Tania Sinel: EMPTY NEST

Empty nest.

When did that happen?

Wasn’t it just yesterday that day Ben and I were sitting in the doctor’s office, faced with a diagnosis of infertility?

The stigma of that diagnosis is branded on the psyche which only starts to fade after years go by.

Years that go by in the blink of an eye.

Your parents warn you about this – they tell you to enjoy every moment, time is fleeting. You scoff at that and don’t believe them, but here you are and they were so right.

One minute you are in the doctor’s office praying to have a baby and the next….

you are ready to be a grandmother.

When did that happen?

For years you are happily ensconced in the family home of your dreams and the next, that house has become too big, filled with empty rooms that are hidden behind closed doors you no longer open.

Empty Nesters.

When you start to imagine moving – you study the possibilities: there’s the high-rise, the apartment, the one story bungalow, or the 4 story townhouse (but only if it has an elevator.) Those are the realistic choices. Then there are the dreams. What about a cottage in Galveston’s historic East End? Or New Orleans’ French Quarter? Or maybe a ranchette near hilly Round Top? The possibilities are endless, if only the bank account is.

While thinking about a new address can be exciting – a garage and attic full of memories and junk is the cause of much anxiety. What do you do with a lifetime of possessions you no longer need or want? The mere thought of a full dumpster is enough to paralyze anyone.

Or, you can choose to live vicariously through others going through the painful process.

The new Milieu magazine has an Empty Nest story that is quite inspiring, to say the least. It’s enough to send you looking at local real estate listings.

It’s not every day that one of Houston’s most influential designers downsizes and invites Milieu along to document it all. HERE.

Enjoy!

Years ago I wrote about the One Perfect House.    It had come on the market and I think of it as the “one that got away.”   I like to pretend I was out-bid for it. The truth is the house was never in our budget.

But design is about dreaming, right?

Still, that house remains my ideal. Owned by designer Carol Glasser, she had decorated it in her own brand of English Country Manor which she alone is an expert in. Her style of decorating is so beautiful, that she inspired a legion of fans all influenced by her aesthetic.   I can’t stress how important she is to design in Houston and to the south.

Her house was her laboratory. She decorated it and redecorated it and each time she changed it, a magazine was nice enough to photoshoot it for the masses to drool over. And drool we all did.

A new design magazine with a Carol Glasser house was newsworthy.   I still have all those original copies and the stories continue to inspire me to this day. Her designs are as relevant now as they were twenty and thirty years ago. Classic doesn’t age.

Glasser’s style isn’t extravagant nor dressy. Instead, it’s that fabulous mix of cozy and warm, layered and inviting.   She fills her house with what she spent a lifetime collecting – there is her fabulous transferware, ironstone, chinoiserie and art - all with a patina.

An early photo from the living room of the “One Perfect House.” While this is located in Houston, Texas – it could just as well be in Cotswold.

Years later, the same room looked completely different. Edited and updated with white stucco walls and creamy upholstery.

The dining room was always part library, part reception area. For each photoshoot – Carol tweaked it just a bit to hypnotize us more.

This was a Christmas decor photoshoot.   Doesn’t it look like a still life painting? I absolutely love this.

Later, the room was edited just enough to blend with the new white walls in the living room.

Carol was known for her transferware collection and she started a trend in Houston. Anyone who read Veranda or Southern Accents wanted one too.

An early version of the sitting room.   So cozy. So perfect!!

Later, she showed a new set of rattan furniture and did a bit more editing.   Somewhere along the way, her iconic Irish dresser was sold.

…

After several decades in the One Perfect House – it was enough.

Next came a move a few miles away.

The new house was larger, grander, and it provided Carol with a chance to spread her wings and show us what she could do with more space and more rooms.

Oh my God! What CAN”T she do?

The house was her masterpiece.

I thought I had loved her old house but the new one was in a league all its own.   At a time when everyone in Houston was doing white slips and gold accents – Carol stayed true to her roots.

It was a vision.

The new house was sprawling – an ivy clad, two story Georgian, which had been added onto over the years.

The entrance set the tone. A gorgeous damask wallpaper in soft aqua paired with an exquisite painted console with gilt mirror. Underneath, a beautiful rug in coral and blues.

A peek into the living room which is lovely in coral.

Is there a prettier room? A velvet sofa matched with casual linen striped chairs and two antique bergeres in persimmon and checks. Antique red painted chests with beautiful stone lamps.   I love the casual English matting underfoot. Of course there are curtains in a soft print.

Against one wall is a striped settee with herbiers above it.

