(MENAFN - IANS)

Mumbai, March 20 (IANS) Bollywood's livewire star Ranveer Singh shared a major throwback image that disclosed that he had tried his hands at theatre before his Bollywood debut role in "Band Baaja Baaraat".

Before Bollywood, Ranveer had worked in an English play called "Carry On At The Keyhole". It was a comedy directed by Dinkar Jani.

Sharing a poster of the play on social media, the actor said: "This is a poster for a small play in which I had a small part and the story goes that I used to be a struggler and I used to sit at Prithvi theatre with two or three others like me. We used to just sit there every day, look for odd jobs. One of them got the information that an audition is happening in a college in Andheri for a small role in a small play and nobody wanted to go -- I said I'll go because I didn't have anything at that time!"

Ranveer added: "I thought to myself -- 'acting acting hoti hai, koi bada chhota kya hota hai' (acting is acting, nothing big or small about it). I went for the audition , I got the part and they were very impressed by my acting. When we put up the performance - I remember one was at St Andrews and even then I felt proud when I was performing at St Andrews stage because I used to perform on St Andrews stage as a student when I was in school."

"So, you know, we had a few performances, I had the role of an interior decorator who was posing to be a homosexual man in order to attract more business and it was an old English double-meaning comedy play that was headlined by Darshan Jariwala and directed by Dinkar Jani," Ranveer recalled.

Ranveer claimed whoever came to watch the play used to be be impressed by his performance.

"I really took it very seriously and I gave it everything. I used to wear some of my own clothes and most of the people who came to watch the play were just friends and family whom I had informed that I am doing this performance and to come and see it, he said, adding: "I remember meeting Yogesh Sanghvi (the producer of the play) at an awards show last year which is when we re-connected and it was a very emotional moment for him and for me - to meet after all those years - just to see his moist eyes , the pride in his eyes - 'tu kahan se kahan pahuch gaya mere dost' and I was also getting a bit emotional when I met him because he used to really like me, he used to be very kind to me."

Ranveer recalled there wasn't much money in theatre but whatever the producer made, he would give to him very generously.

"He was always very fair and kind to me. So it's a very, very fond memory of mine from my struggling days," he summed up.

--IANS

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Ranveer Singh recalls his tryst with the stage - MENAFN.COM

Dear AD Pro,

My client is sentimental about her furniture and possessions. She wont get rid of anything! How do I exercise some KonMari decluttering (and maintain my vision!) while being respectful of her cherished items?

Reluctant Minimalist

The client is always right except, of course, when the client is wrong. Nearly every designer has come up against a truly terrible heirloom piece (or three) a homeowner is intent on saving.

Even so, as decorator Patrick Mele pointed out to AD earlier this year, Its rude to get rid of peoples things. Clients have led a life before they work with you, so to dictate what should be thrown away is not the best approach.

Manhattan interior designer Josh Greene of Josh Greene Design agrees: I have always said that sometimes you have to let the client win, even if you dont like the piece. Clients appreciate it when you accommodate them and it is an aspect of customer service. If the look is dead wrong, of course, then stick to your guns, says Greene. But if it can be reworked or used in a different room, you come out looking like a magician.

Chicago interior designer Summer Thornton typically takes a harder line: I help them understand that in order to achieve the things they have seen our firm design, it is simply not possible to reuse all existing pieces, she says. If those pieces were so great and worked well, after all, why are they calling me?

Others have had success getting creativeoften very creative. Manhattan interior designer Tina Ramchandani has grown to love, or at least appreciate, repurposing pieces of sentimental value. Many things can be revamped through reupholstering, restaining, or repositioning, she says. When that becomes a struggle, she tries to get the client to pick and choose. I explain that one stand-alone piece can anchor the room, and ultimately be much more impactful than forcing several pieces together that ultimately distract from the new look, she says.

Andrew Torrey, principal of Manhattan interior design firm B.A. Torrey, goes all in with difficult pieces, particularly art. I have the entire piece mounted on a linen board and encased in Plexiglas, he says. Twice Ive taken some gruesome artwork and given it a story, making it more important than it initially appears, and it has yielded incredible results.

Whatever you do, dont wait too long to have the conversation about how you really feel about those old corner breakfronts or the Swarovski crystal animal collection. By addressing the issue early on, Im usually able to include their most beloved possessions in an integrated way, says Boston interior designer Kathie Chrisicos, while also giving a client time to consider an alternative. Maybe theres another home, a basement or storage area, or a relative who might appreciate their cherished possessions?

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Your Client Wont Get Rid of Their Stuff. Now What? - Architectural Digest

Homeowners looking to renovate their residence often look to spruce up the bathroom as part of this work. An improved bathroom will be functional and beautiful, and can easily improve the home's value.

You might consider putting in a new bathtub so you can enjoy a peaceful soak whenever you need to relax. If so, you'll need to decide whether to get a built-in or freestanding tub. Both options have their advantages and disadvantages, and your choice should come down to your own taste and needs.

Built-in

Built-in tubs have water supplied by plumbing in a wall, so they need to be installed where a faucet can be easily located. The interior design site Homedit says they're unfinished on at least two sides and need to placed against a wall, in a corner, or in an enclosure.

