You’ve been framed! Here is a new way to think about art.

My early art education was formed at the age of 10 by playing the board game Masterpiece, with Rembrandt’s face smack in the middle of the board and flip cards of great works of art by famous painters like Cezanne, Monet, and Picasso.  It was one of our favorite games as kids and we played it over and over again. I realize that art historians and teachers might shudder at the thought of learning art through a board game, but this exposure made art very accessible to us neighborhood kids and it became part of our daily life. Subsequently in my life, I have seen almost all of the great works of art pictured in the game in various museums throughout the world and they have felt like familiar old friends.

I think the subject of looking at art, evaluating what you see, and then buying and ultimately collecting art can be intimidating for some of us.  Where do we begin?  How can we trust our judgment?  Do we need a degree in art to truly understand it?  

A few years back, the Northshire Bookstore hosted Thomas Hoving, the director at the Metropolitan Museum and author of the book, “Making the Mummies Dance”, an audacious behind-the-scenes memoir about his years at the Met. I was lucky enough to be in the audience that night as he gave a fully charged talk about his years as curator, apparently a wild and wooly job where he outmaneuvered the Smithsonian for the Temple of Dendur; saved an entire Prairie house by Frank Lloyd Wright now in the American Wing; and scored a 2,500 year old Greek vase that turned out to have been stolen from an Etruscan tomb near Rome which he fondly referred to as the “Hot Pot”. For me, he did two things that night – he made the art world an exciting place filled with piracy and forgeries and he gave us advice on how to evaluate art. His words have stuck with me every since.  He said that a great work of art will “punch you in the gut”. You will actually feel it as well as see it.

Recently, my husband and I visited the Louvre museum in Paris. Bill, armed with the museum map with me trailing closely behind, did what everyone else was doing that day in the Louvre, taking off at break neck speed to visit all of the must see, great works of art.  Taking a quick twirl around the Venus De Milo, bolting past Winged Victory on our way to the Mona Lisa we passed gallery after stuffed gallery in a gluttonous ode to the art world.  We followed the largest crowd and got on line to shuffle past the postage size Mona Lisa placed on its own enormous wall behind a wall of glass. Exhausted, we were deposited in the Grande Gallerie of Italy. Slowing our pace, we were able to stroll the large gallery and just take in the surroundings. Then, there it was, a painting that “punched me in the gut” and drew me towards it.  I did not even need to look at the tag that read “Painted by Leonardo da Vinci” to know I was looking at something incredible, I felt it. 

So give this a try next time you are gallery hopping or pondering whether or not to buy a painting that catches your eye.  When you see it, do you feel it?  Trust your gut.

Notes from our Breezy Point home.

“That sofa brings back such memories”, my neighbor said to me as she passed the sidewalk, her arms encircling and steadying her Mom.  Our friendly smiles to one another turned grim as we realized we were talking about my parents’ upended, soaking wet rattan sofa at the top of the makeshift garbage heap outside of our Breezy Point cottage. It was a week after Hurricane Sandy did her damage, a hurricane with such a sweet name for something so furious.

My husband, Bill,  and I made the trip in from Vermont to help my siblings clear out my 84 year old Dad’s flooded home.  He evacuated with a small suitcase and a box of important papers, but not much else.  We were there to follow FEMA’s orders and clear out the home before further water damage and mold set in.  The clean out crew consisted of my hydro-geologist brother, Joe, who brought every tool he owned and plunked it in heaps on the porch; my Upper East Side sister Joanne and her Indian born husband, Jitu who are both better at making reservations than performing any act of physical exertion; myself and my husband.  Bill kept muttering, not unkindly, “you go to war with the army you have,” as he looked around at his unlikely team of day laborers.

