Valentina

Local Flavors | Valentina Cirasola | Interior Designer

25 Mar 2013 12 Comments

by Valentina in The Good Life Tags: #ItalianArchitecture, #ItalianCulture, #ItalianLifeStyle, #PugliaTravel, #RedVoyageIntoColors, ItalyTravel

The idea of Local Flavors by http://biancadventures.wordpress.com gives me an opportunity to show some of the local flavors my group of curious travelers will experience as soon as they land in Italy this coming April 15 with me. That’s right, I am taking a group to Puglia, South East of Italy on the Adriatic Sea. In 2012 American soap opera running on T.V. since 25 years ago “The Bold And The Beautiful” filmed eight episodes of the main protagonist’s wedding between the towns of Alberobello, Polignano a Mare and Fasano, a very quaint area of the region.
I didn’t even know the existence of this soap opera until I spotted this video, now I just hope Hollywood’s influence on the region doesn’t help raising prices for the locals.

Don Antonio the fruit vendor, truly an Italian charmer, always offers the typical afternoon glass of bubbles (Italian Prosecco) with familiar shoppers that come in after 6:00 pm. He knows how to keep the shoppers faithful to his merchandise and how to keep them in the shop. It is a ritual while shopping there for produce to get a glass of Prosecco and a taste of something delicious his wife prepares daily with his fruit and vegetables. They are two delightful people who can steal your time blindly if you don’t watch the clock. Often, Italian shops are daily meeting points of people living in the neighborhood. They buy whatever product the store sells while they indulge in gossips, news, business or even planning future activities between each other.

My local flavors include the show all the fishermen put out on the seafood bank along the promenade in Bari, the main city of Puglia. My group will enjoy watching them opening live shell-fish, will get a real amusement hearing them making loud and colorful comments on who has the best fish of the Adriatic Sea and will feel enticed to try some of those delicious morsel of row fish, wine and bread. Puglia is the only region in Italy where people are accustomed to eat row fish, even if the price is as high as 50-60-70 Euro per Kilo.

As a local born in those parts, my work as a tour guide into art, architecture, history and local flavors will be easy. I am planning to show the area on foot and by a private bus. Walking around the streets is the best way to learn the customs of a country. My group will admire the beautiful Mediterranean architecture and learn some insight of the local history. They will learn that balconies are not just an appendix of their flat, but also places for eating outdoor, gardening and exchanging a conversation with the next neighbor. They will admire fashionable people, pick up some folkloric slang or……a lover. Well….., Italy is the country that will enrich you in every sense.

To register for my trip click here, I still have room for April 15, 2013 : https://valentinaexpressions.com/trips-2
Ciao,
Valentina
http://www.valentinadesigns.com

Valentina Cirasola will host two trips a year to Italy with the intention of showing Italy with the eyes of a designer born in those parts and let people experience the ”wheel of emotions” don’t even know exist. She will take her groups to the non-commercial Italy, areas not beaten down by massive tourism. Valentina will guide the tours through art, architecture, food, shopping and special adventures organized for people who want to live it up!

Check out her books on
Amazon: http://goo.gl/xUZfk0
Barnes&Nobles: http://goo.gl/q7dQ3w

Dressing Up For Traveling | Valentina Cirasola | Author and Designer

23 Mar 2013 Leave a comment

by Valentina in The Good Life Tags: #RedVoyageIntoColors, #SuccessfullyPackingForTravel, #TravellingTips, #TravelPacking, ItalyTravel

(Photo Flickr: Vintage Luggage Parmiters Antiques Southsea)

You are ready to go overseas, perhaps to a country you have never visited before, but hopefully, you have read about it to get acquainted with the customs and habits of its people. Not knowing what to expect the first time outside our familiar environment, my feeling tells me to “blend in” as much as possible. Obviously, if I plan a trip to Japan I am not going to wear a kimono, or for a trip to India a colorful sari will not look good on me, but I will wear comfortable clothes that I can coordinate or layer according to any occasions and weather.

Shoes are a dead give away of the traveler’s origin. I purposely leave out the unattractive “tank shoes” those tennis/running shoes every tourist wear. However, traveling with new shoes is painful, leave them home until they are well-worn. Pack instead comfortable leather shoes, polished well, flat, loafer or low heel (for women), to let the feet breathe and avoid headaches. If feet hurt, your head hurts too.

ValigiaCappello

About the unexpected – One never knows what will happen when traveling. What if you lose your luggage, or the traveler sitting next to you in the plane spills food on you, can you get dressed when you arrive at the destination?
In your carry-on pack, it is necessary to add a couple of changes of clothes including intimate apparel and toiletries until your luggage is found. In your carry-on put a list of everything you have in the checked-in luggage. It will be easier to claim the content if the luggage is totally lost and easier to buy some of the items wherever you will be.
Carry more than one credit card, just for your own protection and your bank’s phone numbers.
Always carry a photocopy of your ID or passport.
Carry phone numbers and locations of your country’s Embassy or Consulate.
Fly prepared!