Naturally, this limits the places where a bathtub can be placed. However, it can also lead to a more efficient use of space. Laurysen Kitchens, a Canadian company, says built-in tubs will be flush to a wall, opening up more space elsewhere in the room.

The efficiency of built-in tubs has generally made them a more common choice in bathrooms. The plumbing for the feature is also readily available, and the bulk of it is concealed within the wall.

Built-in tubs can easily serve multiple purposes. Homedit says they can be used for showering simply by installing a showerhead higher on the wall. It also tends to be easier to incorporate built-in shelving for storage.

One disadvantage to built-in bathtubs is their visual appeal. Laurysen Kitchens says there are usually limited options for built-in materials, and that the design options tend to pale in comparison to freestanding tubs.

You can still create an attractive surround to make more of a visual statement, but this can lead to other problems. Building, sealing, and mounting this feature will require more effort and cost. Audrey Bauer, writing for the home design site Apartment Therapy, says a bolder surround can also potentially take up more room, eliminating the benefit of efficiency.

Freestanding

Freestanding bathtubs are finished on all sides and can stand alone in the room. The flexibility of freestanding bathtubs is arguably their biggest advantage. The bathroom fixture line Moen says they can be located in the center of a room or anywhere else you'd like to place them.

Placing the tub anywhere you like also means it's easier to install. Built-in tubs usually require a contractor and decorator to create the tile, surrounds, and other features. Laurysen Kitchens says freestanding tubs just require a plumber to connect the water pipes.

The tub is designed to be a striking feature in the bathroom. Bauer says there are a variety of designs and materials available, and the bathtub may even be a focal point in the room. Freestanding tubs also tend to be a natural choice for creating a spa-like bathroom, as they provide plenty of room for a soak.

Many freestanding tubs are made of heavy materials, such as cast iron or marble. Moen says this quality, combined with the weight of the water when filled, means you may need to reinforce the floor to ensure that it can handle the weight.

While freestanding tubs have more flexibility in where they can be placed, they also typically take up more room. Homedit says the tub usually needs to be supplied by a plumbing fixture coming out of the floor instead of one that can be efficiently built into the wall.

Unless you're taking a bath every day, a freestanding tub may not be too practical for your daily bathing needs. It's more difficult to store soap, shampoo, and other items unless you use a bath shelf or nearby freestanding storage option like a shower caddie. Laurysen Kitchens says it's also more difficult to mount a shower to a freestanding tub, and that installing a shower curtain makes the setup look considerably less appealing.

Freestanding tubs also tend to be less friendly to those with mobility issues. It's much more difficult to get into and out of freestanding bathtubs than it is with built-in tubs.

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Built-in bathtubs vs. freestanding ones - News from southeastern Connecticut - theday.com

Open up the pages of any home decor magazine and youll see a seaside dream house: huge windows overlooking the water, airy open layouts, an ocean-inspired palette of blues, greens and neutrals. You can practically feel the salty breezes blowing as you read.

In a perfect world, youd wake up every morning to the sound of the waves and the sun peeking through your pristine white shutters. But in the real world, its not actually all that hard to achieve the same feeling, even if you dont live by the shore.

Lauren McBride, a Connecticut-based blogger who writes about raising her family and creating an effortlessly stylish home, has just launched her first home decor collection, Lauren McBride x QVC. The exclusive line of home accessories includes lamps and lanterns, decorative throws and pillows and accents like baskets and trays, all under $100. While you definitely wont find any seashells or lighthouses in the chic collab, you will find a subtle beach influence throughout the pieces. And its this serene aesthetic that has helped McBride to amass over 270,000 followers on Instagram, where she pulls the curtain back on her cottage by the shore lifestyle.

I live by the water, but not everyone does, McBride tells Yahoo Lifestyle, The whole line has this little bit of a coastal vibe to it, but not too close to where it won't fit into your home.

The palette mostly comprises the whites and neutrals she loves in her own home, and has hints of sea greens and blues. She points to the lamps in the collection, one of which is a vivid cobalt, while the other has a layered wooden base.

That blue lamp is just so gorgeous and makes such a statement. Its so on trend right now. But if its not for you, we have another gorgeous neutral lamp, says McBride.

The lanterns, which come in two finishes, can be used indoors or outdoors, and have flameless candles controlled by remote timers. Theyd look just as at home outside on a wicker patio table as they would inside on a granite mantle. The same with the set of baskets, which could hold beach blankets or firewood, and the marble accent tray.

This is the first collection that I've actually been able to hands-on design, McBride says. That's always been a passion of mine. My mom is an interior designer, so I feel I got that gene from her. Its always been something thats intrigued me.

In fact, her wildly popular lifestyle blog started as a way to show relatives across the country her DIY home decor projects, while she and her husband were newlyweds and living on a tight budget. That foundation is definitely present in this line. I tried to focus on pieces that were frequently switching around in our homes, explains McBride, and can make a big statement without spending a ton of money.

The two styles of throw pillows wool striped and solid designs are also the kind of neutrals that will beautifully complement any home decor style.

The same with the two blankets: the spring knit throw with tassels is a subtle light blue, and the other spring knit throw is neutral with either blues or earth tones woven in as accents. Even though theyre light, theyre also easy to clean.

