Valentina

Awakening Cosmic Energy | Valentina Cirasola | Designer and Author

25 Jun 2019 2 Comments

by Valentina in The Good Life Tags: #HypericumHerb, #ItalianSummerCelebrations, #PugliaTraditions, #SpaghettiStJohnStyle, #StJohnCelebration

Yesterday, June 24th, I forgot it was St. John’s’ Day. In Italy, this saint celebration “greets” the arrival of summer, awakening the cosmic energies. Some traditional customs are still alive and well in Puglia as in most regions in Italy.

Saint John the Baptist, the first apostle of Christ, is the only saint whose birth is celebrated instead of his death.

On June 23rd, the longest night of the year, people gather to celebrate a midsummer eve, with a bonfire, music, parades in period costumes, special street markets, craft, fireworks, drinking and eating. In the Marche region in central Italy, the feast culminates in the “Infiorata” a carpet of flowers all over the towns, and in Florence, St. John feast continues to be observed since the medieval time with a 3-day celebration of various street expressions.
According to an ancient belief, on Saint John’s night evil spirits and witches fly around, thus herbs must be hung on entry doors.
In Puglia, on this evening, women collect herbs besides making a Nocino liqueur and prepare a special pasta dish.

(Click on each photo to view it larger).

Hypericum_perforatum_Carl Axel Magnus Lindman_Wikipedia

In the darkness of this evening, new herbs are gathered to compose the bunch of St. John’s herbs, which drives away the evil eye, brings good luck and, if put under the pillow before going to sleep, calms the person down, bringing sweet premonitory dreams. Many different herbs compose the St. John’s bunch for good humor, prosperity, the removal of the evil and negativity and medicinal benefits: hypericum, also called “cast out devils herb”, artemisia for fertility, rue, mint, rosemary, parsley, garlic, lavender, fennel, lemon verbena, mallows, laburnum, foxgloves, and elderflowers. Crusaders treated their wounds with St. John’s herbs, considered beneficial, so history says.

Propitiatory water is made with these herbs, one can wash and refresh the face, or make a bouquet to gift the special friends who have a deeper relationship with us.

Green Almond – Game Widow – Wikipedia

The preparation of the Nocino liqueur considered the witches’ liqueur is one of the many traditional customs on the night of St.John’s celebration. My father made it every year, it was very strong, didn’t much like it, but I drank it anyway just to be a good sport. Green walnuts are the main ingredients, they are picked green because it is easy to pierce them with a pin from side to side to allow the alcohol to penetrate the almonds during maceration time, until the night of San Lawrence, on August 10th.
On this date, walnuts are filtered, sweetened, flavored with spices, such as cinnamon and cloves.

Of course, there is a special dish for this celebration, Spaghetti St. John’s style. During my recent visit to Puglia, I tasted spaghetti made with old grain and brought a bunch with me to California, My spaghetti St.John are seasoned with anchovies, capers, chili peppers, cherry tomatoes, and basil. It’s a simple, fast and very tasty sauce. It takes only 10 minutes of preparation and cooking.

Spaghetti San Giovanni in my California garden

Celebrating my Puglia holidays in America is a thing I do with myself or with very close people who have the same desire to celebrate something different than Americans do. Ciao,
Valentina
https://valentinaexpressions.com/trips-to-puglia-2/

As a writer and cultural promoter of Puglia, her native land, Valentina’s intention is to let readers feel and experience a new ”wheel of emotions”. She wants to encourage them to visit areas of Puglia not beaten by massive tourism. Through stories of local customs, art, architecture, fashion, food-wines, shopping, she wants them to create their special adventures and live it up in Puglia! Check out her books on Barnes&Nobles: http://goo.gl/q7dQ3w
The latest published book ©The Road To Top Of The World is a travel narrative on short stories of Puglia.
https://tinyurl.com/y7tuyfh8

The Special Status Of Number 3 | Valentina Cirasola | Interior Designer

23 Jun 2019 2 Comments

by Valentina in Home Designs Master Tags: #RuleOf3, #ThePowerOf3, #ThreeAsPerfectNumber

For centuries, in many cultures and for some inexplicable reason, number 3 has been considered the perfect number.
Tesla the most influential scientist was obsessed with the number 3 and created everything in multiple of 3.
Followers of magic and esoteric, think the number 3 has a magical power, in fact, the word Magic itself has 3 consonants.
3 represents the alignment of brain, heart, and body or the triangle in geometry with three sides.
Shamrock, the three leaves clover weed is the Irish lucky symbol, used in the 5th Century Ireland to explain the Holy Trinity, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, to people converting to Christianity.
The Resurrection of Christ happened on the third day of his crucifixion.

In decorating is where we see the full expression of the number 3. We can decide to make a vignette by grouping 3 items, tall, medium, and small. This arrangement is pleasing to the eyes, shows harmony, rhythm, and style, or we can decide to create a gallery by grouping odd numbers together, 3-5-7-9 and so on.

(Click on each photo to view it larger).

Tiles-Lamp-Vignette

I created a gallery wall with antique mirrors, a ceramic ball, and an antique candle holder. It’s funny how the subject in my picture is about two people dancing and a street lampost behind them. It’s also curious to see the reflections in the small mirrors doubling the effect of the gallery.

