Design
Indigo Seas: My favorite store in the world
“Joie de Vivre!”
Pretty much describes the owner and spirit behind Indigo Seas: founder and owner of the shop: Lynn von Kersting.
Lynn is the personification of the expression: “Joie de vivre”. It means “joy in life”; it is a rare and beautiful thing! she is the walking ,talking epitome of it!
…
A lifetime collection of Italian majolica gets a new home!
I was minding my own business, (yes working!) looking for furniture for clients in my favorite antique store in our area; and this bird; this happy little bird caught my eye!
What a delightful, fey,whimsical, little bird! I was captivated!
And look!!!
Shelves all over the store filled with them!
plates,bowls. platters of all sizes, cups, saucers, espresso tiny cups and saucers! Oh my heart!!!
There had to be story about all this; I could see subtle differences in the glaze color, in the application of the trims; and even slight differences in the bird!
I asked the owners, (twins who know everyone and everything about Santa Barbara County for the last 100 years!)
“Oh yes, Mrs. Flood collected this pattern for 50 years or more!”
Oh happy day! …
A lifetime collection of Italian majolica gets a new home!Read More
The artist Radisha!
Radisha has been an important part of my team for years!
I have often said that my ideas are really unfulfillable without my treasured “team”.
One of my favorite team members has and will always be my dear friend and talented artist Radisha.
He has been creating sensational works of art for me for over 27 years. I first came across
his work in…(1989!) at, of all things, an “Estate Sale”! I bought several things I thought were old Italian painted furniture;
and was going on-and-on about them, until the owner said: “Would you like to meet the artist? I almost
fainted! He was at the time a Canadian citizen and was born in Serbia then studied art in Canada.
We have been working together on countless projects ever since.
He is skilled in many styles of painting, as you will see in the following pictures.
One of my favorite things in his art is his sense of whimsy!
Radisha has the ability to carry his artwork beyond the canvas to many different applications.
From painted screens to murals, he is able to adapt different styles and
techniques to always create a beautiful end result!
This is a four-panel screen in a Renaissance style.
This is a bedroom in Virginia with a “faux marbre” dado.
One of my favorites! a trompe l’oeil ledge with a mother dove on her nest in a powder room. Doesn’t she look surprised?!
This painted panel is a perfect example of Radisha’s whimsical style, always emphasizing nature and romance!
A tiled niche Radisha designed and painted in a loggia in Santa Barbara.
Some lovely Chinoiserie murals.
Pictured above is a painted mural Radisha created on a blank wall.
The curtains matched the dining room curtains which is to the right through an archway!
The house is an Italian Villa by Reginald Johnson; so the view is of the countryside in Tuscany.
This was the first job we worked on together. His paintings made this beautiful gallery “come alive!”
The owner; an attorney, called me one morning (she was supposed to look at and approve
the water color renderings of the gallery the afternoon before); she said…… “Oh!
I was so distracted by the new wallpaper in the kitchen;
I forgot to look at the gallery renderings! I hope I am not holding anything up!!”
I said, “Well; when I didn’t hear from you, he painted it all last night!
And just so you know; the overdoor in the middle is a man with an artichoke growing out of his head!”
Fortunately, the whole family loved it all!!!
This was a great project to work with Radisha on; the murals as well as all of his over-door
painting and details painted around sconces, etc.
are still (27 years later) a beautiful feature of the house.
See below photos of Radisha’s work from this project.
Detail behind a sconce (one of eight in the main gallery, all different).
Close up of one of paintings behind the sconce.
An over-door detail where the man has an artichoke growing out of his head, amazing!!
The upstairs hallway where each arch has a different painted scene.
This is a detail from one of the arches where you can see the owners two children running with the family dog!
Another overdoor panel at the opposite end of the gallery from the “window”
It is such a luxury to have an artist
like Radisha to make such a difference in a project!
Slipcovers!! Seasonal slipcovers save your furniture!
Seasonal Slipcovers!
What I love about slipcovers is so many things!!
My mother was from the “South”. (Lucky me in so many ways having particularly to do with the “HOUSE!”)
She taught me to have four………yes four…… seasonal sets of slipcovers for my furniture.
