I wouldn't use iron in the shower. It will rust.

Patrick Dunne, who owns Lucullus Antiques in New Orleans, and his assistant Nathan Drewes came out several days ago. They are going to help me out. I think the website is down at the moment but you can look at the Lucullus FB page and on 1st Dibs see some of the store items if you're curious.

Well, if you have gentlemen of THAT provenance in your back pocket, you should be all set. An amazing store in a city I know very well and love. I hope to get down there soon.

I'll post occasional progress reports.

It took me months to get up the nerve to get in touch with them. Ungraceful small houses are not their usual milieu so I was bashful despite the fact I met Patrick years ago.

He initially suggested that I buy an old farmhouse and move it to the farm. I vetoed the idea firmly. I wish to tame the existing errant structure with an eye toward universal access in the future. And what in the world would I do with this house after moving what would be a third house to this place? Subsequent suggestions have been less grandiose and already saved me money.

That is EXACTLY how to work with a designer, especially a good designer. You must state your general parameters of style, budget, etc., so the professional has a working framework within which to develop ideas. The rules are not hard and fast; you can both feel your way as you go. That said, one should also be open to considering a designer's grander vision; what seems extravagant at the moment can be cost-saving in the long run, as well as affording you a pleasure only vaguely dreamed of. Once you are open to ideas, then you both can hash out the practicalities of the situation.

Best advice I ever heard was to LOOK at everything, even if it does not fall within your budget or perceived taste. Collect pictures from magazines and on-line and then attach a Post-It with a note as to what you liked about the image; a specific item of furniture or fabric, a color, a furniture arrangement or a room's spaciousness or just the general air the image imparts. Often, images of something you perceive as completely foreign to your situation can be looked at more dispassionately and the resulting note on what you liked about it that much more informative. A trained eye can then "interpret" the images into something new, that will fit you, your dream and your budget. That's why I hit you with an image of the color Palladian Blue, as seen used in a grand room at Bath, England. I have attached a simpler room done in the same color, with a chandelier in the same color and metal as your own, so you can see why I thought it a good fit. Delusions of grandeur are never useless in decorating, only in politics...

As for working up the courage to contact Mr. Dunne, bravo! An old New York saying, "You don't ask, you don't get."

I ordered "Sheer Opulence" and also took Ipmenache's recommendation and got some Charlotte Moss. After looking at reviews, I ordered the three oldest of hers. As I have not read it, I added the "Epicurean Collector" by Patrick Dunne and "Southern Accents." I'm not a kitchen and food related collector but look forward to reading the book. "Garden and Gun" has a piece on his farm in rural Louisiana. The first thing he did was to remove the dishwasher, a gesture and statement I am free to admire without following or even consider following.

I'm now looking for a recommendation on books about exalted country French interiors. Must be a mountain of them out there. Any thoughts?

I read every word of one of Bryan Batt's books. Sadly, in spite of enjoying it and making lots of notes, all I remember at the moment is that almost no one puts frames on good pictures any more. Also that the kinds of rugs I love are apparently out of style. Nevertheless I will stick with picture frames and oriental rugs.

No frames on pictures is a silly fad. Just because someone wrote it and got it published, doesn't make it so. My grandmother collected formal antique furniture when it was unfashionable; we are forever grateful...

Lord, there are loads of books out there. Go to a book store and library and peruse some before you buy any. When you do decide to buy, access this website that will list the books as available across the country and around the world, from big box stores, on-line concerns and the mom and pop bookseller - you will find great prices and people who carry many of the great out-of-print books: http://www.bookfinder.com/

Here are some book suggestions:

Building Beauty by Michael Smith
Great Style and Decorating Style, both by House Beautiful
Mlinaric on Decorating
Decorating Magic by John Sutcliffe
The Collected Home by Darryl Carter
The House & Garden Book of Classic Rooms
Rooms To Inspire by Annie Kelly
The Great American House by Gil Schafer III
Black & White By Celerie Kemble
Southern Style by Mayfield/Southern Accents

and anything by Charles Faudree if you like French Country, but be prepared, it is a very rich helping of French Country, like a lavish gumbo or etoufee...

