Candlewick Glass
Oh boy! Where do I start?
My Grandmother was so fierce. I didn’t begin to get it until she passed away in 97.
She was an Elizabeth Taylor type. Dark hair, beautiful and sexy. Yes she was sexy. I get it now. Many years later.
When she was getting older, she packed up her treasured belongings and moved in with us. An estate sale got rid of the rest.
This estate sale changed my life forever.
I was about 15 when this happened. My mother needed to liquidate the house asap.
Among the items for sale…. 5 candlewick cordial glasses. $1.00. Oh yeah, I bought them.
They were dirty and covered with basement film. After one wash was hooked.
These cordials were the base of my entire collection and enduring passion for this pattern of depression glass.
The delicate beaded edge still drives me crazy. I can’t stop buying it! I recently found myself with 3 punch bowls! I sold the extra two….
I love the utility and delicacy of this pattern. Meant to be used everyday, I challenge you to find a modern tableware for everyday that matches the elegance and glamour of these simple pieces.
This is one of my favorite tables, set with one of my favorite sets of china; my Art Deco Shelley china from 1920’s England.
And of course my Fostoria buttercup elegant glassware from the depression. The best part of this photo is that the table is set incorrectly!
“Try doing as I say, not as I do.” - that was my Mother’s motto anyway. Even with all of my many sets of tableware, I too, suffer from stage fright and table setting jitters.
But setting a table is simple.
Bread plate/knife to the left of the dinner plate.
Salad knife first then dinner knife to the left of the dinner plate.
Dinner plate in center with the salad/appetizer plate on top.
Napkin can rest on top of the plate as I never seem to have room on the table to the left of the forks.
Then knife to the right of the plate followed by the spoon.
Dessert spoon and fork can also go above the dinner plate.
Coffee cup and saucer above the dessert spoon and fork.
Water and wine glasses to the right of the dinner plate. Water glass above knife’s tip.
Wine glass lower right of water glass.
Dessert plates are arranged after the main course is over.
Taking a break to dish with a friend or just unwind from the day, try actually using your pretty tea set. You will be amazed at how much better your tea or coffee tastes in a china cup and saucer. It is not much effort to use your pretty things and feel pampered.
My friend at Hermes always remembers me saying how everything tastes better in fine china. He loves to tell that to his clients in the home department! It makes me laugh because it is something I honestly believe that everyone should be doing!
These are the little rituals that get me through the day. The small private moments that nurture my soul. It is worth washing by hand. I even love that chore if it is an object of beauty. Care about the little things. They are the moments that gradually add up to a life well lived.
Yesterday I visited my dear friend Holly Chamness in her work room. She runs a custom drapery business catering to the top interior designers in California. She is one of the last artisan workrooms around, hand finishing draperies with the touch of the finest couture houses in Paris. She made all of the white linen drapes in my home and the gorgeous silk taffeta heart stoppers in my bedroom and dining room.
Yesterday, I popped in to see about luggage covers. An unusual request for sure. But I know Holly is the only one who understands. She pulled out her Gucci Rolls Royce luggage from the 80’s and showed me the exquisite covers made for it.
She insists I need leather corners.
With her signature auburn locks and southern charm, Holly is the epitome of grace. Her style is at once modern and old world.
Her work has been featured in Architectural Digest among other publications.
How To Create Perfect Bangs
I have been known for creating perfect bangs. Some have even gone on to fame and notoriety on their glamorous wearers.
The key to great bangs is to find the style that works best on your face shape. Remember that side swept usually thins a round face shape and that strait across bangs add width to narrow shapes.
Most salons offer free bang trims to regular clients. I highly suggest you take them up on this. Brave enough to trim your own? Try This!
How to Cut or Trim Your Own Bangs – powered by eHow.com
This spring, I was sad to hear that my favorite stationary company had shut it’s doors before I was ever rich enough to afford it. Mrs. John L. Strong came about during the nineteen thirties in the middle of the Great Depression. This was as elegant as it gets. For 80 years they offered hand made engraved stationary. They continued the process of hand engraving,with hand made dies made from steel, hand stamping and hand mixing ink colors long after other companies switched to computer engraving. How could a company built during the Great Depression not survive the Great Recession?
What happened?
We.Stopped.Writing.Letters.
