I could have called him Pocco....SUE !!!

Is This Crazy…..Let’s talk,
Many years ago, when I was a student at Kendall, there was another new student I’ll call him Wren. However his real name wasn’t nearly that cool. But he thought he was and actually so did I. He was much older than I. At least 22 to my 18 and therefore much more sophisticated. He had a kind of elegance about him he smoked constantly and had a very European (I had never been to New York let alone Europe) air about him. He stood differently than the rest of us a bit straighter a bit more posed…I should have known… I think he wore V neck sweaters under a brown suede jacket. He laughed loudly and often, a kind of  Ha Ha nervous fake laugh .But none the less I really liked him and wanted to know him. There was a kind of attraction that I guess I didn’t quite know what to with at the time. He lived quite far out and I don’t believe I was ever at his house. No one really knew anything about him.

One day it snowed 3 feet and he showed up at my door.  Hell I don’t know how, it must have taken him hours to get there. But there he was, we trudged through the snow with out boots to a friend’s house and smoked and drank the day away. We all did that kind of thing when ever we could. He talked about a girl friend  no one ever saw her let alone met . I think this kind of added to the mystery:   the glamour not Carey Grant glamour, Ya Carey Grant not Randolph Scott defiantly not Scott…he was to polished to pull that off. Elise thought him weird, she said he was weird  but still I  found him fascinating. So one day he just vanishes. 

We never knew what happened to him. Elise and I talked about him occasionally but no one seemed to know where he was. I have often wondered about him just like I have other people that I have known. THEN after 40 years, Elise calls me and screams you’ll never believe this and reads a newspaper article that names him and where he is…Of course we are as excited as teenagers to find our long lost Whren. Thinking he some how stayed 22 and is rich, famous and has a new brown suede jacket. Probably TOM FORD. Although why had we not read about him until now. So, we call him up BUT can’t find him. But do we give up? HELL NO not us. We can’t just forget after getting this close. We continue to call and even find who we think is maybe him on FB. No reply but on we go …And then! I call one more time. He answers Because I called from my partners phone and  he doesn’t recognize the name, he answers. I say hello, It’s Jak, he tells me I am mistaken it isn’t him. Then I tell him I recognize his voice and he agrees it’s him, and pretty much hangs up on me …IS THIS CRAZY?… He simply didn’t want to talk to me. After forty years he didn’t care one little bit about Elise or me.

I’m knocked out, bowled over, almost speechless.  My friend Shaaron says " Jak that’s crazy what the hell are you calling someone after 40 years for any way?"  I’d have hung up too… Not me I’m really curious. I would love to hear from you Mary Riggin Please call ASAP.....

San Francisco The Big Parade

For many years now I have wanted to go to San Francisco’s Gay Pride Parade and I am going tomorrow, we will fly out in the morning and be in SF by 12:30 or so,I can hardly wait. I haven’t been this excited since Paris, where by the way I went to the parade 2 years ago. I was great not a sophisticated production like the New York Parade, but lots of fun nun the less. We were there with friends from Kalamazoo who now live in Brussels. We bought Champagne and shared it with strangers and the joined in the parade with thousands of people from all over the world.  Maybe if Kalamazoo had a big parade people wouldn’t get up and leave…The Paris parade was kind of like the DC one a lot of people with banners displaying there particular concern or business marching down the street in various styles and degrees of dress or undress with a float of sorts thrown in here and there. Lots of fun though, it’s interesting how a parade makes people feel good. There are BIG smiles everywhere. The New York Parade is the most memorable one I’ve ever attended. It was a real production that went on for a long time. With NY style floats and lots of big time costumes and thousands of marchers for every cause and or product imaginable. I’m hoping SF will be a big deal like that one. If nothing else we will get lots of walking in. We won’t take any cabs and hope to get in a minimum of 10 miles a day. I will take some photos and post them here when we return. And we will eat in some cool outdoor café…Something we don’t do here to HOT and to many bugs…have a great weekend I will….                                                               

Jackie

I cannot remember not wanting things to be pretty or my clothes to be perfect. Even as a small child I remember wanting my clothing to be just so. I guess one might say I was a fussy little boy : never wanting to get dirty, always very neat .When my older brother would get all dirty and sweaty I would somehow remain neat and clean. Of course I never played in the dirt, hell I’m sure I never crawled around on my knees. I remember my brother talking me into climbing a fence, falling off and stabbing a piece of glass into my thigh( I have the scar to this day), and he got yelled at. Why would you let Jackie climb a fence?  What’s wrong with you? You have to be careful with him, he’s not like you! WELL I guess NOT, My older brother grew up to be a plumbing and electrical contractor and I grew up to be a decorator.  He was the protector and I was the protected. I can remember wearing blue and white seersucker shorts, my mom called them” crinkle crepe” and white sandals:  my brother wore brown. Dull brown.

