Bart Boehlert's Beautiful Things

The Beauty of the Layered Home

2026-04-06T12:58:00.021-04:00

Celebrating the book's publication with Ben.

My friend, talented magazine editor Ben Raynaert, has published a new decorating book called The Layered Home, and it's a pleasure to behold, filled with the colorful, exuberant homes of creative tastemakers plus lots of tips and inspiration. Ben favors interiors that are warm, personal and joyful, and the book features 17 homes in the United States and Europe that express his fondness for delightful decorating.

"My idea for the book was to focus on highlighting creatives in the industry - designers, artisans, antiques dealers, shop owners - who have really unique personalities and very unique spaces," reports Ben. "These interiors reflect who the person is. The subjects have their own distinctive taste that they have cultivated over years."

I was happy to see that the first chapter in the book features London-based garden designer Butter Wakefield who I had the pleasure of interviewing and writing about for Frederic magazine.

Butter Wakefield's charming bathroom. (All photos were shot exclusively for the book by Manuel Rodriguez)

You can read my story about Butter, which Ben produced, here.

For Ben, mixing objects with meaning creates interiors that resonate. "I love layering different things together whether that's a salon-style wall with lots of different art I have collected or a coffee table with layers of objects and books and trinkets and treasures I have picked up over the years," he says. "I like having things around that feel really personal to me." His interest in interiors that are imbued with stories and memories reminds me of the books of my friend Mary Randolph Carter, who likewise advises that you "live with the things you love."

The cheerful kitchen of London art dealer Julia Collins.

Ben grew up in suburban Detroit in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, and then studied fine arts and architecture at the Rhode Island School of Design. A job in Italy working for a book binder and print maker lead to a position in New York at the Morgan Library & Museum as an assistant to the book conservator. A gig at Martha Stewart Living magazine then blossomed into a career as a magazine editor at a number of design titles including Architectural Digest, Domino, House Beautiful and Traditional Home. Besides being an author, multi-hyphenate Ben is the Market Director at Elle Decor magazine, an interior stylist, and a co-founder with PR guru Christina Juarez of the popular shopping event The Ticking Tent.

The Litchfield, Connecticut, home of designer Schuyler Samperton.

In the midst of a range of digital and social media, Ben remains passionate about print magazines. "I love paper and I've studied paper making," he says. "I've always been really drawn to the cadence in a print magazine that showcases spaces in a series of photographs. Especially for interiors, you want to see them big." Beyond print, he embraces digital technology and indeed has a popular Instagram account at @spoonfulofbenjamin. "But at the end of the day its nice to hold something and read in your favorite chair on the weekend by the window," says Ben. "Print is now more of a luxury than it ever has been and it's increasingly more important to luxury advertisers so I do think we can have both."

Anjiri Aki's Parisian home.

The layered home provides a comfortable place to retreat and relax though one down side of interiors based on collecting and mixing can be overdoing it with too much stuff. "You can really become a hoarder without borders in no time flat," warns Ben. "So it's important to have an in and out process. You have to be able to let things go as much as you let things in." Ultimately, it's determining what you like and what you don't like. "For me, its not about creating rules for decorating," says Ben. "It's more about giving permission to define and refine your own taste."

High Fashion at the Frick

2026-02-16T11:06:00.006-05:00

The rich fineries of the eighteenth century are on sumptous display now at The Frick Collection in a new exhibition entitled "Gainsborough The Fashion of Portraiture," which features 25 paintings by the English painter Thomas Gainsborough, who lived from 1727 to 1788.

Gainsborough was one of the great portrait painters of his time, along with Joshua Reynolds, and this is the first exhibition of his portraits to be mounted in New York City. The show is housed in the new exhibition space at The Frick Collection, made possible by the recent expansion of the museum. You can read my story for Frederic magazine about how this great New York institution started as the home of the Frick family.

Henry Clay Frick himself was a great admirer of Gainsborough's paintings, stated Aimee Ng, the Peter Jay Sharp chief curator at The Frick Collection and organizer of the exhibition, at the preview. "In fact he collected them most avidly," she said. Three paintings on display are from the museum's permanent collection and the rest are on loan in this one-of-kind gathering of portraits.

The focus of the show is on fashion and how clothing expressed the identity of the sitter. Gainsborough's painting style has been described as a "gossamer web of sheer paint'" and his approach perfectly captured the textures and colors of eighteenth century fabrics including silks, brocades, velvets and laces. Gainsborough's painting expressed the fashionable, contemporary styles of the day, and the artist's loose, feathery brushstrokes brought movement and life to his paintings. The moody and atmospheric portraits have a lot of personality and romance. I was entranced. The show is a treat.

Above is the lovely Grace Elliott. She was a controversial character for having scandalous affairs with prominent men and she reportedly gave birth to a child fathered by the Prince of Wales, later King George IV. What a face! Here she looks directly at the viewer, her languid eyes framed by graceful eyebrows. A black ribbon at her chin falls seductively to meet a blue jewel and pink bow at her shapely bosom.

Here above is another, earlier, more conservative, less provocative painting of Grace Elliott by Gainsborough. Her statuesque height is accentuated by a towering powdered hairstyle a la Marie Antointette and the high empire waist of the shimmering gold silk gown that falls in long folds and shines as she moves. A white silk petticoat rustles underneath.

The above painting of Mrs. Samuel Moody tells a sad story. Gainsborough originally had painted Elizabeth Moody alone. After she died at age 26 of tuberculosis, her widower asked Gainsborough to repaint it to add their two children, creating an imaginary reunion. This painting displays so well the artist's mastery of rendering the essence of fashion including the pale gown tied with a light green sash and the blue jacket wrapped in a gossamer violet shawl, a delicate and beautiful combination of colors and textures.

Captain Augustus John Hervey's authoritative naval uniform reflects his status and achievements. The captain is shown leaning on a gigantic anchor, as one does. His tailored navy blue wool coat is edged in glinting gold braid and his cream colored waistcoat of silk or satin fastens with gold buttons that catch the light. Peaking out from the tailored jacket sleeves are soft ruffled lace cuffs. Navy blue plus gold and neutrals is a handsome combination that never goes out of style.

The end of the exhibition finds the last self-portrait that Gainsborough painted in 1787 when he was 60 and one year before he died. It features the loose, sketchy brushwork that was his signature. He is dressed dandily in a green tailored jacket and a buff-colored waist coat that are softened by a flowing cravat tied at the neck. Most prominent though are Gainsborough's knowing eyes, which saw so well the fashion of the time and how his subjects wanted to be portrayed in this delicious exhibition.

A Trip to the Winter Show

2026-01-30T15:55:00.010-05:00

I always enjoy a trip to The Winter Show (previously called The Winter Antique Show) at the Park Avenue Armory during the cold, dark days of January to see some beautiful things and escape the state of current affairs. This was the 72nd year of the show, with over 70 international dealers presenting art, antiques, jewelry and furniture -- truly a cornucopia of treasures. And it supports a good cause too. Proceeds from the ticket sales and benefit events go to the East Side Settlement House, the community organization that which provides education, development and resources for residents of the Bronx.

A favorite dealer off the bat was Robert Young Antiques from London, which sells wonderful folk art. The booth was light and cheerful with a wood plank floor and delicately stenciled walls. I love folk art, which has a simplicity and humbleness but also can be refined and graceful.

This charming diorama of a butcher's shop had the delightful, child-like whimsy of a doll house. Inside the wooden box, the waving butcher is surrounded by hanging carcasses and joints of handcarved, painted wood. It was made in England circa 1884 and had already been sold by the time I viewed it.

The colorful wedding chest was made in Norway in 1832. The handpainting inside the lid features a happy landscape and the exterior is covered in decorative swirls. The bride must have been delighted to use such a chest! In the gallery, above it was hung an eighteenth century equestrian portrait, the colors of which perfectly complemented the chest .

These six humorous metal penguins squatted happily on a wood trestle table. Made of painted and weathered sheet metal in France in the late twentieth century, they looked like they were ready to waddle away. Hanging above them was an English private road sign that listed toll road charges and was dated September 1898.

I chatted a bit with the proprietor Robert Young about the appeal of folk art. We both lamented the destruction of the wonderful Folk Art Museum building on West 53rd Street which was designed by architects Tod Williams and Billie Tsien in 2001 and then demolished by the Museum of Modern Art in 2014 to make way for its own expansion.

