Designer

…………………..When Chantal and Angela arrive for their visit, they were laden with presents and goodies to eat. They were dressed in all of their splendor….just for me!!!…Chantal brought a lasagna made from a receipt she learned in Tuscany this past summer, for the night’s dinner, and it was delicious!…..I made sure the house was at its’ splendid best. The house was fully decorated, my Rigaud candles were burning in every room, and there was soft Christmas music by Danny Wright playing in the background, “Just Wright for Christmas”…..They walked through the house to enter the “gathering room” where the fireplace was burning bright, The Christmas tree, and the wreath and garland lights were all on……On the coffee table I had lots of munchies for us to eat…..We all sat and relaxed, sipping Prosecco, listening to music, nibbling and started the story telling….The visit officially began!…..We were just happy to be together again!

…………..I had my bi-annual visit to my dentist on 59th off 5th in NYC, and stopped to look at the Bergdorf windows….me and a whole bunch of other people!…….If I had to describe them I’d say they were SILVER and SPARKLY…..Lots of small mirrors on everything including horses with wings and roosters…..They were very pretty and a lot of work went into creating them….My only criticism would be they became a little repetitive……I give them a B+

………………..”A story for you”……..This is a very early photo of my house that was published in a Connecticut newspaper. The house was for sale…….This is when the story gets interesting!………The house was built in 1906…..At that time silent movies were being made in CT. and on Long Island. California was in its’ infancy…..William Randolph Hearst lived in NYC with his then wife…..however….he was having an affair with the silent movie actress Marion Davies. This affair would last 34 years….She was making films in Ct. so Hearst built her this home to live in while she was making the movies….They named it….”IVYHURST”……I can only assume they changed the spelling of Hearst to Hurst intentionally……However…..the movie industry moved out west, and so did Davies…..and so did Hearst!……She never lived in the house, and once it was completed he put it up for sale……He built her the famous San Simeon Castle…….When I bought the house the chimney in the picture was covered in ivy which I had removed because it was doing damage to the structure of the chimney….There have been so many changes since those early days…..Firstly, the main road went down the center of the peninsula, and at the waters edge of the Long Island Sound it made a right……This road  went to the house. The road was in front of the trees at the waters edge of the LI Sound. The entrance to the house was through the stone arches of the out doors porch, The porch ran along the whole front of the house behind those stone arches……Eventually, as the peninsular became developed and more roads were built the front entrance was changed, and it was made on the right side of the chimney where the three windows are surrounded in white…..The stone porch was also eventually removed along with the little balcony, and in its’ stead a closed sunroom was built. You will notice on the second floor to the left the outside small balcony off the main bedroom. When the stone porch was removed the little balcony went with it and the door was changed into a window for a symmetrical look. The small little room jutting out on the right on the second floor was enlarged to extend over the entire kitchen below which is now my office…….Over the years a few more structural changes were made. The tree lined road was destroyed  along with the trees during an early hurricane, and the new driveway was built at the right that ended in a circle in front of the new entry that exists today…….Basically the shape and style of the house, “Dutch Board Colonial”, with its’ peaks and eyebrow window has stayed the same…..The house was changed from dark brown to all white….The previous owners modernized and enlarged the kitchen, but still kept its’ old world charm….Of course over the years heat was added to the house…..When I moved in I had wooden floors added through out the house where there weren’t any, and eventually I added the “gathering room” with the big stone fireplace at the far end of the house. I also changed all of the windows along the “front” of the house on the first floor facing the water to make it uniform…..I do wish that the trees in front had remained. They would have been huge, beautiful, mature trees by now!………Jac and I bought the house in 1992, so I’ve been living here for 31 years. Since we never decorated our previous house in Darien Ct we started from scratch decorating this house which truly became our home……..It was a labor of love.