Please note: This article is published as an archive copy from Philadelphia City Paper. My City Paper is not affiliated with Philadelphia City Paper. Philadelphia City Paper was an alternative weekly newspaper in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The last edition was published on October 8, 2015.
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Also this issue: Amy Wynn Pastor Girl, Power Home, Again Get Hooked Dirty Pitchers |
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May 9-15, 2002
cover story
House of Style
 a cut above: Throw out your IKEA window shade and let Susan Stapler of Stapler Dress ân Drape help you make new curtains. think inside the box: Sarah Susanka gives lessons on decorating teeny living spaces. ask the expert: Diana Vreelandâs questions will change the way you look at decorating. Photo By: Christina M. Felice |
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Before there was Martha Stewart, there was Diana Vreeland -- the legendary style maven who reigned at Harper’s Bazaar for 25 years and edited Vogue from 1962 to 1971. Vreeland’s extravagant design and style suggestions ran in a monthly list called “Why Don’t You…” and covered topics from fashion to decorating to dressing children and dogs. The lists, compiled in John Esten’s Diana Vreeland: Bazaar Years, have a certain timelessness -- Vreeland’s audacious suggestions remain a perfect jumping-off point for thinking about home design. “Why don’t you have a room done up in every color green?” she asks. “This will take months, years, to collect, but it will be delightful -- a melange of plants, green glass, green porcelains and furniture covered in sad greens, gay greens, clear, faded and poison greens?” Maybe a whole room in green would be too much for your delicate sensibilities -- but you could festoon your deep-green couch with sage-green and chartreuse pillows for a striking effect.
In homage to Vreeland’s inspirational suggestions, here is a compilation of easy, unexpected design suggestions that will utterly transform your urban hang suite. Since your imagination has no limits, but your pocketbook does, all of these projects can be accomplished with some ingenuity and less than $250. Have fun, and keep in mind one of Vreeland’s legendary pronouncements in Rolling Stone: “You gotta have style. It helps you get down the stairs. It helps you get up in the morning. It’s a way of life. Without it, you’re nobody. I’m not talking about a lot of clothes.”
Build a fountain?
 think inside the box: Sarah Susanka gives lessons on decorating teeny living spaces. |
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Fountains are hip; these days, prepackaged fountains are available everywhere from Staples to Wal-Mart. Unfortunately, most of them are pretty tacky. Why not make your own fountain out of a bowl or funky container? In addition to your container, you’ll need two pieces of equipment: an electric pump and a hose. Both are available for about $20 at Home Depot; alternatively, you can buy a “Container Water Garden Fountain Kit” for $24.97. My favorite home fountain is one that I made from a flexible-spout aluminum oil can from the auto-supply store. The pump is hidden in the body of the can, the hose is threaded through the spout, and the water pours out of the spout back into the body of the can.
Cover your ceiling in pressed tin?
Once upon a time, beautiful decorative ceilings were made of pressed tin; they featured ornate swooshes, flowers and distinctive diamond-shaped patterns. Although these ceilings are still found in certain former industrial spaces, and in the odd townhouse, they’re hard to find and even harder to repair and maintain. Fortunately, terrific fakes are available: Molded foam tiles look just like the real thing. Stick them to your ceiling and slap on a coat of paint for instant retro glamour.
Dig a pond?
Making a pond is easier than you think; the average pond is basically a wading pool installed in the ground. Start with a small water-garden kit, $119.96 at homedepot.com. Dig a hole that’s 3 feet wide, 5 feet long, and 1 1/2 feet deep, and lay down the pond liner. Put the pond fountain in the middle, fill the liner with water, and plug in the fountain -- voila, your very own urban idyll! You will want to camouflage the edges of the liner with decorative rocks, or landscaping; some large carp (really giant goldfish) look nice in the pool, and will weather the winter months well.
Paint a mural in your living room?
Philadelphia’s Mural Arts Program is unparalleled; the guided tour of the city’s outdoor murals is a delightful way to pass an afternoon. And if you love one of the murals, why not get one of your very own? Write down the location of your favorite mural and call the Mural Arts Program for the artist’s contact information. Most artists, starving or not, do private commissions. Plan to go over $250, however. “Pricing depends on the scope of the job, and the amount of detail you want,” explains muralist Tish Ingersoll, who just completed a 17-feet-by-20-feet mural for a private home in Fort Washington. To do it on the cheap, paint the mural yourself or commission an artist friend.
Smash your grandmother’s china?
Face it: Nobody uses formal china for entertaining anymore. Couples getting married today are more likely to register for Fiestaware at Target, not Lenox patterns at Macy’s. Sure, you may inherit Grandma’s wedding china, but that doesn’t mean you’ll ever use the stuff. Instead of storing old china in the attic, why not turn it into art for your kitchen wall? The backsplash behind the kitchen sink or the stove is a natural place for a mosaic mural made of broken china, bits of tile, colored glass and mirrors. Anything can go into a homemade mosaic -- antique teacups, china doll heads, odd tiles or broken flowerpots. It’s especially meaningful if the mosaic elements represent people, places or things from your life. The best way to learn how to create a mosaic is by attending a workshop with Philadelphia’s premier mosaic artist, Isaiah Zagar, the creator of the distinctive tile murals found on buildings around South Street. Workshops run for two days and cost $150; the next one begins May 18. Held at Zagar’s studio on 11th and South, the workshops are worth attending merely for the chance to poke around in the psychedelic outdoor space next to the studio. Alternatively, Zagar publishes an eight-page manual called Tiling and Grouting: The Zagar Method, with detailed instructions on his method of mosaic tiling. The book is available at the Eyes Gallery on South Street, which is run by Zagar’s wife, Julia.
