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

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

13 Responses »

 

F For Furniture – A Movable Thought | By: Valentina Cirasola | Interior Designer Friday, Feb 1 2013

Welcome to my A to Z Challenge on the subject of HOME

The word furniture comes from the 1570 French word “fournir” (furnish in English). Furniture was the prerogative of the higher levels of society and nobles who lived in castles while the less prosperous sat on benches, stools or on the floor, ate at whatever table available at their disposition and often slept on beds of straw. Furniture had a double purpose: to decorate a room as we intend it today and to be mobile. In fact in many European countries where romantic languages are spoken furniture was also called “mobilia” a Latin word which means mobile. The word is still in use today.

Vacation time of the rich and nobles was like a house moving of today, they took along chairs, tables, trunks and household stuff when they left their castle and went to visit their peers in their castles. Visiting people’s castle was a common custom as today we go on vacation and stay in hotels, except that our hotels are fully furnished and clothes is the only thing we carry around.

Furniture and adornments were meant to convey the wealth of its owner. Rich oak was the preferred wood for container such as trunks and credenza; upholstered chairs in velvet or expensive materials divided rooms elegantly in vignettes; turned legs accented and beautified any boxed furniture; elaborate window treatments kept the cold winter out and gilded and decorated walls lined with expensive art really told the story of how wealthy the family was.

The Dutch were the first to use Turkish rug as table coverings and not as floor covering. They believed furniture was to admire, to use and never to crowd a room, in that it would detract the light and the spirit within. However their reason might have been a more practical one. Dutch people scrubbed and cleaned their homes every day and when entering the house, took their shoes off on the unfurnished and very bare first floor, which was considered an extension of the street. With slippers on their feet, they entered the livable home on the second floor. However, the cleanliness of their homes did not reflect the cleanliness of their bodies. One would think that the same people who scrubbed, cleaned and shined their homes, would take an exceptional effort to keep up with personal care and hygiene as well, but that was not the case. Houses did not have a room for bathing and the multiple layers of clothing that kept them warm during the hard winter months, discouraged bathing and exposure to fresh air: “the bark stays better on the trunk”.

Strangely enough, not much as changed since then, except that furniture are less decorated, more functional, respect the rule of ergonomics, often are very technological with more than one function and we don’t take them on our vacations. In decorating, we like to reproduce past styles to feel a connection to history. The Dutch four-post bed is still in use today, as are alcoves and banquette seating under windows. Family portraits and various art pieces still line our decorated walls. Entering someone’s home it’s hard to remain indifferent one way or the other. Furniture will immediately communicate the status symbol or non-status of the owner and the style will speak about the owner’s personality.

As for cleanliness, I wonder often if people have learned anything or if technology has even helped. It’s not uncommon for me, being a designer, to go into a house for the first time and find a royal mess and stale air. The answer is to be found in the question: “what do people do with their time?”. 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-known 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 color in the style fit for each of her special clients.
She is the author of three books all available on

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

7 Responses »

 

The Story Of Your Home | by: Valentina Cirasola | Interior Designer Thursday, Apr 12 2012

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

I was in a funny episode a few years ago, it just resurfaced yesterday because I was talking in a forum about this episode. I met a woman in a store in the area where I live, she was a foreigner, but we spoke Italian to each other, because she knew my language. We got acquainted and we talked casually for a while. At the end of the conversation she invited me to a party at her house that coming weekend. Bare in mind we were perfect strangers.

She appeared to be not well-groomed person, she said she was gardening that day before going out to the boutique were we met for the first time. She was very dirty, she was wearing jeans with holes (me, going out with holes in the jeans? Never, not even if they are in high fashion!), she had a mount of oily red hair flowing in the air, well you get the picture. Any way, I don’t know why, I accepted her invitation to the party.

When I arrived to her address, I saw a huge mansion of about 30,000 sq.ft., which wrapped around a hill (I learned later that the entire hill was her property, among many other properties). I called the number she gave me to tell her that I might had arrived at the wrong address. She assured me I was not and opened the gate.
Statues, fountains and scented flowers opened a beautiful path for me.
The family is a multi-millionaire ten times over. Her husband retired from his own company at age 37, he is now in his late 60s. There is no need to tell you what a beautiful, colorful and really extravagant, out of the ordinary home unfolded in front of my eyes, all decorated by her.

