Greta Recovers from Réveillon

Well - Hello my dears, I do hope that by now, you-all have recovered from the parties, the bubbly, the” out-laws”, the difficult neighbours, the surprise house-guest, the debris factor approaching level 10, and the last of those superb prunes in dark chocolate that your Great Aunt Lilly made... Please, my dear design friends, promise me just one thing for your new year 2008, promise to cross your heart, and repeat after me:” I will work on better lighting before anything else for my home” ! PPPPROMISE! As you might surmise, Aurelien and I do get around...especially during the Holidays, and we did see (even in the better homes in Uppity Westmount) some horrid lighting crimes here and there.....When you think of the square foot value, of some of these rooms' furnishing prices versus the cost of a well thought-out lighting scheme, their difference is really absurd. I saw several grand chandeliers with various wattages of clear bulbs, you can always tell by the weird and warped reflections on the ceiling above, and one of lovely Waterford crystal, that I thought was trying to blush, because of different kinds and sizes of clear bulbs, there was also one frosted!!!! Oh, the shame of it! On another evening, we were at a lively dessert and champagne party and everything was super, except the raw Halogen floods on the ceiling - enough to raise the temperature 10 degrees, and perfect for drying your hair after the shower!.. But the worst part was how "dry” everyone looked - you must remember that the sharp and crisp lighting of Halogen also brings out all of the textures of the room ...and its occupants!.... Must I be blunt? Texture is not what a lady (d' un certain age) is needing on her VISAGE! Aurelien and I prefer "Bounce" light from a TORCHIERE, that first goes upward to the ceiling, then returns back down, it’s so flattering. There is then little evidence of the W word, as we said TEXTURE! Remember that Aurelien always says: "White ceilings are a cop-out." He often uses various tints of yellow, pink, peach, sky blue -they often help the proportions of the room - as well as making everyone look gorgeous. The real confirmation of this theory, was later in the days between Christmas and New Years' seeing a couple that had been at the"High Texture" party, who commented that we both looked so fresh and rested this evening- when really it had been non-stop!.... proper lighting does WONDERS! Enough of my Rant on lighting, dears, I must tell you to brave the sloppy winter and explore Notre Dame between Atwater and Peel to discover some lively new faces on the street - many things are changing - Modern furniture, Restos, the super CORONA theatre ,so we'll walk up and down in the next few weeks, but meanwhile, do say Hello, and Bonjour to Gordon and his brother Wayne at the knock-out top shop for lighting at GRAND CENTRAL, then to two near by newbys: Michael at BEIGE, and Guylaine at LEO VICTOR - Friends and fiends of design - DO let us hear from you about what you have found - and want to share- we're always looking for goodies.....well, time to rest these weary arms after a hot time on my Macbook and to quote a woman we earnestly wish we could have known... Dorothy Parker: "I've got to get out of these wet things and into a Dry Martini" bye-bye for now, your Greta von Schmedlapp. p.s. Aurel says keep those notes coming, we get a kick out of you! aurelien@colorsbyaurelien