A Picture says a thousand words...

You see... I told you there was a toilet!

Good Morning everyone.  I wish my people in New York and its neighboring boroughs are baring this Hurricane that is approaching the East Coast.  I know that things that we can’t control is always scary and Nature is one of them.  Let's hope God's hands will weaken the strength of Hurricane Sandy. 
There is one thing I was looking forward to do before our move and that was having a family photo shoot in it.  I can’t tell enough how much I love photo shoots.  It's fun, enthusiastic, and hopeful.  You get up early in the morning, one of my favorite things actually, go out to get fresh flowers, set up, get all made up and dress up and have as much fun as you can.  But, of course the most important part of a photo shoot is the memories that we captured especially family memories. 
I wanted the pictures to be natural, kind of like lifestyle pictures, and we were lucky we came across Diego Molina, a professional photographer who did a great job capturing very special everyday-moments in a fashionable and tasty way.  Photographing kids is not an easy task.  Lucas, our son, for instance goes at his own will.  You don't take a picture of him if he doesn't want to, so I was glad to see that Diego had experience with these kinds of situations and I was able to end up with a bunch of great pictures of our little one for the future, which reminds me I haven't sent the respective grandmas these pictures.  Have a great and safe week!

When is my bed arriving here in our Sao Paulo home, please?  Hello!

Cachow!

Our cutie pie and I trying to surf in the dry.

Me, myself and I.  Diegoalso makes people look not so bad without filter.  ha! an Instagram insiders joke. Thank you Diego for the great pictures!

What I took with me to Sao Paulo

I feel I've been absent from my lovely blog for ages.  Our little one has been under the weather for what's gone from the week and I've been paying attention to nothing else.  Thankfully today he's feeling much better and I have time to share with you what I have taken with me, not literally, these things were shipped, to Sao Paulo.  I'm very pleased with the things I got in such a short notice. 
Besides that I'll start with what I'm the least happy, the rug bought intentionally for the living room.  How on earth did I end up with a pale beige sisal/jute rug?  Well easy, these stores never have big rugs available, they are always in back order and I didn't have the time to wait for them.  Nothing, that sometimes you have to do with what you have.  Let's see how that works! 
When I opened the box of the Lawrence Flush Mount from Circa Lighting, I ended up gasping for air.  When I got it I had no idea it was going to be this beautiful.  It is really amazing!

  I was lucky finding great pieces at auction for great price.  I found a pair of this oversized French lounge chair which I got for a very good price.  They were lucky to come across my fantastic upholsterer in the US who was able to upholster them in just two days and got them delivered just one hour before the guys finished packing the truck.  Talking about luck, ha!  I used the beautiful ikat Schumacher fabric below. 

  And here, below is the carpet I have no idea what I will end up doing with… 

This handsome mid-century Brazilian sofa was sitting in the back of an Auction.  Begging to be returned back home and I did it a favor.  He'll soon be back home in its birth country.  This one may go in my office.

And finally the awesome headboard for our little one's bedroom.  The fabric is Cap Ferrat by Alan Campbell, Quadrille.  I can't wait to see his bedroom!

Ikea's good art

Everyone knows that designing a house and making it feel like a home takes many long and exhausting months, if not years.  So when I realized that I would only have two months to plan, design, execute, anticipate the smallest details and to think about what we might be needing in the future, I know that in order to not go insanely crazy, I had to rely on things that were not too expensive and too valuable but still good looking.  I don't know much about Sao Paulo yet, but I know that things tend to cost three times more.  So where did I go to for basic things? right!  Ikea.  I was planning to buy things such as a mattress for our little one, a foot step for his sink  and so on.  Imagine my surprise when walking around I found very good looking prints!  God, was I glad, there are an awful lot of empty walls in this house that will need to be filled. We got the top one by Deborah Azzopardi for Lucas's room, of which I will only tell you that it will have a bunch of stripes.  Yeah!

