Bright Summer Whites

Liven up your summer by adding accessories in porcelain white and bright colors.
These accents can bring the lively, cheerful colors of summer into your favorite room. There are a variety of well-priced accent pieces that can add seasonal zip for summer. We decorate for the holiday season, why not for the summer season? Try a bright white bowl filled with colorful fruit like bright yellow lemons or green granny smiths.

Vases, photo frames, servicing trays are all great ways to bring bright accents into your space. Keep accent items small and in groupings or use one or two large bright pieces to add focal accents. White is a great “non-color” to work with as other colors can be added to it to suit the season and décor of your room.

Alexander Weekend: Part 4

My favorite stop on the Alexander Weekend home tour (though I may be biased because I live in it) was on Laverne Way. I really had fun with this house using so much orange inside and out. My favorite thing in the living room is the amazing Kyle Bunting laser-cut cowhide area rug. It looks spectacular in this great house! The great thing about this particular Alexander home is that it has such a large master bedroom and so many clerestory windows.

Alexander Weekend, Part 3

I love being able to share all the fun houses of Palm Springs with my readers. I feel so lucky to live in a place where so many people appreciate interior design and architecture. This post, if you remember is a snapshot of one of several homes that were on the Alexander Weekend Home Tour by the Palm Springs Preservation Foundation.

My favorite thing about the exterior of this Alexander home was the addition of redwood to the atrium/breezeway area between the carport and the home. I really loved the sculpted tile in the bathrooms- I still want to find out who the vendor is! Isn't that wall sculpture above the bed fantastically space-age?

Alexander Weekend, Part Two

There were more than ten houses on Palm Springs Preservation Foundation's Alexander Weekend Home Tour, so I am breaking the houses down weekly- it was way too much to take in at one time in person, let alone through snapshots! This Alexander home is in the Twin Palms Area of Palm Springs, and was done by interior designer David Jimenez of Kansas City. I was lucky enough to meet him a couple of times while he was here in Palm Springs. I love the resort feel of his home- you really feel like you're on a fun vacation from the minute you walk in the door. I love his use of chrome and other high-gloss finishes combined with bright sunny colors.

Palm Springs Preservation's Alexander Weekend

For the next few Mondays, I'm going to feature some of the fun snapshots of the great homes that were on Palm Springs Preservation Foundation's popular Alexander Weekend. The Alexanders were a development team who worked with architect William Krisel and Don Wexler that turned out thousands of outstanding modern homes in Palm Springs thoughout the 1950's, 60's, and 70's.

Alexander Weekend 2011, Palm Springs

The Palm Springs Preservation Foundation will be having its annual Alexander Weekend March 25-27. On Saturday, March 26, tours of homes by the famed builderi Twin Palms neighborhood will be featured (and our current residence will be included)!

These fabulous homes were originally billed as "designed by architects...built for permanent value" which completely rings true to their current reputation. The Twin Palms neighborhood is generally marked as the origin of mass development in Palm Springs. The neighborhood got its name from two palm trees planted in the front yard of each residence in the neighborhood.

The Twin Palms homes sold pretty quickly and enticed the Alexanders to continue development in the area. Future neighborhoods included Racquet Club Estates and Vista Las Palmas. Design elements from Twin Palms were to be included in the subsequent communities including the now famous selection of roof lines.

As Alexander homes are an integral part of Palm Springs history, the Twin Palms community is just as important since its popularity fueled the development of Palm Springs by The Alexander Construction Company. The Palm Springs Preservation Foundation pays tribute to this ground breaking mid century modern neighborhood by featuring it on the Saturday Modernist Home Tour of Alexander Weekend 2011. Tickets for the Saturday event are $85 or a weekend pass for entrance to all events is $165 available at the Palm Springs Preservation Foundation's website.

Palm Springs Preservation Retro Martini Party 2011

This year's popular Retro Martini Party (Coordinated by the Palm Springs Preservation Foundation) was at the Jorgensen-Mavis House (1955) located on the 9th fairway of the exclusive Thunderbird Country Club, playground of U.S. presidents, located in my current hometown of Rancho Mirage, California.

Remarkably, this house has only changed hands once, in 1956, and has ALL of its original furnishings, hardware, and even the upholstery and window treatments are original. Can you say "patina?"

