Own your own!! Petit Trianon

Remember the rare 1913 book I had on the Petite Trianon with full floor plans, sections and details? Well one is on ebay now with 3 days left - this is a FABULOUS and RARE book! Not sure what it will go for but I paid well over $100 for mine. The cover looks a little different than mine but the edition is the same. Bid todayat EBAY!

Favorite Photograph

Do you have a favorite image? Perhaps something that sums up your aesthetic tastes in one equisite photo or painting? Well, I do. It's a photograph of models in Charles James couture gowns taken by one of my icons - Cecil Beaton.

Charles James was a couturier's courturier who championed the 'New Look' along with Dior, just less commercially and more exquisitely (exquisite is the word of the day, folks!). Cecil Beaton was a tastemaker, artist, author, photographer, designer from the mid 20th century, best known for his set and costume designs for such movies as Gigi and My fair lady. Pair them together and you have 2 of the geniuses of the 20th century working together! It's so odd that most of my favorite designers (and characters, they were all odd!) were friends. In this huge world they found each other to share ideas with. How lucky!

I love the fact that these models are seen relaxing before a fashion show in a BEAUTIFUL room in beautiful gowns. They're having tea, fixing their hair in the mirrors and chatting: they're LIVING in beauty GLAMOROUSLY.

I especially love the color version of this as it has that TECHNICOLOR glow -so much better than REAL color. The black and white images is also beautiful but doesn't capture quite everything for me. The most memorable part of this famous photograph for me is the model off on her own in the background on the far left side. You get a glimpse of her looking into the mirror; a private moment. She is eyeing the photographer and through him, us, the viewer. She seems to be saying ' oh, just leave me alone'. She had no idea she would live on for history in this really insignificant moment during her life.

I've looked for a quality hard photo of this image for years to frame, but haven't found one in my price range (they range from 4-6k!!! for a copy of a photograph!!). One day, one day...

Mount Clare

This weekend while in Baltimore, I stopped by Mount Clare -a house museum right in the middle of the city on a huge property. The weather was beautiful and I managed to take a few pictures.Dating from 1760, the home was built as the summer house of Charles Carroll; the center of an 800 acre plantation named ' Georgia'. Later after his death, his wife retired there and it stayed in the family for over 100 years. The house boasts a sophisticated Georgian plan with the stately stair to the side of the entry hall -not your common center hall! Also, instead of wood, the 'paneling' on all the walls was actually made of insect repellant plaster.Later, because of the change in the neighborhood it housed numerous organizations till 1900 when it was purchased by the city and used as a bathhouse for the industrical workers who lived in the neighborhood and the remaining property became a city park. Now a Registered National Historic Landmark, the home is open for tours and is operated by the city of Baltimore.A crappy image of some cool built-in bookcases at the office. Excuse the mess!

Visit them online

cute bike!

Forget the outfit, this bike is AMAZING! How cute would it be to drive this around a beach town this summer? I wish I lived in a more bikeable area!

Via the Sartorialist

Minton Vases

I've been a bad blogger and haven't posted in a few days! I've missed sharing my thoughts here! So for this week, I thought I'd start with a china of the week posting - these beautiful Minton vases are sucessionist in style from around 1910. I know Loda will appreciate the pink and green colors!The secessionist art movement started in France formally in 1897 with Germany and Austria quickly following. The term 'secession' refers to the modernist artists seperating themselves from academic art cultures. The most famous of these artists was Gustav Klimt ( I think you all know 'the kiss'! ).

I love the natural crazing that these older pieces have. While these aren't something I would have in my own home I really love the color and playfulness of them!

They're online on ebay for a short time only ( 4 hours left as of this posting )

John Currin

john and his son

One of my favorite artists is John Currin. He also is also a co-alumni of mine from Carnegie Mellon Univ. in Pittsburgh! He graduated in 1984 though - a few years before me- Go CMU!!!! He is a postmodernist where he uses past styles to satirically depict current, exaggerated notions of female beauty. That is what he is most well-known for -however of course like many artists he is well rounded and has painted many subjects as well -all dealing with portraiture. This last painting of his has always intrigued me because it looks EXACTLY like my mom right before I was born!! even the hairstyle!

Georgetown

This past weekend I went on the Georgetown housetour with my friend Loda and her husband Tikigod. I managed to FORGET my camera because I had a busy morning prior to the tour, but Loda brought hers along and she's a great photographer! I wanted to share with you some of our photos plus you can read more about it on her blog as well!The Georgetown Housetour is the oldest house tour in America and is hosted by St. John's Episcopal church. The money raised goes to fund their ministery with the homeless.One of the best features of Georgetown are its gardens. Springtime is here in Washington and everything was in bloom. Many homes featured Wisteria which smelled WONDERFUL.

This formal garden was in front of a house beside one of the tour houses. I love the line of trees that provide privacy: you coudln't even see the house behind the trees!
This charming house was behind an iron gate and had PERFECT grass! No chemicals used, I'm sure, right? hahaThis home has been for sale for awhile, I'm not sure why. It's one of my favorites!(of course, they're all my favorites, it's a bad habit to say everything is my 'VERY FAVORITE!'). I really love that ivy crawling up the corner.And save the best for last -this little house is probably my favorite in Georgetown, it's just so cute and perfect! The picture doesn't do it justice!

beach house

I've been working with MQ windows out of Canada (the NICEST custom windows) on a project and they sent some examples of their work. One is this BEAUTIFUL beach house with a pool. This is my idea of the perfect beach house! Clean-lined and modern yet still retaining that traditional N.E. style beach look. Love the black frames and all those french doors opening the house to the yard! Such a shame that pools need those hideous fences to meet code -that ruins it!They also sent this house. I am not sure how I feel about it........is it hideous or great? I love that little entry wing, but there is a lot going on in general. I'm sure this is a big house -but it looks cluttered and small........comments? reactions?

New Treasures!

I wanted to share with you my newest treasures I got from an ebay auction from a local auction house. These are antique watercolors of interiors ( there were 3 and I only won 2 unfortunately ). The first depicts a beautiful french room with fireplace, chandelier and french doors to a garden

the second picture is a wall elevation of an english style room - beautiful colors that will look GREAT in my apartment! I'm so happy I won them!!

Baby Mama

This weekend I saw the HIGH-LAR-IOUS movie, Baby Mama (with Tina Fey and Amy Poehler). You probably have heard the premise, but if you haven't; basically Tina plays a 'business woman' for a wholefoods like corporation that is ready to have a child but can't adopt because she is single. She decided to go with surogacy with a company owned by Sigourney Weaver and meets up with Amy Poehler who is a blue collar Philly girl. Amy eventually moves in with Tina and the movie goes on from there! Really a great great funny movie! Please go and see it! Both ladies are surprisingly pretty in the movie too, which was a bit of a surprise for me.You can read more about it on the movie's website