Heather Greenwood

The Westwood Kitchen Project - The finishes by Dover Studio

2011-10-22T20:41:00.000-04:00

The Westwood Project has been getting its finishing touches. The Island drawers have been painted a deep Plum Chocolate with Iron finished Hardware. The main color used though out the living space is Donald Kaufman DKC 21. Dover Studio has done a woven color finish on the atrium area wall to play up the Plums and browns. The complexity of this finish pulls around the many tones throughout the space. The back of the island is also done in a simpler color weave.

Stove area Before Photo

The Sterling Project - Custom Window Seat Area Before and After

2011-10-22T20:27:00.000-04:00

Today the Valance was installed... its one piece with no seams.Solar screen shades soften the light and protect from hot and cold transfer when needed.The sleek 1956 classic Modern Saarinen table fits the space beautifully and has a light airy feel. The Seating is custom designed with modern brushed steel legs and a cotton back vinyl in a silvery grey metallic with a silk like finish. ( very durable)

Detail of Fabrics

Saarrinen Style Table

Before Photo of Bay Window

The Hingham Project - Kitchen Cabinets get a Make Over

2011-10-22T19:52:00.002-04:00

This is a client who we have worked with over the years on many different projects.

This project will be a transformation of the kitchen cabinets. The client has updated all appliances and is looking to give a lighter brighter look to the cabinets. All of the doors have been removed and taken to the studio. The will be finished in a cream paint with the edges slightly rubbed back to reveal a trace of wood, then a mocha glaze and the final finish coats. We have purchased new knobs to replace the brass.

In the News - Home Accent Today

2011-09-12T23:17:00.000-04:00

Current

By Tracy Bulla -- Home Accents Today, 1/1/2007 12:00:00 AM

Eloquent Lessons

Eloquent Ink founder Shawn Laughlin has moved the nature-inspired designs that grace luxury stationery products to the table — literally, with luxe, large-scale porcelain plates and bowls that are produced in a partnership with local potters. The former commercial filmmaker and passionate still photographer combined her love of the visual with her equally passionate love for cooking and dishes, resulting in a striking collection mannerly enough to rest on any table (or not, as the case may be — Laughlin encourages customers to view the line as decorative objects). This month, Eloquent Ink will roll out platinum designs to complement the gold, as well new floral and botanical designs to bring the total number up to 15. Retail prices range from $90 to $125.

White Hot

Luxury soft goods company Ankasa has launched Ankasa White Label, a collection of bedding and decorative pillows at a lower price point. "We have had such an amazing response to our core couture collection, but the offerings are limited to the luxury sector," said Jodi Sandman, vice president. "We want to offer the same fashion-forward color stories and finishings, but at a fraction of the price." White Label will always relate back to the original collection, highlighting surface textures and offered in fine Egyptian cotton sateen. Duvets will retail from $425, sheet sets from $300 and decorative pillows from $125.

Sophisticated Scents

Design house Scalamandre has launched its first home fragrance collection to accent the luxury home. Holiday, the first candle in the collection, blends rosewood, jasmine and Oriental spices with additional fragrances on the horizon for introduction this year. The two-wick candle is packed in a glossy box featuring two of Scalamandre's signature patterns: Pillemont Toile and Pomfret. "The candle is the perfect indulgence for the holiday season — it will add to the environment of any room," said Mark Bitter, co-president/ CEO of Scalamandre. The candle is priced at $48.

Paint Perfect

New to the market is Dover Studio at Home, a furniture and accessory company sponsored by Sherwin-Williams. Hand-painted and manufactured in the USA, the fresh designs layer color and large-format pattern for a distinctive twist. Three separate collections offer a different stylistic touch: the Source Collection extracts classical design elements, such as a pineapple or damask, and transforms them to suit today's lifestyle. Most of the design motifs are interchangeable, in that they can be applied to multiple pieces of furniture. Retail prices range from $124 for a mirror to $3,710 for an armoire.

Chic Sheets

Luxury linen vendor Matouk has entered into a licensing partnership with Lulu de Kwiatkowski, founder and chief designer of Lulu DK fabrics. The debut Lulu DK Matouk Collection features six prints in 500-thread count percale, each in up to seven color choices, and includes accompanying quilts. The initial collection will be unveiled at the International Gift Show in New York this month, blending Kwiatkowski's signature modernist, eco-chic designs with a fashionable palette of Cranberry, Wheat, Ocean, Honeydew, Chocolate, Sky and Red. "The launch of our partnership is a great moment for Matouk," said George Matouk Jr., president . "Lulu's designs are original and modern, yet classic and warm."

