Haint Blue Porch Ceilings

Anyone who has been to Charleston, SC has no doubt noticed the pale blue porch ceiling that is typical of the picturesque "South of Broad" houses there. There is no exact shade for this classic southern touch...it ranges from periwinkle to robins egg, but as far as many people in the south are concerned there is really no other color to be considered for a porch ceiling.

Why is it called "Haint Blue?" As a young transplant to the south, I saw the common robin's egg tint and thought "It hain't quite blue, and it hain't quite green." But a "haint" in Gullah culture is an evil spirit, and the blue ceiling is there to scare them away. (It's also rumored to keep mosquitoes off the porch, as they mistake it for the sky.)

Whether this ubiquitous southern touch serves any purpose other than looking gorgeous, I really don't know! Here are some pictures of classic "Haint Blue" ceilings to inspire you:

Double veranda with Haint blue ceilings

Up close of a Haint Blue Ceiling

Grand front porches. (Looks like a haint blue coffer on the first floor)

An unusual take on haint blue. Has a very island feel in this hue.

Crisp white siding, black shutters, red brick, and a haint blue ceiling. Doesn't get any more classic than this!

The rug on this lanai picks up the haint blue in the ceiling.

Subtle but effective...the haint blue compliments the stone floor of this large porch.

Massive columns on granite stone bases and a perfect blue ceiling. All that's missing here is the lemonade! (The window sashes look black, but I'd bet they are Charleston green!)

This Weeks Find--Pratesi at Homegoods!

A Wall Street Journal article summed up Italian linen house Pratesi pretty well: "Pratesi is the Chanel of bedding. It's a label synonymous with everything posh: flawless fabric, a historic design archive and top-drawer clients. For three generations, the linens dynasty has had a lock on the high end of the market and its customers have included everyone from Liz Taylor to Stella McCartney. Even the notoriously picky Michael Jackson demanded only Pratesi sheets for his houses."

What makes a Pratesi sheet so special, aside from the ability to brag that one is slumbering on the same bedding as royalty?  Simply put, they are exquisitely made to last a lifetime. Made only from the first spinning of a special Egyptian cotton that produces 4-6 inch long fibers, a Pratesi sheet (or any sheet made from similar fiber) is much smoother than a "regular" Egyptian cotton sheet made from shorter fibers. (Pratesi also offers linen sheeting, an acquired taste I won't attempt to address here.)


The Pratesi signature is embroidery--all of the simply outlined "hotel" sheets that have popped up on every shelf in the world are quite simply knock offs of what Pratesi has done for over a century. 

Perhaps the best known Pratesi pattern is the oft-copied classic "3-line"

Another of their crisp embroidered patterns.

So what does a set of these luxurious sheets cost? Well, a king sized set of cotton 3-lines runs around $1500. No, I didn't put an extra zero in there. A linen set is even more, and the more elaborate embroidery patterns are also more expensive.

So imagine my shock and joy at finding a set of Pratesi sheets at Homegoods for just a little over $200. They unfortunately do not have the signature embroidered lines, mine have a simple "Pratesi" logo stitched discreetly in the corners, but they are nonetheless HEAVENLY. A quick search online reveals that others have found Pratesi duvets at TJ Maxx/Homegoods/Marshalls recently too--so you may want to RUN to your nearest location and see if you can score this unbelievable find!

Two Million Dollars--for a Trailer??

For better or worse, mobile homes carry a certain stigma. They are where the  "people of Wal Mart" live, they are tornado magnets, and a sure sign to the world that the owners have definitely NOT "arrived." At the polar extreme of what one might imagine when thinking of a trailer park is Malibu, California--a star studded stretch of beach where homes routinely sell for several thousand dollars per square foot. Ironically, these two extremes exist together in the Paradise Cove and Point Dume mobile home parks overlooking the rarefied sands of Malibu.

That's right--ocean front trailer parks rubbing elbows with the beach houses of some of the best known names in the entertainment industry and the wealthiest businessmen in America. The two parks have (by Malibu standards) very low entry prices--homes can still be had for around $300,000. But current listings show dozens of trailers cresting the million dollar mark and a few over two million! Owners in Paradise Cove and Point Dume pay lot rents of up to $2,500 a month and have renovated and rebuilt their trailers so that hardly a trace of their metal sided and wood paneled beginnings remain. (photos taken from current listings)

$2.5 million will get you this renovated doublewide with an added two car garage.

The interior of a $2 million trailer. It's safe to say this mobile home didn't leave the factory looking like this.

Have an extra $700,000 lying around? Then this 1970's era doublewide could be yours!

And for a cool million, this doublewide enjoys great views.

A typical renovated trailer in Paradise Cove

One of the lower priced homes, this vintage single wide is still over $300,000.

The interior of this Point Dume home hardly looks like a trailer. 

This older unit has been given even more seaside appeal with shingle siding. The two million dollar plus price tag keeps out the riff raff.

It really does come down to location, location, location. Not the view you expect from a trailer park, is it?

