F For Fainting Moments | By: Valentina Cirasola | Interior Designer Monday, Mar 11 2013

Welcome to my A to Z Challenge on the subject of HOME.
http://myatozchallenge.com/2012/02/20/welcome-to-my-a-to-z-challenge-2/

What do the Récamier, Méridienne and Fainting Sofa have in common? Three reclining chairs of the past and present home décor that have in common one idea: Relaxation. Ancient population understood the benefits of relaxation and included it in their daily life.


For Egyptians, Greeks and Romans the idea of relaxing often on the ‘kline’ – a type of day beds – was part of the daily routine as early as the 8th century BC. The modern Greek word ‘symposion’ or “symposium” means ‘to drink together’ in a party atmosphere with music and conversation while even conducting business. The Romans adopted the daybed for reclining in the daytime and during meals and at night they slept on. This type of daybed was widely used in the Orient as well, where there was no distinction between sleeping furniture and daytime furniture.

(Madame Juliette Récamier above)

Récamier Sofa (above) took the name from Madame Juliette Récamier, a French society leader, whose salon drew Parisians from the leading literary and political circles of the early 19th century. After Madame Récamier’s guests were well fed, she would preside over the discussions while reclining on a sofa, usually wrapped in a yellow shawl. That’s how Jacques-Louis David depicted her. It seems that a bit of gossip is appropriate with a Récamier: Madame Juliette Récamier married at the age of 15 Jacques-Rose Récamier, a rich banker nearly 30 years her senior and a relative of the gourmand Brillat-Savarin, who wrote a few books on the philosophy of cooking and taste. Fantastic books, I read them all and strongly suggest them. A rumor arose that Jacques-Rose Récamier was Juliette’s natural father who married her to make her his heir. The Récamier marriage was never consummated and Juliette remained a virgin until at least the age of forty.

Méridienne – a type of asymmetrical day-bed (above) – has a high head-rest, and a lower foot-rest, joined by a sloping piece. Every grand house of France in the early 19th century had one for every room. Its typical use was for resting in the middle of the day, when the sun is near the meridian, a practice still in use in the South of Europe and Mediterranean basin.

(Edouart Manet above – Fainting Sofa)

Fainting Sofa has a back raised at one end, often wraps around and extends along the entire length of the piece. Fainting sofa deserved separate rooms in the 19th century home décor, only used by women to faint on, due to their tight corsets restricting blood flow. However, another peculiar use of this chair made it go down in history. Sex between married people was intended only for procreation. Society’s false modesty prevented  women of high social background from taking care of  their men’ frivolous sex desires, it was considered an indecent behavior left only for prostitutes. That constricted way of thinking caused female hysteria, considered a real ‘disease’ that needed to be treated by home visiting doctors and midwives through manual pelvic massage. It was a recurrent need often requiring hours for the intimate procedure to work, thus creating a room for privacy and a chair for comfort was of the utmost importance.

(Méridienne in my client’s home)

We cannot build our future if we don’t know history. Today, when possible, I like to place one Méridienne chair or Fainting Sofa in my clients’ homes and I can’t help smiling…..Ciao,
Valentina
http://www.Valentinadesigns.com
http://valentinaexpressions.com

Copyright © 2013 Valentina Cirasola, All Rights Reserved

Valentina Cirasola has been a lifetime designer in fashion and interiors. Her extensive knowledge of colors and materials led her in both directions successfully. She is well-know for designing custom furniture. She cares to make spacious and functional pieces, but she doesn’t forget to introduce the element of surprise, sinuous lines, attractive shapes and colors in the style fit for each of her special clients. She is the author of RED – A Voyage Into Colors, Check out her three books on

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Weekly Photo Challenge: Free Spirit | By: Valentina Cirasola | Interior Designer Sunday, Sep 2 2012

San Francisco is a musical city, quaint, vibrant and modern to a point. The colorful Victorian houses, called ‘Painted Ladies’, recall the ‘Belle Époque’ and the gold rush of the 1800’s. The city distinguishes itself from the rest of the American cities in a sort of quirky way. Everything and anything goes on in San Francisco, from nudity, to impromptu art, from traditional cultural parades to extravagant theatre plays.