(My goal is four; I now have three; and I will have four!” )
First of all; when a new season starts; I get a” new house”! It’s almost like having 3 houses in one.
It is just a joy! Even my husband gets excited.
(I actually do this transformation with help, on the actual “first day of fall, Spring, Summer;
unless it falls on a weekend)
Otherwise the following Monday.
The very first day of “fall” The old “Oriental” rugs rugs go back down; All the pillows change, the slipcovers change on the furniture;
and it does almost look like a different house!
So to begin; this is fall. This is our “big hall” a combination living-dining room……
This is FALL!
This picture shows a lot of the furniture! with……
The fall slipcovers.
Deep rust Fortuny on the ottomans; teal on the chair seats, tapestry pillows and some quilt on the banquette, and the rugs and paisley
by the fireplace! (one of the two fireplaces in the room).
Rug and cozy seats around the fireplace on the “seating” side of the room.
(there are two fireplaces one at each end. One at the “seating end”; and another at the “eating end”.
This shot shows the paisley shawl upholstery with the inset vintage needlepoint. Also next to the fireplace.
Also the 18th century fragments of tapestries preserved and made into pillows………
.
We are not talking, nor doing, “Shabby Chic” loose slipcovers over here. Nothing wrong with them;
just way too “trendy” for this Pasadena decorator. I avoid “trends” like country people avoid “rattlesnakes”.
Just my view!
This is the opposite side of the room!
Directly opposite the other fireplace!
Its oriental rug is a cozy addition.
This is the dining area: this area has its fall and winter backwards Fortuny.
Fall includes my lifelong collection of antique paisley shawls, antique needlepoint
(collected for decades; even some made by me) ;
and the fall cozy colors emerge to replace the Summer pillows and fabrics.
The banquette is covered with my antique tapestry pillows; collected over my lifetime.
My favorites are from Dallas. The tapestry was falling apart; (there is nothing wrong in this)…….
The lady who made these exquisite pillows rescues the intact , fragile parts of the tapestry; and makes exquisite pillows
with antique trim, hand-dyed velvet, and down fills.
They must not be considered “pillows”!
Here are a few examples:
This is one from Dallas. There is a village scene around this tree.
This little creature I found in the flea market in Paris.
You can see that collecting things can give so many layers of beauty and meaning to your house!
(This is one of our dogs; rescued from a freeway on-ramp)! The dogs are fond of the banquette; and the leopard blanket came from Bunny Williams’
recommended dog bed source: “Wally beds” ; totally washable.
Again; Slipcovers. And end of FALL.
NOW LET’S TALK ABOUT SPRING!
HERE IT IS! THIS TRANSFORMATION STARTS MARCH 21st.
TAH DAH!
SPRING!
The main rugs go to storage and the pretty peach floors show.
Cushions pale yellow silk; ottomans yellow Fortuny.
Different pillows and quilt on the banquette.
This close-up shows the spring pillows in better detail.
By the way, the valance is two antique valances sewn together found at an “Antique Show”
Antique shows are great places to find vintage textiles.
And my antique toile coverlet with the hand embroidered work salvaged from some beautiful old sheets made into a pillow by my friend Kathy
(Pillow Beach on Etsy)
The Spring dining chairs have slipcovers of some Chelsea Editions embroidered fabric.
(Rugs not removed yet)
The whole room looking the other direction
We also have “summer slipcovers”…I call it “3 months in the Hamptons”
Please do notice; not one piece of furniture is different .
Same with the “summer installment”.
The whole point is; the comfortable arrangement of furniture does not change.
You feel as though you have gone to your “summer house” with just a change of tailored slipcovers
By the way; another important thing slipcovers do (I also learned from my adored mother);
is that your furniture (if you buy quality; which of course you do) will outlive YOU.
Three or four sets of slipcovers prevents any of them from becoming worn out or faded.
Just select carefully ; and preferably hire a decorator to help you.
Buy the best made upholstered pieces you can possibly afford.. (custom made or from a great consignment store).
and then slipcover like mad!
I truly believe there is much that can be learned from the past.
And old traditions are worth continuing.
Here comes SUMMER!!!