My kids are 6, 4 and 2, and Im a mom first, she says. I love my house to look pretty and feel welcoming, but I need things to be accessible and functional for them too. Almost everything in the collection can be cleaned in the washing machine, except for the wool pillow, which can be spot cleaned.

I wanted the pieces in this line to be something your family can come in and actually use instead of feeling like you cant touch it, says McBride. My own house is set up this way, and I feel this line is too.

This article was paid for by QVC and created by Yahoo Lifestyle's custom content team. The Yahoo Lifestyle editorial staff did not participate in the creation of this content.

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Lauren McBride's budget-friendly decor secrets earned her Instagram fame and a new home collection on QVC - Yahoo Lifestyle

Twinkle Khanna shared this image. (Image courtesy: twinklerkhanna )

Twinkle Khanna sprinkled a dash of her signature humour on her Twitter profile on Tuesday. The 46-year-old author, in her post, wrote that she wanted to stab her eye with a fork after a three-hour-long session with her daughter, sorry, we mean her "teacher" Nitara (all in good humour, of course). Mrs Funnybones' post came with an unusual analogy between her daughter Nitara and her Wi-Fi connection. "3 hours into day I of virtual learning with my first grader and I want to stab my eye with a fork. It doesn't help that my Wi-Fi connection has the same attention span as my child, which means, they both take a break every five minutes," wrote Twinkle. She added the hashtag #TeachersAreAClassApart.

Check out Twinkle Khanna's post here:

Last week, Twinkle Khanna shared a lovely picture with Nitara and she wrote: "Nothing better than lying down next to each other, engrossed in our own book, but still together. The greed to capture this moment of joy, to preserve it for a stage when memory will invariably be shrouded by the cobwebs of time, was overwhelming. #MeAndMine #loveinthetimeofcorona."

Take a look at the post here:

Twinkle Khanna, a former Bollywood actress, is a celebrated columnist. She has authored three best-selling books. Her first book Mrs Funnybones was a compilation of her columns. Her second book - The Legend Of Lakshmi Prasad was an anthology of short stories, while her third book Pyjamas Are Forgiving was a novel.

Twinkle is also an interior decorator, the owner of The White Window, and a film producer. Her last project as a film producer was the National Award-winning film PadMan, which starred her husband Akshay Kumar in the lead role.

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Here's What Twinkle Khanna Wanted To Do After 3-Hour Session With "Teacher" Nitara - NDTV News

In a letter penned in 1782, the Marquis de Sade claimed that he knew enough about architecture [] to decide if anidea is beautiful or not. Indeed, De Sade constructed at leasttwo complex literary edifices. The torture-sex rituals of 120 Days of Sodom (1785) are convened by a clique of libertines in the Chteau de Silling an inescapable fortress with rooms dedicated to specific activities, such as desecrationof the cross or narration of tales of past debauchery (to be violently re-enacted upon victims). The monastery of Sainte-Marie-des-Bois, imagined for De Sades 1791 novel Justine which, unlike 120 Days of Sodom, was published during the authors lifetime is less infamous than the Chteau but somewhat more cruel. The only means of entry or exit is through a winding underground passage, and the complex is further secured by a series of thorn-encrusted hedges, an additional wall and a moat. Overgrown with vegetation, the structure is indistinct, if not invisible, from the exterior. Everyone inside can hear you scream; those outside perceive a thicket or a bosky hill. Theres a nod tothe notion of the folly that thrill of Enlightenmentgardens but Sainte-Marie-des-Bois is not a private building; it is a communal retreat for libertine monks, who maintain stable-like dorms for the objects of their interests, whom they segregate by gender. Precise order reigns throughout this corporate seraglio. Like the Chteau, Sainte-Marie-des-Bois evinces a fascination on De Sades part with, as architectural historian Anthony Vidler has written, the impossible coincidence between imprisonment and liberty.1 Certainly, it unites De Sade with the utopian social philosopher Charles Fourier, who similarly proposed, as Roland Barthes notes in Sade, Fourier, Loyola (1976), a communitarian lifestyle in which all functions necessary for life, including coitus, are as communal as they are minutely regulated.

Although De Sades interiors precede the technologicaltransformations of the industrial revolution, which transferred the means of manufacture from the home to industrial spaces during the 19th century, they do offer a vision of production that pre-empts the Victorian model. Like the meticulous, fanciful architectural drawings of his contemporary Jean-Jacques Lequeu, which concern themselves with elaborate monuments to classical spirits and genital-shaped grottos sown with smelly flowering plants, De Sade represents spaces so total, so awesome and so expansive that, once we are inside them, there really is no other place to go. In De Sades world, there is nothing but fantasy and ceremony, no way to wake up from the dream and absolutely no privacy not even for the apparently empowered libertine. As for De Sade and Fourier, so for Lequeu: his structures would be impossible to realize in real life but, in the artists projections, currently on view in the exhibition Jean-Jacques Lequeu: Visionary Architect at New Yorks Morgan Library & Museum, bodies are effortlessly conveyed through space,combined, created and destroyed, in a sensuous narrative that seemingly for no reason beyond personal preference partakes synthetically of logics borrowed from the church, the abattoir, the bedroom, the classroom, the theatre, the kitchen and the prison, both past and future.

