Good Summer Reading

Dan Baum's wonderful new book 9 Lives profiles 9 people whom he met while in New Orleans covering Katrina for the New Yorker.

 I loved the book so much that I invited Dan to come to my apartment on Sunday and talk about it with some friends.  And he showed up!

 Actually it wasn't my idea, it was his. I just took him up on the offer. 

Dan Baum spent a couple of years living in New Orleans writing the book. Looks like New Orleans southern eccentricity rubbed off. Love it.

Here's Dan talking to us about his book, via video chat on my computer. He joined us from his pleasant backyard in Boulder, Colorado. The iChat was fun, although I had a little trouble getting it to work at first. But he was gracious, and gave us extra time. I had a lot of questions after reading the book, especially on how he got so much vivid detail.  

After you read the book, invite him to talk about it at your house with some friends like I did.

All you need to get started is a computer with video chat capabilities, such as my MacBook. Mint juleps are optional, but they make everything so much fun. 

The recipe is at the end of this post. Yesterday was 102 degrees outside. We needed mint juleps.

Our book club included Myrl Talkington, a designer who's working on a Southern gothic novel herself.

...and Carol Riddle, a lawyer with offices in New Orleans and Dallas. Carol told some wild stories about trying to retrieve things from her offices and her gorgeous apartment in the French Quarter after Katrina. 

I got the recipe for mint juleps from this book, Southern Cocktails. It was written by Dallas resident Denise Gee and photographed beautifully by her husband, Robert Peacock. Denise is originally from Natchez, Mississippi, and so speaks with authority on such matters.

Click on the image to view the recipe. It's so simple you'll wonder why you hadn't made them before. 

I used Knob Creek bourbon because I'd read that it was good to use in cocktails. You don't want a fine sipping bourbon, but you want something that mixes well. It must have been the right bourbon because I didn't have a hangover this morning.

Thought you might want to see part of my table, set with snacks. These puffed chips with peanut butter inside were so good. I got them at Whole Foods where the chips are sold. Those stunning deep purple calla lilies were less than $10 and are from All Occasion Florist  around the corner on Oak Lawn. The florist gave me a tip for making them last for weeks -- only fill the water about an inch to keep the stalks from getting soggy, which makes them die prematurely. The glass bottle is an inexpensive knock off of a Murano glass version at Bottega Veneta.

These hors d'oeuvres were easy to make -- asparagus (uncooked) wrapped in cream cheese and smoked salmon. To do it, place a strip of salmon in your palm and spread the cream cheese onto it. Then wrap around a stalk of asparagus. Finish with a light dusting of sea salt.

The House That Cantoni Built

5903 Lakehurst Avenue

This week Cantoni debuts a spectacular showhouse, built from the ground up and filled entirely with Cantoni furniture and art.

The house was built to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the store, which started out as one of the few places in Dallas  you could buy modern furniture. It has since turned into a huge store with design services and many lines, many of them Italian. It also has many longtime, loyal fans. You might go so far as to say it's an institution in Dallas. I barely remember a time when it wasn't here. 

I took a tour of the house yesterday (it opens officially tonight at a party hosted by Metropolitan Home) and I have to say it's beautifully crafted and beautifully laid out. It feels good to be in it, and part of the reason is that they've varied the height of the rooms and the height of the windows. It's not one big clunky, cavernous box. It's actually carefully thought out.

The enviable kitchen is by Italian manufacturer Bontempi Cucine which Cantoni now carries exclusively in Dallas.

This sweeping kitchen countertop (I think it's 20 feet) doubles (triples?) as a dining room table and bar. Cook, eat, drink. It's where all the action will be inside this house.

The floors are Italian ceramic tiles and have a beautiful glow and subtle texture.

The 7,500 square ft. house was built as a way to show off Cantoni's multi-dimensional design team, who collaborated on the architecture, room layouts, and furniture and art selections.

Lead designer Pogir, who has a degree in architecture from his native South Africa, consulted on the architectural design. Pogir created the garage so that when you pull inside you are greeted with a spectacular view -- there's a window inside that overlooks the pool. He built a large, separate tool and storage area so that the garage stays pristine. 

The house is for sale through Briggs-Freeman for $3,895,000 (the furniture, art, and audio-visual equipment are for sale, too, for a larger price tag). Want to see more photos of the house? Go here. The house has its own Facebook page, too.

Get this: The store has designed and built a small complex of modular, modern duplexes in Oak Lawn called Motion, Pogir told me, which are due to open in September. I saw an image of them, and they look great, but I don't have one yet to show you. Stay tuned, and I'll give you a tour soon. 

Will this be a trend? Should we look for a Forty Five Ten Flat soon, or maybe a Mexcox Manor? 