Pattern Play

Tricia Guild, founder of London-based Designers Guild, has debuted her 12th design book, a must-have for textile lovers. Simply entitled Pattern, the designer's trademark mix of color and pattern is brilliantly spotlighted on every page. Divided into chapters like Geometrics, Botanicals and Indian-inspired patterns, Guild's book lays out a primer on textiles with exquisite photography to match, all in glorious, saturated hues. "By exploring just some of the many different patterns that have inspired and continue to inspire me," Guild said, "it is my hope in this book to communicate some of my own deep fascination with pattern and encourage others to develop their own." Retail price $40.

Home Accent Today

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In the News - Surroundings

2011-09-12T23:03:00.001-04:00

Saturday, January 13, 2007

Dover Studio At Home - Fabulously Whimsical

From Dover Studio was kind enough to send me photos of their latest venture. In conjunction with Sherwin Williams Paint Company, Dover Studios is producing a new line of furniture called Dover Studio At Home “The New Classic”. Says Dover Studios "The concept for Dover Studio At Home is to create pieces that are a contemporary transformation of design and color while respecting the quiet power of tradition. We achieve this with hand applied, large format patterns and elements that are layered with sophisticated combinations of colors. These select pieces of furniture can stand alone or can be made into a set and come in a variety of colors and patterns."

I just love when a single idea or theme is exploded beyond its normal self. While these subjects - a peacock feather, pineapple, beta fish, tropical plant and wood grain are seen all the time - they take on new life and meaning in these applications. Justaposed with traditional furniture forms - it's new, fresh and fabulous!

Dover Studio at Home will be showing at the Architectural Digest Home Show March 8-11.

http://chameleon-interiors.blogspot.com/2007/01/dover-studios-at-home-fabulously.html

In the News - Furniture world Today

2011-09-12T22:57:00.001-04:00

Dover Studio At Home Debuts Line Of Painted Furniture
Tuesday, March 21, 2006

By: Furniture World Magazine

Print Page | Send This Article By E-mail |

Click to Review

Dover Studio At Home will be offering a complete line of painted furniture and home accessories using the Sherwin Williams color palette. According to a spokesperson for Dover Studio, "The new line has evolved from interest in surface design and in recognizing that there is a need in the industry for a fresh exciting look in home furnishings."

The At Home Collection will be available to the trade at a launch party at Dover Studio on March 25th from 5:00-9:00 pm and to the general public on March 27th.

The concept for Dover Studio At Home is to create pieces that are a contemporary transformation of design and color while respecting the quiet power of tradition. This is achieved with hand applied, large format patterns and elements that are layered with sophisticated combinations of colors. These select pieces of furniture can stand alone or can be made into a set and come in a variety of colors and patterns.

Dover Studio At Home has created three diverse collections of home goods, offering market flexibility.

The Kiran Collection presents traditional design elements from around the globe viewed in a new ray of light.

The View 21 Collection extracts the simplicity of a common element into an abstract design. The Charms Collection is composed of individual elements used in an unusual way that border on kitsch. A client could choose a classic design combined with a bold color palette to create a piece that is comfortably traditional yet exudes high energy.

Dover Studio has over ten years of client experience offering their surface design services. They present a menu of sophisticated techniques for walls, furniture and architectural elements. The studio has collaborated with architects, designers, home owners and business owners looking for interiors that have a rich atmosphere with complex layers of surface interest. Clients appreciate how Dover Studio continues to keep their finger on the pulse of high design while working with them to express their individuality.

The At Home product will be sold to the trade through Dover Studio and will initially be available through boutique interior shops in upscale urban, suburban, and vacation areas throughout New England and New York.

Westwood Kitchen Project - Final Week Photo Gallery One

2011-08-03T19:47:00.000-04:00

Westwood Kitchen Project - Cabinets are going in

2011-07-22T00:12:00.000-04:00

The New Cabinets Have arrived!

Tempting for The Granite and Cesar stone Counters.

New windows have been installed

Marking the template for appliance cut outs.

Westwood Kitchen Project - Demolition

2011-06-16T22:36:00.000-04:00

Week One- The old kitchen is out in the barn waiting to be picked up by habitat for humanity.


Now that the space is empty we can lay out the cabinets and the island configuration. Electrical and plumbing roughs next week.

