Dressed in Black by Erin Ferucci, Designs 4 Living

By Erin Ferucci

Celebrity Lifestyle Designer

Black. It's bold, versatile and back! In this month's Elle Decor, there was a story on Badgley and Mischka's weekend getaway farm, in Kentucky.As a designer, I am constantly surrounded by colors, textures, finishes, various fabrics, etc, etc.
Seeing color so much, I tend to stay neutral at home, myself.
Seeing their black barn and black kitchen and black dining room and black bedroom....I was like...hmmmmm?? They seem to have made it work for them....I thought I had a lot of cookbooks!! I love the way they color coded them.

I Just Can't Get Enough!

By Erin Ferucci
Celebrity Lifestyle Designer

I just cannot get enough of Suzanis. I know they were all the rage last year with designers, but now they have gotten me!! In a good way! This is Anne Becker's home in Manhattan. Photographed for the March 2009 issue for Elle Décor by Simon Upton.It’s everywhere.....
Photos courtesy of House Beautiful......
Cheerful no?
For real antique Suzanis visit Ruzzetti & Gow via their website or New York showroom.
Christopher Gow of Ruzzeti & Gow is a treasure trove of information on these wonderful designs.
According to Gow, "Most of the suzanis were prepared and used for ceremonial functions like wedding dowries and furnishings for the bridal bed or the embellishment of reception rooms and trappings for horses and their riders. As such the antique ones usually have some signs of age especially with the black colored embroidery: the black dye does not age as well as the others and is the first to wear away, leaving designs that were not originally intended but sometimes equally as interesting.
Given the general “not perfect” condition and the dramatic patterns of the Suzanis it takes someone with a lot of style to pull it off! Usually I only used to see them in European homes but now they are popping up more in American homes and they look great!"


My friend Martyn Lawrence Bullard
has even re-created the "Suzanni" pattern into his own fabric line.
He loves Suzanni's so much, they were the inspiration for his new candle line.Note the packaging. I love it!

Ceylon et Cie

By Erin Ferucci

Celebrity Lifestyle Designer

November’s Elle Décor magazine features the lovely and wonderful Michelle Nussbaumer who has been a really good friend to me over many years!

Michelle is an amazing designer and a wonderful person. Her passion to hunt down the best taste in everything around the world is infectious!!!

She mixes treasures from all over, different centuries layered together..Regency
with mid-century, ornate with under-stated...she really has "THE gift"!
You walk into any of her exquisite homes and your jaw immediately drops! She is a master at achieving easy elegance that is layered, textured and exquisite.
She makes everything feel so warm and unintimidating! Pure class!

I cannot wait to visit her shop in Dallas called Ceylon et Cie.

Take a look at these lovely lamps of Michelle’s
the darker one is actually petrified wood from Brazil...
(wood that is soooo old it turns into stone that is beautifully textured)I have never seen it in a lamp form, only in a side table stump.

The shell fossil is thousands of years old! called AMMONITE.
It is mounted on an acrylic base with a linen shade...truly lovely.

I think I'll get these for myself!