When I was an art history major in college, I wrote a paper about elegant Greek lekythos vases and so I was delighted to see this lovely specimen featured in the Hixenbaugh Ancient Art gallery. The lekythos vase was used to hold oil and had a signature tall, graceful shape that was decorated with delicate line painting that perfectly fit the vase's profile. The gallery founder Randall Hixenbaugh told me that this vase was created in Athens, Greece, circa 480 BC by one of the finest vase painters who is called the Berlin Painter. This one features Eros, the god of love, flying away but looking back at the work he has done so in one gesture it tells a little story.

At the Thomsen Gallery, I admired these small, exquisite Japanese tea caddies. Erik Thomsen explained to me that they were gold lacquer on wood. The fine decoration and gleaming surfaces made them look like pieces of jewelry. These tea caddies reminded me of Jayne Wrightsman's collection of small, gorgeous snuff boxes that I wrote about for Cottages and Gardens magazine –

In contrast to these fanciful decorations was this simple pine chair in the striking, dark gallery of prominent English designer Rose Uniacke, who is debuting this year at The Winter Show. One of a set of eight, the Swedish chair made circa 1932 by furniture designer Axel Einar Hjorth features a handsome, smooth wood grain and blackened iron rivets paired with a soft velvet cushion for a striking mix of natural and elegant, the best combination.

The Serenity of Agnes Martin

2025-11-26T10:42:00.006-05:00

Last weekend, I walked up to the newish Pace Gallery on West 25th Street in Chelsea housed in a big eight-story building that's as large as a museum you'd find in a mid-size American city. On the first floor, I found my destination - an exhibition of 13 paintings by Agnes Martin called "Innocent Love" done towards the end of the artist's life and up until Dec. 20th. I motored into the gallery and was stopped in my tracks by how serene and quiet the paintings were. Shockingly, I was completely alone in the galleries. I was stunned by the stillness and moved by the peacefulness of the paintings. It was like being in a church.

I was not extremely familiar with the work of Agnes Martin, but my curiosity was piqued by an interesting article on Vogue.com by Grace Edquist. The paintings are very simple - horizontal bands of blue, pink and yellow rendered in a thin imperfect wash, but the effect was powerful, like standing in front of a Rothko, which similarly evokes an emotional response through its plain clouds of color.

Because the paintings are simple, photographs can't really convey their effect or impact. It reminded me of an observation by the fashion historian Caroline Milbank when she was talking about the simplicity of American style and noted, "It's hard to look at something simple or plain and realize how radical it was at the time."

Agnes Martin was born in Saskatchewan, Canada, in 1912. She studied art and made her way to New York City in 1957 when she lived on the now renowned Coenties Slip in lower Manhattan with other young unknowns including Robert Indiana, Jasper Johns, Ellsworth Kelly and Robert Rauschenberg who took up residence in abandoned lofts. Later, Martin left New York City for the solitude of New Mexico where she lived and worked until her death in 2024. At the Pace, there is a long video interview with Martin playing in which she talks about her work. She notes that her emotions are recorded in the paintings. "I use the horizontal line to get to meaning," she says. "A lot of painters paint about painting but I paint about meaning. It took me 20 years to paint what I wanted."

Martin offers some wisdom: "Worry about your own mistakes and not the mistakes of others," she advises. "Your own will be enough."

As for her work, she tries to illustrate the positive, not the negative. "Say, 'What can I do?' and then you wait for inspiration," she says. "Beauty is the mystery of life. Beauty illustrates happiness."

The Man Who Designed the Gilded Age

2025-10-26T11:53:00.066-04:00

When TD and I were in Newport, we visited a very interesting exhibit at the Rosecliff mansion sponsored by the Preservation Society of Newport about Richard Morris Hunt, the great architect who built many of the Vanderbilt mansions and came to define the Gilded Age. Hunt was a fascinating character who was more than an architect - he was passionate about promoting art and culture in the United States.

Hunt was born into a prominent New England family and was the first young American architect to study in Paris at the prestigious École des Beaux-Arts, which was dedicated to teaching a lavish, opulent French national style that was based on classical ancient Greece and Rome blended with French and Italian Renaissance and Baroque.

After the Civil War in the United States, newly made wealth flourished and the rich sought a lifestyle that expressed their success. Titans like the Vanderbilts wanted to live like European royalty and hired Hunt to create colossal mansions in New York, Newport and beyond. He dipped into his Beaux Arts bag of tricks to create grandiose, aristocratic style houses with colonnades, arches, dramatic entrances, sweeping staircases, carved ornamentation, and gold gilded decoration.

The Breakers in Newport.

In Newport, Hunt designed the colossal Breakers for Cornelius Vanderbilt II and extravagant Marble House for William K. Vanderbilt and his wife Alva. In HBO's "The Gilded Age," George and Bertha Russell are based on William and Alva Vanderbilt, and indeed some scenes are actually shot at Marble House and the Breakers. In Ashville, North Carolina, Hunt designed for George Vanderbilt the Biltmore estate, which is still the largest house in America.

The Biltmore in North Carolina.

Hunt's workroom in Newport.

Besides his architecture work, Hunt strongly promoted the arts and culture after the Civil War, and was one of the founders of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. He also co-founded the American Institute of Architects to improve the status of architects, who up until that time had been treated like tradespeople. His final commission before his death was the entrance hall of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, which still offers a magnificent, monumental portal into one of the world's great art museums.

My picture of the Great Hall at the Met.

Later, architectural taste began to change and shift away from extravagant, aristocratic French style with its rich flourishes. New York architects like Delano & Aldrich, who worked for the Rockefellers, favored a cleaner, simpler, more conservative style based on Federal architecture that eschewed European influence and reflected the independent American democracy. But Hunt will be remembered for creating the style of the Gilded Age and for his relentless promotion of the arts after the Civil War. "It has been represented to me that America was not ready for the Fine Arts, but I think they are mistaken," he wrote. "There is no place in the world where they are more needed, or where they should be more encouraged."

A Day Trip to Newport, Rhode Island

2025-09-16T09:34:00.001-04:00

Rosecliff

The view from Rosecliff

To celebrate our 40th (!!) anniversary, TD and I recently spent a week at the beautiful beach home of my great friend Abby in Little Compton, Rhode Island, which is a lovely small town with green hills that roll down to the scenic coast line. TD and I enjoyed visiting different beaches there and swimming in the Atlantic Ocean in September. We went to the local fish markets and stopped at the farm stands for fresh corn and tomatoes and lettuce. One day we drove about 50 minutes for a day trip to Newport, Rhode Island, where the millionaires of the Gilded Age built palatial summer "cottages," as they were called, by the sea.

Our first stop was Rosecliff, pictured at the top of this post. Rosecliff was built in 1899 by architect Stanford White for Nevada silver heiress Theresa Fair Oelrichs, and based upon the Petit Trianon at Versailles. On the top floor of the building was a fascinating exhibition about architect Richard Morris Hunt, who built colossal homes for the Vanderbilt family in New York City, Newport, and Ashville, North Carolina.

As a student, Hunt was the first American to attend the prestigious Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Paris. Back in New York, Gilded Age millionaires newly awash in money wanted to live like European royalty and Hunt knew how to deliver the French splendor; he was the man who designed the Gilded Age.

Our second stop was at Marble House, which was built by Hunt in 1888 for William K Vanderbilt and his wife Alva. On HBO's popular show "The Gilded Age," George and Bertha Russell are based on William and Alva, and indeed some scenes have been shot at the grandly opulent Marble House.

The dining room at the Vanderbilt's Marble House

The staircase at Marble House

Besides his work as an architect, Richard Morris Hunt was passionate about bringing European and world art and culture to the United States, and was one of the founders of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City, for which he designed the still majestic Great Hall. In order to improve the status of architects, who were thought of as tradesmen, he founded the American Institute of Architects. Hunt was a fascinating figure who shaped the design of his time and was devoted to elevating the culture of the United States after the Civil War.

Hungry after our house touring, we had a wonderful lunch at Belle's, which is located on the dock of the Newport marina. Along the dock, big boats and tall sailboat masts soared overhead.

Belle's

And then we stumbled unknowingly into the picturesque Newport Historic District with its 18th century Colonial houses. There we found the charming Cottage & Garden antique shop offering vintage furniture and accessories.

