Castle’s Set Design

When I am not watching Frasier I normally love to watch mystery shows. Castle is one of my favorites from that category. Its a light and funny show that has a cute story line balanced off with murder mysteries that need to be solved on each episode.

 The “Ruggedly Handsome” Richard Castle played by Nathan Fillion, is a famous mystery writer who is brilliant and has a witty sense of humor. When the NYPD asks him to consult in a case where there were a series of murders staged to imitate crime scenes from his books, Castle was more than happy to help find this copycat killer. However while he was consulting them Castle found inspiration in Detective Kate Beckett played by Stana Katic. She was the perfect muse to base his new novels on!.

   Once that initial case was solved, Castle and Beckett continued to investigate crimes in New York, combining Castle’s witty and creative approach to crimes and Beckett’s impressive detective skills. I won’t say more ( don’t want to spoil it for those who haven’t watched it yet) besides we are here today to talk about the set design! More specifically Castle’s Manhattan penthouse which he shares with his mother and teenage daughter.

The set is designed by Claire Kaufman SDSA and Alfred Sole. You can check some of their other works in the link… But I must say that Richard Castle’s apartment is their best work.

There are many things in his apartment that might not be to your taste or style, however I think that the layout of the apartment and the layout of the furniture is what makes this design a success!. It is modern and masculine yet its so cozy …It feels like home!

Its a two floor penthouse. This is the layout of the first floor where the main living areas are. Castle’s office and bedroom are on this floor too. His mother and daughter each have their own bedroom on the 2nd floor.

Besides the fact that Castle’s office room is a book lovers dream (with all those books) It has a great flow to the bedroom. The apartment is truly designed for a writer!

 The main focal point of the room of course is the “Lucee Charlemagne Staircase, Down View” I think that its a smart choice from the designer because it added depth to the room especially when you are looking in from the living room.

Here is a view from the opposite direction, looking towards the living room. I love how the spaces open into each other yet each space feels so cozy.

The bedroom feels like a secret room. It is hidden behind the built-in bookcases and a steel door. Very appropriate for our mystery writer don’t you think?

My Favorite feature in Castle’s bedroom is this beautiful photograph of Linus the lion. In an episode Castle said that he bought it from his first paycheck of his first novel and that they have been friends ever since!

Life Lessons From The Halloween Queen Morticia Addams

 

Some may know the classic television program The Addams Family from the 60s, while others may know the movies based on the show that came out in the 90s. Whichever one you may remember or prefer ( I love the 60s version) you have to admit that this family was nothing less than iconic! However my favorite character in that show is Morticia Addams! I Love that she marched to the beat of her own drum. She thought that others were weird when they abided by the social rules. She lived her life exactly how she wanted to.

She was very intelligent and in my opinion the mastermind of her family. She may have been different, but I think that there are many ” life lessons” to be learned from her zany character:

 Surround yourself with what makes you happy:

Morticia didn’t feel the need to sacrifice her happiness and put herself in                 situations where she was out of her element. She surrounded her self with the people who she most loved and created a home for her self that was her kingdom! She was so secure in who she was and did her own thing while just letting everyone else do their own thing including the kids. She constantly worked on new hobbies and interests in that spooky mansion of hers, made her own potions and spells, always improved on them and never settled for anything less than what she was satisfied with!

 

 

Never loose your cool in any situation:

I love that Morticia sounded a bit of a snob in many funny situations! She always controlled her temper and was always classy and put-together even in the most difficult situations. She exuded self confidence and ruled almost quietly in the background. Everyone turned to her when things went out of control (which they normally did) because she always kept her cool! She ruled her family with grace and careful tact. She always knew exactly what to say and what unorthodox advice to give!

Because of that calm and collected and self-control manner she was the glue that held her family together. She was the strongest and most intelligent member of that household and ruled just like a wise and regal queen!

 

It is ok to be different, belive in your own beauty:  

Morticia was confident in her own skin. She was beautiful, and intelligent. She never changed who she was for anyone. She embraced her looks and never questioned her them. She didn’t put herself or her appearance down. She did’t seem to see other women as ‘prettier’ – only ‘different-looking’. She believed in her self, she believed that she is beautiful inside and out. Gomez fell for Morticia because she had a beauty inside her that she nurtured so it shone out. She didn’t look to Gomez to validate her beauty or intellect. She validated it herself. She was always quietly self-assured and although she so obviously loved and wanted Gomez, she didn’t need him. And that’s what made her so irresistible to him.

 

Family comes first:

Morticia valued her family. She loved her family very much and prioritized them. She always took the time to ensure that her children knew and respected their older. She encouraged the shared interests of the family. You never felt that her brother-in-law or mother were imposing on her life even though they were living in her house.. She was always loving and accepting of her eccentric kids. She raised them to be unique, creative, and honest individuals.

