House Beautiful articles from March 2003

House Beautiful archives from March 2003

Editor's letter.
March 1, 2003... One of my favorite interior designers is Mariette Himes Gomez, so it's no surprise that I asked her to decorate my office when I joined the staff of House Beautiful last year. I had one simple request of Mariette: I wanted a look that made me...

Deep thoughts. (letters).
March 1, 2003... I was thrilled to see the return of "Thoughts of Home" in the January issue. It's my favorite feature in the magazine. Kathe Gonsalves via e-mail I enjoyed reading "A French Quarter Memory." I have dreams of living in an apartment...

Small talk. (letters).
March 1, 2003... I was happy to see the small spaces featured in the January issue. My own little West Village co-op apartment is just around 400 square feet. It's fun, French, and has tons going for it--two skylights, huge windows, 12-inch-thick walls, four...

Clutter aficionado. (letters).
March 1, 2003... I enjoyed the clutter debate "Opposites Attract" in January's "Encore." I love clutter. My house is filled with treasured objects--my mother's old tea set, demitasse cups given to me by my son, an oil painting done by a favorite cousin. When I...

Fuchsia flush. (style beat).(advertisement)
March 1, 2003... Pink packs a punch from desk to table 1. Hot pink lacquer bamboo vase, $60; from Saigoniste: 212-925-4610. 2. Pink crystal Daffodil vase, $460; by Lalique: 800-993-2580. 3. Pink Peony accent charger, $45; by Lynn Chase Designs:...

Purple reign. (style beat).(advertisement)
March 1, 2003... From stationery to glassware, violet is popping up all over 1. Justine key tassel, through designers, from Houles: 310-652-6171. 2. Chocolate-filled hatbox, $200; from Vosges Haut-Chocolat: 888-301-9866. 3. Bubbles violet cup, $130; from...

Aqua viva! (style beat).(advertisement)
March 1, 2003... Calm and cool, baby blue is soothing and serene 1. Colonial Tradewind soup bowl, $29; from the British Colonial Collection by Chuck Fischer for Lenox: www.lenox.com. 2. Blue ceramic Fetish vase, $48; from Wingard: www.wingardhome.com. 3....

Wallpaper world: dozens of wallcoverings animate dollhouse-size vignettes featuring florals, stripes, damasks and more. (swatch swatch).
March 1, 2003... Wallpaper forms every element in our miniature room settings--a Mora clock, the antique mirror, even the dachschund. Just for fun? Yes, but also to demonstrate how to mix color and patter. Dining room: Wall, Boussac Fadini's Camille Stripe....

Crystal light: the new Boulevard bath fixtures for Waterworks mix heavy metals with luminous materials. (market report).(Brief Article)
March 1, 2003... "I looked at hundreds of examples of decorative objects from the 1930s, from Claridge's fiatware to perfume bottles to Puiforcat coffeepots," designer Steven Sclaroff says about his inspirations for the new Boulevard Collection for Waterworks,...

Annual report: think once is not enough in the garden? Think again. (garden goddess).(annual flowers)
March 1, 2003... Self-seeders With the country in a cycle of heat and drought, perennials aren't all they're cracked up to be--picture your peonies fading soon after blooming, or your roses endlessly pouting for lack of water. Cheap and cheerful, annuals...

Valley whirl: in an obscure corner of eastern Pennsylvania, German settlers painted up a storm. (he said, he said).
March 1, 2003... Leigh Keno: The Mahantongo Valley, a relatively isolated region in eastern Pennsylvania, was settled in the mid-1700s by German immigrants. A community of farmers, they developed a distinctive decorating style, painting their furniture and...

Royal palm: heading to Palm Beach for some R&R? Don't forget the heady shopping to be found on the South Dixie Highway. Designer Alison Spear and her client Beth Rudin DeWoody consider the possibilities. (shopping spree).
March 1, 2003... Home to some of the most beautiful houses in America, Palm Beach is necessarily serious about antiques. Its South Dixie Antique Row, which takes up a stretch of the South Dixie Highway in West Palm Beach, aims to please, with 40 shops, three...

Runaways: all but two of the nine children on a family farm ran away from home at one time or another--and always to the same safe haven. (thoughts of home).(grandparents and grandchildren)
March 1, 2003... Five-year-old Brendan is vibrating, in the way only small boys can, with absolute fury. In the spring, he had made a dirt and grass kingdom under the apple trees for his garter snakes. Tonight, however, rain threatens and Brendan feels the...

