Art We Love: Vintage Lifestyle Photography-Featuring Slim Aarons

 

JA living room

Art takes on many forms.  While styles ebb and flow in the mainstream, so to speak, selecting art still remains a very intimate decision based on personal style and what appeals to ones eye.  Vintage photography is nothing new to the art or interior design scene, however we are seeing it displayed in fresh new ways and being reproduced by high profile designers.  In this post, the Jigsaw Designers selected famed photographer Slim Aarons as the feature photographer for this months Art We Love.  (Seen in self portrait below.)

slim aarons self portrait

 

Aarons joined the army at age 18 and served as a combat photographer in World War II.  Afterwards, leaving Aarons with an extreme dislike for war he famously stated, “The only beach worth landing on was decorated with beautiful, seminude girls tanning in a tranquil sun.” Hence leading in him the desire to photograph ‘attractive people doing attractive things in attractive places’ as he himself coined.  One spot-on example would be the image of sunbathing beauties on St. Tropez beach below.

st tropez slim aarons

aarons_catherinewilke

Aarons photographed the jet setters and society types from the 50’s to the 80’s.  Trekking across the world from Capri, St. Tropez, Palm Springs and then some; he yachted, vacationed and observed the celebrities and aristocrats at their leisure, often times from inside their own estates and villas.

aarons_tania mailet

dining room slim

Not your typical college dorm poster; what brings these time transcending images to life again are most often the process used for display.   A photograph is printed from scans of the original negative that are then mounted on aluminum and faced with museum quality plexiglass.  Processing from a negative allows one to create the image at any size, even a wall mural in the mid-century baby nursery below.  But, most often the museum quality plexi brings added luster to the color saturated images Aarons was famous for.

mid century nurserySlim Aarons photo

kaufmann house desert house 11

One of the most beloved images featured here is called Poolside Gossip which was photographed at the famous Kaufman house in Palm Springs, CA.  The image of society ladies relaxing and simultaneously “stirring the pot” is charming and yet, familiar to us all.  This image is available in a variety of sizes at www.jigsawdesigngroup.com along with many other Slim Aarons favorites.

Slim Aarons Poolside Glamour

Slim Arrons in study

Summer by the sea in the south of France beckons you in the timeless image of celebs sun worshiping at the Hotel Du Cap in Antibes.  Ultimately, Aarons’ imagery draws you in and makes you feel welcome, making his work a fabulous compliment to ones swinging stylish pad.

aarons_hotelducap

For more information on Slim Aarons photography or the images featured in this post, simply leave a comment or visit the contact page on the Jigsaw Design Group website at www.jigsawdesigngroup.com.  Someone will quickly contact you with more information.  Please subscribe to the blog for more informative articles like these, and check out our Facebook page for more tips and images!  Be sure to ‘like us’ on Facebook!   Now join us on Googleplus too!

 

Rock the Croc: Jigsaw’s Top Reptile Picks

Croc Ottoman

Spring 2016 is the season to invest in our slithery animal kingdom friends.  All things crocodile, snake, lizard, and python are hot!  Whether you have the conscience for faux or faux-real  (aka authentic ), in this post we’ll feature faux items we can really get behind!

Ken Faulk Chimney breast croc paper

 

Style and function are both satisfied in this Ralph Lauren Home trunk bar.  It is stately and sophisticated and we love it!  Cleverly named the One-Fifth Trunk Bar, this kitsch little number is a Pullman style trunk bar with embossed crocodile leather and polished brass stand.  It features a mahogany interior and a mirrored back panel. Includes storage for barware, mixing surfaces and custom fitted wells.  Martini anyone???

Croc RL Bar

One of the Jigsaw team’s favorite ways to introduce reptile into a client’s home is with a bench.  A reptile bench is perfect for the foot of the bed, down a hallway, in an alcove…just about anywhere will do.  We can’t get enough of the Moreletti Crocodile-Embossed Bench by Massoud at Horchow.  At $1799, this is a solid addition to any space.

Moreletti Bench

Faux reptile pieces are not limited to natural colors.  Bright eye popping colors inspire in pastels, metallics, jewel tones-all hot this spring.  Kelly Wearstler killed it with these gorgeous pink faux snake chairs for this Bel Air home office.

