curtains

Expat Decorating…Getting Lucky and Making Do

While life as an expat in far away lands does bring some decorating joys, i.e. exotic accessories, much of the time basic goods, such as upholstered pieces and quality furniture for reasonable prices, are just not on the agenda. Invariably there are technical difficulties with the technical stuff, voltage variances and possibly language barriers for sourcing parts and hardware, let alone explaining the details of tufted buttons on a headboard. Designing interiors as an expat is much like being on a budget, without the great vintage shopping, thrift stores and Target that are such key resources in America. The best and most reliable places for shopping are often other folks houses – all expats know the best way to get stuff is to hone in on anyone moving back home the moment they announce it. Opportunities need to be grabbed as they tend to be one of a kind and won’t come around again. And the suitcases of all visitors and guests should always be maximized to one’s benefit. My mantra over the years has always been “get lucky and make do” because it has to be, and while it has definitely brought out my creativity, I occasionally wish I had a few other options on the table.

You’ve already heard some of my best stories – certainly nothing will beat the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat that was the free chairs and desk. The colorful scheme of Mally Skok and Raoul Textiles for the kitchen was born out of necessity from the inability to make any changes in our rental. And while I really did want the Saarinen Tulip table for the dining room, it emerged as the absolute front-runner of the three possible schemes simply because it could be had – although perhaps shipping from Malaysia isn’t exactly just had! The IKEA Tobias chairs around it are a classic case of making do with a very happy ending and my living room has a DIY coffee table coming. In the course of this year I’ve had to be resourceful, I’ve had to compromise but the stars have aligned for me at times too.

One of my earliest stories here in Doha is a typical tale of triumph against newcomer odds. Long boxed up in storage in Japan, waiting for its imaginary future, this massive pierced brass karakusa (scrolling arabesque) globe chandelier was one of my favorite shrine sale finds ever.

Of course in Japan I couldn’t hang it, the ceilings being so low that even basically flush mounted it would have hit the top of my sweet husband’s head (and he is about 6 feet tall). With the high ceilings here in Doha it was time for it to emerge and be hung. Enter said expat challenge, better known as chandelier chain. In America, you can walk into any hardware store and there are rolls of chain in different sizes and finishes. Of course here in Doha there is a single strip of lighting stores, which happens to be tucked behind the largest and most complicated building project in the city, making it almost impossible to get to even after you find it (if you find it!). But in my first weeks here, I managed to get there before closing time (all small businesses close between roughly 12:30 and 4:00pm every day – add that to the planning mix), double parked bravely and illegally (no other way to do it) and ran in. The first shop had only bright brass chain in a single size. As did the second, the third and so on. It seems there is only one size and one color finish of shiny brass chandelier chain to be had here in this country and it simply wouldn’t do for my antique fixture. What I did notice was that one small shop had a display chandelier hanging from old chain that was nicely patinated in that dark brass/bronze color even though there was none of it for sale. So I put on my best negotiating skills (all of this at 12:15 while double parked illegally) and managed to convince the owner to let me buy him a length of shiny new chain from another shop to exchange with him (and a little bonus) for his length of old chain. I think he thought I was absolutely nuts, but so be it, mission accomplished! Now it hangs in all its loveliness, casting mysterious shadows at night, and even my 6’7″ friend has no fears of hitting his head on it.

Another favorite story has the longest expat legs of all. When we lived in Hong Kong from 1997-1998, I had a pair of gray and white silk curtains made – much like a ticking stripe – to hang in my chartreuse dining room. (As an aside, best dining room color ever – with gorgeous old Indonesian rosewood floors, Chinese table, painted Tibetan chest and lots of blue & white porcelain!) Upon moving back to New York City, I repurposed them in my gray bedroom, which had only one window so a single set was very useful. As the window was awkwardly placed near the ceiling, I needed to make a valance, so I asked a friend back in Hong Kong to go buy a bit more of the same silk and send it to me. This was all within the first year of leaving so it was easily done. Dug up some old snapshots (!) to give a sense of the curtains in both spaces.