Morticia also made her husband a priority. They’ve been married for years yet still incredibly in love. They always made sure that they spent quality time together, from the occasional waltz to extravagant dinners and romantic evening strolls through the family tombs. She was devoted to him and supported him in all of his crazy ideas and didn’t mind cleaning up his messes. As a result of her loyalty and love to all her family members they learned to love and take care of one another. They always had each others backs specially when faced with outside forces.

 

Happy Halloween In advance 😉

 

 

 

 

 

 

Restored by the Fords: The Collins Family Home

Last week I started watching Restored by The Fords and couldn’t stop watching it till I finished the first season in 2 days…

The show follows siblings Leanne and Steve Ford as they restore houses around Pittsburgh, their home town, and transform them into design showpieces.
Leanne, the younger of the Ford siblings, is an interior designer who spent years working in the fashion industry (which you can see from the stylish way she dresses) . She splits her time between Pittsburgh and LA and is charge of creating the design and floor plans for the properties on the show. Steve, the older brother, is a licensed contractor (and the owner of Surf Pittsburgh) is in charge of executing Leanne’s designs and maximizing the functionality of those outdated properties while making sure that everyone is sticking to the budget.

The Fords spend at least two months on each property, with other projects going on at the same time. I can’t wait for season 2 to premiere in Jan. It will consist of 15 episodes; almost double the amount of season 1 which was only 8 episodes.

For todays post I decided to share one family home. It is one of my favorites from season 1 and will have a different post for my other favorite from the same season!

The home I’m posting about today belongs to the Collins family. This project actually consisted of 2 phases ( in other words 2 episodes). The Collins loved phase 1 so much they brought back the fords to finish the rest of the house. Phase 1 was the living room, family room and kitchen and phase 2 was the master bedroom, the kids bedrooms, the 2 bathrooms and the pool area.

Anyone who knows me knows my love and obsession for mid-century modern furniture and architecture. I loved this home even before renovations began. I thought that his house is extra special because the architect who designed it was one of Frank Lloyd Wright’s students.  I was so worried that the renovation will completely take away the house’s identity and style but the Ford siblings did an amazing job restoring this home. They respected the history of this house, while turning it into a home that totally reflected its new owners!

I love this living room. It’s my favorite room in this house… I love that they kept the stone fireplace, and added carpet. I know that a lot of people hate carpets but I really love them!. I also love the wooden walls which I’m glad they kept. They did paint them though to make the place feel brighter and more spacious which I think was a good plan because it did. I love how that Vladimir Kagan sofa is so clean and sleek and how the wooden vintage console table behind it is so old. Nothing matches yet everything works so well together!

 

 

Can you tell that Leanne loves white and neutrals? I think her colour scheme (or lack there of ) really suited this house. Look at that white Carrara in the kitchen are, I love it! I also love those acrylic barstools… its added seating without looking cluttered. Talking about seating I love how Leanne used those Norman Cherner dining chairs with that old painted vintage dinning table.

 

 

 

Now, I know that a black pool isn’t for everyone … but I think that it works for this house. Leanne and Steve took a trip to visit Falling Waters House  by Frank Lloyd Wright for some inspiration, and thats where the pool insperation came from. “I wanted to paint it black so badly… which turns out is kind of hard to do… but of COURSE we figured it out and brought the pool up to par with the rest of the beautiful space” Leanne wrote in her blog. I think she is right… painting that bright blue pool black almost makes the pool look like a pond rather than an added pool!. I love it because it works so well with the house…   but also because it reminds me so much of the black pool at my grandparents farm house!

 

The master bedroom wall had “fake styrofoam style stone” on the walls which just looked so dingy and fake. They kept them for added texture and just painted them. I have mixed feelings about that… but it works with the house nonetheless.

 

The master bathroom spa! It looks like a spa and feels like a spa… Leanne put a bathroom island right in the middle of it! I love the way it looks but have mixed feelings about that too.. but it’s only because I like to be close to my mirror when applying creams etc!

 

I think this is my favorite kids bathroom of all time! The design is so smart. The floor tile was a budget friendly solution yet looks exxpensive. They used two different colors of hex to create some interest in there. Then used black fixtures and white concrete finish on the ceilings and walls… This is a bathroom that the kids wont out grow!

So what did you think of this house and what do you think of the Ford Siblings restoration of this place?

Pictures via leanneford.com

 

When Frasier’s Gang Dressed for Halloween

Who remembers this Halloween episode from Frasier?