I really enjoyed our day trip to Newport and would gladly return - there is so much American history and culture and design to be a savored there. I was delighted by everything I saw. Newport is a rich resource for those who love beautiful things.

A Trip Upstate for a High School Reunion

2025-08-06T13:32:00.457-04:00

I recently had a trip upstate to New Hartford, New York, where I grew up, for a high school reunion. Shortly after I graduated with high school, my family moved away so I had not been back up to New Hartford in a very long time. I had never been to a reunion so I didn't know what to expect. But my great friend Suzy was pushing me to go and TD thought it would be a good idea too. I figured, "Well, now are never!"

So one morning I took the train from Grand Central up to Beacon, New York, where I met Suzy and her husband John who drove us up to New Hartford, outside of Utica, about a three hour drive. Suzy had our yearbook and we went through it in the car to refresh our memories. Up in New Hartford, I rented a car and drove to the home of my cousin Celeste on my father's side, who had invited me to stay, and it was great fun to catch up with her and her husband Kevin. That night Suzy and I had dinner with the two Nancys at an Italian restaurant in the village of New Hartford and then stopped into a bar down the street that used to be Wanamaker's Furniture store.

The next day, I had some time to drive around New Hartford and Utica to some favorite place. First was the two houses my family lived in. I have sweet memories of our little Cape Cod house on Morris Circle but it was now overgrown with vegetation in front and it looked like the roof was damaged. Across the street is a ravine where my brother Thom and I literally spent four seasons a year outdoors roaming around. Now many years later it had eroded further so it was deeper than it used to be and the side was too steep to go down. On the other side of the ravine where beautiful wild fields that had now been turned into a residential development.

On I drove through town and went into the big modernist Catholic church St. John's the Evangelist where we went as a family every Sunday for mass, the six of us lined up in a pew. I spent a lot of time in that church. The next stop was up Wills Drive where our second home is located. It was bigger - five bedrooms. We moved there when I was in seventh grade so I spent my junior high and high school years in that house.

Then I headed over the hill past the Valley View Country Club golf course to downtown Utica to two favorite spots. The first is the Utica Public Library housed in a beautiful Neoclassical building designed in 1904 by the renowned New York City architecture firm Carrere and Hastings, who in fact built the New York Public Library, one of the finest examples of Beaux Arts architecture in the United States. The interior of the Utica library has five floors of elegant metal stacks with glass floors. In high school, I loved studying and doing research and reading there.

Old views of the the exterior and interior of the library.

Alas, the library was not as I remembered it. The refined interior has been mucked with clashing displays and signage and a video screen. I asked the librarian if there was an elevator to the upper stacks and he replied that it was broken. But I still have fond memories of reading and studying in the stacks, and perusing the Conde Nast magazines from New York City in the Periodicals Room.

Then I headed right across Genesee Street to the Munson Williams Proctor Art Institute, which is now simply called Munson, like the New York Historical Society is now called New York Historical. Shortening a name is the new thing, I guess. This art museum was designed by prominent architect Philip Johnson in the modern International style and opened in 1960. It's quite a contrast to the Neoclassical library across the street.

I took a lot of art class at the adjoining art school and always loved visiting this museum. The museum interior felt vast and was very quiet and cool. It has a good collection of modern paintings and its treasure is "The Voyage of Life" series of four oversized paintings by American artist Thomas Cole. There was a lending library where members could borrow art works to take home, and my mother let me help her pick them out. This place really was a sanctuary for me. My cousin Celeste met me at the museum for a tour through a current exhibition and then we had a tasty lunch next door at the Terrace Cafe at the Fountain Elms house museum.

When I graduated from high school, I went to McGill University in Montreal and studied art as an art history major. And it's largely due to these two places in Utica facing each other on Genesee Street -- the library and the museum. They were the beginning of me.

Then it was back to Celeste's house and onto the main event - the high school reunion at the Yahundasis Country Club! I met my great friend Nannette in the parking lot and we walked in together - just as we had gone to the Senior Prom together. From the moment I stepped inside, the event was a blast. It was so much fun to see people again after 50 years! Some looked exactly the same. It was a pleasure to be with everyone after such a long gap. High school is an intense time. At least it was for me. And it wasn't always a picnic. As a tall, thin, bookish, creative kid who ran in the opposite direction from a ball, I did not fit into the athletic focus of New Hartford High School. But everyone was so happy to be at the reunion and glad to see each other again. There was a buffet dinner when we were briefly sitting down, but otherwise we were on our feet talking and catching up and reminiscing. I was there for five hours. It felt very restorative and when I got back to Celeste's house that night, my head with spinning with conversations and snippets. I wanted to remember it all and everything everyone said.

The next morning was a tour through New Hartford High School, which felt oddly smaller than I remember but also larger as several big additions have been made. Then it was on to a friend's house for a brunch. For lunch, I met my cousin Ginny Border at a restaurant in the village. Ginny is actually my second cousin as she is the daughter of my mother's cousin Katie Border. Along with Ginny's sisters Mary and Patty, we have the most wonderful memories of being at 611 in Herkimer with our great aunts. Ginny is our family historian and it's always intriguing to talk with her.

Then I drove out of New Hartford! It was a whirlwind 48 hour visit.

I drove on to Saratoga Springs to visit my uncle Brian and his wife Susan for two nights. My great grandfather Dan O'Donnell was a railroad engineer and Brian loves trains so we drove together to the Saratoga train station to pick up TD, who came up from New York. Brian and Susan have a wonderful pool and deck that is a treat to lounge around. He is the last surviving sibling on my mother's side and I love to hear his wonderful family stories that go way back in time; he recalls when I was an infant and he was my babysitter. Then TD and I spent a night with my cousin Bob (on my father's side) and his wife Nancy who live nearby. Bob took us in the car to Ballston Spa, a charming nineteenth century town, which had some big antique stores to explore, and then to visit their daughter Louisa and some of her kids.

The next day, TD and I took the train home along the wide, unblemished Hudson River which has to be one of the most beautiful train rides in the US. We arrived back in New York at the quiet and civilized Moynihan Train Hall.

It was a trip back into my youth, back into my past. I'm so grateful that I got to do so much and see so many places and people -- family and friends. The reunion was such an unexpected pleasure. I'm glad that I went and I thought of my parents - they would be happy that I did that too. To drive around the streets of New Hartford and Utica and see my friends and classmates again was fulfilling and warmed my heart. It was one of life's full circle moments.

"Oh, Mary!"

2025-05-23T09:58:00.008-04:00

At last! "Oh Mary"! Everyone has loved this Broadway show and some of our friends have seen it more than once so expectations were high but it did not disappoint. The fictional, wacky story about Mary Todd Lincoln written by and starring Cole Escola is running at the Lyceum Theater, which was built in 1903 and is like a great ancient vaudeville theater. We had good seats in the first row of the mezzanine so a wonderful view of everything including the ornate ceiling, walls decorated with molded plaster swags and sculptures of three muses high overhead at the very top of the proscenium arch. It was the perfect setting for the old school madcap hijinks that followed.

Escola has said that this play is about a woman with a dream that no one around her understands and also what if Abraham Lincoln's assassination wasn't such a bad thing for Mary? The result is hysterical. One gag, one funny bit after another, and it felt good to laugh, along with the entire theater, for 90 minutes straight. Escola throws themself into the role with the most extreme facial expressions and body contortions. Also, I found Conrad Ricamora as Mary's tortured husband Abraham Lincoln to be just as funny. The entire small cast was excellent. At one point I was laughing so hard doubled over that I was afraid I was distracting the guy sitting next to me so I tried to rein it in. It's such a gift to be able to write a piece that creates joy like that. This play was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize and has been nominated for numerous Tonys. I hope it wins. And I want to see it again immediately.

A Great Season in New York City Museums - 4 Things to See Now

2025-05-09T19:17:00.342-04:00

This spring has really turned out to be a banner season for New York City museums. After Covid, I think the museums are going all out to attract visitors, and there are some wonderful things to see in New York now. Taken together as a whole, New York offers an astonishing display of the best of the best - there really is no place like New York! In the order in which I saw them, here my favorites that I recommend. And you can see how they are related --

The Newly Renovated and Expanded Frick Collection

The West Gallery

The Fragonard Room

The Frick Collection has always been a favorite spot of mine, and now, after a lengthy and expensive renovation and expansion overseen by Selldorf Associates, it reopened this spring. I was lucky to get a tour of it before it opened to the public as I was researching a story I wrote for Frederic magazine (read my story here). On the afternoon that I was visiting, actress Christine Baranski, who is currently in the series "The Gilded Age," came through looking smart in a pantsuit. I wanted to catch her eye and say, "What do you think? This is the real Gilded Age!" but she didn't look like she was open to chitchat.

