Author: admin
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In Bruges
I’m in Bruges. Like the movie. Except without the shooting. What can I say about a city that smells like chocolate, has houses that look like lace, and where the soundtrack is the clip-clop of horses pulling carriages and the (almost constant) melody of forty-seven bells reverberating from the medieval bell tower that soars above…
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Italy | The Joy of Cooking
Passing by Ristorante Buca di Bacco in Positano one day, I noticed a raucous group of tourists with aprons on, and wine glasses in hand, in the kitchen. It looked like a party, but upon further inspection, I discovered that it was a cooking class. I signed up immediately. The next day I arrived at…
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Style Moment | A Chair in Reykjavik
“Love of beauty is taste. The creation of beauty is art.” Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882) American poet
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Style Moment | Chiavari
“I see my path, but I don’t know where it leads. Not knowing where I’m going is what inspires me to travel it.” María Rosalía Rita de Castro (1837-1885) Spanish poet
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Weird but Wonderful | Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs in Italy
While I was in Italy art directing “The Brian Boitano Project,” I began to notice something peculiar. Everywhere I went, I saw Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. There are several versions of the fairy tale in Italy, dating back to the fifteenth century. Which is interesting, but doesn’t explain why they are so beloved,…
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Italy | Under the Ligurian Sun
The blog can’t seem to get out of Italy, because of all the questions that have come from viewers of “The Brian Boitano Project,” since it aired on HGTV. One of the queries was, “Where did you stay during the house renovation?” The answer is a charming town on the Italian Riviera, called Chiavari. (Pronounced…
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Paris | Guimauves pour la Saint-Valentin
On a quiet Sunday afternoon in Paris, I stumbled upon Meert. The windows were spilling over with delectable and beautifully packaged Valentine’s Day sweets, and I stopped momentarily to gaze through the window. That’s when I saw the marshmallows. I love marshmallows. These were big and fluffy and colored in shades of soft pastel, hinting…
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Style Moment | A house in Favale
“Beauty is a summation of the parts working together in such a way that nothing needs to be added, taken away or altered.” Elio Carletti (1925-1980) Italian artist
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Eye on Design | The Brian Boitano Project | HOW TO | Dining room pendant
If you’ve seen the posts about The Brian Boitano Project, you’ll know that I had the best job of my life as art director of the HGTV television show, chronicling the renovation of a crumbling stone villa in the mountains of Italy. One of the most asked questions regarding the details of the design is…
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Italy | The Great Big Italian Feast
It was like a movie. On the side of a mountain, just off a treacherously curvy road, the residents of the town of Favale di Malvaro gathered for a Sunday afternoon feast. Brian’s contractor for the renovation of his family home in Favale was Enzo Pezzolo, and he invited us all to the town feast. …
