New Orleans Homes & Lifestyles October 2008

All Fired Up

New Orleans holds a special place in the ceramic arts, thanks to the famed Newcomb pottery created at Newcomb College in the early 20th century. It was at Newcomb that students and graduates, inspired in their designs by the lush…

Growing Opportunity

The last article I filed before I left for Natchez, Miss., on Aug. 27 looked at The Farm-Yard Project, a community-based effort to help people build kitchen gardens in their yards. The lead organizer, Macon Fry, got me all fired…

Linens-n-Things

While cleaning closets last year, I stumbled across three large unmarked cardboard boxes. As I opened the tops, I found a large collection of beautiful old linens –– dinner and cocktail napkins, tablecloths, lace-trimmed bedsheets and hand towels. All of…

Flavorful Fall

It’s October, and in case you haven’t noticed, the days are a little shorter and even a bit cooler. More obvious are the sudden sightings of ghosts, goblins and gourds around town that let us know that autumn has arrived.…

Style

(above) A Winning Pair Dating back to 1850, this pair of wooden musical “trophées” champions all over-door decorations. Intricately carved, painted and gilded, the French adornments add an extra je ne sais quoi to create a well-appointed entryway. Soniat House…

Retailer Spotlight: Caroline Robert of Perch

Caroline Robert, owner of perch., says her love of antiques was passed down from her mother, an avid collector. “She taught me the importance of all things old and how interesting their provenance can be.” Robert herself was naturally drawn…

Retailer Spotlight: Rob Dunn of Bayou Closets

Rob Dunn, president and CEO of Bayou Closets, says his business prides itself on superior design. “It’s important for a lady to know just how many pairs of shoes she can store in her closet,” he says. “To make the…

Artist Profile: Lisa Silvestri

The statistics and strategies of the reinvented New Orleans public school system are under widespread analysis during the community’s monumental recovery effort. For an intimate glimpse into some of the young lives at the heart of the endeavor, plan a…

Editor's Note

I know it’s October, a month of ghost stories and haunted houses, but to be perfectly honest, I don’t think anything that happens this month can top last month in terms of terrifying.Hurricanes Gustav and Hanna and Ike, churning out…

Gourd-geous

Everyone has hidden talents –– and my husband’s is gourd artistry. Jamie’s dabbled in watercolors and acrylic on canvas, but his true medium is the pumpkin. Every Halloween, while other households display the classic jack-o’-lanterns with triangular eyes and gap-toothed…

True Flue

In the 19th century, were you to sit perched in the bell tower of St. Patrick’s Church, you could look out across the Crescent City and take in a full panorama of the local rooftops. And if it were twilight…

Art and Antiques

Orient Expressed 3905 Magazine St. • 504-899-3060A stunning example of a Han Dynasty green glazed vase. The Han Dynasty prospered from 200 BC to 200 AD in ancient China. Orient Expressed offers a large selection of pieces from that…

The Imagination Movers at Home

Home is obviously a concept that means a lot to the Imagination Movers. The band had long been a local favorite with kids and parents alike when Disney came calling. Rather than packing their bags and moving to Los Angeles,…

Possession Obsession

One New Orleanian collects fine French porcelains, exquisitely crafted more than a century ago. Another collects Chinese pottery, made in the countryside during varying centuries. Another collects vinyl records, featuring artists from the 1960s and ‘70s. Three collectors, all with…