The Lindens, and curtains

Another blog cleaning post.

The Lindens, formerly of Danvers now in DC; photography by Scott Frances.

Architectural Digest ran a fascinating article 

on the true tale of the oldest house in Washington, DC., 

but it was not built in DC.

The condensed version:

In 1934 Miriam and George Morris of Washington DC wanted an authentic 

Colonial-era home for their Colonial-era antique collection.

Washington DC does not have any authentic Colonial-era homes because 

it was founded in 1790, long after we had ceased being a British Colony. 

Mr. and Mrs. Morris, sticklers for the real thing, headed up North 

to the land of all things Colonial, Massachusetts.

1636: English colonists settle Danvers but back in the day it was known as Salem Village.
1757: One hundred and twenty-one years pass and the colonists petition the Crown for a charter as a town.
The King returns the charter unsigned and with the message
"The King Unwilling".
Those plucky colonists incorporate their town anyway.
The King's rebuff is forever emblazoned on the Town's Seal. Go Danvers!
 Wikipedia

They find The Lindens in Danvers, just East of Boston

 and about 15 miles down the road from me.

The Morris' plunk down $14,000 for this Georgian beauty, 

have it dismantled and shipped down to DC.

Miriam H. Morris in 1937 via The House History Man Blog.
Either Mrs. Morris is very short or those gates are much larger than they appear in the top photo.

Just imagine labeling all the parts! Holy Cow.

Proof positive that nearly anything is possible given the

will and sufficient funds.

Today, The Linden's entry hall with the restored scenic wallpaper by Dufour et Leroy.

Surprisingly, the Morris' kept the gorgeous scenic wallpaper 

in The Linden's entry, even though it is, French.

By 1982 both Morris's had passed on. 

Christie's auctioned off everything in the house 

except the French scenic wallpaper.

Fast forward to 2013.

The Lindens is completely empty, not one stick of furniture. 

The house is 260 some years old and in dire need of everything.

The new owners entrust the restoration to Mariette Himes Gomez.

Mariette Himes Gomez

A quote from Ms. Gomez in the AD article:

     "The floors and exquisitely detailed walls 
may be the most beautiful things in this house," 

says the designer, noting that

the furnishings needed to defer to the elegant woodwork, 

from the double-cross paneled doors to the window seats... 

Gomez adds, 

"You want people to notice all that, 
not some decorator's one-upmanship." 
link to AD article

That, dear readers, is intestinal fortitude.

Now we're finally getting to fun parts. And the curtains.

The dining room. 

Everything in this room looks like it has been there forever. 

Including the historically correct curtains.

I love that they styled the table as if it were in the process of being set.
Two chair styles. Great carpet. Portrait of a cranky old man.
I love every bit of it.
Photography by Scott Frances.

The library. More traditionally inspired curtains; the proportions are perfect.  

This room has many fine elements and none of them upstage the "elegant woodwork."

The Master Suite. A neutral palette creates a sense of restful calm. 

The shaped valances are less fussy than swags but still deferential to the woodwork.

A guest room. The quilt is a homey, humanizing element in a room 

that might otherwise feel very formal.

Again, a traditional New England window dressing: swags and jabots. 

 In a nod to modern times, it looks like there are white blinds 

under the swags which will provide privacy come nightfall.

Nothing like a fireplace to cozy up a bedroom.

Ms. Gomez did the whole mansion in about a year. Brava!

Living in New England for 25+ years has given me an appreciation for the local architecture,  a great fondness for antique furniture, traditional decor including curtains/window treatments.

Could these windows have been done in a less traditional style? Of course.

If you love traditional New England decor and window dressing 

but your architecture is not, remember, it is your home. 

You should live with what you love. 

Of course, if you are redecorating for resale, consult your real estate agent.

Does this seem too old school to you?

Hate it? Love it? No opinion?

Thanks for reading,
Linda Pakravan

New Year 2018, New Omens, Small Miracle

Hello dear readers, 

I am cleaning the blog. Going through all my draft posts. 

Deleting the uninteresting, editing the potentials, and publishing the readable ones. 

