A Not So Hidden Gem

At the junction of 7A and Center Hill, across from Gringo Jack’s and Adams’ Park lives a charming cottage with a Victorian porch, picket fence and pretty lace curtains in the windows.  I have always wondered about this house because of its storybook demeanor.  The other day, seeing the Antique flag flying by the front door, and with some free time on my hands, I decided to stop in and take a look around.

I was greeted warmly by Phyllis Carlson, who, along with her husband, runs this shop filled with the finest collection of antique linens I have ever seen, outside of the Shelburne Museum.  Crisp white napkins pile up on tables.  Painstakingly handmade lace tablecloths hang on a round rack.  Quilts and bedding fill armoires.  It feels a bit like stepping through time and Phyllis adds to the illusion with her pretty white hair done up in a bun and her violet blue eyes, giving her a Victorian allure.

Phyllis explained that the linens in her shop date from 1775-1930 and consist of three distinct categories --  Plain Linens, Fancy Linens and Needlework.  The Plain Linens were used daily, such as homespun sheets, tablecloths and towels, and were made out of flax.  These basic necessities tended to be unadorned but were sometimes initialed by the maker. Each homemaker grew her own flax and wove her own goods. She showed me one example of a sheet that was beautifully pieces together because the loom was only so wide.  The delicate stitches add to the overall design.  Such care and expertise!

Fancy Linens were made by the upper class.  Girls around 1778-1840 were sent off to boarding schools or academies to learn the 3 graces – needlework, art in the form of watercolor, and music.  Needlework consisted of samplers, silk work, fancy embroideries and wool work. Phyllis has fine examples of these hanging in her shop.

Women of that day, whether poor or rich, elevated needlework to a fine art. Phyllis showed me a rare pair of beautifully embroidered long pockets on a string. Women would ties these pockets around their waists and wear them under their long skirts to store their treasured needles and thread, accessed by slits in the side of skirts. Their tools were always close at hand and traveled easily to a neighbor’s house. 

I have been stumped by how to care for fine linens and knowing that I had an expert in my clutches, I posed that question to Phyllis.  Here are her recommendations. Linens with any kind of handwork or embroidery must be washed by hand, pressing the water out rather than wringing.  The most important thing to remember is never use Chlorine bleach as it continually breaks down the fibers of the fabric. She has tried all sorts of laundry detergent and recommends you use the one that you prefer.  You can soak stained linens in Oxi-Clean overnight but you may have to accept some stains as part of the charm. Hang them on the line, and iron when still slightly damp.  Store linens on hangers, in acid free paper on a shelf or an acid free box.  She even suggested that a clean pillowcase makes a nice environment for old fabrics.

I hope you get a chance to visit her shop and learn, like I did, to appreciate a different era in America, not so long ago.  And as Phyllis says: “Anything of this quality is worth a bit of effort!”

Helping the home we call Vermont.

Water flooding a field and spilling over the road on River Road in Manchester, VT.

We took an unexpected body blow when Hurricane Irene made her unwanted visit.  That fateful Sunday will be seared in our memories.  We watched in horror as streams, rivers and lakes all over Vermont overflowed their usually placid courses to wreak havoc in neighborhoods, on farms and roads throughout our community.  For a state that has a long-standing respect for nature, this has given us an even deeper respect for the power and fury of water.

That day two of my neighbors’ houses were overrun by the Mettowee River, which runs between their two properties. Told to evacuate quickly and take what they could, neighbors helped wade through waist high water to carry out a few of the more precious belongings – photo albums, paintings, important papers. My husband kept a careful eye on the storm drain near our driveway that was under a foot of water but still, thankfully, draining away.  As a precaution, I started to pile up a few items on the dining room table that I would grab just in case the lake forming outside our window got any larger and headed towards our home.  What would you take if you only had a few minutes time?  My pile consisted of computers, some jewelry, passports, a bag of clothes.  Items that were either practical or irreplaceable made the cut.  In the end, we did not have to evacuate but I will reflect on those frantic moments for a while to come.

