Evolution of a floral arrangement

Last week, I wrote about the big gala for the New England Design Hall of Fame. I was lucky enough to snag one of the gorgeous floral arrangements which were done by Winston Flowers.

My camera got a workout with this arrangement! I love the combination of deep red roses, burgandy calla lilies, deep rosy orange lilies, deep red brain flower (is that really the name?? icky), the drapey red flower (don't know the name) and purple/blue/green hydrangea.

So, it's been a week and while most of the flowers in the arrangement are still glorious, there is a kind of tiring out of the arrangement.  So, I was thinking that it was time to disassemble the large arrangement into some smaller ones to kind of freshen things up.

Meanwhile, I popped into a local Salvation army store yesterday and came across this small silverplate flower bowl/candle holder piece that's maybe 8" wide by 6" high. For $4.99 and a little elbow grease (very tarnish) I have a sweet little addition to my silver/floral display collection. 

It also has a handy flower frog set inside.

I'll also be using my silverplate tea pot purchased last year at the Hell's Kitchen Flea market, made famous by Eddie Ross.

And, so I started taking apart the arrangement. It's quite a feat of construction!! Most of the flowers were held in place by a webbing of chicken wire set inside the bowl. Some of the lilies were too short, so they used the little water viles attached to the stems and tucked inside this amazingly dense arrangement.

And, the empty bowl with chicken wire, which I'm going to hold onto for the future.

And here are the results - from one large arrangement has come three smaller ones. And very flowers were actually thrown away.

 

(And for those of you following my kitchen reno, what do you think of the new painted cabinet interiors? I still need to get the shelves painted, but this is a sneak peak of the paint color etc!)




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A 1920's estate in Milton, MA

 DeShazo Estate view from the gardens - photography by Jean Donohue, courtesy of FBN Construction

New England Cable News (NECN) Dream House just aired a two part segment on the fabulous DeShazo estate in Milton, MA. I've been lucky to have attended a few industry events at this spectacular 1920's brick mansion and thought I'd share the video and some still photos of the property. It truly is like stepping back to another time. The house is 11,000 square feet and has thirteen working fireplaces, original wrought iron work, a circular stair, carved wood ceiling and original butler's pantry.

Click here to view part 1 and part 2.

 

 

Photo by Linda Merrill for IFDA

Photo by Linda Merrill for IFDA

Photos by Linda Merrill for IFDA

 DeShazo Estate gardens. Photo courtesy of FBN Construction.

 DeShazo Estate view from the gardens. DeShazo Estate gardens. Photo courtesy of FBN Construction.

Edited to add:

My friend, the fabulous photographer Jean Donohue sent along some interiors photos she'd shot of the house. I've tried to take inside pics, but failed miserably. Yep, once again, the professional is really the way to go!

Click on the pics for a larger view! If you'd like more information about Jean or her photography services, please email me and I'll pass you her contact information.

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Gratitude: The Eleventh Hour of the Eleventh Day of the Eleventh Month

Flanders Poppy tile - Verdant Tile Company

Courtesy of Bee MacGuire
Obtained From TheMcCrae Museum of The Guelph Museum 

My Boy Jack ~ Rudyard Kipling

“Have you news of my boy Jack?”
Not this tide.
“When d’you think that he’ll come back?”
Not with this wind blowing, and this tide.

“Has any one else had word of him?”
Not this tide.
For what is sunk will hardly swim,
Not with this wind blowing, and this tide.

“Oh, dear, what comfort can I find?”
None this tide,
Nor any tide,
Except he did not shame his kind —
Not even with that wind blowing, and that tide.

Then hold your head up all the more,
This tide,
And every tide;
Because he was the son you bore,
And gave to that wind blowing and that tide!

This 'n that

I was interviewed for a story about working with an interior designer that appeared on The New York Times online. Thanks to Camilla McLaughlin spoke with me, Susanna Salk and others about the process of working with an interior designer and what we bring to the process of designing one's own home. Specifically, my virtual decorating service was profiled. Click here to read the entire story.  Fun!

Sad news came today that Hachette Filipacchi announced the closing of METROPOLITAN  HOME magazine. The December issue will be its last. Sadness. Ironic given the line on the cover "Comfort & Joy". Sadly, Editor-in-Chief Donna Warner and her staff will be let go. According to the press release, they will be putting all their juice into Elle Decor.  We interviewed Margaret just last week on The Skirted Roundtable and spoke with her specifically about how her thoughts on the continued success of ELLE DECOR. Very interesting. You can listen hear.  My thoughts go out to Met Home's editor-in-chief if twenty-six years Donna Warner and her staff. The streets seem paved with displaced shelter mag workers these days. 

 On the kitchen front, I have the first coat of paint on the cabinet fronts (Ben Moore's Essex Green) and ceiling (F&B's Cooking Apple Green on the ceiling and inside the cabinets - it's fantastic!!). The second coat on the cabinet fronts will be Ben Moore's Black Forest Green, with a little antiquing thrown in. The cabinet doors are all finished (yay!!) and I'm just waiting for the new knobs I've ordered to come in. Very excited to show you those!  )In case you're wondering, the soffit above the cabinets is going to be finished to match the rest of the walls in the kitchen.) The photo above shows the spaghetti dinner I cooked for Rob (my volunteer staffer is back on the job!) and I - while the paint was still wet!! Nothing like boiling water right underneath the wet paint!!

Speaking of cooking, this space is going to look a lot better with these babies:

And finally, Grayson Handy, whose book FLOWERS FOR THE HOME I reviewed yesterday shared with me a couple of additioal pics of his dachsund Romeo, whom I've developed a huge crush on. So, I thought I'd share the cuteness. Photos by Ellen Silverman.