A different kind of sensuousness took hold in the Victorian era that followed. According to design historian Peter Thornton, the mid-1800s marked:

the age of the crapaud of the toad, the disrespectfulbut apt nickname given by the French to the standard, mid-19th-century, heavily stuffed, deeplybuttoned and elaborately trimmed easy chair. This object, together with its sisters the sofas, confidantes, ottomans, pouffes and so forth, were the subjectof derision [] but such seat-furniture embodiedthe true spirit of the period and was to be seeneverywhere, modified ad infinitum.2

This was a period of seat-furniture, structures designed for sinking, fainting, zoning out, lingering, posing,pining and attending the inevitable: death. Dense massing of decorative objects and upholstery fashionable in Europe and the US between the 1860s and the 1890s added clutter and clashing to rooms duly padded, as if to soften the blow. A craze for drapes and fringing seems to have celebrated the increasingly extreme feminization of the private sphere with symbolic labia: indications of mysterious concealment and delicate sensations to be found only within the vessel of the home.

It was an era of the blossoming of a certain social format:the so-called separate spheres, which had emerged at the beginning of the 19th century, after the revolutions and early stirrings of industrialization. In this organization of society, domestic space pertains to the woman of the house, while the man enters into public in order to work and make known his name. The domestic arena is the site of childrearing, decor, material culture, religion andsentiment, while the public realm is a locus of action, reason, money, politics and history. Alexis de Tocqueville, who travelled to the US from France to observe the relationsbetween men and women there, writes in a chapter on How the Americans Understand the Equality of the Sexes in Democracy in America (1835), that although the women of the United States are confined within the narrow circle of domestic life, and their situation is in some respects one of extreme dependence, I have nowhere seen women occupying a loftier position. If our contemporary conception of privacy was popularized, if not exactly invented, during the 19th century, then it fell to women to groom and nourish this valuable civic substance. They hung it with drapes, planted it with ferns and, in the process, became enclosed and obscured along with it.

The modern object or room, by contrast, seems topartake, at its most strenuous, of an ideology of limitation: form follows function and function itself is exhaustively knowable. Thus, there can be no need for the chicory of rococo, with its folds and undulations, nor the drips, points and bead-like embellishments of the gothic, nor Victorianas endless tufts and patterning. The industrial aesthetic moves indoors. The new woman has dispensed with frills, wears trousers, cuts her hair short, practises photography, smokes. The visibility promoted by modernism is remarkable: surfaces are free of encumbrance and, where not strictly administrative, work is intellectual and creative (since, in theory, much physical labour is done by machines), meaning it can take place, once again, within the home.

This said, the ideology of the separate spheres has proved stubborn, if not invincible; even as we have drifted far beyond a historical moment that can reasonably be termed modern, it remains with us. Perhaps this has something to do with the style of privacy that began to emerge in the 20th century along with the advent of mass media. As architectural historian Beatriz Colomina puts it in her book Privacy and Publicity (1994): Privacy is now what exceeds the eyes. In Colominas reading of modernist design, interior space is often exposed to the exterior in what amounts not to a revelation of the private but, rather, a re-invention of public space on what were apparently private grounds. Modernity, she notes, coincides with the publicity of the private. We need only think of the floor-to-ceiling windows, so prevalent in contemporary architecture, which provide an unobstructed view of a pristinely curated (and pointedly crapaud-free) interior.

Such was the historical trajectory of interior design. Yet, as a spate of current and recent exhibitions attests, there have always been exceptions. A number of 20th-century artists resisted the Victorian doctrine of separate spheres even as they did not fit within the massively influential paradigms proposed by the utopian era of republican revolutions or high modernisms rejection of the purely decorative. These artists perform a sort of ambiguous installation work, designing interiors that are neither solely for aesthetic contemplation nor for autonomous living but that engage moods of monumentality, esoteric ritual and even entombment, just as they give place to ecstatic forms of daily life that cannot be reduced to work or leisure.

Two artists who lived on opposite coasts of the US during two different halves of the 20th century, Florine Stettheimer (18711944) and John Boskovich (19562006), developed a deeply weird decorative grammar that not only escapes the logics of work and privacy entailed by the ideology of the separate spheres, but also managesto differentiate itself from libertinage as well as modernism. Stettheimer, who wrote poetry and painted elaborate encrusted scenes, usually of flowers and wispy figures and fauns, was also an extraordinary decorator, favouring copious quantities of lace and doilies alongside a new translucent material: cellophane. As a mature artist, Stettheimer painted in her apartment, layering the space with various crystalline textiles in the midst of which she displayed her works, along with her collection of George Washington figurines and images. Similarly, Boskovich altered arented Los Angeles house, presumably at significantexpense, to house artworks that were also furnishings. His custom Prada-themed fridge, his use of koan-like excerpts of poems on objects and walls, along with his inclusion of religious iconography as well as medical and industrial items, gave the space, which he termed his Psycho Salon, the quality of a large mausoleum or period room for atime in history that had not yet fully come to pass. The relative obscurity of his practice at the time of his death further contributes to a masonic air of hidden ritual about the place, even as its growing fame in art-world circles contributes to its ongoing public-ness.