Some Vermonters were not lucky enough to even have a few minutes preparation before their homes washed down a river.  My heart breaks for them.  We who fared better are now called on to help where we can.

I am impressed with the way Vermonters are getting to work on the hard task of rebuilding our state.  I come from an Italian tradition of operatic histrionics when faced with adversity but that is not the way here.  No less felt, but in a quiet, steely determined way, the work ahead will be hard and together we will rebuild the place we call home. 

Now, let’s get to work.

Summer …. It’s all about the exteriors.

I have become obsessed with gardening. I don’t know how it happened and it seemed to have come upon me suddenly. It all started last year when I decided to put in an English cottage garden at my Design Studio in Dorset. I clipped magazine spreads of beautiful, lush, yet slightly askew country gardens and brought them with me to the Mettowee Mill Nursery. Cornering Tina, the nursery’s Manager, in one of the greenhouses, I asked her how I could achieve this look, even though I was starting with a neglected plot and a beginner’s level of gardening. Tina said she would meet me over at the Design Studio to take a look.

Perhaps calling me a beginner gardener is a bit kind. You see, I am notorious killer of houseplants and have been doing so for many years. In fact, the wide windowsill in my kitchen is known as the “shelf of death” because nothing has survived on it yet. I explained this to Tina but she seemed unruffled.

We conferred on the types of plants and she drew out a floor plan of the overall scheme. It all seemed simple enough and not that different from interior design, with a well thought out planning stage followed by an execution. I was to prepare the beds by weeding thoroughly, composting freely and edging the beds away from the grass. A few days and one bad back later I was done and ready to plant. Tina brought over the plants in a big truck, unloading them onto the grass. While still in pots, she placed them in their soon to be new homes and told me to start digging. As she pulled away, it was starting to rain, and she yelled back to get them in sooner rather than later. Well sooner was in a torrential downpour but I kept going until I was covered in mud from head to toe, but the task was completed. I was quite proud of myself and wished them good luck under my breath hoping they would fair better than my windowsill plants.

They say it takes three years for perennials to really shine and I am on year two. It is a daily pleasure to visit my garden each day and see what has bloomed when I wasn’t looking. I asked Tina back this year because I am converting a barn into a shop and she advised that we should create outdoor rooms with structure, urns filled with flowers and paths of marble stone. Outdoor rooms, Grecian urns, marble? Sign me up. I better start digging again.

Something in your home is naked. I hope it isn’t your windows.

There are times when I bring up the subject of window treatments to my clients that I see a panicked, deer in the headlights kind of look in their eyes. More often than not I hear, “My spouse likes to keep the windows clear so they can look out at the view.” Fair enough as we Vermonters are lucky enough to usually have the kind of views most people in other less scenic states would envy. Nature is the best decorator, after all. But why not frame that scene with a beautifully designed, well thought out, functional window treatment that calls attention to that hard earned view. And for all you naked window homeowners out there, take notice that when the sun goes down your cold, undressed window turns into a black hole. Yes, a black hole. It happens every night.

Window treatments like most things in the marketplace have come a long way. They are no longer the little old lady lace affair with polyester sheer under drapes and the style and price varies widely to fit any desire or budget. Think of draperies and shades as clothing for your window – you can dress them up in designer duds or ready to wear. For the do-it-yourselfer, the ready-made market is the way to go. If you want a more custom approach you must go to a pro as the details to work out and the choices are endless: with a wide array of decorative rods, a world of fabric choices and trims galore.

I like to think of windows as if they are people, with strong bones to highlight and weak features to downplay, and dress them accordingly. There are many visual tricks you can employ to fool the eye. For example, if you hang the draperies inches higher than the top of the window frame and place the brackets as far to the left and right as possible your windows will look much larger and grander. All of sudden your plain, uninteresting, ‘wouldn’t get a second glance’ window becomes the star of the room.

I have seen it time and again: wonderful furnishings, carpeting, art and accessories are set in place, but a room is never really finished until the draperies are hung with care. Like magic, the draperies pull the whole scene together, raise the eye up high and wrap everything in a warm embrace. Finally your windows are fully dressed and ready for company.

