When we think of what girls could do with their lives back in the 18th century, marriage and babies tops the list. The period dramas we stream lead us to believe that a woman’s employment options at that time were limited to governess, domestic servant or religious life.
As a heavy consumer of those shows, it came as a big surprise to me when I learned that women in the 1700s owned and managed their own firms…
Read MoreGertrude Vanderbilt Whitney once wrote that one of her earliest memories was her longing to be a boy because she felt they got to do more. At age 4, noticing that her brothers didn’t have long hair, she thought she could fix the problem by cutting off her curls, only to find herself severely punished…
Read MoreOften behind every great man stands a great woman (or several). Such is the case with Louis Comfort Tiffany, son of the jeweler, who is well known for his stained glass in windows and lamps…
Read MoreSet at the highest point in Westchester Country, Kykuit, home to four generations of Rockefellers, can’t be seen from the road. Its grandeur reveals itself slowly. Visitors are shuttled up a long hill from a remote parking lot and at first glance, the house, named after the Dutch word for look out, appears much smaller than its 40 rooms. It’s the grounds with their glorious views and large scale sculpture that first alert one to the specialness of this place.
Read MoreDid you know that Sylvia Chamberlain from HBO’s The Gilded Age is based on an actual person? Her name was Arabella Worsham Huntington (Belle for short) and this is her closet.
Read MoreThe sour smell of burning tar paper blanketed the air of our small town. We were in the process of replacing the roof before our move. The shingles were still in the home’s barn, but the recently nailed down tar paper was ablaze. It would be almost 2 years before those shingles were installed. We lost the house to both water and fire damage…
Read More“Don’t look back. It’s not where you are going.” I can’t count the many times I have heard that adage as I struggle to survive recent life shocks. But the opposite is true when it comes to decorating in the New Normal.
Read MoreEveryone loves praise. I am no exception. Thank you to the many folks who messaged me or commented on my Instagram about their delight at my wallpaper choice and the transformation of my foyer and hallway. Repeatedly I heard that they don’t usually “do” wallpaper but the pattern I chose made them reconsider. I installed Pure Pimpernel from Zoffany’s Pure Morris Collection (available from Morris & Co. in the UK) after testing countless wallpaper samples and posting numerous inspiration rooms on Instagram…
Read MoreWolfman-Gold & Good Company, owned by designer Peri Wolfman and photographer Charles Gold, dazzled the design scene by pioneering an “all white” aesthetic for tabletop set amongst a modern farmhouse vibe back in the 1980s. This influential emporium forever changed interior design.
Read MoreI am not a flooring professional, but here is how I got my character-filled Paris floors in Queens, NY.
Read MoreSince many of us are trying to harness nature’s restorative powers in our homes during this seemingly endless winter, I thought it would be fun to take a look at the garden room. Plant parents: all of those green babies need a space of their own.
Read MoreThe 4 acres that comprise The Laskett Gardens are a wonder in any weather. Lurking around every corner is a surprise plant, ornament, temple, column or fountain. The garden was developed as a series of “rooms” with vistas culminating in dramatic focal points…
Read MoreVegas baby Vegas! Last month I traveled to Nevada as an Influencer with the Designhounds to attend the Kitchen & Bath Industry Show (KBIS), North America’s largest trade show dedicated to all aspects of kitchen and bath design. I loved seeing my old friends and fabulous new products.
Settle in for my 5 favorites.
Read MoreImagine if your family owned a house and estate since 1666. It has survived many twists and turns, with colorful forefathers. One descendant gave birth to 4 sets of twins. A recent, rather spiteful, ancestor auctioned off most of the historic contents after a family spat. Not long after that sale, you find that you own the 2000 acre pile. Whatever are you going to do with it!?!? You don’t want to be the one to blow it……
Read MoreLast May, I lunched with designer extraordinaire and paint company founder, Edward Bulmer in his stunning Queen Anne home in Herefordshire, England.
Read MoreThere wouldn’t be a design industry today without the efforts of some key women, the first of whom began trailblazing in the late 1880s. Late last May, I was honored to moderate a standing room only panel at NYC’s D&D building on the legacy of women in design. Settle in for a quick primer on the 5 leading ladies in interior design history.
Read MoreEarly March in New York is dominated by large art events, with the Armory Show typically generating the most buzz. But I skipped it this year (OMG), and quietly enjoyed The Art Show instead. It was wonderful. The dealers were very chill and welcomed the opportunity to share why they loved their wares. As an added bonus, the entry fees for The Art Show went to charity—-a huge departure from the commercialism that dominates the Armory Show. Here are some gems that I spied at The Art Show that you should not miss.
Read MoreRecently, I visited Taliesen West, Frank Lloyd Wright’s winter home and architecture school in the desert outside of Scottsdale, Arizona. Our tour guide reveled in recounting the intimate details of Wright’s personal life in his winter retreat and I can’t wait to share them with you. Plenty is written elsewhere about his architectural theories. Let’s get to the fun stuff.
Read MoreFrom the outside, the chateau in the small Czech town of Nové Město nad Metují is your standard issue medieval pile. It was built in 1501 as a Gothic style fort and the façade shows it.
The approach is nice. To visit, you meander through a charming garden guarded by 22 dwarves and cross a covered bridge straight out of Grimms’ Fairy Tales. But curb appeal is not the chateau’s strong point.
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