The fog rolls in at around 5:00pm, changing the free-spirit atmosphere into a cold and gloomy city. San Franciscans say is magical and feel the mysticism of this grey cotton enveloping the city. Perhaps because San Francisco forms one the points of the esoteric, magic triangle of the world: Turin in Italy, San Francisco in California and Sydney in Australia. I really don’t like the fog, it makes me really sad and damp in the bones.

I like the other face of the city, its colorful houses and colorful people with all their creative arts. One day on a Sunday, walking around the pears, I stumbled in a group of students from the California Film & TV Acting School, playing their mimics roles in the streets.

Their costumes, as you can see from the photographs, are not designed theatre costumes, but their own clothes put together haphazardly. They are colorful, show inventive and suit the actors in their free street roles. The students want to show to the public how cleverly they can stand in one pose without moving for at least 15 minutes, before changing to next pose. Mimicking is not an easy acting to do, but these kids were superb in their free spirit and didn’t care of the passerby. Ciao,
Valentina
http://www.Valentinadesigns.com
http://valentinaexpressions.com/

Copyright © 2012 Valentina Cirasola, All Rights Reserved

Valentina Cirasola is an Italian interior designer in business since 1990. She is passionate about colors and all expressive arts. She is a “colorist”. To her, selecting art means to bring out the best energy of her clients and nourish their soul. She is the forthcoming author of the book on colors: Red-A Voyage Into Colors, which will be released by the end of September 2012. Check out her two books on

Amazon: http://tinyurl.com/9agl5v9
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I Framed Them All | By: Valentina Cirasola | Interior Designer Thursday, Aug 23 2012

A picture frame has the function of exhibiting an idea. It keeps the viewer’ eye inside of its borders without letting the surroundings distract his/her fantasy. A picture frame also functions as a curtain over a stage, which like a theatre play will immerse the viewers in the mind of the artist.

A picture frame must not attract attention to itself, it must be decorative enough to embellish the artwork and complement it, while remaining in second position.
Gold, silver, black, white or natural woods are generally the frames most used to dress an image and to stay behind the scene, sort of speaking.

What if you have an interesting image you want to frame regardless of the intrinsic value? Or what if you went to a second-hand store and found the perfect frame for an art piece you painted yourself? In both cases you might want to treat the frame as the dress for the image. Decide which is the colors inside of the image you like to pick up and carry it on the pass-par-tout (matt) and on the frame itself. The result will be a very decorative and original piece for your wall.

The procedure to decorate a frame in your style is very simple. You must first decide if you want the frame to show the wood grain, or if you want to paint the frame in color.

If you have a frame in natural wood and want to keep it natural, then you only need to use a clear, non-yellowing varnish, or perhaps use a varnish with a wood tone color, such as Mahogany tone, cherry wood tone, oak tone and much more. Let it dry, add the image and nothing needs to be done. Wash your brush in water when using a water base varnish; for oil-based varnish, use turpentine to wash your brushes.

The challenge comes if you wish to have a colored frame. Don’t le it scare you though, painting a picture frame is a fun project. First choose the color, based as I said earlier, on some color details inside of the image. If the frame is used, from a flea market, you need to sand off the original color almost to the bare wood. Paint a white base coat to cover all wood imperfection and then apply a coat or two of the color of your liking. Acrylic or flat latex paints are both good choices and the brushes used for these paints are washable in water.

Now, you might want to leave the frame with a couple of paint coats, or continue to further embellish it. If you look at my minstrel image (above), you will notice that the frame picks up some colors of the image. To add some depth and interest, I also added some gold design on top of the frame painted Chartreuse green. That detail came from a photo of a medieval fabric, just to be in tune with the subject, I outlined it free hand on the frame and then painted the lines in gold with a small brush.

I painted the frame black to echo the black and white silhouette of the subject and added some bronze color rosettes in each corners to also echoes some bronze details in the weathervane sketch.