Luna is in her guarding position on the ottoman covered in an antique linen and hemp hand-woven French fabric!
In Spring, these 4 chairs are in vintage red French ticking! In Winter, cozy paisley!
These are covered for Summer in white on white Indian fabric that is all hand appliquéd in various geometric patterns!
You can see the incredible hand-work.
Looking the other direction!
The bay window has different pillows; a combination of some similar Indian appliqué that I found in bright yellow!
My favorite pillow in this group was made from a panel my mother bought in
Europe many years ago; and I found folded in her linens!
Now for an amazing story!
A few years ago,we rented a house in Spain for a week; we had our whole family ! (All 15!!)
I went to a painted furniture place I had always wanted to see; and look what was hanging on the wall!!!
The identical linen panel on another color background!!!
I’m trying to find out where it came from!!
This ottoman is in a vintage red French toile in
Spring; and in a red strie velvet in Winter!
This is another view!
The dining side of the “Big Hall” with Yellow Soulaido French fabric on the chairs !
This fireplace is opposite the other fireplace!
The trumeau mirror is one of a pair with two different scenes with children playing painted on them!
Dog-proof is important!!
Recycling wonderful old textiles is very GREEN!!
I hope this inspires some people to want “Seasonal Slipcovers”!!
It is so much FUN!!!
Slipcovers!! Seasonal slipcovers save your furniture!Read More
French Country Style
Our Home Featured in French Country Style! AGAIN!!!
3 years in a row!
Yikes! What an exciting week!
Fifi O’Neill , the founder and editor in chief of this magazine/book,(and many others! “google” her!)
saw our house and my friend Renee’s house on my blog; ( she expressed interest in both of them)!
and Mark Lohman (a wonderful photographer, and an old friend)
photographed them both for this issue! It just came out; but it will be on the newsstands until July 29th!
I absolutely love the job they did with the wonderful photographs;
(and the writing I think quite captured my philosophy !! And also Renee’s spirit and creativity )!
Fifi is quite the genius! She is unbelievable!!
We couldn’t make the printing bigger; so run out and buy this! The whole issue is just exceptional!! You will want to
add it to your library !
It is in markets (my friend from the “Henhouse”, Elizabeth found two in the Safeway! Cathy my friend in Pasadena found it at “Target!!) and
on newsstands kind of everywhere!
I must say, every article is definitely very educational! I am so proud to be
included in this group of very talented people!!
I actually read the analysis of things that I do! And I learned a lot! Much of my work is instinctive!
It is fun for me to see how it is analyzed!
The cover photograph is of Fifi’s cottage in Florida, where she lives!
Here is the informative, educational, and delightful article on our house!!
Monterey Colonial garden update! Big difference!!!
Hi there! I have had a lot of requests for more updates on the Monterey Colonial our daughter
purchased a few years ago here in Montecito!
The previous posts are at the end of this post!
She removed some shrubbery crowding this beautiful jacaranda tree; and changed the planting
behind the boxwoods to only purple agapanthus. There were lots of them sprinkled all
over the property; so she moved them all here.
When they bloom under the purple blossoms it will be a show!
Here is the front porch with the Anduze pots with topiaries. Everything simplified!
there is a lovely new gate in the background on the left. It was made to match the back gate.
Around the back of the house; she has added oak leaf hydrangeas, and star jasmine.
Right around the corner.
Another new gate to match the back gate! The pool is on the other side!
Remember when you couldn’t see the pool from the garden? She opened up the hedge!
It is still private; but you have a glimpse!
The beds are also simplified with white agapanthus, iceberg roses and Viburnum.
The original back gate!
The other side!
Behind the above hedge is another whole garden! Avocado trees, wildflowers, fruit trees
and raised potager beds!
3 avocado trees all different species so they fruit at different times!
My favorite! Lavender, matillija poppies, artichokes and herbs! And roses!
I think they are doing a beautiful job of this garden!
I think my favorite of all are these oak trees in the front which were never
“trimmed up”!!!!
Congratulations to our daughter, her husband and their gardener!!!!
Marcel Vertes
Some people have requested that I republish a few of my blog posts!
I decided to start with this one!!
I hope you enjoy!