This one was written in early January 2018.

Since they're old (in tech years), don't feel at all compelled to read them!

thanks,

Linda

*******

Happy New Year!

I always look for Good Omens at the start of the New Year.

My Lady's Slipper Orchid is in bloom.
Any orchid blooming is a Good Omen.

Another good omen, House and Garden UK just announced the return of chintz.

House and Garden

Basically, House and Garden is saying it is now OK
to use big prints and/or floral fabrics with unapologetic abandon.
They don't necessarily have to be chintz.


As a kid in Minnesota, the word "chintzy" was used to describe shoddy goods or, 
an individual who baked cookies with margarine.

Here is a link with plenty of English chintz and includes a primer on "pelmets".
"Pelmets" is British for a drapery/curtain valance.

http://www.houseandgarden.co.uk/interiors/decorating-advice/cameron-kimber-pelmets

******

Another Good Omen!

Over the holidays, my beautiful granddog, Pumpkin, took advantage of
all the hubbub and had a little accident on one of my Persian carpets.

Pumpkin

And then a miracle occurred! 

The Mister said,

"You cannot blame the dog, it is too cold outside."

And this from a man who at one time wanted
NOTHING, ZERO, ZIP, NADA
to do with dogs.
How far we've come.
Light years.


So I'm taking that little miracle as a fabulous omen!

Happy New Year!

Thanks for reading,

Linda Pakravan

Gen-Z Yellow

Long time since my last missive.

A topic we love: bold color.
It isn't for everyone. Try not to dismiss it out of hand.
You might like it. In small quantities.
Or maybe someday, in large ones!

Gen-Z Yellow


The 2018 Spring Runways which ran in the Fall of '17.

Vanity Fair
Rihanna in Gen-Z Yellow, September 2017.

The Gen-Z Yellow fashion trend popped up in 2017.
Gen-Zers are kids born between 1996 and 2010.  

Gen-Zers post their selfies (and other things)
on Instagram with #ArtHoe hashtags.
They often wear something yellow.

Simple as that, In-Your-Face Yellow became the signature color of
both Gen-Zers and the Art Hoe Movement.

Mars, one of Art Hoe's co-founders, in a self-portrait.

 The Guardian's 2015 article on Art Hoe covers the who/why/what

 of this movement.
In a nutshell: Art Hoe embraces QPOC teens expressing the angst of identity,
cultural and societal concepts, art, poetry.

***********


Fashion is one thing.
Does Gen-Z Yellow cross over from fashion to interiors?
Yes. And it's been around a lot longer than it walked the 2017 runways.

Scot Meacham Wood's Victoria Botanical in Marigold, aka Gen-Z Yellow
for the 2017 Dallas Show House. 
I love this.

Scot Meacham Wood Scot Meacham Wood never disappoints.

Mr. Wood's ensemble for the 2013 Peninsula Volunteers Showhouse

employed Gen-Z Yellow in a small, high-impact dose.

Lisa Erdmann's Master Bedroom for the

Inaugural Kips Bay Palm Beach Show House, December 2017.
Palm Beach Daily News, photo by Sargent Architectural Photography

Maybe a smaller dose?

J+G Design in Viyet, October 2017

Miles Redd is no stranger to color. The bolder the better. 

But always, always, tasteful.

And he's so cute.

via HouseBeautiful

Miles Redd for Ballard Designs
That shell console is quite the statement!
Mr. Redd launched his collection for Ballard Designs in August 2017.

My "Blue and White" porcelain looks great against bold yellow in my kitchen.

A porcelain Moon Flask lamp in my Family Room.
Vintage brass and glass end table. I'm its third owner.

As a color name for interiors, Gen-Z Yellow lacks everything for me.
It sounds like a name for a drug. Legal or otherwise.
I like these much better.

Amber
Bumble Bee
Canary, Corn,
Daffodil
Dandelion
Egg Yolk
Goldenrod
Lemon, Lemony
Marigold
Pineapple
Saffron, Sunflower, Sunshine
Vibrant


Rihanna, runways, and current culture aside, this color has been around a very long time.