In his catalogue essay Playing with the Truth (1988), Jeremy Gilbert-Rolfe sees a narrative of both accessibility and arcane reference in Boskovichs pristine framed juxtapositions of image and text, in which he culls language from such poets as e.e. cummings, John Keats and Octavio Paz and sets it alongside found and altered photographic imagery. Boskovich, according to Gilbert-Rolfe, is at once emphatic about transparency and the idea of its opposite, or presentation and therefore the possibility of what is not present. In his work, one category does not succeed in transforming or overwhelming the other; rather, they open up to each other in a relation not of exclusion but ofaddition.

If there is too much in Boskovich and Stettheimers rooms, it is not because there are too many things. Rather, all the items have been so obsessively placed, fixed, altered, caressed and framed that their esoteric natures, far from being domesticated, have been exactingly preserved intact and are, therefore, liberated to act upon the eyes and emotions of the resident or guest. Stettheimer was, like Boskovich, a connoisseur of the frame and had a number of lace-like frames constructed for her paintings that also matched her frothy custom furniture designs. Walking into her apartment must have been like entering an amusement parks rendition of an ice palace, with the difference being that Stettheimers glittering false ice (lace, cellophane, painted wood) was not intended for public consumption and reflected her highly rarefied personal taste. Her decor pointed toward a monumental elsewhere that, in spite of her adoration for George Washington, was not exactly or uniquely nationalistic, institutional or religious in nature even if it was devotional. Rather she, like Boskovich, seemed to be preparing for a voyage to another plane, an alternate universe or an eternal party in her honour.

Both Stettheimer and Boskovich appeared to aspire to a sort of celebratory translation of surface, an extension of reflection that shone or sparkled or glowed dimly without exactly being mirror-like, which served to externalize acomplex series of moods and affinities that were not merely or purely personal in nature. Like the winding and uneven mosaic encrustations of the artist Niki de Saint PhallesTarot Garden (1998), the surfaces they created were often engaged in plays of light and shade, as much as with material substance itself: Boskovichs remarkable combinations of citric hues with powdery reds and ingenious recessed lighting being a particularly memorable manifestation of this shared tendency. In contemplating these maximalist practices of decor the grammars of darkness and light, the hyper-precise framing, the obsessive strategizing of every surface I am struck by their reliance on qualia, geometric form and what we might term, punning on architectural historian Lisa Heschongs beautifully titled book Thermal Delight in Architecture (1979), photic delight. The resonances with the miniaturized landscapes and figures of amusement parks (which often allegorize fantastical worlds), as well as the sparkling gloom we might associate with chapels and shrines, suggest that we would do well to view these homes less as enclosures than as portals. These rooms indicate possibility: here and now and soon; also, elsewhere.

This article first appeared in frieze issue 210 with the headline The Ecstatic Home

1Anthony Vidler, The Writing of the Walls: Architectural Theory in the Late Enlightenment, 1987, Princeton Architectural Press, p. 105

2 Peter Thornton, Authentic Dcor: The Domestic Interior 16201920, 1984, Crescent Books, New York and Avenel, p. 216

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How Artists Have Transformed Their Homes Into Other Worlds - frieze.com

Its been a long week, and we know, its only Tuesday. Not to worryweve got you covered. Stay in the know with BOHs weekly news digest, including business headlines, launches and events, recommended reading and more.

BUSINESS NEWS

Art Van Furniture has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, reported Furniture Today. The Warren, Michiganbased company previously announced it would liquidate all stores. The company has between $100 million and $500 million in assets.

In light of COVID-19 news, High Point Market plans to forge onbut it looks like Chinese buyers will likely not attend, reports the Greensboro News & Record. High Point Market Authority president and CEO Tom Conley says that to date, no one from China has registered for the event, coming at a time where companies worldwide are issuing bans on business travel altogether.

The new coronavirus has also been having an effect on the stock market. On Monday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average plunged 2,000 points in the biggest single-day drop in a decadea result of not only COVID-19 worries, but a war over oil prices between Russia and Saudi Arabia. The market has rebounded slightly today, but home brand stocks have taken a hit. RH is trading at $143 per share, well off its high of $250 in February; Wayfair slid to its lowest price in three years; and Knoll is currently trading at a five-year low.

OPENINGS, AUCTIONS AND EVENTS

The New York Kips Bay Decorator Show House will be postponed due to uncertainties surrounding the coronavirus outbreak. According to a spokesperson, the goal to reschedule the New York event for the summerideally June, but no firm date has been announced. The change in date will also mean a change in venue. According to a source, the committee will have to find a new location to hold the showhouse.

In light of worries about the coronavirus, The Design Industries Foundation Fighting AIDS will postpone its fundraising event, DIFFA By Design. Originally scheduled for March 26 to 28, the event will now be held July 9 to 11 at Center 415. Public health is at the center of DIFFAs mission. Our hearts go out to all of those who have been affected by the ongoing COVID-19 outbreak. In light of widespread concerns, including those within the HIV/AIDS community who may be particularly vulnerable, we will always prioritize health and safety. By postponing DIFFA By Design, we aim to honor both the communities affected by HIV/AIDS as well as the broader public who may harbor concerns about attending events during this time, said Dawn Roberson, executive director, in a statement.