Isn't it romantic? Springtime is the right time in Paris. (at home with Roehm).
March 1, 2003... The visual canvas of Paris in March is gray skies, gray buildings, and gray bridges straddling the Seine, a monochromatic backdrop for the explosive jolt of color that radiates from the countless flower shops and beautiful storefronts. The...

Art smart: designer John Oetgen gives a ho-hum house a touch of class--and glass.
March 1, 2003... A PERIPATETIC YOUNG COUPLE MOVING FROM CALIFORNIA TO THE DEEP SOUTH were frustrated in their search for a Frank Lloyd Wright house: the nearest one was in the Ozarks, and they found the "style-of" versions awful. So they settled for a...

Cozy classic: a young family moves to an 18th-century Connecticut house and revels in its quirkiness.
March 1, 2003... THE DAY KIM FREEMAN VISITED THE 1764 NEW Canaan, Connecticut, minister's house that her husband, Frank, had spotted on the Internet, she was drawn to the very features that had turned away a throng of earlier house hunters: a mazelike second...

Power pastels: no longer "polite colors," lavender, aqua, and pink are the high-style shades of the moment.
March 1, 2003... Good-bye, pallor! Pastels are in their prime, with enough punch to give an instant lift to a dreary room. In a trio of settings created by House Beautiful, we chose colors, fabrics, and furnishings to illustrate our take on spring style....

Oliver's twist: a seaside Barbados villa ages gracefully, retaining much of designer Oliver Messel's original vision.
March 1, 2003... FOR ALL THE MONEY, MASONRY, and political clout that have been lavished on island retreats in the Caribbean, few are as stylish, graceful, and respectful of their surroundings as the small collection of houses that Oliver Messel designed on...

Folk remedies.(decorating with folk art)
March 1, 2003... WHO WOULD EVER GUESS THAT THE LIVING ROOM'S CARVED MANTELPIECE HAS NOT BEEN THERE SINCE DAY ONE? "OUR GOAL," SAYS BARATTA, "WAS TO MAKE IT LOOK LIKE WE WERE NEVER HERE" "I DEFY YOU TO TELL ME WHICH is the 18th-century piece and which is the...

Salad daze: Judy Rodgers, chef-owner of San Francisco's Zuni Cafe and author of the new Zuni Cafe Cookbook, shares a handful of dazzling but easy salads.
March 1, 2003... ENDIVE, FUYU PERSIMMON, AND PECAN SALAD Tip: Use ceramic, glass, or metal salad bowls or plates, hot unfinished wood, which can retain flavors. FRISEE, ESCAROLE, PEAR, QUESO PICUN, AND WALNUT SALAD Tip: Spin greens dry in small...

Paper chase: artist Chuck Fischer simplifies the confusing world of wallcoverings. (books).(Wallcoverings: Applying the Language of Color and Pattern)(Book Review)
March 1, 2003... The lush wallpapers Chuck Fischer has assembled in his new book, Wallcoverings: Applying the Language of Color and Pattern (Universe, $35), will have readers up against the wall. Literally. The book's flexible binding allows users to lay it...

A closer look: can't get enough of the great design in this issue? Look no further.
March 1, 2003... When 18th-century German immigrants came to the New World, they brought with them the European custom of illuminating documents with fancy lettering, drawings, and borders. These vibrant watercolors are on display in the exhibition "Fraktur...

Riot of color: event designers Avi Adler and David Stark, authors of the brand-new party primer Wild Flowers, really know how to liven up a Sunday brunch. (entertaining).
March 1, 2003... Sunday brunch is something else again at Avi Adler and David Stark's rooftop oasis on a nondescript Brooklyn street. Although the party-planning duo are renowned for the galas they've orchestrated for such clients as MoMA and Target, they also...

L'Impero strikes back: undaunted by its no-man's-land location, a new restaurant takes Manhattan by storm. (hot dish).(Restaurant Review)
March 1, 2003... L'Impero is only six months old, but it seems to have been around forever. Such timelessness is difficult for any restaurant to achieve, although the most shocking thing about L'Impero ("the empire" in Italian) is its location in Tudor City,...

Correction.(Correction Notice)
March 1, 2003... January: In "Makeover," page 40, the phone number for designer Elizabeth Davis should have read: 917-208-6292.

Color theory: in March 1961, House Beautiful's then editor-in-chief, Elizabeth Gordon, had some earthy advice for readers who had no idea how to put colors together: just look at nature. (encore).(Brief Article)
March 1, 2003... * No color in nature is uniformly even. Rather it is shaded, containing many shades of the same color. * There is no color matching. In a green landscape there are thousands of greens. And besides greens, there are thousands of other...