Archive for category At home

Montauk Before & After

Posted by Vicente in Ask Vicente, At home, Random on September 8, 2010

Here are the before and after images of my kitchen in Montauk that so many of you have been asking for. As you can see both images were taken from the same angle. I took out the bay window, created a platform outside, and installed sliding doors. The sink is still in the same place but I extended the island and added a stove with a hood. I also changed the floors and painted the walls, basically transformed from ugly to beach casual.

5 Comments

Holiday musings

Posted by Vicente in At home, Interior Design Business on August 30, 2010

The living area in Montauk

I’m taking this week off to spend in Montauk – there’s nothing quite like a week at the beach to get me re-energized. That said, my mind’s been spinning and I thought I’d get it off my chest here and hear what you all think.

In the last few weeks I’ve had discussions with prospective clients, other designers and people in the creative field. From the client’s point of view, they’re asking me to reduce my commission – in one particular case, substantially. Other designers that I’ve talked to have told me that they’re reducing their fees and altering how they work to be more flexible, bending more to satisfy the clients wishes. Some of the designers are saying they are shopping more and allowing the client to be much more part of the process. I’m in a quandry. As somebody who’s been working for 37 years a certain way and who has been charging 35% commission since I started in business (and I think this is a fair amount – I don’t mark up, I don’t charge hourly and there’s no design fee, other than rendering).

Do you all feel that this is how things are evolving? Do you feel that our market is changing where clients were much more interested in fine design finished project, now it’s much more at the level of reality tv? Are you being asked to cut your commisison and alter the way you’ve always worked? Do you feel that this is a long-term thing and that times are changing?

I would love to hear your opinion.

17 Comments

Fabulous dinner

Posted by Vicente in At home, Events, Friends on February 24, 2010

On Monday night Preston Bailey hosted a dinner at my apartment (I was invited, of course). It’s always so nice being a host when you don’t know anybody and you don’t really have to do much. And this was like magic. His crew came in and set up the table for 20 people with the most extraordinary center pieces and attention to detail.

Again, proof to me of Preston’s great talent and his ability to transform a space. I’m sure you’ll agree.

8 Comments

LXTV's OpenHouse

Posted by Vicente in At home, In the news on October 19, 2009

My bathroom Thank you for all of your concerns and good wishes. Happy to say I’m home and on the way back to living a normal life, a little paler than I was two weeks ago, but in good spirits.

I got released from hospital on Saturday and spent most of the weekend in bed, gaining my strength back. As one does when the energy to do much else than lie in bed is missing, I was flicking through the TV channels when I stopped on NBC’s OpenHouse show on LXTV. They had filmed my apartment a while back and I knew it was bound to be aired at some or other point this month, and there it was!

What a great boost to see my apartment on such a popular show. If you missed it, you can watch it via their website here.

11 Comments

Getting my hands dirty

Posted by Vicente in At home, Gardening on March 23, 2009

I went out to Long Island this weekend to start the spring cleaning in my garden in Montauk. Nothing like hard labor to make a weekend go fast! Fertilizing, cleaning the beds, raking, trimming, sweating…it revitalizes me to touch the ground again and I look forward to seeing the bulbs popping through the ground. I always try to visualize the garden in bloom – it gives me a boost. I planted my garden all white, except for one big bed that has mixed colors, going from purples to yellows to pink. It’s always a thrill to see what survived the winter.

I’ve drawn inspiration for many rooms from the colors in my garden. I’m always inspired by the different tones of flowers and leaves. Do any of you garden? If you do, is there a particular pattern of color that you have in your garden? I’m thinking of starting a new bed, so if you have any ideas, let me know. After all, how different is doing a room from doing a garden?

8 Comments

Twenty Years of Vicente Wolf Associates…

Posted by Vicente in At home, Events, Friends, In the news on November 17, 2008

Twenty years of Vicente Wolf Associates. My how time flies when you’re having fun…or is it old age and no memory? Last week Thursday I threw a party for a 150 friends, clients, suppliers, staff and partners at my apartment in Manhattan. Even in these hard economic times I wanted to thank all the people that have made my success over the years possible and it was wonderful having clients like the Novicks that started with me twenty years ago to my latest clients, president of Showtime Matt Blank and his delightful wife, Susan, there. Also at the party were employees who have worked with me over the years, some of my friends in the media, suppliers and business partners and long-time clients like Clive Davis and Michael Lynne as well as some of my dearest friends like Preston Bailey and Margaret Russell.

I’m not a huge fan of a big party – always preferring small intimate groups – but I was very much into what was happening last Thursday. We worked with a great caterer called, Creative Edge Parties, and for two days prior I went to the flower market to stock up on fresh flowers and orchids, we laid out close to 60 candles all over the apartment, brushed out my cat, Nene – who by the way is much more Mr Social than me – and by 6pm the place was smelling, looking and tasting quite stupendously. Even the guppies in my containers had been scrubbed clean! The only negative for the whole evening was the cold rainy weather, but that didn’t seem to deter anybody.

Mr Social himself – my cat Nene

And what better surprise than a bunch of New York’s Little Elves showing up the next morning to make the place look spanking clean and like nothing had ever happened. If it had not been for Susan who is my Director of Public Relations and turned out to be a great event coordinator, this never would have been possible.

Part of the reason I don’t like to host parties is because to me it’s always a blur of ‘hello, how are you’ and then having to move onto the next guest. But everyone said it was a wonderful evening and I was eating leftover hors d’oeuvres all through the weekend. Thank God I don’t have to do this again for another twenty years!