Ayres Interiors Blog

The Greening of Your Home

May 6, 2020

Great news for gardeners! The Illinois governor has declared greenhouses, garden centers and nurseries essential businesses. They’re open and running. But for those of you who don’t have a garden or balcony, this is an opportunity to invite Nature INTO your home for a long stay, as well. She is a soothing guest to have around, and her color is healing and easy to use…

I slipped this in, because who wouldn’t love to quarantine here!

Some naturalists say that all greens complement each other.

I tend to agree, because plants do offer such a variety that we never tire of looking up and seeing the mix.

The lowly houseplant has become an “essential worker” in soothing the quarantined mind and brightening a gray day!

Random Thoughts During the Pandemic

March 20, 2020

I’m a morning person. So getting up early and going through the process of making my latte, reading the paper and listening to the news makes me feel like it’s a “normal” day.

I usually go to the garage in my bathrobe to feed the birds; they don’t care if I’ve washed my hands.

Everyday I try very hard to put on that day’s mindset. Don’t want to lose track of what day it is, although they’re all very much the same.

I make our bed religiously. It’s important to me. And since I’ve asked my housekeeper to stay home with pay, I’m ironing, taking out recycling and garbage and about to tackle vacuuming the entire house. (My husband is helping with the cooking and dusting.)

Billy, my dog, and I are clocking many walking hours. He’s always game for another walk. And I’m sure he’s very perplexed why we’re home so much and disturbing his naps…

Christmas Italian Style

January 17, 2020

I had one wish this Christmas, and it was to spend the holidays in Italy. Well, I got my wish (also an anniversary present) because our daughters and their families were out of town.

Italy…I always say that it’s God’s gift to humans.

The beauty, the food, the people. It’s the usual list of wonderfuls. But add Christmas and New Years to the mix, and it becomes a feast for the senses!

Rome will always be my first love. The ancient quality around every corner; the casual lifestyle that demands gelato every day. You might drop into an outdoor chair for a quick coffee and end the day in that same chair ordering three pastas and a few cocktails.

At Christmas, every door is dressed in splendor. Every street boasts different glistening highlines. The stores are bustling, and streets are crowded -not with tourists – but Italians!

Italy again? Si!

October 7, 2019

About this time of year, when the shadows are deep, the cicadas are in full concert and the sun is so golden, I start to long for Italy.

I never really care where I go in Italy, or when…it’s a country where the food, people, language and architecture always feed my soul. And I’m sure there are millions of people who would agree with me.

My husband and I realized early in planning our travels that your choice of hotels can make or break your trip. We don’t necessarily go for the five star ones or big names. Instead, we search for the local ones, full of ambiance and quirks. A little bit of research will tell you a lot about the hotel, and so do the reviews.

Last September, when we landed in Catania, we decided to rest for a few days in an unusual little hotel called the Romano Palace, that was spread out on the beach.

It had a Moroccan vibe that I loved, and many landscaped acres. So it was very easy to lounge until dinner, and drive a short way into the heart of Catania.

WHAT I DID ON MY SUMMER VACATION

July 31, 2019

Nothing. Absolutely nothing…just spent a week of bliss with our kids and their kids at the beach.

I decided to write about my week on Fire Island because a lot of folks in the Midwest tell me they’ve never been there. Even some New Yorkers lament the same thing. And yet this little stretch of land near Long Island is only an hour from Manhattan! We did need to fly, drive and ferry to get there, but once that challenge is over, it’s time to put your feet up and sip a few.

Picture this: no cars — just wide paved paths for large wagons and

bicycles — and an occasional golf cart.

Our rented beach house was in a lovely, secluded community with acres of bamboo trees and tall grasses. Very close to the beach, about 100 yards away.

It’s a Small World After All…

February 11, 2019

There’s no actual name for what I’m writing about.

“Miniatures” doesn’t capture it. That makes me think of tiny dollhouse furniture. “Bonsai” only defines naturally growing things that are pruned into smallness. Same for terrariums.

I’m talking about something different –magical “worlds’ made up of little treasures –small things that have no obvious relationship except within my own point of view, and are gathered together and confined on a tray or in a box or on a small table.

Am I making any sense yet?

