November 23, 2010

Decorating Faux Pas? Yay or nay.

Found 'free' at a tag sale this summer, were some wonderful magazines which I have blogged a bit about here and here. There is a box in the spare bedroom that had magazines in it and I wanted to go through it this morning to try and get rid of "yet one more box". I recalled there were some amazing vintage Christmas magazines  and was so excited to blog about them and start getting in the festive holiday spirit.

I know, I know...it is not even Thanksgiving yet...but I am excited to decorate our new home and have been thinking about it all week. I even played a little Christmas music the other day.

Long story short....I could not find ANY of the Christmas magazines and only found 3 of the original ones from the tag sale. We moved in such a flash that I have no recall of most days of it and what, where or how I packed things. I tried really hard to be organized and then all hell broke loose and so much was just stuffed away randomly. (I even think I threw away one of the Direct TV receivers that we lease. ugh).

So I pick up a House and Garden magazine dated April 1971 and start thumbing through it and fell upon this:


Now you may think this is the garden or sun room and that is why it is decorated in such a way, but no the whole house is like this.
I just can't get it through my head that someone could or would live in a house with this much going on. The sense of serenity and clean lines just goes down the toilet with this decorating. I think  to myself that this house must belong to someone special to be highlighted in House and Garden. After taking photos of the magazine with my mouth a gap in wonderment and page after page and room after room unfolds, I decide I am going to try and research who owned this home. Who designed this?
Her name is Mrs. Cooper. Mrs. Cooper? Why would they keep referring to her as Mrs. Cooper? Is it the formality of the time? It is 1971 not 1941. Mrs. Cooper?

Maybe this swan standing in the middle of the table could have given me a hint. 
But I am not that savy about these things.

Here is a photo of her children. Cute, right?
DSCF1107

Okay, okay enough with the pictures. 
Here is the mistress of this house.


I guess if you are non other than Gloria Vanderbilt you can get away with any decorating faux pas. Or maybe it was just the most fantastic decorating ever in the eyes of those in 1971. 

What do you think? Yay or nay?
And yes that little guy on the right is Anderson Cooper. 

I love, adore, and admire Anderson Cooper, so I guess living in this house was good for him.

4 comments:

  1. That was probably just ONE of her homes that maybe she spent 2 weeks a year in, which would answer the question: How could one live with so much going on?

    Hey, didn't Brian try to steal some of those Christmas magazines from you when you first got them? I have a memory of you showing them to me and Brian and he trying to grab them, however, I don't remember if you gave into the brat that he is or not.

    xoxo

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  2. Yes indeed this is just one of her homes. It is in The Hamptons and built & designed (the actual house) by Stanford White.

    Yes, Brian wanted the magazines. Maybe I gave them to him. Honestly I can't remember anything from those few weeks.

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  3. I think it's a bit much (sarcasm here), it's coordinated, but so busy... I never would have guessed a designer would have decorated that way, even in the 70's. I will say, the pink settee with the quilt upholstery is cool.

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  4. Hi there - I've been reading your blog for a while, but I'm not sure I've ever left a comment. I agree, this is probably just one of her homes; I'm sure her New York apartment from the same era was the polar opposite in its decor! I cannot imagine living in a house like this....it's like shabby chic on steroids! (Or, as a friend of mine described Mackenzie-Childs pottery, "Alice in Wonderland Threw Up.") A little would go a long way for me.

    By the way, Sassy Lassie, I just gave you a "One Lovely Blog Award" over on my site. Tag! You're it!

    http://coldspringsstudio.blogspot.com/2010/11/ive-been-awarded-blog-award-by-heidi-at.html

    Cheers!
    Nancy

    ReplyDelete

I appreciate each and every one of your comments. Thank you so much for sharing your thoughts with me.

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