Category Archives: Interior Design
Interesting story by HILLEL ITALIE of the Associated Press regarding multi-talented Barbra Steisand and her new book documenting the 5-year process of building of her dream home and many of her other residences. Along with exploring her love of architecture and interior design we may also get a glimspe of the behind-the-scenes life of one of America’s greatest greatest talents.
NEW YORK (AP) — Barbra Streisand has finished building her dream house and started to think about her life.
The singer, director and actress has reached an agreement with Viking for “A Passion for Design,” an illustrated book scheduled for fall 2010 that includes photos of the Malibu, Calif., oceanfront compound she worked on for more than five years, and of other residences, back to her early years in New York.
In writing about where she lives (the book is expected to have up to 50,000 words of text), she has been writing about herself “because I’m spurred on by the writing process,” Streisand said Wednesday during a brief telephone interview with The Associated Press.
Long reluctant to discuss her private life, the 67-year-old Streisand said she has been working on chapters, in longhand, for a separate book. But she hasn’t made up her mind whether she will complete the memoir and publish it.
“I go back and forth,” said Streisand, who has received numerous show business honors, including Academy Awards, Grammys and Emmys. “Do I really want to write about my life? Do I really want to relive my life? I’m not sure.”
But she is deeply committed to her current project, calling it the culmination of a lifelong passion for American architecture and design. She spoke of visiting landmarks around the country, from the Monticello estate of Thomas Jefferson in Virginia to Edith Wharton’s house in Lenox, Mass. — The Mount, which Streisand explored with camera and tape measure.
She sees the book as answering questions she has often asked herself: Why is she so fascinated by furniture, gardens and how homes are constructed? Why was she buying antique clothing as a teenager? Why, in the basement of her new house, did she reproduce a city street? Why did she even write a script about her home?
“As a filmmaker even, I got very involved in set production and design and colors,” said Streisand, a known perfectionist whose directing credits include “Yentl” and “The Prince of Tides.”
The deal with Viking, an imprint of Penguin Group (USA), was negotiated by Robert Barnett, better known as the literary representative for political leaders, including President Obama and former President George W. Bush. Barnett says he met Streisand through mutual friends and Barnett clients — former President Clinton and Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton.
Financial terms were not disclosed. Viking President Clare Ferraro, who declined to say how much the publisher paid, said she visited Streisand’s home in April, a planned two-hour stop that lasted 4 1/2 hours and didn’t begin to cover all that Streisand had done.
“Everything is perfect, down to the flowers, to the metal plates on the doorknobs,” Ferraro said. “I remember her living room. The color scheme was in pink and burgundy and green and if you looked out the window you saw there were roses in the same color. And throughout the house, the outside matched what was inside.
“It’s just breathtaking, her whole house. I went home and ripped the flower bed out of my porch because the flowers didn’t match my porch furniture.”
Ferraro said Streisand will “get pretty personal” in the book, saying that she likely will offer childhood experiences and stories about her career. “She discovers a lot about herself through her passion for design and fashion,” Ferraro said.
Married to actor James Brolin, her second husband, Streisand said she wants to get back into filmmaking after setting her career aside to work on her house. She is hoping to obtain rights to Larry Kramer’s play “A Normal Heart,” a story she has been interested in for years, and has recruited some “interesting cast members” whom she declined to identify.
“This house has taken a lot out of me,” she said. “It was a project. Instead of directing a movie, I built a house. And it’s so much more complex than doing a movie.”
Copyright © 2009 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
Tivoli Audio is our favorite sound source for decor areas that need incredible sound, stunning design, tier-one engineering in a compact footprint. We specify Tivoli Audio for many of our clients on a regular basis to great satisfaction.
Tivoli’s peerless products fit neatly at bedside, kitchens, dens, libraries and the like. We couldn’t help but marvel at their creative efforts to merge art, technnology and design and the most recent Mil
Demonstrating innovation at its best, the latest NetWorks design line was unveiled during the Milan Design Week expo in beautifully constructed wood finishes and artistic fashion colors that create living art into home decorating form and function. To further demonstrate the museum quality of the Tivoli Audio brand, a “Tower of Babel” was constructed in the SuperStudioPiù designer space, born under the concept of a “Temporary Museum for New Design,” a main attraction at the Milan furniture expo.
