Giveaway On The Skirted Roundtable

 

 

Jackie Von Tobel’s fabric line, including these darling pillows.  The dog is NOT for sale!!! 

 

This week we have ANOTHER give away at the Skirted Roundtable HERE!  Our guest is Jackie Von Tobel, artist, interior and fabric designer,  and author.  Jackie is also a blogger – which is where the four of us met.    All of us started our blogs at about the same time, except for Linda who started HER blog ages and ages ago, Linda is the grandmother of design bloggers.   For the past three years, Jackie has been very busy writing two huge reference books on window treatments and bedding  HERE.   She was gracious enough to offer her two books for the giveaway.   The contest ends tomorrow night, so if you haven’t already entered, be sure to go to the Skirted Roundtable HERE and read the instructions.  

 

 

I love these pictures of Jackie’s home studio, where she writes, draws the illustrations for her books,  and creates her fabric line.  What a neat and organized artist!

 

While you are entering the contest, be sure to listen to the interview.  Jackie is a fascinating woman, full of a joie de vie that most of us only dream about!!!   She is highly inspiring and I think you will be very motivated after listening to all she has accomplished in her life.  She’s an incredible person and the three of us were left a little exhausted after talking with her!!!

 

 

My favorite fabric from Jackie’s line is this one – Birds and Braches in Coffee.   Jackie CLAIMS she designed this fabric with me in mind!!  Sure, Jackie!!!! 

 

Tomorrow is the last day to enter the giveaway – so hurry!!!  Go HERE to listen to the interview and leave your contest comments there.  Please do NOT leave your contest entry comments on this blog, Cote de Texas!  All entries MUST be left on the Skirted Roundtable blog or you won’t be eligible!!!!

 

Jackie asked that I add this information about her collaboration with Minutes Matter:

If you heard my recent interview on The Skirted Roundtable or read some of my posts about design software you may be interested in learning more about how my designs are used in STUDIO graphic design software.  My friend Merlin (yes, that is her real name) who is the official wizard over at Minutes Matter and I would like to cordially invited you to attend a FREE, 30 minute webinar sponsored by Minutes Matter Solutions on Thursday, March 4 at 1 PM Eastern. You’ll see Merlin use Studio, our graphic design program, to translate the fabulous draperies and valances from my book, The Design Directory of Window Treatments into elevation renderings filled with fabrics, colors, and textures. These complete designs can also be broken apart quickly and mixed and matched for an infinite variety of styles. Never be stumped again how to treat your client’s windows – watch how easy it is to drag and drop these beautifully illustrated images to create drawings that your clients will want show their friends.   To register for this free event on March 4 at 1 PM EST , please click here:

  https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/240892040

for more information, please visit the Minute Matter website:

www.minutesmatter.com

 

And finally, next week we have design photographer Michael J. Lee who is full of tips on how to get that perfect photograph of your house! 

Enfilades and Lanternes

Kay O’Toole’s house as seen in the March Veranda, pictures by Tria Giovan.  What roses!!!  I just adore the soft lavender color of the chair fabric.  Notice how thick the walls are, easy to see this where the windows are placed.

  The enfilade view from the bedroom past the entry hall into the living room.  Notice the gorgeous doors!  The front of the house is on the left.

This picture of Kay O’Toole’s house taken from the architect’s web site shows the skylight and the design on the wooden floors – both elements that are found on the above floor plan. 

A collection of antique oil paintings hang over a settee.  The chinoiserie tea table is so beautiful!

A charming French house found in Provence.

I have long been obsessed with enfilades – especially French ones found in the southern region of that country.   What exactly does enfilade mean when used in architecture?    Simply, an enfilade is a building where the interior doors are aligned with connecting rooms along a single axis.  When the doors are all lined up  – you can see from one end of the house to the other.   The history of the enfilade is a long one.  From the Baroque period on, royal palaces incorporated enfilades - state rooms would be lined up on one axis while private apartments would be on another.   Great houses in England used this floor plan – Chatsworth House and  Blenheim Palace are two famous examples. 

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Chatsworth House’s state rooms are lined up on an enfilade, one room flows into the next with their doors placed in a long line.   Here you can see from one end of Chatsworth all the way down to its other end. 

 

Blenheim Palace:  a long enfilade on the upstairs private bedroom wing.

The 17th century Tsarkoe Selo, an imperial palace in Russia, has a particularly beautiful enfilade due the lavish wall treatments.  The Tsarkoe Selo is home to the famous Amber Room. 

Maison de George Sand, home of the French author, has an enfilade of rooms.

Here, in this Swedish house, the enfilade is short, just three rooms deep.  So pretty!

Palaces traditionally have enfilades on their state floors. 

Juan Pablo Molyneux’s house has a gorgeous enfilade of rooms. 

  Another Swedish enfilade.

 

A country French house with beautifully carved doors between its rooms.

The window at the end of this long enfilade is especially pretty. 

A modern interpretation of the enfilade by Thad Hayes who used beautiful doors to separate these rooms.

