Searching for Fairuza Balk

What ever happened to this young lady? She was one of those quirky 90s-era beauties (Angie Jolie crossed with Medusa?) that we don't often see in the age of "High School Musical." Reminds me I need to rewatch Valmont, Milos Forman's also-ran adaptaion of Les Liaisons Dangereuses, because Fairuza and Annette Bening were quite fierce and I'm sure the sets will still inspire. However Christine Baranski screaming "Close your legs, Cécile -- this isn't Jamaica!!" to Selma Blair in Cruel Intentions is probably my favorite moment out of all three movies.

Christian Bérard Salle de Bains?

My tenement apartment is completely wonky -- as if poor immigrants didn't care about right angles! -- but the bathroom takes the cake. A multi-trapezoidal nightmare with the commode shoved in a corner. I painted it glossy white (almost dying from my ancient stove's pilot light burning the fumes in the process) but it needs decoration. I'm thinking about a Christian Bérard homage ... talk about wonky chic:

image via Meuble Paint

Check out his trompe l'oeil architecture for L'Institut Guerlain above, a collabo with Jean-Michel Frank. Stunning and perhaps not all that difficult to mimic? Temo Callahan (the man behind briliant Studio Printworks wallpapers and a friend of Mugatu's) definitely had a similar moment in his kitchen:

photo by Paul Costello via domino

This was my favorite shelter mag story of 2008, so much creativity. Aesthete's Lament was already on the Bérard bandwagon a year ago and I agree, that Greek key carpet should come back into production TOMORROW. Maybe I'll copy his stylized key frieze and some faux paneling but in a tonal shades of red? Green? My bathroom's floor tile, toilet and baptismal font bathtub are all white and I think I'm gonna commit one of those terrible "Flip This House" no-nos and paint the HID-JEE-USS textured grey 12x12 shower tile to match. This is a rental, after all. Oh and for my double wall sconce I might buy two of these scalloped tole chandelier shades from Stray Dog Designs:

image via Stray Dog Designs

Charming, right? Their catalog showed up on my desk today -- what a cute story. I'm sort of obsessed with tole right now but more the garden furniture variety not Italian floral chandeliers. Okay, one more CB beauty for inspiration:

image via Idbury Prints

"Couple on a Bed," 1947, an illustration for Elsa Triolet's novel Mille Regrets. How effing talented was this guy?!? 100 Euros and it's yours, plus points for anyone who makes the Love in a Cold Climate connection ...

*UPDATE*
A little birdie tells me that another brilliant F-o-M (Friend of Mugatu), the esteemed architect James Shearron, was responsible for Callahan's cabinets! Perks of having stylish friends I guess. Think any of mine want to paint my pissoir or re-create the Bemelmans Bar in my kitchen?!?

Also here's the passage I was remembering:

The next morning when I went to Lady Montdore's room to say good-bye, I found Cedric, in a pale mauve silk dressing gown, sitting on her bed. They were both rubbing cream into their faces out of a large pink pot. It smelt delicious, and it certainly belonged to him.
"And after that," he was saying, "until the end of her life she wore a thick black veil."
"And what did he do?"
"He left cards on all Paris, on which he had written 'mille regrets.'"

-Love in a Cold Climate by Nancy Mitford, first published by Random House, 1949.

Might Nance have had the above image in mind when creating her own (hysterical) 'couple on a bed'?

Chain Gang

What's good in the "What's New?" category? Take a gander:


The Format Shelf from CB2 for $49.95. Hard to see but a couple would be chic in a bathroom to hold towels, no? Lots of other cute lucite accessories there too.


I love the base on The Company Store's Essex Table on sale for $179 (20 bucks off) and appreciate an ebonized top instead of espresso, but it's a little chunky and needs some razmatazz. Beginner DIYers might paint the edge a contrast color, more advanced could try a Greek key.


A charming Chinese-y lacquer telephone table from HomeDecorators Collection (they call it 'Redhead Telephone/Plant Stand' -- who out there needs a new name for their art-rock band?). $339 seems a little inflated but she's nicely proportioned and has simple ring pulls instead of those corny Mandarin escutcheon plates. Plus free shipping.
Wisteria's new tufted ottoman fits most of my carving criteria and the bleachy finish is a nice departure from white or black. It's $549, but I swear they sell the same one for twice that at Calypso Home down the street.

Works on Whatever

On the blurry mental spreadsheet that is my monthly budget "Julian Schnabel beach towel" doesn't exactly take cell A-1, but maybe it should?
Lindsay introduced me to Works on Whatever, an organization that brings contemporary art to the masses via everyday objects. Wish I'd known about these trees during my tweaked Tim Burton Xmas moment. And if Schnabel's not your style who wouldn't love bringing Sid Vicious to the beach?

images via Works on Whatever

Elizabeth Peyton is a genius and 50 bucks isn't all that steep compared to Hermes or even Bed Bath and Beyond. Any decent white bath towel costs $25! Plus WoW supports civic art -- a worthy cause and personal one, considering I'll probably end up painting courthouse murals under Obama's new WPA if the economy doesn't turn around.

Notes on Carving

So I've always loved spiffing up old furniture and right now I have more chairs than I know what to do with, all waiting to be reupholstered. But eBay, why can't I quit you?? I figure I'll put my addiction to good use and separate the wheat from the chaff in my favorite saved search: "French chairs." I'm no furniture historian, but over the years I've learned how to spot a good fake in this department ... shape and scale are important, but it's mostly about paying close attention to the carving on the wooden frame. Depth and refinement. You'll see what I mean, but let's first dismiss two categories out of hand:



Victorian. Can't do it -- looks like a grandma and a bordello at the same time. Ew.