Folding versus rolling – Roll tight and neat every piece of clothes you intend to take, making sure not to create creases and align side-by-side with each other until the luggage is filled. This is a proven method to get more pieces in and never have wrinkled clothes at the arrival point. Fashion doesn’t have to be painful. Thanks to today’s designers choice of fabrics and style, we can achieve a star look regardless of the class of travel.

Don’t stand out – Watching films is like watching the world as a spectator through a window, we can observe poor travel customs and learn from them. In the movie-comedy Monte Carlo, a traveling friend with Selena Gomez (main protagonist) impersonating rich and famous Cornelia, takes her stiletto shoes off in the street while visiting Paris by bus ending up walking bare feet.

That is not a proper behavior, stiletto shoes are good for sitting down events and not for traveling, but also in many countries is not acceptable to be bare feet in the street, if you are a woman.
Wearing a lot of gold jewelry can make you a target for theft and personal attacks. How would the viewer know that your gold jewelry is real or custom? Don’t offer the opportunity.

Smart dressing – Unless you are going to hiking, fishing, biking, or some sort of sports trip where only clothes dedicated to that sport are needed, traveling in cities requires a different kind of planning. It’s easier not to be spotted as a tourist when traveling abroad wearing smart clothes. It is actually a better way to receive a higher quality service or upgrades in planes and hotels.

My travel to Puglia, Italy with a group is coming up April 15, 2013 – https://valentinaexpressions.com/trips-2/ (click here to get info on the trip). I will gather all the local participants in a restaurant to advice them on does and don’ts of our trip together and I will do the same with a Skype call with the distant participants. Traveling prepared avoids a lot of headaches. Ciao,
Valentina
http://www.valentinadesigns.com

Valentina will host two trips a year to Italy with the intention of showing Italy with the eyes of a designer born in those parts and let people experience the ”wheel of emotions” don’t even know to exist. She will take her groups to the non-commercial Italy, areas not beaten down by massive tourism. Valentina will guide the tours through art, architecture, food, shopping and special adventures organized for people who want to live it up! Check out her books on
Amazon: http://goo.gl/xUZfk0
Barnes&Nobles: http://goo.gl/q7dQ3w

Lunchtime | Valentina Cirasola | Interior Designer

16 Mar 2013 17 Comments

by Valentina in The Good Life Tags: #ComeMiaNonnaReturnToSimplicity, #FriedOlives, #ItalianFood, #ItalianKitchen, #SinsOfAQueen, #TheArtOfDining, Lunchtime

Today I am following the photo challenge: Lunchtime by Michelle.

Colors in the kitchen do not stop at walls, counters and cabinets. Designing and preparing meals with a good company is a creative process to stimulate feelings. Colors contain the ingredients, which give out taste. Choosing and combining colors in food is as important as selecting ingredients to make delicious morsels. We can characterize food in a color wheel and make that the palette for our daily nutrition. Nature has created the beautiful seven colors rainbow as an optical and meteorological phenomenon, to which we refer when we talk about color selection. We can refer to the same rainbow colors when we select food, except that eating food in colors is not an optical illusion, is a real solution to a healthy life. To this, add healthy laughs, family and real friends and voila’ you have created the solution of a good life.

Crostata Verdure

Gateau patate al verde

Zucchini Fritters

Cauliflower muffins

Fried olives and barley

I am featuring here five colorful dishes from my books on Italian regional cuisine Amazon: http://goo.gl/xUZfk0

Roasted Vegetables Tarte
Potatoes Gâteau Al Verde
Zucchini Fritters
Cauliflower Muffins (savory)
Fried Olive with Barley

I want to point out one dish in particular: Fried Olive with Barley. The recipe doesn’t even call for barley, I added it because the black Calphalon background of the skillet would have not shown the black olives, but after I tasted it, I say it’s the perfect healthy lunch.

Preparation:
Boil the barley in salted water for 25 minutes. Barley takes longer than pasta to cook and it tastes always “al dente”. Set aside when done.
In a skillet with one tablespoon of olive oil, sauté black olives until they look crinkled. Add some chili peppers if you like it hot and 1 or 2 chopped tomatoes.
Continue to sauté briefly, add cooked barley, sprinkle chopped Italian parsley and a swirl of olive oil.

