timeless decorating

Question: “Do you follow trends in decorating?”

February 10, 2015 By // by Penelope Bianchi 18 Comments

(Don’t forget to click on the title!! To see the whole post!)

“Do you follow trends in decorating”?

That is the topic on “By invitation only” on the blog: splenderosa.com.

Everyone is different; but this

is something I decided many years ago (43) to be exact!

I do not follow trends for my own decorating; and being a professional decorator; I avoid it in my work

for others when I can. Since I try to give my clients a house that represents their tastes, family and likes; sometimes

they are dying for something “trendy”. Usually I try to dissuade them if I feel it will

be a dated mistake shortly; and really if it is very expensive. I avoid trends like the plague!

“Santa Fe” decorating belongs in “Santa Fe”; my goal is timeless decorating.

I find it a disturbing trend that many people when they move start all over with their

furniture, rugs and even art!

This is a picture of our “big hall” from outside. Nothing trendy!

This our main room in Pasadena which I decorated in 1985.

I still absolutely love it!!

This is the master bedroom the same year. Same thing!

Our terrace in Montecito designed in 1997 with furniture from our loggia in Pasadena

Circa 1985.

It has been “pinned” 50,000 times on just one website! (my landscape designer’s)

In my view, furniture, rugs, art and should be personal and mean something to the homeowner.

Family heirlooms I work into houses all the time! They are a priority!

And classics stay classics! They don’t go out of style; they weren’t “trendy”!!

I feel my house is a scrapbook of my life!

Permanent things like tile, flooring,appliances and plumbing fixtures should NEVER follow

trends. I encourage classic white tile, (or at least white background) white plumbing fixtures,

and classic appliances.

(ever seen a bathroom all done in black plumbing fixtures? I have!!! TWO, 10 years apart in different cities!)

Lord have mercy!

Trompe l’oeil window with trompe l’oeil curtains in a Reginald Johnson Italian Villa in Pasadena done in

1988. Fortuny on the sofa, family heirloom antiques , and original 1919 sconces with paintings framing them.

Absolutely the same today. And I wouldn’t change one thing!

My goal for myself and my clients is “Timeless decorating”. I doubt anyone could date anything

I have done! And I keep things young, and fun, and full of meaning!

One of my idols is Mario Buatta who just published a book of 50 years of his work.

I wouldn’t change so much as a lampshade! Now, that is “timeless decorating”!!!

Question: “Do you follow trends in decorating?”Read More

The Coincidence of the " artist of the screens"! Or is it? I find it completely uncanny!!! Chinoiserie alert!

December 11, 2013 By // by Penelope Bianchi 33 Comments

For my subscribers; it will perhaps no surprise that I LOVE “whimsy, fun, fantasy and Chinoiserie (which combines them all)!

Here is the story of the “Screens”! As I said in the title……I find it completely uncanny!!

Three 4 panel Chinoiserie screens that I adore……..by the same artist…….1 in NYC at auction 1996; one in Los Angeles on Melrose; Perhaps 2006!!!

and one in the most divine townhouse in all

of New york City…….(just my opinion…..and many others!!!)2013!

I believe all the same artist!

I am blessed with a photographic memory. Unfortunately (I am not complaining……it has MADE my career!!)

It did not come with a labeling system I also cannot draw (even a cat!) so there is no way to “show it” However…….something

like this happens every now and then!!!

FUN!!! (recently in short supply) FUN!!! …

The Coincidence of the " artist of the screens"! Or is it? I find it completely uncanny!!! Chinoiserie alert!Read More

The finest embroidered linens: the legendary "Marghab"!!

November 26, 2011 By // by Penelope Bianchi 33 Comments

I am posting this again; several people have asked about it!

These linens are still available today, thanks to websites like Ebay and Etsy!

When I was growing up, my mother loved beautiful linens. Embroidery was her favorite thing.

Her favorite maker was a Portugese company called “Marghab” from the island of Madeira. They had “separate boutiques” in the top department stores in the United States.

In fact; they were the very first company of any kind to have their products showcased in that way.

The company produced linens from 1932 until 1978.

Emile Marghab and his wife, Vera Way Marghab founded the company. The beautiful designs and attention to meticulous detail came from his

American wife, Vera. She grew up in South Dakota.

There is a wonderful book, “Perfection Never Less” written about her; and there is a rotating museum exhibition and more information at the University of South Dakota.

Hers is a fascinating story!

Here is a quotation from “Cynthia’s Linen Room” on line.

“Marghab is considered to be some of the finest hand embroidery in the world. The company was founded on the Island of Madeira, Portugal, in 1933, by the husband and wife team of Emile and Vera Way Marghab. Only the finest linen from Ireland and Switzerland were used. Working with Swiss weavers, the Marghabs created a special material that Vera described as “clear, crisp, true and easy to launder”. This fabric was woven exclusively for the Marghabs. They called it Margandie and it gave them a distinctiveness that was associated only with Marghab linens. The embroidery threads were from France and many of the colors used were exclusively produced for a particular design. When the linens were ready for embroidery, they were brought from the factory to the countryside homes of skilled embroideresses who were paid by the stitch! Some pieces could contain as many as eighty-five thousand stitches and could take embroideresses months to complete. It was said that more than eighty percent of the female population on the island was employed in embroidery and girls learned the art from their mothers at a very early age. There were close to three hundred pattern designs and each of them was named. The linens were sold only in Madeira or to exclusive salons selected by the Marghabs for their reputation for excellence and quality. Among these were George Jensen

, in New York, Constance Leiter in Kansas City and David Jones, Ltd. in Australia. After Emile’s death in 1947, Vera Way Marghab continued with the business until 1980 and demanded nothing but “perfection” from the factory work, the embroideresses and the salons they were sold in. She died in 1995 at the age of ninety-five.”

Imagine being paid “by the stitch” and the amount of time it took to embroider one cocktail napkin!! Not to mention a tablecloth and napkins!

The quality of the linens was unmatched. Linens especially made in Ireland were used, threads from France and England,

and the Swiss produced the exquisite almost sheer “Margandie” which was exclusive to the company.

The island of Madeira was the source of the best embroidery in the world.

And Marghab was the best of the best.

They made tablecloths, placemats, guest towels, in beautiful and imaginative patterns.

I started collecting “cocktail” napkins when I received 4 for a wedding present!

Thanks to ebay, I now have over a hundred! Most of them came in the original boxes,unused!!

People were “saving them” Oh Dear!!

So they showed up in their estate sales!

Don’t save things!!!