Hidden Villa: Humanitarian Awards Dinner

could anything be more appealing than

this beautiful chioggia beet?

The Duveneck family were on the side of the angels a long, long time ago. In 1924 they established a self-sustaining organic farm as an educational center and invited multi-racial children to the summer camps they started in 1945. This is the incredible legacy and mandate for Hidden Villa today.

It was an honor to head the Decorating Committee for the annual Humanitarian Awards Dinner for 350 tented outside under the stars this last weekend in the hills west of Palo Alto, California.

With an almost non-existent budget for decorations, we naturally turned to the Farm itself as a source to interpret this year's theme, Deep Roots, New Shoots, and used our own farm-grown products: olive tree branches, chioggia beets, organic carrots, sunflowers, zinnias, amaranth for the centerpieces. We asked the board members, staff and decorations committee to collect old bottles. We were able to use those as single-stem-vases, jumping on that hot trend. A cornstalk turned roots-up became a holder for the table numbers.

We were thrilled to witness the incredible honorees Chris Bischof & Helen Kim, Eboo Patel, and Susan, Franklin, Katherine, David & Katy Orr receive the distinguished Humanitarian Awards that evening over our farm-cultivated gourmet feast and fine wines.

Plan to join us next year! and in the meantime, be sure to visit Hidden Villa, in person or online. You will be impressed and grateful to know there is an organization that cares so deeply about our culture, our children, and our mother earth.

And, you can get fresh, organic vegetables every week next summer if you sign up early enough!

the theme: Deep Roots, New Shoots inspired us

to use farm produce in the centerpieces

the big tent the afternoon before the dinner

tables are just about ready for the evening festivities

our artistic "melange" of farm-grown

flowers and vegetables;

we wanted a simple presentation

we notched the upturned cornstalk and

let the roots anchor the centerpiece while

holding the table number

the second tent looks so cool and inviting before

we set up the silent auction items

***

A Little Tour Around

a pathway leading to the old stagecoach stop

the old stagecoach house now houses summer interns

from all over the world

a peaceful, pastoral scene

the Duveneck residence built in 1924, now center

for Hidden Villa staff and events, including weddings!

the roadway meanders through the farm pastures,

gardens, buildings with gorgeous views all around

gorgeous zinnias grown on the farm!

{from Kit}

linked to Between Naps on the Porch

Vintage Navajo Rug: UpCycle-able?

I was quite distraught about this.....

valuable vintage Navajo Rug of mine that

got damaged in storage

estimates to repair the damage were in the

thousands of $$$

...until I saw these!

really fun sofa and chair upholstered

in antique Tunisian kilim fragments...

very chic in this room!

from Cote Maison

none other than the beloved French interior designer Madelaine Castaing

loved these tribal rugs too and used them with abandon!

from Jeanne-Aelia, my dear friend at Through the French Eye of Design

French designer Pierre Yovanovitch used kilim remnants

to add texture and drama to a simple interior

from remodelista

a very "kilim-like" Missoni fabric upholstering the

venerable Eames Lounge Chair and Ottoman

from 3rings

Now there isn't an ottoman or chair anywhere that's safe with me! Wouldn't my damaged rug look fabulous as a pouf? or covering a clean-lined modern chair like this one?

What do you think? Ideas, please, brilliant readers!!

{from Kit}

A Simple Summer Backyard Wedding à la Chic Provence

The appeal of the backyard wedding is stronger than ever. Brides today want to have their weddings in unique, personalized and..yes, less expensive settings. So, rather than rent the magnificent hotel ballroom or the caves at the local winery, if the backyard has some nice features and lends itself to a little sprucing up and has enough elbowroom for guests, it’s the perfect solution!

Pear & Pepper Fine Events and Catering asked me to designed this small, intimate and very chic wedding setting for an upcoming bride to see an example of just how charming and effective a backyard wedding can be. She was enchanted, P&P was happy, and she booked us both for the wedding!

For an early evening wedding, nothing is more glamorous than

flickering tea lights casting a soft glow on crystal,

silver, shimmering table linens and beautiful flowers. Don't you agree?

The centerpiece is a simple and elegant arrangement of vintage bottles

on a footed silver tray with a different flower stem in each..

very effective, charming and doesn't cost the earth!

Pear and Pepper designed this pitch perfect menu of delicious

Provencal dishes for the small wedding. The amazing

Provencal wines they chose will accompany each course. Yum!