In 1961, my very talented mother was in Paris on a trip. She had admired an artist throughout the 40’s and 50’s. His name was Marcel Vertes; and he was an Hungarian who lived in Paris until the war; and then he lived in New York. He was working in all kinds of mediums. My mother was in advertising; I think that was when she first started following him. He did all the advertisements for Elsa Schiaparelli ; her “Shocking” perfume; even designing the bottle!
He also won an Academy award for set design for “Moulin Rouge.
She timed her trip to coincide with a show of his oil paintings at the Katia Granoff gallery.
In researching for this blog post; look what I discovered!!! A blog post about Marcel Vertes with my bedroom in it! I had never seen it!
Feeling Pink with Marcel Vertes
Hungarian painter, printmaker and illustrator Marcel Vertes (1895-1961) was full of whimsy, as evidenced in the gorgeous series of ads he concocted for Elsa Schiaparelli’s 1937 scent Shocking Pink.
Vertes and Schiaparelli not only worked on this campaign together, they also collaborated on the 1952 film Moulin Rouge, about artist Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec.
Another ad for Schiaparelli’s Shocking Pink.
Here is an original bottle of the perfume. The curvy torso was inspired by Schiaparelli’s client, Mae West.
Vertes hits the bottle of pink paint again for this portrait of Coco Chanel.
For this buff pink room in designer Penelope Bianchi’s Santa Barbara home, she hung Vertes’ work from floor to ceiling. Photo from House Beautiful. Gorgeous.
POSTED BY BUNNATINE DREAMS
What a total surprise that was! This was a blog posted in April 2011!!
In any case,
My mother timed her trip to coincide with a show of his oil paintings at the Katia Granoff gallery. He died shortly before the exhibit, in 1961.
I was 14 years old. She told me that she loved his art, his whimsy, his colors, and his animals. She also said she loved his women because they reminded her of me!!
She bought 5 paintings the first day. My stepfather told her to go back and buy another one; because she had two children! There should be an even number!!
This one was the sixth!
This was the beginning of a lifelong collection of the work of one artist by my mother, my brother, and by me!
This is a beautiful one that was above our living room mantle while I was growing up!
s
We had a fire in 1982, and one of my mother’s Vertes oils was lost. I bought this one from my dear Tony Duquette and Hutton Wilkinson; and after I had purchased it, they told me it had belonged to Elsie de Wolfe. My mother gave me her book, The House in Good Taste; which had inspired me to become a decorator!!
This is a watercolor I bought in New York. An almost identical painting was in the Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis auction at Sotheby’s
This lovely 3 panel screen I bought in Los Angleles; and I was told it belonged to “Gypsy Rose Lee”!
I was a bit skeptical; but there it was in a picture in a book written about her by her son!
One day in an antique store; my daughter saw this fire screen made of needlepoint; and said…..”Mommy, isn’t that a Vertes???
I had not known he did a collection of needlepoint canvases!
I bought this water color in New York when I bought the other one with the girl in the bikini!
Look what I found on ebay! I had it made into a chair slip and it sits right under the painting!
another ebay find…a signed and numbered lithograph.
the collection you saw in the blog in the beginning is a series of lithographs about the circus! Here are some close ups of a few of them.
His women always are drawn being loving to animals.
And loving to children.
A college friend of our daughter’s saw the top one of this pair in a gallery in Berkeley and called me about it! What an eye that Stephen Watkins has!! He was 19! (now he’s 46!) I am still thanking him!
The bottom one another ebay bonus!
I had a pillow made from this scarf he designed for the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
A lithograph of a pole dancer from the “le Cirque” series !
just a delightful whimsical lithograph.
During the war, Marcel Vertes did these gorgeous murals in the “Cafe Carlyle” in the Carlyle Hotel in New York City.
It is probably my favorite room in the whole world!
Bobby Short sang there for many years; and we went every single time we were in New York!
50 years of smoke and dirt had covered up the lovely colors; and thank the Lord, the manager decided to keep the murals and clean and restore them!
They are glorious!!
Our last time in New York, we heard Elaine Stritch doing her amazing show.
He painted this room in return for room and board.