Having toile made: I'm going to have toile made from late 19th century and early 20th century sheepdog prints that I own. Copyright is not a problem. Any suggestions on relatively inexpensive places to do it?

I have not run this past Lucullus; nontheless, I think they will like the idea. I'm thinking mostly for the bedroom with a little in the living room area.

Five different scenes are needed in my estimation. I have them and they are in keeping with traditional toile so this isn't going to look like the Dr. Who or Dia de los Muertos toiles, both of which are amusing and attractive but not the look I'm going for.

The Lucullus people may know who does custom fabric printing. If not, ask the Dr. Who toile makers; I think they are print on demand.

Sounds like a fun, if expensive, undertaking. If you do find a source for making toile fabric up from old prints or your own design, please let us all know.

If I can provide camera ready design, Spoonflower's software for digital fabric prints takes over and matches color as best it can or something like that. Provided the design has the right lines of pixels, their system makes the venture a frugal expenditure as such things go. If I use a service that offers more in the way of Photoshop or Illustrator skills, the project becomes more expensive.

I posted to ask if anyone reading had experience with the various places that do printing either on the Spoonflower end or the upper reaches of cost end. I found this article on digital fabric printing which is informative:
http://www.trueup.net/2013/q-a/digital-printing-services-2013-edition/ and lists quite a few places. Some of the others are Fabric on Demand and Digital Textiles.

I still need to research ink, pigment, dye, and fabric types for toile. I'm ruling out silk for practical reasons.

Oh dear, I forgot that I activated some block on the computer that won't let me copy URLs.

8dognight. I saw where you contacted the boys from New Orleans. Are you in Louisiana because so am I.Glad you ordered the Charlotte Moss books. You will enjoy them.

Brief update: Next week Lucullus, my trusty contractor, and two old friends--a teacher of architecture at a university and his wife who is active in the Vieux Carre Commission--are all coming over at the same time. I'm already feeling overwhelmed and thinking about tea sandwiches along with wafer thin cookies.

Have some Sazaracs or mint juleps mixed and ready and they will all be very happy.

Sounds like you have everything in order with great help. Cant wait to hear their ideas! If you get a copy of January2013 Louisiana Life you will see an article about our former home.

Try this product: http://www.jollyhome.com/p/kitchen-western-crystal-ceiling-lighting-with-7-lights-3212.html

lpmenache, I looked at the article. Lovely house and furnishings. You said above that it's your former house. Did you move to another wonderful Louisiana house?

I copied two images from the Louisiana Life article on lpmenache's house. Maybe he'll tell us the date the house was built because I don't think I saw that anywhere in the article. I'm guessing 1950s but I really don't know, obviously.

It may be 50's, but the look is timeless.

Thank you quatorze and 8dognight for the nice comments. The house was indeed built in the 50s. We have moved 3 doors down and across the street into a house that is a Georgian colonial which has never been touched since it was built in 1957. having a great time with it. I have been reluctant to post pictures of my home because the look is not what is normally espoused on houzz, not enough grey and neutrals and" updated things". I really don't want to listen to the disparing remarks but I knew you both would appreciate the look. One of my favorite books is 60 years of Interior Design about Eleanor Brown. Her rooms were timeless and just a few changes would update the room. when I was a child I used to sit next to her at the French furniture auctions at Parke Bernet(Sotheby's) with my parents . It was not till I was much older that I realized I actually knew her. In any case the new house will have a lot of the same furniture but in a new setting. Lets see if I am as successful with it.

8dognight, I have used a chinese garden seat as a bench in a shower. This works really well to sit or prop your leg on etc.

Hmm. I wonder if they come up at auction. You can't see it in the bathroom photos I posted but I have some Imari on the counter between the sinks to hold soap and toothpaste. The colors aren't quite right but the heck with it, better holding soap and toothpaste than in a closet, I say. I wonder if there are Japanese garden seats. I'm thinking a scenic one as opposed to solid colored.

Lpmenache, I suspect there are a lot of people who would like to see what you're doing with your new house. I want to see the foyer in particular if the staircase is especially good. Does the house have a sunroom?