The striped frame picks up the color of the lady’s dress. Green, opposite to pink on the color wheel is the perfect complement. To paint this frame, I calculated first how many stripes I wanted, divided the length of each side by the number of stripes; with pencil and ruler I marked the space, then I painted all the pink stripes followed by the green stripes.

Aside from these examples, you can attach many objects to a painted frame as your fancy strikes and really show your creativity.

Looking at artwork made by masters it puzzles me to see how perfect anonymous people have framed famous art for centuries, making it appear as the art and the frame were born together. When you will design your artwork and the frame to go with it, your creation will be twice as much as precious.

The fall brings a new energy, new light and new color, a home should reflect the change in nature. This is the right time to ask me for advice on how to bring that new energy to your surroundings. Ciao.
Valentina
http://www.valentinadesigns.com
http://valentinaexpressions.com

Copyright © 2012 Valentina Cirasola, All Rights Reserved

Valentina Cirasola is an Italian Interior and Fashion Designer, working in the USA and Europe. She blends well fashion and interior in any of her design work. She loves to remodel homes and loves to create the unusual.
Check out her books on 

Amazon: http://tinyurl.com/9agl5v9
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The Power Of An Idea | By: Valentina Cirasola | Interior Designer Wednesday, May 2 2012

Not too long ago I was 14 years young and I found myself with a bunch of middle school kids going to visit the Pinacoteca, a large museum of my hometown in Bari, Italy. We were somewhat well-mannered kids, but the yearly school trip in a bus, guided by a couple of teachers was more an excuse to be silly for one day and an escape from everyday routine sitting at a school desk than a time to learn something in the fields of life.

The Pinacoteca is a large neo-classical building with large open spaces and so much art on the walls we had never seen before, of course we were only thirteen and fourteen years of age. Each art piece amused us in some ways or another while teachers were making efforts in keeping us attentive to their explanations and comments on the beautiful art pieces. We arrived in front of Lucio Fontana’s paintings and we were abruptly silenced at the view of sliced up canvases, at least that’s what we thought they were.

The Argentine-Italian artist was well-known in Europe for his series of slashed monochrome paintings. Sometimes he embellished the slashed canvases with costume jewelry and glitters. Lucio Fontana, lived between 1899–1968. His art was seen a mixture of avant-garde art under Italian fascism and kitsch painting of the postwar economic miracle. “Fontana attacked the idealism of twentieth-century art by marrying modernist aesthetics to industrialized mass culture” said art critic Anthony White. His art was a reflection of his time and it was perhaps the beginning of pop art.

Lucio Fontana started developing the idea of space-oriented art, renouncing the usage of traditional materials and painting objects with fluorescent colors in dark rooms illuminated by ultraviolet light.

The perforated canvasses marked the starting of a new “Concetto Spaziale” Spatial Concept and did not come until the beginning of 1950. It was this idea that really left a mark in the art world.
Today Fontana’s works can be found in the permanent collections of more than one hundred museums around the world.

Why did I tell this story? I recalled asking one of my teachers on that field trip to the Pinacoteca, if Fontana’s art was really to be considered art. With all my disbelief, I thought anybody could have taken the knife and slash the canvasses. I thought art was supposed to be an extension of what is in our mind, not just an act of a “crazy moment”.
I said to my teacher that I could have done just the same and make a ton of money like him. She responded by saying: “Yes, you could have done the same, but he had the idea first!”

My teacher’s answer was simple, but powerful and stayed with me my entire life. Never underestimate the power of your idea, regardless of how big or small it might be. Ciao,
Valentina

 

http://www.Valentinadesigns.com

http://valentinaexpressions.com

 

Copyright © 2012 Valentina Cirasola, All Rights Reserved

Valentina Cirasola is an Italian interior designer in business since 1990. She is passionate about colors and all expressive art. She is a “colorist”. To her, selecting art means to bring out the best energy of her clients and nourish their soul. She is the forthcoming author of her book on Colors: Red-A Voyage Into Colors, which will be released very soon. Check out her books on

Amazon: http://tinyurl.com/9agl5v9
Barnes&Nobles: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/c/valentina-cirasola

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Tempus Fugit | By: Valentina Cirasola | Interior Designer Monday, Dec 5 2011

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(Ballard Designs photos)

Tempus fugit is a Latin expression first recorded by Roman poet Virgil. The translation from Latin says:
“Time flees irretrievably, while we wander around, prisoners of our love of detail”.