More Dallas Design News...

Heather Weise-Alexander (left) and Beth Dotolo

Heather Weise-Alexander, owner of the very stylish Nest, just announced the launch of the boutique's full-service interior design firm, appropriately called Nest Interior Design. Beth Dotolo is the lead designer (she's ASID and LEED AP). A design consultation in-home is $120 and design services are $120 an hour. Donald Fowler also joined the Nest recently as buyer. Read about it here.

[Click on image to read it]

Here's a sneak peek at the book jacket for Jan Showers' new book, due out in October. It's beautiful!

[Click on image to read it]

[Click on the image to read it]

Here's the book's foreword. You can't go wrong with one written by Michael Kors.

Dallas-based Room Service Home has a charming new blog and a talented new in-house designer, Robb Webb. You can hire him for a steal at $75 an hour.

Dallas' Cowgirl Chef Debuts on TV

Dallas chef and blogger Ellise Pierce (A.K.A. Cowgirl Chef) who's been living and working in Paris for almost two years, flew to San Francisco last week to tape her first TV cooking interview. The Bay area show is syndicated, and you can also see her future cooking shows on youtube as well. Ellise and I started our writing careers together 20 years ago in the legendary Darro Evans workshops, and it's great to see how well she's done!

Watch it here:

Dallas Design Gossip

I snapped a picture of Eric Prokesh during our lunch yesterday at Cafe Pacific. I love a man wearing seersucker in summer, don't you? Men in New Orleans still wear them, but you don't often see them in Dallas any more. Cafe Pacific is one of Eric's favorite places in Dallas, mainly because he likes to people watch, and the decor is also like a Paris bistro. We both ordered the sole, which turned out to be pretty good. "I buy sole at Costco in bulk and eat it like fast food," Eric said. "I freeze them, then take one out at a time and wrap it in [parchment] paper and bake it. It only takes a few minutes."

Here's Eric, after lunch, in front of the Hermes boutique in Highland Park Village. How many men do you know who can pull off a candy stripe tie and white pants and not look like an ice cream vendor or Tom Wolfe?

Eric told me about a table he just had made for a client on Beverly Drive, whose design he based on a circa 1935 Biedermeir table he saw in a German book (above). Below is the iPhone shot of it after it was delivered to the house earlier in the week:

The original was in walnut, but the craftsman who built it (I know who it is, but Eric won't let me tell you. Ask Michelle Nussbaumer if you want to know, or James McInroe) suggested bird's-eye maple for this one.

Says Eric: "Bird's-eye maple, which is also a biedermeir wood, lightens it up, I think. Of course the prototype was a center table so I adjusted the proportions to compensate for the increased scale. The folding star and some other details, you will notice, have been changed or added."

The house will be finished sometime around Christmas, and from the way Eric describes things, it'll be a symphony of beautiful greens, blues, and lavenders -- the colors he's known for.

In Other Design News....

[Photo by Terri Glanger]

Dallas designer James McInroe has put his Vandelia Street duplex up for lease where his design business has been based for many years and is making plans to open a store/showroom in the Design District. We will post updates on this blog as we get them.

More Sad News in the World of Layoffs....

Will Kolb (left) who had been one of Sherle Wagner's top regional district sales managers, was laid off yesterday. Will is known by everyone in the design business in Dallas, and he's looking for work, so contact him at bratprince@aol.com if you have any leads.

[Photo by Billy Surface]

Donald Fowler, who was synonymous with Stanley Korshak's home store for years abruptly left this past spring, resurfacing recently as buyer for The Nest. I first came across Fowler and his brilliant eye when he worked at the now-defunct Translations with Mary Bloom. I think that's where he honed his skills for buying unexpected and beautiful handmade things. It'll be fun to watch what he does next.

Fowler was replaced at Korshak by the store's former creative director Sandy Ceppos [above], who has a background as an interior designer and entertaining expert in New York, according to her press release. Among the ideas she plans to implement in the home division are monthly entertaining and tabletop seminars and a design tips blog, hosted on the website.

Keeping Them Honest

Dallas designer and antiquarian John Marrs hosted a seminar on Saturday to his friends in the design trade on How to Buy Antiques for Your Clients without Loosing Your Shirt or Going to Jail.

Of course it wasn't really called that, but any designer who's bought an antique for a client will tell you that even the experts get ripped off.

Enter Donald King Cowan, an antiques appraiser who specializes in 18th and 19th century Americana. Cowan led the seminar, which lasted most of the afternoon. (Cowan helped authenticate the Bybee collection of American furniture at the Dallas Museum of Art, by the way.)

He's also witty and quotable. As expected, Cowan gets a lot of requests by private citizens to authenticate furniture that's been in the family for generations.

