AHH...PARIS

http://jak-kesterson.blogspot.com/

The very first time I went to Paris was in 2007. When I got off the plane I was so sick, all I wanted to do was go to bed. On the ride from the airport to the hotel it was pouring down rain. Sitting with my partner Yahen as we rode down the highways he immediately started telling me where we were, what everything was, and where we were going. The closer to the city we got the less I thought about how really bad I felt. After checking into our hotel we went to the Louvre to have a bite at Café Marly any one who has eaten there knows what a really cool experience it is all the skinny waiters NOT servers in there little grey pencil suits rushing around seeming to never stop .They are a show in themselves . Who knows if the food was good (it probably was)  and who cares WE were in Paris for heaven sake. No time to be sick …we walked to the Eiffel tower and it was twinkling it was the most fantastic thing I had ever seen. It was still raining when we got back to the hotel but it didn’t matter we were in Paris. Nothing matters when one is in Paris .In 2009 we went back for a month and rented a tiny flat near the Moulin Rouge. It was great to wake up in Paris, walk to the corner for a few croissants and look to the left and there the top of the tower rises over a beautiful row house, what a way to start the day. Some days we would walk  15 miles and some days we would sit in the Luxemburg gardens and do nothing at all…..    

My Long Weekend

Well this weekend I finished painting the front of my house.  I now live in Austin Texas in a fantastic mid century neighborhood. Our house is probably the smallest in the entire development and I am not in love with it, but I do like it more all the time .I have added as many floor to ceiling (or close to the floor and ceiling) windows as I can fit in at this time .I painted the trim white, the front door black as well as the garage door. I think it looks as close to sophisticated as I can get it. The stone was probably almost white once upon a time but now I just pretend. The light fixtures are from Global Views and just happen to be featured on One Kings Lane today, they are for interior use I had them rewired and they are under a three foot overhang, so they will be ok for a few years. I left the open overhang in front of the porch and painted the underside of the roof as well as the porch ceiling AQUA looks really good what a difference it makes when we open the door. I am going to hire a painter to do the rest, but no one could have painted the front to suit me . The painter actually left…so now it’s done……ALMOST…

I love this room

 In 1992 I was in Tulsa with my friend Rosemary for her  son’s wedding. While there she and I managed to squeeze in a show house, this is the dining room, designed by Sheri Mayer Williams. I have never even spoken to her, but have saved this picture all these years. I particularly love the fuchsia ceiling, the terrazzo floor has a pale pink boarder. The fabric from Decorators Walk is long gone as well as Decorators Walk .I have had Lots of fun with the fabric over the years selling it in different color ways as well as wallpaper. I’ve also used it in 2 of my own houses:  it is in my kitchen family room right now. I have used the fabric over and over, I don’t  know what I’ll do when it falls apart. I really like the red orange banquette that seems to have nothing to do with anything, but the whole thing is such a happy place.  I’d love to eat a meal in that room, have lots of wine sitting around that fabulous table. I had a wonderful client Mrs. Joy who had those chairs, they were offered to me when she died . Hers were from Decorative Crafts and had crazy zig zag fabric on the seats, any way I didn’t take them. I have beautiful dining chairs with black shiny seats and arms. I LOVE THIS ROOM!!!

Pink Toenails

WOW, I was just listening to GMA report on a story about a J Crew executive painting her sons toenails pink in a catalogue ,and how outraged some people have become.What the hell are these people talking about?  Most all little boys would want there finger or toe nails painted if they were watching there mother, sister,  aunt, babysitter etc. paint theirs.  Could sane people really be so foolish as to believe that toenail painting by men or women is anything more than culturlally related. In some cultures men wear skirts made of grass oh HOLY JESUS are they all gay lawn men? Better check this out. I don't think my own mother gave it a thought when she tied scarves on our heads when we were little boys she was just trying to keep her boys ears warm...BUT, I grew up to be GAY dam it was that scarf...If only she had given me a scalpel I would have grown up to be a Surgeon.

Claudine Longet

Some times it’s just better to do something oneself, especially if one is very critical of life in general. By that I mean I notice every little detail both good and bad. I hired a painter to  paint the trim on my house and of course almost bit my lip off just watching the prep work get started .Absolutely nothing was moved,  pretty soon I had flaking paint all over the porch furniture all over the door matt that I looked everywhere for,  all caked with soaking wet paint chips. Not to mention the fabulous light fixtures were hit with 500 lbs of water….That was It!  I figured I’d better take over, so here is a photo of my slow progress.  I am finding painting to be very slow and tiring and yet somewhat therapeutic. There is plenty of time to listen to my favorite music or to discover in this case

 new,  Claudine Longet. It is amazing this woman ever had a career, and yet she had several very popular albums (remember those, great big black plastic disks) her wispy voice and almost tongue tied pronunciation is mesmerizing to me.  I find myself singing along for hours…I hope in these photos you can see the ceiling I painted it aqua LOVE it . I almost always paint ceilings a color, a favorite person of mine taught me that years ago, pink mostly (more about that some other time) any way I have got to stop rambling on so take a look and maybe let me know what you think….

The Carriage Trade

When I first started to practice my field after a short stint in the Metro DC area I moved back to my home town Kalamazoo Mi. in 1973 Kalamazoo was flying high. I went to work for Thelma Blow AID at The Vogue Shoppe ,as I've said before it was a beautiful Shoppe in a huge Victorian house with a modern showroom addition painted black on the outside. Upon entering one was in a huge foyer with a winding stairway to nowhere, It was fabulous at first site and most people were duly impressed. We catered to women ,these women I refer to as The Carriage Trade they are almost all dead .Todays client is hardly ever Carriage Trade. These women never worked and were never home in the afternoon and just as likely to be  out playing cards and drinking as having there hair done and drinking. they were a breed of there own they somked and smoked and laughed and we all had a great time .Lots of my buisness was done over lunch .It was a big deal to take the designer to lunch and out do there friends most clients knew each other,  it was a very social buisness. I loved thse women and they Loved me I still Love this buisness but I do miss these women.......

Seems T o Me

Seems to me there are lots of people doing  Design today who get a lot of credit for doing a lot that of what has been done before. Can anyone not see how much of what we are being sold as new and original looks very David Hicks? And people are getting rich off it.  Now there is even a  blog that has a line that looks just like Hicks, or Westgate prints from the 70's.Since when does copying someone elses work with an itty bitty change constitute DESIGNING it .How does one claim to have designed a sofa with a Charles of London arm or a skirted Lawson style chair?  I think they have been around for at least a hundred years, making it shorter or deeper, changing the leg does NOT make one the designer . I think we all nee to give credit where credit is due. There have been blue jeans for a hundred plus years, as well as oxford cloth shirts unless you put the zipper up the back they are the same and it's only sticking ones label on someone Else's design and hoping to get away with it. Why does the Music industry keep such close tabs on it's products while we just seem to be happy to buy any old bootlegged design when NO credit is given to the original designer. anyway this is something to think about ...have a great Davis free weekend...............