Houston Special: In-House Antique Sale

 

  3015 Virginia Street in the Upper Kirby District, Houston, Texas

 

The well know antique dealer from New Orleans, Mignon Favrot Topping, has lately found a new way to market her wares.  Topping is now staging houses that are for sale, filling them with her gorgeous pieces – all of which are for sale, of course!

Houstonians are extremely lucky because this weekend Mignon has worked her magic on a house for sale in the Upper Kirby District.  The agent, Sharon Ballas, emailed to tell me about this house that received the special Mignon treatment.    I’ve seen the house before.  Of course.  On a stalking drive-by, I slammed on my brakes – lured in by the French facade with the blue shutters and white stucco and adorable front door.  I walked all around the empty house, oohing and ahhing and imagining  where I would place my furniture if I bought this house.   Luckily for you – you won’t see an empty house if you stalk it this weekend – Mignon has furnished every corner of the house downstairs and it looks absolutely amazing. 

If you are in the market for a gorgeous new house, or beautiful antiques, or just need an eye-candy fix – stop by the house.   Photographs here are courtesy of Sharon Ballas and the Houston Association of Realtors.

 

 

 

 

 

 Mignon Topping’s antique feast starts at the adorable front door.  Besides furniture, there is a lot of original art work for sale.

 

When you enter the front door, a very large dining room is to the immediate left.   I thought this room would be great as a combination library/dining room or there is extra room for a seating area too.   I love the chandelier and the dining table and chairs that Mignon brought in.  And what a gorgeous rug!

 

This gilt arm chair really appeals to me, as does the gueridon.   But, but, but – that painted chest makes my heart beat just a little faster – how gorgeous is that?!!?   WOW!   I am in love.

 

Yum.   The art work looks really interesting.    So do the candlesticks! 

 

 

The art work is really incredible – I apologize I don’t know the artists!   This canvas is another wonderful piece.

 

 

 

To the immediate right of the front door is a small living room that overlooks the swimming pool.   Mignon placed two French settees in this room along with a fabulous screen that I need to get a better look at!   And look how darling that foot stool is!   A piece like that is perfect for a bit of high contrast pop in a room.  

 

 

 

 

The view of the swimming pool from the front sitting room.

 

 

 

Past the dining and sitting rooms is a large beamed family room and adjoining kitchen.  A separate breakfast area is seen through the dual openings.     Out the French doors is a wonderful covered outdoor living area, complete with a fireplace AND an air conditioner/heater!!!    This family room is incredible – open and inviting.  Mignon furnished it with a dining table, but homeowners would probably place their sofa there.    The kitchen blends into the area and is barely noticeable at the very end of the room. 

 

 

 

A view of the fireplace and kitchen.   Notice the beautiful wood doors.    I love that large pillow and be sure to notice the painting of dogs above the mantel.   I might have to buy that one myself.   I love it!!!    You can see more of the kitchen in this picture.  The island divides the cooking area from the family room. 

 

 

The same view without furniture.   What a wonderful space.

 

 

The view of the swimming pool from the other side of the family room.   Of course – a homeowner wouldn’t block the view with a gorgeous buffet a deux – but Mignon has more antiques than wall space, so we’ll forgive her!!! 

 

 

 

The same view, without furniture, with the breakfast area to the left. 

 

Close up of a pair of Hitchcock chairs and another wonderful mirror and candlestick.

 

There is a single farm sink – my favorite kind - and white subway tiles along with white marble paired with deep gray cabinets, ala Sally Wheat, Cote de Texas readers’ favorite kitchen.   The canvas in the middle is calling me.  Joni.   Joni.   Joni.   Buy me.  Buy me.  Buy me.   I am not sure I should go to this sale actually.   

 

 

A view of the kitchen showing the island and the fireplace in the sitting room. 

 

 

From the family room through the openings is the breakfast area – or it could be a sitting area.  The mini trumeau would be fabulous in a powder room and the painted bergeres would be a perfect pair for a living room or bedroom.

 

The breakfast area filled with antiques from Mignon.    I love the dog paintings – I see a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel that looks too cute.  

 

 

The covered outdoor living space was decorated by Mignon as if it was an inside space – well it IS air conditioned!  The sofa is wonderful, as is the putti painting over the large stone mantel. 

