seeking Sargent IV

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Martin Ephson & Tom Helme

portrait of the directors of  Farrow and Ball 

by James Waddell

& a little follow up from Ivan Terestchenko here

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Modernizing A Piece of California History: Before and After in this Hollywood Regency Style Estate

A lot of people have asked us what the East Mountain Drive Hollywood Regency Estate looked liked before we got our hands on it. We collated a few photos here to show you the dramatic way that we blended this authentic mid century style with current technology and more environmentally sustainable ideas 21st Century design.

The pictures above represent the Living Room shot from the exact same location. If you look closely at the center of each photo you will see that we moved the fireplace and expanded the window wall to take advantage of the Spectacular view. We selected the fireplace mantel in London at Chesneys. The Chandelier is Murano Glass from Donghia. The coffee table is Vintage Charles Hollis Jones. The Sconces are peridod "Dorothy Draper in style and from the Palm Springs modernism show. The sconces were literally the first thing we purchased for the house. The Mirror is  a Vintage Donghia Furniture piece. We purchased the mirror at a gallery in Los Angeles, but is was designed in the time that I worked in Angelo Donghia's Design Office in New York before he died in 1985. We used Farrow and Ball paints throughout the residence. I am very happy that F & B is now using producing Low VOC paints and papers.

The Dining Room after we opened the window wall with Hopes Doors. We designed a wonderful waterfall and fire place that spans the water pool The draper fabric is Bergamo. Again, a grey colored hand blown Murano Glass Chandelier from Donghia and Farrow & Ball wall paper. The Dining Table is mid century Harvey Probber, vintage Dining Chairs upholstered in Bergamo Silk Velvet and a vintage Regency style Bar Cabinet.

The Best Sofa Design in the World!

When we designed the Family Room / Media Room / Theater at the East Mountain House in Montecito we selected a sectional sofa called "Dr. Pitt" from Mitchell Gold and Bob Williams in Los Angeles. We selected the sofa for it's comfort and versatility as well as it's unique design and configuration.  It can be purchased with various sized pieces like any sectional, but this one could be set up like a square with three sides and open in the center. Into the center you can push the ottomans, making it a "filled in square. Sounds crazy, but you can jump in that thing like a huge play pen for adults and stay there all day watching playoff games or movies or both in the case of this Media Room / Theater. We designed this room  with 2 professional 65" Panasonic LCD screens.

During the playoffs last week we were having fun with our godson and realized if we pushed out the two smallest ottoman pieces and left the two large ottomans to closed the "pitt" we could create a play pen for our young Ravens Fan. Naturally we threw in a few safe cooking utensils to make sure the young one was getting balanced and well rounded weekend football. He was BUMMED about the Ravens but not nearly as much as his dad.

More cooking lessons at half time...

Farrow and Ball Designer Paint and Wallpaper goes Green - Low VOC paint is eco-friendly

I am thrilled that Farrow and Ball paints have finally gone green with their product line by producing environmentally friendly, eco- friendly low VOC paint and wallpaper.  I have always thought of Farrow and Ball as producing the most beautiful paint and wallpaper products. They produce the chalkiest flat paints I have ever seen and the highest gloss paint I have ever used, in combination the effect is stunning. 

At this Luxurious Montecito, Ca. Estate we created a Grey on Grey palette. Using Farrow and Ball Wallpapers in combination with chalky grey flat paint on the walls and with a very high gloss white trim paint. The Bedroom Charcoal wool carpet from Stark Carpet.

Grey flat wall paint  with high gloss white trim paint.  

Silver Travertine Floors and Oak Flooring with beige wax rub.

 Murano Glass Chandeliers are from Donghia. Bedroom Ceiling Fixture is From Boyd Lighting in San Francisco.

Grey Stripe wallpaper and stripe drapery  Charcoal Starck Carpet

Read more about A Greener Farrow and Ball on their terrific website;.

PB at the WH

In view that the 1st lady has tapped Pottery Barn for some of her 1st family's decorating needs- I took a look at their online site. I decided to create a Guest Bedroom exclusively furnishing the room from Pottery Barn.

Here are the results. I hope you enjoy and find some inspiration. A few small details:
A space large enough to accommodate 2 full size beds- Nice for all ages.
Hardwood floors for some of the PB rugs available.

After an overview, I was taken by the set of Cyanoprints available from PB. This printing technique uses real foliage, flowers, etc. arranged on paper and coated with a light sensitive solution. Upon taking up the specimen and exposing the print- a silhouette is created. Each print is 8 x 10 inches and sold in a set of 12 unframed. In MY GUESTROOM I am using the prints as wallpaper- following in the footsteps of many- even Linnaeus the great Swedish botanist himself-

I indulged in using Farrow and Ball paints in the room taking a cue from the Linnaeus bedroom and using paint to create a wainscot. My choice- DRAWING ROOM BLUE- a sort of good Navy, For the walls- LIME WHITE- a lime washed white. For the ceiling-BLACKENED- really a pale overcast sky.
Farrow and Ball has a wonderful website- so go take a look at these colors.

Linnaeus


A bedroom at the home of Linnaeus with botanical drawings covering the walls

the set of cyanoprints (here- shown framed ) from PB


Some of the essential pieces to any Guest Room are comfortable beds, bedside tables with reading material, a carafe of H2O, paper and pencils-maybe nowadays - a lap top. This Guest Room has a pair of the PB full size "Darcy" beds. The head and foot of the bed are covered in the PB sheet sets (yes it would take lots) Avalon- a graphic take of the classic riding tack. These sheets will be great on the bed as well as some navy quilts with stitched botanical patterns.

the Darcy bed

gorgeous gray velvet curtains from PB



a great heavily braided sisal rug




another lightweight layer of small rugs in another graphic pattern are used in the room

1st layout of the Guest Room (top of post)
A look at the major pieces in the room: great chairs on either side of the fireplace, a large cabinet piece, a pretty painted- to look like mother of pearl inlay- chest in between the beds, and a pair of wicker trunks at the foot of the beds. The textures and patterns create a touch of the modern but keep it grounded in the old with the trunks and the canopies.


The PB has terrific accessories: A lantern hangs from the ceiling of the Room, a handsome modern acrylic firescreen and fire set dress the fireplace along with large rush baskets. Other accessories add to and reflect the naturalistic details of the room: silvered tree trunk lamp, a bronze drum table alongside the chairs, a pair of sconces and a periodicals rack loaded with up to date reading.

MR. FLOWER POWER PINK

In 2007, Linnaeus celebrated 300 years. What a fantastic image for the celebration! Linnaeus was a great Swedish naturalist. Carolus Linnaeus is popularly known as the father of taxonomy, because of his remarkably outstanding contributions to the field of systematics. The most notable among these are Systema Naturae (1735) and Genera Plantarum (1737). His book Species Plantarum (1753) is a landmark in the history of taxonomy. It contains the binomial system of nomenclature which has been practiced ever since.

Louise Odier- PINK Rose


LOUISE ODIER, One of the most beautiful and popular of the great Bourbon class. Bourbons were the roses of Victorian England. They produce exquisite, large, full old rose set upon strong, vigorous growing bushes. Bourbons are also favored with wonderful, heady fragrances. One great advantage of the Bourbons is that they are repeat flowering, profusely blooming in the spring, followed by intermittent repeat blooms of high quality into the fall.


ROSA WOODSII~ Linnaeus named this genus in 1753. The PINK Rose~ The Pink Rose is one of the longest known existing roses, symbolizing LOVE and GRATITUDE.