New Home Interior Design

Our house is a place to relax after a whole day to do activities, which is very tiring, so the home interior must be made specifically so that the tired and can become a comfortable resting place.
With a touch of minimalist style, and placement of furniture will create the right atmosphere is beautiful.

A Listing of Home Tours for 2010

TRY doing this any other time of year, and you will be arrested for trespassing. But spring means the beginning of the house-and-garden tour season, allowing the curious to go through homes and outdoor spaces that otherwise sit behind closed doors and gates (unless otherwise noted, all tours are self-guided). In the New York area and around the country, stunning examples of private property become, temporarily at least, public.

Auction Set at Kluge Estate in Virginia

On June 8 and 9, Sotheby’s will auction the contents of Albemarle House, the 45-room neo-Georgian country home of Patricia Kluge, the philanthropist and vintner, near Charlottesville, Va. The two-day auction will be held in a ballroom on Mrs. Kluge’s estate, which is down the road from Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello.

Anyone curious to see the opulent interiors, cluttered with Georgian furniture and Old Masters paintings, may drop by the house during the presale exhibition, from May 31 to June 6. A copy of the 620-page catalog, the largest that Sotheby’s has produced, is required for entry. (It can be ordered at sothebys.com for $65.)

The 933 lots range in value from $50 to $70 for a set of seven Majolica dinner plates to $600,000 to $1 million for an 18th-century Chinese automaton clock made by the Guangzhou workshops during the Qing dynasty. Sotheby’s estimates the auction will earn $9.5 million.

The 24,000-square-foot house was designed in 1980 by David Easton, the architect and decorator, for Mrs. Kluge, a former belly dancer and pinup model, and her husband, John Kluge, the founder of Metromedia, whom Forbes ranked as the richest man in the United States, with $5.2 billion, in 1989. When the couple split amicably in 1990, she kept the house and received a financial settlement, said to be the interest on $1 billion. (The New York Times described it as “a divorce made in heaven.”)

After 25 years of entertaining presidents, movie stars and sundry royals in grand style, Mrs. Kluge is ready for a simpler life. “You have to have energy to live like this,” Mrs. Kluge, 61, said of the house, which has 8 bedrooms, 13 bathrooms, a theater, a disco and a beauty salon. Outside are an orchard, a conservatory, a Gothic-style chapel, stables and a guest cottage. She has listed the 300-acre estate with TTR Sotheby’s International Realty, for $48 million.

Mrs. Kluge and her third husband, William Moses, are moving to a smaller house they’ve built nearby, which she described as “Colonialish, with modern interiors” and fewer possessions. “Life is not about material things,” she said. “I’ve had time with these pieces. It’s time for someone else to enjoy them.”

House Keeping.

Sally Steponkus

I apologize from the outset on the randomness of this post, but I've been distracted by work and planning a bachelorette party the last few weeks and have been remiss in making a few "thank you's". First off, thanks to everyone for the overwhelming response to the credenza re-do. It's so gratifying to hear such a positive response after putting in so much of my spare time and effort into spiffing it up. [Update: I've gotten a lot of questions about the wallpaper in this entryway, so I decided to go straight to the source and e-mail Steponkus Designs directly. Both Sally and Sally's design associate Heather replied and let me know that it's the Moroccan grasscloth from Phillip Jeffries' Voyage Collection. I don't know about you, but it's a new favorite for me.]

I'd also like to say thank you to Jessica Nell Graves (graphic designer and blogger behind The Love List) for including me in her newest project: The Love List Library, which is a wonderful compilation of a top-notch group of design bloggers' favorite books, movies and music. This is a great resource if you're looking for gifts for the stylish women in your life -- or even just a little new inspiration for yourself. You can check out my own personal "love list" HERE.

Another thank you goes out to Sarah over at Pewter + Sage for giving me the "Sunshine Award". In the spirit of paying it forward, I'd like to pass this award on to 5 "new to me" blogs that I've recently gotten hooked on: 

 

And last, but certainly not least, back in September I did a guest post over at A 'Lil Welsh Rarebit on turning Christy's office into a guest room. Well, a few weeks ago Christy has actually turned one of my mood boards into reality (with a few much needed tweaks to work for "real life") and it looks absolutely fantastic. Please be sure to check out the full reveal HERE.

I'll be back tomorrow with an update on my family room. With the Imperial Trellis pillows finished and coffee and side tables in place, it's come a long way since last fall.

Normal Room's curving deck wall via Apartment Therapy

Normal Room's curving deck wall via Apartment Therapy, originally uploaded by Lyndar T. Merciless.

The wood deck for your home. It's a good use of the space in the garden. It's suitable for one who don't have much time to maintain the garden so build the deck.