 

 

 

So nice – too bad you can’t decorate outdoor spaces like this!  

 

 

Besides the fireplace, there is an outdoor kitchen with grill.  The painted table is wonderful – as is is the trumeau over the desk.   I love the way they treated the ceiling with beadboard and beams.   This truly is an outdoor room. 

 

 

I don’t know the artist – but aren’t these wonderful?   My favorite is the one in the middle with the white hat and white dress. 

 

A view of the swimming pool and the large outdoor living room. 

 

 

Looking straight into the living room.   The family room is along the right.

 

 

View of the outdoor living room without the furniture.    The breakfast area is directly to the left.

 

The vaulted ceiling master bedroom is upstairs with a balcony that overlooks the swimming pool

 

The master bathroom.

 

 

 

 

The house was built by Suncor Builders LLC and designed by the outstanding Robert Dame who also is responsible for the famous Octagon House.  The house measures at 5,822 sq. ft with 4 bedrooms and 5 1/2 baths, along with a wine room and a huge upstairs game room.

To contact  Sharon Ballas, the real estate agent, go here.   The schedule for the antique sale and the address is below.   Hope to see you there!

 

The Skirted Roundtable – New This Week!

 

A room designed by interior great Charles Faudree.  What would you imagine a room like this would cost?   Myself, I would put it at close to a quarter to half a million dollars!  What is your guess?

 

This week The Skirted Roundtable discusses the true costs involved with hiring interior designers – how much do rooms REALLY cost?  Hear the three of us talk about how we deal with budgets and today’s high price of furniture, labor, and fabric.   Go here to listen.

 

 

The original living room – designed by Madeline Stuart for the rock star’s first house.  Two coffee tables again, but the second one is much more in scale with the root table and the look “works” here.   The gold table goes with the gold sofa, the dark wood table is paired with the same dark sofa – though in the new living room, it’s the other way around and the two tables are too desperate in size to make any design sense.   The same sconces look in scale to this painting that is, again, perfectly in scale to the mantel.   This room was designed by a pro and it shows – it looks thoughtful and deliberate, not edgy just to be edgy.

 

 

The Skirted Roundtable's Design blogging topic this week revolves around criticism on blogs – how is the right way to criticize, or IS there a right way?  The topic came up after the huge reader response to the Two Coffee Tables living room post last weekend on Cote de Texas.    To listen, please go here.

As always – thank you for your continued support for The Skirted Roundtable.  We appreciate all the feedback, the comments and emails, and we are looking forward to welcoming several very exciting, VIP guest hosts in the upcoming weeks!

Money for Something

The very large and vocal response to my critique of a house in a design magazine took me by surprise.  To me, it was just a little Saturday afternoon rant – to you, it struck a chord.  I didn’t name the magazine or the designer on purpose, because it wasn’t my intent to “out” anyone or to put them down either – just to have some snarky fun.   But rather, it was supposed to be a lesson in design 101 – something all of us can use reminders of.   Still, concentrating on the negative feeds more negativity.  So, instead of all that – let’s look at what I DO like coming from this design magazine in the last few months.   One of my personal favorites was the story of the NYC pied a terre of Alessandra Branca.  But of course I would love her apartment – I had named Branca to my Top Ten Designers list here.  I adore everything she touches.   Branca’s design style is the antithesis of edgy.  She uses classic fabrics – preferring stripes and linens and damasks and toiles.  She favors a symmetrical placement of furniture and lamps and paintings.  She likes to use black and red as accents – and it does seem that almost every room she designs has both colors in it.  The most “out there” thing I’ve ever seen her do is use an oversized lighting fixture!  Branca has a look – a room designed by her is instantly recognizable.   But, that’s what I like about her – her signature style.  I love stripes and damasks and symmetry.    I love black and red accents and I adore antique chinoiserie – so I would love her work.  Branca is not trendy – she doesn’t use ikats or suzanis because they are in – in fact I’m not sure I’ve ever seen her use either.  Rather, she sticks to what she loves and she has been consistent throughout the years – her designs don’t date because classic doesn’t date.  Branca’s work is certainly worth the price of a magazine – it’s money for something.  This story appeared in the May 2009 Elle  Decor.  

