Does Your Furniture Talk?

How many times have you rearranged the furniture in a room? What makes you jump up from the couch and start to push it around? Does it whisper in your ear and say "move me"?

The after Christmas lull gets me moving on small projects, like rearranging furniture. I take my Christmas decorations down on January 7, the day after Three Kings Day. Moving the furniture is a prelude to the post-Christmas refresh.


I have a small living room, no family room, so the living room is well-used. There is not one clear wall in the space, that is, not one wall without doors or windows. It's a tricky little room to get just right.

Visual Vamp Living Room
Pattern chair, lime green silk drapes, drawing of Cholo by PVE
Walls are a softer version of Billy Baldwin brown

It's no secret that I was influenced by the interior decorator Mr. Billy Baldwin at a tender age. To me the rooms he created were the filled with things I loved: color, books, flowers, pictures, pattern, sophistication, a mix of high and low furnishings, furniture arranged for conversation, rooms filled with warmth and interest.



I never intended to slavishly copy a Baldwin room, yet somehow so many things I saw in those rooms have trickled down in a modest way into my decor choices, personally and professionally.



I rearranged the furniture in the living room so that furniture is "talking to one another".
The French settee is now placed facing the sofa, in front of the double doors that are at the entrance. At first I was concerned it would block the way. But with a little nudging and tweaking I managed to allow enough room to pass in and out of the room.



I love seeing the back of the settee. I also love bringing back the lime slip covered wing chair and ottoman. The chaise lounge is in the guest room now. Moving furniture from room to room really makes a room feel new again.

Visual Vamp Living Room
Portraits of Kenny, Michael Pelkey, and Audrey Hepburn

When you sit on the camel back sofa and look out, the new arrangement of furniture provides a cozy cocoon.

Visual Vamp Living Room
Portrait of Marilyn Monroe by Mario Ortiz

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Subway Sign Giveaway!

Here is a great giveaway for you! Last two days to enter! Winner announced on Monday!

Chris from Subway-Sign.com offers a choice of any "standard" products sized 20" x 30" selected from Subway-Sign.com Subway, Metro and Streetcar 20" x 30" Photographs or Subway-Sign.com Destination/Personal History 20" x 30" Photographs
It is only available for shipping to USA addresses. The prize winner will need to provide her/his street address and email address.

You know the drill - please go to Subway-Sign.com HERE and look at all the cool choices. Come back here to Visual Vamp and leave a comment telling us which sign you like. The contest will go on for one week, and the winner by random choice will be announced next Monday. You must please leave a comment here on this post in order to win.

Visual Vamp has a subway sign in the kitchen!

Say what???!!!! Can this be the dreaded subway sign dissed on many a decor blog as another trend that bites the dust?

Like many of you, as a trend gets popular and trickles down to entrepreneurs like Chris, it becomes affordable and accessible to us mere mortals, of which I am certainly one.

I am a great fan of the art of typography, and have loved vintage subway signs, since I saw one hanging in a friend's loft in New York twenty years ago. These genuine vintage signs have become rare and collectible and pretty expensive, and I have always had my eye out for that miracle flea market find.

Buenos Aires subway sign HERE
Visual Vamp kitchen

Over the past three years printed reproductions have been cropping up most notably at Restoration Hardware and Pottery Barn. Oh the kiss of death for sure for so many that wouldn't be caught dead using such pedestrian stuff. And the signs were pricey. And then one showed up in a JLo movie, and the coffin lid was creaking shut.

Visual Vamp kitchen with chicken wire insets on upper cabinets

As many of you who read Visual Vamp know, Alberto and I have been working on a progressive kitchen project HERE, as in we progress when we have some money and energy to DIY improve our kitchen. It is a quirky space in an old New Orleans shotgun house. Alberto has been refacing the cabinets, and yay! he felt well enough to hang the last two cabinet doors he made with chicken wire inserts to show off the white ironstone.

Eventually we will replace countertops, and maybe do a new backsplash. In the meantime a concrete treatment I did six years is holding up, and I love the color. There is a boxed in chimney from an old fireplace that has also been walled in (by the previous owners), and this provides a very long and narrow wall space to uh hang something. I have always envisioned a subway sign in this space. Read more HERE

Of course I always thought it would be a New York subway sign of some sort. Or maybe a sign with the streetcar stops in New Orleans. Or maybe a Paris metro sign.

