Indice dei contenuti per May - June 2015 in Veranda

Set the Mood Nothing fosters romance like the soft flicker of candlelight. A well-placed hurricane lamp ensures that when the party moves outdoors, atmosphere comes with you. Tall and architectural, silver-footed, latticed, rustic, clean-lined—no matter the option, the only other embellishment you need is a canopy of stars.…

FRANCESCA BONATO’S FAVORITE THINGS “What’s truly beautiful is being able to give back to a country that has given us so much.” it’s so romantic, it seems scripted: In 2003, while on a business trip, Fran ces ca Bonato wandered onto a beach near Mayan ruins in the Yucatán hamlet of Tulum and met her future husband, Nicolas Malleville. He was a model living off the grid in a house without electricity; she was on staff at the Italian embassy in Paris. Bonato relocated to Mexico in 2007. “It was very hippie and wild,” she says of their life then. “We woke with the sun and went to bed when it set.” But the sleepy village Bonato and Malleville called home has since seen plenty of buzz, thanks in part…

his peripatetic childhood gave him early exposure to the concept of globalism long before the term became a modern catchphrase. John Stefanidis was born in Alexandria, Egypt, of Greek parentage, spent summers in Europe, and studied at Oxford University. During an early career in advertising, he lived in Italy, where he was entranced by the architecture of Palladio. Stefanidis has decorated farmhouses on the Aegean with bare white walls and exposed wood beams, reception rooms for the Bank of England dripping in damask and gilt, and sleek and smart modernist Westminster flats. “You have to have an eclectic approach,” says the London-based designer. “Everything feeds the brain.” Underlying it all is a knack for comfort, an unerring eye for proportion, and a pared-tothe-essentials pragmatism that gives even ormolu-encrusted mahogany an…

tucked into a steep slope, the house feels like part of the landscape, rising up out of the mossy evergreen forest in the Blue Ridge Mountains. Everything about the residence harkens back to the land, from its long, linear shape burrowed into the hillside to its expansive windows, its lush earthy palette, and an indoor-outdoor floor plan that brings the sounds of a nearby stream and plenty of fresh air right into the living room. After 20 years of collaborating on second homes for clients, interior designer Kathleen Rivers and architect Mark Paullin teamed up to build Rivers her own mountain retreat in Cashiers, a densely forested, high-altitude vacation enclave in North Carolina. “I kept thinking about log cabins,” says Rivers. Her ideal had a contemporary twist, though. She envisioned…

ENGLISH HIGH STYLE MEETS DALLAS EASY LIVING in this light-filled penthouse on the prairie. When her clients moved from a traditional Tudor house to a two-floor apartment in one of the city’s most desirable high-rise addresses, interior designer Cathy Kincaid sought to harmonize their furnishings into an elegant homage to a pre–World War II New York apartment. “When our last of five children went off to college, we wanted to downsize,” explains the wife, whose passion for collecting antiques, especially porcelain and lighting, is evident throughout. “We wanted to use things from our previous home but somehow give them a different twist.” Why prewar New York in bigger-is-better Dallas? “I’ve always liked the warmth of that era,” she explains. “The rooms aren’t huge, and lower ceiling heights create intimacy.” The…

product guide LIGHT TOUCH Interior design: Beth Webb, 404-869-6367, bethwebb.com. Residential design: Lew Oliver, 770-643-3938, whole town solutions.com. Landscape design: Douglas Duany, 574-631-6771. Page 108 Pillow fabric: Schumacher, 800-523-1200, fschumacher.com. Pillow fabric: Sunbrella, 336-221-2211, sunbrella.com. Pages 110–111 Curtains: Les Indiennes, 518-828-2811, lesindiennes.com. Armchairs and coffee table: Ezequiel Farca, 310-309-9615, ezequielfarca.com. Console table: The Mercantile, 404-816-0060, mercantileatlanta.com. Floor lamps: Arteriors, 800-338-2150, arteriorshome.com. Rug: Merida, 800-345-2200, meridastudio.com. Throw: The Gables Antiques, 404-231-0734, thegables antiques.com. Page 112 Table: Ezequiel Farca, 310-309-9615, ezequielfarca.com. Cabinet: Chic by Accident, chicbyaccident.com. Page 113 Pendants: Circa Lighting, 877-762-2323, circalighting.com. Backsplash tile: Ann Sacks, 800-278-8453, annsacks.com. Countertops: Caesarstone, 818-779-0999, caesarstoneus.com. Range: Wolf, 888-327-0053, subzero-wolf.com. Fittings: Kohler, 800-456-4537, us.kohler.com. Page 114, left Dresser: Mecox, 866-956-8552, mecox.com. Mirror: Chic by Accident, chicby accident.com. Page 114, right Bedding: Maggie Galton, 011-52-55-5255-2230, maggiegalton.com.…

