The film is an orgy of the senses, in just about every way possible. The leading lovers in the movie, Reese and Rob, are delicious in every scene. (Rob Pattinson fans will once again ache to see more of a love scene than what's offered up in the movie), but I digress…

The interiors and styling, created under the set director Jack Fisk will have you yearning for Billie Holiday, a snifter of good whiskey, and frilled lamp shades.

The attention to detail Fisk and his team gave to every dusty corner of this gorgeous period film is nothing short of stunning. You'll want to watch the film several times, because a movie with this depth of texture and color needs to be digested over several viewings.

Some of the best glimpses into the 1930s circus set are the seemingly innocuous connecting scenes. In one such example Jacob Jankowski walks through the corridor of the train, in which languid circus women (in the book they are portrayed as prostitutes, in the PG-13 movie the viewer is led to believe to perform cleaner tricks for an audience), reach and grab at the young circus vet while laying in bunks layered with soft, warn in textures set against walls papered with vintage newsprint. Oriental rugs are tossed about, and it seems every lamp is wears a dress of frill.
In short, this movie is a beauty. Be sure to catch it while it's in theaters; seeing the magic of Fisk's set design on a mega screen will inspire you.

For more information on the artists behind the set design, please visit our friends at the Water for Elephants Fan site of how the graphics and interiors were created.

How to get the look:

The movie takes place during The Depression, and the interiors, assume an irresistible, well warn-in look.

Scattered oriental rugs cover every corner of August and Marlena’s luxurious car. But the audience assumes that the cash-strapped circus has been hanging on to the furnishings and finishes from years before, presumably from the roaring 20s when the money was flying.

If minimalist is your thing, then the 30’s look is not for you. But if you yearn to evoke the feeling of this era, then you’re in look, because this look is affordable and accessible.

Layer, layers, layers.

In each car, nook, corner and eve, is a feast for the visual senses. One can practically smell the old-book smell exuding from each scene.

Mix and match. Score vintage circus tschokies at your favorite Flea Market. Trays are perfect to corral vintage perfume bottles, combs, and other collectibles from the era.

For a quick bedroom make-over try this:
Two mis-matched oriental rugs-the more worn the better, and pair with this chenille bed spread from Anthropologie, and cover with pillows of various sizes and patterns (we love the floral pattern below, also from Anthropolgie).

Throw in several of these lamps, perhaps faux velvet drapes; throw on Billie Holiday on your record player (MUST be vinyl-the flat sound emitted from M3G players will not suffice).

Where to shop: This movie had me wanting to RUN to Anthropology. A great way to pull the look off would be to mix in some fresh pieces from Anthropology, such as the pillows featured above, along with your flea market finds.

Put that old newsprint to use!

Renowned set designer Jack Fisk created texture and interest to the walls of the train interiors by plastering the bunks with newsprint. The Depression led to some pretty thrifty design ideas, and covering your walls with newsprint was cheap and easy, and gave instant visual appeal.

Try on a smaller space like a walk-in closet or pantry. Vintage newsprint only adds to getting that Water for Elephants look.

(Photo sourced from Apartment Therapy, All Rights Reserved)

SOURCES:
Floor Lamp source:

http://www.eagle-emporium.com/floor.htm

Other Sources:http://lobsterandswan.blogspot.com/2009/11/chintz-and-frills-pink-and-turquoise.html

http://www.apartmenttherapy.com/boston/diy-kitchen-wallpaper-vintage-recipe-cards-101597

http://www.anthropologie.com/anthro/index.jsp

This blog was written by Sabrina Velandry and also appears at: www.pattinsonpost.com

We downloaded the latest two issues and played around with them. The magazines translate beautifully to the iPad, with gorgeous photography, easy navigation, and the ability to expand and shrink pages. Readers may also click on links to websites and additional advertising material, both without ever leaving the app. The recent release of the iPad2 will mean even more opportunity for the iTunes apps to get exposure and provide more options for what can be done now and in the future of mobile publishing. And that has us excited for the future of mobile applications like the Taste of the Seacoast and Coastal Home.

Food enthusiasts will especially enjoy what is on the horizon for the Taste of the Seacoast app. They are working with national and boutique New England food brands to bring a wealth of multimedia to their app. Imagine reading a recipe in the magazine, being able to go to a website to order ingredients for it and then watching a “how-to” video while you cook, all from your iPad and all from the comfort and ease of the kitchen. Viewers will be able to play videos, search recipes, access companies’ websites for more information...all from within the virtual newsstand on their iPad, Android or iPhone, and without ever having to leave the Taste of the Seacoast app. We’re impressed! But we urge you to experience this for yourself. Be sure to download the free apps today!

Winter 2010/2011 issue of Taste of the Seacoast can be found in the App store.
Spring 2011 Issue of Coastal Home can be found in the App store.

We get social media. We geek on social media. We help you get your geek on. Let us know how we can help with your own social media efforts.

Tai Freligh, Media Consultant
Tai Guy Media Consulting
Blog/Facebook/Twitter
TaiGuyMC@gmail.com

iPad cover is by Hard Candy Cases (www.hardcandycases.com) Green case (shown) called “Squish Skin”; retails for $39.95

Coastal Home and Taste of the Seacoast, published by Trends Marketing Group, are distributed by the mobile outfit Pixel Mags and will join the ranks of Atlanta Homes, Dwell, and The Nation.