Conceived by the well-known Italian designer Ilaria Marelli in collaboration with Tom DeVesto, the tower in a 16.4 foot high installation, is reminiscent of the ancient Biblical city in which an enormous tower was constructed and people spoke in a multitude of tongues. The sculptural piece makes use of a vast collection of Tivoli Audio radios interspersed with its newest NetWorks Global Audio Systems performing in languages from around the world playing in real time.
This video shows the construction of the “Tower of Babel” from Tivoli Audio in Milan, Italy. Take a short moment to watch the space transformation…amazing!
Polidor is a furniture company we can’t take our eyes off of that brings together impeccable designs, exceptional materials and top quality craftsmanship. The process begins with the selection an
d development of unique furniture designs. Then, the finest quality materials and veneers are selected for each piece.
The furniture is then created by some of the most talented craftsmen in Europe. And, each collection is completed with custom designed hardware and the most distinctive finishes. This rigorous process of design, craft and quality creates Polidor’s own furniture lines, as well as custom designed collections for clients worldwide. Polidor’s furniture lines include English Classics, Casual European and Transitional Designs. These pieces make anything you place next to them look great!
Just read an eye-popping article in Sherwin-Williams great Stir Magazine called Classical Color to learn that anicent statuary is not plain white marble by nature. Lloyd Llewellyn-Jones, a lecturer in classics at the University of Ediinburgh reveals that ancient statues were often painted bright, vivid colors. Over the centuries the color faded leaving the other-worldly, white and translucent tone of the marble statues we see today.
German archeologist, Vinzenz Brinkman has spent the past 25 years recovering the ancients’ vibrant hues and patterns by using ultra-violet light and other techniques. A traveling exhibit entitled “Gods in Color” has stunned museum goers and scholars around the world!
Our fabulous Uttermost representative, Michelle Postma, gave us the heads-up on Uttermost’s new 2009 line showcasing hand-painted, rich Indonesia wood and expanded multi-functional upholstered pieces! This collection is getting raves and we can see why.
Shown here is the new Gentry Armchair designed by Mathew Williams, head designer for the accent furniture category who joined Uttermost in 2007 after making his mark at Maitland-Smith. The Gentry Armchair features a lush collage of deep browns, with textures in supple faux leather, suede velvet, and damask jacquard. Hardwood feet are stained dark espresso.
Other standouts in the collection include the Anya round table, the Rishi three-drawer chest and the Karnsa wine server. Upholstered accent furniture, such as storage ottomans, chairs and benches, are also rigiht on target. Great job Uttermost!
Excitng news from one of our favorite paint manufactures as Benjamin Moore launches “Natura,” a new line of zero-VOC interior paint that’s available in an incredible 3,500 colors including a primer! We’ve tested them in two rooms of our studio/showroom and can vouch or their zero-VOC claim and they look great. The new paints come in three sheens: flat, eggshell and semi-gloss.
Home improvement tax credits are now available for home improvements “placed in service” from January 1, 2009 through December 31, 2009. Home improvement tax credits up to $1,500 (raised from $500) are available for insulation, replacement windows, water heaters, certain high efficiency heating and cooling equipment, and biomass stoves. Also, the percent of the cost versus the project has been raised from 10% to 30%. For more information, see the Dept of Energy’s Energy Star program http://www.energystar.gov/index.cfm?c=products.pr_tax_credits.
One Step To Heaven is the product moniker and the experiential feeling derived from squishing your toes in the world’s first 100 percent cashmere carpeting from the celebrated Italian luxury goods nameplate of Loro Piana. For six generations the family owned company has supplied the finest cashmere and wool fabrics to become the largest manufacturer and single biggest purchaser of the world’s finest wools. For the last twenty years the Loro Piana brothers, Pier Luigi and Sergio, have incorporated their luxurious fabrics in exclusive lines for men, women and children and now bring their creative bounty to home furnishings in the form of carpeting for homes, yachts and private jets.
Priced at $178 per square foot, the carpet–produced from the soft underbelly of the Hyrcus goat–is available in three standard earth tones, though it can be customized to match any color scheme. Loro Piana has opened a showroom in New York’s D&D Building to showcase their Interiors Collection, which comprises more than 30 luxury fabrics including vicuña, silk, angora and cashmere. The showroom is open to designers and private clients.
iNSIGHTS & iNTERIORS 