“The Italians have an expression, dolce far niente, which means ‘delicious idleness...the sweetness of doing nothing.’ This time of year, it seems particularly relevant.” It’s increasingly difficult to find moments of quiet, those tiny bits of time for oneself. Today, I found mine by walking to work. I don’t do it every day, as I should. Trekking that mile-and-a-half often seems as big a task as climbing Everest. Yet I realize how important a little sunlight and fresh air are to my well-being. It sounds so simple, really, but we often barrel through our days saddled to a desk chair, unconscious of our surroundings. As little as 30 seconds of fresh air is enough for me to forge ahead with an afternoon’s worth of meetings. And if getting outside isn’t…

You’ll want pillows in that punchy, vivid leaf pattern, Roman shades in the primitivist, coral-colored geometric, and why not a bedspread in the lush, tutti-frutti botanical with all the verve of a Josef Frank print? The sun’s out, the garden is blooming, the windows are thrown open to the breeze—there’s no better time for freshening up your rooms with a vibrant range of eye-catching fabrics in candy-counter hues.…

The Greenbrier Famously decorated by Dorothy Draper in the 1940s, this West Virginia resort is a mélange of Federal, Georgian, and Regency styles and still bears the trailblazing designer’s bold imprint. Think blowsy, overscaled chintzes, vivid colors, and showstopping juxtapositions. The Ahwahnee Incorporating exposed wood beams, immense stone fireplaces, and winning takes on Native American motifs, this rustic wilderness retreat was built on a stunning site in California’s Yosemite Valley in the 1920s—and has attracted luminaries ever since. The Raleigh South Beach Architect L. Murray Dixon created this Art Deco gem— with its sexy, sweeping facade and legendary black-tileoutlined pool—along the sand in Miami Beach in 1940. Indoors, terrazzo floors and Moderne cane furniture recall the sleek sophistication of a bygone era.…

Harbour Island RESTAURANTS The outdoor dining room at Ocean View, where we often go to dinner, is wonderful. The hotel itself is chic and cool with an underthe-radar clientele. You have to be in the know to go. Gaol Ln., ilovethe oceanview.com. • The coconut tamarind chicken at The Landing—a hotel with pretty, colonial-inspired rooms by designer India Hicks—is a curry served with bok choy and chiles. It’s fantastic. Bay St., harbourislandlanding.com. • People walk into Sip Sip in bathing suits and cover-ups. The food is casual, too, with everything from hot dogs to lamb burgers. The draw is the spectacular patio, which overlooks the beach. Court Rd., sipsiprestaurant.com. SHOPS India Hicks stocks a wide range of brands, from Figue (which I love) to Orlebar Brown, at Sugar Mill Trading…

BAM! KICK IT UP A NOTCH! FEEL THE LOVE! Such are the indelible catchphrases that helped make chef Emeril Lagasse one of the Food Network’s brightest stars. These days, he’s a perpetual-motion machine as well. The owner of 13 far-flung restaurants, he also has 18 cookbooks, an empire of licensed kitchen and food products, and new TV programming in the works. If he’s not boarding a plane or disembarking from one, he’s usually racing to keep up with a wild calendar. In his case, home is not only where the heart is, it’s where his sanity lies. So whenever he can, the über-chef flies home to this elegant house near Destin, Florida, to bask in its soft coastal aura. “It’s my sanctuary, where we catch up, cook, and do fun…

MY PERFECT DAY “A hike to Crested Butte in early August, when the wildflowers are in full bloom.” Paula Crown ARTIST, ASPEN Her drawings and sculptures refract topography into haunting geometries, so it’s not surprising that the Chicago-based Crown escapes to the dramatic landscape of the Rockies to refresh and unwind. The alpine enclave abounds with summer arts festivals; farmers’ markets offer peak peaches, corn, and tomatoes; and high-altitude sunshine beckons everyone outdoors. Anne-Marie Midy DESIGNER, SAN MIGUEL DE ALLENDE Artisans in this colonial Mexican town craft the rugged yet refined furnishings Midy creates with her husband for their Casamidy line. Cobblestone streets wind past centuries-old townhouses in an array of vivid shades, bells ring out from the neo-Gothic spires of the parish church, and the leafy central plaza—El Jardín—is…

The artisan-hewn scale and proportion of stoneware, pottery, and glazed earthenware is just right for plein air meals in which fine china might feel too precious. But that’s not to say dinner will be lacking in charm. With plates bearing bold motifs, bright splashes of color, and exotic global influences—from Mexico to Morocco, Bulgaria to Brooklyn—charm is precisely the point. Trust us: You’ll never look at plain porcelain the same way again.…

anyone who has ever thrown a dinner party knows the kitchen is where the real action is. And as the space increasingly becomes a locus for entertaining, its furnishings are changing too. Enter the freestanding island. As a design choice, it can speak volumes above your standard built-in, giving a kitchen character with the charm of a turned leg or the sheen of a weathered zinc top. And like the sofas, sectionals, and side chairs that are invading the hearth, an island makes a stylish showcase of the most joyful place in the house. Basket Case Make the most of open shelving on kitchen islands with receptacles that will hold everything in style.…