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Saturday afternoon: Painting, tea and reading!

So, with the time change, Saturdays are so short!  My kitchen makeover is moving slowly along and my "volunteer" staff has been AWL (absent with leave) for the last couple of weeks, so I've been on my own. I've done a lot of painting and today I finally tackled the backside of the cabinet doors. The front sides are all done (the big reveal to come soon!). With the light rapidly going away, painted (Ben Moore Black Forest Green) away outside on my back deck.

It's quite chilly today so by the time I was done, I was ready for a little pot of tea and warm apple spice bread.  I also got caught up on some reading. I've never heard of this Luxe Interiors + Design magazine, but it came in the mail today, so I flipped through that, Elle magazine and the new book Flowers for the Home by Grayson Handy. Totally gorgeous!

The nice folks at Rizzoli had sent the book several weeks ago and I've been drooling over the cover alone!

I've done some floral arranging, but I'm hampered by the complete inability to remember flower names and how they need to be treated. So, while I know what I like, I really do leave the work to the professionals. If I need an arrangement for a client or a shoot, I describe what I want in terms of color, texture and size. 

"Flowers for the Home" isn't just a picture book with pretty photos of pretty flower arrangements - although Handy's arrangements are beautiful and Ellen Silverman's photography is to die for! The book is broken down into locations that have inspired the author: China, England, France, India, Japan, Mexico, Morocco, the American South and Tropical Rainforest. He then breaks down each section into regional inspirations, a color palette, a signature arrangement (with instructions in the back of the book for how to make that arrangement - flower by flower) and a resource section.

Of course, France always inspires me.

Okay - all together now: awwwwww  (btw - Mr. Handy's dog Romeo is the spitting image of my dachsund, the late, great Tiny from my childhood).

This is an excellent book for anyone interested in floral arranging, or even just beautiful photography!



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New England Design Hall of Fame Gala 2009

This was a big week on the New England design scene with the gala dinner and induction ceremony for the New England Design Hall of Fame. I wrote about the inductees earlier this week and wanted to share some of the party pics as well!

Cocktails

 Getting ready for dinner

The view from my seat. Note the centerpiece is the same as at the top of this post - I brought it home! Glorious work as usual from Winston Flowers.

Alexis Contant, VP of the Boston Design Center (center) toasts the newly inducted honorees, from left to right: Gary McBournie, Jeffrey Katz, Cheryl Katz and Douglas Reed.

(left) Stacy Kunstel, Homes Editor, New England Home Magazine and (right) Alexis Contant

Marilyn MacLeod (Lee Designs), Teresa Burnett (Willow Designs, Inc.) and me

A bad pic of moi and a lovely pic of Katie Dammann, Marketing & Special Projects Director for New England Home Magazine.

Again, a huge congratulations to all the honorees - Maryann Thompson Architects, Gary McBournie (interior design), Cheryl & Jeffrey Katz (interior design), Stephen Stimson Associates (landscape design), Reed Hilderbrand Landscape Architects,  Dalia Tamara (kitchen design). Read more about the inductees here.

And finally a thank you to New England Home Magazine for putting together this wonderful event and raising the level of awareness of the wonderful New England design community.

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Skirted Roundtable: Chatting with Margaret Russell

This has just been a crazy week (aren't they all!!?) and I'm trying to catch up with postings and the news.

This week, Megan, Joni and I chatted with Margaret Russell, editor-in-chief of Elle Decor about her background and career, her twenty years at the magazine and the design industry today. I have to say that I am so enjoying doing The Skirted Roundtable and the opportunity to chat with some of the most amazing people in the design industry today!

In this interview, we asked Margaret to select three rooms that were among her favorite photoshoots and images from her new book Style and Substance: The Best of Elle Decor so that we could chat in specifics about what makes a room work in life and in a magazine. 

Hampton's Living Room (an SGTG inspiration?). Design by Victoria Hagan. Photo by Reed Krakoff.

The best selling Elle Decor cover is also the cover of Margaret's new book Style and Substance:The Best of Elle Decor. Photo by Michael Mundy.

Margaret is also one of the busiest people in the industry and has lent her support to many fine charitable organizations over the year. Currently, she sitting on the boards of the Alpha Workshops, which provides training in the decorative arts to those living with HIV/AIDS, and to God's Love We Deliver, which provides meals and nutritional information to those living with life-altering illnesses. She is also beginning to focus her considerable attention to the issue of arts education for school children. For ten years, she was active with DIFFA (Design Industry Foundation Fight AIDS) and the annual Dining By Design events. I first met MR at the Boston Dining by Design event two years ago. We ended up literally face to face in a very crowded space and let me tell you, she's even prettier and younger looking in person that in photos!

So, thank you Margaret for spending a great hour with us! Click here to listen!




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New England Design Hall of Fame 2009 Inductees

I'm getting very excited for this week's New England Design Hall of Fame awards dinner, sponsored by New England Home Magazine.  The ceremony and gala dinner for this year's honorees is being held at the State Room, which sits high a-top the city of Boston.

 I wanted to share some information and photos of this year's inductees. Congratulations to all!

Maryann Thompson Architects

Gary McBournie, Inc. - Interior Design

 

C&J Katz Studio - Interior Design

Stephen Stimson Associates - Landscape Designer

Reed Hilderbrand Landcape Architects

Douglas Reed

Gary Hilderbrand

 

Dalia Kitchen - Specialty Design Award

Dalia Tamari (center)

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