Color - Donald Kaufman

2011-05-23T14:52:00.003-04:00

Donald Kaufman's Studio

I had forgotten how beautiful this paint is!
Ten Years ago I specked a new house interior in the Kaufman color palette. We are doing some touch up after some water damages that happened this winter.
The client and I had chosen four colors in which to do all of the first floor and most of the second.
Kaufman's pigment system uses up to a dozen pigments to create his paints, compared to most paint companies, which use just three pigments. The color defines the space very differently from room to room depending on the light and shadow created by the architecture of the space. Donald Kaufman; a pioneer in the field of architectural color with more than thirty years of research on the equation of color and space and light. His signature paints are available through Pratt & Lambert in more than 100 colors,and four acrylic finishes; a gallon costs $85 to $100.
Call 800-289-7728 for information, or go to Pratt & Lambert to locate a dealer.
I have included my two favorite books on the subject all are available on amazon.com. That reveal Donald Kaufman's theory on color, space and light. Truly worth reading if you have a interest in color.

The Sterling Project - The Not So Pretty Side of Design !

2011-05-17T19:10:00.001-04:00

Yesterday I was talking to one of the designers I work with. It came up how often people seem envious of what a designer does and thinking we get to shop and have fun...all the time.

But today was one of those days, so I thought It might be interesting to see one day on a project when things just don't go the way you planed.

First the tile for the powder room wall...short 8 square feet. The client had the tile as part of a past project...yikes...well I have found it and they are going to try to match the color lot. Next the lighting over the Island. one fixture up the second has a defective thread fitting...I checked all of the boxes for damage but this showed up during the assembly.
The third the Beautiful new
front door hardware.
The clip that holds
the lock cylinder in place ...
missing from the box!
And last was the tile for
the fire place one piece was 1" short and the deco tile on the upper left had already come in wrong, but we caught it. When it was reordered the same number was ordered but...this style was shorter. Well all can be solved, no matter how much we check and recheck thing do happen. Its the not so pretty side of the design process. I cant even get these photos to line up nicely today.

Westwood Kitchen Project - Before Photos

2011-05-15T11:18:00.002-04:00

Foreground cabinets to be removed.

On June 13th we will begin the Westwood Kitchen remodel. A year ago I started working on this project with Rick Heim from The Oakwood group and our group of trusted subs on the plans for updating this 14 year old kitchen.

Our clients love to cook and have friends and family gathered in the heart of their home, engaged in conversation and laughter while preparing a meal often including the produce from their garden.This passion for gathering and sharing combined with their Italian and Armenian heritage and their travels to Italy and the Mediterranean are the root of the new Kitchen that we are creating with them.

Their initial request was to have a larger more functional island area, by removing the counter extension with overhead cabinets on the left, and the the counter and cabinet area in the foreground we would open the space up for a larger Island.

After much review to see if it made sense to salvage and re-purpose, it was decided that we were interrupting to many surfaces (ceiling, floor,) that would need repair in addition to aging appliances, and cabinet parts. So the decision was made that to gut and start fresh was the best use of our budget.

The Sterling Project - New Paint Colors Day 4

2011-05-02T02:36:00.002-04:00

The Maple floors have been stained grey.

The walls in the main Living space are Sherwin Williams (SW) colonnade gray, the slopes are a mix so they do not get to dark with the change in lighting from the walls to the sloping ceiling. For continuity Ben Moore White Dove Semi gloss on trim and flat on ceilings throughout the house.
In the kitchen we have used a color called SW Mink, its a chocolate with a little gray to it. Using this deep color helps to anchor and warm the space, and works well with our lighter cabinets and lots of natural light.

This week Dover Studio will be painting the kitchen cabinets SW Origami White and the Parsons table for the island will be done is a concrete finish (a personal favorite of mine).

The casual seating area in the window bay has been measured for solar shades in the fabric to the left, with the circle fabric on a cornice board. The new seating area being built will be upholstered in this fabulous silk like Vinyl.

The second floor has been defined with SW Mega Greige on the walls and the once maple hand rails and posts are done in SW Iron Ore.

Be sure to click on The Sterling Project below under labels to see the before and after photos.

Link to - Sherwin Williams color tool

Color ... My 6 Basic Tips.

2011-04-30T21:52:00.000-04:00

1. Look at what you already own for hints to your color story... a piece of poetry from Italy, a favorite painting, these items can be your inspiration.