During the party she had a paid tour guide wearing a livery and white gloves who took every hour and half a group of 6 people at a time to visit the house interiors and the exterior luscious gardens, artificial lakes, ponds, outdoor pizzeria and outdoor rooms. The woman came from very poor origins and made it really big in this world as an emigrant.

Lesson learned. Never judge a book by the cover and never question the motives of rich people. They have it, they can flaunt it and I will enjoy every moment spent in their wealth any time I am around them.

Showing our home to the guests is a costume of certain cultures and a privilege to be shown around, but not everybody does it for a fear of losing privacy or being criticized. Commonly the rooms well made up are foyer, living room, kitchen and powder room. The rest of house being off limit to the guests is either not pretty or not clean, but you live in it and you paid for that space too, why not give a little consideration to it, adding a little sense of pride for what you achieved, may I add?

It doesn’t take much effort to bring the invisible part of the house up to par, especially with the help of a professional who has a trained eye and knows how to find the best within your budget. Each one of us has a story to tell about the house, your guests will be interested to hear it and get to know you better through your cocoon. Surprise them!
I am here for you or anyone you know. I have been at your service since 22 years ago and I show no signs of wanting to quit. Sharing is caring, pass my article around freely. Ciao,
Valentina
www.Valentinadesigns.com
www.Valentinaexpressions.com

Copyright © 2012 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 is a designer well-known to bring originality to people’s homes. As an Italian designer and true to her origins, she provides only the best workmanship and design solutions. Valentina is the author of the forthcoming book on colors RED-A VOYAGE INTO COLORS. Check out her two published books available on

Amazon: http://tinyurl.com/9agl5v9

Barnes&Nobles: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/c/valentina-cirasola

14 Responses »

 

Some Like It Pink | By: Valentina Cirasola | Interior Designer Wednesday, Mar 21 2012

Spring is here, at least on the calendar, even though in some parts of the world is still cold. In the spring we want to get rid of the dark colors in favor of bright, cheerful colors that will welcome the spring in our heart, gardens, wardrobe and our spaces.
(Source: colmet.tumblr.com)

Spring palette contains most of the colors of all the palettes and all the colors of the rainbow. But can everyone wear or live in the spring palette? Certainly not.
Our skin tone is a major indicator; it will tell which color looks the best and which color fights with it.

To be able to create a color palette that will always be in harmony with our skin, we need to choose colors that have the same temperature and value as our skin, hair and eyes. Let’s say you have a cool-based coloring, violet-rose skin tone, grey-blue eyes, cool greyish or cool brown hair, then I can say your coloring is cool and you can choose colors from all cool hues families.

Warm colors are not off limit to a person with cool colors, just need to find the undertone of the warm colors and mix them with cool colors.
Sounds difficult, but in reality it is not.

If the skin agrees with certain colors and not others, the interiors of our spaces react the same ways when we use the right colors that match the color temperature and color value of our skin. If the wrong color bounces off the walls and reflects on our skin, we will certainly look and feel not at ease.

(Source: Pinterest)

Some like it pink, but pink doesn’t like everybody and I am one of them.
My skin has a golden tone, pink will clash with it and with my personality.
I can wear pink away from my face, as for instance I can wear a pink purse, which will be the accent and not the main colors on my body.

I apply the same rule to my spaces. My main living colors must be in the golden tone, or vibrant warm tones. I can highlight an area with pink, as in my photograph of the open view bookcase with pink wallpaper in the background. I can accent an area as the pink staircase, or the pink refrigerator in the kitchen, but pink for people with golden tones, must be used in a small format and must be toned down with many browns, grayish brown and warm greys, or black.
Although for some people pink equals vintage, its use can be quite attractive and elegant in home décor.

In the Italian bath photograph (below) the use of pink is limited to accent the room. The smarter part is the way grey tiles mixed with the pink tiles create a verticality of dynamism. Silver plumbing fixtures, accessories, a large skylight and all the silver contours in the room add a load of natural light and pleasant reflections. The bathroom is playful but elegant and it can be used by both sexes. It is equally masculine and feminine. (Source: Italian Magazine)

On the contrary, the Russian designer’s pink bath glows in playfulness. (Source: http://milleniondesign.com/apartment)
Two different styles and both are elegantly original in pink.

