Old MacDonald Decorates!

Veranda recently sponsored a benefit showhouse at the Greystone Estate in Beverly Hills. Decorators aren't always my "thing "; in general, I prefer interiors that have been layered and collected with personality and enthusiasm (even of the haphazard sort!!) any day, so it was rather idly that I came upon the issue.

Yeah, so the show rooms are boring, bland, commercial, matchy-matchy. Whatever. What's extraordinary is that somehow this highly generic look has been achieved with some really interesting, fine pieces of art! Here, lovelies, is one of life's finest lessons in decorating the intrigue out of otherwise interesting art and objects. Man, I love this stuff.

1. Exhibit One: Old MacDonald Had a "Salle de Réception," e-i-e-i-o. Good to know that Claude Lalanne's sheep and the cow that is the sofa have some grass to graze on, although I'm not sure what the barnyard owls will be munching. I know I ordinarily wax on about the wonders of a graphic marriage of black and white, but the cow print against the marble floor is beginning to give me vertigo. Note- how is it that Fernandez made Lalanne's fantastic sheep look like they came from a toy shop?!

Veranda, March 2009."Salle de Réception" by Waldo Fernandez.

2. Exhibit Two: Jim Dine (painting) battles what appears to be an ottoman/beast upholstered in Def Leppard's castaways. Surprisingly, when I look closer, I realize that there's so much here that I'm into individually, like the Dine, the rock crystal chandelier, the Louis chairs upholstered in a weird leathery (latexy?) zig zag... I'm even drawn to that beast of an ottoman. Too bad I'm gonna get a sun burn if I look at this a second longer. All together, really, in the same room?

Veranda, March 2009. "Upper Gallery" by Eubanks and Brown.

3. Exhibit Three: Beige on Beige on Beige on Beige on Beige on Beige on BLAHHHHHHH... Notice the finer details. For example, the faux-carved, baroque dictator-style spindly chairs (who's coming to dinner, Michael Jackson?) and streaky faux job on the large cabinets do wonders to cheesify even the finest Maison Jansen mirror and consoles. As does the sad excuse for a chandelier that I almost didn't see as it's so tiny, the room is guzzling it alive. Scale, anyone?
EDIT: Holy hell, are those Nevelson totems in the window?! Poor Louise is likely rolling in her grave.

Veranda, March 2009. "Grand Ballroom" by Jack Fillips.