"Sheer Opulence" just got here yesterday. Great book. Magical.

I think many posters on Houzz are fans of modern things. But there are some who like antiques, older than the politely termed "vintage". Decorating with excellent quality antiques but mixing in first rate modern functional things such as sofas is still appreciated. There are at least a few paint color consultants who post occasionally whose websites show a nuanced palette based on homeowner furnishings, house style and lighting.

apple-pie.... I totally agree with you. It is the posters who answer a question about rug color with a post of how much better the room would look if it were painted grey as if they had just invented that color. They also do not understand the look of timelessness. Why does everything have to look like today? I, for myself( and I mean for myself less i am misunderstood) and most of my clients want a room that will not look dated when the next fad comes along. How long do we really think that barrel shaped lampshades are going to be the rage. They will always stay but not be in the forefront. In the 70's, a shade with extremely slanted sides( named after an oriental hat) was all the rage and now you hardly see them. I guess my point is that the posters need to be more sensitive to everyones particular style and not just spout off the current vogue. I like traditional with a modern twist, lots of color and things that no one else may have to add a touch of originality. I grew up in a house with fine antiques(m.ore like period rooms rather than rooms for living). In my last house is used some upholstered seating from Baker Henredon etc.. My father always said he liked my rooms except for the new sofas so go figure. I do think it is important to learn from the old master designers like Eleanor Brown and Billy Baldwin. They have so mush to teach us by examining their rooms. I think that they understood that good things cost money and it takes time to acheive a look, no matter what that look. HGTV has really dumbed down interior design with shows that transform a room for $500 in less than a few hours. Please! Well I guess I have ranted enough.
8dognight. Yes the house has a nice staircase but no sunroom. I would send a picture but it has not been properly menachified(as my friends say) so will leave it to later for a reveal. I may get brave enough to post the house when all done.yes I enjoyed "Sheer Opulence", I would love to know where you are located. You can send an email to my email at lpmenache@yahoo.com if you dont what it all over the internet.
In regards to the garden seats they come in all shapes sizes and colors. Just keep you eyes open.

Lpmenache, the photos of your previous house don't show up as well on Houzz as they do on the "Louisiana Life" website. The incredible oaks got cropped out in the first photo, and in the second, the pictures on the walls became invisible. If you have some good digital shots, could you post them? I would really like to see the current house as well.

Lampshade styles have a shelf life of about 10 years. Shapes come around again in about 50 or 60 years. The problem is when a shade has to be replaced and all the current fashionable shades are simply the wrong shape for the lamp. This is not a worry for those who can commission a shade for $100 or $200. That isn't most people.

I agree that a $500 room makeover often looks like exactly that. But it can be fun if you are 22 and experimenting with new things, or if you have never painted a room before or shopped in the furniture area of the local Goodwill. Then you'll discover why all those retro, vintage, etc. lamps have no shades... barrel, conical or otherwise.

Houzz does seem to have a lot of posts where the advice is paint the walls Revere Pewter, paint the oak cabinets white, and buy your furniture from Ikea. I wonder if we are in for a ten year cycle of gray walls everywhere, now that we are finished with "HGTV green". Maybe in fifteen years, we'll have a rash of people learning to strip the white paint off their cabinets to "reveal the fine old oak", just like back in the 1970's when stripping furniture was all the rage. Ikea has its place, but it would be nice if there were similar-sized used furniture stores where good quality furniture could be recycled to new owners. Better for the planet, too.

Still undecided on emailing lpmenache, I googled again and found a blog called Visual Vamp. The photos in "Louisiana Life" are not as good as the photos I saw on Visual Vamp. Here are three.

One must not have attached. I'll try again.

Trying again with two more images.

The photos you just posted were from 2008 in Louisiana Home and Garden. Valerie Hart, the visual vamp, has a book coming out in September called Lousian Proud and we have a whole chapter to ourselves called more is more. Those will be the best pictures of the old house as they were taken literally one week before we started to dismantle the house to move which took three months of evening.packing and weekends.
The new house is literally still under renovations and there are no pictures to post really. bedrooms are now being painted and then floors sanded. Drapery fabrics are being chosen and then of course have to go to the workroom. using different colors than I have in the past, somethings being recovered, others will be used as before. So it will be a while till we are photo ready.
If the houzzers saw all those "objet truve'" in the Secretary Abatant they would probably start telling me to edit edit edit. I am going to be a little more selective this time around with what I put out and rotate it.
I do think we have the same decorative style and would love to meet if we could. From the articles you know all about me.