Small-Antique-Mirrors-Gallery

I love to put colored glass objects near a widow. The reverberation of sun rays on the glass is amazing, colors change in different hours of the days.

Glass_Balls

In photography, the law of a 3 works well for a composition. This is my calla lilies studies grouping.

3 Calla Lilies Vignette

In various cuisines of the world, the trittico, a base for many sauces, is made of carrot, celery, and onion.
Food plated in odd numbers 1-3-5 always look better than 2 or 4 food items, sauces or dollops.

I experienced this tasty apricot dessert at the Culinary Academy, designed with 3 elements: a cake, a friable cookie, and apricot sauce.

Apricot Dessert

Human beings attach meaning to colors in 3 particular ways: nature, culture, and personal feelings.
In Nature – Red represents fire. Green is associated with plants, forest, and vegetation. Blue is associated with the ocean, seas, and lakes. Yellow is the sun which energizes us, a little daily exposure to the sun gives us a healthy life, bones and good vitamins; without a yellow sun, we would not exist.
In various cultures, colors pick up many meanings: white is a mourning color in India, black is either a mourning color in western civilization or the elegant color for parties and galas. Red in China is a fortune color, often used in weddings. Earthy colors define a South-Western civilization, bright and bold colors are for tropical areas.
On personal feelings – Often, we speak in colors and we don’t even notice it. Colors are abstract, they are electromagnetic waves, but one color expression can in an instant show our character. By using certain expressions related to colors, we vibrate the same way colors do, emanating sensations of temperature, feelings of love and anger, fear and joy, attention and caution, mood, state of mind and much more. Here are some fun expressions: “green with envy” – “bolt from the blue” – “red carpet treatment” – “yellow fever” – “green belt” – “yellow press” – “as brown as a berry” – “golden opportunity” – “silver screen” – “grey matter” (…) Except from my book:
© Red-A Voyage Into Colors – http://goo.gl/q7dQ3w

Ceramic Eggs

There you have it, number 3 seems to be the perfect number in any situation. Ciao,
Valentina
http://www.valentinadesigns.com

Valentina Cirasola is an Italian Interior Designer working in the USA and Europe since 1990, specializing in interior and exterior, color analysis, kitchen, bath, wine cellar, and outdoor kitchen designs. Often people describe her as “the colorist” as she loves to color her clients’ world and loves to create the unusual. “Vogue” magazine and many prominent publications in California featured Valentina’s work. RAI–Italian National TV invited her to appear in “Cara Francesca Show” and she has made four appearances on T.V. Comcast Channel 15. Author of four published books, one of which is on the subject of colors ©RED – A Voyage Into Colors. Barnes&Nobles: http://goo.gl/q7dQ3w
The newly published book ©The Road to Top Of The World
is available in paperback and kindle. https://tinyurl.com/y7tuyfh8

A Month in Europe | Valentina Cirasola | Designer and Author

14 Jun 2019 2 Comments

by Valentina in The Good Life Tags: #EuropeanFolkArt, #EuropeTravel, #Prague, #TravelItaly, #VacationTime, Puglia

Ah, it was so good to have been off the Internet for a month, I detoxed of some of the electromagnetism and it feels so good.
I was in Europe the entire month of May and what a month has been! On the return flight back to the USA, everything that could have gone wrong went wrong. I assure you it was painful, however, when I was finally up in the air acting as if I was enjoying the flight, I recollected the precious moments I lived in May, it was like images scrolled in a film and I relived the beautiful moments.
Life is much better as a comedy, I saw the funny side in every situation.

My hotel was a 16th-century building. I enjoyed my room in the mansard, the exposed wood beams in the room, the small windows on the roof, the stone stairs and the whole antiquity feel of it. The nights were so peaceful and warm up there, it was enveloping after being in the cold weather all day. The chirping of birds and the sound of a church bells wake me up in the morning at 6:00 am punctual.

(Click on each photo to view it larger).

Prague – 16th Century Hotel

The weather was inclement, it was cold and rainy the entire month, I even experienced the “bomb rain” as people call it there. In Prague, one day, I was walking to the Alfonse Mucha’s Museum, the day was cold and sunny, it was a good day for a brisque walk. Right before I arrived at the Museum, rain poured down abruptly without warning, the sky turned dark grey and water came down like a furious hurricane, it got me totally soaked head to toes!
That was fun. 😱

Every day, I walked on cobblestone streets and enjoyed the changing of design from block to block. I also enjoyed the kind manners of some men when the sidewalk was narrow, stopping and yielding for me to pass first. In a world of rude people, that’s so precious!

Designed cobblestones

All stores had an antique feel to it, caryatids held the building gracefully. Antique, blackout wood doors, closed the stores at night, the same doors I had seen in my childhood in Italy. I am so in love with rich classic architecture and Prague is full of it!

Jewelry Store

Caryatid

I climbed many steps, visited many artists and folk art places.

Castle Stairs

Figurines

Marionettes Shop

Leather Money/Telephone Cases

I ate in the most characteristic places and not necessarily restaurants. Murals in this bistro resemble the style of Dutch Renaissance painter Pieter Bruegel the Elder.

