Edith Wharton walked these grounds

As I've previously written, I spent the holiday weekend in Lenox, MA. The highlight of the trip was clearly the day spent at The Mount, Edith Wharton's summer home. It's hard to know where to focus and I took nearly 90 photos! As a matter of fact, I kept filling up my storage card (huge photos!) and had to keep deleting as I went. I think what I ended up with were the best images of this glorious property. The current owners, The Edith Wharton Restoration, purchased the estate in 1980, but it wasn't until 1997 that they were able to start the extensive work necessary to return the buildings and grounds back to their original glory. The work is ongoing.

I am starting with the grounds, and will then move onto the exterior of the building, followed by the remarkable interiors. The grounds of the estate have been restored to their former glory - including the drive in (which was originally designed by her niece, noted landscape architect Beatrix Farrand), walking trails and natural wooded areas, and most notably, the formal gardens and terraces behind the home. These formal gardens were designed by Edith Wharton herself. She based her designs on the European influences of her youth, most notably the Italian style, which suggested that the gardens should be laid out as rooms and in concert with the home and the natural landscape.

Here is the view from the veranda in the rear of the house. The steps down from the terrace transition to a series of terraced lawns leading down the hill towards the wooded areas and looking out towards the mountains.


Looking left down the limestone "hallway", one takes in the French inspired flower garden.
A series of planting beds surrounds a small pool with Edith Wharton's dolphin fountain.



And looking back towards the house.While this garden was quite lovely, I was completely entranced by the Italiante garden to the left of the house. The image below is looking towards this classic walled "private" garden from the back steps.

And a zoom-in photo (love the telephoto setting!!):Looking towards the secret garden - which is on a lower elevation in order to emphasize the private nature of the space.

The ivy covered stone walls included a series of niches with darling little wooden benches. The color palette is entirely white (astilbe) and green. So simple, lush and classic! Edith installed this garden with the proceeds from her novel "The House of Mirth". Much of this garden had to be restored or replaced in the renovation - worth every penny! I didn't want to leave.


The rock-pile fountain (this is a reconstructed version of the original) is as charming as the formal dolphin fountain in the French garden.
If you're a lover of symmetry (as I am), this is just so satisfying.



The stone arches and pergola on the far side of the garden offer a lovely respite from the sun's heat.On the outside looking in (note the view of the house through the arch).
A view from above.
And back towards the house.
The garden restoration projects began in the early 2000's. The landscape architect is Childs Associates in Boston; garden restoration by Webster-Ingersoll in Sheffield, MA.

A year ago, The Mount was facing foreclosure, which I wrote about here, exactly one year ago. While things are looking up - they are still in need of financial help in order keep going with the large scale restorations and maintenance required to keep up the property. Please consider making a donation.

Stay tuned for my upcoming posts on the building and interiors!

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Happy Birthday, America!

Happy July 4th, America!

As I've previously written, and tweeted, I'm spending the long July 4th weekend in the Berkshires in Western Massachusetts. I spent a lovely few hours yesterday afternoon at Edith Wharton's house, and am very excited to do some in depth posts about this amazing estate, that just one year ago was facing foreclosure! What a comeback story!

I spent last evening at Tanglewood for the opening of the Boston Symphony Orchestra's summer season. James Levine conducted Tchaikovksy. In between raindrops, we had a lovely candlelit picnic on the lawn. A great wine - Clos du Val merlot - along with baguette and cheese, chicken salad and chocolate chip cookies. Delish!

Today, we're off for a visit to the Norman Rockwell museum, whose work I've always loved! Here are four of his most famous works, which seem appropriate for today: The Four Freedoms.

Freedom of Speech

Freedom of Worship

Freedom from Want

Freedom from Fear

While we're clearly still a work in progress, I do believe we keep trying.

And tonight, I'll be back at Tanglewood to hear Diana Krall! I hope you're spending the holiday with friends and family and having a great time!

