Tabard Inn

I met friends last night for drinks at one of my favorite establishments in DC: the Tabard Inn. Besides having a wonderful restaurant, the charming little hotel has a nice cozy bar area as well. Housed in 3 old joined townhouses on a quiet and charming street right in Dupont Circle, the inn was named after a hotel in England which is referred to in Geoffrey Chaucer’s “The Canterbury Tales” as a place of respite for pilgrims. The 3 townhouses are all painted gray to blend in with one another.

As you can see, the individual pieces aren't neccesarily nice, but have a lot of personality and charm -adding to the overall ambiance. The dim lighting helps!
Each room of the Inn is decorated individually with quirky antiques and every bedroom has a secretary with books inside! House and Home, an interiors magazine published in Dublin, Ireland, chose a small room in the Tabard Inn for inclusion in an article on the 30 most beautiful bedrooms in the world in its May/June 2005 issue. Rates are very cheap for rooms, but you MAY have to share a bathroom (not sure how I feel about that!). Read more about the inn online HERE.

National Zoo

No, thats not an Italian Cathedral, thats home to spineless creators (of the oceanic variety)! Like I mentioned yesterday, I spent some time Sunday at the National Zoo. Normally I find zoos really depressing: caged animals with sad expressions on their faces, scrutinized all day long isn't my idea of a fun time! However, the Washington National Zoo was fantastic! Run by a branch of the Smithsonian (isn't everything in DC?), it recently underwent extensive but ongoing renovations. Many of the buildings are from the 1930s and are really charming.A detail from the Elephant's home. First stop was into the Aviary section -one of the large outdoor cages that you could go into was from the early 70s and contained a very friendly peacock seen below. I thought the structure ingenius! Light and airy, just enough to hold it up: pure grace!He was seriously about 6 inches away. Also in the aviary were these two unusual blue birds nesting together. I think they're friends! I loved their lacy 'hats'.

And whats a visit to an aviary without flamingos! So many different hues of color! BEAUTIFUL!
The gorillas had this beautiful stone building to call home. Notice all the little statues of creatures on the roof; Warding off evil spirits perhaps? They were of lions, tigers & bears (OH MY!).

Here is the most famous resident of the zoo, the panda! He was adorable, if a bit dirty!
These coral were spectacular -almost neon. I bet they glow in the dark -notice all the neon blue tips?

Like underwater flowers! But it's not all fun and games: while in the wild, one must always be aware of - AGGRESSIVE CRANES! AHHHH!

If in Washington on a beautiful day - stop by and visit the zoo, you won't regret it!

Neighborhood tour

This past weekend I visited the Washington Zoo (more on that later) and walked through one of my favorite neighborhoods on my walk home that I thought I'd share with you.
This part of washington is the residential part of the city. From the zoo you can walk along rock creek park which is in a gorge below these neighborhoods. I've always loved these enormous old decorative bridges that connect these neighborhood. This one spans between Woodley Park and Kalorama.
This iconic mural announces your entry into Woodley Park from Kalorama - recognize the face? Marilyn Monroe of course!
Crossing over the bridge, you come into Kalorama. Kalorama is home to many of the grandest homes in the city built around the turn of last century, many embassies and along Connecticut Ave and the other major roads these GRAND old apartment buildings. Much of the work my firm does is in this area.
This building has this marvelous gazebo on the roof that looks out over the park. I've always wanted to go up there! Also notice the beautifully ornate and colorful corbels under the roof and the surround of the front door -all terra cotta. My dream apartment would be a small one-bedroom up there overlooking the park (pipe-dream maybe, but practical size wise anyway!)

Another big beautiful apartment building - this one with a porte cochere. More beautiful terra cotta work!This is one of the more famous buildings - the Dresden. Notice the building curves - more of it faces the park this way, and also it fits the site better. These windows are HUGE.This one is an entire city block, I walked up once and peeked into the lobby -as ornate and beautiful as you could imagine! More rooftop gazebos!Just south of here is the famous curved hilton where Reagan was infamously shot. Not a very pretty building -but the first place I stayed in DC back in high school. Across from the hilton is this beautiful mansion -now offices. I would say that was a shame, except it must be dreadfully noisey inside with all the pedestrian and car traffic -it's on a major intersection. Now we're in dupont (that intersection i mentioned before is the border of neighborhoods). I've always been fascinated by this building you see here. It's nautically themed -notice the porthole windows and the lighthouse on top! The base houses a retro looking hair parlor and a bakery (firehook). This mansion is right on Dupont Circle. It's now a private club but at one time was the Robert Wilson Patterson mansion. Designed by McKim, Mead & white in 1900 -the exterior is all white terra cotta except for the marble columns on the 2nd floor. It houses Washington's first garage ( you can barely see it to the far left). The Patterson's lent the house to President and Mrs. Coolidge in 1927 while the White House was being renovated.