There is a lot to say about colors, when in doubt, ask the experts.
I am one of them and I can save you money, time and headache.
Like what you read? Sharing is caring. Pass it along to someone who would benefit. Ciao,
Valentina
www.Valentinadesigns.com

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

Copyright © 2012 Valentina Cirasola, All Rights Reserved

Valentina Cirasola is an Italian Interior Designer and former Fashion Designer, working in the USA and Europe since 1990. She blends well fashion with interior and colors the world of her clients. She has been described as “the colorist” and loves to create the unusual. Red-A Voyage Into Colors, her book on the subject of colors is the publication and will be released by the end of April 2012. Check out her other two books on

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

4 Responses »

 

Woman’s Day In Yellow | By: Valentina Cirasola | Interior Designer Thursday, Mar 8 2012

March 8th is the International Woman’s Day.
It is traditional on this day to give yellow mimosa flowers to women as a sign of respect and solidarity. This is a day to celebrate appreciation and love towards women and to celebrate women’s economic, political and social achievements. Women give Mimosa to each other as well.

Yellow is one of the many colors that characterizes spring and summer. A controversial color that makes people feel happy, but creates anxiety; it is the color of the sun, which gives life to nature, but as the autumn approaches, the leaves turn yellow, lose their life and die. It is a cheerful color, however not many people can wear it, they feel either washed out or don’t feel good in yellow. Being a bit of a difficult, but inviting color, how can we include yellow in our fashion or homes?

(Bouquet Bed from Arch-Expo).

Orienting your color scheme to your own particular hair and skin coloring is a good practice to make a pleasing cosmetic environment. The same practice is valid when decorating any spaces we live in. Before pairing colors with yellow, we should know how to distinguish each yellow.

Winter and summer yellow is stripped of any gold reflexes. Winter yellow is pale like the winter sunlight. Spring yellow is hot and delicate, like the yellow of the daffodils; summer yellow is riper as the pineapple and it is also sharp as lemon; the autumn yellow is deep mustard gold.

White is the neutral color needed to calm the yellow and it is perfect for the blue-based winter and summer skin tone, as it brings out the pink tone in their skin and make them look healthy. Winter and summer people can use yellow in home décor with a good amount of white. White washes out people with golden tones skin. Spring and autumn people need to turn to creamy beige colors.

It is good to pair yellow with metals. Add silver for people with a blue-based skin tones and gold for people with yellow-based skin tones to bring out their warm coloration. Brown and purple are perfect colors to tone down the yellow. As you see in bedroom photograph, a metallic yellow is the accent color in the bedspread, pillows and glass details.

It communicates well with the metallic purple, the silver coloration of the floor and the white light of the lamp, but what brings everything together is the golden brown of the wood furniture with a yellow tone. This room will work well with an autumn person.

The right cosmetic color will lift our spirit and light up our face, it will work the same in our home décor, after all if one color doesn’t look good on us, it will not look good in our environment either. The walls or décor will reflect the wrong energy and we will never feel comfortable in that space.

Mimosa (acacia dealbata) was introduced to Europe from Australia in 1820.
It is probably the first tree to flower as early as January with yellow flowers.

A Mimosa Cocktail to serve at a morning brunch is the easiest drink to prepare:
Mix one part champagne (or other sparkling wine) and one part thoroughly chilled citrus fruit juice, orange juice or grapefruit juice.
It is traditionally served in a tall champagne flute.

Tomorrow, celebrate your beautiful self and give a woman a mimosa.

My book on the subject of colors RED-A Voyage Into Colors is just about ready to be released. Stay tuned for the launch, but if in the meantime you need suggestions on colors, please do not hesitate to leave your name in the box below. Ciao,
Valentina
www.Valentinadesigns.com
www.Valentinaexpressions.com

Valentina on Affluent Living:
http://youtu.be/kWuB7I8uJjg
http://youtu.be/eC2LVXANG5U

Copyright © 2012 Valentina Cirasola, All Rights Reserved

Valentina Cirasola is an Italian Interior Designer and former Fashion Designer, working in the USA and Europe since 1990. She blends well fashion with interior and colors the world of her clients. She has been described as “the colorist” and loves to create the unusual.

