Archive for the ‘General’ Category
Good To Be Home
Tuesday, March 13th, 2012Good to see some Progress
Monday, January 23rd, 2012
It has been about 10 days since my last update. We have been working at a couple of out of town markets, and honestly, the progress has been really slow.
One good thing happening was that the kitchen island marble did get honed, and it looks amazing. When we originally put the marble top on the island, I let the installer talk me out of honing the stone. I knew it would perform better….but he didn’t want to do it because it wouldn’t have as much depth to the color….and I was tired of the building process and didn’t want to argue. Lesson learned….we should have honed it. It was highly susceptible to any sort of acidic substance, leaving un-polished rings everywhere. Well, the honing did the trick, and the surface looks lovingly aged, and all the rings are gone. It should have been like that 8 years ago when we moved in.

The new living room window is fantastic....and so much more classic than the "picture" window that was previously there.

My favorite thing so far.....the new kitchen window. Elongated by one pane, it now opens up the view to the lawn and really adds a great amount of additional light.
At this point, almost all of the windows are in…..but nothing is trimmed. Painters are starting to work on windows, and again, nothing is complete. The ceiling has been removed in the basement, so we are ready for the new tongue and groove ceiling…..I hope. The laundry room got this same treatment, and it is installed.
Over the weekend, only about half of the ceiling was out. Today, it got progressively work. Evidently, that is what happens when you try to straighten out 44 years of unevenness. It will be level when we are done, and hopefully the effort will be worth it.
We do have the final mantle design complete for the basement, and hopefully that will be installed within a week.
A lot of electrical work has happened. The recessed lights are totally installed in the basement…..other than the ones that had to be removed due to the ceiling being torn out. We added spot lights over the beds in the two upstairs guest rooms. There were no overhead lights in there, and this way, there will be at least one light that can come on and be effective with a flip of the switch inside the door. We also added a couple of portrait lights in the den to help even out the light in that room. It is probably the darkest room in our house, and this will be a greatly welcome addition.
Wednesday, January 11th, 2012
Lots of great progress today! The first “layer” of parquet was pulled up in the den. Evidently, the way this product was produced, there was a thin layer of wood over a plywood base……and this thick layer of black tar that joined the two together. It went down in one piece, but it comes up in two! Tonight, we have the black tar layer exposed, and tomorrow that should be gone.
We also discovered that part of the soffit in the basement can be removed without totally redoing all the duct work, so we will be able to get draperies in that room now and really add a great deal of softness to the space.
Four windows were pulled out and replaced…..at least positioned in place and secured. There is lots of trim work that has to be done at this point, but at least the new windows are in two of the bedrooms.
Paint on the door details continues to move slowly, but the result is fantastic, and we are really pleased with the look.
Another great day today! Schmid and Rhodes is doing a really great job, and they are being so careful with our house……even in its current state. Every day when I come home, my desk is uncovered, and the floor swept.
The floor came completely up in the den today, we got a real head start on wiring for house sound and for security cameras on the outside of the house, and the old tv cabinet in the office got removed. The rain definitely slowed the window installation process, but they did a lot of prep work in taking off trim on the windows so more will be ready to change out tomorrow.

