If You Could, What Would You Ask Carlton Varney ?

If you have a question you would like me to ask him, just leave it in your comment.

I will be meeting with him on Wednesday ,

when he picks up his Lifetime Achievement Award.

The Grand Hotel on Mackinaw Island. One of the many, many landmarks he has worked his magic on.

pictured here :

Carlton Varney, president of Dorothy Draper . He was hired along with architect Richard Bosby Dan and Amelia Musser, owners of Grand Hotel, in 1976 to begin to give the 90-year-old landmark a facelift.


Renee Finberg 'TELLS ALL' in her blog of her Adventures in Design

The Plaza Makes Me Sentimental ( and makes me laugh out loud ! )

The Plaza, and the area around it, were my first experiences in NYC.
From this post, I think you will see how The Plaza , Central Park, The Horse Drawn Carriages , and all the stimulation of the city would leave a lasting impression .
Here are just a few shots of The Plaza, and Central Park South for you to enjoy.

I know, I know, every body's been there, or seen it in the movies. But , the way business' seem to be failing lately............. I thought what if the places that 'are NYC to me ' disappeared ? NYC was and always be a magical place to me. In ten years of living there, nothing bad ever happened to me ! So much for the some times bad rap it gets.

I know that they are fighting to stop the horse drawn carriages on Central Park South.
Why can't the handlers just be kind and considerate to the horses ?
Does society have to intervene on everything ? Why don't people do the right thing without being told to ?? Why can't they care for these sweet animals. The horses need to work, the carriage drivers need to work, why can't they just be caring ? And Care !
What is up with people ?

Anyway........( deep breath ) this is the original Plaza at the turn of the century.
And now.

What an entrance ! There is a fountain right next to The PLaza, by the 5th Ave entrance. I do not have a picture of that. But I have stories about it.

But, I have the best story about The Oak Room, so keep reading.

I was thinking how nice it would be..... just to walk a few blocks down the street, and meet a friend at the Plaza. We could have Tea at The Palm Court, then maybe go skating or just a walk in the park.

Just A Lazy Sunday.

The Original Palm Court.

The Palm Court Today.

Oh Look, our waiter is here already.

Presentation is everything.

Remember , you never get a second chance to make a first impression !

It looks too crowded for me . How about a ride on a horse drawn carriage instead ? We Can get some hot coffee, and get cozy under a blanket and people watch. We can just enjoy the wonder of Central Park and it's people/families 'playing' on a lazy Sunday.

He is right across the street waiting...........

What an amazing place to have called home. More often than not, I wish I had never left.

This is across the street from The Plaza too.

Central Park.

When I was 19 years old, for some reason on Sundays I always ended up right here on these very benches in Central Park.

Let me tell you, most people have no idea what a gorgeous place Central Park is .

Go.

Explore.

If we are hungry later, there is always The Oak Room. This is a Landmark restaurant, and in The Plaza as well.

A very funny thing happened to me while I was dining there one evening. There are people who are regulars for many years , these people actually have plaques on the walls by the tables that they would normally sit at. The people at the table next to me went out of their way to let me know, which was alright with me .

Well, this place can be seen as and feel very stuffy. Rent the movie 'AUTHUR ' ( with Dudley Moore ) , it there is a very famous and funny scene filmed in The Oak Room.

At any rate, I ordered Banana's Foster for dessert, and my waiter accidentally ignited a huge white cotton candy head of hair. Needless to say, it was one of the regulars, with the plaque on the wall. She looked a bit like ' Baby Jane ' ( as in Baby Jane the movie with Betty Davis ), try and visualize ..... This woman was having a ladies night out ( all four were Baby Jane types- if that is possible) with three other woman.

Once her hair caught fire, no one seemed to notice but me . Initially I was freaking out mildly, her friends were unaware, the waiter continued talking to them and to my party as well like nothing at all was out of the ordinary. And all during this time , there was a tiny trail of smoke streaming straight up from the center of her head.

I was speechless. I couldn't speak, mainly because I was about to burst out laughing.