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A Little Vocabulary Lesson

I think that realtors ought to have to take a brief history of architecture class. Granted, most of them are well versed in the pieces and parts that go into a house, and having been through untold numbers of homes over the years, I know a good majority have a great eye and appreciation for design. But, almost without fail, if I have settled into my chair to spend a few minutes looking through the latest listings, I come across a description written by a realtor whose architectural ignorance makes my jaw drop.

The most prolific mistake I see touts a home's "Palladium Windows". There is simply no such thing.

Palladium is a a rare metallic element of the platinum group, silver-white, ductile and malleable, harder and fusing more readily than platinum: used chiefly as a catalyst and in dental and other alloys. Symbol: Pd; atomic weight: 106.4; atomic number: 46; specific gravity: 12 at 20°C. 

So unless the previous owners chiseled out all of their old fillings to make windows, chances are that the poor misinformed realtor really wants us all to know that the house has a PALLADIAN window. Which looks like this:

Palladian Window

And ONLY like that. The entire composition of three parts is a Palladian Window. This nuance is lost on some who will describe any window with an arch top on it as Palladian. So, a brief recap:

Palladium

Palladian Window

Cheap, builder-grade half round transom. NOT Palladian or Palladium.



The Air of Decay

Rodin once said, “More beautiful than a beautiful thing is the ruin of a beautiful thing.” While I'm not sure I agree with him, I've always had, for lack of a better term, a fascination with houses that have been allowed to fall into ruin. Literature and pop culture are full of examples: Satis House, the home of Miss Haversham in Dickens "Great Expectations", lies in ruin, the clocks stopped at the moment the owner learns of her would-be husband's betrayal. Scarlet's Tara is in shambles during the time of the Civil War in "Gone With the Wind."  In Anne Rice's Mayfair witches series, some of the main characters call Fontevrault, a decaying plantation  house half submerged in the Louisiana swamp, home. More recently, we've been made aware of a real life ruin in the Hamptons--Grey Gardens, a once (and once again) grand seaside house that fell into complete ruin as the eccentric Edith and Edie Beale lived there.

There are some incredible decaying estates worth noting right now. Tied up in divorces, allowed to fall into neglect because of their owner's falls from glory, or simply too large and expensive to find new owners, each of these houses have a story to tell:

Land's End, The Hamptons, NY

It's a bit unfair to include this house, because it was recently razed. Thought to be the inspiration for Daisy Buchanan's house in The Great Gatsby, Land's End was a 25,000 square foot mansion that was most recently owned by a family that paid over $17 million for it. Daunted by the renovations needed to bring the house up to date, the last owner's heirs had the house on the market for years with  no takers. It fell into shambles, and in the spring of 2011, was torn down, it's grounds will be the location for what some are calling "McMansions."

In this photo from a 1970's real estate listing, the original grandeur is evident.

This photo of the dining room, from the same 1970's listing, shows the gracious size of Lands End's rooms, and the sort of detail it once had. Gorgeous parquet work!

But time was unkind. Here, the rear of the house has fallen into ruin. Looks like half the windows are gone.

The last owner was quoted as saying Land's End cost $4,500 A DAY to maintain. Might explain why they obviously were NOT maintaining it.

The interior was even worse.

And finally, she was gone. There's something beautiful about the ghosts of her massive chimneys.

Sunninghill Park--the former home of Prince Andrew and Sarah Ferguson

When Britain's Prince Andrew married Sarah "Fergie" Ferguson, the couple made their home in a newly built mansion that the popular press dubbed "SouthYork"--a play on "Southfork" of the then-popular nighttime soap "Dallas", a nickname it earned by looking like any American mansion from the 1980's. It's an architecturally uninspiring home, large but with no particular style.

An aerial shot of Sunninghill Park as construction neared completion.

After Andrew and Fergie divorced, the  house remained the official residence of the Duke of York until 2004. The house was sold, for substantially more than the asking price, in 2007 to new owners with ties to the president of Kazakhstan. The transaction has been seen as money laundering, bribery, and worse. Whatever the case is, the new owners clearly did not purchase Sunningill Park to use as a home, because it has fallen into a state of decay. (For more photos, visit the Facebook page created by some architectural trespassers!)

Recent photo of the overgrown gardens and neglected mansion.

The front of the house doesn't look any better. The prescence of the dumpster makes me wonder if someone is cleaning the place up.

More "deferred maintenance" is evident on this corner of the mansion. I wonder what that strange enclosd space that looks like a better living patio room is?

Former Estate of Mike Tyson, Southington, Ohio

And now, the former estate of boxer, biter, and alleged wife-beater Mike Tyson. His personal and professional lives have played out in the national spotlight, so hardly bear repeating here. It's little wonder that there have been no takers for the enormous house he used to call home in Southington, Ohio. The house is a favorite of "urban explorers", and there are a ton more photos of this monstrosity out there. Check out this Flickr stream for more. Those with delicate decorative sensibilities may want to take a nerve pill before laying eyes on the following photos:

Subtle and elegant entrance, no?

It's like the inside of a DEB shop from 1982!

