Big Easy Style Book Signing Party

Bryan Batt:  “Hi Dawlin’.  I’m having a book signing party for Big Easy Style in New Orleans and I thought it would be fun to have it at one of the houses in the book.  Would you be interested in…”

Me:  "Of course I'll marry you!  I mean, host the party.  Of course!"

Yes, its true.  I’m Bryan Batt’s number one fan so hosting the party was the perfect way to show my adoration. 

I suppose my husband doesn't have to worry given Bryan's 21 years with his partner the talented Tom Cianfichi.  

I guess they do look happy don't they?

So naturally, to show my adoration and with the party 3 weeks away, I decided to paint our kitchen, wallpaper a powder room, carpet the back stairs, have new roman shades made and re-landscape our yard..  

Easy breezy, right?  Except the wallpaper I HAD TO HAVE wasn’t available for 2 weeks and had to be shipped from England.  Why me?

It was worth the wait and the intense smell of wallpaper glue at the party.

lovely fuchsia, silver & black wallpaper by Colefax & Fowler available at perch.

Here's the little space outside the powder room under the stairs painted in high gloss black paint.

Styled with art by Brook Hair available at perch. and a cool statue my husband Andre found at the Neal Auction.

I planted this topiary on the front porch I found at a wonderful nursery called The Plant Gallery here in New Orleans which fit perfectly into this wonderful urn from a new outdoor line we're carrying at perch. 

my friend Craig installing the roman shades made of my favorite fabric by Jim Thompson (Enter the Dragon pattern) just a few hours before the party.  eek.

I just cannot get enough of this fabric.

I channeled my inner Lisa Vanderpump for this over the top arrangement as you enter our front door.

There's about half a roll of duct tape underneath those white lilies keeping the whole thing from toppling over.

arranging trays for the food which was delicious & catered 

by Chez Nous

I got a great selection of flowers from Whole Foods for arrangements including some large leaf eucalyptus.   

laughing with my friend Jenn & inspecting the flowers.

Bryan's awesome crew from his store Hazelnut he owns with Tom brought in stacks and stacks of books to sign and they sold out!

My 2 & a half year old's first encounter with a drum set while the band warmed up.

More info on his tour dates to come. 

Our dining room table styled with glass vases filled with several varieties of roses, billy balls, and ginger that I cut from my neighbour's yard in the middle of the night.  

Hope they don't read this.  

 

A pair of vases flank my shiva statue my mother gave me underneath my favorite painting by Louisiana artist Regina Loch Elvert. 

a sweet little bundle of roses in an old lalique vase my great aunt gave me.

A little kitchen counter arrangement.

a more masculine area I styled up in the billiard room.  

ranunculus are one of my favorites for their color.

Here I am with some of my favorite New Orleans people...

my hubby Andre, the fabulously talented Bryan Batt, Katy Danos (who co-wrote the book) and the handsome Tom Cianfichi.

What a great party to celebrate a fabulous book!
I was truly honored to be part of it!

Buy yours today!

or call us to order 504-899-2122

Jason Wu for Nest Candles at perch.

America has fallen in love with Jason Wu... 

 and it is in large part thanks to our lovely First Lady Michelle Obama wearing a Jason Wu couture gown for the inauguration.

Gorgeous & wearable Spring designs by Wu at Fashion Week.

Wu is not just limited to visual beauty... He's also tackling the olfactory senses by partnering with our favorite candle company 

Nest Fragrances which we carry exclusively with along with 

Neiman Marcus and Bergdorf Goodman.

 Naturally, the packaging is gorgeous, decorated with a signature orchid-floral print inspired by the Jason Wu Spring 2012 Collection.

The scent called orchid Rain features a unique and exotic fragrance combination of fruity and modern floral notes created by worldwide acclaimed perfumer Christophe Laudamiel. 

“As a long-time fan of NEST Fragrances, I knew that Laura Slatkin and her talented team would be the perfect partner to create a luxury scent that would represent my ideals,” says Jason.  

The fragrance combines white orchid – the Cattleya orchid – with nashi pear, pomegranate and goji berry. The fruity-floral essences are enhanced with blonde birchwood and hints of pink pepper and coconut.

Call us today to order

504-899-2122 T

perch. at Art in Bloom 2012

  

Every year The New Orleans Museum of Art and The Garden Study Club of New Orleans partner to host Art in Bloom - a multi-day event where New Orleans designers, artists, and flower designers artistically display exhibits that exemplify their style in some form or another.  This year the theme was "Life in Color" and of course at perch. we LOVE colour, 

so we were very excited to participate for the third year in a row! 

Jack and I started with a wild brainstorming session dreaming up the best materials to make up the space.  Jack had the insane but brilliant idea to use ping pong balls to create a sculptural shag carpet.  We did the calculations based on the space and found we would need over 11,000 to fill it up!  And that we did.

 We hot glued each ping pong ball on top of golf tees which we punched into dried flower oasis so they would stand up & add height.  Our friend Caroline Seale helped us immensely and actually took these photos of our preliminary work.

 very cool photo by Caroline Seale of our ping pong madness.

Next we took out dried oasis punched with our pingpong balls on golf tees and sprayed bright yellowy green to go with the theme of Life In Color.

I found this fabulous brand new paint by Liquitex available at Michael's Craft Stores.  I highly recommend it!  It is an aerosol acrylic!!  and comes in gorgeous colours.

 Yours truly (Caroline Robert) spraying more ping pong balls!

arranging the balls on the oasis. 

We layered out our sprayed sheets of ping pong balls and arranged them to create a textural yellowy green palate of color.

 We used a brand new fabric by Fabricut and had our workroom create a gorgeous coverlet to go on our stunning tree bed by local metalsmith David Rockhold as the center piece.

To add "something old" to our eclectic mix of furnishings for the installation, we used this gorgeous antique painted side table I found at the Neal Auction.

The patron party celebrating Art In Bloom was delightful.  

Kara French & Jack on the way to the festivities.

moi with our designated driver Greg.

Jack, Caroline Robert, & Caroline Seale

Art in Bloom Co-Chair Jennifer Charpentier & Jack Mayberry looking gorgeous.

My flower arrangement for the installation filled with agapanthus, forsythia, white & pink roses.  

(this photo & others at the museum are courtesy of Elizabeth Soland

Communications Assistant New Orleans Museum of Art) 

We were so pleased with the end result.  All of our hard work and planning was well worth it! 

Now the question is, what to do next year?? 

The Art in Bloom exhibits will be up at The New Orleans Museum of Art through the weekend, so go by and see!