The Venice Architecture Biennale announced new dates last week as a result of the precautionary measures being taken worldwide. The show, curated by Hashim Sarkis, will run from August 29 until November 29.

Not everything is getting canceled. The New York Tabletop Show is still currently scheduled to be held from March 31 to April 3. According to a statement, Rudin Management, the owner of 41 Madison, will reassess the situation as local health officials do.

The International Contemporary Furniture Fair is also still on the calendar, and its benefiting from an influx of academic talent. Thirteen schools will exhibit at ICFF in May in New York. Each will receive 200 square feet of exhibit space; one will be recognized as the best design school by a panel of architects and interior designers. Cornell, Drexel, Kean University, Kendall College of Art & Design, Pratt, Savannah School of Art & Design and Virginia Tech are among those exhibiting.

Chicagos NeoCon trade show has announced its CEU seminar program for this June. It will focus on commercial interior design, including wellness and hospitality, and almost 100 CEU-accredited courses will be available from June 7 to 10. NeoCon may postpone due to the coronavirus, but no plans to do so have been made at this time.

LAUNCHES, COLLABORATIONS AND PARTNERSHIPS

The New York chapter of the International Interior Design Association has launched a new member app, among other new goals for 2020. Huddle!, a new event series for members, includes mixology and aerial yoga in its programming. The 2020 Career Conversations Series geared toward students will kick off soon. And the IIDA is opening a new city center in Syracuse to serve its Central New York members.

A view of the new Oklahoma Contemporary Arts CenterScott McDonald

Online wholesale merchandise platform Faire will introduce two new methods to help boost sales: email campaigns for makers, similar to Mailchimp; and square integration, a point-of-sale app for retailers.

The Oklahoma Contemporary Arts Center will open a new building this week in downtown Oklahoma City. The 53,916-square-foot building will have new gallery space, classrooms, studios and a theater.

Gibson Interior Products is opening an installation titled Gibson Gallery with Pop by LaMantia inside its 11,500-square-foot showroom in Manhattan. This is part of its partnership with Northport, New Yorkbased LaMantia Gallery. Featured artists David Hinchliffe, Jaime Kraft and Ruby Mazur will appear at the opening reception on March 25.

Change doesn't have to be scary, according to Domino. The magazine is excited to announce a new vertical and Instagram account, Reno Notebook, which will focus on the subject of renovations.

RECOMMENDED READING

The Cut slices into light therapy and the benefits and claims of all of its photobiomodulation (a real word). Something about the sheer breadth of maladies that light therapy can supposedly treat has the effect of making the whole thing seem too good to be true, writes Melissa Dahl. In a way, light therapy has been a reminder of how often I overlook the basics, how every few days I need to force-feed myself similar reminders about how to be a human.

A wry exploration of the seemingly ubiquitous millennial design style poses the question, Will the shrunken cacti and midcentury sofas ever go away? Molly Fischers poignant commentary prods at the insipid pinkness, tracing the steps of this interior design trend in an article for The Cut.

What would a world without prisons look like, asks The New York Times. Architect Deanna Van Buren has designed civic spaces that serve as alternatives to prisons and jails. In one specific case of a father and son whod both been charged with crimes, for nearly a year, difficult conversations took place in a serene setting with sky-blue walls, pine floors, a communal kitchen and lots of natural light, writes Patricia Leigh Brown. These touches came out of a community design process led by Deanna Van Buren, an architect who has dedicated her career to rethinking the architecture of justice.

CUE THE APPLAUSE

U.S. rug brand Nourison is celebrating its 40th anniversary with the initiative 40 Acts of Kindness, inspiring employees to engage in selfless acts like donating to charity or volunteering.

Vicky Serany of the Cary, North Carolinabased firm Southern Studio Interior Design has been named the Southern Living Designer of the Year. Her award-winning luxury design firm boasts a portfolio of commercial and residential projects, along with multiple designer showhouses.

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To the characters in The Boys in the Band, someone like Pete Buttigieg would have been inconceivablea happily out (and married) man who was a serious candidate for the U.S. presidency.

When Boys premiered in 1968one year before the Stonewall riotsa same-sex couple still could be arrested for dancing together, even in a place as purportedly free-thinking as New York Citys Greenwich Village.

Younger actors have to be very, very mindful that theyre not aware of the level of repression of these characters, says Michael Pacas, who is directing the production of the play that will open at Palm Canyon Theatre for four shows on April 30. Back then, you could be arrested for just being in a gay bar, have your name in the paper and be fired. Younger actors enjoy a much more permissive society.

Boys, the story of a group of gay friends who have gathered at a Manhattan apartment for a birthday party, is a drama with flashes of bitter comedy. The birthday boy is Harold, a self-described 32-year-old ugly pockmarked Jew fairy with a wicked wit, a stiletto tongue and an endless well of self-loathing. Many of the characters share Harolds self-loathing to some degree, including Michael, the partys host; Michaels boyfriend, Donald; the promiscuous Larry; and Larrys boyfriend, Hank, who is separated from a woman.