New Orleans streetcar stops from Subway-Signs.com
It was added to Chris' great selection at my suggestion

But since our devastating trip to Canada, Alberto and I realize we may never be able to fly to Buenos Aires again. So what does this have to with our kitchen and subway signs? Well after trying several art options on the long narrow wall space, with nothing looking right, I bit the bullet, swallowed my pride, and gasp, started looking for a subway sign for that wall. I immediately knew I wanted to have one from the B Line from the Buenos Aires subway, and couldn't find any such thing, because, uh, it doesn't exist.

I found several sites that do custom signs, and I found Chris and he/she (still don't know if Chris is a man or a woman ha ha) immediately came up with a design based on the information I sent.
I wanted do the canvas sign, but the size I needed is not available. So I opted for the paper sign, a super glorified poster, great quality on a superior heavy paper stock, and at a terrific affordable price.

The Buenos Aires subway sign is so perfect for anyone who loves the city, or for a tango lover. Two of the stops on the B Line are named for two important and beloved tango personalities: Carlos Gardel and Osvaldo Pugliese.

The sign did need to be framed, and a huge custom frame job like that would break the already broken piggy bank. After a little Google shopping I found a DIY frame and ordered that too from HERE

Framing it was a two person job, and not that easy, and I am sure there is a hair or two and a speck of something under the plexiglass. But all and all, it came out so great, and Alberto and I love it.

I sometimes let the idea that something is "out", influence my decor choices. Often this is valid concern and a good thing. But sometimes when you know something that has been trend trashed is really right, and it is something you really like, you just have to say fuck it, I like it, and that's that.

Enter the giveaway - you will love having one of the high quality signs from Subway-Signs.com in your home, or giving it as a holiday gift.

If you don't win this time, just buy one! It won't break the bank.

And thank you Chris for providing this wonderful holiday giveaway to the readers of Visual Vamp!

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"It was a real man cave, with a lot of heavy metal" - The Home of Robert Isabell

A few of my friends were collecting mid century modern long before I got it. Suzanne & Jeffrey from Second Hand Rose bought and sold it way before anyone else. Friends Steven, Robert M., Bruce, Michael. DiG., Philip, and Scott would fly to Miami and Los Angles in search of the great stuff. Steven ended up a curator for the Wolfsonian Museum in Miami. I would look at their apatments and think these guys are uber cool, but I was still an acolyte of Mario Buatta.


Among them was another collector named Robert Isabell, who was criss crossing my radar. We were both event designers at the same time in New York City. He and Preston Bailey were the big boy guns, and I was the little girl gun. My mid century collector friends all knew about Robert Isabel and his burgeoning collection.

Robert passed away a few months ago. Suddenly. Age 57. Heart attack. Shock and sadness are still palpable.


Now Sotheby's is auctioning off Robert's lovely things.

Buoyed by the success of his party design business (and believe me he was uber successful), and before it became fashionable and expensive, he had acquired 1940s furniture by Jean Prouvé and Charlotte Perriand and lamps by Serge Mouille. By the mid-1990s, he was developing a passion for the more robust work of Paul Evans, Harry Bertoia, George Nakashima, Phillip Lloyd Powell and Klaus Ihlenfeld.

When he began collecting heavy, metal-encrusted furniture designed by Paul Evans — buying prodigiously from Secondhand Rose, a downtown antiques store, and bidding successfully when the collection of Shari Lewis, the ventriloquist and puppeteer, was sold at Sollo Rago Modern Auctions in Lambertville, N.J., in 1999 — it was selling for as little as $800 a piece.

The eye-catching pièce de résistance in the room was the “Nickel Couch,” a sensuous metal confection by Johnny Swing, a Vermont designer, who spent three months welding thousands of nickels onto a patinated metal frame. (The couch, Lot 52 in Sotheby’s sale, is expected to sell for $15,000 to $20,000.)