 His Christmas presents were always wrapped in green and of course mine were wrapped in red. Santa knew too. When I was a child my birthday was always a big deal. Being on Valentines Day it was a kind of holiday. People remembered my birthday. I just took it for granted that everyone had such a perfect day with LOTS of cards and gifts and that all important bakery cake (never homemade) in the shape of a heart with red roses all over it” Happy Birthday Jackie” it would say…And it was. I thought my Aunts were very pretty, Why my aunt Sandy should be in movies, and I thought my Mother was the most Beautiful in the whole world. It must be very sad not to think those things. I can’t imagine not having those memories. I thought our family Christmas holidays were beautiful too. With those pretty bubble lights, big paper bells and Glass Wax stencils on the windows and lots of presents to open . We would have  big dinners with wonderful food, the dining room table was all set and it was so pretty, There was fake holly scotch taped to the “ chandelier” it was absolutely festive. The food was so good, we always had cole slaw (in December?) and Turkey and lots of dessert:  we were dessert people. Of course in Kalamazoo it always snowed like crazy and was bitter cold. So it was perfect…  

Toss Pillows are Jewlery

How important are decorative items?

Decorative pillows are part of the accessories that make a room, as are lamps, sculptures, other artistic items, and even ash trays. These vital decorative elements should be carefully selected and added after the room has been installed, and can be looked at with a discriminating eye.

Pillows come in all shapes sizes and of course MILLIONS of fabrics they can be plain as pudding  -- or finished with decorative trims. Pillows should never match other fabrics in a room they tend to look like left over fabric  –all pillows should be finished with welt cord and or boxing or some other finishing.

 Two pieces of fabric sewn together and stuffed do not a toss pillow make. If you fall in love with a very expensive fabric and cannot afford 8-10 or even 20 yards for a sofa it is a good time to opt for a less costly fabric for upholstery and make a beautiful statement pillow from the coveted one.  And make it big. Then add several less important ones.  

In the 70’s I worked for a very glamorous man, Alvin F Kimel.  Kimel owned several furniture large “palaces” -- the kind of furniture store with big crystal chandeliers hanging all over and lots of high end designer style product. There were at least 40 sofas in the store, and every store had different merchandise. He once told me, “Toss pillows and accessories are the jewelry of a room,” meaning they add additional interest to an otherwise mundane space. Pillows and accessories can make a space fabulious.

So why should one settle for pillows that look like leftover fabric scraps made by your crafty aunt or next-door neighbor?  Remember  -- those matching shirt and tie sets from Federals Dept. Store or Zayres  they were both made of the same fabric and one couldn’t see if you had a tie or not. That’s what you get with matching pillows.

Pillows should be in odd numbers. Try to mix sizes and shapes. Patterns colors and textures… I love box pillows.                                 Just have fun with it.                     

Something Else I Love

I absolutely LOVE doing window treatments. I remember one of the first jobs I ever did was for a woman who owned an automobile agency. She lived in a VERY nice house in a fairly posh neighborhood .The house was a center hall Colonial, with a kind of modern touch built in the mid 40's or early 50's  : very attractive.  She built and lived in the house  for many years. I was called in to do the dining room and lucky me she was very sweet and LOVED pink. The walls were papered in a pale pink Van Luit Damask and all the trim was glazed off white over white; something I did all the time in those days. It was the window treatments that really stand out in my memory. They were Ivory Moiré lined in Pink Moiré, they had 3 rows of trim on the leading edge and across the bottom about 6 inches up from the floor. They were shirred onto big fat poles with 5 or 6 inch headings, and tied back twice; with floral burn out pattern sheers...They were BEAUTIFUL.

Now almost 40 years later I am doing some windows for one of my favorite clients and they will be tied back twice as well. The fabric is much jazzier and there will be fuscia Austrian shades beneath them:  kind of a smack in the face aren't I hot look. Once again they will stand out and make the room. I kind of feel rooms with out window treatments are kind of like Brides with out flowers: IT"S JUST NOT RIGHT, something not finished… maybe a cupcake with out frosting is a better analogy...

