Ambassadors of Style

 After noticing the "Louis Ghost" chair yesterday on the website for Cooper-Hewitt People's Design Award, and then posting it here http://orangerieandblue.blogspot.com/2011/09/louis-ghost-chair-peoples-design-award.html, I saw it again today in the Washington Post magazine (photo and information below from WP Magazine 9-25-2011).  There are many thoughtful designs shared on both the People's Design Award site and in the WP magazine's Ambassadors of Style article. I was thinking it would make an interesting bar seat, if it is made in such a size, but would be interesting in any variety of settings -- maybe in a room with a lot of mirrors, like the Hall of Mirrors at the Palace of Versailles (okay, well maybe not exactly THAT  Hall of Mirrors, see photo below).  I wonder how comfortable it is, which made me think it would be ok for a bar seat:

photo 4/6

From France, “Louis Ghost” chair: The land of fancy “Louis” furniture (Louis XV, Louis XVI, Directoire, etc.) gives us a see-through update, designed by Philippe Starck for Kartell and much copied. $410 for the original from Design Within Reach at area locations and www.dwr.com.Courtesy of Design Within Reach

 The Hall of Mirrors, Palace of Versailles: 

 

from http://en.chateauversailles.fr/discover-the-estate/the-palace/the-palace/the-hall-of-mirrors

Louis Ghost Chair | People's Design Award | Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum

Louis Ghost Chair | People's Design Award | Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum
 
 from:
http://peoplesdesignaward.cooperhewitt.org/2011/

Conclusion of the Saga of the Lemon Tree

 Yesterday I received a tree that was at least twice as large as the original, even after 3 years, with at least as much foliage! Needless to say, I am very satisfied with the replacement, except now I will have to buy a larger pot...

 

Meyer Lemon Tree

Well today was a sad day for me and my Meyer lemon tree, which was featured in my first ever post on this blog -- Introduction to Orangerie and Blue -- and is also the defining picture of my blog shown in the header. The US Department of Agriculture came to the house today to seize and destroy my little lemon tree because the company that sold the tree apparently got it illegally from the state of Florida, and no citrus trees can be shipped from that state. So it was cut up and disposed of down to soil level. The USDA has to go around to collect and destroy all Meyer lemon trees sold by this company, which will apparently be under a lawsuit. There are 300-400 trees just in Virginia -- it will take months to collect them all, and probably years for the lawsuit. I am slightly hopeful, based on what the USDA officer said, that I may be able to receive a replacement tree from the company, and I have already sent in the documentation.  If I do receive one, there is a pretty blue pot for it...

RIP

Envisioning

 My family knows me pretty well. This morning as I was standing looking intently through my framed hands, which I'm sure would look totally strange to another person who was not used to seeing me like this, Andrew says to me, "You're envisioning, aren't you?" Envisioning I was. I was having breakfast thinking about the wall color we had painted the kitchen -- Benjamin Moore Titanium, a pretty neutral that is a light grayish blue-green. For a while I have been thinking about changing the color of the foyer, which came with the house and I would describe as a butter yellow....a bright and friendly color that welcomes you when you enter. The problem is that on my house, the walls go off at angles other than 90 degrees.  Also, the foyer is two-stories high and connects directly to the upstairs walls of the landing which are visible from the foyer and adjoining to the foyer in the fore mentioned angles that do not meet at 90 degrees. What I was envisioning this morning was what the foyer would look like if it was painted Titanium...and then just as it usually does with me, I got carried away and began imagining the greater portion of the downstairs in Titanium and how it would work.  Will that ever happen?  I don't know.  There are certainly other more pressing projects to get to first, such as replacing the windows. But in the meantime, it does not hurt to wonder...