This specialty is typical of Puglia, a region in the South Italy, filling and healthy, so simple it is almost a non-recipe. I hope you will try it. Ciao,
Valentina

http://www.Valentinadesigns.com

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”. Check out her books on

Amazon: http://goo.gl/xUZfk0
Barnes&Nobles: http://goo.gl/q7dQ3w

Fainting Moments | Valentina Cirasola | Interior Designer

11 Mar 2013 13 Comments

by Valentina in Home Designs Master Tags: #ChairDesign, #DecoratingTips, #FaintingSofa, #HistoryOfFurniture, #RedVoyageIntoColors, Récamier

Welcome to my personal A to Z Challenge on the subject of Home. The goal, in a year time, until Jan. 13, 2014, is to elaborate and dissect topics regarding the Home not as containers of stuff, but as a cocoon for the soul, mind, and heart. I will touch on decorations, style, trends, history of the home and sometimes technical information.

What do the Récamier, Méridienne and Fainting Sofa have in common? Three reclining chairs of the past and present home décor that have in common one idea: Relaxation. The ancient population understood the benefits of relaxation and included it in their daily life.

(Click on each photo to view it larger)

(Above https://www.studyblue.com)

For Egyptians, Greeks, and Romans the idea of relaxing often on the ‘kline’ – a type of day beds – was part of the daily routine as early as the 8th century BC. The modern Greek word ‘symposium’ means ‘to drink together’ in a party atmosphere with music and conversation while even conducting business. The Romans adopted the daybed for reclining in the daytime and during meals and at night they slept on. This type of daybed was widely used in the Orient as well, where there was no distinction between sleeping furniture and daytime furniture.

(Madame Juliette Récamier above)

Récamier Sofa (above) took the name from Madame Juliette Récamier, a French society leader, whose salon drew Parisians from the leading literary and political circles of the early 19th century. After Madame Récamier’s guests were well fed, she would preside over the discussions while reclining on a sofa, usually wrapped in a yellow shawl. That’s how Jacques-Louis David depicted her. It seems that a bit of gossip is appropriate with a Récamier: Madame Juliette Récamier married at the age of 15 Jacques-Rose Récamier, a rich banker nearly 30 years her senior and a relative of the gourmand Brillat-Savarin, who wrote a few books on the philosophy of cooking and taste. Fantastic books, I read them all and strongly suggest them. A rumor arose that Jacques-Rose Récamier was Juliette’s natural father who married her to make her his heir. The Récamier marriage was never consummated and Juliette remained a virgin until at least the age of forty.

(Above http://www.brighthome-furniture.com/chaise-lounges.html)

Méridienne – a type of asymmetrical day-bed (above) – has a high head-rest, and a lower foot-rest, joined by a sloping piece. Every grand house of France in the early 19th century had one for every room. Its typical use was for resting in the middle of the day when the sun is near the meridian, a practice still in use in the South of Europe and Mediterranean basin.

(Edouart Manet above – Fainting Sofa)

Fainting Sofa has a back raised at one end, often wraps around and extends along the entire length of the piece. Fainting sofa deserved separate rooms in the 19th century home décor, only used by women to faint on, due to their tight corsets restricting blood flow. However, another peculiar use of this chair made it go down in history. Sex between married people was intended only for procreation. Society’s false modesty prevented women of high social background from taking care of their men’ frivolous sex desires, it was considered an indecent behavior left only for prostitutes. That constricted way of thinking caused female hysteria, considered a real ‘disease’ that needed to be treated by home visiting doctors and midwives through manual pelvic massage. It was a recurrent need often requiring hours for the intimate procedure to work, thus creating room for privacy and a chair for comfort was of the utmost importance.

(Méridienne in my client’s home)

We cannot build our future if we don’t know the history. Today, when possible, I like to place one Méridienne chair or Fainting Sofa in my clients’ homes and I can’t help smiling…..Ciao,
Valentina
http://www.Valentinadesigns.com

Valentina Cirasola has been a lifetime designer in fashion and interiors. Her extensive knowledge of colors and materials led her in both directions successfully. She is well-know for designing custom furniture. She cares to make spacious and functional pieces, but she doesn’t forget to introduce the element of surprise, sinuous lines, attractive shapes and colors in the style fit for each of her special clients. She is the author of ©RED – A Voyage Into Colors, Check out her three books on
Amazon: http://goo.gl/xUZfk0
Barnes&Nobles: http://goo.gl/q7dQ3w

Liebster Award | March Appreciation | Valentina Cirasola | Interior Designer

06 Mar 2013 33 Comments

by Valentina in Home Designs Master Tags: #GratitudeDay, #RedVoyageIntoColors, #SelfImprovement, #SpringCleaning, #SpringColors, Colors

Are you getting ready for spring? Are you looking into your wardrobe to see what looks good for keeping and what doesn’t? Are you ready to change into spring colors? Do you usually invite spring into your home with new colors, deep cleaning, moving furniture around, or adding nature in some corners? Before my March is over I do all that and I make a special appreciation day to everyone and everything contributing to the “good and pleasant” in my life. Ask me how to do it, if you have challenges. Decorating for Spring with your skin and eye colors is fun.