One of the new windows....notice there is no "crank" All you have to do is raise the lever and push the window open
Paradise Transformed
Monday, January 10th, 2011We worked on the main house some too. New French style doors were added to the master bedroom, allowing direct access to the pool area, and a former deck space was converted to an office for the homeowner.
Laurel Magazine – “Home of Distinction”
Sunday, October 10th, 2010Laurel Magazine is monthly shelter magazine focusing on life in Highlands and Cashiers, North Carolina and the surrounding community. They do lots of interesting stories about local happenings, new restaurants, where to stay, what to see and do, and also feature some beautiful homes in the area. For the September issue, they selected a home I designed in the Old Highland Park neighborhood in Highlands, for a couple whose main home is in Knoxville, for their “Home of Distinction” feature.
A little about the house……my clients love the mountains, and wanted a cozy retreat there. We worked with a favorite color scheme of hers….blues and oranges. The result is a beautiful interior that feels fresh. This is an unexpected color scheme in an area where most people choose browns, greens, and neutrals. Most of the rugs in the house were custom braided rugs I designed. Antiques are a favorite source of inspiration for my client, so we used old pieces wherever we could. The colors are happy, the upholstery is comfortable, and the space is relaxing. I love it, and hope you enjoy. More photos of this project are located in the portfolio section of my website under the heading “Old Highland Park.” www.toddrichesininteriors.com/index.php?page=old-highland-park
The Magic of Fortuny
Saturday, May 22nd, 2010
My mom, Patricia Richesin, in the Fortuny showroom studying the fabrics
While in Venice we had an invitation from Fortuny to visit their facility on the island of Giudecca. A vaporetta ride, and we were there. The factory is housed in an old brick building, right on the Giudecca canal. The only hint at what awaits inside are the letters spelling the family name across the top of the building. The showroom is located on the property of the factory, and has recently been completely re-designed by Barry Dixon. We were met by Giuseppe Ianno, the manager of the facility.

The retail portion of the Fortunty with the walls upholstered in their fabrics
The showroom is truly breathtaking. To see the beautiful Fortuny fabrics used so lavishly was a real treat. For those of you who aren’t familiar with the product; Fortuny is a hand printed cotton fabric, typically with a soft metallic design in either gold or silver applied over the printed cotton. Sounds a little glitzy for most folks, but the reality is that it is not. The fabrics are beautiful and can be as subtle or as powerful as you want, depending on the combination of colors. Oh, forgot to mention that they can also be customized, so it is possible to get the exact design that you want, in exactly the color combination that you want. They only use the finest cotton, and at first glance, you would think the fabrics were printed on silk because of the luminous sheen.

Wings of luxurious fabrics, and bolts in the background

Detail of the lavish drapery. The border was quilted.
A blue and green color scheme was used in the showroom to reinforce the “water” theme of the Venice location. Many folds were in the drapery panels to compliment the “waves” in the water beyond. The draperies were one of my favorite things. The border was quilted, and the draperies had Fortuny lining fabric “tied” to the face fabric. It was a beautiful detail. Also in the showroom were the new range of Fortuny Murano glass lamps, as well as address and note books bound with their stunning fabrics.

The new range of Fortuny lamps, which have illuminated bases

The lavish draperies facing the Giudecca canal and a Venetian mirror with Fortuny fabric behind the glass
We had the opportunity to tour the garden on the property after we were finished in the showroom. I’ve been to lots of factories over the years, and never have seen a beautiful garden associated with one. The garden was lovely, and covered in roses in full bloom. There is also a swimming pool on the party where the Countess who formerly owned the company entertained. It is one of only a handful of swimming pools in Venice, where they are currently banned since they do not fit in with the historic accuracy of the city.

The garden with rose covered trellises

Another garden view

The factory pool, complete with changing rooms. The rooms have fully mirrored back walls which make the pavillion seem open to the space beyond.
As we walked back toward the Vaporetta to return us to Venice, we passed the bookbinding studio where the address books covered in Fortunty fabrics were made. The gentleman producing these was so proud of his craft, and really did an incredible job. It was an awesome experience and made for a memorable day in Venice.