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Dining with Edith Wharton

Edith Wharton did her writing in bed. Finished pages scattered to the floor for a maid to pick up and keep organized. I'm totally convinced that Edith would be a blogger were she around today. Laptop at the ready, posts flying into the wind. Here is a photo I took today while I toured Edith's home in Lenox, Massachusetts, known as The Mount. Gorgeous and inspiring! More photos to come of the grounds and interiors. I leave you with these. Am off to Tanglewood for a BSO concert tonight! Hopefully, weather permitting, I'll be able to show photos of a picnic on the lawn tht I have planned, so stay tuned!

Eating on the veranda, overlooking the stepped terraces and the Berkshire mountains.

photos by Linda Merrill for ::Surroundings::

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Burlap and Grainsack - Cheap Chic or Faux Humility?

This Dan Marty settee in burlap retails for $5,450.

When I was in middle school, the hot "must wear" clothes were Levi's jeans, Fair Isle sweaters and Izod shirts (collar up, of course!) - and I lived in a town listed in the Preppy Hand Book, so the pressure was on! Of course, I was dying to go along with the crowd and wanted all these must have brands. My family was going through tight times financially during those years and the budget did not include these "label" prices. My mother had a friend in the clothing industry who told her that Levi-Strauss made Sears Roebuck jeans - so guess which I wore. According to Mom - they were the same thing. NOT!

Okay, so fast forward a few years and I've grown into an adult who generally shuns fads and labels. I don't want brands where I have to pay for the privilege of promoting their label (think Louis Vuitton) and I'm very quick to tire of seeing the same thing over and over (think coral, think zebra rugs, think "Keep Calm and Carry On"). No thanks.

And what's the purpose of these "anti-design-establishment" rantings? I've been contemplating the whole grainsack and burlap fad recently - this new/old trend is everywhere. And, for the most part, is certainly a very attractive trend. But, I wonder... why is this suddenly trendy? Why burlap and why now?

A recent article by David A. Keeps for the LA times (which I read in the Providence Journal) making the syndication rounds posits "Burlap upholstery proclaims an era of faux humility". Is part of the current "in" state of burlap and grain sack due, in part, to the current economy and a desire to "dress down"? And, if that's true in some cases, is this a genuine desire to dress down, or only "look" dressed down? I know of designers whose clients have put projects on hold because they think a big new design project will look bad. I know of an antiques dealer who was asked to deliver an expensive piece in a plain truck - the decor version of the plain brown wrapper. Burlap is, of course, the quintessential plain brown wrapper.

So, do you like burlap and grain sack for its vintage-y feel or does it make you feel like you're keeping it real?

Los Angeles Times / KEN HIVELY

The armchair, above, for sale at Colcha in Venice, Calif., has reclaimed wood legs and is upholstered in European feed-sack fabric; it goes for $1,600. The recycled burlap cushion is $42, and the feed-sack pillow $198.

The French hemp napkins from Vintage Weave are admittedly adorable. But, at $275.00 for the set, one might not want to dab one's mouth with them while eating ribs and friend chicken...
These graphic antique grain sack pillows from 3 Fine Grains run into the hundreds of dollars.

Well, I'll admit I love this printed burlap sack available on Ebay. But, it only dates to 1960 (barely vintage in my book - ahem...) and at $115, I'm not sure it's worth the price.

These loosely "upholstered" French style chairs, seen on Apartment Therapy, were reportedly on sale for $1,400 for the pair at the Paris Boutique. Keeping things real, these look to have been upholstered by someone with all thumbs and dangerous access to a staple gun. Horrific on so many levels! They are no longer listed - did someone actually buy these?

Of course, the shelter mags are up on the trend - this from the current Elle Decor, a design by Dale Saylor. Note that not only is the day bed filled with grain sack pillows, but the standing lamp on the right also has a burlap shade.

The dining room of designer Abby Rizor's 1920s Florida house was originally a porch. From House Beautiful.


Local magazine Dovetales Antiques and Home Magazine is au courant...