Tempus fugit inscription was first seen on a sundial, today is found often on clocks. Up until the Babylonian invented the sundial, later perfected by the Greeks, people measured time with the raising and fall of the sun; with the change of weather they could tell what season they were in.

The need to have a device that would measure time rose in the Middle Age, around the 1300s when people’s life started to revolve around the concept “time is money” and if they could measure time they would know in a precise way how to dedicate the best time of the day to a productive work, when to stop for eating, when to return to work and when the day was over. Before the advent of clocks these tasks were measured by feelings, if they felt hungry they ate and if they felt tired they stopped.

The first clocks, mostly made of iron and very heavy in weight ended up on church towers to mark the church functions, the monks’ performances at different hours and to call in the faithful to take part of the religious life. The mechanical clocks came about three centuries later along with the pendulum and grandfather clocks, which we still enjoy in home décor today.

Many European countries invented each their own style of clocks, some were incased in beautiful wood species, furniture, or metal, some hung on the wall, some were made as table clock or fireplace mantel clock, some were lantern clocks surmounted over a large bell and some were even portable. One example of a portable clock, the musk-ball watch, struck me in particular. It had the shape of a ball with many holes pierced to let out the scent of herbs contained inside. The belief was that carrying herbs on the body would fight infection and certainly some stench, I agree with the latter, but why attach it to women’s girdle and not on top of the dress? It would have been easier to hear and see the time when the musk-ball watch would strike the hour with a sound. Curious, spicy episodes fill history and I am curious to learn them all.

Going back to Tempus Fugit, our perception tells us time flies, but time is space doesn’t exist. Often people waste time with nothing in particular, importance or urgency at any given moment. We know that time wasted is not recyclable and we feel guilt when we do waste it. However, I think that to allow some “nothing” time it is beneficial for our well-being and mind health, but only if we know how to balance nothing time with working time and achievements of the day.

I read this fascinating article on “What is Time?” http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2010/02/what-is-time/
Physicist Sean Carroll in explaining his theory of what time is, talks about the idea of entropy, a measure of how disorderly things are in the Universe, which started 13.7 billion years ago in a state of a perfect order, in a very low entropy and now looks like a giant mess in a high state of entropy.
We record time by recording the past, that’s our memory of time, today is still in the making, thus time really doesn’t matter yet and tomorrow doesn’t exist.
As Deepak Chopra says: “Today is a gift that’s why is called Present”.

We cannot trap time even if we try to measure it with clocks that can only mark the passing of our days and our activities. We can only follow time and be happy to live it, hopefully in full.

If we ought to decorate with clocks, how would we use them? In my house I have clocks everywhere, not because I am worried about time passing, but because I like to collect them. Each marks a different time, that’s my way of fooling time, or fooling myself, either way works for me.

A large clock in a small entry will definitively make a statement; a clock in a studio room will remind you to get up from the desk every seventy-five minutes and do office stretches; a mud room space with a clock will send a message that it is time to neatly tidy it up; a bedroom with clocks hanging from the ceiling speaks playtime, but what I really like is to fill up a wall with all bunch of clocks without any rule, in a high entropy just like the state of the Universe today. This would be a composition of clocks that doesn’t really tell time, but it reminds you it is time to be playful and to keep up with what matters the most in life.

I thought you might enjoy the Clocks by Coldplay: http://youtu.be/XbI1FpLd4Vk

As the professional who is always ready, I shall be prompt and ready to help you with any of your holiday needs, whether it will decorating, designing, or remodeling. Let me know by leaving your name down below, in which area you would like me to help you. Ciao,
Valentina
www.Valentinadesigns.com
www.Valentinaexpressions.com

Copyright © 2011 Valentina Cirasola, All Rights Reserved

Valentina Cirasola, is the principal designer and owner of Valentina Interiors & Designs. She is a trained designer and has been in business since 1990. She works on consultation and produces design concepts for remodeling, upgrading, new homes, décor restyling and home fashion. Valentina was featured in Italy on: “Vogue” magazine and many prominent publications in California. She also has made four appearances on T.V. Comcast Channel 15.