Restaurant-Murals

Murals in a Restaurant

Mural in a restaurant

I admired beautiful panoramas, visited castles and cathedrals, took a boat ride, saw the change of the guards in the castle, and studied the character of some militaries on a post (humans are the same everywhere, there is always the leader in every crowd).

Tourists Boat on Charles Bridge

Militaries

Prague, the city of 1000 spires is a beautiful walkable city, its red roofs nestled in a lot of greenery convey traditions, people are very kind and the bad weather didn’t stop me from having a nice vacation. Food is based on meat, potatoes, starch, and divine beers.

Prague – Red Roofs

The art I saw here will be a new inspiration for my design. My European genes are calling. See you soon, Europe. Ciao,
Valentina
Trotting the world one country at a time
https://valentinaexpressions.com/trips-to-puglia-2/

Valentina Cirasola is an Italian interior designer in business since 1990. She is passionate about colors and all expressive arts. She is a “colorist”. To her, selecting art means to bring out the best energy of her clients and nourish their soul. She trots the world and loves writing travel notes, from which she draws inspiration to design her interiors. She is the author of four books, one of which is on the subject of colors: ©Red-A Voyage Into Colors available on
Barnes&Nobles: http://goo.gl/q7dQ3w
She also wrote a travel narrative: ©The Road To Top Of The World
available in paper and Kindle version: https://tinyurl.com/y7tuyfh8

A Conversation On Black Color | Valentina Cirasola | Interior Designer

08 May 2019 Leave a comment

by Valentina in Home Designs Master Tags: #BlackDinneware, #BlackTableSetting, #ColorBlack, #EffectOfColorBlack

Recently I dealt with a client, a young bride whose husband likes a monochromatic color tone of black, grey, little white and no other colors. He is a high-tech engineer, apparently sees his world in greyish tones from his clothes to home décor. She writes:
“Dear Valentina, it is a common belief among youngsters that if we do not dress in black, we are not trendy, therefore those people like me who don’t overdo with black are considered outsiders. Furthermore, another common belief is that colors are a bit precarious and those who wear colors are unstable and insecure.”
I really don’t know where this one comes from. colors are LIFE and that’s a fact!!!

I told her: “Think about the blue of the sky and the sea, the yellow of the sun, the green of the woods … the color of every single flower…. colors are the nature that surrounds us. I believe that adopting the “all black effect” will make us move away from nature and wean us from all-natural things.”
In her note, my young client seems unhappy about not being able to express herself in her new home with the colors she likes.

The secret to creating harmony in a home depends on a few elements:
1. adapt the colors for interiors and accessories to reflect the characters of the people living in the house;
2. understand how people will use and live that space;
3. know how to compromise by mixing each desire for items or colors both people like. A pink bedroom with ducks, doilies, and ruffles is out of the question when a man who likes streamlines. modern and graphic colors sleeps in the same bedroom. The same way it is not appropriate to eat in black dishes, just because only one likes it.

Canvas Home.com

Following trends to the letter, as trends dictate, is not that good of thing either. For a while it has been fashionable to design black kitchens, to have a table set with black dishes, black cutlery, and black glasses. Youngster under thirty, are going nuts for this trend, my young client’s husband is one of them. Yes, it might be chic to see it in a shop’s window, however, serving food in a black dish….
Just imagine this picture:
you are sitting in a restaurant in Positano waiting for your plate of spaghetti and seafood to arrive. You are already anticipating tasting the sea. The plate arrives with an incredible aroma in a riot of colors that bombards you. There is the black of mussels’ shells against the orange of the mussels’ flesh, then shades of ochre and red in the clams, the red of the shrimps, finally a handful of green parsley all over. Imagining this specialty being served on a white porcelain plate is one thing, imagining the same specialty being served on a black plate is a totally different thing!!!
I already know which of the two my young client would prefer: the white plate and I would too.

(Click on each photo to view it larger).

Impepata Cozze

How can these trendy people drink a glass of red wine in a black glass? It is a crime, I am thinking to myself, and yet her husband does.
Drinking red wine in a crystal glass will confuse me just by looking at all the rays of colors reflected in the light. A crystal glass will also emphasize the jewel tones of the red wine and enhance the pleasure of tasting.

A goblet of red wine

I do not know if this obvious and simple example of the spaghetti with seafood in Positano or drinking red wine out of crystal glass and not in a black glass amazed my young client, but since she is on my same colorful wavelength, I suggested to describe this scene to her husband and watch his reaction. Eating colorful food in the right colored dishes is healthy for the brain/eye activity and it is a thankful celebration of each time we eat.

She tells me: “I know you love your food to be presented on the right plate, with the right shape, with the right colors and the right tablecloth. I don’t blame you for being so fussy, but precise. In the end, your way adds beauty and pleasure to the table”.