Even The Skirted Roundtable banner is in on the act!

And, at Baker Furniture in the Boston Design Center, they have in their window an upholstered settee in faux grain sack. Seriously. It's upholstery weight fabric that is woven to look like a printed burlap with red stripes. I didn't manage to take a photo, but the price is likely a few thousand dollars. Huh?

Of course, burlap can be a very cost effective textile. Just check out Rhoda at Southern Hospitality's posts on how she upholstered the back of a cabinet with a bolt of the stuff:


On Etsy, you can purchase very price effective grain sacks at Antique Linen Store for around $44.00.
And this little flea market find footstool has been covered in about 88 cents worth of burlap, with mini-ruffle. From Country Living. A very easy DIY project for someone who can sew.

OK - so, we've seen high end uses of burlap and grain sack as well as more moderately priced examples. While this is a trend I'm not likely to jump on board with simply because we're seeing it everywhere, I do see the appeal to others. But honestly? I see it only on the low end. Some of the truly antique grain sacks may have value for their provenance but I still can't wrap my head around paying high end prices for what was made to be cheap goods to transport grain and flour.

Edited to add - Alex from The Real Housewives of New York. As suggested by Tracy @ Comfort and Luxury. Image courtesy of W Magazine Editor's Blog.



So, the question is - is this trend faux humility or simply shabby chic? Take the poll and let me know how you feel about this trend? And, for bonus points, how long do you think the trend will last? Will it outlive the recession?

pollcode.com free polls

Burlap and Grain Sack - Faux Humility or Shabby Chic

Faux Humility Shabby Chic

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The Skirted Roundtable: Eddie Ross & Jaithan Kochar

image courtesy of eddieross.com

This week on The Skirted Roundtable, we welcomed Eddie Ross and Jaithan Kochar from EddieRoss.com.

Last year I interviewed Eddie for the blog Blogging Top Design after his appearance on BravoTV's "Top Design". Here is a replay of that interesting conversation. I hope you enjoy this and our SRT chat with both Eddie and Jaithan!

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Falmouth, MA

This has been an oddly busy, yet slow week, which is kind of strange. As I'd mentioned before, I've been working out of the Trianon Antiques showroom in the Boston Design Center this week, while owners Diana and Scott Cooper are in France. Unfortunately, the internet connection is s-l-o-w... zzzz...zz.. So it's taken me much longer to do much of anything and therefor I haven't been able to post as much as I'd hoped! I have several posts going around in my head - I just need the time and the speedier internet connection to get them out!!

I've been meaning to get this post done for a couple of weeks. I spent a weekend at the beginning of the month with members of my business roundtable group at a house in Falmouth Heights, Massachusetts. Falmouth is on Cape Cod (I live over the bridge, about a half hour north) and looks towards Martha's Vineyard across the water. The weekend we were there was one of the few nice days we've had all season! So, I hope you enjoy the tour of this quintessential New England beach town as much (or nearly so!) as I did being there!
These houses are situated on the hill overlooking the bay, across from Martha's Vineyard - all have an amazing view! Most date to the end of the 19th century/beginning of the 20th century.
How cute was this little group of kids from a wedding party I came upon. I love the formal with flip flops look. The wedding was taking place right on the beach.

There's a strong late Victorian gingerbread aesthetic going on in this neighborhood:


This is a traditional Dutch colonial with widow's walk:

This is the house that belongs to our host, which dates to just about 1900. If you are interested i learning more about the house and rental possibilities, click here. I highly, highly recommend it!! If you look closely, you'll see our hostess setting up croquet and one of our group members doing her yoga on the front lawn. Sitting in the living room, looking through the dining room out to the bay. The current dining room used to be a porch, which they enclosed.
The colorful and oh-so-comfy living room.
A few of Martha's Vineyard - gotta love the telephoto lens!