She is the author of three books available on

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Small, Cute, But Functional | By: Valentina Cirasola | Interior Designer Tuesday, Oct 11 2011

Living in small spaces is challenging, but small spaces teach us how to stay organized and how to save money too. Due to so much market offer, I think it is very easy to clutter up small spaces that we use to live in and therefore buying everything we see in stores should be out of the question. Buying a lot, stuffing each space with unnecessary items, might results in an excuse to want to stay out as long as possible to avoid seeing the problem. Let me tell you I have seen a few stories in my design career!

In a small space every little inch counts and every piece of furniture must have a double function for storage and living tasks. Sofas must turn into beds for visiting family and guests.

Coffee tables, ottomans and sofa tables must have a storage space inside. Just to give you an idea, these pieces are ideals to store a couple of tablecloths and napkins sets, or a few dinner mats as most of the time a small space will not have a formal dining room, still you want to eat on something pretty.

In the kitchen, storage might be limited also. The best way to have everything handy is to hang most skillet and pots or pans in convenient, reachable areas. It would be wise to install a few deep drawers under the kitchen counter to keep plates and silverware all together, that is if you own the small space, it will be money spent well for sure.

Consider the versatility of a baker’s rack. In the eating area it can function as a storing place for dishes, glasses and wine bottles. A baker’s rack also function as a bookshelf or media center in the living room. Place it in the bathroom to display in plain sight bath towels and a few bath supplies. However you want to use it, a baker’s rack is an open “showroom” sort of speaking, make sure to display pretty items.

In the bedroom it is not a good idea to store shoes and seasonal items in boxes under the bed, as positive energy must flow freely in the room to impact positively your sleep or your quiet hours. This is where saving money comes into play. Buy only the necessary fashion clothes and accessories to keep at a minimum the need for storage, thus avoiding the so much feared clutter.

Bedroom closets or any closet in small spaces should be organized with plenty shelves and drawers to contain everything that is necessary for a good living.
The extras are called “extras” because are not needed. If space is limited and not just in the bedroom why keep buying more items? Get rid of something old, or that doesn’t have much use anymore before buying new items. Getting rid of stuff is a way to give a second life to items someone else will want. Living in today’s difficult economy is all about recycling and repurposing.

In the entry a small étagère (shelf) with baskets will function as a last stop box, for library books, outgoing mail or DVDs to grab as you head out the door and as an inviting area where it will be easy to apply the last touch before going out.

Hanging paintings and wall art in small spaces is not that difficult. The gallery wall is made of small paintings or photographs, or a mixture of both. It adds character to the walls, tells the story of your life or of your likings and it is interesting to look at the variety of the artwork. On the other hand, large paintings, prints or photographs will save money in buying many frames and many artworks. You only need one for each empty wall, but that one lonely artwork, unless it is a Miro’, Chagall, or Matisse, just to name a few, after a while, might keep you bored, just something to consider.

Of course there is so much more to cover when creating a cute small space. A functional order should be a priority for a good living. Ask me about space planning and organization, I am a master. Leave your name and comment in the box below, I will answer in 24 hours time. Ciao,
Valentina
www.Valentinadesigns.com

A Design Success Story Video:
http://youtu.be/pOKI6LkOkkA

Copyright © 2011 Valentina Cirasola, All Rights Reserved

Valentina Cirasola is an Italian trained Interior Designer and a former Fashion Designer, working in the USA and Europe. She blends fashion and interior well in any of her design work. She loves to remodel homes and loves to create the unusual. She established her company Valentina Interiors & Designs in 1990. Being Italian born and raised, her design work has been influenced by Classicism and timeless style. She will create your everyday living with a certain luxury without taking away a comfortable living. She is a published author of three books. Visit her book’s site: www.Valentinaexpressions.com
or find her books on

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Diva, Complacent, Or Expert Designer? | By: Valentina Cirasola | Interior Designer Saturday, Jul 23 2011

It is not very uncommon as a designer to work with overly extravagant people, or people who like all the possible décor photographed in magazines, regardless if it fits their personality or not.