This last is close to my apartment right off Dupont Circle. It now houses the National Trust for historic presevation but was originally a very grand apartment building. Andrew Mellon (from the Pittsburgh banking family and one of the founders of Carnegie Mellon University, my alma mater) lived here while he was working as treasurer for the United States in the top 2 floors(he also was responsible for the John Russell Pope designed nat'l gallery of art, donating the building to the Smithsonian). Hope you enjoyed the tour!

All the great operas in 10 minutes

I came across this wonderful youtube video through a friend- a hilarious summation of all the great operas and how they're all full of incest, rape, prostitution, murder, suicide, etc. (watch the little ticker tape at the end of each opera)!

Quote of the day

If you have made mistakes, there is always another chance for you. You may have a fresh start any moment you choose, for this thing we call 'failure' is not the falling down, but the staying down. Mary Pickford

Book signing

Last night I attended a book signing for 'Barry Dixon Interiors' right near my office at the Georgetown 'Waterworks' store with my good friend Loda. Above is a picture of me with the designer,Barry Dixon, on the right and the author, Brian Coleman, on the left. Barry is TALL, ladies and gentlemen.
A photo of Mr. Dixon signing copies of his book. A lot of work goes into 'small' events like this and I thought I would show you the workings of a party!The event was held on the 2nd floor of Waterworks, these BEAUTIFUL lilies were at the top of the steps to greet us. The entire store had beautifully scented candles lit throughout creating ambiance.
A bar was set up with a selection of drinks in an out of the way location. Notice the white jacket on the server -very nice!
This ratatouille was one of the passed hors d'eurves -it was DELICIOUS! The caterer showed me where in the back room they were setting up trays to pass. YUMMY!! There were probably 4 people passing trays and 1 plating up in the back. Piles of the book were waiting to be bought and signed. I was good and saved my money - sorry Barry!Next to the books were the 'swag bags' but I must say waterworks cheaped out! All we got was a catalog of their products (which I already have), an outdated tile sample (not even large enough to use as a coaster) and a TINY free sample of the yummy Molton Brown gingerlily showergel. I don't mean to sound ungrateful, but it seemed a bit cheap. I guess they spent all their budget on the BEAUTIFUL engraved invitations. Oh well, the book is fantastic however, check it out if you haven't seen it yet! Beautiful photographs of Barry Dixon's work and great writing to boot!

What would you do?

What would you do with a livingroom like this if you had just purchased this house. A lovely room -don't you agree? I think I'd paint all the trim a bright shiny white, the walls a matte french gray, refinish the original herringbone wood floor to a dull sheen and possibly put in a rather simple limestone surround for the fireplace. Definitely keep all that beautifully spotted antique mirror, especially the really damaged one above the fireplace -and hang a painting centered in front of it. Your turn!

Mix n Match

Remember last week when the china of the week was a pattern named Harebell by Coalport? Well, a reader was selling a service of 12 on ebay as fate would have it -she offered me a great deal I couldn't refuse! HIP HIP HORRAY!After getting over the initial thrill of my new purchase, I started to think about how I could use it. The pattern is beautiful but very strong: I need to mix it with some more sedate pieces. Quickly I realized this is harder to do than I thought! I have a small service of monogrammed haviland limoge pieces that you see above, the blue is just a LITTLE off and the gold is a little harsh, but the whites match and it's not AWFUL.
It works a bit better when you use the dinner plate -you can appreciate the Harebell pattern more. I also was disappointed that I couldn't use much of my white china: the whites clash! They all inevitably appeared gray against the brilliant white of the Coalport (gray and CHEAP - like dirty teeth). My rosenthal sansoucci - BAD!This minton underplate from my dinner last week goes PERFECTLY(but of course I don't have a service for 12 in it!).
This picture is just because I was proud of my creative storage! I have a VERY small apartment -where would I put all this china? Well, as luck would have it, the entire set (with the exception of 3 teacups) fits PERFECTLY in my dishwasher that I never use! PERFECT STORAGE! Also, this is very easy access so I can use it often! Fashionista's store extra clothes in their empty kitchens, bibliophiles store books but I store my china in my dishwasher! VOILA!
I should explain that I never use my dishwasher because A. I love to wash dishes, it's relaxing. B. much of my china isn't dishwasher safe and C. I simply need the storage!

Fall

Now that fall is here and in full swing, I find myself longing for cozy places to curl up. I prefer my bed with piles of pillows with a stack of magazines and pot of tea. Where do you like to hibernate?

The Duchess review

Earlier last week I mentioned the movie, The Duchess. I went to see it this weekend and really liked it. I didn't love it but it was really a great film.
The story felt a little glossed over at points but I plan on reading the book to fill in the details. The sets were, of course, beautiful -mostly the table settings! I left this movie hungry! The clothes were beautiful as well but not in your face (like in marie antoinette). The whole film reads very believable and accurate seeming, but not as dreamy and as great a film as 'Marie Antoinette' -however, thats just personal opinion. I would give it a B+ and definitely go check it out on the big screen for all the details that you won't notice at home!