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!

Bright New Ideas For Selecting Lighting For Your Home

I sat down with Joanne VanDeusen, the proprietor of The Lighting Place on Main Street in Manchester to have a chat about the most common lighting questions. I came away with lots of new tips and a few tricks in helping to select the proper fixtures. Here is what she shared with me.

When looking for a new lampshade, be sure to bring the lamp base in with you so you can try on different sizes and styles. It is very similar to finding the proper hat to fit your head. The size of the harp (the brass piece the shade sits on) can be changed to raise or lower the shade for a proper fit. You can also add a decorative finial to the top of the harp, which adds a custom touch. Another consideration is choice of material for the shade, a white or cream colored fabric will give you the most light, while a dark shade will create down light and add drama to a room setting.

There is a way to tell if your lamp has a one-way or three-way socket. Remove the bulb and for safety sake unplug the lamp, then look into the socket. One horizontal brass contact is a one-way socket; a horizontal brass and small silver contact is a three-way socket. Obviously, push-through switches are always one-way. You want to go check your lamps, don’t you? Go ahead, but remember to unplug the fixture first!

The Green Revolution is quite evident in the light bulb section of the store with technological changes coming fast and furiously. All of us are getting more comfortable with CFL’s, Compact Fluorescent Light bulbs, with their spiral shape, but now they have a variety that looks like a regular bulb with the spiral shape encased inside. Use these if you have clip on shades or wherever you can see the bulb in a fixture. They have also improved the color of the bulb so look for a bulb with 2700-2800 Kelvin, which closely resembles the warm color of incandescent bulbs. And now for a stock market tip – three letters – LED. Light Emitting Diodes will be the wave of the future in lighting. They use less energy and last longer with 25,000 hours of life and can be embedded in anything – imagine your coffee table also becoming a lamp or switching your wall on at night. We are living in very exciting times.

When Joanne is asked what types of light to choose for a specific room she always recommends that a homeowner layer the light using ceiling, floor and table fixtures. A kitchen can never be too bright so think task lighting --under counter, pendants over the island, overhead light. Add personality and style to the room with your lighting choices as there are an endless variety of styles. She recommends lights be put on dimmer switches, an easy change for an electrician to make and one that saves energy and the life of your bulbs.

I want to add that it is always a pleasure to shop at a specialty store because I find they have a range of prices, the sales staff are knowledgeable about their product, they back up the purchase after the sale and can provide parts when needed. I take all of these factors into account when deciding where to shop. Thank you, Joanne, for sharing your knowledge with us.

Houses, like people, can have a past, too.

My Design Studio is located in a cheerful yellow house on Route 30 with the new beginnings of a freshly planted English Cottage garden: tended, coddled and fretted over everyday. It is cheerful inside too, every inch freshly painted. There are fabric and decorating books stacked high on shelves and a designer-decorated apartment in the back for weekend rentals.

I have decided that a house is what you make it. Plain and simple. If you are willing to put in the effort and a little imagination you can turn any house into a welcoming retreat. When we bought this house it was run down and sadly neglected. At that time it was a three-apartment rental with lots of people coming and going, no one every staying very long, and some even leaving in a cloud of drama. Tired of being landlords and needing a space for my growing business, my husband and I decided the best course was for me to move my interior design business into the building. During the year-long renovation lots of subcontractors came through the door – plumbers, electricians, painters. One common theme emerged. Almost all of them to a man would look around and tell me how they spent many evenings in their youth in this house partying and raising the roof. The details were never forthcoming but there was always a bit of wistfulness in their eyes as the memories flashed back to their rowdier days. Apparently, this was the party house of the neighborhood. I felt a bit like a reform school director straightening out a wayward child and taking all the fun out of it to boot. They would tell me it looked very pretty, and shaking their heads walk away at the end of their workday.

Now the house is its own world created from imagination and inspired by scenes out of Rosamunde Pilcher’s novels set in the West Country of England. On our family trip to Cornwall when our girls were 5 and 7, we stayed in a classic version of a Bed and Breakfast as only the English can present. We were lucky enough to stay in beds with canopies above our heads, Laura Ashley floral bathrooms, and thatch roofed chicken houses nestled in gardens filled with color. My oldest daughter remembers feeling like a princess in those rooms. I would say decorating has done its job if you can make a little girl, and maybe even some adults, feel like a princess. The details of that trip have stayed with me through the years and finally had an outlet in this particular house with its classic Vermont farmhouse bones.

Quiet and peaceful, the house sits proudly on Route 30 across from a marble quarry. I don’t think people who stay in the little rental out back have any idea of its past and perhaps that’s okay. Even a house can change its ways.

For more details about the vacation rental and to view photos, visit dorsetnest.blogspot.com