Fast forward five and half years and off we go to Tokyo where our bedroom had three large windows. Better yet, they were all different sizes – not width wise, but height wise – and the ceiling heights were different in each part of the room. I know it is impossible to imagine or even believe that the Japanese would build this way, but I tell you it’s true – it looked like they sourced the windows willy nilly from a sale. I wanted to use the curtains again because I loved them and nothing beats a classic stripe – it just can’t be improved upon. So I tracked down the shop with the silk (I always keep my samples/orders/receipts from every project in neat little Ziploc bags) and they actually still had some. I bought the rest of their final roll as obviously the decorating gods meant me to and had it delivered to my original curtain lady (she of the obi quilt block pillows). Soon after, I visited some friends in Hong Kong and brought the original pair of curtain panels with me. I had her copy the originals – and here is the kicker – make them all the same original long length. Then I had her hem each set to the random length of the windows in my Tokyo bedroom. One set was hemmed about 2 or 3 feet even. But my instincts told me that there was no purpose to having a bunch of odd size and short curtains in the long run.

So now for the moment of triumph. We arrive here in Doha, shake the curtains out from their box and hang them on the existing curtain tracks. They are all way too short, some as much as two feet plus!

I carefully pick out the secondary hem stitches and (drum roll please) they are exactly, yes exactly, the right length. Cosmic decorating karma. A steamer takes out any creases effortlessly. To top it all off, I wanted deep valances, filling the space between the arch of the windows and the ceilings and had just enough fabric from that final roll to make them. I think I will leave you in suspense until my very next post for you to see how it all turned out…

One last story about the kindness of friends and strangers in an expat decorating world. After much deliberation I decided I needed that Pier One/Craig’s List staple the Papasan Chair for my teenage daughter’s room. How can you keep the “no boys sitting on the bed” rule when there isn’t anywhere else to sit? Add in that the room was veering in the slightly too formal direction and that a request for somewhere to “sack out” had been made. Her new desk (our giant antique French partners desk moved from the study) created a perfect deep corner that needed to be filled by something round. I searched the internet for proof that a Papasan could look chic – even Apartment Therapy seemed to be giving them credence – and came up with a few examples, including this one in a similarly colored room. With all things wicker and rattan being back “in” can the Papasan be far behind? Well maybe not, but its just the perfect thing for a teen!

All that said, what would be one of the easiest and most budget friendly options to get ahold of in the USA doesn’t exist here in Doha. And the oversized scale of them makes it prohibitively expensive to ship. So I mentioned to a few friends that I was looking for one or something similar. Within a week, my friend LL (come to think of it – she of the lost desk and chairs!) brings me to the house of another woman in her compound, leaving to move back to Canada. LL had been in her house casing the goods when she noticed a Papasan in the living room, that was not for sale. In classic style, she convinced the woman to sell it to me and just buy a new one when she gets home. Such an expat moment! This is the best I could get my model to give, but you can see it is already being well used. And the cranberry colored cushion has just been sent out to be recovered in white cotton duck.

Now much of my experience is only true in the places I have lived, namely Asia and the Middle East. Those lucky enough to live in Europe with its hundreds of years of furniture making its way to market might have a different story to tell. And there will be more on this topic in my next post, as I explore the challenge of updating a bedroom straight out of the Paris flea markets. But in the meantime, what have been your biggest challenges finding and creating your home, wherever you may live?

Jun 10, 2014 By tokyojinja in Doha Move, Expat Life, Furniture, Interior Design, Lighting, Textiles 12 Comments Tags: chandelier, curtains, expat decorating, expat life, girls room, Japanese, karakusa, master bedroom, Papasan chair

Is It Copy Cat Chic? Or Is It Just Copying?

Lately the design press has been full of incredibly liveable eclectic spaces, none more so than this NYC apartment designed by formerly rising star – now arrived – Nick Olsen that was just featured in the August World Of Interiors. What caught my eye were the mass market bookshelves, the very same Ballard Designs Sonoma Bookcases I have in the TV room here at the shore.

Positioned on either side of the fireplace, they are beautifully arranged by color, but have a natural well-used character to them and not that overly styled look I am not a fan of.

I looked pretty closely at them because back when I got my Sonoma bookcase (on the left), I hadn’t realized that Mecox had their own version, the Provence Open Shelf Baker’s Rack (on the right) priced about 4 times higher – $499 versus $1995. Now ironically, the real Copy Cat Chic blog holds up the Ballard Designs Sonoma Bookcase as the expensive option, comparing it to lower priced similar versions from Overstock and the like. So it becomes a copy cat spiral from high to medium to low to lower.

I look back at this NY brownstone that Nate Berkus designed for Katie Lee, Billy Joel’s ex-wife, having assumed he used the Ballard Designs version, only to come to the conclusion that these look more like the Mecox Garden variety. So my question for you is whether this is such a classic vintage inspired shape, produced by many, or is it a copy of something original?