Another new version of the building style in Rosemary Beach – here arches separate the rooms, not doors.

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David Adler, the famous architect, used enfilades in many of his designs.  This lineup of rooms is found in the 1925 Lasker house on Chicago’s North Shore.   Again, arches not doors separate the spaces.   

Limed wood doors and parquet floors update this house, giving it a more contemporary look. 

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Not France, but America by William T. Baker, thanks to Things That Inspire.   I would love to see the plans of this house to see if it is one room deep.

Traditional enfilades are not always fancy or large.   The New Orleans “shotgun house” is such an example.  Here, in the French Quarter,  is a rare but charming shotgun house, so called because a bullet would travel from the front door out to the back.

The shotgun house floor plan is a enfilade – all its doors are lined up.  The view at the front door would end at the back yard.

    Enfilade is also another name for a buffet with cabinet doors. This 19th century French painted enfilade with original hardware is from M. Naeve in Houston and 1st Dibs HERE. 

Kay O’Toole’s Floor Plans:   Enfilade AND a Lanterne

Looking again at Kay O’Toole’s floor plans, they reveal that besides being an enfilade, the house is also an example of a French Lanterne - meaning, the house is one room deep and the front and back windows are lined up – making the house see-through.  This style of house is named after the famous 18th century hunting lodge, the Pavillion de la Lanterne, located in the Versailles Park in France.   La Lanterne is considered a  most beautiful house and it has been widely copied throughout the years by different architects.   

An earlier picture of La Lanterne.  The house is used as a country vacation spot by French President Sarkozy.   He spent his honeymoon there with Carla Bruni.   The romance of a Lanterne design is the ability to approach the house, look into it and out past it, onto the back yard.  Imagine at a dinner party, arriving at the house and seeing through it, straight to the back all decorated with candle lit tables.

The gates to La Lanterne are topped by large deer heads. 

A rare floor plan of  La Lanterne shows the courtyard its the two wings surround.  Here you can see the center part of the building with the windows that line up, making the building see through.  

The layout of La Lanterne.   The famous blogger Aesthete’s Lament commented HERE that this view shows the “dreary landscaping, vulgarly sized tennis court, motel-blue pool.”  It does seem a shame that the grounds are not prettier. 

Here is a larger satellite picture of La Lanterne in Versailles.   You can see how close it is to the palace and the Petite and Gran Trianons.  

Security is very tight at La Lanterne now.   There is now a metal gate between the deer head posts.  Another fence encircles the outer perimeter of the property.

Rare pictures of La Lanterne.  You can really see the essence of the see-through aspect of the house from these pictures. 

The tennis court does seem horribly oversized – couldn’t it be moved to a more discrete part of the estate?  The pool, though, is not as offensive in this picture. 

A closer view of the two wings.

Many grand houses were built modeled on the original Pavillion de La Lanterne.  Here, in Lake Bluff,  the Carolyn Morse Ely house was built by David Adler in 1923.   Notice how the screens have marred the beautiful windows!   The facade is a faithful adaption of the original Pavillion de la Lanterne with its six windows and center pediment.

  The Adler Ely house showing the opposite side of the house as above.

 

The floor plans of the Carolyn Morse Ely house, plainly showing the house to be a Lanterne design with its windows lined up with each other.  The center portion of the house is also an enfilade, all the rooms have doors lined up on an axis. 

In Newport, Champ Soleil was built, again based on La Lanterne.  Things That Inspire  took this picture on a tour of the neighborhood.   Again, the main section of the house is one room deep, with windows lined up from the front to the back, making the house see through.  The gates were recently refurbished at great cost to the homeowners. 

An earlier photograph, taken inside the gates show the shutters and front door stained.   Champ Soleil is not as faithful a reproduction as the Ely house.  The Ely house has six windows flanking the front entrance, exactly like the Pavillion de la Lanterne.  Champ Soleil has only one window flanking the front door, instead of three. 

 

This side elevation picture of Champ Soleil dramatically illustrates the one room deep aspect of the Lanterne design.

In 1929, Horace Trumbauer designed another La Lanterne inspired house on Long Island for James B. Clews.   In 1952 the “Lanterne” center part of the house was demolished leaving the two wings to be converted into separate houses.  This facade is a faithful adaption of the original design – there are three windows on each side of the front door, exactly like the Pavillion de la Lanterne in Versailles.

The architects Bories and Shearron HERE designed a wonderful house based on the ‘see through’ style.   Sadly, this house has not yet been built.  This plan is not a copy of the Pavillion de la Lanterne, rather it is an interpretation of the style.  Notice the front door is not symmetrically placed, instead three windows are to one side of the door, while one is to its right.    

                                                                                                                                               

   And finally, a plat showing the layout of the house and gardens.

Reminder:  the new Skirted Roundtable is now online HERE.  This week we have as a guest, Jackie Von Tobel, author, interior and fabric designer.  Jackie is very inspiring to listen to – I think you will really enjoy hearing how she manages to do it all!   We are having a giveaway this week – two people will win one of Jackie’s reference books on bedding and window treatments!  Hurry to enter!