It was easy for me to interpret her thoughts and doubts about being in black all day long. Sincerely, I have the impression people surrounded by black clothes and black interiors mourn their lives. With all my heart, I hope to have converted my client’s husband to a bit of color.
This is a part of a short excerpt from a conversation that took place online between myself and my young client in Europe, a lover of colors and architecture, who lives in Switzerland and I have only met through Skype, never in person. Our professional exchange of ideas brought a beautiful friendship, one that doesn’t feel the distance, nor the oceans. Ciao.
Valentina
http://www.valentinadesigns.com

Valentina Cirasola is an Italian Interior Designer working in the USA and Europe since 1990, specializing in interior and exterior, color analysis, kitchen, bath, wine cellar, and outdoor kitchen designs. Often people describe her as “the colorist” as she loves to color her clients’ world and loves to create the unusual. “Vogue” magazine and many prominent publications in California featured Valentina’s work. RAI–Italian National TV invited her to appear in “Cara Francesca Show” and she has made four appearances on T.V. Comcast Channel 15. Author of four published books, one of which is on the subject of colors ©RED – A Voyage Into Colors.
Barnes&Nobles: http://goo.gl/q7dQ3w
The newly published book ©The Road to Top Of The World
paperback – https://tinyurl.com/y7tuyfh8
Kindle – https://amzn.to/2H7ipGE

Garden For The Soul | Valentina Cirasola | Interior Designer

07 May 2019 2 Comments

by Valentina in Home Designs Master Tags: #GardenArt, #GardenDecor, #GardenDesign, #GardenForTheKitchen, #GardenIllumination

In most American homes, usually one must enter the home through the garden. Some people like it beautiful, manicured and structured, some like it a bit natural, low maintenance and some like it made into vignettes (me). I adore going through gardens and find many elements of surprise and various sceneries. A well-designed garden is based on elements of designs or elements of architecture, then textures, forms, colors and clearly marked pathway.

Plants variety enhance the garden and make beautiful sceneries. Follow the rule of sizes for the best look, tall plants go in the back (wall, fence or island), they are the sentinels of the garden, short plants go in the front and then ground cover to finish.
It’s important to study the rotation of the sun around the house. The area with the most sun during the day takes plants that can stand full sun.
Use container planters and potted plants to move around and change the scene. Today, conserving water is of the utmost importance. Consider an easy maintenance xeriscape made of plants that are not temperamental and don’t need much of anything, only water, and seldom nutrients. I sing at my plants.

(Click on each photo to view it larger).

Corner Vegetation

Colors. Can we ever do anything without thinking of colors? Absolutely not. Have you ever noticed when driving on highways, traveling miles after miles, that the colors of trees change from light to dark, and from monochromatic to complementary colors? The change of colors assures a harmonious drive to avoids boredom and to keep the drivers attentive. Color schemes in the garden are just as important for a great composition of light and dark, soft and bold, cool and warm, they just add pleasure in our eyes.

Succulent making pink flowers when in bloom

Style of the garden – classic with symmetry or free form?
In a classic garden, it’s important to create symmetry. If you look at buildings in Italy, you will see a row of windows with a triangle pediment, and a row with arched windows. Then look down and will see two columns of the same size framing the entry of the building. In classic architecture, details are symmetrical to infuse peace in the eyes of the viewers. It is the same when creating a classic garden. The position and the cut of plants must be symmetrical. Curves are the details of a classically designed garden, which is usually an area with flower beds all around the curves to make us feel embraced. Most often in the center of a curvy area, there is a water source, a fountain, a pond with colorful fish, or a small pool.

Allied Art Round Area Garden

A free form garden is made of whatever you want, just don’t mix the styles. For example, in a Japanese style garden, there will be a small bridge, stone lanterns, maybe a Buddha, stones of different shapes, and some sandy area. In a fantasy garden, there might be fairies and gnomes, whimsical metal sculptures, funky statues and everything that strikes your fancy.

Garden Fairies

Plant an orchard. If space allows it, in between flowers, you might want to cultivate some of the food you eat. We know how effective color blocking is in fashion and in interiors, use the same method to create a color blocking for products in the same family, for instance, red and green romaine lettuce, purple and green cauliflowers, green and purple cabbage, yellow and multicolor corn. You get the idea.

My orchard with funky characters

Lighting – I can’t stress enough how important lighting is for the garden, mainly for security purpose and to beautify. The entry landing should be always well illuminated, that’s where we greet people, the light should feel welcoming. The light around bushes under windows will keep unwanted people away and pathways must be clearly defined. Led lights are the best solutions today – https://bit.ly/2LDa4zU.

Led Solar Light

Following these simple criteria will help to conceive a beautiful garden. Ciao,
Valentina
http://www.valentinadesigns.com

Valentina is an Italian Interior Designer since 1990 designing for the USA and Europe’s markets. She loves to remodel homes and gardens. With her many years of experience, she is able to cover a wide range of design solutions. Often her clients ask to design the landscape concept complete with lighting to complement the interiors she restyles. She creates “exterior rooms” as she calls them and limits the garden design only to vignettes, no structural work. She offers design consultations online anywhere in the world through Skype and Zoom. Valentina is the author of four books available on
Barnes&Nobles: http://goo.gl/q7dQ3w

Always On The Right | Valentina Cirasola | Author and Designer

28 Apr 2019 Leave a comment

by Valentina in The Good Life Tags: #AlwaysOnThe Right, #BonTon, #ButtonCustoms, #ButtonHistory, #CustomsDoneWithTheRightHand, #TheRightWay

There is always something good to learn on “Tendance” the French show I watch on my TV almost every day.
In one of the shows, I learned about buttons and how they evolved during the centuries.

