Wisteria

Spring is finally here in Charleston, and the silvery gray wisteria vines are now dripping with lavender blossoms and acid green leaves...

 This wisteria vine is on Meeting Street in Charleston and is by far my favorite example in the city. The house next to it is crisp white; the rigid classicism of the Charleston single house combined with the highly organic nature of the wisteria makes for the perfect combination. 

 

The Wisteria Dining Room from the Parisian home of Auguste Rateau. He commissioned Lucien Lévy-Dhurmer in 1910 to decorate his home in the art nouveau style. 

The result? 

Carved wisteria blossoms and vines framing impressionistic pastel panels. Pretty Amazing.

 

A HABS photograph of Laurelton Hall, home of Louis Comfort Tiffany, which had a network of posts and wire netting so that wisteria would grow and form a ceiling above a portion of the garden.  The house burned in the 1950s.

 

Although Laurelton Hall burned, portions of the house were salvaged and the majority of architectural features are now housed in The Charles Hosmer Morse Museum of American Art. This transom panel, c. 1910-20, was once in the dining room of Tiffany's Long Island estate. 

In Bloom New York partnering with interior designer Brian Reilly used wisteria vines and hydrangea blossoms in this amazing arrangement  for a Soho party.

Budapest to Vienna

 

Just finished booking flights and hotels for a trip to Vienna and Budapest for the beginning of May...

any suggestions on antique stores, clothing stores, unique restaurants, or museums?

 

I'm very excited... 

I've always wanted to visit Budapest and my last trip to Vienna was canceled while I was living in Florence, Italy a year ago, so I'm excited to finally make it all happen with a very special person.

Looking forward to your suggestions!

Any help will be appreciated.

Some rooms I love...

 Over the last few months I've been collecting some photographs of my favorite rooms while I've been looking through some of my favorite blogs. 

Take a look...

 

The MOST amazing dining room in Marcelo Lucini's apartment.

I'm obsessed with the color, and the gilt chairs are fantastic. 

via Habitually Chic

 

Ever since my best friend painted her bedroom black, I've become enamored with black walls... especially with a huge gilt mirror.

via here

 

Loving the black walls and the collection of portraits... 

via Bijou and Boheme

 

Completely in love. 

Wouldn't change a thing.

via Patricia Gray

 

Not only do I just love this as a photograph, but I love it as an actual bedroom. The draping of the fabric is a work of art in itself.

via Patricia Gray

 

A room by Jonathan Adler... 

the chandelier, the portrait, the bust, the orange chair, and the turquoise? 

Fantastic.

via Elle Decor

...and I just saw this apartment today on one of my favorite blogs, The Neo Lifestyle

I'm completely obsessed with it. I've never seen an entire apartment and thought, "ok, I could live here without changing a thing."

 via New York Social Diary

"Lacroix sweetie, Lacroix."

Patsy and Eddie, from the completely genius British sitcom Absolutely Fabulous, were crazy for Christian Lacroix's over the top fashion of the early 1990s...

and now I'm crazy for Lacroix's line of fabric and wallpaper...  

From left, Vuelta and Forum...

 

... and Riviera

Visit Designers Guild to view the entire collection here!

I just can't get enough...

 ... of taxidermied fauna.

I'm all for animal rights and everything... but I still don't mind wearing them or displaying them on my coffee table...

 

Amazing mounted beetles from Ainsworth-Noah via 1stDibs... 

could these seriously be more amazing?

 

A vintage stuffed Alligator via 1stDibs... 

I want to mount him so he looks like he's crawling up the wall so badly...

 

... how could you ever get tired of looking at these? 

 

adorable, but with just the right amount of evilness.

The William Vanderhorst House

I'm currently dog/house sitting for a friend who lives, what Charlestonians refer to as, South of Broad, meaning in the most historic, beautiful, and desirable part of the city of Charleston located South of Broad Street on the very end of the peninsula. 

On our nightly walks we always pass the William Vanderhorst House at 54 Tradd Street. The stucco has aged to an uneven sandy color and the trim is a traditional Charleston green (green so deep it reads as black). Although the house appears so plain, there's something so textured and layered about its appearance... it's a home that looks as if it lives and breathes. 

I was disappointed to see only four photos of the structure on the Historic American Buildings website... 

but I love this portrait of the home... the little convertible Mercedes-Benz is the perfect little juxtaposition with this venerable old building. 

and this...

 

... from Vincent Mulford on 1stDibs

Something I Need

Loving this from 20th Century Interiors on 1stDibs...