Another view.

The dining room was in blue with checked chairs and matching demilunes.

The stairhall with a Swedish center table.

And more antiques in the stairhall.

The library in coral and blue.

The kitchen is a knockout with brick floors and beamed ceiling. French mantel. Bennison fabric. LOVE!

Another view of the kitchen. Instead of an island there is a table. The breakfast room is then freed up for seating.

The family room with a casual slipcover sofa and chairs and blue and white stripes.

I’ve only showed some photos of Carol’s two former houses. To see more extensive stories with more pictures – go HERE and HERE.

When I heard that Carol and her husband had sold this large house in River Oaks, I wondered where she would go next.   I thought for sure they would downsize, but how do you downsize when you own the most fabulous antiques?

Carol and her husband own a second home in California and I felt perhaps that would be their permanent house, after all, that area of California is the stuff of dreamy vacations.

But there is work, still.

Last month Milieu Magazine was so nice to answer all these questions for us! We didn’t even have to ask them!!   And I have to tell you, the story is a lesson in downsizing and moving on and how to enter our golden years gracefully and with class and beauty.   Of course Carol would be the one to lead the way.

Faced with the sale of their very large house, Carol and her husband were stymied. Where would they go?

At first she held onto her old desires and needs. She planned to move to a townhouse with a small garden to tend to. Except they couldn’t find that townhouse fast enough.

“No highrises” she told her husband. In Houston, when you reach a certain age, many choose to go the route of a Versailles in the Sky. But that choice didn’t appeal to Carol. At first, that is.

But time was moving on and that perfect townhouse with the small garden was elusive.

So, they rented a loft style apartment in the trendy Museum District, planning to stay just long enough until they decided on their next move.

Except once they were settled in the 13th story highrise, Carol discovered she liked the cozier quarters.   She also liked being able to just lock the door and leave without any worries about the yard or that garden or that large house.

It was a freeing feeling.

She said she is “amazed” at how easy it is to take care of an apartment instead of a large house and garden.   She enjoys the open concept – cooking in the same room where she entertains means she isn’t isolated away from her guests. Carol told Milieu that she and her husband still entertain, just with smaller groups of friends, such as two or three couples.

Their apartment faces west Houston, offering a view she had never really seen before, living only on terra-firma in her past life. The sunsets make for a pretty show to offer her guests over cocktails. The real surprise she says is that she hasn’t looked back.

How would YOU choose what to keep from your old house and what to sell or give away?

Remember, in Carol’s old house – she had a living room, family room, office, TV room and sitting room. And each room was furnished with fabulous antiques and upholstered furniture. How could you choose?

The Loft-Style Apartment: A large main room with high ceilings, exposed ductwork, and an open kitchen/dining area behind the sofa.

“I think that’s the definition of eclectic,” Carol says, “the juxtaposition of the old and the new, the country and the gilt. To me, it’s the mix that makes a home interesting.” And notice that is exactly how she designed her apartment – the gilt antique mirror with the country styled coffee table and the casual slipcovered sofas.

“I’d rather have an eighteenth-century piece than something new. An antique gives character and patina to the room like nothing else.”   Every new piece of upholstery is framed by an antique – a console, a table, a dresser.

When is came time to choose, Carol went for comfort – the large slipcovered sofas were maintenance and worry free and they were comfortable. Gone was the velvet sofa. And also gone were scores of antiques collected over a lifetime.

Did she cry? I would have! I’m crying looking at all that is gone. But, Carol was lucky enough to know designers who were looking for those very antiques. She knows exactly who now owns what she once did and it makes her happy knowing that “other people are now giving them life”something that truly pleases her.

Key pieces stayed with Carol – like this mirror which has she had for decades. Underneath it is a large console that holds her collection of French pots and antique santos and candlesticks.

Today, these Raphael engravings sit above her baby grand. An antique chinoiserie chair is chosen over a modern piano bench. Of course!

Carol said: “Color and texture make a room elegant.”   When you use antiques in a room – it is unique and isn’t something you will see again in an interior with new pieces. “And when you buy quality, you can use it over and over again in any house in any style.”    Something Carol has proven here.

My favorite accessory – her collection of biots, filled with beautiful roses.

And notice too, how beautiful Carol Glasser is! She is such a pretty woman – a classic beauty.

BEFORE: An early photo from two houses ago – the mirror is still with Carol, as is the side chinoiserie table, the putti on the walls, and the chandelier, which is now in her master bedroom. By picking and choosing key pieces, she is able to add texture and layers to her new apartment, making it classic and timeless, two terms Carol admits are overused today.