Buttons photo by Valentina

There was a time when buttons were almost more important than the dress or at least complimented the dress in the same splendor. The first buttons appeared in the XII century Europe and soon became very popular among rich and nobles, who competed with each other in extravagance and opulent fashion. Buttons became so luxurious, often made with precious stones, even painted as miniature art on canvas, and became status symbols only nobles and the rich could wear. Under King Louis XIV high society demanded crazy luxurious buttons and buttons with royal images, thus the King limited the fabrications.

Men, military or not, wore swords on the left, it became a custom in the XVII Century to sew buttons on men’s clothing on the right and buttonholes on the left to allow sabers or swords to be easily removed and not interfering with buttons. I thought men’s buttons are on the right to distinguish from the female garments. Women, in fact, had their buttons sewn on the left and buttonholes on the right to allow servants to dress them easily. Nothing has changed since then, except servants don’t dress us anymore.

Osprey, Men-At-Arms #016 Frederick the Great's Army

Osprey, Men-At-Arms-Frederick the Great’s Army

By the 1950s, the Golden Age of buttons ended, giving the way to leucite and plastic buttons. With the youth revolution of the ’60s, buttons became very colorful, often displayed political, love and peace messages.

Source: https://etsy.me/2IMU0ti

Nowadays, nobody gives great importance to buttons, the main function is to fasten a piece of garment, rarely made to embellish. Zipper, Velcro, and metal fasteners substitute buttons. This black redingote with lucite buttons suits me and defines me perfectly in my bold character. Those clear buttons give visually a high value to the garment.

Redingote

Find my buttons on Etsy: https://tinyurl.com/y6swdu5v

Button Covers by Valentina

Always on the right is not only about buttons. In the civilized world, where good manners still make a difference, women wear hats tilted to the right side of the head, a sassy way to say “I look good”. However, wearing a hat tilted to the right means she can talk and show her face to the man accompanying her. He must walk on her left to give her his right arm in a sign of respect. I don’t feel offended being feminine and allow men to be attentive to me. If a man wants to respect and protect me, I let him and welcome him with open arms.

Always on the right. Again, a woman walking with a man must walk along the side of buildings, not along the sidewalk where there might be dusty cars parked or traffic going by. Who makes up these rules? The bon ton does.
In America, people drive more than they walk, I realize these customs might sound absurd.

Always on the right. In elementary school, we are taught to write with the right hand. In business, it is customary to attach a name tag on the right side of the clothes and as we shake hands with the right hand, the eyes go directly to the name tag. We greet a familiar person with a kiss on the right cheek and the military salute is always done with the right hand.
Don’t we give the right of way when we drive? It’s the rule of driving laws, and if we don’t respect it, we are in for big accidents, huge fines, and hard consequences.

I don’t know why this curious Sunday digression took place in my mind, I guess I wanted to rattle off my thoughts.
Happy Sunday. Ciao,
Valentina
http://www.valentinadesigns.com

Valentina Cirasola is an Italian Interior and Fashion Designer, working in the USA and Europe. She blends fashion and interior well in any of her design work. She loves to remodel homes and loves to create the unusual, as much as she likes to restyle people’s images. She is a storyteller and finds inspirations everywhere to write her stories. She needs your story to design your dream home or your dream look. She is a public speaker, a mentor, and author. Check out her books on
Barnes&Nobles: http://goo.gl/q7dQ3w
Her latest books: ©The Road To Top Of The World is on Amazon
https://tinyurl.com/y7tuyfh8

Sculpting With The Light | Valentina Cirasola | Interior Designer

03 Apr 2019 2 Comments

by Valentina in Home Designs Master Tags: #LightingEffect, #lightingGames, #LightingLayering, #LightingSculpting, Lighting

Is the sparkle of a chandelier the only light you imagine yourself being enveloped in?
Fortunately, a central light mounted in the middle of the ceiling as the only fixture that illuminates the entire room is passé and so are all the track light systems. These fixtures attract attention to themselves and detract attention from people, often-casting shadows on people’s faces.

Modern lighting is a visual phenomenon, it’s made inviting and creates a mood. Light is life and people congregate in rooms well-lit. In fact, the eyes need highlights and shadows to rest. A bright blasting light only blinds people, gives headache and leaves everything flat with no dimension.

In planning an efficient lighting system, we must first think of people and how good they will feel in our home when the light is right. We don’t want our family members or guests to look sick with bags under their eyes.
We should think of the type of tasks we do daily. These areas will receive a brighter light to fulfill our tasks.
We must create ambient light, which is perfect for conversing, for the comfort of the soul and to relax the mind.
Finally, we must accent everything of value, artworks, sculptures, glass art, photographs and interesting piece of furniture.

(Click on each photo to view it larger).

Sculpting with lights

I see a good lighting system as a “layering effect”, sort of like painting and sculpting with lighting. The fixtures come in the second order and the light plays the main role. Don’t get me wrong, fixtures add style to a room, and we can admire their beauty during the day when the lights are turned off. However, lighting is one of the elements of design that must agree with human eyes, colors and shapes and the one element that visually enlarges or shrinks spaces. As in a theatre performance we never see the light source, we see highlighted only people and the important details of the plays, the same principle applies to home lighting.

A light effect from a lamp

Have a corner you can call yours, a place just for you and layer lights for harmony and coziness.