2. A good exercise
to learn more about what colors you are drawn to...A shelter magazine and circle what ever moves you.

3. love a bold color!... use is in accessories, an accent wall, or a powder room, where you can have fun.

4. Use a related palette...to keep a the peace as you move from room to room.earth tone with earth tones etc.

5. Trim - My Favorite fail safe Ben Moore White Dove semi gloss on trim and flat on ceiling.

6. If you are not comfortable selecting your color for a room or a whole house, a color consultation is one of the best design services to invest in.

The Personal Style of Color

The Sterling Project - Dreams to Solutions Day 3

2011-04-26T08:44:00.009-04:00

The clients goal is to get the most change for the budget.

After a hard look at the original wish list and budget, the builder and I determined that the best way to meet the clients goal was to hold off on the Master Bath Project at this time.

Concrete veneer is a service provided by Dover Studio

Here is the Proposed Project:

To focus on the Main Living area including the kitchen and the Living room-

The Kitchen- Paint the cabinets, keep the Granite, have it polished and resealed. The Island - by cutting the point of and adding a bar height 3" thick Parsons table in a concrete finish, this will add a more urban feel to the Kitchen.

The Bar wall including desk and 94" island to be removed. In it place a built in that provides storage & serving area.

The dinning table to be pulled out of the window area into the new floor area that has opened up from the changes to the kitchen. I
in the window area a more casual dinning lounging solution.

In the
living room- A built in that makes a strong modern Architectural statement. The fire Place proposed is a wall hung Bio fuel solution. although it will give some heat, the client is looking for ambiance. this solution will give the client what they are looking for with out taxing the budget.

New furniture to be discuses but is not in the proposal.

The other items included in the proposal are -The Maple floors to be refinished, replace interior doors and hardware. A lighting budget, change ceiling slope stucco texture to a smooth finish.a complete interior paint job.See the next installment of The Sterling Project-Color Consultation Day 4

All of this fit the clients budget the additional items have been given to the client as options with budgets.

Our client has committed to moving forward and has added some of the additional options that were not part of the main proposal.

The Sterling Project - Demolition

2011-04-10T10:03:00.000-04:00

The point has been cut of the island and the base cabinet removed. Maple floor being feathered back in.

Bar Wall has been removed, we will be re using the granite in the pool house to replace the Formica bar top. Our fabricator has taken the slab off site to be cut. Maple floor being prepped for filler boards.

The Sterling Project - A Clients Inspiration Day 2

2011-04-02T14:22:00.002-04:00

Figuring out your Design Inspiration -When I am starting a new Project with a client, I have them pick up a couple of shelter magazines and clip, circle with a sharpie, the images or parts of images that you are inspired by. The reasons for what they are drawn to do no need to be obvious or have a known purpose at this point in the exercise. The likes for Sterling are#1 Hollywood Modern, the sideboard and hutch. #2 white cabinets dark counter & dark island light counter, modern farm sink,thick island counter, long pulls, Graphite floor Stain.#3 Free standing tub, thick counters, big shower, frame less glass en-closer, modern sinks and fixtures. #4 Boston Interiors Sectional with upholstered back, Graphite stain for floors. Now that I have some insight into the clients design inspiration I will begin the process of applying the inspiration to the Design issues we looked at Day 1, to figure out the best makeover proposal to be presented in Day 3.

The Sterling Project - Before Pictures Day One

2011-04-02T10:26:00.001-04:00

Where to Begin Day One- This client has come to us with the following list: Full master bath renovation, new granite, floors need to be refinished, window treatments, new living room furniture, full paint job, new interior doors, new door hardware, new lighting,new kitchen stove, sink & faucet, tv wall to become a built in with a fireplace, carpet for 3 bedrooms and 2nd floor hall, budget to pull together teenage daughters room, new faucets in guest bath and sons bath, vanity in sons bath need attention and guest bath vanity.

View of kitchen from Living Room

View of Current Dinning Area

View of Living room Space

View of Living Room to Front Door

Vintage landscape Mural Before & After

2011-03-22T04:11:00.001-04:00

As you enter the front foyer of this historic Sudbury Ma. home, this vintage style landscape mural begins on the ground level in the earthy greens and bramble then continues to climb the stairs into the tree tops and atmospheric blues.

Before - As you open the front door

A Willow tree reaches up to the the second floor.