More and more magazine titles are appearing in the iTunes store with their own apps. Earlier this summer Hearst Magazines released a version of their Popular Mechanics magazine as an app for the iPad. Within five days, 10,000 copies of the $1.99 app for the iPad had been downloaded. Hearst has announced plans to have iPad apps by the end of the year for Esquire, Marie Claire, Seventeen, Cosmopolitan, Harper’s Bazaar and the Food Network.

As more and more magazines go mobile, it pays to be involved with where the technology is headed.

One of our clients, Sabrina Velandry of Sabrina, Inc., was recently promoted to Director of Mobile Publishing for two local magazines she is involved with- Coastal Home Magazine and Taste of the Seacoast.

Keith Lemerise, Publisher with Trends Marketing, has helped shepherd these two publications into the digital age. Coastal Home Magazine has been in print since last spring and Taste of the Seacoast has been around for more than a decade.

“We are excited to partner with Sabrina, Inc., and PixelMags to make our publications available as an app for iPads and smart phones” said Lemerise. He added, “we are the first New England Publication to be available as a download on iTunes.”

The first 5,000 downloads of each app are free. After that, the issue price goes to $1.99. All three issues of Coastal Home Magazine will be available to purchase on iTunes. For Taste of the Seacoast, the summer issue is available. Within the free apps for both magazines will be other exciting offers, including books and special interest publications, cookbooks and catalogs.

The best part of these new apps is that they act as a virtual personal newsstand. Once a customer downloads a back issue, current issue, SIP, book or catalog, it lives in their “newsstand” and is accessible whether they switch phones, get a new phone or replace their iPad.

Mobile publishing is a growing trend and we expect to see a lot more being done with the technology, including a lot more titles being added early in 2011.

We get social media. We geek on social media. We help you get your geek on. Let us know how we can help with your own social media efforts.

Tai Freligh, Media Consultant
Tai Guy Media Consulting
Blog/Facebook/Twitter
TaiGuyMC@gmail.com

Designers pose with Charles Pavarini in the message room designed by Jennifer Post. "I have several wealthy clients who would love a room like this", Charles remarked.
Bottom row (Left to right):
Jo Ann Farley, Su Hilty, President of IFDANY, Michelle Slovak, Maureen Klein, Betsy Nichol, Rose Hittmeyer, Claudia Tejeda, Robin Meyers
Top row(s):
Esther Sadowsky, Sabrina Velandry, Susan Hoover, J. Randall Tarasuk, Charles Pavarini, Sandra Maitland, Paige Boller Malik.

Yesterday, the IFDA New York chapter, headed-up by Maureen Klein, was kind enough to include me in a guided tour by Charles Pavarini of the Kips Bay Show House. You can read a full report here, recently published in the New York Times (which, as a Times piece should and often does go, is written with biting wit and takes no prisoners-however the buzz at the Show House is that the report was not as scathing as it has been in past years).

Kips Bay, normally a spring event, was postponed due to a misunderstanding with the original property (basically, it was sold in a hurry-before the designers even had a chance to start sketching out ideas).

But the upset and postponement may have been kismet. The new property, with rooms decorated by such power-house designers as Vincent Wolfe, Noel Jeffrey, and Jennifer Post was, in a word, is breathtaking.

The biggest take-away seemed to be more of a message, and one that whispered confidently: Invest in Good Home Design. The decorated-to-the-gills, high-glossed, and lavishly finished home where no square inch is left bare; victoriously spoke the epitaph to the past several years-post economic meltdown-bargain-DIY-days of design. This home is by no means a bargain. The asking price for the property is a cool 30 mil, and you’d be lucky to find any of its contents under $3000. (most everything is for sale in the home, from the art to the rugs to the Jules Leleu Vanity), you can even purchase pet rocks which are river stones, harvested and glazed by Jennifer Post; and sell for between $20 and $40 a piece.

But most of the items for sale start in the low thousands, and climb north of $100,000.

It was refreshing.

Refreshing because for so long magazines and TV shows centered around home design have favored the DIY and bargain-hunting themes over good design. That’s great for Home Depot and Lowes, but not so great for Interior Designers.

Kips Bay was what a show house should be. Much like runway is to fashion, a show house, in its best form, is taking a concept and pushing it all the way to the moon.

Take for example the bathroom. Located on the fourth floor, the subway-tiled bath designed by Coffinier Ku Design, showcased glass blown bubbles, strung to fishing wire and hung over the tub. The tub itself was filled to the brim with the precarious glass globes.

Naturally, no one is going to fill a tub meant for soaking with glass bubbles, but the installation could inspire someone to hire a designer to create such a focal piece in their own home.

Perhaps the most evocative room was the bedroom designed by Noel Jeffrey. Inspired by 1930s films noirs; the mostly white room with some accents of black and white deco pieces seduces and embraces you. The ceiling treatment, which Mr. Jeffrey had painted in layers and layers of Benjamin Moore from the Aura Infinity collection, had the surprising (even to the designer) effect of luminosity. “Even on a darkest, rainy day, this room still glows”, remarked Mr. Jeffrey.

Later at lunch the discussion of good design continued. We all remarked on how the demographic of those hiring designers and investing in good home interiors doesn’t typically start till about age forty.

But why not? As Darren Henault was quoted as saying in the New York Times, (who designed the ‘his’ and ‘her’ dressing rooms), investing in an Alex Prager is an excellent stock tip, “You’ll double your money in the next year or so.”

But more importantly, for as many years as you are here to enjoy design, the piece will still be in your home. And will look even more fabulous thirty years from now than it did on the day you purchased it. No self-respecting financial planner would advise his client to start investing for retirement at age forty. The same goes for home design.

-Sabrina Velandry, October 20, 2010
IFDA Member, New England Chapter