Today I am recognizing Sindy at http://bluebutterfliesandme.wordpress.com for nominating me with the Liebster Award. Please visit her site, Sindy writes about spirituality. Sindy, I know a few weeks have passed since you awarded me, but I haven’t forgotten you, just needed to find the right moment. Last December, I stuck the beautiful amaryllis’s bulb in the pot and waited for a miracle to happen, until one day it bloomed literally before my eyes. I dedicated this flower to you Sindy (it came out a little dark, I don’t know how to fix it) and thank you for nominating me, I feel honored.

~Award Suggested Guidelines~

Answer the questions below.

Nominate 11 bloggers

Inform your nominees by posting a link on their blogs

The Questions Are:

What first inspired you to start writing a blog?
In 2005, I was blogging on an Italian designers’ site and didn’t even knew it was called blogging. I thought I was participating to discussions. Then, my business coach said I needed to have my blog site and three years ago I landed on WordPress.

What is the biggest challenge you have had to face when writing a blog?
What is on my mind, it’s also on my tongue. I was concerned my words would start a third Punic War.

If you traveled through time, what time would you want to arrive at and why?
I am very sure I lived in the 17^th Century between Venice and France. I have too many déjà-vu examples that I have been there already.

However if I were to just pick one time in the past..
Definitely it would be Paris in 1920. I agree with Sindy, Woody Allen’s movie, “Midnight In Paris” project the perfect time for my character. I watch that film religiously at least once a month.

Do you prefer to eat chocolate, sweets or neither?
Chocolate for sure, no guilt.

Do you prefer to read or write?
I am addicted to both, it’s hard to choose.

What is your favorite non-fiction topic to read about and why?
Famous people autobiographies to learn from successful, smart or rich people how to make a better life and travel novels to learn and dream from people’s experiences about distance places I will never see.

If you could buy one book that would help you solve a problem in your life, what would it be and why?
As practical as I am, no book will ever solve my problem in life, unless I work at my problem with action. A book can only give me some inspiration.

Do you prefer to write at night or during the day?
Anytime, I am a nightcrawler and early birds, depending on my mood.

If you could be any character from a book, who would you be and why?
I am very happy being me, but for the sake of this award, I would try a man’s role, just to see how it is on the other side. I would choose to be Casanova.

Do you prefer to read a printed book or an e-Book?
A printed book smells like a book and knowledge.

These are my 11 nominees, all very talented and creative people. Please visit each other, I am so grateful for all your knowledge, spirit and insights you bring me.

http://greendoorhospitality.wordpress.com/

http://astimegoesbuy.me/

http://terry1954.wordpress.com/

http://marianne365days.wordpress.com/

http://thepalladiantraveler.com/

http://jakesprinters.wordpress.com/

http://50yearproject.wordpress.com/

http://petit4chocolatier.wordpress.com/

http://katrinaperkins.wordpress.com/

http://shareandconnect.wordpress.com/

http://misbehavedwoman.wordpress.com/

Life, colors and bread go on. Take control of your own food and the happiness that will follow. Those who have seeds and know how to make food will survive. Create a great week. Ciao,
Valentina

http://www.Valentinadesigns.com

Valentina Cirasola has been in business as an interior designer since 1990 improving people’s life by changing their spaces. Often people describe her as “the colorist” for a reason. She lives in a colorful world, wrote a book on colors and loves to color her clients’ environments by creating the unusual. Her deep interest in food led her to study food, natural remedies, nutrition and well-being as an autodidact and finally wrote two books on Italian regional cuisine. Find Valentina’s books on
Amazon: http://goo.gl/xUZfk0
Barnes&Nobles: http://goo.gl/q7dQ3w

Candlelight Magic Pollution | Valentina Cirasola | Interior Designer

05 Mar 2013 15 Comments

by Valentina in Home Designs Master Tags: #CandlesEnergy, #ColorTheory, #EcoFriendlyCandles, #HowToChoseCandles, #HowToMakeCandles, #NaturalCandles, #SimonCanada, #WhatToKnowAboutCandles

This article was written for http://www.simons.ca (Canada)

(Click on each photo to view it larger).

(As seen on Palo Alto Weekly)

Only 100 years ago candles represented the light bulb that illuminated the world through centuries. Today we use candles to create an atmosphere, not save on electricity. With candles human beings beat the dark of darkness and once they understood that the light of the flame had magical powers, they used candles for spiritual or religious rituals. First with animal fat, then with paraffin and with further addition of colors and scents, human being invented candles for any commercial use. One must keep in mind that candles keep the energy of all the people who collaborated in the making, therefore it is imperative to purify candles before using them. One way to purify a candle is to immerge it in a container full of rock salt keeping it in vertical position, otherwise a simple cloth will suffice to rub all strangers’ energies from the candle.