The swollen door stuck as we pried it open and it bore the 3‘ water mark as a reminder of the challenges we faced.  After getting over the initial shock of the damage inside, we got to work.  The goal was to remove all of the wet and damaged furniture, which turned out to be everything on the first floor, so that we could get at the wet carpet.  My sister and I were debating whether to keep or throw away certain items and realized that we were slowing everyone down, so we set up a staging table on the porch to sort later.  Things started to move quickly after that as we grabbed belongings to toss on the growing pile at the sidewalk.  After removing the soaking wet carpet and pad (yes it was as disgusting as it sounds since the water was a mixture of ocean, sewage, oil and who knows what else) we were able to attack the walls.  FEMA was clear - you must remove the wallboard and wet insulation to arrest mold growth. Bill and Joe worked as a team to cut away the panelling and wall board beneath it, remove the insulation and toss it all on the floor as the rest of the team dragged it outside.  Realizing that the heating system was in the way, a quick conference was held to make the hard decision to cut the pipes.  This was turning into heavy demolition as we worked to save the shell of our house.

At certain times of challenge in my life, I have felt my deceased Mom nearby and always ask for a sign to know she is there.  When my girls were little, she always told them not to put “pennies in their mouth”. I know, that sounds a bit crazy, but she had a weird fear of them choking.  It seems like I do find pennies in odd places whenever I ask her for a sign.  It was the end of the longest, most exhausting day of our lives and we were getting ready to shut the door when I noticed it.  There it was, one lone penny standing upright against the wall by the door.  It was the only thing left in the room that day.  

The Paperless Home Office

Would you believe me if I told you that someday you may no longer have over stuffed file cabinets, no bills or catalogs covering your kitchen table, no piles of unread magazines cluttering the floor.  No more last minute scramble at tax time to sort through the “yet to be filed” papers searching for the important ones.   What you could have instead is a Paperless Home Office.

Besides the obvious benefits of clearing up your clutter at home, you also gain peace of mind that your important documentation in digital form can be backed up, whereas paper is susceptible to the elements such as fire and water damage. And for the environmentalists, there is a green component to this  -- energy savings from producing less paper and keeping the landfills less full.  

Have I convinced you yet? You should know there is a bit of up front work in transforming your home office.  

Your first line of defense is stopping the clutter before it even has a chance to enter your home.  Sign up and register with junk mail opt out websites such as catalogchoice.org and directmail.com.  Sign up for paperless billing and resist the urge to print out the bills, instead create a folder on your computer to toss them into. Explore the option of reading magazines online from websites like Zinio.com.  Online banking is quick, easy and statements do not need to be printed out and filed. You can pay all your bills with a few, quick keystrokes. 

Explore free digital assistants such as Evernote, which is essentially a way of storing information across all of your devices.  Here is how they describe it:

“Evernote allows you to easily capture information in any environment using whatever device or platform you find most convenient, and makes this information accessible and searchable at any time, from anywhere. Capture everything now so you will be able to find it all later. Things to capture: Tasks and to-dos, Notes and research, Web pages, Whiteboards, Business cards, Scribbles, Snapshots, Wine labels, and even Twitter messages. And then find them all any time across all the computers and devices you use.”

Please don’t ditch things like Marriage/Divorce/Birth/Death certificates, paperwork related to purchasing a home, or your tax returns.  The paperwork related to tax returns needs to be kept for 7 years and it is a good idea to seek the advice of your tax preparer. 

The one constant in life is change and at times it seems hard to keep up in this digital age.  I think it is important to embrace the positive side of change and try to keep up at your own comfortable pace.  But there is no doubt about it -- our world is transforming into a paperless one. I, for one, am rather excited about it.

Here are more tips for achieving a paperless home space - 

Buy a Scanner - You can scan all the paperwork that you need to keep, but put it in digital form and file it in a virtual filing cabinet on your computer. After researching a few scanners, a reasonably priced one I have come across is made by Doxie

Here is how they explain it “Doxie's apps make sharing and archiving easy – Doxie has direct support for local and web apps with smart integration for sharing and organizing your paper. Send your document to Acrobat for archiving, Evernote for reading on your iPhone, Google Docs for instant OCR… and much more. Doxie creates PDF files, lossless PNG, and JPEG images, so your scans are always exactly the way you want them, where you want them.”

Back Up Everything - Always back up your computer.  I use Time Machine to back up my entire computer.  You call also use an online back up company such as BackBlaze for a monthly fee.  This will give you peace of mind once you commit to a paperless lifestyle.

Here are more websites to opt out of junk mail:

Catalog Choice - Stop receiving catalogs in the mail.

Direct Mail - Stop the junk mail and advertisements.

