Maquette for My New Living Room

Maquette for Dean

Here, you can see the maquette, or model, also known in Italian as a "macchietta"- which is the elevations taken from the sketched furniture plan, shown in yesterday's post.  Parsons School of Design students (interior design) were taught how to make these for many years- and luckily for me, I inherited the old PSOD faculty when I attended the Fashion Institute, in New York.  We had originally planned to have lacquered aubergine walls, but have opted to go with a satin finish in a mushroom colour called "Victorian Garden" by Benjamin Moore.  

My former "Living Room"

Above, you can see the new sofa, which I plan to use (see south elevation) but am deciding whether to use the same art with pair porcelains on brackets above it, or switch back to the "Versailles" gold sunburst mirror...what do you think?  (I have it sketched in above, in maquette)

 Above, the sunburst above my old settee- which now is planned to go on the east elevation (see maquette) -flanked with the granny smith apple green velvet painted oval back armchairs...

Spanish Louis XV style from Albert

This rug is still being considered

One can never have enough "Louis" !

And I think I will use the new painted jute rug- from Poetic Wanderlust, by Tracy Porter (see my earlier post on Tracy). See the furniture plan sketch in yesterday's post.  The teal and gilt painted armchair from Albert will look stunning with the casual Elizabeth Eakins meets Alan Campbell jute rug- !

Notice the Louis XV mantel, above, from famous Villa La Fiorentina- this was probably our inspiration (how iconic!) for the north elevation- and while I don't have such a grand ceiling height to work with (quel horreur!) I think it will add a wonderful bit of "architecture" to the room- and I feel that if Mrs. Parish had a "faux" fireplace in her Manhattan office, then so can I !  I LOVE the blue and white porcelain garniture on this mantel, and John Tackett, from the Devoted Classicist, posted the set when it sold- it went for a song- I still don't have a picture yet of our new mantel- but it's a Florentine piece, in a rich walnut finish with some gilding on the carvings- if we don't like the finish we can always paint it out- like AH did to the marble one in his cottage here- but I think the somewhat gaudy look will work with our pair of olive suede Louis XV style armchairs...stay tuned for more updates to come!  Cheers!  DF *****

Get The Look!



Ronald Bricke and Associates, Inc.

I was thrilled to see this designer living room, from the private residence of Ronald Bricke, on New York Social Diary...I immediately was reminded of the time I was taken to the townhouse of Angelo Donghia- and how the arrangement in the downstairs white lacquered drawing room had a wild chic and flair.  Well- guess what?  Ronald Bricke worked for Angelo- many moons ago, when AD was associated with Yale Burge, the country french specialist.  Mentioned in the excellent piece on NYSD, was how, when Ronald was a student at Parsons, he was entered into a design contest, and Salvador Dali and the Duchess of Windsor were judges- and of course Ronald was the big winner - a trip to Europe paid for by the Duke!  A similar thing happened to me in design school in New York, and my project was published in "Interior Design" and there was enough cash involved that I was encouraged to fund the Glenn Boyles Memorial Scholarship...which I did.  Mr. Boyles had been at Parsons, and taught many of the top designers, including, I imagine, Mr. Ronald Bricke.  The 1995 Kips Bay showhouse contained an amazing bedroom by Ronald, featuring a very tall tester bed, with a baroque cornice, painted white.  The hangings were in a deep anthracite, and the walls were in a dark cocoa.  He used a rag rug under the bed, from Margareta Nettles, of Nantucket.  The fabrics were by Schumacher.  I will try and post this image for you so you can see it.  Also, tonight I met a wonderful designer, William Murphy, who just moved to town from Atlanta.  His Buckhead house was featured in "Traditional Home" - you may recall- and he is very talented.  Bill will be living down the street from me- check out his site- www.jessary.com Cheers!  DF *****   

Designer Profile: Tice Alexander

Tice Alexander, photo: Fernando Bengoechea

My dear late friend and Parish Hadley mentor, Tice Alexander, was a wonderful and charming man, from Kansas City, who made his home and life in New York. While I've posted about Tice before, I failed to show my readers a picture of him, showing what a handsome and stylish devil he was. This portrait is by the late Fernando Bengoechea - another  fabulous talent, lost to the tsunami. To explain how important Tice was in my life, I should tell you that we were roughly the same age, and we attended classes together at the renowned Fashion Institute, under the aegis of our chairman, the late Stanley Barrows - and Tice went on to work with Albert Hadley at the famed decorating and design firm, Parish Hadley Associates. If Tice was still living I would still be in New York, working with him, just as our old friend Kelly Graham works with John Barman.
Tice was such a beacon for me, and when I lost him, I too was lost. He never tried to re-invent the wheel, he simply chose the best for his clients, and that was always his hallmark- the finest quality and workmanship, with a classical point of view, very timeless and chic. We did the President of Princeton's house, we did a large apartment on upper Park Avenue, and we did a beautiful house in Houston, Texas in the River Oaks section. There were other Park Avenue jobs, less major, as well, and when Tice and I first met, he was living in a large half-floor on Park in the nineties, with socialite Fred Bricker. Imagine my excitement and pleasure at being invited to dine there, and coming into the marble lobby, and then the black lacquer elevator foyer with a coromandel screen - lit with the lowest possible wattage, and the heavy scent of YSL opium hanging in the air! That apartment seemed so HUGE, as all the floors had been bleached and pickled almost white- with french frames "dancing" everywhere you looked. The library was done in classic upholstered pieces, covered in a trashed out Clarence House print. It all made such an impression on me. The master bedroom had been made from THREE rooms- and the king bed looked like a postage stamp in it. Then Tom Britt would drop in and talk about how exhausted he was, which was totally understandable, since he works like a banshee and loves every minute of it. I'm crazy for Tom, and did work for him one Summer many years ago, an experience I'll always treasure.
Stanley Barrows, the former Parsons School chairman - taught Tom and me, and SB told Tice that I reminded him of Tom when he was at Parsons! Tom and Angelo Donghia shared an apartment while attending Parsons. I just love all of this decorating trivia. It's become an integral part of who I am. Tice, you were a great guy, thanks for the ride, it was fabulous! DF *****

Room of the Week, Elsa Schiaparelli

I was certainly most fortunate to attend the Fashion Institute of Technology, New York in the early 1980's, and famous names from the NYC design world would be invited to the school (we also had the entire Parsons interior design faculty for our regular classes) to speak and sometimes demonstrate their work. Paige Rense Noland, Mark Hampton, Mario Buatta, Albert Hadley, Melvin Dwork, BeBe Winkler, Sara Lee, and Jeremiah Goodman among many others came and spoke to us. It was such fun and so very exciting. Many of my classmates went on to become top New York designers themselves. Today, two things inspired me to write on DFS. One, A WIJW post by my friend designer James Andrew, featuring the work of Jeremiah, the famous illustrator, and two, the April issue of House Beautiful featuring a bedroom by designer Steven Sclaroff - using a vintage KREISS headboard as a focal point, with a Clarence House fabric for it's upholstery, which I was looking at today for a client of mine. I had a wonderful day today, meeting with a client from Pittsburgh, and then shopping for another client from Indiana who has a very nice house here in Naples. Enjoy this beautiful rendering by Jeremiah of my "Room of the Week" inspired by the famous fashion designer Elsa Schiaparelli. DF *****