Before - stair case

Our Hand Printed Linen for Osterville

2011-03-18T05:43:00.001-04:00

Hand Printed Linen custom design inspiration from an antique wall paper block is the perfect support for the strong design elements in this powder room. The Linen has been sealed giving added depth and durability to the surface.

Japanese Koi Pond Under Foot

2011-03-12T09:17:00.000-05:00


In the Studio - Floor Canvas being made in the image of a koi pond for a mud room entrance of a garden area.

Modern Rustic Master Bath

2011-03-11T04:45:00.000-05:00

Distresses Finish on new wood wall grounds the floating vanity finished to tie in the wood tone of the antique mirrors. Natural stone and clean contemporary fixtures round out the Modern Rustic Feel of this master Bath.

Our Most Requested Piece of Furniture

2011-03-08T07:35:00.001-05:00

A wonderful Design Story Post from Design Faith

2011-03-05T08:21:00.002-05:00

Wednesday, March 2, 2011

Placewares: A Big Well-Designed Circle


Maynard Hale Lyndon and Lu Wendel Lyndon

Maynard Hale Lyndon and Lu Wendel Lyndon were integral parts of the famous Design Research (D/R) store before they founded their own firm, Placewares. They are part of the history of modern design in the United States. When they moved up to Sea Ranch, retirement wasn’t in the cards, so they set up a small shop and gallery in Gualala, the town immediately north of Sea Ranch. It is very much like an updated but miniature version of Design Research, without all the furniture. It is one of my favorite stores anywhere, and I wanted to know the Lyndons’ story. When you look at Morley Baer’s photographs of MLTW’s early Sea Ranch houses, you see they feature a lot of Marimekko fabrics, one of the mainstays of D/R and now Placewares. It’s a wonderful big circle.

Maynard and Lu thought New Year’s Day would be quiet and a good time for a conversation. But design devotees are a loyal bunch, and customers began calling almost as soon as we sat down. The seasoned shopkeepers slipped in and out of conversation with grace, and it was only later I realized they had sold a fair amount of merchandise during our interview.

Interviewer: How did you get started in design?

Lu Lyndon: When I was out of college, I moved from San Francisco to Cambridge and discovered D/R. And like many people, it’s where I went on Saturday, what I did for recreation. I would just go hang out in the store because it was so beautiful.

Maynard Lyndon: This was the original store in the wood frame house on Brattle Street?

Lu Lyndon: Right. This was in the early 1960s. A year later I moved back to San Francisco and worked as a legal secretary. A woman I worked with said to me one day that her sister was coming to visit. She told me that she worked for Design Research and that she was scouting a location for a store in San Francisco. And I said, “I have to meet your sister.”

The sister didn’t think I was tall enough, blond enough, whatever enough, and sort of said she didn’t think she was interested in my working at D/R. And I said, “Well, I’d be happy to come and help. I know you need hands to set up the store. I’ll do anything you need.” I just wanted to be there. So I helped set up the store. And then I managed to worm myself into working there on Saturdays. I had a fulltime job during the week, and on Saturdays I put on my Marimekko dress and went to work at D/R. Over time I was given a fulltime job and then became the assistant store manager. When the Beverly Hills store lost its manager, I worked there temporarily before being promoted to be part of the buying group in Cambridge—talk about a big circle!

Ben Thompson's D/R store in Cambridge.
Courtesy Chronicle Books

Interviewer: Did you have a design background?

Lu Lyndon: I never really had much design training. I was an English Lit major in college. But my passion is design. And so it’s been a lifelong career and love for me. And I met this guy. That helped.

Interviewer: Did you meet in Cambridge?

Lu Lyndon: No, I actually met Maynard after I was given the position in Cambridge, while I was still in Beverly Hills. The president of D/R at the time said, “You need to find a replacement for yourself and train that person before we can move you, because we can’t let Beverly Hills flounder.” Meanwhile Maynard was interviewing for a position as product development director. D/R was trying to put together a team of three people to develop new products— Ristomatti Ratia, the son of Marimekko’s founder, Armi Ratia; Craig Hodgetts, an architect from Los Angeles; and Maynard.

Maynard Lyndon: One of us being in Boston, one of us in Los Angeles, and one in Helsinki. That was the plan.

Craig was designing a new building for D/R to be built in Beverly Hills, which never happened.

While D/R was setting up this department, they needed a store manager for Beverly Hills. They said, “You might as well learn the culture of this company directly by managing the Beverly Hills store; when the board gets the funding together, we’ll begin the design department back East.”