It has been gracing interiors since the late 1700s.

The Dining Room at Monticello. via ElleDecor.
I've been to Monticello.

It was called Chrome Yellow in the late 1700s.
Chrome Yellow was expensive, five times the price of white pigment.
So, of course, it was the IT color of its day.

Jefferson kept tabs on what was IT and fashionable in Europe and damn the cost,
he lavished Monticello's dining room in the sunny glow of Chrome Yellow.

Early in the last century, we have Nancy Lancaster.




Nancy Lancaster's iconic yellow room.
That's Nancy in 1935 dressed to the nines for the Silver Jubilee Ball at Buckingham Palace.
In 1944 Nancy bought Sybil Colefax's decorating business.
She didn't change the business name and when she partnered
with John Fowler, it became the infamous Colefax and Fowler.


Long before President Jefferson and Nancy Lancaster, the ancient Chinese made
drop-dead gorgeous yellow and green porcelain.

Qing Dynasty, Green with Yellow Glaze

In case you missed it, Pink is the hue adopted by Gen-Z's older siblings,
Millennials, born between 1980 and 1995.
Not just any pink, Millennial Pink.

Wes Anderson's 2014 Hit, The Grand Budapest Hotel.
National Geographic

But that's another story!

I look forward to your comments on this sometimes polarizing color.

Thanks for reading,

Linda Pakravan

Silk and Cinnabar

Around late Winter I thought I had nothing to say about design. 

If blog is primarily on design, 
then nothing to say = nothing to blog about.

Actually, I have plenty to "say" about design. 
As well as life, gardening, and a thousand other things. 

To "say" is easy. To "write" is not. 

Instagram is infinitely easier than writing.
I can be found at LindaPakravan.

 I took this with my phone on October 1st. We love the Bird Sanctuary walk.
That little white rectangle is a birdhouse.

Then in late May, our daughter graduated from Tufts Veterinary School.

And immediately started a year-long internship with UW Madison. 

The one in Wisconsin.

We helped move daughter, boyfriend, and Pumpkin (my granddog)

halfway across the country.

Here's my three on the patio of their Madison apartment.
That's little Pumpkin in the lower left.

June-July-August I wasn't feeling so hot.

Maybe even grieving (our one and only truly launched and flown the nest, maybe?). 

And fighting off bouts of what I think was stress-induced illness.

The upside of feeling not-so-great are the interesting and sometimes 

useful bits of info I learned while encamped on the couch.

Here's a design example. Something I've wanted forever.

Cinnabar.

Cinnabar bowl. Sold for $900 on EBTH.
This one was beyond my investment parameters.

Technically, Cinnabar is the color.
Carved, Cinnabar-colored lacquer-ware is what I want.

Over time, the term carved-cinnabar-colored-lacquer-ware was shortened to Cinnabar.
Thank you.

To achieve the color Cinnabar, pigment was once made from 

crystallized red mercuric sulfide.
Highly toxic. They use something else now.
Thank you.

*************

September was a good month. I feel great. 

October is firmly ensconced here.

I'm ready to re-start working on my old guest room.

Excellent fodder for design-related writing.
Plus I want it done for Christmas.

That's how it looked when I first did it in what, 1999? 2000? 

Holy cow! 18 years ago.

Lots of silk dupioni.

For my non-designer readers, silk dupioni is a rough slubbed silk fabric 

woven from the threads of double silkmoth cocoons.

For all its beauty and other fabulous qualities, silk has an Achilles' heel.
   

SUN DAMAGE.
 The sun weakens and destroys silk fibers causing them to disintegrate,
more commonly referred to as dry rot.
Fade is a given.

Sun damage is not confined to our face.
Silk will disintegrate when exposed to too much SUN.

I'll keep you posted.

Thanks for reading,

Linda Pakravan

Happy Mother's Day

Pink 

I love bumble bees.
I love the sound of "bumble bee" and the sound a bumble bee makes.

always reminds of Mother's Day.

Happy Mother's Day!

Thanks for reading,

Linda Pakravan