If you are health conscious as I am, you should care about the air you breathe as well. Breathing the fumes from a commercial candle made with paraffin is not the greatest thing you could do. Paraffin derives from crude oil, the same crude oil that is refined to obtain petrol and petroleum-based products. Burning paraffin candles means you will breathe substances that may be carcinogenic, such as formaldehyde, acrolein (from propylene), benzene, toluene (type of solvent) and acetaldehyde. All of these products contained in commercial paraffin candles will contribute to air pollution in your home and aggravate any possible allergy you might already have.

Candles made from bees’ wax are the best, they are natural, save your health, the air you breathe in your home and burn sweet like honey. Bees have a life span of 12-17 days, during this short time they produce a waxy substance in their stomach and with that they build their cells to store honey. After the honey production is all done, beekeepers scrape the honey and discard the wax, or often sell it to candle makers. Bees’ wax is more expensive than the paraffin, is very yellow and compact, made into square shape cakes, or rolled out in a cylinder shape and that’s how it is sold.

Our beautiful nature offers additional natural solutions for candle making art. Soybeans and palm trees are excellent sources for a natural wax, their juices are biodegradable, no fossil fuels are needed to produce this type of wax and candles made with plants products burn slower than the paraffin candles.

If you are into candle art, you might want to consider colors that are suitable for your spirit and personality. Colors affect us in a positive or negative ways. Color will help us creating a message, a mood, a feeling, a character, or harmony. Just like everything else, colors play a large role in candles, it all depends if you want to attract some energy to you or take it away from you. Check out home accessories at http://www.simons.ca/fre/categories/maison/cuisine-et-salle-a-manger/accessoires-de-table/chandelles

I deal with colors for the beauty and benefits they bring to our person, perhaps coloring a candle to your advantage will be the topic of my next article. Love and light, ciao,
Valentina
http://www.Valentinadesigns.com

Valentina Cirasola is an Italian interior designer in business since 1990. She is passionate about colors and all expressive arts. She is a “colorist”. Valentina was featured in Italy on “Vogue” magazine and many prominent publications in California. She also has made four appearances on T.V. Comcast Channel 15. She is the author of her book #3 on the subject of colors: Red-A Voyage Into Colors, available on
Amazon: http://goo.gl/qNxXrB
Barnes&Nobles: http://goo.gl/q7dQ3w

Mystery In History | Valentina Cirasola | Author and Designer

01 Mar 2013 Leave a comment

by Valentina in The Good Life Tags: #CastelGandolfo, #ItalianCulture, #ItalianHistory, #PopeBenedictXVIResignation, #PopeRedShoes

History unfolded before my eyes yesterday morning. Never in millions of years I would have thought of assisting to such an important event in my life.
Pope Benedict XVI left his Papacy for good after announcing his resignation fifteen days ago. It was shocking news, no other Popes after Pope Celestine the 5th had ever resigned since that year in 1250.

Strangely has it seems, the Vatican was not ready to keep a Pope in retirement needing new staying accommodations, medical assistance, a new set of clothes, furniture and servants. Usually Popes don’t resign, they die and go down in history, that’s how they mark the end of their duty towards the Church. Now seamstresses are working on his new dresses, he will wear the white “zimarra” without the cape, new shoes of different colors are in the making and the new apartment in the Vatican’s nunnery convent is the remodeling phase, where he will spend the rest of his life in seclusion.

The Pope left us all puzzled and in doubt that there is more to this story than his frail health and advancing age. The Pope’s high power CEOs and media have said the Pope is not sick, just very fatigued. Today’s resignation created a huge precedence setting new rules in the Vatican. This could mean that in the future, a Pope might resign anytime he feels like, if for whatever reason gets tired of this highly important job, or the pressure of carrying-on duty and responsibility towards the followers becomes too heavy. He can tell the world “I have had enough of you now, good-bye, I go shrivel up in my little corner”. Furthermore, it means that any corporation or high power government can order the next Pope to step down at anytime, using the excuse of a bad health as a cover-up. This gesture of resigning was wrong, it has undermined the Catholic Church and diminished the role of the Pope in the service of the Christian community. How two Popes are going to exist until Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI will be alive? This was not an act of courage, it was simply wrong. Perhaps 100 years from now, posterity will know the real reason that forced him to resign. For the moment, we cannot help feeling abandoned.