Another Dutch colonial style shingle home that I loved:
I love little hidden pathways... there were several of them leading to private beach and moorings for residents:

This house looked closed still. But oh, all those windows with great views!
A nice water view from the road - love the beach plums (aka beach roses)
Nothing but view...
This house is okay, but look closely for the carousel horses on the first level and silver cow on the second! Odd, but fun!
Another private little nook....
And another with boardwalk:
The beach roses were in full bloom:

I hope you enjoyed my photo tour of Falmouth, Massachusetts. Have a great weekend and stay tuned next week. We have a great pair of guests on The Skirted Roundtable (I can't wait to reveal who they are!!) and I'll be spending the end of the week out in the Berkshires, attending two concerts at Tanglewood. I'll be dining al fresco on the lawn, so stay tuned for posts on the perfect lawn picnic out under the stars. * I'll also be visiting Edith Wharton's home The Mount, and doing who knows what else!

* unless it rains, which is all it's doing these days!

Have a great weekend!!!

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The Skirted Roundtable - Money and Criticism, not necessarily in that order

This week on The Skirted Roundtable - Joni, Megan and I chatted about the real cost of interior design and what to expect when working with a professional designer - making sense of the dollars. And on our blogging segment, we discussed the role criticism plays on design blogs. Is it constructive, or just plain critical.

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Juan Pablo Molyneux

I'm spending the week minding my friends Scott & Diana Cooper's French Antique showroom, Trianon, at the Boston Design Center. I started poking through a book they have on their coffee table on interior designer Juan Pablo Molyneux and was instantly captivated by the unabashedly high end, yet witty designs. The book. published in 1997, showcases some of his bigger projects between the years of 1985, when he began taking work in New York, and the mid-90's. Mr. Molyneux was born in Santiago, Chile and spent a childhood surrounded by a mixture of British and indigenous influences. His maternal grandfather was British, who got a little lost on his worldwide grand tour and ended up in Santiago, where he fell in love with a beautiful local girl. His parents were well-traveled and so was he. He attended a "veddy British" boarding school in Santiago that, as the book says, "was like a little British colony...". It is due to these experiences that Mr. Molyneux attributes his attraction to English design: paneled walls, Regency furniture, and "the patina of age and elegance that develops out of being rooted in one pace for generations". In 1946, he enrolled in the architecture program at the Catholic University of Santiago and was immediately immersed in the disciplines of La Corbusian modernism and all things Mies van der Rohe and Walter Gropius. There was no study of classical architecture - as if the field began only in the 20th century. While he loved what he was learning, he instinctively knew that he was missing out as well, so enrolled at the Ecole des Beauxs-Arts in Paris - where he nearly failed his initial project assignment of designing an orangerie. He had to learn an entirely new vocabulary of architectural design - the work of the ancient Egyptians, Andrea Palladio and even Jacques Ange Gabriel, designer of Le Petit Trianon, which Mr. Molyneux feels is one of the most "gracefully precise" buildings ever designed (and who could argue with that!). Over the next several years, Mr. Molyneux traveled back and forth between his classical training in Paris and the modern aesthetic espoused at University in Santiago. Even in Paris, the social unrest of the late 60's provided a certain push back against the old school classics espoused by the Beaux-Arts. Upon graduation, he traveled extensively throughout North and South America, Africa, Russian and, of course, Europe. He opened is own design practice in Santiago in the early 70's and quickly became a recognized and lauded designer. However, due, in part to the social unrest and military coup in 1973, work was scarce in Santiago, so he moved his business to Buenes Aires, which he found to be more cosmopolitan, and more classical inspired design wise. He remained there for the next ten years until the lure of New York City overtook him. He developed a client base in NY and traveled back and forth until 1987, when he moved there permenently. He quickly came to the attention of the Architectural Digest editors and is on their AD100 list. He is now a US citizen and is still practicing in New York.