High fashion meets home design.

The last ice storm in March nearly did me in, so I packed up my car and headed to the Design Center in New York City. I mumbled something to my husband about a business trip but I knew I needed to feel dry pavement beneath my feet for a couple of days. Call it a mental health break from a long, endless winter.

The Design Center, a resource for interior designers and known to the trade as the D&D Building, is located on Lexington Avenue across from Bloomingdales. It is an 18-floor behemoth that is crammed with fabrics, trims, wallcoverings and accessories. It is, I am proud to say, my personal Mecca. You must be well rested, tote a generous supply of energy bars, and consume a Grande Starbucks at the outset, as it is not for the feint of heart.

I was on a bit of a mission. I recently found out from a fabric sales rep that Christian Lacroix designed a new line of fabrics for Designer Guild and I was anxious to see the entire collection displayed in large swatches. Ralph Lauren started the trend by creating a story for his models and then designing their surroundings as well. Other designers have followed his lead into the interior design world.

Lacroix brings his rich history of fashion design to this fabric line and knowing his background will help to understand the collection. His design is informed by growing up in Arles in the South of France. A sun drenched color palette and hints of the tradition of bullfighting, both great influences on his clothing design, peek around each corner. He is a cross over designer in so many ways, with his long history of designing for the Opera and theater. This can be seen in some of the detailing of the fabric finishes. To see some of his exuberant wardrobe designs, click through his website www.christian-lacroix

As a designer, I am thrilled to be able to explore the world of fashion, as it relates to home design. These intersecting worlds can enrich one another in fascinating ways. And the fact that Lacroix is French – Magnifique!

The best kept secret in France – The Toile de Jouy Museum.

THERE IS a textile museum in the outskirts of Paris dedicated to explaining the production of Toile de Jouy fabric and brimming with original examples. I read about it many years ago in Victoria magazine and put it on my “must do someday” list.

Toile means “cloth” in French and “Toile de Jouy” refers to the fabric that was first manufactured at a factory in Jouy-en-Josas, a village located outside of Paris. The factory, founded in 1760 by Christophe-Philippe Oberkampf, was known for its monochromatic toiles, which depicted scenes printed in red, blue, or black, on a white or cream background.

On a recent trip to Paris with my husband, Bill, I was hoping we could fit it in but we only had a few days and our itinerary was already chock full. Mentioning it to him I explained that the museum is located in the suburbs of Paris, it would be very hard to find, we would have to take the train to get there, etc. That did it. He loves a challenge and his favorite thing is to pour over train schedules especially ones in a foreign language. I believe he was more excited about the journey than the destination but whatever it took was fine with me.
Paris is a city dedicated to design and that day we were visiting the Museum of Decorative Arts. We thought it prudent to ask at the information desk for more details about the Toile Museum before dedicating a precious day to this side trip. Bill worked up the French and the courage to ask. The desk clerk looked at us quite perplexed as if he had never heard of it. Surely it was our broken French that he was misunderstanding, but no, he proceeded to look it up on the internet because he had never heard of it! I was thinking this did not bode well for us but Bill explained it was even more of a challenge and now we had to go.
The next day, 1 ½ hours and a few train connections later we were deposited in that sleepy little town of Jouy-en-Josas. It was a short walk through a charming French village to the XIXth Century chateau. Once through the doors we were handed an English audio guide to aid us as we strolled through the galleries.
We learned that Oberkampf’s biggest fans were the upper classes and royalty in particular. One of the most memorable toile prints, called “Les travaux de la manufacture” (the activity of the factory) depicted the process involved in fabric production at Jouy, showing the workers laying the newly printed yards of cloth out in the fields to dry. Marie Antoinette was fond of the pastoral scenes with idealistic views of farm life. One of the toiles showed a scene of a newly invented hot air balloon ascending above a crowd of onlookers. Bill said that maybe toiles were the newspapers of their day.

If you are ever in the neighborhood you must visit this marvelous museum. It is well worth the train ride from Paris. There the secret is out!