Many of the plays most outrageous (and quotable) lines come from Harold or Emory, an interior decorator whos the campiest of the camp. (Its Emory, via playwright Mart Crowley, who coined the phrase, Who do you have to fuck to get a drink around here?) A film version of Boys came out in 1970, and the play was revived in 2018 in a 50th anniversary edition in an all-star edition with gay actors Jim Parsons, Matt Bomer and Zachary Quinto. That revival, with a slightly updated book, was filmed and will air on Netflix later this year. Its the revival version, with the addition of an intermission, that will be performed at the Palm Canyon Theatre.

Were setting production in 1968, Pacas says. Everyone has a cell phone now, and the landline is a major plot device.

Despite the many changes in LGBT rights since the play was written, Pacas says, it really is sort of a snapshot of gay life.

And not always a positive one, either. Of course, when George and Martha go for each others throats in Edward Albees Whos Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, no one expects their relationship to stand for every heterosexual marriage. But when Michael and Harold declare emotional war on each other, with devastating results, it was seen by some critics as an etched-in-acid portrayal of gay men at a time when mainstream portrayals of gay people still were rare. (Show me a happy homosexual, declares the cynical Michael, and Ill show you a gay corpse.)

People have two takes on the show, Pacas says. One is: But its such a negative portrayal of gay men! Another is: Oh, thats such a fun show; this is what life really was like in 1968.

Pacas says the latter attitude brings its own challenge, particularly for those audience members who come for the campy dialogue.

We also have to communicate to those who want to quote the lines with the characters that theres a lot of internal and external homophobia mixed with the humor, he says.

Pacas grew up in Baton Rouge, La.

I came from a ratherlets just put it, Southern Baptist upbringing, he says. Back then, it was quite brave of you even to go to a gay bar. People were taking down the license plates of the people inside and trying to make trouble.

He later moved to Chicago, where he met his husband, and the two moved to Palm Springs after visiting one weekend.

If people think this play is a negative view of gay men, he adds, its my job, and the actors job, to make it empathetic. We still have that same old bugaboo of hating ourselves.

Thats not the only challenge in staging a 1960s period piece in 2020 Palm Springs.

This show is a stage managers nightmare, Pacas says. People are onstage the whole time, moving around, eating food, drinking, eating birthday cake. And I need to talk to the actors just in case someone is gluten-free or has allergies.

Unlike back then, he adds with a laugh, we may end up with a vegan birthday cake.

The Boys in the Band will be performed at 7 p.m., Thursday, April 30; 8 p.m., Friday and Saturday, May 1 and 2; and 2 p.m., Sunday, May 3, at the Palm Canyon Theatre, 538 N. Palm Canyon Drive, in Palm Springs. Tickets are $29.50. For tickets or more information, call 760.323.5123, or visit http://www.palmcanyontheatre.org. Kevin Allman is a California-based journalist. Follow him on Twitter: @kevinallman.

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Let's Hear it for the 'Boys': Palm Canyon Theatre Gets Set to Stage a Classic 1968 Gay-Themed Play - Coachella Valley Independent

Colors add charm to everything. Everything looks enchanting when we decorate it with colors. So, colors carry a significant significance in our life. Similarly, when we build a home, we always prefer to select some flamboyant colors for our home because colors add beauty to the home. We always try to decorate our houses with colors that appeal to our eyes. Everyone likes to have eye-capturing views at ones house. We have brought this article for all the people who are looking for a guide on how much a paint project cost. We have some factor that determines the cost of the painting project when hiring commercial painter and decorator.

Exterior painting cost:

Painting the exterior of any building can be a challenging task. It is because the surface is more vulnerable to weather changes, and it should be durable enough to stand by harsh weather. In such circumstances, your paint should be strong enough to bear the weather changes, or else you may have to change your colors after little whiles. If you change your exterior colors after short periods, then it may prove to be more expensive or costly. You, whenever you choose to paint your exterior, must focus on these things that the paint you are going to want must be feasible and durable at the same time.

Moreover, location and size are two other main things that may affect the cost of your paint project. If the size of the area that is to be painted is large enough, then you may have to spend a little more. You must calculate the domain before hiring people to paint your exterior. You must clean the surface that you need to decorate, for it can also affect the cost of your painting. If you dont clean the cover yourself, then you have to hire some people for this job, and it will cost money and increase your cost of the painting project.

Interior painting cost:

And here comes another important part of the painting project! Interior painting is a way more sensitive part of the painting project. The interior of a home or any building is the most observed thing. Everyone notices the paint and other embellishments of the interior of the building. So, the interior of any building or house must be very eye-capturing. All the factors that are involved in affecting the exterior of the build are engaged in the interior of the building. Location, size, type of paint, the complexity of designs or textures, and the number of colors are the leading factors that may affect the cost of the interior painting project. So, it would be best if you did not take these factors for granted.

In addition to the above, you must also not compromise the quality of paint in order to avoid more expenses. If you use substandard colors, you may have to change it more quickly. So, you must choose high quality and durable paints for your building interior because your interior is as important as the exterior of your building.

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Factors that affect the cost of paint project - - VENTS Magazine

Barbara Smith, better known and beloved to fans as B. Smith, departed this world at the age of 70 after succumbing to a long battle with early onset Alzheimers disease. As a model, ESSENCE cover star, restaurateur, entrepreneur, lifestyle expert, author and more, Smith left behind a glowing legacy, in which she imparted many historic contributions as both an African American and a female pioneer in the culinary and lifestyle industry.