Lu Lyndon: So a year later, Maynard came back to Cambridge. But by then things started going really awry with D/R. Once Ben Thompson was out of the picture, there was a succession of different people who were in charge, and the heart and soul went out of the company.

We both left and started our own business, which was a design-build firm. We did graphics. We did space planning for lawyers, for medical people, and for people in their private homes—whatever work we could find. This was 1973—there wasn’t a lot of work.

Maynard Lyndon: Annual reports, a whole series of things. Wielding hammers, paint brushes, Letraset—whatever was needed to get the job done!

Lu Lyndon: We were very poor.

Maynard Lyndon: We called that company Placemakers. We were making places for people.

Lu Lyndon: One of the projects that we had was for a couple who owned the train station building in Concord. There were a number of little stores within the train station, but there was no system for moving people through the building, so we came up with a signage scheme. At one meeting, the owners were all down in the doldrums, and we asked, “What’s wrong?” They said, “Well, our major tenant just stole away in the middle of the night, leaving the main store space empty.”

Maynard and I looked at each other and thought, well, we know a little bit about retail. So we put together a store for them. The arrangement was that they would put up the money, and we would do the store—the concept, the layout, the build-out, the buying, the displays, the necessary backroom systems, hiring and training staff—and we would run it for six months or so and then we would leave. It was called Plum Loco.

Plum Loco store in Concord Train Station designed by
Maynard and Lu Lyndon
Photo by Steve Rosenthal

Maynard Lyndon: After three years there, we said, “We’ve got to do our own store.” We came up with the name Placewares and opened our first store on January 11, 1978. So this January, it is 33 years since we started the original Placewares.

Lu Lyndon: By that point, we had already put together a unique collection of products that we had sourced from all over the world.

Maynard Lyndon: Our tagline for that first store was “a newfangled hardware store.” We got a lot of attention at the time, because our store was the first to focus on storage and organization as a category. From our design/build days, we had learned that most people have plenty of living space; they simply don’t use it very well. What we offered in our stores were products that could help people use their spaces better. Our tag line changed to “specializing in places to put things” and then to “the storage and organization resource.”

Lu Lyndon: We opened our first store in Concord, because we knew the Concord customer from our years at the train station store.

Maynard Lyndon: As we expanded—at one time we had seven stores—we would literally count the number of Volvos in the parking lots.

Lu Lyndon: That was the qualifier. Volvo owners were people who were sensitive to design and function and durability—and had a degree of disposable income.

One of the Lyndons' Placewares stores in the Boston area.

Interviewer: And the name of your own store was Placewares?

Lu Lyndon: Yes. We coined that name, meaning “wares for your place.” Because we advertised fairly heavily in Boston Magazine, people would come out to Concord. When the 1979 gas shortage happened, customers said, “You know, you have to have a store in town.” We decided that if we opened a store in Boston, we had to go to the premiere shopping area, and that would be Newbury Street. So the second store was on Newbury Street.

Maynard Lyndon: We were there for 26 years.

Interviewer: What did you sell?

Lu Lyndon: The same product mix as the store in Concord—storage and organization.

Interviewer: Tell me about LyndonDesign.

Lu Lyndon: We started LyndonDesign, which is the second part of the name of our store/gallery here in Gualala, in 1983. We were designing product largely in response to our customers’ wishes and requests for things that they couldn’t find to fit their needs.

We didn’t want to be the manufacturer or the marketer or distributor, so we’ve always worked on a royalty arrangement.

But since we’ve moved here, we’ve downplayed product design and are doing the gallery instead. We combined the names when we reopened here—Placewares+LyndonDesign—to enable us to still design some things if someone asks, but we’re not pursuing product or interior design like we used to. In the gallery, we’re developing a coterie of artists who are doing special things in different materials. The whole focus of the gallery has been architecture and landscape.

The gallery wing of Placewares+LyndonDesign in Gualala.

Maynard Lyndon's recent collage constructions on exhibit.

Maynard Lyndon's recent collage constructions.

Interviewer: Which of course is what Sea Ranch is about. Maynard, let’s go back to how you got into the design world. I know about your father’s practice in Los Angeles.

Maynard Lyndon: Yes, Maynard Lyndon, FAIA, was my father (that’s why I use all three names, Maynard Hale Lyndon), and my mother, Jo Hale Lyndon, was a consultant to my father’s architectural practice. She did all the colors for his buildings. She also opened a store in Detroit that she and he designed together, called Contemporary Backgrounds.