The interiors that Robert devised for his own amusement at 16 Minetta Lane — in an aesthetic he jokingly described as “Blade Runner” meets “The Jetsons” — have now been disassembled. But the objects he cherished will be auctioned at Sotheby’s in New York on Dec. 17 (and will be on display there in advance, beginning on Dec. 12).


To read more about Robert and the auction at Sotheby's, go to the New York Times HERE, from whence I got these photos and information. It's well worth the read to have a glimpse into the very private life of the wonderful Robert Isabell.

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Are You Comfortable Using Nude Art Work?

Shop vignette at perch.
Do you like to use the image of a nude in your interior design?
Click on image for more detail

I did a post for the blog I write at perch. Take a look and tell us what you think HERE

Anna Spiro Interior Design
She inspired the perch. vignette

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The Long Of It

There is a long narrow wall space in my kitchen that is crying out for some art work. It is a boxed in chimney for a walled in fireplace. The dimensions are 23 inches wide and 80 some odd inches tall.

Visual Vamp kitchen - then
The narrow wall in the the "then" kitchen
I want to hang some subway art on this wall
The shelving has been removed, revealing a tall clean expanse

I am in no mood to open up the wall to expose old crumbling brick, especially when the counter sits in front of this column like structure.

What would work is something that is predictable: A subway sign. There are many sites that have these graphic images, and I like them very much. I loved my typography classes in art school, and I love typography and poster art.

Nate Berkus living room with subway style typography art

Of course now that Nate Berkus and Pottery Barn (and the Jane Fonda movie "Monster On Law") have perhaps over saturated the decor world with subway art, it starts to slide in the realm of the "Oh that's so 2008", or "That's so over".

Jane Fonda and her subway art in the movie "Monster In Law"


Pottery Barn subway art circa 2008
And it was on sale then for $79.!

What is it about us that one minute we all love something that is truly good looking (zebra or cow hide rugs, Lucite, Ikat, Imperial Trellis, Sea Grass, white slipcovers, etc.), and then we collectively bash any long term enjoyment out of having it?

This can never be over
Jenna Lyons Townhouse

New York subway signs

Being a New Yorker has endeared subway signage to me. So what's stopping me from getting a piece of subway art that is being offered in droves. Price mainly. A single sign to fit my space is around $275. HERE

It really isn't a high price for a piece of "art", when considered in context, but for me it is a little expensive.

So off I go on the hunt for a budget friendly piece of long and narrow in scale art, subway or otherwise.

I found subway art at Wal Mart! Well priced of course, but the dimensions are not quite right, being on the smaller side. I want the art work to fill up the long space as much as possible. But still these are great looking pieces for a girl (or boy) on a budget.

Cute subway style art for $31.88 from Wal Mart HERE
26 inches long - 14 inches wide - not the right size for me

More cute subway stile art from Wal Mart HERE
Stacking three of them might work to give the long look I need
Each piece is 22 inches x 18 inches

From Wal Mart for $31.88 HERE

I also found a site that sells recycled museum banners, the kind used to hang around town or in the art museum for a particular show. These banners are huge.

A museum banner in a room looks grand

72 inches long - 31 inches wide
Too wide for my space $325. HERE

They look so regular in size when you see them hanging on a lamp post, but for home use they are grand and large. Unfortunately all that are offered are too wide for my space, and the price range is $325. up to $800.

The subject matter at Better Wall is wide ranging

Groovy museum banner

These banners are refurbished and cleaned, and they are gorgeous. They also come in small limited editions, and I think are a worthwhile investment, because once they are gone, there aren't any more.

Marie Antoinette museum banner - there are only 25 of them

Marie-Antoinette and the Petit Trianon at Versailles
Museum - Legion of Honor, San Francisco
72 inches long - 35 inches wide $479. HERE

I found another source for long wall art, from a company that specializes in modern home furnishings. The even had some typography, though the wording is a little too "Eat, Laugh, Love" for me. But the slats, as the company calls them, are the perfect size, and at $119. not so out of the realm of my budget.

Wall Slats from Inhabit HERE

78 inches long - 24 inches wide $119.

But to eBay I must go, and of course there are many listings for subway art there. Some of it is very expensive, because subway signage is highly collectible.