The bookcase has been on my mind because yesterday saw the installation of my long-awaited curtains in the TV room and I’ve been wondering if I should shift my bookcase over a bit.

As my long-term readers will know, I had been hemming and hawing over pulling the trigger and purchasing this Brigitte Singh Cream Hibiscus Branch fabric – choosing between it and its companion Hibiscus Flower Buta – until I almost missed out and was only able to get the final few meters available from Aleta Online last year. Luckily, my ingenious seamstress and I were able to come up with a plan to “stretch” the fabric, using a matching linen and framing the panels in such a way that I actually prefer it to just having used the one fabric.

Since buying my fabric over a year ago, I have become addicted to a fairly new online site called Jaypore, which is a bit like an Indian version of One Kings Lane and the other limited sales time sites. The prices are fabulous, many of the goods are really lovely and the shipping is free. One of the items that caught my eye was this bed sheet, which costs all of $35 and is 60″ x 90″, basically 3 meters long. That’s a lot of yardage for $35! In the right space you could line it to make very inexpensive curtains. I may cut it up to make Euro shams for my elder daughter’s new bedroom decor in Doha. Either way, it was a fabric bargain.

But the truth is that it is the Brigitte Singh Hibiscus Flower Buta pattern exactly – no bones about it – if you look below. Now what I don’t know and would love to, is whether these patterns are so traditional that they have entered into the cultural lexicon, or whether it is a unique design that has been copied, again a similar question to the one above. When I think back to the block print flower I used on the walls in my bathroom, I do know I have seen that particular flower pattern before and that there were multiples of the block available for purchase at the shop in Singapore. I think I’ll have to write to Aleta and ask her.

So how do you feel about copy cat chic? It’s a complex question as it addresses everything from income divides to intellectual property rights. I’d love to hear from you on the topic.

On a lighter note, for more on the Nick Olsen project, including this boldly colored dining room with its ship chandelier, head over to Mark D. Sikes.

And there is so much of this rich teal and blue going around these days, that I may have to revisit it in yet another post!

Addendum added August 15, 2013

I heard from Aleta and wanted to share her personal thoughts with you.

I just snuck a peek over at your blog and read your post on the Jaypore site and the ‘copycat’ issue, and as it’s quite an emotive subject with Brigitte Singh, who is the creator of your Cream Hibiscus fabric, I thought I should share a little more information as well as my own personal view on this very hotly debated topic.

From the beginning, Brigitte has always worked with the ancient motifs and floral designs of Mughal India to create her textiles. In some cases, her prints are faithful reproductions of historic textiles, using the ancient and traditional method of block printing to produce them. I don’t think Brigitte herself would ever suggest that she should have the exclusive right to print Mughal designs, but that is often how her point of view is interpreted by critics. In fact, where a design is taken directly from an archive reference, it is already often produced, quite legitimately, by other manufacturers -the Cream Pise, for example, is also made by Bennison in England, and Green Antelope by Caravane in France. I myself reproduce Mughal designs quite independently of Brigitte when it’s appropriate to do so.

The general argument for ‘copying’ is that the designs belong in the public domain as Brigitte’s original inspirations were sourced from designs that belong to no one, but the situation is more complicated than that.

Some prints like the Poppy, Cypress, and your Hibiscus have also been derived from historic textile pieces, but over the years Brigitte has refined the lines, changed leaves, colours, and subtly ‘tweaked’ the designs. This is when the issue becomes quite a grey area: Brigitte’s own printing blocks in the past have been stolen, these in turn have been recarved and recarved, and several ‘generations’ of printing blocks on, what you see being produced by some block printers in India are not reproduction Mughal prints, but reproduction ‘Brigitte Singhs’. Her printing blocks have also been used by the printers, without permission, to print for other companies.

Brigitte has built her reputation on two things: first, the quality of her textiles is completely and utterly unrivalled. This includes the printing process itself, from the skill of the block carving, to the fineness, accuracy and complexity of the actual printing; it includes the quality of the cottons and hand woven khadi that she uses to print on; finally, it includes the haute couture tailoring and exquisite attention to detail in her soft furnishing pieces and garments.

Second, the way that she puts together the disparate parts of various ancient designs -combination of borders, the layout and scale of motifs, and in particular her amazing use of colour, has created a very distinctive and instantly recognisable trademark. This is very personal to her, it has come from her own unique heart and soul, and it cannot be created by anyone else.