Looks like the poolboy quit.

Acres of bleached oak, and zebra carpet. This house is Klassy with a K, friends.

White wall-to-wall, curly-q railing, and off in the distance a lava rock veneered wall. I just can't fathom why this house can't find an owner.

Khalil Bin-Laden Estate near Orlando, Florida

Despite having been owned by the brother of the notorius, now-dead terrorist, this 9,700 square foot mansion, on 17 acres outside of Orlando, has a lot of potential. It has sat vacant since 2001 (when, shock of shocks,  the previous owners left the United States) and ten years of neglect have made the house a bit of a diamond in the rough:

Traditional Florida Meditteranean architecture. The house is now full of bullet holes, and the boarded up windows reveal years of vandalism.

The large grounds are evident at left. At right, could that great room not be drop-dead gorgeous? That ceiling is dee-lish. And the arched windows? Yes, please!

Another disgusting pool, but a little imagination, and a lot of bleach could turn that into a backyard oasis. Gorgeous covered lanai on the right.

Which of these neglected ruins would you most like to bring back to glory? My money is on the Bin Laden estate. I'm not sure Iron Mike's manse ever had a heyday, and Fergie's old pile is awfully boring.

I'm linking  this backward metamporphosis to the Met Monday party at Between Naps on the Porch! Click over there to see some more impressive before-and-afters.

Luxury On The Rails

On my recent vacation I read the best selling book, "Water for Elephants", the film version of which stars Robert Pattinson and Reece Witherspoon. It's a wonderful book that I'd recommend for anyone searching for a few summer reads. The main characters of the book are part of a traveling circus. They move from town to town by train, setting up their big top and marching out their menagerie of animals for curious townspeople. The stars of the circus live in comfortable train cars, while the lesser workers often sleep on hay with the animals. Naturally, this living aboard a train got the designer part of my brain churning. Turns out, luxury travel by rail is still alive and well. Take a look:

Posh train car living room. I wonder if that fireplace works?

Traincar bedroom suite. Such beautiful doors! Has the air of an old luxury ocean liner!

Luxurious bedroom on rails. Check out the gorgeous stenciled ceiling.

Bentley, the luxury carmaker, chartered this train to carry owners to an event at their factory. The colors and details remind me of an old gentlemen's club.

The dark walls and striped ceiling of this club car make quite a statement.

Beautiful attention to detail. Notice the art hung over the mirrored wall in the back left corner.

A light filled "observation car"--like a sunroom on rails.

Outfitted like a fine hotel, this Palace on Rails would be quite an interesting way to see the world.

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All Aboard

I'm embarking on a week-long cruise this Saturday, and so I'm naturally in a seafaring frame of mind. I've always had a bit of a fascination with boats, starting with an early interest in the doomed Titanic. The sheer engineering involved to build something the size of a mega-yacht or cruise ship is mind boggling, and the sort of meticulous craftsmanship and space planning required of a fine boat is something that I appreciate.

There is one ship in particular that I've followed with interest since it's launch in 2002--The World.

The World is quite literally a floating condominium. The ship is divided into 165 apartments, all owned by the ship's residents. It travels the world year-round, stopping in ports for stints of two to five days. While some residents live aboard year round, most come "home" several times throughout the year, much as they might visit any second  home. It's an elite experience. The smallest units, studios that are about the size of a regular cruise ship room, start at $600,000. Then there are the monthly maintenance fees, which now start at $20,000 (according to Wikipedia) and go up from there. But for those than can afford the price of admission, The World offers a completely unique experience.

I'm a little unclear on the exact history of the ship, my memory (and articles from the time she was still under construction) indicate that her smallest apartments were around 1,100 square feet and prices started at $2 million. Articles from that time (one HERE) indicated an additional 88 guest suites were to be included. We can only assume that those guest suites have since been  hoisted on the market, perhaps to offset those soaring monthly maintenance expenses. There is a great list of FAQs HERE that explain a  bit more about the ship.

The original owners could choose between apartments by four top designers: among them Nina Campbell and Juan Pablo Molyneux--whose designs for The World were featured in Architectural Digest. (A slideshow is located HERE) Judging by some of the pictures I've seen over the years of resale units, many owners opted to create one-of-a-kind homes. In fact, some owners bought multiple units!

One of the original two-bedroom plans.

I can't think of a better vacation home than one that circles the world. Imagine a new locale every week, and after the site seeing was done being able to return to one of these apartments:



A One bedroom studio unit.

Luxurious bathroom



Some of the apartments are HUGE by city apartment standards, and unheard of at sea.

Private dining room, in case dining at the onboard restaurants proves boring.

The private kitchens are fully equipped.

A Juan Pablo Molyneux designed unit. Check out the millwork!

What a view to wake up to!

(photos taken from current listings)

As a personal aside, shortly after she was launched I saw The World in port in San Francisco. I had, by that time, read all about her and seen the Architectural Digest spread, but I didn't even realize she was already at sea. I was more giddy than I care to admit at seeing her!  Here's the pic I snapped of her in port in San Francisco:

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