Binding books with Fortuny fabrics

Applying the glue that binds the books
WBIR Live at Five at Four
Tuesday, March 23rd, 2010Recently, I was asked by a local television station to do an interview about the latest features of my work in House Beautiful and Traditional Home magazines. This was a fun interview by a gracious producer, Erin Donovan. She came to my home, Casa Real, one afternoon and we talked about design, the future, and other topics for a couple of hours. The atmosphere was relaxed, and she did a great job of capturing me at home on my own turf. It all boiled down to 2.5 minutes of well edited footage, which you can view below.
Niche Design
Sunday, March 7th, 2010A friend of mine shared this New York Times article and slide show with me today. Zach Motl follows some of my design philosophy which breaks conventional thought about space planning. Zach also has a great color sense.
A Roomy 178 Square Feet
By: Penelope Green
Published: February 10, 2010
THE tins of seasoning on top of Zach Motl’s refrigerator — Old Bay, Hungarian paprika, Madras curry powder — are for show only, chosen for their graphic punch and nifty typefaces. Living in a room that’s only 178 square feet, you don’t want to cook much, Mr. Motl said; it’s just too odoriferous. He once made French onion soup, and the apartment smelled for four days. “It was gross,” he said.
But Mr. Motl, 25, has made the most of this studio apartment in Clinton Hill, Brooklyn, which he rents for $944 a month, and has outfitted for about $2,500 in the three years since he moved to New York City. He has hewed to the old decorating dictum that says the more stuff you put in a room (albeit artfully arranged stuff), the bigger it seems. More really is more.
Mr. Motl, a theater major who also studied sculpture at the State University of New York at Geneseo, had planned to pursue a career in acting after graduating in 2007. Like so many before him, he had been testing the waters in New York City during his summers off from school, cobbling together a living and a career path by doing two or three jobs at a time, along with a handful of internships: waiting tables in Bellport, N.Y., his hometown, and in Brooklyn; teaching sailing at yacht clubs up and down Long Island; interning at P.S. 122 in New York, and for Miles Redd, the maximalist designer.
Pretty quickly, Mr. Motl began to realize he would much rather work in interior design than the theater. “Not that I knew anything about it,” he said. “I thought ikat” — a trendy textile — “was a piece of furniture.”
Still, he is an innately stylish guy. “I always knew what I liked and what I didn’t like,” he said.
And he has a sailor’s sense of thrift and handiness that has served him well in his new profession, and at home. When he moved into this apartment, a grubby white box, he removed all the window panes, scraped them clean and reattached each one so they wouldn’t bang or let the cold in (he keeps them sparkling clean).
He also chipped the mirrored tiles off the bathroom walls — “That’s when the love affair with my downstairs neighbor began,” he said dryly — and painted the room midnight blue. He built task lights with a steampunk aesthetic out of components he found at Canal Lighting for less than $200; he also put together a milk-glass shade ($12 on eBay), an Edison bulb ($18 at Canal Lighting) and an electric cord to make the fixture that hangs atmospherically over the beadboard breakfast counter/front hall table/cabinet he built himself.
Mr. Motl knows how to arrange furniture in groupings — an office “area,” sitting “room,” “bedroom” and so forth are clearly defined (though only a few inches apart). And he knows how to hit the sweet spot that turns a bunch of objects — like stacks of National Geographic magazines — into a collection, and how to array those objects so they look sculptural, instead of like a sign that he might be a candidate for A&E’s “Hoarders.”
Mr. Motl has been “collecting” since the age of 5 or 6, picking things up from the curb for his room, visiting yard sales when he had his own money. He recalled being kicked out of an antiques store at age 10, because the proprietor thought he was in there to steal something. “I remember, after running to my mother in tears from the confrontation,” Mr. Motl said, that the store owner defended herself “by saying, ‘What interest would a 10-year-old have in antiques?’ ”
When a professor at school culled his library of ’40s and ’50s Penguin paperbacks — mostly theater titles — Mr. Motl scooped them up. They’re jammed together on the shelf above his bed, books being one of the many multiples Mr. Motl has filled this tiny space with.
Wooden tennis rackets hang on the walls. “I bought one at an antiques store,” he said, “and then felt like an idiot because I kept finding them on the street.”
The blue Marc Jacobs Wellington boots were purchased on sale for $10.
Does he ever wear them?
“No, they’re just there.”
By November of 2008, Mr. Motl wanted just one (full-time) job. He was still waiting tables to support himself while he worked part time for Mr. Redd. A friend showed him a posting on Craigslist by Robert Couturier & Associates, the upscale architecture and design firm.
The ad was for a junior designer, with three years’ experience and knowledge of AutoCAD, the computer drafting program. Mr. Motl didn’t meet either of those requirements, but he did have pictures of this apartment. He got the job























































