Modernism week in Palm Springs typically highlights interior design from approximately 1946 through the early 80's, but this house was a glimmering example of how sophisticated and reserved mid century modern homes could be- there was nothing wild about it- it simply was sleek, modern, comfortable living for its occupants in the 1950's.

Ever wonder what living next door to Lucy and Desi was like? You (as steel magnate Earle M. Jorgensen) are in your modern William "Wild Bill" Cody-designed home and the doorbell rings...those pesky Hollywood folk...whenever they're in town they want to play pinochle...guess you have to make a pitcher of martinis...

Well 1955 is long gone, as are the Arnazs and the Jorgensens...but their hip houses remain, the country club is still exclusive and the views are still magnificent...so let us make you a martini and you and your fellow hipsters can recapture the cool of midcentury Palm Springs.

Even if you weren't able to make this fantastic event, there's always next year- and this event, always held in a significant mid century modern home, is always the highlight of the week's events.

Things I Love About Modernism: Papa Bear Chair

Among the many choices of lounge chairs for a swank space-age bachelor pad, one in particular is a standout: Has Wegner's Papa bear Chair. Ironically, I don't see too many of these in midcentury homes in Palm Springs, and I am not sure why. It certainly is one of the most comfortable chairs of the period. Designed in 1951 by Hans J. Wegner, the Bear chair was originally sold by AP Stolen. The wooden frame was supplied by PP Mobler and they were reissued recently. Expect to pay upwards of $5000 for a nice original one, and more than that if it has the beautiful matching ottoman.

Things I Love About Modernism: Sputnik Chandelier

A light fixture that at once brings a smile to my face and immediately sends me into orbit is the Sputnik Chandelier. There are many variations, some are graceful starbursts of light; other imitations are clunkier and less beautiful to look at. My favorite source for them is 20 First, 1117 N. Palm Canyon Drive, (760) 327-5400. We have one of their chandeliers in the living room, and a sconce in each bedroom. Simply Space-Age Jetson Wonderful!

Things I Love About Modernism: Lucite

Lucite is clearly modern (yuk yuk yuk)! I love the corny jokes. One of the most fun materials in a modern home is lucite, both because it hints at the lines of furnishings while allowing visibility through to other pieces in a room. This material was first brought to market under the trademark of plexiglass in 1928, but the first real modern furnishings weren't produced with it until the 1960s-1970s. Love it in Kartell's Ghost Chair designed by Starck, these awesome tulip chairs, and the mod dressing table!

Things I Love About Modernism: Blenko Art Glass

My friend Ben introduced me to this years ago in Ohio. He's been collecting for years, but this company has been producing outstanding colorful art glass in West Virginia for years. I love the free form, fluid shapes as well as the bright intense colors. These accessories look great in just about any kind of home interior, but particularly are suited to Mid-Century Modern Homes as well as newer contemporaries. My favorites are the owl bookends- I've got a set of three that was given to me by the owners of Hedge in Cathedral City. Another great local source for vintage Blenko is Bon Vivant in Palm Springs.

Things I Love About Modernism: Room Dividers

Something is great about a room divider: creating privacy and mystery out of an open space. There is something even more hip and jet-setting about a den or living area with a teak or metal room divider with beautiful cut outs that give glimpses of the space that it hides. So Jetson that I can't stand it!

Things I Love About Modernism: Color!

This will be a short one: I love the colors and patterns of the 1950s, 60s and 70s! The muted earthy tones of the 70s, the bight upbeat patterns and colors of the 60s, and the bright hopeful colors and pastels of the 50s. What's not to love?

Things I Love About Modernism Week: Clerestory Windows

I'm going to try to limit myself to just posting a single thing that I like about Mid-Century Modernism during Palm Springs' Modernism Week, which runs through February 27.

My first thing that I love are clerestory windows. Rooted in religious architecture, and reaching their height (ha ha) of popularity during Romaneaque and Gothic cathedrals, these uppoer-wall windows were artfully applied to residential homes in the 1950's, giving residents a glimpse of sky, but none of their neighbors. During this time of rapid suburban expansion, overcrowding was rife in these developments, and the cape cods and colonials were not able to give this same amount of privacy while allowing in valuable exterior light.