Cozy light ambiance for a private corner

I like to create silhouettes, contrasts of shadows and light for different areas of the same space. I will never leave a corner in the dark and often I put lights behind furniture to create a glow on the wall. If I have an empty vase, most likely I will fill it with a light and if I decorate with flowers, artificial or not, somehow I will illuminate that arrangement indirectly.

I hope these small examples help you to look at your spaces in a different “light”. I do offer online consultations via Skype or Zoom. The world has become smaller and distances do not exist anymore. Ciao,
Valentina
http://www.valentinadesigns.com

It’s my hope that through my writing and my stories I am enriching your aesthetic sensibility towards design, style and inspiring you to live in beauty. I love to encourage my clients to show their personality through their home décor, or the clothes they wear. I have loved my profession as an interior-fashion designer since 1990. I am here ready to offer consultations on-line if you need. Check out one of my books on the subject of colors, ©RED-A Voyage Into Colors, the third in line of my book collection
Barnes&Nobles: https://bit.ly/2FLyp0q

Hanging It In The Sun | Valentina Cirasola | Author & Designer

03 Apr 2019 2 Comments

by Valentina in The Good Life Tags: #EcologicalLaundry, #NaturalHomeProducts, #RecyclingClothes, #Reuse, #TheArtOfRecycling

Growing up in Italy in my Italian family, I had to learn to do things in a certain way. We were respectful of the environment due to lack of space and lack of technology, hence we reused and recycled many items, other than using our hands to do the work of appliances and machines we didn’t have. We also learned to use our hands to make things, clothes, food, and items for the house. Depleting the environment was not a common notion back then and I am not talking about the Dark Ages either, it was just the way of life.

The building I lived as a child was a circular shape, with an atrium open to the sky as the main entrance to the building, closed with a heavy iron door that needed 2 people to close it and a terrace on the top of the building. People leaving there used the atrium to socialize, eat together especially on Sundays, gossip, playing cards, help each other in case of necessity, kids played safely indoor and breathed fresh air. It felt almost like the film “Rear Window” with James Stewart and Grace Kelly. The terrace was the place for hanging laundry, for drying food or making preserved food and sauces to keep for the winter.

Laundry

Laundry time was really fun for the kids, a lot less for women doing the laundry. Did you know that in the ’60s when in America women already used the washing machine in the comfort of their laundry room, in Italy part of the country was still washing clothes with the ashes from burned wood? The process of ashes filtration happened through a simple white cloth with the aid of boiling water to extract the sodium carbonates present in the ash. This operation was practiced up to the ’60s to wash and whiten the laundry, also to peel legumes. It was hard work for the women who did it at least once a week.

Kids didn’t have the chore of the laundry, we watched the juicy romance that was taking place between the sheets hanging in the sun. In Italy love is everywhere, it’s just the air of the country that makes anyone fall in love. We played kids’ game on the terrace, but when the laundry was up drying, we mostly enjoyed watching grown-up lovers and teenagers at their first love experience making out between the sheets hanging in the sun. They used them as a shield to hide, smooch, kiss and talk romance. Sometimes we received a few cents to keep an eye at the door of the terrace and prevent anyone unwanted from coming in. The memory of the terrace is still grant. Some of us girls got the first kiss between the sheets on the terrace.

Laundry

Today, I have a washing machine, I always had one, and no, I have not washed my laundry with ashes, but I never had a dryer in my entire life. I like my laundry to smell fresh as nature without the chemical of softener. Drying laundry in the air is bucolic and saves electricity. I keep it away from direct sunlight to avoid discoloration and not to get it as dry as Norwegian stockfish. However, I am a big believer in recycling or reusing and I teach others to do the same. One cannot possibly understand how much I recycle. Yes, I do have time to do manual things, it’s all about priority and how one organizes life.

Picture the plastic bags we get free at a grocery shop to put our vegetables in. I wash and reuse them.
I use soap and loofah for bath and shower, no bubble bath in plastic bottles.
To clean bath and kitchen fixtures, I use a lot of lemons from my tree, vinegar and newspaper to clean windows.
In my studio, I reuse the other side of the paper already written on one side.
I use a limited amount of home cleaning agents, one for the floor, one for the dishes and one for the clothes.
Never buy food in cardboard boxes or canned, nor drinks in plastic bottles.
I don’t eat or drink in plastic vessels. I use ceramic and glass, when they break, I use them as decorative items in the garden.
This list is only the beginning of things I don’t do. It is part of my cultural heritage and beliefs I grew up with that followed me everywhere I went in the world.
Being environmentally clean is my goal in my life and in my designs.

