Instagram and 2021!!!

 Greetings and Happy New Year's...!  Follow me on @farrisdean on Instagram to track my latest images...

Dean Farris Interior Design (c) 2021

Find me at Miromar Design Center, 10800 Corkscrew Road, suite 188 or 149...

Call me on (239) 498-9074

Email me at deanfarrisint@gmail.com 

Bon chance ~!  DF  link here:  Miromar Design Center

Sources For The Decorating Cognoscenti

Sources? For the cognoscenti? Yes, there are many, and two that come to mind, besides the most fabulous antiquarians in the world, are Scalamandre' and F.P. Victoria.

Here, I show you a vintage 1960's interpretation of a Louis XVI style bed, by FPV. Then, some lovely Empire style influenced curtain hardware, new from Scalamandre'.

Know this: buying what your decorator selects for you ALWAYS pays off in the long run, years after you've had it installed in your home or office. Quality is its own best advertisement, and there's no substitute for the "aura" one can achieve by way of living with things of inherent value and craftsmanship. You may pay more up front, but the returns on your investment will amaze and surprise you! Sure, you can go on Pottery barn.com and find a sort of slipper chair, but it will not last, and will not exude quality and luxury.

DeAngelis of New York on the other hand...that is another cognoscenti trade only workroom that does the most wonderful and well made pieces, which are such that they become family heirlooms, just like your grannys lovely old silver and china. Buy quality, you won't be sorry! DF *****

French Empire Revival Style

Arc de Triomphe

all original sketches copyright Dean Farris, 2012

So, I've been researching and reading up on my favorite style for residential architecture lately, since I keep seeing certain empty parcels of property that just beg to have me design a house to sit on them...and I came across the late architect John Elgin Woolf, who worked in Los Angeles in the 1940's through the 1970's. Mr. Woolf is credited with creating a pastiche style, known as "Hollywood Regency" - which predated post modernism and was itself a reaction to the desire for romantic architecture among people who longed to show that they had "made it" in Hollywood. Woolf's 1942 Pendleton commission, is perhaps his most well known, although there are still many examples of his work to be seen. Recently, the museum of UCSB mounted a show of his work along with that of his late partner, Robert Koch Woolf, who was also his adopted son. In 2009, Vanity Fair published an interesting piece - about the private lives and the unusual lifestyle created by Mr. Woolf and his protege's. Here, I show some personal sketches I made, showing my version of a modified French Empire revival raised house - I would use quarry key stone for the foundation level and quoins, and poured stucco for the walls, with a standing seam metal mock mansard roof. The square footage of my sweet little Naples pavilion could vary from a mere 2,000 to about 3,500, and of course there would just have to be a swimming pool out back, since this is south Florida after all.

I found it interesting that after Mr. Woolf passed away (died) his heirs moved into an old Addison Mizner house in Montecito. I had no idea that Mizner had worked in California.

Although my house is not yet built, I've already selected some 19th century french furniture for it from my favorite local source, Cedric Dupont, in West Palm Beach. To be seen in a later post!

You could also see some Woolf creations in back copies of the old Architectural Digest from the 1970's, should you be so inclined. I do hope that my friend John Tackett will see this post and leave a message. I would be interested to hear his opinion of it. DF *****