The lady in the picture

In 1934, Bobsy Goodspeed, seated beneath a portrait of her by Bernard Boutet de Monvel, relaxes at her lush Lincoln Park apartment; the architect David Adler designed the space.


Portrait of a Lady

By Geoffrey Johnson

Between the world wars, a beautiful, artistic woman named Bobsy Goodspeed stood at the heart of Chicago's social and cultural scenes. Now, prompted by a salacious if glancing remark in a recent book, this forgotten woman re-emerges and opens the door on a vanished era peopled by painters and pianists, plutocrats and politicians—and an irresistible force named Gertrude Stein


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Putting my money where my mouth is

Without even knowing the man, this is what I would have done for Gerard Butler.


An Arts and Crafts oak centre table, circa 1900, with lotus capped square legs joined by stretchers.



A three seat version of Hickory Chair's Knole Sofa. The"updated finials" would most certainly need to be covered in the Mulberry slubbed velvet.


Mulberry's Foxslub Velvet in Berry, as he seemingly likes red.




A Victorian mahogany long stool, circa 1860, with bobbin-turned legs and stretchers. The squab cushion replaced with a horsehair covered pad seat.





Antique leather covered armchairs.







If only for its relevance, a rare and unusual early 19th Century Scottish laburnum armchair. The drop in seat would be done in a dark green horsehair.







A Gothic Revival oak side table, cica 1880, with pierced frieze, on square legs.


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Can't get this at Ikea

Once the property of Grand Duchess Vera of Württemberg (1854 - 1912). A bed and side table, ca. 1870/80. Walnut veneer. Slightly carved head and foot boards, with detachable side panels. Inventory label "H.V.v.W. G.v.R." of Duchess Vera Konstantinovna, Grand Duchess of Russia, large stenciled inscription "E.v.W. 69" of her daughter Princess Elsa of Württemberg and other stamps.


Grand Duchess Vera with her husband, Duke Eugen of Württemberg




Villa Berg, Stuttgart. Now a shadow of the summer residence originally built in the mid-1800s for Crown Prince Charles of Württemberg by architect Christian Friedrich von Liens. On the death of her aunt and adoptive mother, Grand Duchess Olga, Queen of Württemberg, Grand Duchess Vera inherited the Villa Berg.

Her only sister Olga Constantinovna of Russia, HM Queen Olga, was the paternal grandmother of HRH Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh.



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It very well may be jousting at windmills...

But it just might be possible to produce a glazed finish at will.

Well, only that in the dark days of food shortages my mother was relieved to find two sacks of rice in the back of her store cupboard. It made a lot of puddings (I doubt if she could buy the ingredients for curry) but it was originally intended for reglazing her chintz curtains. Now there's a thought..

Yes, indeed Rose C'est La Vie, now there is a thought.

A thought now heightened by the fact many of the fabric houses are discontinuing some of their best chintzes. While it is relatively easy to have fabric printed in small runs (20-50 meters) it is impossible to have it glaze finished. Unless of course one is prepared to order 250 meter runs, and foot the cost of screens and strikes. One day, but not just yet.




In the meanwhile Belgian rice starch, superior to other types, seemingly gives the highest quality finish on natural fibers.

The degree of sheen is entirely dependent on the concentration of starch and the pressing of the cloth.

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Hello old friend

Chinese Export Lacquerware Game Board Table, early 19th century, the rectangular top containing a game board and well for backgammon, above three short drawers containing carved chessmen, turned post on shaped platform and hairy paw feet, (imperfections), ht. 31, wd. 24, dp. 20 in.





You have been missed.

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Alice's planter's punch

Jasmine Lampass






Butterflower






Arabesque Chenille


Now imagine it all covered in tailored, almost sheer, handkerchief linen slipcovers with embroidered details and secured with ties or linen covered buttons.


Stockhom Sheer


And at the shuttered windows, nothing more than gathered embroidered linen and cotton.


Swedish Sheer


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Alice doesn't live here anymore

Port of Spain, Trinidad BWI, at the turn of the 20th century.


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Like Alice, through the looking glass

Boissiere House
Port of Spain, Trinidad

In Trinidad, a Painted Lady in Distress
The New York Times




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Aide-memoire

La mémoire du rhinocéros, 1980 by François-Xavier Lalanne



Life is all memory. - Flora Sissy Goforth


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Excess baggage...

Wardrobe by Bottega di Victor



and hang-ups.

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More often than not

Source books for curtains and hangings (note the deliberate omission of the hateful phrase window treatments) are overwrought affairs full of fussy suburban interpretations of historical designs.

But not always, thanks to Caroline Cliffton-Mogg.



The Curtain Design Source Book




Curtains, A Design Source Book





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Le Nouvel An Chinois

Mussels in Black Bean Sauce

Chinese Broccoli with Oyster Sauce


Both served with steamed rice. Everything else, from the duck (which symbolises fidelity) to the Char siu, is ordered from a restaurant.



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Manfred, lord of the castle

The whole secret of life is to be interested in one thing profoundly and in a thousand things well. So said Horace Walpole, the 18th century English art historian, author, politician and, not least of all, arbiter of taste. Today he is most remembered for his Gothic revival villa, Strawberry Hill.


Strawberry Hill




The Long Gallery




Strawberry Hill
By Anna Chalcraft and Judith Viscardi




Walpole also said, Nine-tenths of the people were created so you would want to be with the other tenth.


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The last relic of a beloved race

Gothic revival oak cabinet bookcase, circa 1880, the pair of glazed doors with stylised arch and trefoil applied detail, enclosing adjustable shelves, the lower section with a pair of doors and a pair of cupboard doors, flanked by engaged columns on a plinth base.



Nothing contributes so much to tranquilise the mind as a steady purpose - a point on which the soul may fix its intellectual eye. - Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley




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Rehab

These two chairs are a prime example of what is known around here as the Lilie Road look. Which is always used in the pejorative as it represents a... for the lack of a better word... style that is completely lacking in substance.




Chairs like these are toshed out by the hundreds. They are either so crudely made or so far gone they are not worth restoring properly. Instead, they get a slap of cheap emulsion and a shoddy re-cover in calico or linen and presto... shabby masquerading as chic.





The chairs are first primed with a liquid sand solution, allowed to dry, and then repainted by dry brushing on two different shades of white. The recessed areas are roughly painted with a red oxide colour to approximate exposed bole, the base used in water gilding. The areas in high relief are then sanded back to expose some of the grey and some of the raw wood. Three coats of wax in two different shades are then applied.


To combat the expanse of Belgian linen that is the sofa in this particular project, a raspberry cotton/viscose strié velvet was chosen for the squabs and backs.




As there was no support under the padding, new wooden insets needed to be installed prior to the upholstery work being done. Had these chairs been of a superior quality I would have advised that the seats be re-caned as they would have been originally.


No silk purse these, but not quite the sow's ears they were either. Now, I can happily stand by them.



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Sounds exciciting doesn't it?

Unfortunately it wasn't. And hasn't been for two years now. What was once the highlight of many a bleak January is now nothing more than a direct marketing ploy. One or two (four to be exact) nice things afloat on a sea of absolute dross (and absolutely pristine Barbour).

On the upside I did manage to enter and leave the building without incident. And believe me it was a minefield of possible incidents.



Heather Leigh West - Drop A House

What goes up, must come down

Now that the festive season is over, let the real decorating begin.


My purpose is, indeed, a horse of that colour.


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