My mother had gone to the New York 1938 exposition at MoMA of Alvar Aalto’s work and was so taken with all that collection of things—the glass and the furniture—that she became the second importer and retailer of Aalto pieces in America. In Detroit, my father was doing very modern, award-winning schools.

Contemporary Backgrounds opened in 1940, and it wasn’t so far away from Cranbrook and what was happening there. It was a very exciting time. I don’t remember it personally, but of course I have some photographs. (My brother, Donlyn Lyndon, FAIA, did an exhibit at UC Berkeley and then at UC Santa Barbara about Contemporary Backgrounds.)

Contemporary Backgrounds
Photo by Maynard Lyndon, FAIA

We still have some original Aalto pieces from that store in our house here. This type of design was engrained in my childhood.

Dad went to an exposition of new housing ideas in the early 1940s in Los Angeles where he saw a house that Richard Neutra designed. It was a 1936 plywood house, two-story, a very early use of plywood, partially demountable. You could take it apart in sections and move it. My father came back to the office in Detroit and called Neutra and introduced himself as an architect. They became friends and collaborated together later. Dad bought that house from the exposition over the phone. Meanwhile, he bought a lot in West Los Angeles outside of Westwood and had the house moved to that site. As a young child, I grew up in this house; it was amazing. We lived in that house until Dad designed his own house out in Malibu in 1949. You can see Julius Shulman's photos of it in Barbara Lamprecht's book on Neutra.

Malibu House designed by Maynard Lyndon, FAIA, 1949.
Photo by Maynard Lyndon, FAIA

Maynard and Donlyn Lyndon, FAIA
at exhibit of Maynard Lyndon, FAIA's work in Los Angeles.
Pictured here is their family home designed by Maynard Lyndon, FAIA from 1949.

I went to architecture school at Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo, and then to painting school at the Chouinard Art Institute in downtown Los Angeles.

Interviewer: What was your first business?

Maynard Lyndon: A toy store on Wilshire Boulevard in Santa Monica I founded in 1967. I called it Colorform. I designed and built the store, designed the toys, made the toys. I started a little manufacturing company called ColorformLine, making a line of children’s furniture in three garages in Santa Monica.

After two or three years, I was getting a lot of attention in the press, and unbeknownst to me, the president of Creative Playthings, which was in Princeton, appeared on our doorstep. I didn’t know who he was; I didn’t even know Creative Playthings particularly. We walked around the block several times that day, and by the end of that conversation, he said, “We want you to come back East and head our product development for Creative Playthings.”

Creative Playthings had been bought by CBS, the television network. They were buying these little companies thinking that they should branch out. So within very few months, I sold my store to one of my customers and moved to Princeton to head the product development for Creative Playthings, which was an amazing experience.

I had I think 17 designers and engineers under my umbrella and a secretary. This corporate world was very new to me! Eventually, CBS rid themselves of all of these fun little companies. But it launched me into a totally different world of understanding how things are made, how designers work with manufacturers, and how things are distributed.

Interviewer: How old were you?

Maynard Lyndon: I was in my 20s. It was a fantastic situation. Later I returned to California, where I became product development director for Forms+Surfaces, Santa Barbara, an architectural hardware and finishes company.

And again, I got into another whole layer of things that was a great learning experience. But the owner had never had somebody besides himself doing the design. And finally I just said, “This isn’t going to work. There can’t be two of us.” And I begin looking for something else. I responded to an ad by this company, Design Research, and ended up meeting with then-CEO Peter Sprague.

Interviewer: He had done the takeover?

Maynard Lyndon: Yes, and Phil Doub was then president. I met with them in San Francisco and Los Angeles. And they said, “Well, we’re trying to convince the board to start a product development team of our own.” And that’s when this whole idea started, but they didn’t have the money put together.

It’s odd the way the world happens. And so there I was. Lu trained me at D/R Beverly Hills for about two weeks before D/R moved her back to Cambridge.

Beverly Hills was a totally different world than Princeton or Cambridge. And I had this staff of 15 to 20, all women except the stock boy. I had to learn how to deal with their various quirks, and they had to learn to deal with my quirks. About a year later D/R moved me back to Cambridge, where I managed their flagship store for a while.

Interviewer: How did you get from Placewares in Boston to here?