Check out her books on
Amazon: http://tinyurl.com/9agl5v9
Barnes&Nobles: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/c/valentina-cirasola

 

Leave a Response »

 

Tète-à-Tète | By: Valentina Cirasola | Interior Designer Tuesday, Feb 21 2012

February is a cold month in most parts of the world, fortunately is warmed up with the fuzzy theme of love. Thinking of love, the tète-à-tète chair comes to mind.

Typical and essential piece of décor for gardens and interiors, the tète-à-tète chair marked an era when a man could only court a woman by looking not by touching and under the vigilant eyes of her relatives. It was designed for coziness, close enough to look at each other in the eyes, occasional brushing elbows could slip out, but the armrest in the middle divided the two sexes keeping them at a certain distance.

Actually, the chair didn’t serve only lovers. Gossipers also used it while sitting together. Sitting face-to-face was favorable to discretely passing in each other’s ears all the juicy details of someone else’s life, or of a person present in the room unaware of being the subject of interest. The tète-à-tète chair allowed women to sit comfortably with fashionable belled up dresses with cumbersome crinoline underneath.

Fast forward a couple of centuries and we see some new versions of the tète-à-tète chair. I have to admit warmth and coziness are gone, but they are attractive in their own unique modernity. The black and white of the Eli-Fly Chair is very graphic, the lines are slim, sensuous and lonely. The two chairs can face each other at a distance, or can be set closer to make caressing a little easier. But it seems to me this is a type of chair the people in “need of their space” would buy.

More modern versions of the tète-à-tète chair are also available for the garden in wrought iron or wood. I have seen a pretty set painted in blue in one of the historical establishments in California. They wrap them around trees, where people can relax with a book and courtship under a magnolia tree might be possible again.

I absolutely adore the Heart Cone Chair designed by Verner Panton in 1959 and reissued by renowned furniture company Vitra.
Price of the Heart Cone Chair: $3,670. Precious!
It would fit beautifully in any décor and in any empty corner. Red is imposing, calls for attention, but this chairs brings passion.
“Most people spend their lives in dreary beige conformity, mortally afraid of using colors,” Panton said, in the mid-1950s. I could not agree more.

What does this chair have to do with the tète-à-tète chair of Victorian time? Nothing. The heart is already there, it needs two people to sit in each other’s lap and the tète-à-tète picture is complete.

Let me support you in finding your uniqueness in décor and style, but don’t forget to leave your name down below. Ciao,
Valentina
www.Valentinadesigns.com
http://valentinaexpressions.com

Copyright © 2012 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-known 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 color in the style fit for each of her special clients.
She is the author of RED-A Voyage Into Colors, her forthcoming book on the subject of colors, due to be released in the Spring 2012. Check out her first two books on

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

Leave a Response »

 

A New Red Vibration | By: Valentina Cirasola | Interior Designer Saturday, Jan 7 2012

We are one week into the new baby year, but I can still wish you a Happy New Year. This year will be exceptional! I am feeling the electricity vibrating all around me. I sense a renewed positivism in people, we will have new election in this country, in Chinese astrology 2012 is the year of the dragon and I am a dragon, but not shooting fire, only good vibrations.
My third book, now in the finishing line, has been accepted for publication on the evening of December 31st, while the previous year was ending and I was celebrating the arrival of 2012. What a better way to start a new year with a new book to be published soon! The title I chose is RED-A Voyage Into Colors, just right with this year powerful energy. The book will be on the market in the Spring, please stay tuned for the news of the launch. Red is a book on the subject of colors in our lives andt how colors affect us.

I have included a section of colors in astrology, colors for interiors, colors in food and fashion. The beginning part explains what colors really are, how to see them and how to interpret the character of each one. Writing this book has been a labor intense, but also a fun process and in a few months I will see it realized. I will be putting another check mark next to my goals and dreams and a big “DONE”.

This year 2012 is all about colors. Colors will take inspirations from nature, but the exciting part is that we can create a mysterious combination with the undertone of each color and use it in a new way to set the mood, or create high contrasts never done before. Pantone, the leading industry in the subject of colors, for decades has influenced product development in multiple industries, including fashion, film industry, traveling, interior designing, home industrial design, product packaging and graphic design. This year Pantone made Tangerine Tango the color of the year.

