Tuesday, July 29, 2014

Fantasy in Decoration IV

Sotheby's East Hampton, NY
My New York pal, the designer Tom Edwards, has a house in Amagansett, currently on the market- and he showed me the full page NYT ad showing his house on the same page with Kevin McNamaras former pavilion- now listed for $7.5 million...Toms house is on the same street as Blythe Danners- (Gwyneth Paltrows mother) ~ !  See my earlier posts on Kevin McNamara in the search bar.


LWC Interiors , Atlanta, Palm Beach,  New York
My old Atlanta friend, Louise Wilcox Cronan designed this charming landing- using a Bob Collins chinese fret paper and a Kent Bragaline floral print on the octagonal table- Louise has worked for Carleton Varney and for Kevin McNamara, in senior decorator positions~ we recently lunched together at Belle and Maxwells on Dixie Highway in West Palm Beach.  See more of her work at the upcoming Cathedral Antiques Show in Atlanta this winter.  Louise is a third generation designer and great fun to know.


Richard Lowell Neas, New York
 Speaking of Atlanta, our blogging friend, Jennifer Boles of The Peak of Chic, just today posted about the late decorative painter, Richard Neas.  I was most intrigued by this fantasy painted floor and the lovely, timeless, trompe l'oeil porcelain wall decorations~ thanks Jennifer!  And I've always loved a bright chinese yellow wall colour, ever since I was exposed to it at the American museum in Britain, at Claverton manor- where I lived and worked -after design school in Atlanta, under the tutelage of Stan Topol (famous for having worked for Elton John, and apprenticing under Billy Baldwin).  Lucky me!  Also am loving the sober contrast of the black regency chairs against this bright wall.



Valentino, AD
Fashion designer, Valentino Garavani, has five amazing homes, and a yacht!  This AD image sent me over the moon, so I had to appropriate it for this post~ the chinese paper is what puts it into a "fantasy" category for me- combined with the scale of the fabulous mirror and the girandole on pedestal.  Love the one big statement porcelain figure on the console too!  Heaven!


Image DF
I discovered this AMAZING plant growing behind the Tommy Bahama emporium here in Naples this weekend~ it just inspires me with its fantasy explosion of brilliant purple and green!  Martha Stewart probably even knows what it is!  :)


“Always try to keep a patch of sky above your life.” 
― Marcel ProustSwann's Way

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Ann Getty, Slim Aarons
 This is my favorite Slim Aarons image showing the California beauty, Ann Gilbert Getty.  I love the fantasy of her amazing life, and her incredible elegance and style. ~ 

“The thirst for something other than what we have…to bring something new, even if it is worse, some emotion, some sorrow; when our sensibility, which happiness has silenced like an idle harp, wants to resonate under some hand, even a rough one, and even if it might be broken by it.” 
― Marcel ProustSwann's Way

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Even I imagine, Monsieur Proust would be inspired and stirred by her beauty- and so these quotes from him have been included~

Enjoy!  Cheers!  DF *****