February | 2022 | Valentina Expressions

La Salle Dore’ – Door With A View

24 Feb 2022 9 Comments

by Valentina in Home Designs Master Tags: #DanAntionDoorChallenge, #FrenchDoorHinge, #FrenchStyleDoor, #SalonDore', #ThursdayDoorChallenge

I visited la Salle or Salon Dore’ at the Legion of Honor Museum in San Francisco when it was just reopened after a newly refitted for a seismic area. The room is a re-creation of an elegant French neoclassical interior architecture. At the time I was remodeling an upscale home in the very same French style. The hinges of the doors in this room reminded me of the same ancient door hinges I had seen in my grandmother’s home and in many ancient homes of regular blokes I visited when I was a child.

The hinges allowed the doors to open away from the frame and lay flat on the walls, giving more space to the ladies wearing a panier dress to pass through without going sideways. That’s what women wore in the 1700s. One can see the full door opened in the rectangular photo (click on the photo to see it larger).
This hinge also allowed the owner of the mansion to see how many guests were in the salon without really being seen. My lovely vane grandmother did the same thing, she wanted to be fully prepared to receive her guests and peeped through the half-open door hinge. She came out when the room was full of people.

A very special door hinge at La Salle Dore’

A Bit of History
During the reign of Louis XVI, the rooms’ style in patrician mansions reflected the grandeur of ancient Rome. Evoking the great exploits of Imperial Rome with giant gilded Corinthian pilasters, tall arched mirrors, trophies of war and love was the way to convey a higher social status of the owner.

Salle or Salon Dore’ Photo: Legion Of Honor

The Salle Dore’ is a historical room that passed hands many times since 1795. Its boiserie (wood paneling) beautified the rooms of many world noble elite, notable business people and bankers, from the Hôtel de la Trémoille in Paris to Baron Ferdinand de Rothschild’s mansion in England, to Mr. Rheem in Burlingame, California until finally arrived in San Francisco at the Legion of Honor Museum and re-created in its full original beauty.

My client ended up decorating one of the rooms in her home sort of like this Salon with bergères, and a canapé upholstered in blue and white silk, armchairs and console tables against the walls. The hinges….?
I had to wrack my brain to find a blacksmith who could reproduce the very same style, nothing less, or my head would have come down.
This is my entry for Thursday Doors challenge, hosted by Dan Antion. Ciao,
Valentina
Amazon Author’s Page

Valentina Cirasola is an interior-fashion consultant, author of 6 published books, a storyteller, and a blogger of many years. Her books are non-fictional practical ideas to apply in the home, fashion, cooking and travel.
Get a copy of her books here: Amazon and Barnes&Noble

A Venetian Door

19 Feb 2022 17 Comments

by Valentina in Home Designs Master Tags: #Door, #GrittiPalace, #HistoricalDoors, #ThursdayDoorChallenge, #VenetianDoor

In response to the Thursday Doors challenge, hosted by Dan Antion, it seems appropriate to talk about a Venetian door at this Carnevale time, the largest event in Venice that happens every year forty days before Easter. This is the door of the historical Gritti hotel, one of the few most exquisite hotels in Venice.

The entry door is designed in a typical classic style, with an arched top, surrounded by stone pilasters on both sides decorated with acanthus leaves and dentilles details.

The noble palace dates back to 1475, and although today it is a commercial hotel for the “elites”, it retains the feel of a private patrician home, where exceptional art and elegance are kept.

The Pisani family owned the palace in 1475 and transformed it into a Gothic shape. In 1525 the building became the private residence of the Doge of Venice, Andrea Gritti, and in the centuries that followed, the palace changed hands many times. It was home to other noble families and illustrious visitors until the early 19th century when it became a luxury hotel.

From the outside, it looks like an ordinary entry door of a patrician palace like many others in Venice. Inside the Gritti shows an unbridled luxury to leave astonished any visitors entering an unreal world beyond all limits. Ciao.
Valentina
Amazon Author’s Page

Copyright © 2022 Valentina Cirasola, All Rights Reserved

I Take Refuge In The Art

08 Feb 2022 4 Comments

by Valentina in Home Designs Master Tags: #GuestBathRemodeling, #NatureColors, #NatureInspiration, #YellowColorScheme, #YellowEnergy

Are you tired of government restrictions and mandates? Do you wonder if we will return to the life we had before 2020? Some of my friends, established married couples of many years are now divorced, some have moved to different areas, and some have disappeared on their own.

Certainly, life has not been very exciting, my refuge has been art for the last two years. Pretty pictures, lots of colors, and inspirational images have saved me. In the history of the world, the greatest masterpieces sprung out of the epidemic crisis. Art has been a refuge for the soul during hard times for a lot of people. Artists see the reality that scientists ignore, said Gustavo Rol, an Italian parapsychologist, philosopher, and painter.

I think art comes from that invisible world that dominates us, of which each of us is the millionth part and together creates the great puzzle of human art.

Some people may think can’t even draw a straight line. That’s not true, they just have never developed the artistic side of the brain. Everybody who can see is an artist without even knowing it, everybody can contribute to keeping this world beautiful. Beauty and art will save the world.

I don’t think I make art masterpieces, but it has been uplifting to take refuge in the colors of nature.

I painted the guest bathroom from top to bottom, furniture included and refurbished the décor.
The yellow illuminates like the sunlight, there is no chance to get depressed in here.

While I am waiting for life to come back, I will continue doing what makes me feel good, soak myself in the arts. Ciao,
Valentina
Amazon Author’s Page

Copyright © 2022 Valentina Cirasola, All Rights Reserved

Valentina Cirasola is an interior-fashion consultant, author of 6 published books, a storyteller, and a blogger of many years. Her books are non-fictional practical ideas to apply in the home, fashion, cooking and travel. Get a copy of her books here:
Amazon and Barnes&Noble