What Is Custom

 Over the years, I have ordered many pieces of furniture both custom and what I refer to as “off the rack”, meaning mass produced.  Often one client may order twenty or more pieces  of furniture depending on the size of the job. I have needed to have pieces custom made for different reasons. For instance I may want a console to be a certain size, look a certain way, be a certain height, or have particular storage to fill a clients needs. It is not uncommon to see a photo of a piece in a magazine or catalogue and have the piece made changing the size, the material, color etc. I once had a large wall unit made to fit a particular area and needs of a client in gold laminate. The actual piece was probably shown in a wood finish and it had doors over the television. Both were changed: the doors eliminated and the piece was custom made. I have had many pieces of upholstery made sofas, chairs, ottomans, benches, upholstered headboards, to name a few. These pieces are usually made in a local shop by a skilled craftsman and are of superior quality to those purchased mass produced by a factory. They can be made to the designer’s specifications and covered in any fabric available in the world instead of the collection put together by a manufacturer. This both benefits the client and makes the designer’s job much easier.  Both design and fabric are limitless: never hesitate to have pieces custom made this is the ultimate in LUXURY….

These Two Elegant Women

 I may have mentioned that I had a store for about 11 years. I loved the store it gave me a place to go and meet people : it made me a lot of money too. There was a tiny showroom in the front, overflowing with a collection of My Favorite Things. In fact, that was the name of the store but no one ever referred to it that way it was JAK’s…that’s OK. In the back was an office that was fairly nice in the beginning. It even had a small kitchen with a dishwasher etc. and a hell of a big desk that got even bigger 11 feet long in the final incarnation. I stood behind on a platform that put me a bit up and sort of held court. I LOVED IT. I didn’t even realize how much I did until it was all over. Eleven years flew by. I met many wonderful people (mostly women of course) in those years. There was Angelina, a woman of YEARS, KNOWLEDGE and STYLE and yes ELEGANCE. She had traveled all over the world. In fact I believe she lived in Europe in the days when beautiful people did so. She has a great big rambling house with a pool. I kind of helped her a bit when she needed a lift, just a spruce up, not a redo. We had a terrific time together. She In turn brought me Louise Rayburn, a Loretta Young (remember her) kind of woman. With a style about her, her former decorator just couldn’t figure out. I remember this  big no, HUGE chair in the living room that was actually a curve piece from a sectional. In my own way I had to discreetly tell her “What the HELL is this doing just sitting here , IT’S NOT A CHAIR” she was so refined she said” well, then I guess we’ll just have to do something about it” and we did and a lot more too. She lived in a town house on kind of a snappy street with a big garden with lots of flowers. and best of all a curved staircase: WOW you don’t get many of those in a town house . I hired David Husick, the most wonderful decorative painter to do the foyer. I had it done with Loretta Young right by my side. On a smaller scale of course, it’s fun to work with people I see eye to eye with and like to boot … and she and I kind of felt like the simple glamour of Loretta would be just perfect for her.

Just a Little Story I Thought You May Like

Just to refresh your memories, I have done Interior design professionally for a LONG time I have had many clients from a wide range of backgrounds some educated beyond belief some just smart and then the ones that would make you wonder how they got where they are. Most of the clients have been a great pleasure to get to know and to help along there way. One comes to mind as I write this, we’ll call her Mary Ellen, of course I never called my clients by there first names in those days unless the asked me to (she never did) she was married to the president of a big international company. A tall thin good-looking man with a purse. He said very little, but she more than made up for his quietness. I guess he was actually a kind of elegant man, beautifully dressed and very well groomed. She was not herself any great shakes in the looks department but she was in great shape was well dressed and made up for his quietness. She had a great laugh loved to tell stories and I’m told was wild at parties. She also Loved her husband very much and was crazy about her children especially her youngest a son. I pretty much did her entire house and was around her for years. Her living room had one of the largest cocktail tables I’ve ever seen and beautiful whiskey colored cotton velvet tuxedo style sofas. The occasional chairs were from India and were olive green leather with carved walnut frames. The room was very large and looked out into a ravine and woods with a lake beyond. I hated her dining room furniture it was something Mediterranean with tall skinny chairs that I covered in a woven fabric from Craftex in ivory and sort of a caramel and olive green. I kept telling her to put it on the curb. In front of the sofas was a big rug from Cabincraft (a Luxury carpet line of the time) with big knotted fringe that people tripped over all the time. I loved it, hell I put it there. Her maid hated it. That was the fattest woman I have ever seen. I have no idea how she took care of that house, she was so short and fat. When she bent over you see all the way to MARZ and it wasn’t pretty. Mrs. Was especially outspoken, but not around the maid she towed the line around her. I guess she didn’t want to clean up that place herself, so she never made fun of her or was rude to her, as she herself was a fitness buff and a swimming coach to boot. I remember the front bath had beautiful Van Luit foil paper in chocolate with  burnt orange flowers that made horizontal stripes, in those days Van Luit papers were very high end not at all like today, they were beautiful.  There was a beautiful moiré tied back shower curtain and a gold chandelier from Decorative Crafts… Any way,  I hope Ya”ll liked this Little trip down memory lane I sure  did. This is Not the tale I intended to tell.  Oh well there is always tomorrow….    