Start a collection?
There’s beauty in repetition. Large quantities of anything -- postcards, bottles, books, asparagus ferns -- look terrific when grouped together on shelves or hanging on a wall. Look around your apartment -- if you have more than three of anything, you’re already on your way to a collection.
Do a search on eBay or start haunting flea markets and antique shops to find the quirkiest items for your collection. Mention your collection to a few friends and family -- if people know that you like chickens, or Lu-Ray china, it’s fun for them to help you accumulate items. My oddest collection is leather-covered bottles -- it started as a joke in college, and it’s morphed into a collection of at least a dozen or so pieces. One was made in 19th-century Germany, another has a picture of George Washington playing golf. One friend gives me a truly unique leather-covered bottle every year for Christmas. Her mother, who frequents antique stores and flea markets in the Midwest, scouts out the wackiest bottle she can find over the course of the year.
Visit a designer show house for inspiration?
It’s open season for houses. Between the various Philadelphia open houses, the Deborah Hospital show house in Mt. Holly, the two show houses now running in Princeton and the various garden club tours that happen each spring, it’s possible to check out the decorating techniques of hundreds of local professionals and amateurs with good taste. If you’ve never been to a designer show house, it’s a terrific place to pick up decorating ideas: a charitable organization, usually a hospital, takes a historic property and renovates it with the volunteer help of local decorators and contractors. Each designer does a different room according to his or her own taste. Inside, all of the items are for sale, with part of the proceeds and the profits from ticket sales going to the charitable organization. A notable show house for the fall is the historic Tallman House in Moorestown, N.J., a 1757 farmhouse built by the Quaker farmer Thomas Tallman and used as a stop on the Underground Railroad. The project is under the guidance of the Moorestown Historical Society and local artist Midge Ingersoll, whose miniatures have won awards for many years at the Philadelphia Flower Show.
Build a sleeping pagoda?
A sleeping pagoda has two parts: a raised platform, and a roof that sits above the platform on stilts. Build one on your roof deck and put a thick, comfy futon on the platform. Add some curtains, made of weather-resistant fabric, for privacy; add some mosquito netting to prevent bugs from eating you alive; then recline like a pasha in your rooftop palace.
Buy an art deco china cabinet?
One piece of unique furniture can transform a room. A terrific source for inexpensive furniture is Uhuru Furniture Bazaar, the thrift-store-cum-revolutionary-hangout on Spruce Street. Uhuru is an organization of white people for black people’s liberation; they sell second-hand furniture to support their revolutionary habits. A surprising amount of stylish art deco furniture appears in the store, as well as things like yellow-velvet couches and outlandish porcelain lamps. With your receipt, you’ll get a handful of political propaganda, and if Ruby Gittelsohn, the frizzy-haired leader, likes you, she’ll invite you to their next potluck supper. Another place to check for unique antiques is Red Barn Antiques in New Egypt, N.J., which specializes in Victorian pieces. Red Barn is the place to find a perfectly restored Victorian table with gargoyles on the feet, or a gleaming Victrola, or a solid-oak Eastlake bed and matching dressing table with a harp mirror. Who needs Pottery Barn when you can buy a one-of-a-kind piece for less?
Make new curtains?
Online, there is only one place to buy curtains: smithandnoble.com. Take the measurements of your windows, pick out what style you want, select from a wide range of fabric swatches, and wait for your inexpensive, custom-made window treatments to arrive. For a more immediate solution, measure your windows and pay a visit to Stapler Dress ’n Drape on 12th and Walnut. Manager Susan Stapler will whirl around the store and whip up window treatments in moments. “Take these round cafe clips and space them six or seven inches apart along the top of the fabric,” she explains, pulling a three-yard length from the remnants table. “Hang it on a curtain rod, and your window is done.” The cafe clips are $6.90; rods are $6.00; and items on the remnant table, which is piled high with lengths of gorgeous fabric, are $8.94. Even if you don’t own a sewing machine to hem the bottoms of your new curtains, don’t worry -- simply use hemming tape, or stitch witchery, to iron on a hem in seconds. At Stapler, hemming tape ($2) sits in a basket on the counter. Ask about their custom work, too -- having a new slipcover made for your couch, or having scarf valances tailored for your windows, is more affordable than you think.
Look at these texts for inspiration?
Diana Vreeland: Bazaar Years, by John Esten. A stylish, sassy compilation filled with photos of Vreeland, her models and her homes.
Historic Houses of Philadelphia, by Roger W. Moss, photographs by Tom Crane. Drool over these pictures of classic Philadelphia homes filled with historic pieces, sweeping staircases, formal portraits and decorative molding.
The Not So Big House: A Blueprint for the Way We Really Live, by Sarah Susanka. Practical, modern ideas for living in small spaces -- essential reading for any urban family craving space.
At Home With Books: How Booklovers Live With and Care for Their Libraries, edited by Estelle Ellis, Caroline Seebohm and Christopher Simon Sykes. Forget celebrity homes -- this book provides a glimpse of celebrity libraries, from Michael Graves to Keith Richards.
ReadyMade magazine. If Martha Stewart Living were produced by hipsters in Williamsburg, this is the magazine that would result. Only on its second issue, this glossy magazine features articles like “How to become a rock star without leaving the house” by David Berman of the Silver Jews, or “Ikea Confidential: Behind the Veneer,” as well as instructional pieces, like “Glassware for Drunks” on how to etch sayings onto your cocktail glasses.