"I get lots of what I call Mayflower calls. People wanting me to come look at a piece of furniture that they swear came over on the Mayflower, or at least that is the family story. If all the furniture that people claim came over on the Mayflower actually did, the boat would have sunk."

The seminar was held at Marrs' wonderful offices-cum-store on Lovers Lane. They've been recently refreshed, and sporting a new mix of modern art, antiques and newer pieces of furniture. The painting is by Dallas area artist Harmony Padgett.

Marrs' updated design look includes more casual furnishings that are inexpensive. His store is open to the public as well as to the trade.

...love this leggy twig table

James Campbell, showroom manager at Lee Jofa

I love it when Southern men wear white linen jackets in the summer. Marrs and Cowan are both Southern gentlemen. They went to the University of Arkansas together.

The back of the shop, set up for the seminar, reminds me of something you might see in Paris...

...with its faux painted walls and ceiling

The seminar was held in the back rooms where Marrs and his staff work

These shelves hold some of the best design reference books I've ever seen, many of them out of print.  I told Marrs he ought to let people check them out. We promise we'll give them back.

Mark Fletcher, a designer with John Phifer Marrs, and Cowan chatting in the back room before the seminar. Isn't this a glorious room? Like an atelier.

...silver bowls with nuts and pretzels and a charming, cloth-wrapped tub filled with cold drinks. 

the legendary Robert Rutherford.

Nancy Winston of Brunswig et Fils. There aren't many people who can pull off a plain gray t-shirt and look chic, but she can.

Sherre Latham

Derek Vanlandingham, a designer with John Phifer Marrs.

Sam Webb (in addition to running the store for Marrs, she's a member of the International Society of Appraisers and frequently hosts her own antiques workshops)

Margaret Chambers

Joyce Fox

About 20 designers came to hear Cowan's talk

Deborah Bigbie and Mark Fletcher chatting during a break

Wouldn't you do great, creative stuff, too, if you went to work every day in a room like this?

Can you believe this room is actually inside one of those simple little bungalows on Lovers Lane? The sign of a remarkable designer is one who can transform a plain space into something sublime.

Charming!

Mary An Shirk, a designer with John Phifer Marrs

These are the best looking work cubicles I've ever seen

This cubicle with the big spider belongs to designer Mary An Shirk. Marrs described her as the prankster of the group, the one who puts the plastic vomit on the floor as a joke. I know it's true, because during the seminar, when Marrs got up from his chair, she told him he'd sat in some chocolate candy. As he frantically tried to brush it off, Mary An burst out laughing. 

Another stylish cubicle.

Here's the staff's communal work area with a trio of red vintage Eames chairs.

Robert Vaticalos

Don Schuster

Another fabulous work area.

Cheryl Van Duyne was being a good sport, because I made her stand next to the red Eames chairs for this picture. Those fantastic red sandals are vintage Jimmy Choo.

Webb and Fletcher getting the table ready for the reception upstairs. I believe that's a Tom Sime painting. Sime used to be an art critic for the Dallas Morning News, then moved to New York to paint and write plays.

There were a tense few minutes as Cowan used this veneer flame mahogany chest in Marrs' store as show and tell.

Cowan took the drawers out and turned the chest around to study its joinery and wood. Whew! It's an authentic mid-19th century American antique. The giveaways: an original backboard with square nails, original veneer attached with rabbit skin glue, and sandwich glass drawer handles with old screws that protrude about an inch out of the wood, because there were no standard sized screws back then.

More show and tell with this transitional Empire chest in cherry. The ultimate giveaway: a mellow, lovely shellac finish that's impossible to fake, says Cowan.

Joyce Fox laughing at one of Cowan's humorous (but informative) quips.

I'll leave you with some the afternoon's best Cowanisms:

I'm horrified that sometimes people pay $48,000 for a piece of furniture that has absolutely no description except "Fabulous French Buffet" on the tag. As dealers and designers we should do better than that for our clients. And we can. You wouldn't buy a car that way. 

It's not a crime to pay too much for an antique, but it's a crime to say it's something that it's not. If you're not sure, slap the word "style" on that invoice, as in Federal-style chest.

The older the piece, the fewer the dovetails.

Patina is only dust and grime and soot encased in wax. 

Chippendale is Queen Ann on steroids.

Construction methods never lie. Everything from the hardware to the nails and joinery are a product of the a particular time's technology. And it's the same whether it's French, American, Spanish or Italian.

We collect because we are programmed to collect. We come from a long line of hunters and gatherers. So when your husband wants to known why you bought another piece of whatever, tell him evolution made you do it.

If you have any money in the bank, you're not really a collector.