The building was originally built as the home for the Frick family and then converted into a museum after family members died, per Henry Clay Frick's will. Now it was been renovated and expanded. The grand staircase, which used to be closed off with a velvet rope, is now open so one can happily ascend to the second floor where the former family bedrooms are now gallery exhibition space. On the second floor there is also a a new gift shop and cafe. The whole thing feels much more opened up and the Frick seems like more of a substantive museum, a bigger destination. It's greatest pleasure is the art collection hanging on the walls. To enjoy the masterpieces purchased by Frick in this stunning setting is really a treat.

"Sargent and Paris"

In the Luxembourg Gardens

Paul Helleu Sketching with His Wife

A couple of weeks after the Frick reopened, the Metropolitan Museum of Art opened "Sargent and Paris," featuring the work of artist John Singer Sargent, also of the Gilded Age. Organized by curator Stephanie Herdrich, it examines the decade when the young 18-year-old painter arrived in Paris and began his career. His rise was quite meteoric as it ends with the renowned portrait of "Madame X", which, with her low cut dress, fallen shoulder strap, and arrogant attitude, was felt to be an unsuitable portrayal of a married woman. The painting scandalized Paris and prompted Sargent to move to England.

In England, Sargent painted some of my favorite works including the big, blowsy, gorgeous "Wyndham Sisters" and the simple, poetic garden scene "Carnation, Lily, Lily, Rose," but here in this show based in Paris you see the beginning of his great taste and eye for elegance and style and color. Sargent had such a beautiful vision of the world and it's a great comfort to be in its presence.

"Amy Sherald: American Sublime"

On a whole entire floor, The Whitney museum downtown in the Meatpacking District has mounted an exhibition of paintings by Amy Sherald, who famously did the portrait of First Lady Michelle Obama. Sherald, who was born in Columbus, Georgia, in 1973, did not see many people pictured who look like her in the annals of art history and so she set about painting portraits of every day Black Americans.

After looking at a number of the portraits, I noticed that the artist renders the skin in gray, rather than natural skin tones. She did this, she has said, to draw attention to the individual rather than the shade of their skin color or race. Like John Singer Sargent, Sherald has a wonderful eye for clothes and details, and I loved the colors and prints and patterns in this show. I found it very uplifting in the current dark and disturbing political climate.

"Superfine: Tailoring Black Style"

Also centered on a Black theme, back uptown at the Met, the Costume Institute has just opened a new show celebrating the Black dandy, and how Black men have used clothing as self expression and protection since the 18th century. I have not seen this one yet but plan to soon! It of course opened with the Met Gala on the first Monday in May, organized by Anna Wintour and Vogue. Attended by musicians, movie starts, athletes and artists, the night raised $31 million. The Costume Institute has not mounted a menswear show in 22 years. The reviews have been great and I'm looking forward to it. There is always something wonderful new to see in New York City.

"Live With the Things You Love"

2025-03-26T09:58:00.006-04:00

Carter and I at her book party at the Double RL store.

"Live With the Things You Love" on my mother's antique wood dining table from upstate New York.

My great friend Mary Randolph Carter, who is called Carter, has written a new book entitled "Live With the Things You Love...And You'll Live Happily Ever After" (Rizzoli), and TD and I recently had the pleasure of attending her book party hosted at the Double RL store on West Broadway in Soho. While Carter has had a big creative director job at Ralph Lauren, she has also authored popular lifestyle books and this is her tenth. Carter's great passion is for antiques, vintage items, family heirlooms and fun finds she calls junk. She advocates for interiors that have meaning and warmth, and she has a great eye for mixing bright, cheerful colors like an artist. Everything goes back in time and shares a romantic aesthetic. When I worked at Ralph Lauren, I loved visiting her in her office which, though it was on Madison Avenue, felt like a trip to a house in the country with its wonderful antiques, soft textiles, piles of book and magazines, and vintage art on the walls. Not much is new and shiny in Carter's world. In one interview she recounted how her husband Howard was begging to replace creaky, wobbly porch chairs with something from Target that "no one will kill themselves on." Nothing suitable had yet been found.

The cheerful kitchen in Carter's country home. (book photos by Carter Berg)

I share Carter's love of antiques and vintage items. To me, they speak with a simplicity and a softness and a comfort. They have a history, they have a life that's more interesting than something new. Perhaps my favorite book by Carter is called "For the Love of Old." It gave me the courage to eschew the new and shiny for things that go back in time. The antique pieces that we have in the apartment are dear to my heart including our dark wood dining table that my mother found at the renowned Bouckville Antique Show in upstate New York when I was growing up and gave to me. At the end of our living room we have a beautifully shaped Empire table that was given to my great grandparents on their wedding day in Herkimer, New York, in 1886. Catty corner to that I have my great grandfather's very large and rustic wood tool box that he used while railroad engineer on the Adirondack Line railroad. In front of the couch is a small, green, slightly rusting metal coffee table which is actually a factory table that I found at the sorely missed Chelsea Antiques Garage. It cost $25. I thought it would be temporary but it has stayed because it is the perfect size and color.

Her colorful porch for summer time relaxing.

Carter's new book continues to inspire with the homes of thirteen artist and friends who are similarly passionate about living with antiques and pieces that are rich with sentimental value. Her voice supports my love for the old. When I doubt myself and consider that an antique should be replaced by something new, I think, "No, Carter would approve."

A Lost Beloved Thing

2025-01-26T17:49:00.008-05:00

Last summer, when TD and I took a memorable trip to Italy for my nephew's wedding on Lake Como, we flew from JFK airport on a Sunday night for an all-night flight to Milan. I find going through the airport TSA check point to be stressful -- it seems like you wait in a long slow line to get up to security and then suddenly it's a mad rush to get your belongings into a plastic bin -- and then what needs to come off? Your shoes, your belt, your jacket, your phone, your watch, your wallet? Sometimes it seems that the requirements are different. The guards were yelling to move along faster. I took off my things and as I approached the scanner, TD, who was behind me, said, "Do you have your cross on?"

Ah, my cross. When I was in high school, my father gave me a silver cross on a chain that I have loved these many years. My father, who passed away in 2017, didn't give me many personal gifts and this one was perfect so it was highly unusual. He had picked it out in a store in downtown Utica – a small silver asymmetrical medallion centered by a cross. On one side the medallion is cross-hatched and the other side has the texture of modeled clay. It was simple but interesting and modern but timeless, and I have cherished, and not lost it, for approximately 50 years. The only jewelry I wear is my wedding ring from TD, a watch that belonged to my brother Eric, and my father's cross.

At the airport, I quickly slipped the chain and cross off my neck and threw it into the black plastic bin. On the other side of security, we hurriedly gathered our things and put them back on and continued to the gate for our flight.

The next day around mid-day in the hotel in Milan, I felt my chest for my cross on the chain. It wasn't there. In a panic, I rifled through all my pockets and knapsack looking for it. Had I already taken it off and put it somewhere in the hotel room? I didn't think so but I searched the room and through my pockets again. I couldn't find it anywhere and I flashed back to Ted speaking to me at security and slipping it off my neck.

I had left my cross in the plastic bin at JFK International Airport.

My heart sank. I had managed to hold on to that cross for 50 years and now it was gone. And I felt terrible. Why hadn't I put it in a safe pocket in my knapsack where it wouldn't get lost? I was distraught and angry at myself. This had the potential to ruin the trip.

After a while I opened my laptop to see how to report a missing item at JFK. I found an email address and rather hopelessly sent off an email to TSA describing what I lost and where and when I lost it. Three days later I received an email back that said TSA did not collect lost items for the particular terminal we were in. For that terminal, I had to submit a report on an app.

Oh dear I thought, the black hole of an app. On the app I submitted a lost item report. It asked for a photo or drawing of the item so I got out a pad of paper and sketched my cross

I took a picture of it and uploaded it to the app and sent it off.

