I was looking through some photos from our trip to Russia this past summer when I noticed these two photos of gold gilt details.  The first is gold gilding on moldings and the ceiling in the dining room at the Hotel Savoy in Moscow.  The second highlights gold gilded columns at The Hermitage in St. [...]

Exterior Ceiling at Sacre Coeur Recently I’ve been noticing and admiring decorative ceilings – the photos above are from trips to Paris, Italy, and Russia where I saw a more notable use of decorating ceilings in these historic palace interiors.  So after admiring the interior design of these palaces, I’m determined to use decorative ceilings [...]

This past summer we went on a tour of a few Moscow sites.  The oil tycoons and the nouveau riche of Russia have really changed the way luxury interiors in Moscow are designed.  Sure the palaces of Russian Czar’s were grand, but who would have thought that a grocery store could be this ornate.  In [...]

I’m a big fan of public artwork.  But in Chicago we usually see it in the forms of sculptures and installations.  While in Moscow this summer we ran across some installations of paintings placed atop building exteriors.  They took what was a simple cinder block building and gave it a punch of beauty.  They distracted [...]

Hands down, my favorite stone is malachite. It’s the perfect shade of green, it has incredible movement, and of course it is insanely expensive and rare.  This past summer I traveled to Russia and had the opportunity to tour the Winter Palace (The Hermitage) in St. Petersburg.  It has a room dedicated to malachite…I guess [...]