Why Color Is King

Every designer knows the quickest and most exciting way to add drama to a room is with color. Most of us are afraid to use it and when we do it's often ineffective. Homeowners should work with a color consultant to assist in coming up with a coordinated color pallet that takes color from room to room. Color evokes lots of emotion. I love cool colors in common living areas with a contemporary style. One of the places I turn for color inspiration is nature. You can't go wrong when pulling a color pallet together pulling colors from nature. I learned this tip from a friend years ago when putting our first apartment together.

When using textiles for drapes and rugs look for dominate colors in the fabrics for accessories and wall color. This is a simple way to start when attempting to coordinate a space.
I always think color should be used dramatically...after all, we don't live in a black and white world.

Lilac and yellow are beautiful contrast in this aster.

I love the way this girl's room mimics the colors in the above aster.

See how this floral patch relates to the space below

Shades of green are soft and calm and work wonderfully in a bedroom.

Soft shades of green create a peaceful here.

Back to my city by the beigli

Ah, it's the best when the arts and food harmonize. Palo Alto Philharmonic cellist Ann Jona found out I had lived in Budapest, her hometown, and invited me to a Hungarian picnic this past weekend.

It was a terrific spread at Flood Park, put on by a Hungarian church in Redwood City. I was extremely happy to plunk down my donation and get a huge plate of stuffed cabbage, potatoes and cucumber salad, along with dios beigli. (We were too full for the langos.)

I could translate dios beigli for you as "walnut roll," but that wouldn't do it justice. This is a firm, robust pastry that isn't too sweet, isn't too dry, and just plain knows its own business. Above is the makos, or poppyseed, variety as well. I made a makos beigli for my family last Thanksgiving (very traditional) and it looked just like that, only with cracks and a crooked shape.

Koszonom szepen to Ann, and overall I must say that the Palo Alto Philharmonic has excellent taste. It's planning to kick off the 2009-2010 season with a Hungarian-themed program on Oct. 24. Fellow Magyar-philes should be pleased to see a program replete with Bartok, Kodaly and Dohnanyi. Hungarian cello soloist Csaba Onczay is even flying in to perform.

Pictured: Dios and makos beigli in a photo by Hu Totya, from Wikipedia

Bape Factor

The Bape chair,the Japanese update of the classic Eames fiberglass shell chair definitely provides the Wow factor to any room. The big question is where do you find the chair in the U.S.? Due out soon in Japan we're searching for it's U.S. debut. Any of these chair colors will add splash to a monochromatic space or make a great compliment with the color palette you're working with. The chair should retail for about $500 once it hits our market so... I'll keep my eyes open. I'm a chair lover and this is one I'd love to get my hands on....

Instead of art openings, galleries closing

The red pen is getting a workout, and not in a good way. While gathering info for the fall arts preview issue, super-intern Lauren Jow and I crossed five art galleries off the list from last year.

That's five galleries that have closed here or are about to: four in downtown Palo Alto (Aicon, Hot Mango Pickle, Kathleen Avery Fine Art and Tercera) and one in Los Altos (ZYT Gallery). Tercera shuts its doors Aug. 31 after a closing sale. Five galleries gone feels like a big number here. And even if you couldn't afford fine art anyway, we all may feel a little bereft.

In my visits to Aicon, for instance, I learned so much about Indian and Pakistani art. The miniatures tradition of Pakistan was fascinating to me, like doors opening in an array of media: human hair, tiny boxes and pins, paint applied with a traditional squirrel-hair brush. Now Aicon is just another in the line of empty storefronts on the increasingly gloomy Bryant Street.

As for Kathleen Avery, I was just thinking the other morning as I walked by that I'd never heard of public exhibitions there, and yet the lines of the figurative sculpture in the window still added something lovely to my day. That afternoon, the blinds were closed and a For Lease sign was up.