30 minutes later I received a message back from the app.

They had my cross.

I literally could not believe my eyes when I read it. I thought maybe it was a mistake but how could it be when my drawing was so specific. In that vast, cavernous airport terminal, someone had found and retrieved my little silver cross. And the emailing and app from my hotel room in Milan had worked. Honestly, it felt like a miracle. I was so happy and relieved. It said for $50, they would FedEx it to my home so a few days after we returned from Italy, I received my silver cross in the mail and slipped it on my neck. I really am so grateful to TSA for being organized, and amazed that when it works, technology really works. And thankful to have a small piece of my father back.

Some Christmas Memories

2024-12-20T19:56:00.013-05:00

Christmas at 611- in the back row, my great aunt May, my father, and great aunt Zibby. In the front row, my brother Thom, me with my brother Eric on my lap, and my sister Cynthia.

Christmas Eve a few years ago - Thom, me, Ted, and Eric.

With my parents gone and my brother Eric too, holidays are very poignant now and filled with memories. Between Thanksgiving and Christmas are also my birthday, Eric's birthday and Ted's birthday. And there was my mother's birthday and my grandmother's birthday. Eric loved Christmas and Christmas Eve. So it's a period that's filled with remembrances. During this time, I get flashes of people and bits of memories. We were always together at the holidays. I have a longing to be together again.

Christmas especially was a big occasion when I was growing up. My mother loved holidays and loved celebrating. I grew up in a little Cape Cod house in New Hartford, New York, until we moved to a bigger house across town. My mother made the house pretty at Christmas and there was always a lot of art on the walls. On Christmas Eve, my father's parents, Nanny and Grandpa, and his sister Betty came for dinner. My father's parents did not come to our house a lot, even though they lived close by in Utica, so it was an event. Every year in the living room we children put on a little musical skit, set to "The Little Drummer Boy," for instance. We had costumes and props, and as the oldest of four, I was the bossy director. Then dinner. My mother was not a cook and did not like to cook. You couldn't eat meat on Christmas Eve, and every year she served a dreadful crab meat casserole. She said, "Oh, the children are too excited to eat anyway." This was accompanied by green beans with almonds, for some green color. Dessert was a treat -- half a coconut-covered snow ball with a little piece of plastic ivy on top and a little candle.

After dinner, the lights were turned off and we sat around the colorfully illuminated Christmas tree and sang carols. Some years, during this time, the phone would ring and it would be Santa Claus calling. Singing around the tree in the darkened room was so peaceful and serene. "Silent Night" was my aunt Betty's favorite.

Christmas morning, Thom and I rose at the crack of dawn and rushed downstairs and tore through all our presents like little banshees. My mother would get us clothes and later in the morning we would try on the new clothes and they never fit - too big, too small, etc. "Jesus Christ, none of these clothes fit," my mother would cry in frustration. "Donna!" my father said. "Do not talk like that on Christmas Day!"

We got dressed for Christmas and the six of us piled into the station wagon to go to church to the gigantic, modern, cold St. John's the Evangelist in New Hartford. And after church we went to visit my great aunts at 611 West German Street, in nearby Herkimer, New York.

We didn't take the Thruway there, we took the back roads, so it was literally over the river and through the woods. I've written about 611 a lot so forgive if this is repetition. My mother's four aunts, Zibby, Milly, May and Kay, lived in the big Victorian house that they and their siblings, including my mother's mother Foffy, had grown up in. My great grandfather Dan O'Donnell, had emigrated with County Sligo in Ireland and worked as a railroad engineer on the Adirondack line. A trip to 611 was always a treat for me and the house had a big influence on me with it's high, high ceilings, antique furniture, marble fireplaces with a wood fire burning, piles of books and magazines and the Sunday New York Times (which was rare in upstate New York), and wonderful stories from my great aunts, particularly Milly who had gone to Cornell, lived in the Philippines, and loved to read. At Christmas, there was a tall tree covered with silver tinsel and a cocktail hour. Milly carried a shaker of a Whiskey Sours with her and she was always smoking a cigarette. Christmas dinner was around the big dining table in the dining room, and Milly sat at the head and directed the conversation. For me it was all dreamy. My great aunts adored us. There was never a word of criticism. They thought we were the best. It was unconditional love at 611, and everybody needs that.

At the end of the night, the six of us piled back into the station wagon and my father drove home. In the back, we children would pretend that we were asleep so that my father would carry us into the house.

I am lucky to have these memories, and to have been with both my father's family and my mother's family. My parents really did a good job at Christmas. And I'm lucky today to celebrate holidays with my spouse Ted and siblings Thom and Cynthia and family and friends. A season of gratitude. And remembering loved ones who I miss.

A Trip to the Met

2024-11-18T21:49:00.003-05:00

The American Wing lit up at night

The Annunciation by Ambrogio Lorenzetti, 1344, from the Sienna show

The Pieve Altarpiece by Pieto Lorenzetti, 1320, from the Sienna show

The moody, atmospheric Copenhagen Harbor by Moonlight by Johan Dahl, 1846

Garden at Vaucresson by Edouard Vuillard, 1920, which is a favorite.

After the astoundingly upsetting election results, TD and I needed a trip to the Metropolitan Museum of Art for some beauty and relief from the darkness. We like to go on Friday nights which are much less crowded than daytime hours. Our first stop on the second floor was to the current blockbuster called Siena - the Rise of Painting. Florence, Italy, is often thought of as the cradle of the Renaissance, but this exhibition focuses on the work of the painters of Siena. The installation of the show is very striking. The rooms are dark and black columns create a vertical height. On the dark walls the golden paintings glow and it's blessedly quiet so its like being in a cathedral. The paintings all have the lovely Italian Renaissance palette - rose, tones of blue, orange and gold, gold, gold. The Annunciation, pictured above in simple tones of gold, blue and rose, captured my attention . The angel's golden sashes on the rose-colored robe were highly textured as if they were encrusted with jewels. The angel looks poignantly at Mary as she lifts her eyes skyward. It's a great Bible story and this painting beautifully expresses the emotion. My favorite thing I saw all night.

When we came out of the show we proceeded across the hall to the 19th and Early 20th Century Art and Sculpture Galleries, which I love and have been in a million times, but we were interested to see that the Galleries have been painted in new colors and the art work rehung in new ways. It was so refreshing and fun to go through again. Then we went down that long hall lined with drawings and prints and found ourselves in the European Paintings 1250 - 1800 Galleries that were closed for so long as they were redone with new overhead lighting. Those galleries also have been painted new colors and the art rehung in unexpected ways. Those galleries are so vast we just walked through some and will return to investigate further.

Lastly, it was time to retire to the Balcony Cafe for a cocktail. Yes, Friday nights is Date Night at the Met and the Balcony Cafe sells cocktails while a musical quartet plays. We usually breeze in easily but we had to wait in line this time and cool our heals for a bit. That night, on offer was a fallish cocktail with cognac and apple cider. I said to the counter man, "How is it?" and he replied, "Strong." Good, we'll take two, and it was yummy. We found seats at a little table and enjoyed the music while peering out on the majestic vaulted ceiling of the Great Hall below.

After awhile, it was time to toddle on. There was a quick stop in the book store and then we headed home revived by the Met, which is like going to church for me.

The Story of Bell

2024-10-20T18:29:00.011-04:00

TD and I are terribly sad to say that we had to say good-bye to our sweet cat Bell last week. The whole thing has been hard. We've had her for sixteen years and she came from Herkimer, New York, upstate, which is the town that my grandmother grew up in. Bell was diagnosed with a tumor in August and the vets thought the illness might have originated elsewhere. We tried to keep her going with a steroid and appetite enhancer but towards the end she just stopped eating and drinking water. On the last day she had trouble walking so we had to bring her uptown to the vet to say good-bye. She was our third cat after Katie and Rose, and honestly, taking a pet to the vet to say good-bye and going through that with the animal is my least favorite thing to do in the world.

We've had a cat since around 1996 and we often had two cats at a time so if one cat passed, we always had another to come home to. But with Bell we were down to one so when we came home the apartment was empty. She had been with us in the apartment almost as long as we have lived in this apartment. I am still talking to her and we are still looking for her habitually – on the bed, on the couch, on her favorite chair. We've not been able to pick up her water bowls or throw out her food and medication; I don't want to erase her presence here.