Why? It seems like now days we need letters more than ever. With constant emails, Twitter, Facebook messages and texts, our communication often lacks any real meaning or connection.
A letter or note in the mail is like a gift. If it’s on lovely stationary even better for both you and the recipient.
Take a moment to send off a little note to someone, it will lift both of your spirits.
There are some things that never go out of fashion. Style is one of them. There is a reason that certain things remain timeless. From Coco Chanel to Grace Kelly, Audrey Hepburn, Jackie O, Michelle Obama , and Charlotte York Goldenblatt. This look is always simple, glamorous and modern. No matter what decade you are in or channeling.
Here are the pieces that never let me down.
A great white shirt. My favorites are from Anne Fontaine, Ralph Lauren and J. Crew.
The LBD for day or night.
Pencil skirts are a great alternative to pants.
A classic lady handbag. I got my Hermes Kelly Bag as a present to myself on my 29th birthday. I wanted one since the ninth grade. Best wardrobe purchase I ever made.
A clutch for evening. I love interesting textures. There are so many affordable options now.
Pearls are a must. They don’t have to be real. And I love them with t-shirts jeans and ballet flats as much as I do with dressier outfits.
Shoes Shoes Shoes! Yes, black pumps better be in the closet. I also love to wear a bright unexpected color. No need to be boring!
Find your own personal style and stick to it. Buy quality pieces in classic shapes and add trends in moderation. Your wallet will thank you in the long run.
In Los Angeles, we are lucky enough to have a flower district downtown where most retail florists get their flowers. This is open to the public after 8 am. I am here at least once a week. It is a dreamland filled with beautiful blooms. And since they are sold at wholesale prices they are affordable! I can fill my home with beautiful arrangements for the cost of one professional one. Here I am leaving with my arms full!
When moving into a new place, one of the first things I do is change the lighting. This means changing fixtures and usually installing dimmer switches. This is not as complicated as I once thought.
The first step is to turn off the power at the service panel. This is a good time to figure out which switch or fuse controls which room or area. Label these now and thank yourself later.
Now you can go about removing the fixture, in my case a ceiling fan. Loosen the collar of the unit. On a chandelier it is the small screw on part supporting the canopy. That is the part covering the hole in the ceiling and all the wires.
Now you will find the wire nuts connecting the wiring. There is often a ground wire but sometimes not. Unscrew the wire nuts and you can now remove the fixture completely. For the fan I removed the paddles first.
Now you will be left with a hole in the ceiling with wires hanging out. And a metal bar with holes in it. This is where you will screw in the nipple end that anchors the chandelier into the mount.
Thread the wires through the chain, collar, canopy and nipple and through the hole in the bar in the ceiling. Screw the nipple in to hold the chandelier in place. This is the hard part because this is when it gets tiring to hold up.
After the nipple is secured into the ceiling mount, you are hands free.
reconnect the wires with wire nuts. Attach the neutral or ridged wire one to the white wire from the ceiling. In my case in an old building, I don’t have that or a ground wire.
And the hot wire to the black wire in the ceiling.
You can now turn the power back on and test to see if it is working properly. You can also test the polarity with a continuity tester to be sure the correct wires are connected.
Now screw the collar onto the end of the nipple to hold the canopy in place.
On certain Sundays during the month, empty parking lots or warehouses are transformed into fantasy lands overflowing with treasures. And junk. In the early morning hours I love to enter these worlds of wonder and comb through the stands looking for beautiful objects, vintage linens, china services from the twenties, my beloved depression glass and any other object that captures my imagination and heart. It is such fun to discover a fine sterling bud vase mingling with Pez dispensers or musty old books.
I grew up visiting flea markets with my Mother, and my eccentric, elderly neighbors. I learned the difference between salvageable and a dream that can’t come true. So many times I would drag home some sort of vanity table or spindly legged side table only to be told, ‘It’s junk” ….. all my dreams of elegance for my teen bedroom dashed. Over time and after many mistakes my eye was trained. I can now sail through a market spotting lovelys a mile away. I admit that I have come around to the shiny and new theory when it comes to certain furniture, my love of junk and special things has never left me. My home today is filled with the collections scavenged over time in America’s flea markets, swap meets, and tag sales. Old and new, old fashioned and thoroughly modern.