Ludwig Bemelmans lived there at the same time (the author of “Madeline”)
He painted “Bemelmans’ Bar! A totally delightful and whimsical set of murals!
See the women with the animals???
I adore the dog holding the hat!
and the lovely girl with the horse!
Crazy about the cat!
Treat yourself to a visual feast! Go look at this room when in New York!
My assistant insists I tell the story about the first oil painting; the nude painted in 1941. “Columbine en Vacances”
When our house is on a “fund raising tour” I love to walk with the “tourists” and pretend I am one and listen to what they have to say! (I think our houses have been on about 12 various tours). Once, I was walking behind a couple at our house in Pasadena. (The docents all knew what I was doing; so they wouldn’t give me away) This man announced quite loudly to his wife, “THAT is Mrs. Bianchi!! Can you imagine having a NUDE painting of yourself in your living room??!!” “Outrageous!!!”
I couldn’t look at the docent; I would have burst into hysterical laughter! It was painted before I was born……but my mother did always say that his women reminded her of me!
I consider that an enormous compliment to me from my beloved mother!!
I have been lucky enough to collect 35 of his pieces. Oils, lithographs, silk screen prints, even two plates hand made in Vallauris when Picasso was working there!
I hope you enjoyed this tour of my collection! I feel incredibly lucky to have them!
The last “by invitation only”! WHAT AN HONOR!!!!
Hi there!
This is the last of “By invitation only”
I adore that Marsha; who started it. I have no idea how she did it; and I am still
relying on her to connect me with “Mr. Linky” tonight !
My first experience with a blog (and there was not such a word)
was with www.Newyorksocialdiary.com.
I read about it….and bought a computer so I could go on the internet and read it!
That is the God’s truth!
I love it to this day….and it is the only thing my darling husband reads
on the internet!
Then I started reading other things….David Patrick Columbia never used the
word “blog”. I don’t think it was invented yet!
I discovered “AnAesthete’s Lament”
Lordy! what a treasure!
All I know about blogs is the friends I have made! Starting with
David Patrick Columbia….we are fast friends….
Look!!!
I was just in New York…..and he wrote a post on me! It is funny!
(CLICK PLEASE…..I DON’T KNOW HOW…..TO DO IT!)
http://www.newyorksocialdiary.com/social-diary/2015/photobombing-along-ole-broadway
I was in New York for a fun and wonderful celebration
with my daughter’s childhood and lifelong friend’s triumph on Broadway with
his movie being made a musical by Andrew Lloyd Webber!
All in a blog! Then my blog! (oh, I haven’t blogged about it yet
but I will!)
My friends Brooke and Steve Giannetti……
seriously great and true friends met because of her blog.
I seriously choke up when I talk about them Such treasured friends. All through blogs. All.
All because of blogs. Hers. and she encouraged me. Why I have one.
James Andrew! Are you kidding? The coolest and most wonderful friend and man!
www.whatisjameswearing.com
I just had lunch and dinner with him in New York!
(with Emily Evans Eerdmans who has abandoned her blog and is writing important books and has an important antiques store that is seriously fabulous!)
Did James and McBee and I and my dogs have fun here in Montecito???
You decide!!!
Elizabeth…..la contessa…..the incomparable divine friend
sent from heaven….and her beloved aunt lived less than a quarter of a mile from me..in my
favorite house in all of Montecito…..are you kidding?
The gifts of blogs have been great!
do I think they are about over?
Yes. I do.
I posted a blog about meeting Donna Karan here in Montecito
and wearing a coat she designed 43 years ago…..(I am not kidding)
when she was 25 and working for Anne Klein! She recognized it in the bookstore
in Montecito! I saw it on her face! She did! It was such a thrill….and I wrote about it;
and she recognized it! It was a thrill for both of us!
(she said I “made her year”!) She made my “decade”!
What fun!
Who knows?
What I do know is that blogging has been wonderful for me;
I have met great people….and had great fun!
And thank you Marsha for organizing all of this for us! Elizabeth and I will meet up with you somewhere! And soon!
We are all terribly sorry you had to go through that awful
thing with your husband….I am so sorry……and I know we all are!
You are a great leader!!
Brava !!!
THANK YOU AND WE LOVE YOU!!!!