If you want to become an environmentally conscious person start in your home, there are a lot of opportunities to start a clean life. I can help as well if you need it. Ciao,
Valentina
http://www.valentinadesigns.com

Valentina Cirasola is a storyteller by nature. Stories are very important to her design career to convey ideas because making someone’s home or personal images is not only about building around shapes, lines, forms, and colors. It is about the story one can create around their spaces and how they want to appear to others. She is the author of four books, all available on

Barnes&Nobles: http://goo.gl/q7dQ3w
The latest book just published is The Road To Top Of The World – https://tinyurl.com/y7tuyfh8

An Organized Life Starts With Food | Valentina Cirasola | Author and Designer

02 Apr 2019 5 Comments

by Valentina in The Good Life Tags: #DailyCooking, #EasyFood, #HowToEliminateStress, #HowToOrganizeDailyMeals, #SimpleFood, #Vegetables, #WeeklyMenu

Sunday is a day for rest and self-care, dedicated to the family if there is one, and seeing or call friends. My Sunday starts with video calls with my family in Italy and friends in the world. In the midst of my Sunday relaxation practice, I include exercise and food planning for the entire week. Although it is pleasant at times to go out to eat, be served and get to know international food, I hardly eat in restaurants for a variety of reasons, the most important one is that I cannot control my fat, salt, and sugar intake. Some restaurants totally corrupt ethnic food to cater to the American palate, e.g. making pasta soft and not “al dente” as Italian would eat it, just to give you a small example. Ethnic restaurants only make food that is commercially well-known. In the case of Italian food, restaurants make the usual lasagna, veal parmigiana, spaghetti meatballs and leave out an entire selection of interesting food in the Italian cuisine repertoire. I eat so much better in my home, I see no point going out to eat and this is the same for any type of restaurants, not just Italian. I have noticed the same trend in other ethnic restaurants, the food is never as good as it would be in the original homeland country.

Weekly menu – On Sunday, I make the list of the weekly menu and I stick to it. I buy fresh food once or twice a week and never have frozen food to rely on. On Sunday, I cook a few specialties for the week that can stay in the fridge for two-three days, the rest will be cooked as the week progresses. Some Sundays are devoting to making bread and pasta varieties, the only type of food I keep in my freezer.

(Click on each photo to view it larger)

Make cooking a fun moment – Cooking is not beneath me, it’s not a chore and I consider it a relaxing activity. I put my favorite music on, or my favorite TV program, pour me a glass of wine or prosecco and fly around food like a dragonfly, happy to extract the best out of raw food, just like a dragonfly sucks the sweetness out of the flowers. In the kitchen, I am the orchestra maestro composing “allegro” food and making sure the “alti e bassi” chromatic colors mix well with all the flavors. Leaving this beautiful creativity to restaurants and prepackaged food is like giving up the power of being healthy and allow someone else to decide for you. Cooking simple, colorful and satisfying meals daily is not that hard. Use a lot of colorful food, the eyes thrive on colors.
Clean up the kitchen as you go along, make it a new clean canvas for the next day.

Eating In the Rainbow Board by ©Valentina Cirasola

Organized shopping – As a designer, I create people’s spaces, by doing that their lives get organized and the quality improves. However, my abilities go beyond designing. Just like everybody else, I have a hectic life, but the food is my first priority. Knowing how to organize our life is important to eliminate stress. Between my appointments, I run errands and shop for food wherever I am. I look for small grocery shops, family-owned stores or street markets near or around my client’s places and shop for food in the hole of time I have on my agenda. We cannot manage time, time will run no matter what we do, but we can manage activities, that is exactly what I do and teach others. If something in the list was forgotten, it was not important for that day, don’t stress.

Don’t skip meals – At dinner time, I have always something ready, that feeling of coming home with hunger in my eyes and raid the refrigerator is not a feeling I know. Never skip meals due to lack of time. If there is no time to take care of your food and health, what is there time for? Our stomach requires attention, it is the center of all happenings in the brain and heart. Most people think cooking is a waste of time, I can assure you, often, I make a four-course meal in forty-five minutes. It all depends on what kind of nutrition one wants to follow, mine is simple, nothing I eat requires a lot of ingredients, an army of cooks, nor a great expenditure of time.

Organize your eating – I knew a person who ate every second of the day, she never ate a real dinner, only raw food, vegetable, fruit, nuts, and chocolate. She drank a ton of water daily, went to the bathroom and ruminated constantly.
Good digestion needs peace and quiet to process the food we ingest. Eating in the car while driving, eating in the street while walking, eating at the computer while working, eating at all hours of the day even in the middle of the night will not do anything good for the digestive tract, only will add stress to it, hence burning, reflux, bloating and more stomach ailments will happen.
I don’t care if you eat at a well-decorated table, or on the floor, decide where your eating will happen and do it in a relaxing way. Eating is a fun necessity, make it a pleasurable and colorful moment, even if it is for a short thirty minutes.

This photo below shows an easy specialty I eat often: boiled potatoes filled with baked mushrooms and raw cabbage strips as a salad.
It takes about 30 minutes to make it.
Bake at 375° F the mushrooms chopped in small pieces and seasoned with olive oil, S&P, parsley, and 2-3 cloves of garlic.
Boil the potatoes with the skin. Peel as soon as they become manageable. Scoop the center out. The center of the potatoes will be used for a frittata.
Fill the center with the baked mushrooms, add grated cheese, if you like.
For color and extra fibers, add strips of red cabbage, raw, seasoned with lemon juice, olive oil, S&P.