Maynard Lyndon: Both of us have been coming to Sea Ranch since the 1960s even before we knew each other. In 1997 on a trip to visit my brother Donlyn (the “L” of MLTW), we thought, “Well, just for fun, let’s see if there’s any property available that seems right and that we can afford.” We always wanted to be out here. We found a lot, bought it, and went back to Boston and continued to work. But we began designing our house with Donlyn. He did the siting and shaping of the house and we did the interiors. Matt Sylvia built it; it was the last house he finished. Interestingly—in relation to your big circle notion—Matt used to build Neutra houses in Los Angeles before Sea Ranch invited him to come build up here. He built over 150 homes at Sea Ranch. Our house was finished in 2000, and for four years after that we commuted back and forth to Boston.

Maynard and Lu Lyndon's Sea Ranch house.
Architecture by Donlyn Lyndon, FAIA

Inside the Lyndons' home at Sea Ranch.

The view over the sheep meadow.

By the 26th anniversary of Placewares in 2004, we said, “We’ve done this long enough. It’s time to move on.”

We gathered all our employees together at our Boston headquarters and told them we were closing the stores down and we would help them find other employment. And that’s what we did. Every two weeks, we closed a store and consolidated the merchandise and whatever remaining staff. The last location to close was our first store, in Concord. On the very last day, there were just the two of us, just the way we had started 26 years earlier.

Within months, we were out here at Sea Ranch full time with the idea to continue the design practice, because we still had various royalty arrangements. We thought that would sustain us, but we missed all the contact with people.

And so we began asking ourselves and family and people we were meeting up here, “What does this town need?” People said, “We need a quick photo place. We need a drycleaner. A messenger service.” In Lu’s Mini Cooper, we could have the Mini Messenger Service. Lu thought about a madeleine baking company.

But finally we said, “Why don’t we just do what we know how to do? But let’s change the LyndonDesign part, and let’s do a gallery because there are so many talented artists up here.”

So now we are back doing what we love and talking with people directly. And Lu, you should take over talking about it. You haven’t had a chance to say a word.

Lu Lyndon: I used to tease Maynard when we interviewed prospective new employees. When you do an interview, you’re supposed to let the interviewee do the talking. I used to have to nudge Maynard because he was the one who was doing all the talking, describing Placewares to the interviewee!

Interviewer: So do you feel like this is the essence of what you were about, getting to the pure designs and art, without the huge overhead and delivery and operations and finance?

Lu Lyndon: When we were planning this store, the big question was, what is really needed here? What kinds of things do we know about that would resonate in this community? I first found Sea Ranch in the late 1960s while I was working at D/R—I didn’t know Maynard or Donlyn then. People would come to D/R to furnish their houses up here.

On my first visit I just fell in love with Sea Ranch. And I said to myself, “Someday I’m going to live here.” And luckily for me, someday happened. But the store really is a response to the community. It is a way for us to give something back and to be able to continue our love of sourcing new products and finding interesting, good, well-designed things. And sharing them with our customers.

I have always been very careful that whatever I acquire is well-designed and beautiful and enduring. I have this attitude that that’s the way we need to live. It’s hard to be sour about the world if you’re surrounded by beautiful things—and interesting people! It’s also a very sustainable approach to living. If the things you have are things you love, you’re not throwing them away and replacing them every two years.

Placewares+LyndonDesign in Gualala.

The Finnish designer Kaj Franck designed a line of dishes for Iittala in 1952. They are the dishes I bought from D/R for my first apartment; we still use them today at home, and we sell them in our store. His whole attitude was to keep things simple. Buy things that you love and use them every day. Don’t put them in a cupboard for special occasions. They’re part of your life. I feel very fortunate to have known both Armi Ratia, who founded Marimekko, and Ben Thompson, who was D/R. And to be able to continue what they began, in some small way in this little outpost in Gualala….

Maynard and Lu Lyndon
at their first Placewares store in January 1978.

All photos courtesy Maynard Hale Lyndon and Lu Wendel Lyndon except as noted.

Further information:

Placewares+LyndonDesign
http://www.placewares.com/

Design Research Book
http://www.chroniclebooks.com/index/main,book-info/store,books/products_id,8937/
http://www.archpaper.com/e-board_rev.asp?News_ID=4886&PagePosition=4

The Sea Ranch
http://www.papress.com/html/book.details.page.tpl?isbn=9781568983868

Fine Dining face lift

2011-03-04T06:45:00.001-05:00

A focal wall of Rich Color Washes added to existing Plaster treatment to update and warm the main Dining Room of this restaurant .

Before - Pale washes out Plaster