October Design Favorites
October 6, 2009 Happy Halloween!
Mighty Mirrors
Eglomise 4 Panel Screen, a mirrored delight from Julian Chichester
Pun fully intended, mirrors are an important reflection of your design flair and good taste! We were impressed with the mirror options at the recent New York International Gift Fair in NYC.
From more traditional full-length mirrors and rectangular wall mirrors to antiqued glass and handcrafted designs encrusted with beautiful seashells, there are great mirror options for any room of your home. Use a mirror to provide a quick check point for your guests when they first arrive in your home. A hall or entry foyer mirror is a great way to reflect outside views inside and greet visitors with flair. But mirrors are so versatile, use them as a key decorating accessory to make your rooms appear larger and airier. Flank task-oriented mirrors in baths and powder rooms with sconces to provided needed light for make-up application, shaving, and other functions. And above all, choose from the many mirror styles and options to directly hook into the rest of your decor, from nautical and country to antique and starkly contemporary.
We found a host of vendors at this year's Gift Fair that exemplified the latest fine mirror designs. Visit these vendor sites for more information:
- Oly (see their fab Oliver Mirror in the photo above, with a faux zebra frame and stunning nailheads)
- Made Goods
- Julian Chichester (see photo at top of their mirrored Eglomise 4 Panel Screen)
- Roost
Here are some of our favorite round mirrors:
The hammered brass surround of the Kieran Mirror above is fabulous, from Made Goods.
Stunning and Gothic, the Jane Churchill Ebury Mirror from Julian Chichester is a real looker.
Graceful curved metal petals accentuate the wonderful Sunflower Mirror from Oly.
Sneak Preview: Long Island's Designers' Showcase
Valerie Onor created a sumptuous bed alcove retreat for the upcoming Designers' Showcase in Mill Neck, NY.
We just received a tantalizing peek at designer Valerie Onor's bedroom, cleverly entitled “My Suite Embraceable You,” for the upcoming Mansions & Millionaires Designers’ Showcase® ‘09 at the historic La Selva mansion in Upper Brookville, Long Island, October 3 through November 15, a show house spotlighting the talents of over 40 designers. Built in 1915, by Hunt & Hunt, with grounds by the legendary Olmstead Bros., La Selva represents the unusual in the Italianate Mediterranean Style. The interior is chock full of details depicting many of the world’s masters in their field, columns carved with gargoyles and critters, ironwork, vaulted ceilings, marble floors, a stone staircase that seems to float to the second floor, Renaissance paintings built into the walls, and many more elegant features. On the exterior, Showcase guests will find garden sculpture and artifacts, some from the 1st Century AD.
Valerie Onor's bedroom in the Showcase is done up in great style, which she says "like great music and great love, never goes out of fashion." It's her special homage to elegance and romance past and present. She designed her significant, second floor space with great care, to create an ultra-romantic bedroom that nods to the past while firmly based in the present (see top photo). Onor’s inspiration was the commanding mural in the bed alcove featuring Chinese pavilion, mountains, and exotic birds original to the home’s 1915 décor. The technique used is called marouflage, a 3,000-year-old technique whereby artists adhesives were applied to both the wall and the canvas before adding paint. Coordinated panels were artfully designed to extend the mural, while still leaving the original panel as a focal point. Onor’s workroom painstakingly replicated the mural in the two added end panels, gradually reduced the intensity of their color moving outward to seamlessly blend with the soft palette of the room — hues of aqua, ochre, and green.
The room's lush furnishings are done up in velvets, silks, a touch of lace, and soft colors that lend warmth and enhance the romantic mood. The modern and sophisticated audio-visual system is integrated invisibly into the room — notably within the 19th century rosewood cabinet that houses a retractable flat-screen TV. The connecting bathroom and dressing room are carefully refurbished and preserved, maintaining their vintage quality. Original brass fixtures, antique wall scale, and tile coexist comfortably with new amenities — fresh wallpaper, fine linens, and accessories. Her dressing room continues to augment the room’s plush feeling with a pair of feminine fireside chairs, a handpainted chest of drawers, and a retro dressing table with a tufted, upholstered seat.
Designers' Showcase Dates: Open for public tours October 3 through November 15. Check this info sheet for dates and hours of operation.
Location: La Selva, 187 Oyster Bay Road in Mill Neck, NY. Click on the info sheet for directions.
Tickets and Proceeds: $30 per person. On Oct. 2nd there is a special gala preview open to the public at a cost of $125 per person. All proceeds from the ticket sales benefiting the non-profit organization The Mentoring Partnership of Long Island.
Another Sneak Peek: Metropolitan Home's Showtime Showhouse
Sylvie's glam portrait pillows decorate the Showtime Showhouse's Tudors Terrace.
Sylvie Guieysse is one of the country's best Pillow Pushers, and she loves bringing her considerable artistic talents to her soft goods line. Our designer friend recently rose to a special occasion and created a great line of portrait pillows for the Metropolitan Home's Showtime House in Manhattan's posh Tribecca district. The house's rooms are decorated in different themes from series running on the Showtime network. In the photo at top are Sylvie's Tudors portrait pillows of the king and his six wives adorning the garden terrace designed by Piero Lissoni and Nicoletta Canesi.
Metropolitan Home has paired 14 top architecture and interior design talents with the network's edgy shows to decorate the 14,000 square feet in the Showtime House. You'll see a pair of $25.5 million penthouses in an entertaining mash-up sure to tickle your house decorating bones.
Metropolitan Home's Showtime House Dates: Open for public tours September 12th through October 18th, weekends only from 10 am to 5 pm.
Location: Tribeca Summit Loft Condominiums, Penthouses C & E, 415 Greenwich Street, New York City.
Tickets and Proceeds: $20 per person, with all proceeds from the ticket sales benefiting the non-profit organization Housing Works.
