the Hermès website, but they’ve since disappeared.  Every few weeks or so, I get an e-mail asking for the instructions, and the pattern, so I thought I’d reprint it again. I printed the pattern on decorated paper to make this little bag. The coin in front is a dime, so you can see the scale of the bag.

The pictures are in .jpg format, so if you click on the pictures to open them, and then right click on them to save them, you can scale them to the paper size that you’re using.

All of the directions you need to create your own little bag are on the images!

The King’s Speech… GO!

My mum and I went to see The King’s Speech today and it’s just a marvelous, lovely movie. If it’s playing in your area, try and go see it.

The story is one which a lot of people might not have known until now, but in a nutshell, George VI has to come to the throne after the abdication of his brother, and in an era of live radio. He has a bad stammer. Finds an unconventional speech therapist to help and makes the speech of his life.

When the movie was under consideration, the Royal Family was asked for its approval, which it was given. But the condition from the Queen Mother was not until after her death, as it was still too painful for her to remember how her beloved husband struggled to speak.

Of course, I was riveted by the movie, and the period in which it took place – the England when my father was an early teenager – but also by some of the sets. A lot of the action took place in the Harley Street quarters of the therapist, almost a garret-type place with lots of leaded glass windows, plaster walls with years of paint and other period pieces. It looks like years and years of paper and paint have been on these walls and now they’re gone. There’s a fabulous sofa in a lot of the scenes, sort of French, with needlepoint details. There are also some scenes, ostensibly at Buckingham Palace, but in reality in a country house in Yorkshire. Colin Firth, as the King, and Helena Bonham-Carter as his Queen are both quite good.  The costumes, like the one below on HB-C, are such fun to see and make you wish people bothered to dress a little better. My grandmother had a dove-gray cashmere coat with a collar like the one she wears in several scenes.

This movie is going to be up for loads of awards, and it’s already starting to win some! So go see it!

Design Resolutions

The local paper asked some of my design/decorator friends to talk about their new year’s resolutions and I thought I’d share some with you.

"Take advantage of the incredible deals available out there in the antiques marketplace. In the past couple of years, antique furniture and collectables have gone down drastically in price, and now is the best time to acquire pieces with some age, patina and great craftsmanship (dovetailed drawers, no plywood or particle board!). I'm going to snap up as many great bargains in wonderful old, unique instant heirlooms as I can."
                                     — David Wiesand, gentleman, furniture designer and craftsman, McLain Wiesand

If you know David, you know this is something he’s already doing. This amazing Victorian velvet sofa was snapped by one of the participants in the Spring Tour de Baltimore.

"Throw out all the New Age whoop-de-do — the green teak and the 'midcentury' leftovers, and go back to the basic rules of design — every room should have two things: a red anything and a bottle tucked away behind the curtains." 
                                                   — Deborah Gore Dean, president of GoreDean.com and GoreDean Home

Deb’s classic taste and extraordinary items are showcased in her new store in Baltimore. It shows everything off to perfection. One of my favourite things this Christmas season was a Frasier Fir candle from Thymes, that I picked up at Gore Dean. It smells like I’ve got a huge Christmas tree in the house!

"Try to teach clients who previously were a bit more trendy and spontaneous to design for the long term, even more so now because of the recession. Longevity in both quality and design will stand the test of time. I would rather my clients spend wisely on fewer quality items that they will carry with them from house to house than purchase a ton of stuff that will be dated in two to three years." 
                                                                               — Erin P. Pitts, Erin Paige Pitts Interiors, Gibson Island

Fellow blogger Erin Paige Pitts couldn’t be more spot on in her way of thinking. The things that will stand the test of time are already classic. Style is long, trends are short.

What are your 2011 design resolutions?

New Year’s Eve Dinner

If you ever read my now-defunct food blog, you might know that my two best friends in the ‘hood, Cat and Dog, are chefs!  And their dog, Halas, is Connor’s best friend, too.

I had a gorgeous dinner at their house this evening and then headed home to sedate Connor for the fireworks at the Harbour. He hates all loud bangs, fireworks, thunder, guns, etc.

So, here’s what was on the menu, from the bottom and going clockwise:

* Braised/roasted onions… amazingly sweet and mild. 
* Proscuitto wrapped around mango. Just a twist on the old standard, with an onion, mint marmalade.
* Hummus, carrots and crackers
* A blue goat cheese, a brie, mango, mozzarella and two types of Italian sausages 
* Sushi

My contribution was lemon curd and raspberry jam in phyllo tarts.

For drinks, we had prosecco with kumquats. Fabulous! Did you know that you can just pop a kumquat into your mouth and eat it? I didn’t! Happy New Year to Everyone, and thanks to Cat & Dog for another fine and fun evening!

Photos by the incredible Chef Cat!