When Frasier hosted a Halloween party where he asked his guests to come dressed as their personal hero. … Roz dressed as Wonder Woman, Frasier as Sigmund Freud, Daphne as Elton John, Niles as his dad Martin Crane and Martin as Joe DiMaggio…. oh how I miss this bunch!

Happy Halloween Everyone!

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Victoria

The 2nd Season of Victoria has been released and I can’t believe that it has taken me this long to write about it!

It’s impeccably written and staged. Aimed at the same audiences that enjoyed Downton Abbey, and The Crown.

Victoria follows the young Queen from the time she becomes The Queen of England through her passionate courtship and marriage to Prince Albert. The TV series Victoria dramatizes the romance and reign of the girl behind the famous monarch. Jenna Coleman is absolutely perfect as Victoria, and there are strong supporting roles like Tom Hughes as Albert and Rufus Sewell as Lord Melbourne. I have to say that Rufus Sewell is superb in the role of Lord Melbourne. He managed to appear supremely noble, with just a hint of sadness and vulnerability lurking beneath the surface!

I’ve always been fascinated by the Victorian era and I love how the Queen and her Prince have changed the face of London to what we know it today! .. My favorite novels have been written in her era and yet I always imagined her as a sad lonely old woman!…..I guess it’s because she spent half her life in mourning the death of her beloved husband!

I can honestly say that this show made me look at her from a different light … I’ve gained a new admiration for the Queen! Here she’s been portrayed as an independent outspoken, and quite a determined young lady… Love that!

 

The Queen’s links with Europe’s royal families earned her the nickname “The grandmother of Europe”! She and Prince Albert had 9 children, 4 boys, and 5 girls … They had 42 grandchildren, of whom 34 survived to adulthood. Their descendants include Elizabeth II, Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, Harald V of Norway, Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden, Margrethe II of Denmark, and Felipe VI of Spain.

 

 

 

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Vintage Photos Of The Academy Awards From the Golden Age of Hollywood

 Humphrey Bogart and his wife Lauren Bacall arrive at the 27th annual Academy Awards at the RKO Pantages Theater in 1955.

 Presenters Audrey Hepburn and Grace Kelly wait backstage at the RKO Pantages Theatre during the 1956 Academy Awards.

Frank Sinatra and Donna Reed hold their Oscars as Best Supporting Actor and Actress in From Here to Eternity — a film that won eight statuettes in 1954, including Best Picture.

Natalie Wood, Best Actress nominee for her role as Deanie Loomis in Splendor in the Grass, gets her hair done prior to the 1962 Academy Awards.

 Grace Kelly and Clark Gable arrive at the 26th annual Academy Awards at the RKO Pantages Theatre in 1954

Marlon Brando (right, with French singer and actress Line Renaud) casually holds his Best Actor Oscar for On The Waterfront at the 1955 Academy Awards at the RKO Pantages Theatre.

Elizabeth Taylor walks through a crowd of admirers at the Oscars in 1961 — the year she won her first Academy Award, for her role in Butterfield 8.

Last but not least…..The great, inimitable Charlie Chaplin — who had been living in self-imposed exile in Switzerland for two decades — blows a kiss to the crowd while accepting an honorary Oscar in 1972 for “the incalculable effect he has had in making motion pictures the art form of this century.” When he was introduced to the audience, Chaplin received a twelve-minute standing ovation.

 Pictures Via LIFE Magazine

The Crown

Anyone who knows me knows that I love costume dramas…  So it comes as no surprise that I have been waiting for The New Netflix production to be released!…..Other than “Games of Throne” “Downton Abbey” has been my favorite TV costume dramas until now….  “The Crown” to me is just another level of entertainment! It’s my new addiction!

  “Downton Abbey” was/is fun to watch but it is fiction, whereas “The Crown” is based on fact, with a far weightier dose of history and politics, including issues of constitutional duty and complex political issues. Writer Peter Morgan and the director Stephen Daldry — have succeeded in balancing the seriousness of intent against popular appeal, and for Netflix, which I think has already attracted a huge international audience!

This is not the 1st time that Mr. Morgan, the creator of the show, has written about the Queen…. He actually has extensive experience writing about her. His 2006 film “The Queen,” won several Academy Award nominations and the best actress award went to Helen Mirren as the monarch, facing public reaction to the death of Princess Diana. Then in 2013 came his successful play, “The Audience,” also starring Helen Mirren and directed by Mr. Daldry, which swoops through some 60 years of the weekly meetings between Queen Elizabeth and her prime ministers. And actually this experience of writing “The Audience” gave him the idea for “The Crown.”