Opt Out Prescreen - Stop credit card offers.

High Point Furniture Market - call it Mecca for Interior Designers.

Just back from the High Point Market for Home Furnishings in North Carolina and the strong trend for home furnishings is COLOR. There were splashes of rich hues everywhere in the gorgeously designed showrooms.  High Point Market takes place twice a year and is the place for the furniture industry to meet, greet and see what’s new.

My husband joined me on this trip, somewhat kicking and screaming.  He had heard horror stories from his guy friends who attended a couple of years ago.  They didn’t last a day.  You see, this furniture show is an entire city, yes I said a city, of showrooms.  There are even shuttle buses to conveniently transport you around the 10 million square feet of furniture and furnishings displayed by 2000 exhibitors. Luckily High Point has figured out a solution for show fatigue by plying visitors with food and drink at literally every turn.  It is easy to keep the spouse on the move with the temptation of a Moroccan lunch in a lighting showroom.  And we practically heard a bell ring at 4 o’clock, the start of the Cocktail Hour, or maybe it was the shouts of “Ginger Martinis in Aisle 4” that caught our attention.

So back to color.  These bright punches of color were used boldly on accessories and liberally on chairs, large pieces of furniture and lighting. The most eye-catching display was a set of dining room chairs, each shouting its own loud color in a curvy, space age shape.  It was made up of interwoven strapping material that was surprising comfortable. You could not miss nor forget these chairs.  Unwinding one evening, we decided to go to movie The Hunger Games, and were elbowing each other when the chairs showed up in the lavish dining room scene. This is how trends start.

Visiting one of my favorite showrooms, a manufacturer that makes chandeliers out of hickory twigs, we again saw the use of bright punches of color.  They had their usual display of natural twig chandeliers, and then there was goldenrod, sunset orange and scarlet chandelier and sconces. It was a magical experience to stand beneath the sparkly colorful canopy of twigs.

In another lighting showroom, we came across an antique birdcage filled with brightly colored birds in turquoise.  It only makes sense that the birds were wearing turquoise, this manufacturer’s signature color, which repeats over and over again in their chandeliers and table lamps. Designers actually think about this stuff. Amazing.

What you should never say to your living room furniture: "Everyone up against the wall."

I am always somewhat bemused and slightly bewildered walking into a client’s home for an initial consultation when I see every single piece of their living room furniture pressed up against the walls.  I always wonder if a hoedown has occurred and I have not been invited.  I am teasing, but there does seem to be a common misconception out there about how to arrange furniture.

Flip through any shelter magazine and you will see pleasing arrangements of sofas, chairs and occasional tables within arms reach of one another.  Frequently entire compositions are put in the center of a room, which in decorator jargon is called “floating” the furniture.  Then the wall space can be freed up for tall bookcases or hutches and side tables to hold lamps.  The key is to place your sofas and chairs along with the occasional tables that make up a grouping close enough together that your guests do not have to shout at one another to be heard.  You want to create a comfortable room that invites you to come in, sit down and have a chat.

Every room has its own geometry but there is a guiding principle to start with and that is to find the focal point of the room and arrange your seating towards it.  A focal point could be tied to the architecture, like a fireplace or window with a stunning view, or it can be a dramatic piece like a marvelous hutch. Use your imagination in creating a focal point thinking of it as the star of the room.

Before rearranging your furniture ponder what you are actually going to do in the living room.  If you are going to spend a lot of time reading then make sure you have a comfortable chair and good reading light.  If your family watches TV, accommodate this activity in the most aesthetically pleasing way as possible. Perhaps a flat screen TV surrounded by a built in bookcase to the right of the fireplace would do the trick and keep the focus in the same direction as the main architectural element.

Another good trick is to throw a party and observe your guests for clues as they move chairs closer together and find places to put down their drinks.  This will give you tremendous insight into the function of the room and will give you some guidance on the changes that need to be made.

And if you are planning on dancing at one of your parties then by all means push the furniture out of the way temporarily and go for it. You can rearrange it in the morning.

Selecting paint colors. When art meets science.

Peel back the layers of any wall and I am sure you will find a few mistakes in the selection of paint colors.  Even experts, on occasion, select the wrong shade now and then.  Let’s find out about the science of paint so that we have more confidence in selecting “mistake-proof” colors for your home. 