 

 

Branca was born in Rome and still maintains a house there, but she lives in Chicago where she runs her design business and a decor shop.  This apartment is her get away place for work and shopping trips in NYC.  The apartment is just over 1,000 ft. and is located on the second floor of a townhouse.  With just two rooms, Branca chose to turn the bedroom into a library/dining area/office to greet clients and, in turn, a small dressing room became the bedroom.  The main room is rather large and features all the design elements that Branca loves:  black & red, lanterns, damask, stripes, paisley, chinoiserie, and antiques.  She divided the room into three different sitting areas.  The main sitting area features a sleeper sofa – for visiting children – and is covered in a beige linen-velvet.    Two adjacent painted Italian armchairs wear red and white Fortuny and red and white stripes.  The sofa is placed directly across from the fireplace - which is in the middle of the room.  An antique settee flanks one side of the fireplace.   On the other side is an upholstered banquette, used for dining.   Between the high windows – perfectly balanced is a large chinoiserie armoire in reds and blacks.   A little short, Branca lengthens the visual line by topping the armoire with gorgeous apothecary bottles, set off against a red tribal African hat.    Notice the lantern – she put whimsical red shades trimmed in black onto the candles.   Wall to wall seagrass covers the entire apartment, creating a sedate backdrop to all the color pops of reds and blacks.

 

The middle section of the large room is anchored by a black and gold chinoiserie screen and the custom made sleeper sofa in linen velvet.  Red and white pillows play off the red and white Fortuny covering the painted Italian arm chairs.  A red Oriental coffee table finishes the vignette.  Notice the lamp shades here – covered in antique pieces of paisley – another favorite fabric of Branca’s.

 

To the left of the fireplace is the custom made banquette upholstered in beige and white damask – perfectly matching the wall color.  The pillows repeat the red and white Fortuny covered chairs next to the sleeper sofa.  More black chinoiserie is found in this coffee table.  And even more black shows up in the antique English spoon back chair.  Above the banquette are a series of botanicals painted by Branca’s mother, a well know Italian artist.  Notice how perfectly the size of the botanicals are for the space.   The oversized black pedestal  holding the Oriental jar is a trademark of Branca’s as are the red silk lampshades.     I love this corner of the room – a more perfect visual arrangement would be hard to imagine!

 

 

This picture shows Branca perched on the antique settee found on the right side of the fireplace.  Upholstered in a typical Branca stripe, the settee sits under a large collection of red seals, framed in black.

 

 

The fireplace – with the banquette on the left and the settee on the right is the focal point of the living room.   Large oxblood vases balance out an ornate mantel clock, while two benches provide extra setting.  

 

 

The bedroom became a library/office/dining room – more functional for Branca and her husband.  The shelves are lined in red and are filled with red and black accessories.  The desk – an 18th century antique doubles as a dining table when needed.   I love how Branca utilized the space the way she needed it, not how it was expected to be used.  

 

The long, narrow dressing room became the bedroom.  Branca designed all the bedding and curtains, using linen in creams and red and white stripes.  The striped fabric walls give the space a tent like effect reminiscent of another era.    A canopy helps make the room appear wider and turns the custom designed daybed into a focal point.   I love the clock!!!   Behind the bed, is a comfortable chair piped in red – of course! and a desk. 

 

 

 

The outdoor space was fixed up by Branca to enlarge her living area.  The space was enclosed with black trellis and red wood furniture was added along with bright blue Madelyn Weinrib rugs.   The table is covered in a Bennison linen. 

 

To see more of Branca’s beautiful designs, be sure to visit her web site here.   I sincerely hope this expertly designed apartment has helped to restore your faith in magazines’ ability to sometimes get it right!!!!    The truth is, we bloggers depend on magazines to provide us with the beautiful photographs we show you day after day.  Yes, we do also show original work here by designers in Houston and others who send in their work to share – but the vast majority of images come from the expensive photoshoots that magazines have to pay for.    One comment sent in by a local scout asks that we be more sympathetic to magazines’ plight.  The bad economy has hit their industry hard and advertising revenues are drying up.  The scout said we should think about subscribing to a year’s worth to help fill their coffers in order to help the situation.   Not a bad idea I think.   So while magazines have to gain our trust and our loyalty, we also owe them a thanks for many years of pleasure!   If we didn’t care, we wouldn’t be lamenting all the losses of this past year.  