A peek into a side room shows the rattan furniture with the Bennison fabric is off in another area, probably where the flatscreen is.

BEFORE:   The rattan furniture with Bennison fabric – I love that this stayed in the new apartment.   It makes sense Carol would choose this grouping for the TV room.

In the kitchen – this blue painted 1850 English cupboard is being used to hold her transferware and ironstone.

This are her dishes that she uses everyday.   Carol says her antiques aren’t just to look at!!

This piece was formerly used in her master bedroom. Now, it used for much needed storage.

The kitchen.   One thing Carol kept was her collection of kitchenware – antique ironstone, faience, Delft, and transferware.

In the article, she said that one of her favorite pieces are the antique dairy slabs which she uses to serve cheese or appetizers on.

Carol chose to use the breakfast table and chairs in her former kitchen over the dressier and larger table in what was once her dining room.

Love this room so much – the herbiers become the focal point. She bought them loose from a book of one man’s collection. Framed and hung together – they make a such a visual statement.

The chairs are fabulous – a country take on Chippendale.   And against the wall is the painted dresser – you can just barely see it here.

In the entry is her French buffet. This piece was once in her stairhall.

In her master bedroom – Carol used the furniture that was in her former house. I’m curious who inherited the Bennison Roses bedroom that was in her guest room?!! Lucky person.

But this is the right choice between the two bedroom schemes. The quiet green and white stripes and checks are a bit more sedate that the romantic Bennison Roses print.

Even the chandelier made the move.

Across from the bed is the sitting area, with the sofa in Claremont fabric. And she mixed in the two linen striped chairs from the living room, here in the bedroom.

Remember this decor? Her beloved Raphael engravings are in the loft apartment above the piano.

But how do you edit and choose what stays and what goes?

I absolutely love this entrance with blue wallpaper and gilt console. It might be my favorite piece in her all houses. But, it isn’t right for the loft, I know.   The English buffet in cream is the better choice.

And there was this:

I absolutely LOVED the decor in the living room.   But I think she made the right choice. The loft is not the right mix for velvet. The slipped chairs landed in her new master bedroom. The white slipcovered sofas and matching chairs fill up the room and look good with the concrete and exposed ductwork. Still, the piano gives the room a touch of elegance.   And, the herbiers actually work better in the loft – put together as one piece of art work, they make a much bigger statement.

But, those matching buffets. And those lamps. Sob.

What would you do?   If you are faced with a large family home and no children left at home, do you stay or move? And where do you go? An apartment, condo, cottage, or highrise?

One dream would be a smaller, one story cottage – old and renovated – and reasonably priced. But that’s almost impossible to find in Houston.

And there is something to be said for a large loft.   Last year I saw this unit in an old downtown building that had been converted. It caught my eye and I have thought – would this be somewhere to move to? A new life, downtown, where we could walk to dinner and plays and concerts.   Doesn’t that sound romantic?

The loft is located in an historical building on the fifth floor. The only drawback? There is no balcony for the dogs.   Those are reserved for the second floor lofts only.

The front door opens to a foyer with painted paneling.   Other walls are original brick and concrete.

Looking back to the front door with the original glass transom.

The large loft is technically two bedrooms – one on each side of the loft. There are no walls between the bedrooms, only curtains divide the space.

The view into the guest bedroom – which is set up as a TV room. This would make a good space for a library, if one is needed.

The curtains are just for show – and softness.   They don’t close.   But you could easily change this is you needed privacy.

And the view towards the other side of the loft where the kitchen and main bedroom are. This wall would be a perfect place for ceiling to floor shelves for books.

Another view from the guest room towards the other side of the long loft.

This has been decorated in taupe paint. I wonder how it would look painted white, including the brick and ceiling?

The guest bathroom with the same block paneling and mosaic tile floor with standing sink.

In the center – these owners placed two tables across from the kitchen. To the right is the master bedroom, also could be behind curtains if privacy is needed.

The view from the tables toward the guest bedroom.

The kitchen and bar.

Concrete countertops. Wonderful kitchen was custom built in this unit.

The master bedroom is on the corner so it gets lots of light from the windows.

The view from the bed that looks throughout the loft.

The master bathroom runs along one side of the loft and the windows let in much light. Love that sink with double faucets.

Love the mosaic tile floor.

Large shower.

The bathrooms and kitchen are really nice for a loft.

The owners obviously like antiques, industrial sized and repros from Restoration Hardware.

I wonder how French antiques would look in a space like this?