Part of the pleasures of watching “The Crown” is its ability to offer glimpses of life at Buckingham Palace and other royal residences (The furniture! The objects! The clothes! The jewels!). But it also offers a history lesson in world events, politics and the social manners and mores of postwar British society, seen through the prism of Elizabeth’s reign.

For example, I was really surprised by the relationship between Winston Churchill and the young queen! I never thought the either one of them struggled in this relationship! Never thought that either one of them ever doubted themselves… until now!

I don’t want to say more and spoil it for those of you who haven’t watched it yet… but here are a few reviews I read about the series … Both +ve and -ve:

• The New York Times says it is “just an orgy of sumptuous scenes and rich performances” in its Review: Netflix Does Queen Elizabeth II in ‘The Crown,’ No Expense Spared.
• Vanity Fair’s review, The Crown Is Netflix’s Most Expensive Series to Date, and Worth It, says “A grand saga about the British royals begins with a sumptuous look at midcentury monarchy.”
• USA Today gives The Crown 3-1/2 out of 4 stars in its piece titled Review: ‘The Crown’ is sumptuous miniseries with the stellar cast!
• From the Maclean’s review by Patricia Treble, ‘The Crown’ on Netflix is riveting. And not completely true. “Unlike many so-called documentaries that are little more than rehashed tittle-tattle and gossip, The Crown’s fact-heavy fiction puts dramatic meat on much more substantial and accurate bones.“

Medici: Masters of Florence

I love historical dramas and have been waiting impatiently for this TV series to air this autumn! It is airing in Rai1 on 17th of Oct and although the series is in English, it will air in Italian. So far no dates have been set for the show to be aired on other networks!

Here are is the list of the incredible cast that you will see in the 8 episodes of season 1, the cast is composed by both Italian and American actors:

Dustin Hoffman – Giovanni de’ Medici
Richard Madden – Cosimo de’ Medici
Giorgio Caputo – Federigo Malavolti
Guido Caprino – Marco Bello
Stuart Martin – Lorenzo de’ Medici
Tatjana Nardone – Emilia
Annabel Scholey – Contessina de’ Bardi

I hate spoilers so I won’t mention anything about the plot, however, I thought of giving you a small background or a history 101 on the family to help you know what the series is about!

The Medici family have played an important part or I should say helped shape the history of Florence, Italy, from the 15th to the early 18th century (during the Renaissance).

They built their fortune from banking activities, rose to become the rulers of Florence with political intrigues and then became one of the most powerful dynasties in Europe. In the Medici family tree, there were countless Cardinals, two Popes, two Queens of France, and seven Grand Dukes of Tuscany.

The Medicies are remembered as somehow very open-minded people, and as the greatest art collectors in history, who ignited the Florentine Renaissance: among the countless artists working for the family, across the generations, are the names of Filippo Brunelleschi, Donatello, Filippo Lippi, Botticelli, Leonardo Da Vinci, Michelangelo, Raphael, Giorgio Vasari, and Benvenuto Cellini.

I have been lucky to have been to a few of their homes or rather palaces that have been converted to museums and I just can’t wait for the series to come out… I have a feeling that it won’t be a disappointment for those of us who love historical dramas!

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Mr. Selfridge

 My hubby and I started watching Mr. Selfridge and although it’s not as good as Downton Abbey it is still fun to watch and I highly recommend it!!!

The series is about Harry Selfridge, the American entrepreneur who had created London’s famous department store. He is known to have revolutionized shopping by simply making it fun!!! Sure, people always shopped, but it was more of a chore before Selfridge redefined the experience in 1909….

 Assistants working at Selfridges were encouraged to help customers rather than patronize them….He was actually the one who invented the phrase ‘the customer is always right’ !!!

Selfridges was the the1st place that had restaurants and hairdressing salon in-store and the 1st place that had lighting in shop windows that were lit at night.

Before Selfridge, cosmetics and toiletries had been hidden discreetly away at the back of the shop, considered too racy and taboo to be on display. He decided to move them to the front entrance of Selfridge’s so that people entering were assailed by a cloud of sweet scents…..He was revolutionary and full of great ideas.

I won’t say anymore although I am really tempted …. but I wouldn’t want to spoil it for my brother A 😉

Russell Peters In Muscat

Just what the doctor ordered…Yesterday Russell Peters made us laugh the whole night! Even after the show!!… We had a great time and really enjoyed every minute of it….. BUT I felt that he was making some of the stuff up as he was going along!!! Not sure why but I think its probably because they censored half of his jokes?!!!… Anyways it was interesting to see him come up with so many witty comments when he was talking to all the “smart” people who chose to sit in the front row!!!…. Some of the comments he came up with were hilarious. I don’t know how he came up with them, but it just showed how talented and funny this guy really is!