Good Money for Nothing!

 

A story in a recent magazine really left me puzzled.   The last few months, I have become acutely aware of the lack of design magazines available.  We’ve all watched as one by one, titles have fallen victim to our economy – I don’t need to list them all here again, but a trip to the book stores really opens your eyes to what is left.   Not much.  We’ve lamented their loss together and expressed shock as one after another has folded.  The reality is now here.    Thank God for House Beautiful and Southern Accents, Metropolitan Home and Veranda,  Traditional Home and Elle Decor.   And……?     See what  I mean?     It’s slim pickings.    Which puts the spotlight on those remaining.    Magazines aren’t cheap, take a $10 bill to the counter and you might walk out with two – maybe.    The current mags should be fabulous now – they have their pick of houses to publish.   Scouts are telling me that they keep getting turned away with stories that normally would have been snapped up.  There’s a glut of houses deserving of publication – yet they’ve been rejected.    Which should mean that the ones that are published, are wonderful houses with interiors that could make a grown man weep from the beauty.   But still, it’s not quite happening.   Each issue arrives stuffed with mediocrity and junk.   Some make you laugh, others draw a wince.  

I don’t usually go “negative” here – but I am going to today.   So forgive me this rant.  I’ll be back to normal tomorrow – all chipper and happy.  For now, I’m confused.  Is it me?   Am I the only one who feels this way?   Do others see what I see?

 

The story that caused my head to shake shows a house in Los Angeles – the owner is the wife of a famous  rock star.  She also was the interior decorator,  one of her many talents the magazine informed us of.   Other prolific talents are photography and lyric writing for her husband’s songs.   Her ambitions for their house were certainly lofty.  The new construction abode was designed to look like an authentic Wallace Neff.  The pool house was inspired by a photograph from David Hicks’ book – My Kind of Garden.  The staircase was modeled after one found in Nancy Lancaster’s  Mirador,  Neff, Hicks, Lancaster – let’s drop some names.   This is going to be stunning, no?    Their master bedroom is quite lovely – that I will admit.   And their kitchen is very nice too.  When these pictures were first seen – bloggers went ga-ga over the house and I’ll admit at my first cursory glance I did too, even leaving comments saying “beautiful!”  I finally had some extra time to leisurely pour over this house and all I can wonder is “Am I crazy, here?  What am I missing?”

I try to never do this – never focus on the negative, and maybe I am wrong here.  Maybe this is wonderful and I should get my  hands slapped and  go re-enroll  in design school and hey, maybe even join ASID!   With so little competition out there, shouldn’t we be seeing the best that interior design has to offer?   Is this house all that?   Was there nothing else to show us last March?  

 

What drives me crazy about this room:  two coffee tables.  Why? Why?  And if you DID want two coffee tables – shouldn’t they relate either in size or style?   I understand eclectic – I get it.  I just do not get THIS.  If for some really good reason you needed two coffee tables side by side, shouldn’t at least ONE be attractive?  Finding attractive coffee tables is hard, I know that, I live that.   But to pick two of the ugliest coffee tables in the world, now that takes some work.  Actually, let me correct that, the shorter table was designed by the home owner – who has launched her own furniture line.  Yes, I did just say that.   But, two coffee table - am I wrong?   Am I missing something? 

 

  

There’s more.   The mantle is so high, I’m guessing it’s over 5 ft tall.  The mantel is a vertical element.  It’s tall, it’s narrow.    The designer then adds a long, skinny, goopy, fancy mirror, further extending the vertical line.   The mantel is crying out for something more horizontal – something wide to balance out the tall vertical element of the fireplace.   What is especially amusing is that the designer proclaims:   “I wanted everything to have a human scale.”   Human scale?  For whom – the Jolly Green Giant?   A simple, round convex mirror would have been nice.  A wide painting propped on the top would have been nice.   A line of short porcelains would have been nice.   My neck aches just looking up at that mirror.