(Photo: Castel Gandolfo https://www.tourinrome.com/it/tour-castel-gandolfo-e-benedizione-papale)

(Photo: Porter’s Office at Papal Summer Villa – http://orbiscatholicussecundus.blogspot.ca)

The ceremony of the Pope’s transfer to Castel Gandolfo by helicopter was solemn and emotional. Castel Gandolfo is a beautiful large mansion built around the 17th Century owned by the Gandolfo’s family and later expropriated by the Vatican, as the Gandolfo’s could not pay their high debts towards the Vatican. The house faces the Lake Alban and sits on the Alban hills of the Roman countryside. Ever since it became the Pope’s vacation residence, the Swiss Guards guarded the house and the main door always kept open.

(Photo: Swiss Guards – http://www.catholicjediacademy.com/search/label/Swiss%20Guard)

Since 1506 the Swiss Guards have been in service of the Pope only, no other person or office in the State of the Vatican. Their colorful uniform made of tri-color combination orange, blue and red, conceals highly trained snipers and combat soldiers. Yesterday in their formal uniforms their duty was over. At 8:00 pm sharp the Swiss Guards closed Castel Gandolfo’s doors as a symbol that the Papacy is empty and their duty is over. The Vatican’s Gendarmerie took over Castel Gandolfo’s security. This ceremony, unique in its genre, had never happened before. Castel Gandolfo did not even exist in the year 1250 when Pope Celestine the 5th resigned and neither did T.V. to project these historic images in the world. I really witnessed history in the making!

(Photo: AFF)

Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI, as he will be called from today, will no longer wear the famous red loafer, reserved only for the reigning Pope. His gold ring, the “Ring of the Fisherman”, decorated with a depiction of St. Peter in a boat casting his net, with the name of the reigning Pope around it and made only for him will no longer be in use. The goldsmith will create a new ring for the next Pope with a new seal.

Pope Benedict XVI Ring
(The ring of the Fisherman found on:

The Ring of the Fisherman or the Fisherman’s Ring (Pope Benedict XVI’s ring as Pope)

We feel a lot of empathy and wish Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI light and internal peace, but we can’t help feeling lost. A new era is coming. Ciao,
Valentina

http://www.Valentinadesigns.com

Valentina Cirasola, Italian born, designer and author decided to live as an Italian outside Italy. At times she talks about politics and writes about major events of her country, expressing only her opinion as a form of pain releasing, or amusement, no other intentions. Please check out her books available on
Amazon: http://goo.gl/xUZfk0
Barnes&Nobles: http://goo.gl/q7dQ3w

Feeling Precious In Emerald Green | Valentina Cirasola | Interior Designer

28 Feb 2013 18 Comments

by Valentina in Home Designs Master Tags: #2013PantoneColors, #EmeraldGreen, #emeraldGreenInteriors, #NeoclassicStyle, #RedVoyageIntoColors, #ValentinaInteriorsDesigns

The word “Emerald” was first used in the 14th Century to indicate a bright green stone consisting of chromium-rich variety of beryl, a precious blue-green color of seawater stone priced as precious gemstone.

Emerald color in nothing new in the home fashion front. In 1800, emerald-green heavy velvet or damask curtains embellished English interiors and again all through the ‘50s emerald-green was the color in vogue for modern home interiors and modern appliances. More than sixty years later, emerald-green is emerging strong as the spring/summer color of this year.

(Photo left Tourmaline with Lepidolite – found on http://www.themineralgallery.com/tourroom.htm)

Selecting colors is a process of emotion’s discovery, how they make you feel, what memory they evoke, what sensory perception they trigger. I like to think of the most common colors as precious value: citrine yellow, ruby-red, emerald-green, royal purple, pink quartz, brown topaz, pearl white, iridescent moonstone, blue aquamarine, orange coral, platinum silver, antique gold, bronze, satin copper and so on. Once I give value to colors they immediately feel rich, elegant, abundant, sophisticated or flavorful.

Emerald green is very rich, very dark and not much light transpires from it. The secret of a successful dark designed interior rests in the illumination; show the light without showing the light fixture. Illumination can be achieved also by accenting with light colors, such as white doors or glass doors as in the photograph of the interior by Studio CSL in Milan. I absolutely love the transparency of the blue glass wall partition and white sheer curtains with the dark blue seating in the corner grounding the room. It’s very simple and minimalist, but very effective.

Note in the photo below how the Chartreuse mixes well with white and silver colors mixed, together with the emerald-green pillows. Here the light comes from the texture of the satin grey fabric of the sofa, which makes games of light and dark. The color of the wall behind matches to perfection the color of some pillows, but the light source coming from the right side (we see it, but we don’t really) makes this picture modern and pleasant. Remember, the wall colors is one item easy to match to anything, thus it might just be the last item to select even from a 1″x1″ sample.