 

 

...a Johan Tapp Cabinet, c. 1940. 

I'm loving the huge brass handle and the burled veneer. 

Neo-Regency Hair

I've always loved men's hair from the Regency period... so wild and untamed, but at the same time so calculated and deliberate... I've been attempting it for a while now, but just can't get it right on my own...

 

Prince Regent George IV had the right idea...  and so did this little article...

 

... and so did the costume directors of Vanity Fair...

 

...Colonel Thomas Pinckney, Jr. was obviously very stylish as seen in this c. 1801-2 miniature from the Gibbes Museum, recently on display at the Winter Antiques Show...

 

Neo-Regency hairstyles from a recent Burberry Prorsum show... amazing how right at home these hair styles would have been 200 years ago... now it's time for me to master it for the upcoming Charleston International Antiques Show Preview Party...

The Opera Garnier

One of my favorite buildings I've ever visited is the Opera Garnier in Paris. The building was designed by Charles Garnier under the reign of Napoleon III. Two of the lesser known rooms in the structure, but in my opinion are the most spectacular, are two small rotundas dedicated to the sun and moon.

 

The Salon of the Sun has two mythological dragons in the center medallion with a massive sun burst filling the dome. All the details have a goldish tint so that the entire room glows. Even the infinity mirrors which reflect across the room have a gold tint to the glass. 

 

The Salon of the Moon has a series of bats in the medallion with silver moon rays and gilded stars on the dome. The details are picked out in silver-leaf instead of gold and the mirrors have a bluer tint to them.

All of the rooms of the Opera Garnier are over the top... but these rooms are perfection... they're just enough and the subtle detailing provides a break from the riotous marble, statuary, and gilding of the other rooms of the opera house...  the scale of these rooms is also more human... I'd love to make one of these rooms my bedroom...

A New Obsession: Downton Abbey

I've just started watching Downton Abbey and I'm absolutely obsessed. I can already tell it's going to be one of those shows that will end all to quickly. I've only seen the first three episodes and it scares me that this show has the possibility to keep me in front of my computer for a limitless period of time...

 

The scenery in the show is spectacular. Downton Abbey is actually Highclere Castle in Hampshire...

 

The interiors are amazing and completely believable... a visual feast on par with the best period films...

 

and the costumes? Amazing. I would watch it just for the clothes...

and not to mention the actors... who are decidedly handsome... especially Charlie Cox who guest stars as the Duke of Crowborough (above) and Theo James who guest stars as Mr. Kemal Pamuk...

 

and Rob-James Collier who plays Thomas, the First Footman... I might go as far to say that I'm in love with him.

Tony Duquette at One Kings Lane

Today's One Kings Lane Tastemaker Tag Sale featured Tony Duquette designs as curated by current creative director Hutton Wilkinson... some items were even from Duquette's estate Dawnridge... and incredibly opportunity to own a piece that actually belonged to this legendary designer... these are some of my favorites...

 

 Louis Philippe tables with original Tony Duquette malachite-painted finish- so over the top, so amazing, so Duquette...

 

A screen made of a pen and ink drawing of Venice by Tony Duquette that he did in 1947; the screen was made in the 1990s. There were three of these in the sale and I'm completely obsessed with them- so dramatic...

 

A Louis XV style yellow, Chinoiserie desk by Baker... I love the color and lines...

 

 

A Victorian lacquered and papier-mache Gondola chair with mother of pearl inlay... again, so ridiculous and over the top that you have to love it...

Good job, One Kings Lane. I'm not quite sure you can trump this one.

Oedipus and the Sphinx

One of my favorite paintings... 

 

Dominique Ingre's Oedipus and the Sphinx, 1808

and one of my other favorite paintings...

 

Francis Bacon's Oedipus and the Sphinx, 1983

Fur

Fur... something I can't get enough of...

And it all started with this painting... the most bizarre part is the height at which it is hung in the National Gallery- such that you almost gaze directly into the eyes of the head of the bear skin rug. 

 

 James Whistler's Symphony in White No. 1, 1862

 

Hollister and Porter's (from the phenomenal blog Hollister Hovey) living room... 

absolutely amazing

 

Even the set decorators for Gone With the Wind had the right idea with this polar bear rug in Scarlet's boudoir... everything about this is to die for... especially those curtains

 

This room might be my favorite... perfection

 

 Jean Harlow on a polar bear rug... 

and the only thing better than lounging on one is...

...wearing one...

Lady Gaga in Bad Romance wearing a design by Benjamin Cho from 2004