What’s in that paint can anyway? Paint is made from four components: pigments to give the paint color; solvents to make it easier to apply; resins to help it dry; and additives for fillers and antifungicidal agents.  While the basic white pigment is titanium dioxide, the whitest material known to exist on Earth, other colors are made from natural and synthetic pigments such as iron oxide for reds, metallic salts for yellows and iron blue for blues.

Did you ever wonder why you have to apply more than two coats with less expensive paint?  It’s because cheap paint has more solvents per volume and therefore less pigment and resins than better quality paint. You are applying more water, which evaporates and leaves less pigment behind.  In the end, you may not be saving as much money as you thought because you will need more product and it will take twice as long.

Another factor to consider is the number of colorants in paint. Most paint makers use 12 colorants but superior paint manufacturers create paint with more colorants, which gives an intense saturation rate creating deeper hues.  This creates complex colors that vary all day long with the changing light of the room, making for a very interesting visual experience. 

Most important of all when selecting paint, bring your swatches into the room that is being painted to see the color in the actual light.  According to Mya Kagan, a color expert: “Color is the way our eyes interpret the energies contained within a beam of light! When light touches an object, some of these energies are absorbed and others are reflected back. It’s the energies that are reflected which your eyes collect and then interpret as a specific color.”  Doesn’t that sound magical?  That is why your paint chip will look different in the store, under fluorescent lights, than it will in your home.  Another common mistake is evaluating the color on one of those multi-colored strips from the paint store. It is best to cut away the chip you are interested in and look at it on its own, because it will be influenced by the company it keeps.

I realize that this has barely scratched the surface on the story of paint but perhaps knowing a bit about the science behind such a common household product will demystify it and lead to a less frustrating experience in the paint store.

TURTLES carry their homes on their backs.

My mother-in-law and her best friend recently set out on an epic journey to visit all 50 states of this great country. They are traveling in a red Honda CRV named Gypsy. This winter they will complete their journey with a trip to Hawaii, I guess saving best for last.

Let me back up a bit to say that when they announced to their family and friends that they were selling their homes and most of their earthly possessions, moving what was left to storage and hitting the open road, not many of us really thought it would happen.  You see my mother-in-law’s house in Burlington was dubbed “Grammy Land” by her grandchildren who astutely surmised that they could get away with just about anything once they crossed the magical threshhold of Grammy’s kingdom.  It was filled with sugary breakfast treats, toys and children’s books aplenty and late night movie watching marathons complete with all the popcorn they could eat.  The walls were lined with the family story in photos and the cupboards were filled with a treasure trove of cups, saucers and dishes collected over a lifetime.  Christmas was when Grammy’s house really shone, decorated with reckless abandon that made even Macy’s envious.

The debate among the siblings, whispered quietly in the hallway outside of the kitchen, ranged from disbelief to a dawning awareness that they were actually serious about this little adventure.  I bought them a book on weather patterns that year at Christmas in the hopes that they would read it cover to cover to learn about the danger signs for storms.  Looking slightly quizzical, they politely thank me.

It took Mom and Sue about a year to sell both houses, time they used wisely to plan their route and stock up on provisions for a life on the road. They bought a new computer and started a blog to post photos so that their families could stay connected while tracking their slow crawl across the country.  They set up a deliberate routine to handle the change of a different motel room each night.  Their car became the most important possession they owned, treating her like royalty, stopping often for full body tune ups.  Mostly, they had each other to share the day with and to plan tomorrow’s adventure.

 It has taken them two years to complete their 50 state journey.  They tell us they are seeing the world with different eyes after all they have experienced.  We asked them if they are ready to settle down now.  Looking at each other, in low tones they mumble something about their curiosity in our Canadian neighbor to the north.

Here they go again!

BACKSPLASH TILE. A cautionary tale.

It all started with the backsplash tile.  I had black and white rooster wallpaper as a backsplash above my kitchen countertops.  What can I say?  It was the 90’s and roosters were really in.  I realize now that it was a mistake, so I informed my husband that I was going to visit Village Tile to select an affordable tile to replace the roosters.  I saw the delight in his eyes, which encouraged me.  I don’t think he ever liked the toile.  Who knew?