In most cases, the economy seems to be to blame, unsurprisingly. No one's alone in this. The New York Times reported in June: "Some two dozen galleries here have folded. ... The most notable among them ... are midsize galleries, where the reputations of up-and-coming artists first gain traction." Are up-and-coming artists here losing a place for their voices, too? Or do you have to be pretty settled to score good real estate in downtown P.A.? Fledgling artists can mingle with the experienced on the walls of the Pacific Art League, but the league also focuses on art classes and other community events rather than being a glossy gallery.

If you're a gallery owner, perhaps creative -- and dramatic -- marketing and moves can help you survive. In yesterday's Chicago Tribune, the happiest-sounding gallerista was David Leonardis. He shuttered one gallery location but kept the other, where to keep the cash flowing he held a buy-one-get-one-free art sale, and then started selling pieces from his private collection for 70 percent off.

Coming soon, a leaf from the federal government's book: The Tribune reports that Leonardis is "now planning a 'cash for clunkers' art sale/exchange."

Pictured: "Ghost Chair #1," a 2006 wood-panel, chair and paint piece by Garry Knox Bennett, one of Tercera Gallery's artists.

The Best Southern Accent

Southern Accents is gone. Because I've lived in the south so long naturally I've come to love the style of Southern Accents magazine. It 's elegant, beautiful, orderly and stylish with a touch of southern restraint. The show houses in this shelter magazine depict the gentility of southern design. Heaped in tradition they were graceful and refined. I appreciated the free and easy style of now defunct Domino... but now and then I want my inner most southern belle to come out...It's more formal but not stuffy, edited but not too restrained.
I hope this is the last of the disappearing shelter mags... I'll miss my Southern Accents.

Au revoir, Arthur

So saddened to hear about the passing of Arthur Krakower, the 88-year-old wunderkind Peninsula artist. A call or email from Arthur was like a small gem, bright in the palm. He had a way of combining childlike enthusiasm with timeless gentility and kindliness. Manners were never out of style when he was around. And yet he was completely in the modern world. He was even on Facebook.

Arthur's paintings, drawings and prints have wonderful titles. "The Geraniums Were There When We Fell In Love" and "What A Great Day," to name two. No irony there: just the pleasure of finding a third career after two successful ones, of going back to art and immersing himself in it. Retired from retail and real estate, Arthur went back to school and earned a master's in painting and drawing at age 80. What more can one say about dedication?

Last night, Arthur came to my mind at a Music@Menlo concert in Palo Alto. Violinist Joseph Swensen played the elegiac opening of the third movement of Schumann's Piano Trio No. 1 in D Minor with such plaintive beauty. I thought of Arthur and of a dear friend who left us two years ago. There was no heaviness about the feeling of loss, though. Rather, I felt the particular warmth that sadness in music can bring, the sense that everyone who is listening to or playing the music, or who wrote it, has moved through the same emotion. Sometimes in a concert there's a feeling of shared understanding in the air. It's comforting.

Then Wu Han took the stage with fellow pianist Jeffrey Kahane to play Mendelssohn's "A Midsummer Night's Dream," arranged for four hands at the piano. She is an absolute delight to watch. From back in the audience, I thought I could see her smiling as she found the mischief in the music, and I wouldn't have been surprised to hear laughter from the stage, even in a respectful concert setting.

It wasn't intended that way, but the evening felt like a perfect tribute to Arthur's spirit.

Pictured: Arthur's Facebook profile photo.

Summer Outside

Are you enjoying summer as much as I am? I love living outside as much as possible during the summer months.... From early morning walks to late night suppers. I could spend my entire day outside air conditioned buildings. Most of all I enjoy entertaining outside. It doesn't have to be an upscale formal affair...it's summer ...so make it fun.
Here are a few summer entertaining ideas I want to share. They are creative simple and boast lots of summer style. Much can be done with fabric, twinkle lights and fresh flowers. Add a punch of color and a few candles for late night romance. But most of all... Have Fun!

Elegant and casual....

Colorful tents and candle light are show stoppers to create the perfect dinner atmosphere

If you live in a dry desert climate add fresh flowers to the decor to bring in splashes of color

Start a fire pit early in the evening and it will be ready by nightfall for roasting marshmallows