Wearstler Office pink creoc chairs

Snake Desk

While most designer reptile pieces will cost you a pretty penny, you can rock croc that won’t break your budget.  For example this fun Threshold™ Faux Snake Skin Lamp for Target at $54.99; or this fun metallic faux croc trunk printed on high-quality textured vinyl.

snake lamp target

Gold Faux Croc Trunk

Take the trend a different direction with embossed wallpaper.  Give your fireplace a whole new meaning by applying the paper all the way to the ceiling.  This dramatic focal point will certainly satisfy.  Available in mattes and metallics in a variety of colors.  The fireplace with antlers below is Ralph Lauren about $55 per roll.

croc and antlers wallpaper

croc brown wallpaper

silver croc wallpper

For more information on reptile trends or the images featured in this post, simply leave a comment or visit the contact page on the Jigsaw Design Group website at www.jigsawdesigngroup.com.  Someone will quickly contact you with more information.  Please subscribe to the blog for more informative articles like these, and check out our Facebook page for more tips and images!  Be sure to ‘like us’ on Facebook!   Now join us on Googleplus too!

snake nightstands

Spring Cleaning-Organize and Update Your Closets

glam walk in

Spring is just a few days away and that makes for the perfect time to clean, purge and organize.  Whether you need to tackle that daunting broom closet or find a home for that mountain of wrapping paper left over from Christmas, the Jigsaw design team has some helpful solutions in this post.

everything has its place

Let’s start small with a linen closet/catch-all to get motivated by quicker results.  Once you start to clean and purge in one place, everything else starts to look disorganized as well and you’ll soon be moving on to bigger projects.  Marie Condo’s audio book The Magic of Tidying Up: The Japanese Art of Decluttering is a perfect companion to keep you motivated to purdge.  In her book, she encourages you to let go of items you’ve been hanging on to for too long.  You’ll feel better and your house will feel light and airy.

tidy book

How to purge?  Throw it away, unless you use it regularly or it serves a purpose more often than not.  Avoid going through sentimental items during the process.  It slows you down and you’ll likely keep everything you take down memory lane.  Put those items in a bag to sort through at the end once your job is complete.

Now that you’ve purged and cleaned, it’s time to organize your keepers in boutique style. Purchase matching baskets for small items, label items or shelves just do whatever will make your life more efficient.  If you don’t have a craft room or large laundry area, add baskets and hangers on the inside of a closet door to store that mountain of wrapping paper.  It will be at your fingertips quickly and easily and stored nicely out of plain sight.  The Container Store and Ikea are great places to find easy install wall mount baskets.

Linen closet Before & After

Gift Wrap Solution

wrapping+paper+closet+1

April showers bring May flowers…as well as mud into the house.  Contain the pile of shoes, umbrellas and backpacks at the door by creating a mud-room.  An organized shelf in your garage can do the trick, or if you have a coat closets that you can spare in your entry, viola, you have an instant mud room (or mud closet-close enough).  Remove the doors and add a bench style seat, maybe a shelf, Monogram the wall, whatever makes your home flow in a stylish way.

Closet Re-use

What every girl wants is a dreamy walk in closet.  Whether you have the luxury of space for a walk or not, you can use the steps above to organize your closet to fit your busy life.  Add some wallpaper behind your shelves for a little pizzazz, or a chandelier to make you feel like a queen.

attic walk in

Jigsaw Design group completed this closet renovation in the images below.  The square closet before was lined with a shelf to high to reach and hanging space only.  The team went in and added drawers,  multiple layer shelves and hanging dowels to make it fully functional.  Then an added an ottoman for dressing, and a chandelier for that extra special touch.  We recently caught up with the client who is madly in love with her closet and she has been able to keep her new space perfectly organized for the last year.  That is the mark of excellent design.

Cutler Closet 1

Cutler Open shelves

For more information on closet renovations and resources visit the contact page on the Jigsaw Design Group website at www.jigsawdesigngroup.com.  Someone will quickly contact you with more information.  Please subscribe to the blog for more informative articles like these, and check out our Facebook page for more tips and images!  Be sure to ‘like us’ on Facebook!   Now join us on Googleplus too!