Bit of Arts and Crafts II Ceiling Fan Pull

admin — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 09:07:00 +0000

It’s hard to know exactly how to describe a product that is, at once, so lovely, functional, and distinct. The Trace Ellements ceiling fan pull is a handmade, sturdy item that consists of smooth moss green and deep caramel swirled beads held together by thick brass wire. It can easily fasten to most ball chains, and adds a nice burst of color and elegance to an otherwise undecorated ceiling fan. It doesn’t matter whether your fan has a wooden finish, though it certainly complements a brown backdrop. I’m not the kind of person who adheres to a particular decorating scheme, but I think it’s safe it say that this little fan pull would accent just about any color palette in your home. As far as I’m concerned, the kitchen is a nice spot because it makes getting up in the morning that much more pleasant.

The combination of bead designs and textures layered on top of one another forms a coherent pattern of shades. Such a mixture of colors is enhanced by the different shapes of the beads. Indeed, Trace Ellements is defined by difference, given its integration of materials like semi-precious stones; German, Czech, Chinese, and Indian glass beads; and crystal, porcelain, metal, and fabric elements.

Founder Tracy Ellison has been creating inventive jewelry and home accessories, since 1990, and there’s no limit to her artistic combinations. The company also has a range of goodies from earrings to bookmarks to zipper pulls. Ellison's really got something for everyone. If you tend to lead more toward the silver than the gold, or toward bright and busy hues rather than the more muted variety, Trace Ellements has a range of fan pulls to choose from at the very reasonable price of $16.

Written by: Heather Brown, August 20th 2009

The Decoration of Houses (The Original 1897 Edition)

admin — Wed, 11 Jul 2007 19:34:00 +0000

By Edith Wharton, Ogden Codman

Rizzoli Press

Amidst today’s seemingly endless supply of domestic guides and treatises on interior decoration, Edith Wharton might be surprised that her The Decoration of Houses (co-authored with architect Ogden Codman, Jr.) would still be as relevant and necessary as it is a century after its first publication. Long before “simplicity” and “classic” became catchwords for branding, Wharton took a public stand against the bland, trite excesses of Victorian décor in America. Favoring the considered, informed and complex processes of design rooted in architectural principles, her graceful humility was matched only by her assertive plea against the contemporary dominance of thoughtless, conspicuous consumption visible in New York society. As she determinately decreed: “According to the creed of the modern manufacturer, you have only to combine certain ‘good’ to obtain a certain style.”

Often associated with the frivolity connected to historical descriptions of femininity, this volume might be a surprise for those who prefer to view Wharton as a New York literary powerhouse. While her 40 books in 40 years (many of which were devoted to travels through European residences and gardens) are a testament to the force of her pen, it’s the themes of beauty, pleasure, societal indulgence, cultural education and cosmopolitanism in America’s modernity that make her analysis, and eventual ruling on the importance of design and space, a necessary extension of her literary thought. As she aptly begins her historical and aesthetic analysis, “Rooms may be decorated in two ways: by a superficial application of ornament totally dependent of structure, or by means of those architectural features which are part of the organism of every house, inside as well as out.” And it’s through these sixteen chapters that reflect on everything from the front door to the dining room to bric-a-brac that she offers readers a glimpse at the historic function of furnishings, as well as her claims about taste, beauty and the impact of residential design.

The Italian, French and British capacity for decorating in accord with the Grecian edict of “wise moderation,” so admired by Wharton, is illustrated by black and white plates. The illustrations also reveal that the author’s penchant for “classic” beauty wasn’t about recreating kitschy historic facades or stoic sparseness. Rather, a considered pleasure seems to be her goal as she concludes, “There is no absolute perfection, there is no communicable ideal; but much that is empiric, much that is confused and extravagant, will give way before the application of principles based on common sense and regulated by the laws of harmony and proportion.” True to her appreciation for sincerity in the application of decorative principles, readers can see the realization of her rules if they visit the Mount, a 113-acre Lenox estate designed by Wharton in 1902.

Recreated by Rizzoli using photographs of the original 1897 pressing, the only change made by the publishers in this edition is the use of the original interior dust jacket as the model for the printed design that now covers the book. But I don’t think Wharton would mind, as she truly believed that design was about the external reflection and illumination of what’s on the inside.

Written by: Joanne Molina, July 11th 2007

home decoration

Bit of Arts and Crafts II Ceiling Fan Pull

The Decoration of Houses (The Original 1897 Edition)