Because the wedding is small..24 guests..we used gorgeous

dishes, glassware and napkins from Anthropologie for the settings.

The bride is thrilled to keep these lovely items for

her new home. And with the money she saves by having

a backyard wedding, she can keep all 24 settings, or give as

gifts to her bridal party. Notice the plums from the tree?

It's a signature of Chic Provence event design to use things from

nature whenever the opportunity presents itself!

A richness is created by the textures and jewel tones of the

patterned champagne and small tumblers (here used for tea lights), the

Ikat patterned napkins, the rich tones of the flowers and

the plum color of the ..well, plums from the tree!

This version is a little different; the cloches are placed on each plate and

the ikat napkins are hanging to show off their lovely design. We tried this

version earlier in the afternoon and decided the look just didn't work.

That's the fun part of design..it's always a process!

Although I designed the center table only, we Photoshopped in two more

tables to give the bride a realistic view of

three 48" square tables, each seating eight people.

We think we like the

"Louis Ghost" chairs (not sure). Do you?

A sheer lavender layer over old French linen tablecloths

is the perfect color for anchoring our scheme.

***

inspiration pieces: the rich purple votives,

and the bottle arrangement centerpieces we are designing

for a large fundraiser in the fall

***

some photos by Kit and the better ones by

Chris Golson Photography!

A Fireplace Makeover: A Small Before & After

The client had inherited a flush marble tile faced fireplace with no mantel. Stopgap measures included experimenting with a unique screen (didn't go too far!) and settling for hanging a couple of oil paintings from France over the opening and hoping it didn't attract too much attention to itself.

fireplace, afterwards

With tiny budget, we were able to create an elegant fireplace surround and mantel, and place a wonderful Empire style gilt mirror over the mantel. We bought the mirror at a local thrift store for $12.00, then with a few cents' worth of gesso and $9.00 in gold leaf from Michael's, we created a gorgeous gold-leafed mirror for $21.00. A friend arrived and guessed the mirror had cost $1200 so we knew we had succeeded!

The mantel was found at the local building materials salvage yard for $75.00. It was sanded and prepped for priming and painting, then mounted on the fireplace surround for a perfect fit and a wonderful nod to Louis XV in design.

Total cost: Mirror: $21.00, Mantel $75 plus paint and labor to attach to wall (about $125 here in the Bay Area) Total: $221. and change.

What do you think?

fireplace, before

.........................................

in 2010, it's:

Kit Golson Design

for elegant, sustainable and pragmatic

Chic Provence Interior Design

Joyeaux Noel!

To all of my readers, fellow bloggers, friends and family!

Wishing for you and yours a happy, healthy, peaceful

and safe Christmas and a prosperous New Year!

My heartfelt thanks to everyone of you who reads Chic Provence!

Your ongoing support is a treasure for me!

...........................

P.S. yes as I promised to show you, that's the skirt I found at the flea market and used

for a Christmas tree skirt....on this little tree it's a bit much...

but next year, watch out!

............................

in the New Year:

Kit Golson Design

for elegant, sustainable and pragmatic

Chic Provence Interior Design

Well, I Said There Would Be Grapefruit!

This is my Christmas centerpiece! I used a yellow vintage iron stand, applied some gold leaf to it, then piled in ruby red grapefruit that I also gold-leafed (sparingly...hey we're gonna eat these things!) along with bunches of green mandarin oranges from our tree out in the far back yard where there is not quite enough sun for the mandarin oranges to ripen...ever!

I finished it off with some random gold ribbon and some of that floral netting poked in here and there. I think it looks rather rusticly elegant for decorations that will soon be standing in for breakfast (see brunch recipe here) !

Centerpiece for the Dining Table

Featuring Ruby Red Grapefruit

in the Starring Role!

Voila! Ready for Christmas festivities! And it didn't cost the world: grapefruit, $6 for twenty pounds at Costco, gold leaf $9 at Michael's, floral net, pennies from floral supply, container, flea market find.

Ruby Red Grapefruit

Play a Supporting Role

on the Mantel Next to

the Icon of Mary and Jesus

Soon I will feature a portrait of the Christmas tree and how I made that skirt work with it, then, that's it! No more holiday stuff! I think.

{elegant, sustainable, pragmatic:

the Chic Provence way!}

.......................

.............................................................

CONTACT:

Kit Golson Design

for elegant, sustainable and pragmatic

Chic Provence Interior Design