Boiled potatoes filled with mushroom and cabbage salad

An organized life starts with food, all your organs will thank you, your family will be healthy and energy will be high. Eat food for pleasure, indulge in a glass of wine, go ahead, have a chocolate bonbon if you have the desire, one, not the entire box, be moderate all the time and snack on nuts if you must. Ciao,
Valentina
http://www.valentinadesigns.com

Valentina Cirasola is the designer who cooks. She has a deep interest in food that led her as an autodidact in the studies of food in history, natural remedies, nutrition, well-being and learning food of the world. She wrote two books on Italian regional cuisine and one book on color theory, in which she included one recipe for each color. Robert Taitano, a friend and business associate of http://www.wine-fi.com says:
“Valentina – an International Professional Interior Designer is now giving you an opportunity to redesign your palate”. Get your copy of Valentina’s books on
Barnes&Nobles: http://goo.gl/q7dQ3w
Valentina’s fourth book is a travel narrative, in which she mentioned food in her travel experience
https://tinyurl.com/y7tuyfh8

Some Like It Grey | Valentina Cirasola | Interior Designer

23 Mar 2019 Leave a comment

by Valentina in Home Designs Master Tags: #CombiningColorsWithGrey, #DesigningWithGrey, #Grey, #GreyExteriors, #GreyInteriors, #GreyTalk

I see a grey color and immediately feel down and sad. I could not live in an area without sunshine, where most of the year is grey, foggy or rainy, my soul would cry. I can honestly say to have never liked grey, or couche’ (dormant) colors in homes, thus I would never propose something I don’t like for my clients’ homes unless they absolutely demand it. I want my client to live in cheerful homes with vibrant colors and not necessarily bold. I want all the colors to suit their personality which produce a smile when they come home.

However, I admit, in fashion grey is an elegant, classy, sexy and very neutral color. I use it often in the winter with brown, red, yellow, pink, purple and green. In home décor, grey becomes muddy, and dull if it is not paired with the right colors. Here I list a few things one should know when playing with grey.

Playing with light – Grey becomes interesting with a great amount of natural light in the daytime and with a lot of layered light effects sculpting walls and furniture at night.

Playing with furniture – Grey is not a pure chroma, it is the result of black and white mixed. It reacts differently near white or black. A white cabinet next to a grey wall will add vibrancy to the wall, and a black piece of furniture will turn the grey lifeless. That’s the reason we see white wood trims around windows and doors with grey walls. Take a hint from the horse white skin and dark hair.

(Click on each photo to view it larger)

Annie Spratt-unsplash

I love interesting contrasts; with grey walls, I would like all trims in warm brown with a red or golden undertone, as in the photo of the leaves.

Annie-Spratt-unsplash

Playing with mood. The mood is not that thing we feel when we get up in the morning, it has a lot to do with the location we live in the world.
In Northern countries, the natural light has a bluish tone and unless you purposely want a blue tone in the room, avoid all the greys turning blue and avoid all the blue colors. In the Southern countries, natural light has a warm golden tone. These rooms are a delight to decorate because they can take both warm and cool tone colors.
In Eastern countries, natural light has a warm tone at sunrise and in the Western countries, natural light is very warm at sunset. Where in the world are you? If you know your geographical position, selecting colors will never be a problem.
Those color palettes we get at a paint store, are laid out to help customers selecting the mood. Vertically, the darkest or warmest hues are on the bottom and the lighter or coolest hues are at the top. Horizontally, every hue shows a different value until it changes and becomes another color.

In this photo below, the light blue of the ice gives almost the feeling of a coastal color palette, fresh and cool.

Marquardt-unsplash

Playing with combinations – Many are the colors that look good with grey:
Lavender for a feminine look.
White for a crispy look (best for corridor, entry, study rooms, bedrooms).
Brown is the best combination, especially if brown has a red undertone.
Green, light and dark for a neutral look. In the photo below, the sky is grey, the green hills make the sky look a lot less sad.

Stephen Arnold-unsplash

In my photo, the grey silky flowers look so beautiful next to the green silk leaves. They give light to each other. The pale green or yellow-green is best combined with grey.
Keep in mind that dark green at night looks muddy.

Grey Silk Flower

Grey and warm yellow, or ochre are spectacular.

Mike Scaturo – Unsplash

Introduce pink, purple, magenta and orange to give any grey beautiful energy.

Annie Spratt-unsplash

Playing with the home exterior – Most people seem to favor grey color for the exterior of the home and that’s fine. To make an attractive exterior color combination, I suggest a trio of grey, high, medium and low value. Use the low grey on the side of the house not exposed to the sun. To make it even more interesting, add the color of surprise, grey and yellow, grey and green, just to name a few. The accent color will substitute the light missing in the darker part of the exterior. I am here if you need to discuss grey. Ciao.
Valentina
http://www.valentinadesigns.com

Valentina Cirasola is an Italian Interior Designer working in the USA and Europe since 1990, specializing in interior and exterior, color analysis, kitchen, bath, wine cellar, and outdoor kitchen designs. Often people describe her as “the colorist” as she loves to color her clients’ world and loves to create the unusual. “Vogue” magazine and many prominent publications in California featured Valentina’s work. RAI–Italian National TV invited her to appear in “Cara Francesca Show” and she has made many appearances on T.V. Comcast Channel 15. Author of four published books, one of which is on the subject of colors ©RED – A Voyage Into Colors.
Barnes&Nobles: http://goo.gl/q7dQ3w
The newly published book – ©The Road to Top Of The World – is on
Amazon: https://tinyurl.com/y7tuyfh8