Chateau Multicultural

 

 

I found this house for sale on Sotheby’s Real Estate web site HERE.    Located on Lake Norman in Charlotte, North Carolina, it is listed for a cool $15,000,000.   Recession?  What recession?   The listing details make you think the house was built when Abraham, Isaac and Jacob walked the earth:  “Ancient craftsmanship, incredibly ornate details from the Biblical Stone in the Grand Foyer to the imported French limestone walls.”    OK.   The new house even has a name “Chateau Lyon.”   And to go along with all that pretension, even the rooms have fancy monikers:  The Grand Foyer, The Loggia, The Grand Salon, The Palm Court – what is that? and The Morning Room.    The house is also multicultural:  Mexican Pinon stone surrounds, antique European roof tiles, French boiserie, Italian chandelier (in the Palm Court), and Texas limestone foundation walls.   Despite all the fancy labels, the house is decorated with a very youthful flair.  The interior designer was not listed in the details, but I guessed who it was with the first picture of le Grande Fo-yer.  Can you guess who the very talented designer is?   

 

 

Whoa – what a foyer!  I wonder if this doubles as a living area?   I love the round settee in the middle – this piece is a real clue to who the designer is.   Do you know now???   Portieres separate this room from the family area.  

 

 

 

A close-up of the iron railing and stone stairs.  I love the stone flooring – it adds such a permanence to a house.

 

 

In the foyer, golden curtains with trim hang over a small niche. 

 

 

Looking down at the Grand Foyer,  from this view it somehow seems smaller.   What a gorgeous staircase, I love the stone treads.

 

 

 

 

The dining room aka The Palm Court is off to the left of the Grand Foyer.  I refuse to call these rooms by their real names, like entry hall!   Notice the trumeaus inset in the French boiserie.

 

 

 

A smaller table sits in the bay window.   Again, the apothecary jar filled with colored water gives another clue as to who the designer is, so do the colorful fabric choices.

 

 

Another set of portieres separate The Palm Court from the hall.       

 

 

The large lighting fixture is the advertised Italian chandelier,  what a beauty!  

 

 

 

 In The Grand Salon, aka the family room, there is a huge fireplace that looks like you could walk in it.   What a beauty! 

 

 

 

 

 From this view, the Grand Salon looks very large.   The Grand Foyer is the opening on the left and the kitchen is to the right.   The ceiling here is pecky cypress, a beautiful wood, one of my favorites.

 

 

 

 

The back wall is made of stone, while the other walls are faux painted.  The master bedroom is through the doors on the left of the fireplace.  

 

 

The Loggia, or the patio to you and me.  The ceiling here is more of the pecky cypress. 

 

 

 

This is the master bedroom, but truly all the bedrooms are so luxurious it is hard to tell.  The walls have a very faint mural painted on them.   This bedroom is located right off the Grand Salon, to the left of the fireplace. 

 

 

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In the mirror’s reflection you can see into the Grand Salon.  The Loggia is located off the windows, on the left.   Notice the hardware on the chair arms!  Another clue to who the designer is – did you guess yet?

 

 

The master bathroom is incredible.  Look at the shower on the right!   More chandeliers and sconces.   The bathroom is treated like another room – typical of this designer’s style.

 

 

A closeup of the sink area.  Notice how the tiled floor flows up so high on the walls.   So pretty!

 

 

 

This round room has another wood ceiling with beams.  Is this the library?  Again, the round ottoman with the Greek key trim is a hint to who the designer is – figure it out yet???

 

 

The kitchen is really pretty with painted cabinets and the stone floor. 

 

 

Now THAT’S a range hood!   And check out the range itself.  That alone probably cost more than the average house in America does!  Is that copper????  Whoa!!!!!!

 

 

An antique butcher’s table rests under a cow’s head.  Anyone want a steak??

 

 

The upstairs hallway has a groined ceiling and 250 year old pine floors.

 

 

An upstairs balcony off the Grand Foyer.

 

 

This balcony over looks the Grand Salon.   There are five bedrooms in Chateau Lyon.

 

 

 

 

Another bedroom, here you can really see the antique wood floors.  Very pretty room!  Notice the wonderful window and its surround. 

 

 

 

 

Another bedroom filled with antiques and a suzani bedspread.

 

 

The same bedroom – I love the bed and the oval sculpture above it.  So pretty!

 

 

  A bathroom, with arches and stone floor and footed tub.  

 

 

 

 

Ah, this must be THE Morning Room!    Charming! 

 

 

 

The Morning Room overlooks the lake out back.   What a beautiful piece of property.

 

 

The Loggia leads down to the lake.   This is off the Grand Salon and Master Bedroom.  

 

 

 

A wide view of the back of the house.  I didn’t realize there were that many fireplaces in the house.

 

 

For just $15 million, this can be yours too!

If you want to guess who the designer is, leave a comment.  If you knew who it was before, don’t ruin the fun for everyone else!!

 

And don’t forget tomorrow is the last day to enter the Skirted Roundtable giveaway HERE.