You know, some of us laugh out of nervousness, and some of us laugh because something is hilarious. I was laughing for both reasons.

I could not believe it, still, no one had noticed. Finally after thinking I was in some sort of weird comedic dream, I signaled to the waiter while making all kinds of hand movements , and pointing to the flame on her head.

He looked at her, then at me with his eyes wide as saucers, and he looked back again at me and smiled, giggled, and then he burst out laughing.

Well, that is all it took, and I completely lost control and had to leave the room to regain my composure.

I ran over here , when I had lost control of myself completely. With tears streaming down my cheeks, I stood here in the bar. It was behind a decorative screen that was hiding an extra coffee station between the bar and The Oak Room, that I stood watching the waiter , the woman and what happened next.

At this point every one of the staff had to leave the restaurant floor and they were hiding and giggling behind this screen as well, even the old professional waiters, the falsely stuffy with fake French accent kind.

It all turned out fine. The flaming cotton candy hair was in the end, only a wig.

She simply snatched it off her head ( which might explain why she felt nothing ) revealing her wrapped head prepared for the wig.

This all made for quite a fond memory, of another lovely Adventure in Design.

enlarge any picture for more info and a closer look

Renee Finberg 'TELLS ALL' in her blog of her Adventures in Design

The 2009 Stars Of Design Will Be At The DCOTA

We have a pretty great turn-out at The Design Center Of The Americas ( DCOTA ) for the winter market. Would you not agree ?
Ladies' look who will be there ? That's right, Carlton Varney !

Boo Hoo for you , I know you would love to be there.

This is something that is new and at Brunschwig & Fils.

I will do further research on Brunschwig at the show.

This is not a great shot of this wallcovering.

But what is exciting, is that it is a partnering between Stark ( carpet ) & Brunschwig & Fils.

Jan 22 for Outrageous: 2:30 – 3:30 pm
This will be interesting.

........wish you were there.

( enlarge any picture for more info and a closer look )

Renee Finberg 'TELLS ALL' in her blog of her Adventures in Design

A Room For Hershey

I used to fantasize about bringing my horse home with me .
I even sleep with a stuffed horse that is the same color and has similar
markings to my horse, Georgian Gentleman. For those of you who ride and show,
his barn name was Hershey.
We have had some horrible hurricanes in Florida. The last big one that hit where I live was named Wilma. It is so scary for you and your horse. When ‘ Andrew ‘ hit in the 80’s, they found horses impaled , and stuck up in the trees.

Anyway, I was going to have him transported to my town home , I was going to sneak him under the cover of darkness, and into my house through the back sliders. Hershey would be carefully lead into my living room where the ceiling is 22 feet high, so there is no problem there, and the room is wider and longer than his stall.
I was already resigned to the fact that all the living room carpet would have to be replaced, maybe everything, but who cared. I was okay with that.
But other than that , I knew if he got freaked out or scared, he couldn't’t really hurt himself in the room. And after all, I could talk him down from almost anything.
He could do the same for me.

( me getting my HERSHEY KISSES )

My boy was the only person I could bare to be around for about 1 year solid. I was in a deep depression brought on by some unusual circumstances.
Hershey changed during this period as well. He was a bit wild when I first got him, and sometimes I wondered if he really were gelded. LOL
But right when I needed him to be understanding, gentle, and loving he was. He knew.
It was such a dramatic and sudden change, that it could be nothing else.

When people ( and a few judges ) who would see us ride, they would say;
“I can’t see where your horse starts and you begin”, “You two seem to be riding as one. “

Seriously, the most painful life experience to date, has been the day I gave him up. That was just 18 months or so ago. It was a result of this horrible economy. I can not even look at a horse now without missing him horrible.

He was a great show-man. He had little girl groupies, who would come running when they saw me or my daughter approaching the ring. They would be screaming and yelling his name;
“Is That Hershey ? “ and “ Is That The Georgian Gentleman ?”

( enlarge any picture for more info and a closer look )
Renee Finberg 'TELLS ALL' in her blog of her Adventures in Design, 
 horses, renee and hershey, the love of my life