Tangerine Tango is a red-orange hue, which will characterize 2012, performing well in spring and all the way through autumn. It is an all-round color most people can wear, exotics in its structure and very friendly to most skin colors. It will perform exceptionally well with green and blue eyes and when paired with brown eyes will highlight the amber cast. It is highly wearable in daytime and evening affairs.
Tangerine Tango in interiors is an energizing color that will lower inhibitions. It is perfect in entryways and foyers, love to see it kitchens or simply in a few kitchen appliances for a surge of energy. It will spice up the rest of the house just with a few pillows, accessories, bedspreads and rugs. Don’t need much of this colors, its warm presence is visibly palpable.

In the past years, red color really irritated me, therefore I kept away from fire-red and wore it extensively only in December through the festivities, but now I feel good toward that red energy in my life. Through this year I will be celebrating my twenty-two years mark in designing business with RED-A Voyage Into Colors my new book on colors and my renewed hopes and goals for my future. All the good reasons for not letting this powerful vibrations passing unobserved. May all your dreams be realized in a colorful life. Let’s Tango! Ciao,
Valentina
Design website: www.Valentinadesigns.com
Books website: http://valentinaexpressions.com/

Copyright © 2012 Valentina Cirasola, All Rights Reserved

Valentina Cirasola is an Italian Interior Designer and former Fashion Designer, working in the USA and Europe since 1990. She blends well fashion with interior and colors the world of her clients. She has been described as “the colorist” and loves to create the unusual.

She is also a published author of two Italian regional cuisine books available on Amazon, Barnes & Nobles, through her publisher and her books website:
http://outskirtspress.com/ComeMiaNonna
http://outskirtspress.com/SinsOfAQueen

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

 

 

4 Responses »

 

My Christmas Village | By: Valentina Cirasola | Interior Designer Wednesday, Dec 21 2011

I can finally take care of “building” my village. This year many days ran together, during the course of many weeks I lost at least one day every time and wondering where did my time go. How did I manage that? This year has been a real lesson for me and I will take care of my busyness at the beginning of next year, but now it is time to think of my Christmas village.

Years ago, I fell in love with hand painted houses representing Charles Dickens’s village. I was new in USA, seeing Christmas villages in stores were new thing for me, just as everything else was. I started to collect as many little houses I could until one day I had no more place to store them and stopped the collection.
The village I build for Christmas every year is my fantasy, not a real village. The style of architecture does represent Victorian England of early 1800s, the small statues of people are dressed in Victorian fashion, so darling, but everything else is a fantasy. I have a theatre for plays, comedies and ballet performances, the Opera House is grand. I have many pubs and restaurants, hotels, various shoppes, antique stores, a seamstress’s house, playgrounds for kids, the light house and a barn, an ice skate ring with moving people (battery operated), a few library buildings, a train station with a sound of a train coming and a real moving train, a battery operated toy. In my village there is no police station, no hospital, no government buildings and no schools. Hey, this is my village and in my fantasy we all learn from each other, we are all good to each others and help one another.

It takes many hours to put the village up, string all the lights inside the small houses, creating attractive streets and passages over bridges and gardens, arrange the houses to design an inviting village with the main drag with all the fashionable stores just as if I were a certified city planner. I like to place street benches next to cozy corners or views, kids and carriages in the right spots and attach all the sounds to make the village come alive. I like to keep all the lights and sounds turned on all day, but at night it becomes magic. The lay out of my village varies every year, streets and things to do are never the same and I amaze myself how many solutions I can create. It’s playtime!

I leave the rest of the room in suffuse lighting to allow the village to be on stage, when is completed it is quite beautiful. December is the only time of the year I can live almost in history, I get to step back in time to experience a much simpler and slower life even though is only in my fantasy and through toys. Perhaps during Charles Dickens’s time they said the same thing about a slower living style before the 1800s.

In a separate area of the room, away from the village display, I don’t miss to set up a spirituality corner with my little manger made in Germany by wood workers artists who are still designing small items all by hands and some angels made of Venetian glass made in Murano. LED light strings and candles everywhere illuminate the rest of the house.

The custom of turning on shiny, bright and colored lights in December comes from the burning the “Yule Log” in Germany, a medieval pagan festival that occurred every December to celebrate the winter Solstice and the short dark days of winter. The burning of the Yule Log was a way to welcome light, the return of the sun and it represented Jesus as the light of the world.