Besides being very pretty to look at, she was wonderful soft and cozy company, and followed us around the apartment. She would sit next to me and sometimes let me hold her paw; we'd hold hands. If we went out of town, we had someone come in and feed Bell, and we always looked forward to seeing her on our return. When we came home, she'd be a little miffed with us. There was a short period of readjustment for her. Our pets have their own personalities and she had her own life and spirit in the apartment.

All of our kittens came from upstate New York. In 2008, we were in Herkimer visiting the Bellinger Rose B & B in the house at 611 West German Street that my grandmother grew up in and then run by Chris and Leon Frost. In search of a kitten, we went with our kitty carrier to the Herkimer County Humane Society.

An older woman very nicely took us through the facility and showed us all the kittens in metal cages that were up for adoption. Finally we got to a back room and there was a little white kitten with black markings who was about a month old with her mamma cat. The woman opened the cage and let us hold her. The kitten clung to my tee shirt and wouldn't let go; I always say she chose us. We decided we wanted the little white kitten and took her to the front desk. There we were told this kitten was too young to be adopted and we could not take her.

We left frustrated. The next morning I woke up still thinking about that little white and black kitten. Over breakfast at the B and B, we told Chris and Leon Frost our sad tale. They very kindly offered to go get the kitten for us when she was old enough and we could come pick her up. We will be forever grateful to Chris and Leon. They picked up the kitten who lived for a short time at the Bellinger Rose B and B, my family's former home. And so we named her Bell.

Chris took a short video of the kitten on the front stairs and sent it to us. We were going to drive back up to Herkimer to get her but Chris and Leon reported that they had some kind guests who offered to drive Bell down to Yonkers, New York. So Ted and I took the train with our kitty carrier up to Yonkers and met the couple who so nicely delivered Bell to us. The whole thing was kind of a miracle; it was meant to be. We took the train back home, the three of us.

We had sixteen happy years with that girl. She was a part of the family and we miss her terribly.

My Stories for the Brown Harris Stevens Design Blog

2024-09-16T12:27:00.009-04:00

For over four years, I've really enjoyed writing features for the Brown Harris Steven blog about architecture, art and design. Brown Harris Stevens, the legacy real estate company established in 1873, has a robust blog covering design, lifestyle, homes, and more. The features I've written about architecture, real estate, design, and style have been leveraged into BHS social media posts and paid advertising to increase awareness and drive engagement; blog traffic has increased by 20%. The assignments have given me the opportunity to visit some fascinating locations in New York City and share them with readers. The city is filled with architectural history and interest; all you have to do is look up! You might enjoy my stories:

The Rosario Candela Effect

Instant Icon: 15 Central Park West

The Beautiful Beresford

The Gracious Plaza Hotel and Apartment 1901

The Pleasures of Madison Square Park

The New Design Destination: The Ticking Tent

Crate & Barrel Honors the Architecture of the Flatiron District

The Allure of the West Village and 70 Perry Street

A Deep Dive Into the Colorful World of Mario Buatta

The Little Street in the Financial District That Shaped American Art

The Artful American Architecture of Delano & Aldrich

An Insider’s View of the Metropolitan Museum and the Healing Power of Art

Reflecting on the Life, Work, and Art of Legendary Writer Joan Didion

Ann Getty's Eye: The Getty's Astounding Personal Art Collection Comes to Auction

On the Block: The Beautiful World of Hubert de Givenchy

Winslow Homer and the Invention of American Art

How Landscape Architect George Vellonakis Revitalized New York City’s Parks

'Majolica Mania,' a New Exhibition at the Bard Graduate Center

New York's Most Stylish Homes by Photographer Simon Upton

FIT Celebrates the Rose in Fashion

Arrange Flowers Like Marc Chagall’s Granddaughter, Master Florist Bella Meyer

Central Park: An American Work of Art

Live in the Timeless Williamsburgh Savings Bank Tower

See Inside Architect Ralph Walker's Iconic Walker Tower

The Surprising and Unexpected Frick Madison

"Posh Portals" Celebrates New York City's Best Entrances

The New Moynihan Train Hall by Skidmore, Owings & Merrill

A Lower East Side Carriage House with History

A Chelsea Original: “The Night Before Christmas” for Brown Harris Stevens

Live in the Rich History of Fort Greene

McKim, Mead & White’s Harvard Club and Harmonie Club

Decorate Like Carrier and Company

The Met’s “About Time” Exhibit Celebrates 150 Years of Fashion

Actor Richard Thomas on the Allure of "The City's Most Ornate Buil ding"

On the Market: Jayne Wrightsman's Extraordinary Home and Collection

The Enduring Appeal of Emery Roth + Bing & Bing

The West 67th Street Artists' Colony Historic District

The Metropolitan Museum of Art is Open with a 150th Anniversary Exhibition

Marc Jacobs and Robert Duffy for Brown Harris Stevens

Remy Renzullo x Carolina Irving Tableware Collection

Rosario Candela's Mansions in the Sky

Eileen Fisher + West Elm

Bonus:

Bart Boehlert for Architectural Digest

175 Chrystie Street - A Brilliant Vision

Bart Boehlert Online Portfolio

Italian Days

2024-06-23T17:19:00.012-04:00

The Milan Duomo, which has been worked on for over 600 years.

TD and I on the roof of the Duomo, which is decorated with sculptures, pinnacles, spires and flying buttresses.

The cool and chic Villa Necchi.

At the charming shop Solamente Giovedi with its delightful proprietress Enrica Stabile.

Bello Lake Como.

The wedding ceremony of my nephew Aaron (right) with his beloved Brandon.

TD and I are back from a recent, memorable trip to Italy. The main event was the wedding of my nephew Aaron to his beloved Brandon at a villa on the edge of Lake Como. But first we visited Milan. Both destinations were new to us and we had a wonderful time.

In Milan, we met our dear Dutch friends Jeannette and Dick from Amsterdam, and we stayed at the old world Antica Loconda Leonardo hotel in a second floor room that had a balcony overlooking the garden and courtyard below where we enjoyed breakfast in the morning. Milan is a big, bustling, working city, and we ventured on a hot day into the City Center to visit the great Duomo Cathedral and take an elevator up to it roof which is decorated with over 2,000 statues. The next day was not as hectic, with a visit to the chic and refined Villa Necchi house museum, which was the home of the stylish Necchi family that made its fortune in sewing machines. I loved the cool, spacious elegance of its rooms.

I'm pretty good with directions and quickly mastered the Milan trolley car system, which I like much better than an underground subway; you see so much on the street level from a trolley car. TD and I took two trolleys to get to Solamente Giovedi, a delightful shop that I have been following on Instagram. We went through a locked gate and the guard directed us through a courtyard where we ascended some steps into a magical shop of vintage furniture, fabrics and objects. We met its proprietor, the extremely charming Enrica Stabile and chatted for a while. She took us up into the loft where she and two employees sewed pillow covers from French fabrics by hand. I bought a green vintage plate which I carried home on the airplane. It now stands on our fireplace mantel and I love its bright color. Then Enrica suggested a great place for lunch two doors down.

On we went by train to Como for the main event - the wedding of Aaron and Brandon. There was a volley of celebrations -- a family dinner on Thursday night, a wedding cocktail party on Friday, the wedding on Saturday and a brunch on Sunday. All were lovely and wonderful.

The wedding in particular was a dream; the boys conjured up a vision and created an unforgettable event. Saturday afternoon we arrived at Villa Pizzo perched on the edge of Lake Como and walked down an ancient gravel path to a terrace over the lake where chairs were set up for the wedding ceremony, which was officiated by Brandon's two sisters. After the ceremony, we walked back up the path to a cocktail hour set out of the lawn, all beautiful and elegant but relaxed. Then it was inside for a dinner with gorgeous pale golden flowers, delicious food by a Milanese chef, and great wines. A gifted DJ led some raucous dancing and later there was an after-party in the villa with colored lights on the ceiling. TD and I headed out to get a car back to our Airbnb around 12:30 or 1:00 am. It was all so fun and we were so happy to be there to celebrate the boys with family and friends. A couple of days later we flew home and now have great memories. Everything worked out very well - flights, hotels, reservations, trains, drivers, etc. We hadn't been to Europe for awhile and it was great to travel again and discover this special part of the world.