I first saw one of these magical worlds on a sideboard in Lichtenstein. It struck me then that this little “forest floor” said volumes about the departure of Winter and the joyful promise of Spring. Magic Tray-Lich

I took this photo and held onto it until I recently hosted a baby shower around Christmas. Deciding to try my hand at my own magical display, I gathered together many small objects in my repertoire. I even decorated an antique baby shoe. I wanted this small world to celebrate the small human about to join us.

It’s Baby No. Two – and No Pink Allowed!

January 11, 2019

It’s baby number two! And it’s a girl. We were very busy this fall!

I am Kiki, formerly known as Cookie, grandmother to two-year-old Theo, whose room my daughter and I created in the fall of ’16. It’s a wonderful room that should grow with little Theo as he watches his crib stretch into a big-boy single bed…

Our challenge was to create the perfect nursery for this little girl on the way. It’s not like our family to do too much girly stuff. We’re much more into solid design that stands the test of time.

My daughter sent me some Houzz photos showing nurseries with very dark teal walls. I love small, dark rooms – especially in our climate. I find them cozy and secure, so I approved immediately.

Crib corner

. Chair corner

Davinci Glider and Ottoman

Adding to her enthusiasm with the teal, she had discovered some textured wall decals of oranges with green leaves. We’ve decided to tumble those oranges down the teal wall over the changing table.

Villa Offers Nurturing Touch In “Call Me by Your Name”

October 10, 2018

Indulging my fascination with Luca Guadagnino’s “Desire Trilogy” films, I most recently enjoyed seeing his 2017 release, “Call Me by Your Name.” Again set in a 17th c Italian villa in Lombardy (northern Italy), this movie is all about happiness and love – of nature, of each other, of food, and of wonderful old houses that offer comfort and nurturing.

Apparently Guadignino (“G”) had dreamed of buying this villa, as he told Architectural Digest Magazine, but found his Milan apartments and changed his mind. “I knew this was where I was going to set the action of the film – this place with faded, aristocratic charm, that a professor and his wife might have inherited but can’t quite keep up.”

The parlor

To help him create the authentic interiors, G. recruited Violante Visconti di Modrone, an Italian duke’s daughter. G. says “She’s a genius and really has an understanding of how a family like that would live. She’s not a set designer but she knows the environment – furniture with heritage and a family without money.”

Al fesco dining at the villa

Unique Interior/Exterior Cast in “A Bigger Splash”

August 30, 2018

You’ll recall that in my last blog, I described Luca Guadagnino’s love of interiors with his three “Desire Trilogy” films that put characters and action in parallel with their surroundings. I featured the beautiful Villa Necchi as the star of “I am Love.”

In his 2016 “A Bigger Splash,” G. (Guadagnino) has chosen Pantelleria, an Island off the coast of Sicily, as his backdrop. The house where the action takes place, the Tenuta Borgia Estate, is actually famous as a luxury rental property.

The Tenuta Borgia Estate buildings

But as a movie set, it is dressed as an extremely happy, carefree house with colorful, crazy shapes and furniture. Almost as if the sinister quality of some of the actors can be laughed off in this heady atmosphere…

Movie Director Creates Interior Design Magic

July 16, 2018

Is it just me, or do most people really look closely during a movie at the house and furnishings that have been chosen in every scene? I am so personally affected by interiors, whether real or staged, that they highly influence everything I feel about the actors and action.

I’m launching into this subject because I recently re-watched a movie by Luca Guadagnino, who is the master at creating houses with as much character as the actors. I follow his directing religiously, because he is so very good at what he does.

Born in Palermo, Guadagnino has given us movies such as I Am Love, A Bigger Splash, and more recently, Call Me by Your Name — all of them set in a magnificent Italian landscape with interiors that beguile us throughout.

In 2016, New York Times writer Dana Thomas interviewed Guadagnino in his own home, a 3,200-square-foot apartment on the second floor of a 17th C. palazzo near Milan. What the filmmaker says about interiors during this interview adds to the authenticity of his movie sets and explains his thoughtful approach…

“I hate the concept of beauty for the sake of it. It is overrated. Environment is essential. I like anything that has to do with form and space. But I am also a humanist with a very strong love and attraction for character; that’s the mixture.”

When Guadagnino (referred to as G. hereafter) bought his apartment, it had been empty for 40 years. the renovation took six months, and G. was onsite daily. “I am a director.”

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