Tried and True
Since you asked... Yes, I still love my classics.
With a lifetime of design behind me (and in front of me, I hope), and with a love of travel, I have learned that I am almost magnetically attracted to classical design in all its guises, from architecture to furnishings, from seating to accessories.
I have many loves, but I always go back to the classics. What do they mean to me? They means timeless, wonderful style: Tried and True.
Items still available
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Antique Carpet Ball Pins, set of 9
“I would be remiss in discussing carpet balls if I failed to discuss carpet pins. I mean, after all, what if you do take the balls out of that basket on your dining room table, set up the pins, and have a rousing game of carpet ballery?”
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Mahogany Marble-Top Side Table with Greek Key Detail
“It is beautiful. It has mixed materials. It has a marble top. It has a good base, it has brass at this beautiful gallery around the edge, and it has the ormolu Greek key… Not just a round table!”
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Set of 11 Fornasetti Plates featuring Astrolabs
“Fornasetti dealt with classical themes, but super-modernized them, making them witty, making them whimsical. These plates are a perfect example of that. I myself have a collection of Fornasetti plates hanging in my kitchen. They’re all beautiful, they’re all different, and they are objects of great beauty.”
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Custom Georgian Tufted Loveseat in Tasseled Velour
“This diminutive sofa is so charming. It has the sensibility of the Chesterfield, and it’s a really great size. I mean, we all love our large sofas, but I think there’s a real need for the smaller surface, so that you can create smaller groups of conversation. Don’t we all want that?”
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Early 20th Century Mercury Glass Candlesticks
“My monkey brain was immediately attracted to these mercury glass candle holders. A little shininess – I love mercury glass. It has such a specific quality: it sparkles. It’s not like anything else. My grandmother actually used to collect mercury glass, and it just speaks to me. I love it.”
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1860s Louis XV Chairs Upholstered in Antique Indian Textiles
“I love these gorgeous, hot pink chairs. They are French, from about 1860, which is very much my happy place (1840 – 1860). What’s so cool is that they are a totally classic design. They are really capacious, they are a good sit, and they have been upholstered in this fabulous fabric that immediately brings them into the modern world.”
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Brilliant Gilded Toleware Starburst Mirror, circa 1910
“I don’t always want to see my reflection, so I’m putting a starburst mirror somewhere where you get the light reflected, but where you’re not looking at yourself. I use them as I would use artwork.”
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Finely-Carved Louis XV Fauteuils
“I love these eighteenth century beechwood armchairs. They have a great shape and a substantial weight to them. They are fauteuils, and I want everyone out there to know that word is pronounced “faux toy” and it means “armchair”. See, isn’t that easy?”
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George III Mahogany Bow-Front Sideboard
“I think a lot of people have a lot to say about brown furniture, and this piece is kind of a perfect example of a piece that is worthy of us all. It’s stately, it’s dignified, and it stars as a functional gem. I say go for it!”
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Sweet Gustavian Slipper Chairs with Hand-Painted, Distressed Frames
“I love these slipper chairs… Everybody thinks of slipper chairs for the bedroom, but they are so much more. They’re only 16 inches in height, so when you really need space to entertain, they are perfect. You can see over them, so they don’t take up your whole room; I consider that an enormous virtue.”
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Art Deco Era Crystal Chandelier with Spear Points and Crystal Rosettes
“I have got to share this chandelier. I like it because it’s pretty! It’s from the 1920s, and I love that it has all the armature and the rosettes, but the crystals have sphere points, making them more angular and therefore more modern!”
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Maison Jansen-Inspired Louis XIV Style Arm Chairs
“These little Louis XIV chairs are charming… I would put these chairs in the corners, or I would sprinkle them around the perimeter of the room to be pulled in when necessary.”
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Neoclassical Models of Ancient Italian Ruins
“This is a Grand Tour model of the Temple of Castor and Pollux in the Roman Forum, and I am a Grant Tour junkie. I cannot get enough, won’t stop, can’t stop!”
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Vintage 1960s French Fruitwood Faux Bamboo Carved Armchairs
“I’m always banging on about something being sculptural, and these are sculptural! It’s a wonderful thing to have in the room. I love the curvature of these chairs, and I love that they’re something different. You need to mix, mix, mix!”
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Etched Glass Mirrors in Silver + Gilt Gold
“I love these pier mirrors! They’re called “pier” because they’re usually put on a pier like a piece of wall between windows, but I, of course, would feel no compunction about using this pair anywhere, and the fact that they are on the narrow side makes them really adaptable. So you can flank all kinds of doorways with these, in addition to windows. You could even put them in a bedroom on either side of the bed.”
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Art Deco Style Sputnik Pendant Lights by Tucker Robbins
“You could put them on either side of the bed, over a bedside table, and hang them from the ceiling super low in a disco-sexy way. So unexpected! What a fun dialogue between crystalline crystal, between modern and antique.”
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Decorative Lenses on Stands
“These lenses on stands are just a perfect example of a folly. You don’t buy them because you need a lens on a stand: you buy them because they’re fun. They bring height to a tabletop. The lens itself will refract light in interesting ways. This is really just an object of fancy.”
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Scottish Carpet Balls, set of 5
“I am always making fun of decorators, myself totally included, for doing tablescapes with big bowls filled with balls. They’re usually things like fake grass, or sometimes they’re dark wood, or they are marble balls. But what I think is so great about these balls is that they have this great pattern on them. They actually have a reason to exist!”
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Neoclassical Console Tables with Pierced Brass Details
“These two Empire tables are very much in the wheelhouse of styles I love. They combine marble, metal, wood and geometry, plus they have a great shape. You can have something (like an urn) sitting on the bottom shelf, and then you can also put the top to work.”
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Shimmering Venetian Beveled Glass Mirror with Etched Details + Pediment Top
“I love a Venetian mirror generally, just because they’re so elaborate and decorative. But they do it all within a relatively flat surface, without really goopy carvings. The bevels refract light and you get very discreet carvings that you see mirror on top of mirror. A big bang for your buck!”
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Library Armchairs Covered in Patinaed Leather
“These leather chairs are so simple and classic. The original leather has a gorgeous patina and feel. They are perfect for an office or side by side in front of a fireplace for a cocktail.”
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Pair of 18th-Century Rosewood Accent Tables
“These Empire tables are just beautiful. Their shape is beautiful, the wood species is beautiful. And that actually is really the point – When you buy something that is a sleek shape, it must have special wood!”
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