In Orient, New York

2024-04-28T13:22:00.007-04:00

TD and I have been lucky to be introduced to the hamlet of Orient, New York, on the very eastern end of the North Fork of Long Island. We've been doing some house-sitting and pet-sitting for different friends here. The area was new to us; we had not previously visited here and it has become a favorite place. Orient was founded in pre-Revolutionary War days when five families were granted land by the British throne. Members of these families still live and own land in Orient. The area is rich in history that is carefully preserved at the Oysterpond Historical Society, which has seven buildings on its bucolic campus.

Out on the East End, the light is clear and bright, which is why artists have always been drawn to it. When driving out to Orient, the road passes over a narrow causeway with water sparkling on both sides and the houses of Orient visible in the distance over the water on the right. Driving over the narrow causeway is almost like traveling to an island and leaving the real world behind.

The hamlet of Orient is a completely charming with one main street called Village Lane running through it. White houses with black shutters or weathered grey houses with white trim and white picket fences create a fairy tale setting. In the spring, yellow daffodils dot the front yards and big yellow forsythia bushes bloom, so the village is all green and white and yellow and grey; there are no awkward colors that jar the eye. I love being near water and Orient is surrounded by water, with the Long Island Sound to the north and Gardiner's Bay to the south. Orient Harbor laps up along the town's shore, and the Orient Yacht Club extends out onto the water on a long narrow dock.

The community is dedicated to historic preservation so the area has been left largely blessedly undeveloped. Farmland stretches from the Sound down to the Bay. Vernacular farm houses have large wide front porches. All the natural, undeveloped land makes it the perfect place for wildlife to thrive. Varieties of birds sing all day long -- fat robins, red cardinals, little grey sparrows, red wing black birds. Hawks soar along the coastline looking for food. I saw a hawk overhead and a big black crow flew up behind it and hit the hawk midair and chased it away. Swans paddle in the waters and geese honk as they fly by in formation. It's a challenge now to keep the bird feeders full because the birds eat the food so quickly.

Bunny rabbits hop across the yard. At dusk a family of deer comes out to graze. We've seen a couple plump raccoons. The whole place is like a Walt Disney movie.

The sea is mesmerizing to me the way it stretches out infinitely. In Orient, the shoreline curves in arcs creating graceful coves. Farmland runs down to the sea creating beautiful maritime landscapes. Orient feels to my like up-island on Martha's Vineyard, another favorite place. The calm water meets the shore in pebbly beaches. In the summertime we put on rubber water shoes to walk into the pebbly water. It's wonderful to float in the warm still water when it's hot out.

In the house where we are staying now, the bright sun comes though the window in the morning, bathing me in light. The orange and pink sunsets looking north of the Long Island Sound are breathtaking. At night, a silvery full moon rises over the tall black trees in the woods. Nature speaks to me; this is a spiritual place.

Orient is a timeless mix of rich American history and beautiful nature -- a priceless combination for me.

Joni Mitchell and My Brother Eric

2024-02-08T18:36:00.003-05:00

I'm still thinking about the Grammys. It was one of the best awards shows I've seen in a long time. There were several beautiful performances including Tracy Chapman with Luke Combs, and Billie Eilish. Miley Cyrus was on fire. And then there was the luminous and miraculous Joni Mitchell who at age 80 gave her first Grammy performance. I've loved Joni Mitchell since I listened to her poetic album "Court and Spark" in my dorm room and dreamed of going to “People’s Parties.” Joni Mitchell suffered a serious brain aneurysm in 2015 that left her unable to walk or talk. At the Grammys, she performed the moving "Both Sides Now," which brought tears to the eyes of those in the audience. A few days before my brother Eric died, he sent me a text message that said that he had posted a song at the end of his latest Substack article that he thought I would like. It was "Both Sides Now." The version that was in the movie CODA. Of course it was stunning and I texted him back that I needed to see the movie. He responded, "Def." "Both Sides Now" is a rich, gorgeous song about love and loss. For me it has become a heartbreaking reminder of my brother Eric and all that we lost.

"Maestro" Starring Bradley Cooper

2024-01-04T13:47:00.013-05:00

For a New Year's Day treat, TD and I went to see "Maestro" starring Bradley Cooper as the great American conductor and composer Leonard Bernstein. Wow, that's what I call a satisfying entertainment. I do recommend it. If you are in New York City, do go see it at the Paris Theater on 58th Street, which Netflix has recently renovated. The big screen is brilliant and the sound is incredible.

We bought tickets online as one does and planned to get there a little late to avoid all the previews as one does but when we arrived and slipped into our seats the picture was already starting! I guess no cheesy previews at the Paris Theater, note to self. I was surprised that the seats were not big and spacious and tilt back like you find in movie theaters now, but they were still comfortable.

Bradley Cooper wrote, directed, produced and stars in the movie about the great musician. In the first scene he appears as a 70-year-old Bernstein, tanned and wrinkled, and it took my breath away to realize that it was actually Bradley Cooper, the makeover was so complete. Though Bernstein of course had an amazing career, this picture is mostly about his private life -- his marriage to actress Filicia Montealgro, played luminously by Carey Mulligan, and their children including a daughter played by Maya Hawke, who is the daughter of Uma Thurman and Ethan Hawke.

Ok, I have an Uma Thurman story. Back in the day when I worked in the Accessories Room at Bergdorf Goodman selling hats and gloves to the ladies of the Upper East Side, Uma Thurman came in for a scarf. I showed her a beautiful gossamer cashmere and silk mushroom-colored scarf and she lowered her head and wrapped the scarf around and then lifted her gaze to reveal those big, gorgeous movie star eyes directed right at me.

Leonard Bernstein was famously bisexual. When I first moved to New York, my friend David hung around in Bernstein's gay circle. The movie recounts how after awhile this took a toll on Bernstein's marriage and his family. While it plums his personal life, I would like to have seen in the movie more about his professional life and the challenges and triumphs of creating his masterworks including "Candide," "West Side Story," and "Mass." There was a fun bit at the beginning of the movie that included actors playing Jerome Robbins and Aaron Copland. Betty Comden and Adolf Green show up at a party. Stephen Sondheim is mentioned. I would love to have seen more scenes like this but thoroughly enjoyed the story including a long, stunning scene at Ely Cathedral in England with Copper/Bernstein conducting Mahler's majestic Resurrection Symphony. Bradley Cooper and Carey Mulligan are both wonderful in this picture, and of course the music is gorgeous in this tribute to an American genius. I say Oscars all around.

Paintings by Pierre Bergian at Eerdmans

2021-05-27T19:26:00.003-04:00

Paris salon of Hubert de Givenchy by Pierre Bergian

The other day I visited the gallerist and author Emily Evans Eerdmans at her charming gallery Eerdmans on East 10^th Street off of Fifth Avenue. Emily has written numerous books on decorators, including Mario Buatta and Henri Samuel, helped organize the colossal Mario Buatta auction at Sotheby’s last year pre-pandemic, and shows art works in her gallery that celebrate design. We proceeded through her pink ground-floor office, up the emerald green stairs with the zebra print rug, and into the chartreuse-glazed salon with a 13 foot-high ceiling and windows overlooking the rear garden below.

There, Emily is currently showing a selection of iconic interiors painted by the Belgian artist Pierre Bergian. The small paintings are done in oil with pencil, and have the finely wrought feeling of drawings that require an up-close look. The interiors captured are well-known, including the homes of Jayne Wrightsman, Kenny Jay Lane, and Karl Lagerfeld, but the artist has rendered them in a subtle, understated way, without their signature bright colors, like a memory or a dream. Done on wood panels though, they have a solidness to them. Most of the interiors featured here no longer exist so these paintings give permanence to the fleeting.

"Is That an R?"

2021-04-16T12:23:00.005-04:00

The other day I was early for a doctor appointment so I sat down for fifteen minutes in Madison Square Park, which is a favorite place. I enjoyed looking at the lawn and watching the people pass by, many walking their dogs. After a while, I stood up to head to the appointment. A woman sitting about six feet away from me on the bench, who I hadn’t noticed, said to me, “Is that an “R” on the front of your bike? Is that a Raleigh?”

