WELCOME to Nest by Tamara blog

WELCOME to Nest by Tamara blog
Hi- It's Tamara. I'm happy you've stopped by, and since 2010 I've been sharing my passion for interior design, history, art, entertaining, travel & fashion. I am an interior designer, textile designer and writer living and working in New York City and East Hampton, Long Island. My musings have taken me to international design, art, antique and epicurean events and I have lots to share. I'm grateful to have been listed as the #1 top design blog, blogs to watch, top design blogs and named and awarded Rising Star of Design by the IFDA NY industry organization. Please feel free to reach out to our team for an interior design consultation at NestbyTamara.com -Tamara

Behind The Scenes With Root Cellar Designs at The 2016 Lenox Hill Neighborhood House Gala Gala

Glimpses Of Our Table Design 
For The 
2016 Lenox Hill Neighborhood House Gala
tablecloth pattern:  Root Cellar Designs' Acanthus Column
hand made paper butterflies - Les Petits Pois sont Bleus 
Plates: Lenox USA pattern, Pearl Platinum
Large urn:  Newel Antiques
topiary:  NY Topiary
faux stone centerpiece : The Mossa Family built & faux finished the piece
Last night was the annual Spring Gala for the local NYC Lenox Hill Neighborhood House.  The black tie fete takes place in Grand Central Station's Cipriani restaurant, a former bank complete with beautiful carved ceilings and historic detailing.  The room is a perfect foil for over 50 tables, each with different vignettes created by some of the industry's most talented design teams all hand-picked by the non-profit organization.  We are fortunate to have been invited two years in a row to decorate a table for this annual spring fundraiser, and to create a table design and experience for the Century of Design theme.  This year the evening honored Audrey Gruss for his outstanding leadership and support.  Michael Kors was the fashion Sponsor and Veranda magazine was the media sponsor.  Many of the tables were a nod to a specific design aesthetic or timeframe but all were put together with whimsy, drama and fantastical detailing.  We chose to give the feeling of a Romanesque Revival Garden.  We had this idea to show a hedge on a stone walkway.  We created a live hedge in Oasis, lit it from underneath, arranged white anenome together with pots of myrtle topiary, and designed our very own linens for the table. 
A special thank you to sponsors:
Lenox USA:  beautiful dinner set for 10, Pearl Platinum pattern
Newel Gallery
NY Topiary
The Mossa Family
Happy Spring
Happy Nesting
XO Tamara
The Makings of Our Table
Live Hedge:
we created a live hedge using fresh cut English Boxwood and surrounded a beautiful urn from Newel Gallery with the hedgerow.  
Bespoke Fabric:
We custom designed a trio of fabrics all coordinating together for the table linen, napkins and chair backs, channeling the acanthus leaf and icon Roman figures. The chair back fabric was an iconic Greek/Roman God and we gave her a crown of flowers, and created a napkin with a flower border. 
Hand Made Paper Butterflies:
The gorgeous butterflies on our table were made by artisan named Valerie from Saint-Divy, France.  We found the shop on etsy, and Valerie custom designed and hand cut these paper butterflies using our fabric pattern Acanthus Leaf as the base in a dark teal then applied a black skeletal frame in a butterfly shape.  They are stunning!
a faux-stone centerpiece:
The Mossa Family custom designed this lovely wooden centerpiece that they then faux finished to look and feel like a real stone walkway, typical of what is the foundation for an Italian garden.

about the antique urn from Newel:
It is Italian neo-classical 20th century white glazed procelain urn with scroll handles and applied florals and figures in a nice 18X15X25 size

In small Mercury glass Julep cups, we arranged black centered anenomes
and all of it was balanced on this beautiful faux finished centerpiece which feels and looks like an Italian stone walkway.  That's a wrap for this fantastic event!


 about the Lenox Hill Neighborhood House:
122 year old settlement house on the East Side of Manhattan that provides an array of services to the community from social, legal to health and housing.  It is a non-profit institute and provides an important service to the thousands of people in need each year