Posts Tagged ‘Luxe Magazine’

Top Interior Designers Decorate Beverly Hills Mansion

Wednesday, December 7th, 2011

Please enjoy the opening night videos of Maison de Luxe  from our friends at Editor At Large featuring  huge design stars like Martyn Lawrence Bullard, Mary McDonald, Nathan Turner, Jaime Drake , Holly Hunt, Jeffrey Alan Marks , Phillip Gorrivan and me!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Posted in Architecture and Design, Charities, Events, Interior Designers, Magazines, Parties | No Comments »

Top Interior Designers Selected for Greystone Mansion Showcase

Saturday, July 2nd, 2011

Getting ready to settle into a relaxing Fourth of July weekend, I kicked back and opened the latest issue of LUXE.   Then I saw it, my name in the  first, official ad for the Greystone Mansion Showcase House.  What a way to start the holiday!

LUXE Maison de Luxe has chosen over 20 top leading designers from all over the world to participate in this fall’s show house for the historic Greystone Mansion in Beverly Hills.  You can imagine how excited I am to be included.  This event is one of the largest and most majestic show houses in the country and is sure to be awe-inspiring. 

 

Lori Dennis

HGTV and my show The Real Designing Women will be following the action, along with celebrity friends like Martyn Lawrence-Bullard, Nathan Turner and Mary McDonald from Bravo’s “Million Dollar Decorator.”

Any reputable showcase designer list would include the old gaurd and this one is no exception.  You’ll see legends like Hutton Wilkinson, Jamie Drake, Barry Dixon and Suzanne Rheinstein.

My Fabulous Friend Hutton Wilkinson

Colorful Jaime Drake

Lady Suzzane Rheinstein

Lord of the Manor Barry Dixon

 Built in 1928, this Baronial-style estate is over 46,000 square feet with 18.5 manicured acres of land.  It’s our city’s most famous palace and certainly rivals those of Rhode Island Coasts.

Show House Tour runs November 4-20, 2011 and Designer Lecture Series are November 4, 11 and 18.  For more information, Please visit www.beverlyhills.org/maisondeluxe.

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Poisonous Preschool

Wednesday, May 4th, 2011

During spring break my daughter’s preschool refinished their wood floors.   As excited as she was to see her teachers and friends on Monday after the break, our visit resulted in a big fat round trip right back to my house.  In two decades of refinishing floors, I don’t believe I’ve ever smelled a more noxious interior.  There was no way I was leaving those tiny lungs to fend for themselves. 

 

I immediately turned to the smartest guru I know for healthy green interiors, Mary Cordaro.  In addition to being a certified Bau Biologist, she deeply cares about the effects of built environment toxins on infants and children. Mary, of course, had plenty of answers for me and generously shared her time and research.

Mary Cordaro

The brain of Larry Gust , another green building expert, was also picked.  Between Mary and Larry I had enough info to go back to the preschool and discuss options.  Unfortunately there weren’t many because the product used was within the legal limits (unbelievably) for VOC levels in a preschool.  The owners felt badly that they didn’t know more before they finished the floors and said they would research more for future renovations.

Moral of the story: GO OUTSIDE OFTEN and get fresh air for as much time as you can EVERYDAY.   The design and maintenance of places where we work, pray, shop and study are mostly out of our control and these interiors are loaded with carcinogens (cancer causing chemicals).  Most Americans are forced to work in very unhealthy environments for 40 plus hours each week, year in, year out.   And many live in homes that contain materials that are toxic.  It’s just not good for our bodies or souls.  Human beings are meant to be outdoors.

Christopher Kennedy

During the week of research it took to determine how long my daughter would need to stay away from school while the VOCs dissipated, I was invited to Niche’s party for Kettal thrown by LUXE Magazine.  Ironically Christopher Kennedy, the designer on LUXE’s current cover, was speaking about his concept of bringing the Inside …Outside due to the toxicity of most interiors.  Unlike architects like Phillip Johnson (Glass House) and Frank Lloyd Wright (Falling Water), who strived to bring nature into our interiors, brilliant designer Christopher Kennedy proposed we do the exact opposite and pay special attention to our exterior rooms.

    

Kettal’s chic outdoor furniture

He echoed my sentiments about human beings not really being meant to live in boxes with manufactured air and toxic paint.  He talked about the interior air being much worse than outside air and the positive effects that sunshine and fresh air has on us.  He even reminded the designers in the crowd to include outdoor spaces in their interior budgets so clients wouldn’t be tapped out at the end of their projects and miss designing quite possibly the most important spaces- the outdoor spaces.

 

(Falling Water and Phillip Johnson’s Glass House, beautiful, yes,  but not necessarily designed for outdoor living.)

Thankfully my daughter’s preschool has a great playground that the children use for many hours during each day.  And… those floors  have almost finished off-gassing.

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Posted in Green Building, Green Living, Outdoor Living, Outdoor Living Rooms | No Comments »

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