She was pointing to a logo on the stem of the bike. “Yes it is,” I said. “How long have you had it?” she asked. “One year,” I replied. When the summer looting happened last year, my previous bike was stolen from where it was chained on the street - a vandal had power-drilled through the lock. “I found this bike on Craigslist and went to Brooklyn to buy it,” I told the woman. “Oh,” she said. “I’ve had my Raleigh since 1963.”

She stood up to get a better look at my bike. I saw she was small, older, face-masked, wearing an employee card around her neck that said MET, which I thought stood for Met Museum, but later realized that MetLife has its headquarters on the park. She told me she stores her bike in her apartment building. “I used to put my son, who is now 51, on the bike and take him to school, down Park and back up Lexington,” she said. “Neither of us wore helmets then. Now I’m appalled to think about it.”

“I’ve never seen an “R” like that,” she said, and got out her phone to take pictures of my bike. Crouching to take a photo of another logo on the seatpost, she said, “The other day I went down to storage and looked at my bike. I don’t ride it as much.” It was time for me to go and we said our goodbyes. I whizzed off to my appointment. I hope she gets her Raleigh out soon and enjoys it.

A Trip Through New England

2020-08-23T14:28:00.002-04:00

Chaffinch Island in Guilford, Ct.
TD and I have been sheltering-in-place since March the 12th, and desired a much-need trip out of the house so we planned a recent getaway, being careful and using precautions while we were traveling. Our first stop was in Guilford, Ct., where my parents lived for approximately 35 years. We always enjoyed taking the train to Guilford and visiting them there, and we have missed it. Also, we have not been back since my father passed away in Colorado two years ago. Chaffinch Island in Guilford was always a favorite spot for my family to visit. After my mother passed away in 2012, my father and I brought some of her ashes down to Chaffinch Island and dispersed them in the water.
TD took took this picture then of my father and I --

So when we visited Guilford recently we took some of my father's ashes down to Chaffinch (picture at the top of this post). It was a poignant trip. I'm glad we had the chance to do it.
We visited out favorite spots in Guilford, including the town beach --

I love the quiet, serene quality of the Connecticut Shoreline. TD sketched the scene --

That night we had a delicious dinner at Quattro's in town, which was a new discovery for us.
The next day we drove from Guilford, Ct., to Little Compton, RI, to visit the beach house of my great and long-time friend Abby. We enjoyed staying in the beautiful house for a couple nights, and then she and her family arrived for the weekend. Glorious summer days.
During the week TD and I went to an ocean beach called South Shore Beach in the town of Little Compton Beach. It was a delight to be in the ocean. The waves were rough!

It was great fun to spend time with Abby and family - husband John, daughters Lila and Mary, son Stephen plus niece Sophia. It's what relaxed summer days are for.
The family belongs to the Elephant Rock Beach Club in Westport, MA, so that's where we headed on Saturday. There, Sophia, Lila and Mary sported TD's tee shirts. You can buy TD's popular tee shirts in his Etsy shop!

It was a glorious day at Elephant Rock Beach --

The water was very warm. It was so nice to be all together swimming in the ocean --

After we left the beach John and Abby gave us a car tour around. We drove along country roads to Sakonnet Point, and John and Abby bought lobsters for a delicious dinner. I loved the grey shingle Cape Cod cottages with white trim along the water --

On Sunday we said our farewells to the Carrs and drove up to Keene, NH, to visit our great friends the Healy family from Jane Street in New York City. The Healys own a unique property called Lake Falls Lodge, which consists of an Adirondack-style lodge and several other houses on a large piece of land. It can be rented for weddings and corporate retreats. We have been to two spectacular Healy family weddings at Lake Falls Lodge. It's a special place.
Many of the Healy clan have been sheltering-in-place there, including our beloved friend Peggy Healy, who hosted a book party for TD when he illustrated a children's book. It was a full house with a large group and we enjoyed a grilled steak dinner in the yard at a big table near the pond --

The next day Don took us on a tour of the properties which are impressive indeed. He is building a large structure called the Barn outfitted with every modern convenience so that weddings and corporate retreats can be hosted year 'round. We had a swim in the pond and gathered together for a lobster salad lunch.

After lunch TD and I were off, traveling over country roads through the Berkshires in western Massachusetts to Williamstown, MA, the home of Williams College, which opened in 1791. In Williamstown, we stayed at the Williams Inn, which was lovely. We were surprised that the town seemed more closed up than the other places we had been, in Connecticut for example. The trip to Williamstown was determined by the news that The Clark Art Institute had opened -- I think the only art museum open in the Northeast. We'd always wanted to go so we thought it was a good time for a visit. It was slightly raining when we went at 10am as the doors opened. I was so happy to be back in a museum!

The Clark was founded in 1952 upon the art collection of Robert Sterling Clark, who was a Singer sewing machine heir. Other Singer sewing machine heirs were important arts and culture patrons in Cooperstown, NY, which is a beautiful town we love. The Clark has a lovely array of art and Impressionist paintings. Here is a jolly Madame Escudier by John Singer Sargent from 1883 --

and a charming self portrait of Renior from 1899 --

Outside TD enjoyed the tranquil scenery as cows roamed over the hills beyond --

At that point we got in the car to head home. We had heard a little about a storm. It turned out to be Tropical Storm Isaisas. Or Hurricane Isaisas, depending what you read. Not the day to be driving from the Berkshires to New York City. Let me just say I was driving and it was hairy. The wind was so strong that I had to hold on to the steering wheel tightly to keep control of the car. On the highway we drove around several huge trees which had crashed on to the road. Thank God they didn't land on cars. We did make it home safely to Manhattan thankfully.
It was a wonderful trip with lots of different parts and all went well. It felt like we were being looked after. I hope you are having a nice summer dear reader despite these strange times.

Flowers in the Time of Quarantine

2020-05-18T15:20:00.002-04:00

Dear Reader, I hope that you and yours are safe and sound during this unprecedented time. TD and I have been staying in place at home since March the 12th, going on ten weeks now. New York City has suffered tremendous loss. Thankfully TD and I are fine. The streets have been spookily quiet and empty. Things seem to be easing up a little now but still of course no one wants to run into this virus so being outside in public and in stores is anxiety-ridden.
One thing that has helped is having flowers in the house. They offer some beauty for the eye and a small opportunity to be creative in arranging them. In the beginning, flowers were only available at the corner delis. Some delis were closed and some ran out of flowers but we found a couple that still provided. Now the farmer's market at Union Square is getting into swing and flowers are available there, though we have to wait in line to enter the market and then wait in lines at each stand to be served.
Sign at the farmer's market --

The cheerful, fresh-looking white daisies at the top of the post were from a deli.
Tulips are entertaining because after they are placed in a vase, they continue to grow and get taller --

I loved these big, fat, pink roses. You can't feel bad when you're looking at big, fat, pink roses. They are in a radicchio vase from Tiffany's that TD and I received as a gift from our friends Margaret and Dick Holman at our commitment ceremony in 2000. I love this vase and unfortunately Tiffany's doesn't make it any more --

A single rose went on the table next to the chair where I read at night --

A bright yellow daffodil for the bathroom --

These tulips from Durr Flowers at the farmer's market grew and arced dramatically --

In the pots on the front stoop I planted a mix of colorful pansies and impatiens. The ivy from last summer survived the winter. In the other pot on the stoop I planted basil but it died when we had a surprisingly cold night --

A pale peony bloomed in the front hall --

Another peony went into a hanging glass wall vase --

I am really missing nature and the country right now so it's nice to have flowers at home. Flowers delight the eye and offer a soothing comfort. I hope that you are finding solace too.

The Morgan Library & Museum for New York Cottages & Gardens

2020-03-03T15:49:00.000-05:00

For the "Divine Design" column for the March issue of New York Cottages & Gardens magazine, I was happy to write about The Morgan Library & Museum, which is a favorite spot of mine and a treasure of New York. For the story, Christine Nelson, the Library curator, took me through the building on a private tour, which was such a treat and so interesting. Check out the March issue and learn about this beautiful museum, which Mr. J. P. Morgan built at the turn of the last century to house his own personal book collection.

The Winter Show for Corcoran's Online Magazine Inhabit

2020-01-31T14:22:00.002-05:00

You might enjoy reading my article for Corcoran's online magazine about the Winter Show, which is happening now here in New York City. Previously known as The Winter Antiques Show, the fair has a new shorter name and a more electic range of offerings. Read all about it here!