I found a lovely cappuccino colored tumbled marble tile and brought it home only to discover that it was not working with the formica countertop, also from the 90’s. So, off I went to RK Miles to browse their spinning tower of granite, keeping to the Basic Collection as opposed to the Exotic and Select sections, thinking myself quite prudent. A week later, I found myself in a granite stone yard in New Hampshire with my best friend, Ginger, as we perused row upon row of incredible granite slabs. We wondered how all this granite with exotic names like Aurora Borealis, Blue Pearl and Giallo Veneziano was created?

A bit of internet searching came upon this clear scientific explanation: “Granite is a hard igneous stone that is formed over millions of years ago by volcanic activity.  During the process, magma combines with various minerals to create a crystal appearance.” That would explain the sparkle of crystals and unique pattern and color of each slab.

Isn’t that amazing?!?  Who wouldn’t want granite in their kitchen?  I was putty in their hands as I chose my very own slab of granite.  I returned to RK Miles to let them know my final choice of granite and told them I was thinking of reusing my sink and faucet, which really weren’t that bad.  Neina patiently explained that if I was going to the trouble of installing granite countertops, I would really want an undermount sink and a faucet with a spray attachment.  It did seem like the wise path to take. I perused their showroom to select my choice of deep bowl sink and gooseneck faucet.

Trying to regroup, my husband and I looked around our open floor plan kitchen/living room and dining room and confessed to each other that the draperies were never really us.  I told him that I always thought the red draperies with gold motif were more our friends, Sally and Bob’s taste.  There house has a bohemian, Tibetan flare and these drapes would go perfectly with their color scheme.  I always wanted simple off white linen draperies that puddled elegantly on the floor. So those are next.  After we finish painting the whole downstairs!

Last Saturday, we installed the draperies at Sally and Bob’s and I was right, it fit their style perfectly.  Sally was delighted with the way the draperies transformed her living room.  She pulled me aside, out of ear shot of her husband, and asked what I would recommend for new sofas in her living room.  Oh no, Sally, not you, too? I should have warned her. That’s how it starts!

A 'can't miss' art show is coming.

Anyone who wanted to delve into the art world of Paris in the 1920’s would have visited Gertrude Stein and Alice B. Toklas’ apartment on 27 Rue de Fleurus in Paris. Man Ray’s 1922 black and white photo of them comfortably seated in front of the fireplace gives you a glimpse into that world.  The photo is wonderful but does not do the scene justice.  Can you imagine the riot of colors all around them? Paintings were hung to the rafters with works by now famous names such as Henri Matisse, Juan Gris, Pablo Picasso, Paul Cezanne, Pierre-August Renoir and others.

First the artists came and then the writers followed with more jaw dropping names such as Ernest Hemingway, Ezra Pound, Thornton Wilder and Sherwood Anderson. Gertrude became known for two things – her collection of modern art and her collection of friends, both collected before the art or the friend was famous.  To say she had an eye for talent is perhaps a bit of an understatement.  It was one of those golden moments in time for the cultural world, as the birth of Modernism unfolded around the Stein’s.

It really began when Gertrude joined her brother Leo in Paris is 1904.  Leo was on his way to amassing a modest art collection and Gertrude caught the collector’s bug.  They were unlikely patrons who weren’t rich, living off of a modest income from a family trust.  The art dealer, Ambroise Vollard, once said that the Steins bought paintings “not because they were rich, but despite the fact that they weren’t.” Gertrude would lecture the stylish wives of her artistic visitors to save on clothing by dressing practically and use the money to buy art. Gertrude looked and dressed like a sack of potatoes but we are still fascinated by her today.

The Steins were extraordinary in that they trusted their instinct even when the critics of the time were loudly opposed to the new art form, and they befriended and encouraged young talent by being patrons of the art world even without financial means.

The Steins Collect started at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, is now at the Grand Palais in Paris until January, and then will travel to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in NYC from February 12 until March 12^th.  You don’t want to miss this show.

Selecting Tile. Read on. You may need this someday.

It seems to me that there is a renewed interest in remodeling kitchens and baths and that makes a lot of sense in this type of an economy.  Most folks figure they have to stay put so why not spruce things up a bit.  An important element in a kitchen and bath design is the selection of tile and one that should be chosen carefully.