(Photo: http://www.maxwellfabrics.com)

Most people think interior doors must be white, natural or brown. I find interior green door very attractive, especially if the interior spaces and furniture are mostly white, antique white, distressed or beige. Emerald green doors will bring a touch of class and grandeur.

In my Pinterest board http://pinterest.com/vcvalentina there is a picture of an iPhone cover I love. Just take a look of all the color combinations possible with emerald-green. It is a real inspiration for those who don’t really want a dark room in green, but want to be trendy only with accessories. Later when they get tired of emerald-green, it will be easier to change the accessories than the entire room furniture. On this iPhone cover the color combinations to go with emerald-green are exciting and very livable.

(iPhone Cover – https://www.zazzle.com/emerald_green_butterfly_3_3gs_iphone_case-179935016138807845)

Think of greenery for interiors to add natural colors. Terrariums are full of wonder. Like little worlds of their own, they are an excellent way to study life. This set of 3 by Doodle Birdie is sold on Etsy.

Photo by Etsy. See more traditional terrariums designs

(https://www.houzz.dk/photos/461351/garden-lovers-terrarium-gift-set-in-apothecary-jars-by-doodle-birdie-klassisk-terrarier)

I am designing a kitchen in a classical style, all antique white cabinetry, with some glass cabinet doors, pewter doorknobs, green rain marble countertop and blonde distressed hickory hardwood floor. Functionality was a requirement, elegance not so much, but it will be when completed.

Island in Colombian Emerald Granite

If you want to purchase a real emerald stone, I would suggest the Colombian emerald, it is the most prized due to transparency and fire. Ciao,
Valentina

http://www.Valentinadesigns.com

Valentina Cirasola is an Italian Interior Designer and former Fashion Designer, working in the USA and Europe since 1990. She blends well fashion with interior and colors the world of her clients. She has been described as “the colorist” and loves to create the unusual.
Valentina was featured in Italy on “Vogue” magazine and many prominent publications in California. She also has made four appearances on T.V. Comcast Channel 15. She is the author of three books all available on
Amazon: http://goo.gl/xUZfk0
Barnes&Nobles: http://goo.gl/q7dQ3w

Even The Fastest Race Car Needs A Pit Stop | Valentina Cirasola | Author and Designer

19 Feb 2013 Leave a comment

by Valentina in The Good Life Tags: #AlberobelloPuglia, #CulinaryTrips, #ItalianCulture, #ItalianLifeStyle, #PugliaFood, #PugliaTrips, #TableCustoms, ItalyTravel

I read in a travel magazine that in North America 25% of the population never takes vacations and 37% will only take one week of vacation a year. Considering that North America is a highly productive part of the world, how can we keep our sanity and keep on producing our wealth if we don’t ever take a break from the daily grinding? We know that stress is the major cause of heart disease, high cholesterol and on and on, while our nerves are slowly being pulled apart as a rubber bend until they snap for good and become beyond repair.

(Click on each photo to view it larger).

(Architiello S. Felice seen from the sea- trip to the sea caves of Vieste by Cappellaccio)

As we need restorative breaks in life, April 15, 2013 I am taking a group of curious travelers to Puglia, Italy, the region where I come from, South-East of Italy, sitting pretty on the blue-green Adriatic Sea looking at the white Greece and the Dalmatian Coast of the ex-Yugoslavia. Puglia is one of the many Italian regions not well-publicized to mass tourism, thus it is an area where the land is virgin, the air is pure, food is deliciously hand-made fresh every day, people are warm and friendly and prices are affordable. This is a place where you will reconnect with freedom, or will make you the protagonist of your own art of vacationing.

(Cathedral of Trani – Via Pinterest)

Traveling to Puglia is not about a super luxurious accommodation, but about finding new experiences and feeling new emotions. Puglia will teach you how to lose yourself in moments totally without the “hurry” word. I promise, while you are there, you will not want to see your electronics to connect with work back home!

My father used to say: “Andiamo piano che abbiamo fretta” meaning “let’s go slow in order to go fast”. How true is that? If you don’t slow down, you will never be attentive to the details in your life and fall in love with them, or even appreciating the “unexpected” life brings.

Our private bus will take us to many places, however the trip is not a “tour de force”! At our leisure, I will take the group through beautiful landscape of orchards, vineyards and seaside views, art, history and shopping in markets. The group will learn to appreciate local traditions, the rhythm of nature and its sounds, healthy natural food cooked at home, colorful atmosphere and the pleasure of making your own food. Yes, perhaps, one or two nights we will cook with a local chef in the farmhouse where we will stay. Puglia will teach you never to eat alone. One a different day, we will have a crazy fun, dressing up in vintage clothes and ride in vintage cars along the Adriatic Sea, or perhaps you will want to experience a relaxing massage with olive oil, the “green gold” of this land.
Register here: https://valentinaexpressions.com/trips-2

I will take the group to an “unexpected” Italy through all the human senses, collecting memories or flavors and not material things. I will show you how simple food will change you forever, as it fulfills your soul and rewards your health. While we are on the subject, we will talk about Italian table manners and etiquette.

