The Kitschiest Time of the Year

Irwin Weiner ASID -- Whenever I visit a family member in a nursing home that specializes in head injuries, I always notice the sign posted near the staircase It announces the day. Most amusing, of course, is when the sign says "Today is Thursday," but it’s really Sunday.

No one there seems to mind.

Most Christmas and winter holiday decorating reminds me of that: too much, too obvious, and too many people not really noticing.

Indelibly etched in my mind is the image of a woman I saw a few years ago in the Mall of America in Minneapolis. She had a Christmas tree on her sweater, matching tree earrings, and everything else she was wearing was either red, green, or winter-white.

Unless I’m brain damaged or in total denial, I can’t help noticing that it’s Christmas! I think it’s time to rethink the holiday decorating thing.

Here are some holiday design points I would like you to consider (without sounding too much like Scrooge).

1. Show restraint. Too much decorating is like too much jewelry. Try only one piece per room.

2. Don't colonize every square inch of space. If you’re obliged to display many items, like ornaments that have sentimental value, consolidate them ALL in one place, like on and around a tree.

3. Select items that are special and different. Cute is absolutely forbidden. The little Santa teddy bear is done to death!

4. Do NOT get sucked into the Hallmark holiday thing. This year’s bigger, better, more stylish, more creative angel tree topper doesn’t really make much difference, at the end of the day. My apologies to all you collectors, of course, but mass-produced collectibles is not my thing.

5. BE BOLD. Your tree should scrape the ceiling and the wreath on your door should be as wide as the door.

6. Have fun. I remember having Christmas dinner in a trendy restaurant in New York many years ago. The restaurant’s Christmas tree was fully trimmed and, like a chandelier, it was suspended over the diners . . . upside down.

7. Time for a color change. No more red and green. (Where does that scheme come from, anyway?) I think holiday color changing is catching on because I saw blue poinsettias at a nursery today. An orange and purple tree, for example, would be great.

When decking the halls this holiday season, try a little restraint and good taste when you try turning ho-hum into ho-ho-ho.

Photo credits: USA Today PopCandy blogspot, UK Home Ideas

Update on November 10, 2009 by Design2Share

Visit Design2Share's Holiday Decorating Special throughout the months of November and December to keep picking up helping tips for home gifts, holiday decorating ideas, and groovy yuletide decor tips.

And check out our New Design2Share Shop for unique home decor and gifts. We're adding new products all the time, each a hand-picked favorite from the D2S team. Keep coming back!

Field Trip

Irwin Weiner -- I never fully understood the term business development until I made a field trip this past week. I went to the New York Times’ Taste of T event at the Architects and Designers Building, a.k.a. the A&D Building, at 150 East 58^th Street.

The event was a brilliant idea. The Times hosts a fun and delicious event that raises money for a wonderful New York charity. At the same time, it promotes the A&D building as a designer resource, and showcases the individual showrooms, restaurants, and chefs.

Now that’s business development, a creative alignment of business activities that produces a new sum-is-greater-than-the-parts thingie. And you would have loved this Taste of T thingie!

The designers and industry people attending the event were treated to great food and drink, and I enjoyed a relaxing visit to this well-known interior design destination. It was a thrill to see culinary stars that included Dan Barber of Blue Hill at Stone Barns (left) and Michael Laiskonis of Le Bernardin (right).

Although my office is in walking distance from East 58^th Street, I’m ashamed to admit that I’m always too rushed to appreciate the A&D’s many new showrooms and their great lines. And I know I’ve missed out on a lot. As much as I love the Internet, seeing an actual product is so much more meaningful than seeing an image. The custom and unique aspects of the many items shown, such as antique tiles and accessories, are often not shown on a vendor’s website. It’s just too expensive to keep up with cataloging everything new that comes in, unlike the more mass produced, mass market items one sees in typical mid-range Internet catalogs for furnishings.

The A&D Building traditionally was home to mainly kitchen companies. It was so much so, in fact, that the site was casually referred to as the Kitchen Building. The more expensive Design & Decoration or D&D Building, just a block away, was always the more prestigious resource center. The A&D was very much the Cinderella of the area. The expensive rentals in the D&D made it prohibitive for most furniture showrooms to rent there as the floor space is terribly expensive. One can see dozens of fabric choices in the square footage needed to show a single piece of furniture in the D&D.

The A&D has recently welcomed some inspiring new tenants, drawn by a combination of attractive space and rents.

Homer Furniture, the showroom of the designer, Richard Mishaan, has stylish and contemporary lines.

Stylish and contemporary furniture also complements the line I saw at the more streamlined and edgy B&B Italia (chairs, right).

The contemporary furniture perfectly complements the contemporary designs at the kitchen and bath showroom Boffi (basin, left) as well as the ubiquitous, high-end appliance/kitchen showroom Miele. 

The colonially-inspired furniture of Robert Lighton, formally British Khaki, is elegant and classic. Lighton has also designed a line of gorgeous watches that are featured on his website and displayed in the showroom. Interestingly, his showroom was previously a retail store in Soho. He’s chosen to transfer to a building that, although open to the public, is generally considered a designer “trade” building.

As much as I understand the business development, or biz dev, aspect of the Taste of T event, it was more my personal design development -- can I say des dev -- that made the event so wonderful for me.

My personal development increased as I walked through the new showrooms, admired the exciting finds, and enjoyed great food (the appetizers served in bird shell halves were rarified and exceptional).

If you can’t get to the A&D Building, then try accessing the showrooms and their websites through the A&D portal. Start by looking at their tempting Photo Gallery. 

Web surfing won’t be the real deal like my recent field trip. But, like good food, it will make you want more. The A&D is definitely worth a visit.

Photo credits: Signature Shutters, Epicurious, Star Chefs, Architonic, Boffi