I asked Maureen Savage at Village Tile to explain what types of tiles are in the marketplace right now.  She said that in Vermont, natural stones such as granite, marble, slate and travertine are commonly used because of their earthy quality. Another popular choice is glass tiles in a wide range of color, often made of recycled glass. In the manufactured tile category there is porcelain and ceramic tiles.  Ceramic tile is made of clay mixed with various minerals and water, then processed with heat and some are sealed with a glaze.  The glazed ceramics are best used as wall tiles because they would be too slippery for floor applications. Porcelain tile is made of finely ground sand, then processed under pressure and extremely high temperatures resulting in a very dense, glass-like material. Some are ‘through body porcelains’ with the color showing all the way through.  Chips won’t be as obvious and installers can cut the tile to use as bullnose edgeing.

There are so many choices that selecting tiles and creating a design can be a bit daunting.  I find it helpful to bring with me an inspiration piece such as wallpaper, fabric or a photo torn from a shelter magazine.  This is helpful in determining the style and feel of the room.  One trick is to select a tile collection, then use different sizes of it within a room. For example, a larger tile on the floor of a bathroom, a small mosaic for the shower floor, and a medium sized tile as the walls of the shower.  For an upscale look on a budget, use an expensive mosaic tile judiciously as the shower floor and as an accent border in the shower.

Grout has improved greatly with a new epoxy variety that resists mildew and staining.  Previously a sanded grout was used, which is a cement-based grout. Cement absorbs water leading to mildew.  Choosing a grout color needs to be considered as part of the overall design scheme.  You can match the grout color to the predominant tile color or you can contrast the grout with the tiles to create a checkerboard effect. 

A proper installation is the most important aspect to tiling.  A professional tile installer will take time to consider the layout to figure out how all the geometric pieces will fit together.

Maybe this long winter is a good time to do your research, visit tile stores and dream a bit about a beautiful new kitchen or bath.  

What is the spark that begins a career?

My passion for design began in Brooklyn, of all places, while traipsing after my mother’s decorator, a woman named Vinnie, who decorated for Roma Furniture.

It was the 70’s and we were descendants of recent Italian immigrants so you can imagine what the finished look was – velvets in red wine colors, cupids on lamps, and gold everywhere. I distinctly remember the custom made plastic slipcovers that encased the velvet sofas in my, and all of my friends’ living rooms.  The plastic dried out and cracked rather quickly, pinching our legs as we sat down. Someone must have made a fortune on this upholstery oddity and thankfully it was a trend that passed.

One thing that gave me bragging rights with my friends was the wallpaper selected for the kitchen – the very same mustard and avocado green wallpaper that The Partridge Family had in their TV kitchen.  I now know that the 70’s was not the best decade for design but at the time it seemed that a door was open a crack into a very special world.

The other thing that really solidified it for me was my exposure to what lay just over the bridge in ‘The City’.  My schoolteacher mother, who was well traveled for her day, took the four of us kids on outings to every museum and historic house we could reach by public transportation.  She would extol the notion that it was a big, beautiful world out there and to be cultured was a very important task of growing up.  Teddy Roosevelt’s boy hood home particularly stuck in my mind, most likely because of all the dead animals strewn around the brownstone on East 20^th Street off Park Avenue. To this day, I am still a bit iffy on the use of dead animals as decoration.

I have continued the tradition with my own family, dragging my two daughters and husband to every historic house we could reach by a car ride away from our home in Dorset.  The Berkshires holds a wellspring of historic houses. Most memorable is Edith Wharton’s house, ‘The Mount’, in Lenox, MA, which brought her philosophy of design to life as written in the book she co-authored with architect Ogden Codman, Jr. called The Decoration of Houses. Her mansion positively sparkles in the sunlight due to the marble dust she insisted be put in the white exterior paint.  She didn’t just concentrate on the house design but also created elaborate exterior rooms in her gardens, which are accessed by cleverly designed sod covered steps. This home must have been her laboratory to explore her innovative ideas.

If someone asked me how to be a good decorator, my advice would be to live fully, travel often, ask questions and never stop learning.