For me, B. Smith was our Martha Stewart. No matter what she did, she did it with style, elegance and grace, says celebrity chef, television personality and Cutthroat Kitchen winner Huda Mumin, who considered B. Smith a friend and advisor. Meeting her and being mentored by her was a dream come trueI will never forget the times that we spent together and what an inspiration her life was to me and so many.

Before Black female chefs like Mumin became ambassadors for major brands and recognized for their gastronomic talents on TV networks and before there was a lane for lifestyle influencers, home cook bloggers and food content creators; and before there were Gina Neelys, Ayesha Currys and other culinary empires for women of color, there was B. Smith, who carved out a path where her passion for food and home could occupy successful (and esteemed) entrepreneurial spaces.

She turned herself into a lifestyle brand, which is still groundbreaking for women of color, says Pinky Cole, who notably built her own successful plant-based province as the founder of the famed Slutty Vegan restaurants and forthcoming product line. Seeing a woman of color accomplish so much in the food/restaurant industry was inspiring. Its important for young people to see a mirror image of themselves and who they can become and thats who she was to me. She left her mark on the world and the hearts of so many, and for that, Im thankful and grateful.

B. Smith really opened the eyes to a lot of talented foodpeople of color, says Norma Jean Darden, a fellow food icon, whose careernearly parallels that of Smiths. Darden and Smith first met each other asmodels signed to Wilhelmina Modeling Agency, where they both launched their professionalcareers before becoming restaurateurs.

Toward the end of our careers [in modeling,] I remembergoing to a nightclub and seeing her sing. And neither of us was thinking aboutfood, recalls Darden, who shortly after that encounter published a cookbookthat would later launch her New York-based Spoonbread restaurants. Then [B.Smith] became a hostess at a trendy restaurant called America with MichaelWeinstein down toward the Village. And next thing I knew; he had put her in herown place, B. Smiths, which was a huge hit.

Opened in 1986, Smiths first restaurant on 8th Avenue in Manhattan marked the beginning of her food empire. Later, she would open restaurants in Sag Harbor, NY, and Washington D.C.

Walking into B. Smiths Restaurant in D.C. was a wow factor, Mumin reminisces on times spent with Smith at her D.C. restaurant. It was a historic and beautiful 300-seat elegant restaurant in Union Station, the biggest restaurant there, which made you proud to know it was owned by a Black woman.

Smiths restaurant success led to cookbooks: B. Smiths Entertaining and Cooking for Friends (Artisan Press); B. Smith: Rituals and Celebration (Random House) and B. Smith Cooks Southern-Style (Simon and Schuster). And in the midst of it all, Smith solidified herself as a much-respected media personality and lifestyle expert with her TV show B. Smith with Style and several guests appearances on news, talk, and entertainment shows. In 2001, Smith even introduced her B. Smith with Style Home Collection with Bed, Bath and Beyond, which is still touted today as the first line from an African-American woman to be sold at a nationwide retailer.

She gaveme hope that maybe one day I could do the things she did. For the first time Ifelt like maybe there really was a space for us, says Chef Resha, founder ofthe Carnal Dish recipe website and YouTube vlog, which has roughly 42,000subscribers. I remember B. Smiths gorgeous and infectious smile lighting upour television for many years. She even had a restaurant here in D.C. that ourfamily used to frequent. Growing up, I hardly ever saw Black women cooking onTV. But when I first saw B. Smith cooking and entertaining, she really had myattention.

As a vlogger and personal chef, Chef Resha acknowledges the lane that B. Smith paved for a generation of African-American chefs, home cooks, homemakers and social media influencers. And she did so in a way that elevated the Black chef into the echelons of global culinary adulation.

So many inspired Black women sawwhat B. Smith did and decided to become really dope event planners, chefs,interior designers, bosses and more, Chef Resha says. For those of us whonever knew of that kind of representation, we became more vocal and proud ofthe things we loved to do that nobody really paid attention to.

Female cooks, particularly Black female cooks, have long been the drivers of American cuisine. As enslaved cooks, then domestics and home cooks, African-American women created the meals that fed a nation. Their recipes and techniques were intertwined into the fabric of our food history, but they were footnotes, if not nameless or completely forgotten, in the story of American cuisine. B. Smith didnt just help Black women reclaim that culinary throne, she showed us the throne was never abdicated.

I think food was mostly an ignored occupation for young Blackwomen and men, says Darden. [B. Smith] started a trend toward talented Blackpeople suddenly realizing that these were talents we had for centuries andbrought it to the limelight in the field.

In an interview with the Los Angeles Times from 2000, Smith herself recalls a time when her own mother gave up a dream to be an interior decorator because there were no precedents for it at the time. Smith is quoted saying of her mother, being African American, she wouldnt have had a career. But I turned that around and thought, I never wanted to say I wished I had done something.

And it wasnt just something Mrs. Barbara B. Smith, we thank you for everything.

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Forever Our Icon: Black Female Chefs and Culinary Influencers Remember B. Smith and Her Legendary Career - Essence