Asymmetry. Reminds me of Sharon Stone and DeNiro's house in Casino. Hideous.

Now what makes a near-miss? Witness:




This Louis XV-style fauteuil (essentially denoted by the curvy, cabriole leg and pointy-ish arm) isn't awful ... it's just new and cheap and boring. The carvings are too shallow, especially the dumpy little flowers on the leg and top back. Often best to avoid any piece of furniture with a shiny poly or speckly painted finish -- you know how in the 70s and 80s they'd lightly splatter paint on some black for an "antique" look? Yuck. It seems the best reproductions come pre-1960. Like the big furniture makers got lazy, or too creative with the weird shapes, or both.

Now the cane-backed variety:


A set of newish Louis XVI dining chairs (see the spindle leg; those carved florettes or whatever set within squares at the top of the front legs). Not bad carving, nice proportions and little brass sabots (feet). But the cane just makes it all too busy, right? I'd prefer a simple square back on this chair. Cane is also more common on provincial furniture -- again, ask a real historian why -- and it's hard to shake the Pierre Deux associations.

Finally, my favorite pair of chairs on eBay at the moment:


Adorable Louis XVI side/slipper chairs. Parcel gilt is usually a BIG red flag for cheap furniture -- full gilding = unforgivable -- but I actually like the gold paired with a grey-green, and check out those delicate spindle legs and deep carvings. Picture these recovered in polished leather (emerald? burnt orange?) or a pretty solid satin. Now I've got another case of the gimme-getmes!!

High Drama at Restoration Hardware

I just got their catalog and it looks like the Vanity Fair Hollywood issue. The intro even references splashy ad campaigns in VF and other mags, with these big portraits of designers you've never heard of who've created "pieces that define a home." Pretty impressive actually. I really, really like the Jean Michel Frank-looking Maxwell Sofa -- seems like such an easy shape to copy yet too many get the proportions wrong. It starts at $3795. I suppose you'd pay the same or more at Williams Sonoma Home, but I still have this memory of RH selling 1950s-ish toasters and tchotchkes. The cahrazee bonkers Royal Master Sealight Floor Lamp ($1525) puts that to rest. I'm all for literal interpretations and bold strokes, but would this only look appropriate in the neighbor's house from "Mary Poppins" -- the ship captain who would sound his foghorn everyday? I loved that guy.

Bigger question: who's buying this stuff right now? Does the mid-market customer exist in 2009?

Friday Night Special

Madonna - Deeper and Deeper
Uploaded by foxysoul

"Beware! Our idols and demons will pursue us until we learn to let them go!" -Angry German Man

This gal from Michigan used to rock my world and I am NOT letting her go, not just yet. I'm also not letting go of the music video in general -- as I told Perry it might be my favorite artform, which explains my nano attention span and why 'taking away MTV' was the Olsen household's harshest punishment pre-1994. Here we have Ms. Ciccone as Edie Sedgwick doing Jean Harlow/Disco Dolly on the prowl, Udo Kier having a seizure, and what Mugatu today dubbed "the chicest car of all time," a Mercedes 280SE cabriolet:

image via Wikimedia

WANT. Say what you will about Madonna and her affectations, she's promoted (exploited?) some of the most creative minds out there. Did you know David Fincher directed the video for "Vogue"? Kindly forgive him for Benjamin Button now. And sorry, Sofia Coppola (who also cameos in the Deeper vid, look closely), a nameless visionary Madge minion pop-ified Marie Antoinette while you were still getting over that whole acting thing.

Mini Chain Gang

So a little post-bday malaise + jury duty + spring fever = me no bloggy. My bad! I did get inspired flipping through the Grandin Road catalog today, so random. Like with so many of the mail order chains chicness lurks behind layers and layers of fug:


Ashley once gave me a card of two elderly cartoon people. I forget the message inside, but on the back instead of a Hallmark label it said "We are proud supporters of the rotary phone." Love that and love these phones for $69, especially the chrome one with black, and I'm not that into chrome.


I wish Grandin-pa would sell these trays separately because together they're $149. But bleachy mango wood with a mirrored bottom is a great idea, and not bad styling in the photo either. So ready to fill these with frosty goodness and sit out on my terrace-- er, fire escape.

B-day Valet.

So it's my b-day today ("The Day of the Beauty Lovers" according to that creepily accurate book): 27 but I don't feel a day over 75! Heard from all my fam and peeps, a hometown pal is visiting and Rebina and I snuck into the NYU food court for a festive lunch at Chick-Fil-A (sweet mother of God won't they open a real New York franchise already?!?!) Doesn't get much better, but my old bud Cory Ohlendorf has made it all the more fantastico with this profile of yours truly. Valet is his brilliant brainchild -- a style haven for the modern dude which I ADORE -- my credit card quivers just thinking about it! Check it out. Thanks Cory.

Call me old-fashioned ...

Or just call me Grandma, but I like this fabric:


Robert Allen "Jessica" Swiss Hand-printed Vintage Chintz. I mean, has anyone been to the Robert Allen showroom lately? Jessica must be a 1965 vintage because that place looks like a W Hotel and this brings to mind Cowtan & Tout. Though I love me some floral stripe glazed chintz it's really about the color combo -- aqua + blue + gold + canary yellow on a peach-y cream field next to pink and red crackly-coral stripes -- so unexpected and the polar opposite of what fabric designers attempt these days. It looks like two old lady fabrics cut and pasted together without any taupe or beige added. Kind of trippy!

I know you're not going to recover your sofa in this, but check out the pillow on Dara Caponigro's bed in the last, great issue of Domino and Zooey Deschanel's bit of C&T's "Bowood" on the previous month's cover. A little bit o' chintz goes a long way. And if you're brave enough to go the sofa route, here's some more encouragement.