 

 

 

And if the fancy Chippendale styled mirror and the two coffee tables weren’t enough – add to this a pair of oversized three armed French sconces.   What a mixture.  Again, the sconces are elongated – with a vertical appearance, where something horizontal is desperately needed here.    The entire marble fireplace vignette truly baffles me almost as much as the two coffee tables do.   When my house was photographed for a magazine – the stylists really edited it , they changed things around, they brought in props – did that not happen here?  Does this stylist really leave houses exactly the way he found them?  

 

Should I even address the upholstery?   The exuberant Brunschwig & Fils print on the sofa is nice – I like it, actually.  But look across at the other sofa, covered in a striped brown velvet, along with a floral accent pillow – I don’t see a connection here.   And yes, I understand that kind of decorating, where nothing really matches – but things should at least blend, no?   Again – am I missing something? 

 

 

 

 

The other picture of the living room shows the two coffee tables again, the sofa, the unmatched lamps (to each other and anything else in the room.)    Where to start?   What I suppose is the focal point of the room – though two side by side coffee tables would be a focal point in any other room -  a large picture gallery wall, filled with lots of expensive art, takes the room off in another direction.  What direction – don’t ask me.   I just paid for the magazine, I didn’t pick the house.  There’s no area rug and I’m not sure what the purpose of the pillows is, certainly not to enhance.   Oh – and be sure to notice the solo, two armed sconce in the middle of all the art work that somehow balances out the green lamp next to the sofa.  I doubt that was intentional.

 

 

In the dining room, the table is surrounded by leather chairs from the designer’s own furniture line, that seem oddly short to me.  No?  The walls are wallpapered with a gorgeous Zuber pattern, yet the mirrored chimney piece creates an odd effect on the wallpaper’s scene.   It stops the eye where it should freely move across the wall.   The mirror almost has a magnifying effect on the wallpaper.  Why put the built in mirror there?   I don’t understand that – do you?

 

 

The designer’s own studio is nice enough – I adore the cabinetry with the Dutch door.   And I love her drafting desk.   Here, finally, is an area rug, yet could it be any smaller or any trendier?  This room could be a knock-out, instead it looks like it was decorated with Salvation Army specials.  Am I wrong here?  

 

 

The den with its sofa, and odd one armed chaise, is fine, a typical mixture of things chosen to look edgy – while using classic fabrics.  Again,  I never quite understood,  why in order to be “chic” or “hip” – one has to pick things that don’t seem to relate to each other.   It’s like the curtains were found there, and the furniture moved in around them.  It’s me, I know that.  But I like pillows that mean something.  Pillows with definite shape – full, robust, oversized.   Jeffrey Bilhuber makes the most perfect pillows I think I have ever seen.  Go here to see how pillows should look.

 

The kitchen is one of the prettier rooms in the house, though I don’t understand why the range is in the breakfast area, but hey, I don’t cook – maybe the range SHOULD be in the breakfast area.  

 

The bedroom is a beautiful room – if only for its wonderful curtains, made of Bennison linen.  How could anyone go wrong with Bennison?   I’ll tell you – they put dark chocolate trim around it’s edges, that’s how.  I give up.

 

 

I’ll admit it, I’m getting older.   I’m past middle age now, and maybe that’s the reason I can’t join the chorus of bloggers who loved this house.   How do you feel about it?   Does the kitchen and bedroom make you forgive the living room?    Do you yourself like two desperate coffee tables side by side?    Are you one to put any materials together, without regard to color or pattern, and declare the room “designed?”  Am I not hip enough, not eclectic enough, not chic or trendy enough?   Am I crazy?  This house in person is probably beautiful.   And it’s a beloved family home, so who am I to criticize it?   I certainly am no better designer, and not at all in this league.  And I’m certainly not as beautiful.   But, when I buy a magazine, I expect something wonderful, maybe even perfect.   Something that makes me dream and go all green with envy too.   I want to learn something  - I want to see how the greats do it and maybe emulate them one day.   Come on editors – give us your best shot.  You’ve got a captive audience here.   Hit us with something that will stun us, motivate us, inspire us. 

I do know one thing, I feel ripped off.  I don’t want to pay good money for nothing anymore.