What attracted me to the work showcased in this now out of print book, Molyneux by Michael Frank, was not the OTT glitz and glamour of his spaces, but the quieter moments and the whimsy. His use of trompe l'oiel (a personal favorite of mine) is both beautiful and fun. He views trompe l'oeil not as something fake, but as a way of freeing oneself from the inherent restrictions of built architectural details. As he said "With trompe l'oeil, you can create spaces, moods, shapes. It's not fake. That's what people usually say, and it's wrong. Trompe l'oeil is a fantasy that provokes reality". Love that!

Take a close look at the book jacket art below. This is called the Palladian Dog House, which he designed for a Kips Bay showhouse. His client? His beloved Scottie Max, whom he described as having a "noble, Palladian personality". The structure was sized for Max - at 3' square, with a portico in front with Corinthian columns and a pediment. Max's coat of arms (crossed bones) was also prominent. The house was made of plywood, except for the real marble floor - which was perfect as it was a "summer house". Could you just die??? The rest is a tromp l'eoil masterpiece!


The living room below includes a tromp l'oeil depicting a seascape and "paneled" doors opening up to it. There's something so easy about this room - despite the immense work this painting represents.

Mr. Molyneux's own houses were showcased in the book as well. I am so in love with the Michelangelo inspires pillows on this bed! It's so unexpected and lively! And steal-able. While these pillows were likely hand painted. one could also print the art onto transfer paper and apply to a plain silk.... hmm... I feel a DIY project coming on!!

btw - have I mentioned that I shot photos from this book as I don't have access to a scanner today? So, my apologies for the less than perfect images!

This next space was a New York pied-a-terre for the children of a well known restranteur. They were looking for something "young, light-hearted and European". The architectural details in the living room were left as is - as they are clearly very formal and balanced - while the furnishings and surfaces are significantly more casual and almost outdoorsy. For those who find symmetry boring, this is not your space - no question! Both sides of the room are nearly mirror images, however, I fell this works to achieve a peaceful space amid the hustle and bustle of the big city.

The image below is the master bedroom in the Molyneux country home in Western, Mass. How cozy! The linen, from Portugal, was selected because he felt that the floral pattern lent the space a wonderful country feel. How true - without being cloying, or "horsey"! Note that the headboard is very similar to the one in their New York home with the pillows shown above. Clearly a signature style!

I find this little bedroom vignette to be quite charming. The shade of blue is just lovely and I adore the toss pillows - it's hard to tell in the photo but they almost look like they are made from an organdy as there seems to be a translucent quality about them. The headboard fabric, interestingly enough, was also used in another of his projects - on both a chair and another headboard of the same style. I'm fairly certain that it's not the same headboard as the pattern placement is different.

Mr. Molyneux has been a frequent decorator showhouse participant. This gorgeous dining room (in shades of blueberry blue and parchment that I just adore!) was for the 1988 Kips Bay Decorator showhouse. The chinoiserie wall panels, painted in the 1920's by Alan Cox, were original to the room and set the stage for the design plan. Mr. Molyneux had their gold and silver- leafing restored as well (which unfortunately can't be seen in the photo - but must have been magnificent!) The window treatment fabric silk was first manufactured in the 1920s and had enough silver in it to relate to the silver-leaf on the walls. The carpet - of his design - had a decided "chinoiserie mood". He also incorporated some Chinese blue urns from his own collection, but in a departure, selected the gothic revival dining chairs for their architectural detail. As a final whimsical note, Mr. Molyneux wrote out name cards to "John, Mary, Susan and Howard" rather than the normally stuffy showhousey habit of making the name cards to "Sir this or Lady that". Little touches of humor and earthiness abound.


This image is the drawing for the center medallion of the floor in Mr. Molyneux's 1995 Kips Bay design.
And below that is the painted marquetry medallin realized.

And the entire room:Some details:
And note the return of Max, the Scottie dog:

Don't you just love the swank with a little humor??

This is a just a taste of the rooms showcased in Molyneux by Michale Frank. Unfortunately, this book is out of print, but used copies are available. You can also see more recent photos of his work here, here and here at his website, and here's a little youTube I found. Enjoy!

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