I also checked out Etsy, and found some great ink jet prints HERE that are just beautiful, but the long size I need wasn't there. I could hang two or three of these pieces in a row, but then I would be back to $100. - $150. or so for settling on something that works, but isn't what I really want.

Etsy subway sign art
12 inches wide - 36 inches long
I would need two @$50. each

Back to eBay where I found a couple of interesting pieces, in the form of actual scrolls from the subway, the kind that sits in the long window of the train and identifies which train it is and what route it is on.

NY Subway signage in the window of the train
It's like the one I got

They are not as glam looking as the black and white subway art, but still they had some graphic charm, and the opening bid was low. So I put in my highest bid for around $25. and forgot about it. And of course because I wasn't salivating over this auction, I won the thing.

My eBay win for $25.99
54 inches long x 12 inches wide

I'm awaiting (as the say in eBay language) my purchase to arrive. I will try it out in the space, and who knows, it just might work. If not, I can always give it to someone as a gift.

from Apartment Therapy

I know many of us have spaces with unusual dimensions. And I know many of us are on tight decorating budget too. What are some of the tricks you use to fill an awkward space? And what kind of budget art are you finding out there? Lots of us create our art work for a space, and I'd love to hear about what you guys are making too. Send me photos, and I'll post them in Readers Projects.

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Claire - A Tale Of Two Houses

Claire. Native of New Orleans. Avid art collector. Lover of color. Friend. Wife of Josh. Mother of Margot.
This is the story of two homes that Claire has made for her aforementioned family, and her three dogs and two cats.

She lives in New Orleans, in a beautiful and typical 100++ year old Uptown townhouse.

But that's where typical stops, and incredible Claire starts.

The entry is wallpapered in silver vinyl. It reminds me of Andy Warhol's Factory.
The front hall leads up the stairs, carpeted in a wonderful animal print.
Claire has a summer project for the front hall: She is designing a floor to ceiling crystal chandelier with the feeling of water. She is making a pop art ceramic faucet where the crystals will flow from. Stay tuned!

The living room is painted a great shade of brown, and has many colorful pieces of furniture, and is jam packed with art. The carpet is an elegant sea grass custom cut and contoured to the shape of the room.



Sebastian the poodle is allowed on the furniture.


The furniture is off limits to the two Dobermans, Bridget and Henry, and to make sure they understand this, Claire puts mouse traps on the furniture. However, the dogs have several nice poufs as dog beds scattered through out the house.


The cats Stella and Chance go wherever they want to.


Adjoining the Living Room is the dining room, painted a great shade of yellow. Turquoise silk drapes give additional energy to the room. The Chinoiserie chairs are yellow too. Claire did the triptych of her daughter, and she made the sculptural sconces on each side of it


Next to the dining room is the office. There's grass cloth on the walls, zebra print on the floor, and a reindeer fur office chair, and of course more fabulous art work.


The family room is a cheerful room. The furniture and art reflect Claire's love of color.


Off the family room is a screened in back porch, that the family just loves. Note the old brick floor.


The brick floor extends outside to the patio around the pool. I love the huge chair and curved ottoman - it looks like Ying and Yang. And of course the tall yellow sculpture is to die for.


The bedrooms are upstairs. The master bedroom is pale and serene.


The daughter's room is a color-paloooza. She loves color as much as her mom does.


The guest room is Palm Beach traditional, but still colorful.


Even the upstairs laundry room has whimsy and color.
I took all these pictures as snap shots of the house "as is", just as the family lives with no photo styling or fluffing. I just love this house.


The family relocated to Houston for a short time after Hurricane Katrina.
But Claire missed her New Orleans, and they came back to their Uptown home.

Poem and nails from a house destroyed by Katrina on the book shelf in the office

You can see much of the art work and color in the Houston house, a mid century beauty, designed by Charles Tapley. All the rooms open to one another, with expansive ceilings, walls of windows, and hardwood floors.
It's for sale via Martha Turner Properties.
It's interesting to see some of the same art and furnishings in a modern house. I think each house looks spectacular, but I prefer the New Orleans house. Which do you like better?

Claire's House In Houston:

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