However I want to look at it, I am one of the few people who decorate Christmas in a different way. The important thing is to celebrate a new light that will take the darkness of the winter away from our life and project us into the New Year with a renewed spirituality and new goals toward the humanity and ourselves.

I hope you will come up with your own different display too and please remember I am always ready to decorate and design with you.
Have a Happy Christmas and happy holidays. Ciao,
Valentina

www.Valentinadesigns.com
www.Valentinaexpressions.com

Copyright © 2011 Valentina Cirasola, All Rights Reserved

Valentina Cirasola is an Italian Interior and 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 is the author of the forthcoming book on the subject of Colors entitled RED-A Voyage Into Colors, due to be published very soon.

Valentina’s books on the Italian regional cuisine are doing very well. They are available on

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

Leave a Response »

 

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

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

(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

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

 

2 Responses »

 

Country Style for City Life | By: Valentina Cirasola | Interior Designer Saturday, Oct 22 2011

This year’s fashion reflects the sluggish economy. This winter we will go back to learn crochet, knitting and heirloom waving, because that is what I am seeing as proposals for the coming winter. Fashion industry is offering a no non-sense fashion, practical, wearable at the office and to hang round, all basic colors to combine with everything existing in the wardrobe and very affordable.

I have noticed many corset laced garment ideas from sweaters to boots along with many pointelle, oblique ruffles even on peacoats and serpentine scarves.(Anthropologie photos)

I love the large cowlnecks this year worn with a shirt collar coming out from underneath, looks very comfortable.
The ¾ length coat with an enveloping shawl neckline and much gathering from the shoulders down to the breast and around the waist is so reminiscent of the austerity of the ‘40s. Back then the same coat complemented a ¾ length skirt, today we can get away with wearing a pair of fuseaux and a pair of sling back shoes.

Shoes and boots this winter have gone back to the chunky heels that make you feel well planted on the ground, the embellishments such as belts, buttons, buckles and flowers distract the eye from the bulkiness of the shape. The style of the shoes is quite dismissed, but the color block gives it a better appeal, in fact exalts the comfortable shape of the wide toecap. To wear these types of chunky shoes, Braced Oxfords or Lacebark Booties, a woman must not be necessarily tall, but she must have slim legs, otherwise these shoes will contribute to add heaviness to her body.

Still continuing on the sweet and very feminine side, roses and flowers made of felt and fabrics over abound on garments as on bed duvet and curtains. In designing interiors we are bringing the outside inside, in fashion we are adorning our clothes with echoes of nature, organic fibers and fluid designs. In my interpretation of the next winter fashion style, I feel a sense of fusion of nature with the human body and the fusion of cultures with their colors.

I believe every home interior should have a touch of eclecticism just for added interest. All natural material dress the home of my liking, which is often designed with a lot of wood details, it doesn’t matter if the species differ from one another, juxtaposed with natural stones, natural dyed fabrics and glass. To inject a dose of personality, architectural salvage yards, estate sale and Internet auctions are good places to find several unique vintage pieces.

The country fashion of this winter is very wearable for city life and not only for a weekend in the country. The shoes are wide toes and comfortable even for going up and down between tubes and stairs, or walking to the office. Coats have a fitted appearance, but they are loose enough to wear layered clothes underneath and the fabrics are lightweight.

There are seasons when only one color is particularly in vogue, this coming winter colors are gorgeous, they range from golden-yellow to papaya and mustard, from red or green apple to marine blue, from rust to chocolate. Nobody will have any difficulties finding the right colors for their own skin and still be in fashion.

Even in the home fashion we can have some fun mixing hand-made kilim rugs with pied-de poule, velvets and Prince of Wales fabrics. I know this might sound too confusing to people who are not familiar with fabric names or textures, but it is not that difficult to match so many fabrics with a distinctive character. The important thing is to find a common denominator and carry it through many areas, especially through open spaces.

If this is helpful to you, let me help you playing the tune of fluid and natural design in your clothes or in your home décor, just leave your comment and your name in the box below. 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 Interior and 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 is also an author, check out her books’ site: www.Valentinaexpressions.com

or find her books on
Amazon: http://tinyurl.com/9agl5v9
Barnes&Nobles: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/c/valentina-cirasola

2 Responses »