I agree with apple_pie and Ipmenache.
I'm tired of the trends, everyone will seem to have rooms with a gray wall. Kitchens with stainless steel and granite. Repainted vintage and antique furniture. It's considered outdated if you have oak or brass fixtures. Where is the personality for these rooms? Not everyone's shines through. I like difference and everyone is different.

Actually I am being told by many that brass or gold fixtures are on the way back in. At a high end fixture store in Houston we found more gold tone than silver toned fixtures. The one we liked was $13,000.00. Needless to say we passed.
Yes LB I am tired of "stepford rooms" all in shades of grey with digitized art from web sites. What happened to real art work , easily found at university fairs from the art departments. So it does not have to be expensive.

@Ipmenache,Look at these lights.beautiful and cheap!!!However,I don't know if this website is real. http://www.jollyhome.com/ceiling-lights_89

I think a new take on brass fixtures is back. I just bought one that is finished champagne bronze. The company said it is new on the market.

@home.... found site and it appears real. If there is something there you like go for it as it sure is cheap.

Ipmenache is right,please go for it if you really like!

Just did my professional profile so I now show up as Maison Pompeii Antiques and Interiors rather than lpmenache

LB Interiors: As I am not a "silver" person, I'd like to know where you found the champagne bronze fixture. Also agree on the "grey" fad. Geez. I live in the Pacific Northwest, and we refer to most months of the year as being under the Permacloud. Like I need that INSIDE too.

Here's an update: Camilla Franklin of Blissett Textile is working on the D. O. G. Farm Toile design.

My contractor doesn't get back to me until the 19th of August to paint the entire interior, reside the exterior, and tear out the kitchen tile so the floor person can come in.

Patrick Dunne has convinced me to use only one of the couches in the living room and move the other into my library/sitting room, both to be recovered in a caramelish, light tobacco colored leather. The television is going inside a handsome armoire quatre portes. The fireplace surround and hearth will be slate with a different firebox. A suitable old mantel has not yet been located. The brass chandelier is going in my bedroom; living room chandeliers will be black iron as I believe LB Interiors and several other people also suggested early on.

The big pastoral picture stays over the mantel; the large mirror from my bedroom--there's a photo of it somewhere in this thread--goes on the wall behind the dinner table. The captain's chairs are being retired to the box room as extra seating. The dining room chairs will be os de mouton.

Garden seat for master bath: Maison Pompeii suggested one. Several are coming up soon at New Orleans auction.

I have the new living room rug down temporarily and have attached several photos.

Beautiful rug! Yay, a lot going on and great progress.

Glad to see things are coming along. i always felt the large painting should go over the mantle. I do have some fabulous wrought iron chandeliers for sale right now in my shop. I will send you a picture of them. Are you going to go to the Thursday night preview deal at the auction house? I plan to drive in for it. Maybe we could meet.

I also have a set of 6 os de mouton chairs availalble

Sorry to say that the large painting fits the dining room wall so well. It brings in your style to that space as well as the living room. Flows nicely.

I'm sorry 'nwduck'. forgot to get back to you on the champagne bronze new finish for faucets. They are from www.deltafaucets.com. Other manufacturers may have them now too.

I think you and your style are really interesting! I would paint the walls and ceiling a much lighter version of the blue in your rug. Like 25% color 75% white. I think it would be a beautiful background for you amazing art work. I would remove the wainscot. I agree the large painting should go in the dining room. Love your dogs!

Maison Pompeii, I won't be going to the preview on Thursday. That's a busy day for me. I usually leave absentee bids at local auctions anyway. Are the stretchers underneath the chairs from side to side across the middle straight or curved?

It is one stretcher across the middle in the os de mouton shape.

Any up dates on your home project?