This Is Interior Design???

Why is this Interior Design…I am constantly amazed by some of the rooms I see featured in major shelter magazines. It is a wonder to me how these rooms are actually judged publishable. I spoke with my instructor from The Kendall School of Design about this the other day; she told me she had actually taught a class on just this. When you are looking at pictures of rooms in magazines ask yourself why is this interior design is, there a plan, what is the end result the designer had in mind. I saw a spread just the other day I was amazed it looked to me as though the person had just moved in and dropped these ugly items where ever the unpacked them, art work sitting against the walls and stacked on the tables, unrelated rugs piled one on the other. In my never to be humble opinion a real mess, and referred to as sophisticated and beautiful. Now I realize beauty is in the eye of the beholder…but maybe the publisher should look up the meaning of sophisticated. I will not include photos of any rooms I don’t like, however I think we all know the kinds of rooms I am talking about. I read design, decorating blogs by various authors and am sometimes confused by the choice of rooms and or spaces they wax on about. The other day a wall in what looked to be  a closet or dressing area with what looked like a painters drop cloth nailed on the wall and pulled back over some shoe boxes was referred to as Superfluous…wha…t the hell .I commented on this and of course my comment was NOT published. I will include a photo of a room I love….Planned and Purposeful

SUBLIME ?

Sublime…I have often wondered if people even know the meaning of words like Sublime, Glamorous, and especially Elegant…in my humble opinion Elegant is way over used. Much of what I see described as elegant is actually glamorous. Elegant means: refined, graceful, dignified in manner taste or appearance. Glamorous on the other hand is almost the opposite meaning: over the top mysterious…Think Grace Kelley elegant and Elizabeth Taylor glamorous , both Sublime in  individual greatness and certainly there beauty…I often read articles in Shelter magazines where rooms and or houses are referred to as Elegant I look at it and think what are they talking about. I think glamour is much easier to achieve than elegance. Kate Middleton achieved, it or her handlers did when choosing the dresses for the latest Royal Wedding. I may have done one or two jobs in my entire career that I would even dare consider Elegant. One comes to mind a house that was made into miniature mansion for a woman who cared about the smallest details. It was great fun to work together to transform this house and it took a great deal of time and care…of course there is one aspect of the house we will never agree upon, so I will just leave it there…..

Interesting Yellow...

I am really disappointed, I wrote a really long blog and even had photos and it has gone missing somewhere in cyberspace. Well life goes on and … so will I and today,  I’ll write about a couple things first this yellow room, this was on the cover of House and Garden in 1966 the year I started design school. I don’t really think it is any great design feat but it still looks pretty good, the cocktail table is really beautiful maybe Ficks Reed and I really love the thought of a yellow floor. Look at the fantastic parrot lamps sitting on bamboo lamp tables. The drapery is a little non descript for me and what looks to be green stained wood walls I could live with out, BUT the overall look is really pretty good even all these years later…If I was asked to perk this up I would add an area rug paint the walls white put up new drapery in a David Hicks print (not that Jonathon guy) and add lots of accessories, there are hardly any,one oblong toss pillow and a couple round ones will jazz those sofas right up . There you go…Now, yellow is NOT one of my favorite things, it has a tendency to suck the color right out of ones skin tone, so one will never look as attractive as they really are in a yellow room. It also is the most irritating color to the human eye so people may tend to become a little aggressive in a yellow room. Fact babies cry more and longer in yellow surroundings. another yellow cars seem to be hit less often... Look at all these cool Yellow items funny how although they are all on the market right now they have a kind of retro look to them. I tried covering up the dress and the rest still look retro then the  other items at different times they still have that look…any one remember pyramids of lemons, a favorite decorative accessory in the sixties? I still LOVE them.( so did Thelma Blow AID,and Mrs Riggin had a pyramid of flowers) probably imported by Decorative Crafts…Enough on Yellow……..