 The top is a motif by Amelia Lancaster.  Bellow, Ikea's selection of Matisse motifs.   We also got one or two of those.

Our home "after"

Our home is a result of all I believe in and stand for.  Uniqueness, individuality and comfort.  A mind of ones own.  It's a home that reflects our lifestyle as much as possible.  It's rooted in the classics but in a relaxed and young sophisticated way with modern and transitional elements.  I strive to be creative and unique so this home does not look like any other home because then it wouldn't be our own.  I like to incorporate modern pieces and/or modernized classic ones because that's what I consider chic.  A home with some modern and/or relaxed mood.  I actualized the classic fauteuil arm chairs by upholstering them in red leather and embellished with brass nail heads.  I did the same with the black stool.  I fell in love with the coffee table thanks to its sculptural lines, another design element I constantly praise about in this blog.  It weights like a forced marriage because its legs are solid steel. Every time I look at it, good memories come up to my mind remembering how my father-in-law and I carried it inside the house.  I'm just glad no one called the police on us suspecting we were carrying a dead body.  I bought the lamps at Gilt Home, excellent delivery time by the way, I added a trim of velvet to the shades to enhance them further.  The abstract painting is a bartered piece, really! The sofa is Paul McCobb with a slip cover and the oushak rug is from ABC.  The painting above the sofa is an Agam, bought at The Antique Garage.

The fireplace; behind the watercolor painting is the TV enclosed in the wall.  The bookcase is from ABC, the drop shaped stools are form Brookstone.  The brass swing arm sconces are from Shades of Light.

Adore, adore that black cocktail table.  It was purchased at ebay but you can find it here.

This precious space was occupied by that closet with wash and drier.  The inlaid dresser is from Lerebours Antiques, the Greek key base echoes the Greek key crown molding on the door and it's a find from Home Goods.

I'm not afraid of mixing patterns and using what I love and believe in.  A home is an extension of our lives and experiences.

The art deco sideboard was left from my inventory when I used to sell vintage and antiques.  I love to display my collection of pottery on top.  It takes no space and it's also decorative.  The French chandelier was purchased online.  The gorgeous dining table with brass details is also from Lerebours Antiques.

If anyone wants to hire me as a food stylist I'm available, consultation services can be provided online though or you have to pay for my plane ticket. :P  The black wine glasses were found at The Antique Garage, the horn cup holding the coffee beans is from TJ Max, candelabras and bowls are from ABC Carpet and the cheese tray is from West Elm.  Mixing high and low is what I like.  :)

Our bedroom is not huge so we kept the storage situation completely relegated to the closets.  No dressers out of the closets.  The wallpaper is from Brunschwig and Fils.  I love how in all this time I've never gotten tired of it and I think it's because the patterns are faded so I always see something different in it.  The headboard and lamps were found at a vintage store; the photographs of Ephesus were taken by me during our trip to Turkey; the Moroccan wedding blanket from West Elm is simply thrown on top of a table that I use as a bench.  The bedding is Pratesi bought on sale. The fabric on the headboard is Kells Dot by Quadrille.

It's been a real pleasure to wake up everyday and enjoy the beautiful view of NYC.  It makes a huge difference in our moods.  What you look at does make a difference.

My nightstand is from Lerebours Antiques and is usually not this nicely organized.  I keep a bunch of magazines, books, journal and pencils underneath it at hand.  I finally made a commitment of starting to write in my journal every night.  More for remembering my daily life than for any secret feeling.  With all the social media craziness of modern lives now I'm afraid people will not remember their lives in the future and by writing every night what I've done in the day and of course any thought or feeling helps me relive the moment and be more present.  I have a lithograph of a woman by Matisse on my side of the bed and on his side Evren has a Dali lithograph of an old man. 