I would have no qualms about seeing or even purchasing the same print as one of Brigitte’s if I know that the original source of inspiration came directly from a historic textile piece (the exception to this is the Poppy, but I am irrationally protective about it because it was her very first and is still hugely popular), however I am concerned when I see her very particular combination of designs and colours being reproduced, often randomly and of poor quality, regardless of where Brigitte’s own original sources came from.

My personal feeling is that buying any ‘copy’ is ultimately a false economy -it will never compare in quality, or have the same sophistication, and it certainly won’t have provenance, although I try not to judge too harshly as I think we’ve all been guilty (if that’s even the right word) of it at one time or another. I do believe that you should always buy the best that you can afford -and if you can’t afford it, buy something different that you can afford and doesn’t compromise on quality. It is far better, creative, and honest to forge your own individual look based on the budget and lifestyle you have, rather than try to emulate someone else’s, possibly unattainable, style. But I’m starting to stray into social discussions far deeper than copyright! I’ll leave it there, and I hope I’ve provided some insight and not just gone on a long ramble. 🙂

Aug 8, 2013 By tokyojinja in Books, Movies & TV, Furniture, Interior Design, Renovation and Decoration Report, Textiles 2 Comments Tags: Aleta Online, Ballard Designs, Brigitte Singh, Copy Cat Chic, curtains, Jaypore, Mecox, Nate Berkus, Nick Olsen, Sonoma Bookcase, Sonoma Bookshelf, The World of Interiors, window treatments

Just in Time…Last Piece of Cream Hibiscus Branch From Aleta

As always, I know my expectations of what I can accomplish at the beach house in just 8 weeks has to be tempered by reality. Posting about the brass wall sconces yesterday got me thinking that maybe a reasonable goal should just be to finish the TV room/back bedroom from soup-to-nuts and accept that everything else will only make as much progress as luck will allow me. So I pulled out my to-do list and started to work through it, which means you’re sure to be seeing posts on that space over the next weeks. Luckily, this decision sent me over to Aleta’s website as I have been planning on using one of her Brigitte Singh fabrics for the curtains with a vintage sudare bamboo blind, as mentioned in a previous post.

I had been choosing between Cream Hibiscus Flower Buta…

…and Cream Hibiscus Branch…

…but I had been lollygagging on the whole decision for a while.

While I had originally been leaning towards the Flower Buta, this autumn I came across this photo of Jennifer Aniston and Justin Theroux’s new bedroom in the Hollywood Hills which features the Hibiscus Flower Buta on the curtains. It looks lovely, but I decided it also looks too regimented and stripey when the curtains are open. Therefore I decided to choose the Hibiscus Flower Branch, at least in my own mind, and promptly did nothing about it.

Now the danger with artisanal hand printed fabrics like this is that they can run out easily and are not always reprinted. You’ll remember I used the work “luckily” at the top of the post – and luckily it was that I checked over the website as there was only one final piece of the Branch fabric left and it is not being reprinted! Phew, just enough for my curtain.

Image credits: 1 & 2. via Aleta, 3. via Huff Post

May 13, 2012 By tokyojinja in Renovation and Decoration Report, Textiles 2 Comments Tags: Aleta, Brigitte Singh, curtains, Indian block prints, sudare

On the Blind’s Side…Sudare and Curtains

Sudare are bamboo blinds used to screen out the sun and stay cool during the hot summer months in Japan. The blinds keep out the sun’s rays, while letting the breeze blow through. They also offer a modicum of privacy when doors and windows are thrown open (in a hopeful attempt to catch the aforementioned breeze). Traditionally hand-crafted, the art of making sudare has been lost to inexpensive imports from China, although craftsmen do still exist (particularly in Kyoto) and antique and vintage examples can be found at shrine sales and antique shops. Fancy sudare have decorative brocade trim around the edges, elaborate cording with tassels and engraved metal hooks to hold the blinds rolled open.

A typical view of a house in high sun in Kyoto, with sudare hanging over the veranda and front windows.

The decorative arts offer proof of the use of sudare through the ages. One of the first images that springs to mind is this amazing 17th century byobu (Japanese screen) depicting “The Tale of Genji” in the collection of the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston. If you click on it to enlarge, you can see sudare hanging in the doorways and windows.

More recent Edo and Meiji period byobu create a direct window view using a trompe l’oeil sudare. This charming screen was for sale at the Heiwajima Antiques Fair.

A second one, styled in an apartment filled with Japanese objects – split tansu, map of old Tokyo, and shoji lanterns.