What if one day a designer is facing a client’s request to cover the entire floor of a large home with leopard print wall-to-wall carpet? The designer’s blood pressure would go up at once.

This absurd request after about three weeks would push people living in the house to either hide in a closet to avoid contact with that sort of carpet, or throw themselves in the pool. Too much to look at!

But the client likes that idea and nothing is going to take her away from that print.
A skillful designer should know how to compromise and stir the client toward the right decision.
The overly extravagant leopard print carpet will take on a stunning effect if used in small quantity to exalt the beauty of an area that might not have any interest. For example, one of those areas could be a short and straight staircase that connects to an empty corridor upstairs.

Reviewing the design list, the client might come up with the idea of covering all the walls with various faux finishes and murals in each space. In her wish list there is Venetian plaster, old world textured walls, each ceiling painted in Renaissance scene with cherubs, tropical view, Tuscan view, garden climbing plants and on and on. Then there will be a mixture of metal finishes and the story doesn’t finish here. Does it sound like another pain to cure? A skillful designer likes to grab these challenges and turn them into doable ideas.

Another issue to consider is the large open space of the main floor. That is where the client wants to fit dining, living, family, kitchen, foyer, library, painting room, did I forget anything?
Any skillful designer will find a common denominator that will work seamlessly in this large open space where each area will turn into an activity space. To assure a great success the common denominator would be either colors, textures, or style of décor.

The chosen texture on the wall around the staircase has faint blue lines in it. This the perfect place to hang a hand blown Venetian chandelier with a blue tone in the clear glass.

Venetian style and blue tone are two key words to start the sequence of many selections.

Let’s bring some bluish-purple tones into the family room. The fireplace surrounding area gets painted in purple and some of the seating are accented in bluish-purple velvet fabric.
Large windows in the family room allow the view of the lush vegetation in the garden.
Why not bringing some of that green into the furnishing of the family room? Bluish and green are both in cool spectrum of colors.

A perfect green antique Venetian vetrine will fill a corner and some of the seating with a faint green geometric fabrics will echo that lush vegetation outside.

As you see Venetian is the key word that is giving a load of ideas. Embracing but not closing the family room with two heavy columns of Rosso Verona marble is just a perfect accent, along with a couple of red velvet side chairs, while a representation of climbing vines in the sky gives the ceiling an ethereal feeling that everything is OK.

This beautiful home has been featured on Avaliving for the entire week July 18-25, 2011 and will be in my design show series I am filming for an Italian T.V. station in Italy, called California Living.

Is your designer a pushy diva, the type of person to decorate your home only with what she/he likes? Will she/he give you everything you want, regardless if it fits or not just to keep you happy?
Perhaps you should think of hiring one designer with the magic wand I call expertise, knowledge, good taste and common sense to take you into the design world, allow you to design right along, give you the power to choose and leave you with affordable luxury in a comfortable living.

That’s the description that fits me as a designer. After 21 years of business I can say that without feeling self-congratulatory. Please leave your name down in box, should you need my help. Ciao,
Valentina
www.Valentinadesigns.com

http://www.youtube.com/user/affluentliving#p/u/2/eC2LVXANG5U

http://www.youtube.com/user/affluentliving#p/u/0/kWuB7I8uJjg

Copyright © 2011 Valentina Cirasola, All Rights Reserved

Valentina Cirasola is a trained Italian Interior Designer in business since 1990. Being Italian born and raised, Valentina’s design work has been influenced by Classicism and stylish, timeless designs. She will create your everyday living with a certain luxury without taking away your comfort. She loves to restore old homes, historic dwellings and she focuses on remodeling. She is the author of three books available on 

Amazon: http://tinyurl.com/9agl5v9
Barnes&Nobles: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/c/valentina-cirasola

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