(Ristorante Gorgo Di Fuoco – Putignano)

Even The Fastest Race Car Needs A Pit Stop, you need to stop in Puglia! Please find price, all the information needed and watch the videos when you click on the link. Start packing and register here: https://valentinaexpressions.com/trips-2
Registrations will close March 20, 2013 and I want to see you on my bus. Ciao,
Valentina

http://www.Valentinadesigns.com

Valentina Cirasola will host three trips a year to Italy based on her three books with the intention of showing Italy with the eyes of a designer born in those parts and let people experience the ”wheel of emotions” in the non-commercial Italy away from beaten paths of massive tourism. Valentina is NOT a travel agency, but with the help of her Italian expert travel team, she will guide her tours through art, architecture, food, shopping and special adventures organized for people who want to live it up! Register here: https://valentinaexpressions.com/trips-2.

Find Valentina’s books on
Amazon: http://goo.gl/xUZfk0
Barnes&Nobles: http://goo.gl/q7dQ3w

Treasure Trove | Valentina Cirasola | Interior Designer

18 Feb 2013 8 Comments

by Valentina in Home Designs Master Tags: #DecoratingTips, #DesigningWithVintage, #FleaMarketFindings, #RedVoyageIntoColors, #VintageAccessories

It was 11:00 am when today I entered the Treasure Trove antique shop, where did the time go? It’s now 5:00 pm and the store workers are pushing me out the door. They can’t believe I have been in there all day and I can’t believe I forgot to eat, my favorite activity!

I am a contemporary woman, absolutely love the time I am living, but I adore the past and surround myself with anything unusual and original. Growing up in Europe it was customary to visit regularly “mercato delle pulci” flea market, they are the back door of history. It has been said that the dress Marie Antoinette wore for her coronation, turned up in a flea market years later after commoners had worn it and misused it badly. Flea markets and second time around stores are the creative source for a prolific fantasy. You must imagine a voiles curtain as a tablecloth instead, or a crystal glass for cotton balls and q-tips, or even a Bakelite purse no longer for an Opera night, but for a business networking event, where the purse might be used as an ice breaker.

Vintage findings-Photo: ©Valentina Cirasola

Crystal bowl & gold plated spoons-Photo: ©Valentina Cirasola

Pierrot copper face-Photo: ©Valentina Cirasola

Earring covering a nail-Photo: ©Valentina Cirasola

I also find old jewelry very interesting. A long time ago women used the parure, meaning matching set composed of broach, necklace, earrings bracelet and ring. I wouldn’t go around decorated like a boring Christmas tree, that’s why I buy only one of these pieces from a parure no longer matching and use it as drawer knobs, or as a decoration to hide a picture nail, other than wear it on a cashmere sweater, or attached to the pocket of a pair of jeans.

Going to a flea market I will never leave with what I had in mind to find and neither anyone else I know. This time I was looking for a particular mirror I didn’t find, but I left the store with things absolutely not needed that I will use in my décor with a spontaneous joy. I will hang the green hat on the French chair; I will wear the Bakelite purse to a business networking, serve coffee with the golden plate non-matching spoons, serve chocolates and strawberries in the red Depression glass vase; the Pierrot brass face has found its niche between my drawings on the gallery wall in the corridor and the crystal ball ended up in the pot with the Amaryllis.

If you are looking for furniture with a flavor of the past, I would recommend bringing with you measurements of the room you want to decorate, measuring tape, picture of the room, perhaps some of the texture you are going after and a color palette, then you need to learn the skill of bargaining. Often cash is alluring and speaks better than a credit card, if you want to bring the price down considerably.

The personalized décor I like for me is the type in which everything comes from different eras and lives together very well without clashing. In my house the metals, the woods and the picture frames are all different, but they mix so well people always wonder how I do it. Simple, break all the decorating rules and shock anyone who comes to visit! Long time ago, I tried to have a minimalist home to avoid those dusting moments every woman hate, but I didn’t feel comfortable in an empty home, it wasn’t me, the house was cold and uninspiring. As a result, I was out all the time and neglected my house anyway, thinking that there wasn’t much to clean and could have done it in a few minutes. Those minutes were never appropriate, nor convenient because I didn’t want to be there. Now, my house is warm, full, opulent and very colorful. Vintage is for the courageous!
Time for a glass of wine! I deserve it, I have helped history staying alive. 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. She is the author of three books, all-available on

Amazon: http://goo.gl/xUZfk0
Barnes&Nobles: http://goo.gl/q7dQ3w