Built in 1878, the Fujiya Hotel was the first hotel in Japan that catered to Western tourists. It is an absolute fantasy of a building – all Victorianism and Japonism scrambled together and should not be missed by anyone interested in either. The grand dining room, built in 1930, has amazing botanical frescoes on the ceilings, carved ranma (transom) panels, and the loveliest decorative sudare I have ever seen. They are hard to see in the photo below, but I couldn’t resist the view of the building and the autumn foliage out the window.

The detail is a little easier to see in this photo.

So how to use my sudare in a modern interior? I have always loved the look of matchstick blinds hung behind curtains and if you open any decorating magazine today, it seems as if everyone else does too. Joni at Cote de Texas has an amazing post about curtains, both with and without blinds, and great suggestions on hanging curtains in all kinds of situations. To hang the blind correctly, you mount it on the outside of the window, filling the space between the window frame and the curtain rod, which has been hung as close to the ceiling as possible to maximize the illusion of height.

So, the plan is to take this window in the den/extra bedroom of the beach house (sorry for the poor photo – room under renovation)…

and add this lovely Indian block print fabric (Cream Hibiscus Flower Buta) from Aleta Fabrics…

or possibly this one (Aleta’s Cream Hibiscus Flower Branch), as floor length curtains hung from a slim aged brass curtain rod from Gracious Home (more on my love of aged unprotected brass another time)…

using the sudare from the top of the post as the blind.

Aleta’s fabrics were featured in the to-die-for apartment of Nancy Tilghman, designed by Daniel Sachs, in the October 2010 issue of House Beautiful, including the Cream Hibiscus Branch fabric which was used on a chair in the bedroom. The bedroom has just the feel of what I want the den/extra bedroom to look like, although taking the children into consideration, perhaps a little darker color scheme.

Image credits: 1,4,6,7,9 &12. me, 2. from il-ne-kore, 3. Property of Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, photo via The Curated Object, 5. Okura Oriental Art, 8. via Cote de Texas, 10 & 11. from Aleta Online, 13. October 2010 House Beautiful, photographed by Ngoc Minh Ngo

Oct 19, 2010 By tokyojinja in Interior Design, Renovation and Decoration Report, Textiles 10 Comments Tags: byobu, curtains, textiles, The Tale of Genji

A Curtain’s Leading Edge…a New Idea for Kaku-obi

Vintage and antique obi (the wide sashes tied around Japanese traditional dress called kimono) abound at shrine sales and markets. Most purchasers plan on wearing them. Others buy them just for the beauty of the textiles as they are most commonly made of silk, cotton or rayon and use many different weaving and dyeing techniques from brocade to ikat. Still others see the decorative possibilities in these long strips of fabric.

Note the obi fabric pillow on the small red banquette in Cecil Beaton’s London townhouse living room, photographed for Architectural Digest circa 1969.

Fashion designer Trina Turk uses an obi as a table runner in the dining room of her Los Angeles home (Elle Decor Aug. 2007).

While women’s obi have long been collected and made into throw pillows, table runners and the like, men’s obi, called kaku-obi, are not seen in interior design. I have long thought that their narrow shape, stiff feel, and simple graphic patterns would make them useful for some other purpose. But what? Today, at the Oedo Antique Fair, they caught my eye at a number of booths.

How they are tied was a mystery to me, and frankly, the dealer selling them did not know either. In classic Japan style, another customer overheared our discussion, and offered to teach me how. The dealer’s partner served as the model and I got a great lesson on how to tie kaku-obi.

My somewhat credible (according to them) second attempt.

Thanks ladies! They also had great kimono and indigo dyed fabrics.

A charming detail found on some of the best curtains is a contrasting leading edge or decorative tape. Two wildly different style rooms below illustrate this design. Both make use of a greek key tape on the curtain edge and, in the case of the Miles Redd dining room, on the bottom edge as well.

Grant K. Gibson’s San Francisco bedroom via The New York Times.

Miles Redd designed dining room featured in Elle Decor Jan./Feb. 2009.

Don’t you think one of the simple two tone kaku-obi would be perfect to edge a curtain? Trim a bedskirt or a chair? Finish off a valence?

Image credits: 1. Architectural Digest, 2. Roger Davies for Elle Decor, 3-6. me, 7. Peter DaSilva for The New York Times, 8. Simon Upton for Elle Decor

Sep 19, 2010 By tokyojinja in Interior Design, Shrine Sales and Flea Markets, Textiles 3 Comments Tags: curtains, grant k. gibson, kimono, miles redd, obi