We were lucky to get this house that in a way have a lot of storage.  This closet, below right, is all mine.  Slowly I squeezed out my hubby into one of the others we have in the hallway.  A post about customizing closet is coming soon. :b

This is where I get prettier every time I'm going out.  :)

Believe it or not I usually have the top of my vanity almost like it looks here.  As I've said before I like to see what I use regularly.  Enjoy!

All photographs by Robert Levi.

Jen’s Old and New Series

I’m so thrilled that Jen, one of my blog besties and cute as a button, asked me to participate in her blog series:

What a brilliant idea for a series!

She has asked some bloggers to write about an old and new item in their home.  Since, I just had a couple of pieces delivered from Paint it Like New, I thought it would be fitting to share them.  So, they are really “old to new” items!

Here’s a sneak peek but in Jen’s post this dresser is shown with glass knobs by Anthro and here it has coral ones.  Which would you keep?  I pulled the coral colour from her headboard fabric.  They both look fantastic in person but the glass ones looked washed out in the photo.

You can read the post here.  I’m sure you have all heard of Jen’s blog, Rambling Renovators but if you haven’t, be sure to check out the room transformations in her gorgeous home.   One of my faves is her bedroom and I adore the wall panelling.  One of my clients is doing something very similar as we speak – same lights and all!  What an inspiration you are Jen!

Jen is kind of a rock star as she appeared on the House Proud segment of the Nate Berkus Show.  How cool is that?

Thanks Jen for having me over and I hope you are having a wonderful time out west with your family!

Living Room Art Wall

Since the ceiling height in my living room is 12’, hanging a large piece of art over the sofa makes perfect design sense.    An original piece of art this large would cost a pretty penny but an art wall comprised of different pieces wouldn’t break the bank. 

This is how it looked recently.  The three photographs were taken by a friend and although I really love them, it was time for a change.



I was inspired when I received the abstract painting I bought in support of Matt Leblanc’s Art for Life campaign.  (He raised over $35,000 for the fight against cancer!)


I didn’t really have a wall that would suit just this one painting (24” x 24”), so I shopped my house for art and photos that would work with the abstract.   I have always loved the work of Anne Harwell and Laura Trevey, so I purchased prints from their Etsy shops as well. 



This is how it looks now and I just love it!   I had some girlfriends over recently and they said it really warms up the space.  That’s the beauty of art – it gives a home soul and personality.

Below is a breakdown of what is on the wall.  All of it has beauty, meaning or both.  I smile every time I look at it.  (I have moved the Be Happy up an inch since this photo was taken.)

I played around with the composition on the floor until this one felt right.  There is no right or wrong with this.  I didn’t want it to be perfect and tried real hard to make it look like the art was hung randomly – like it was collected over time.  I think it’s much easier to hang art in a grid with even spacing in between than to hang art randomly.  

The best thing about this arrangement  is that I can change some of the photos and can add to it on top if I feel the need.



1.  Photograph of a 15th century building, Portugal – Vanessa Francis
2. Lemon (acrylic) – Vanessa Francis
3. Photograph – taken by a friend
4.  Poster from a Paris art gallery (backpacking trip in the 1980’s)
5.  Nude (contours and foreshortening) done at art school – Vanessa Francis
6.  Photo of my Dad as a young boy in India (only photo that exists of my Dad as a child)
7. Oil painting of Montreal done by a dear family member (in the 70’s) who has since passed.
8.  My Mum in her early 20’s in England. (1960’s)
9.  Print on Canvas – Anne Harwell
10.  Original abstract – Matt Leblanc
11.  Life’s too short not to be happy, right? – Vanessa Francis (I may change this to a reddish background and stencil “Joy, Peace, Family” or something like that for the holiday season.)
12. Photographs of Venice and the Acropolis, Greece – taken with a very amateur camera on a backpacking trip.  Like how it is grainy and moody.
13.  Watercolour print – Laura Trevey

What do you think?

I’m linking up here and here and here.


If you need decorating help, please contact me at vanessa@vanessafrancis.com.