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

Recap: My kitchen stylizing for Art of The Table at Bilotta Kitchen in New York City during Tabletop week!



Art Of The Table,
in a nutshell...
You may have seen my snapshots on Instagram leading up to my kitchen stylizing project for last evening's Art of The Table event in Bilotta Kitchens in New York City.  Today wrapped up Tabletop Week in the Big Apple, and the city was teaming with visitors attending events, parties, checking out all the beautifully set tables and tabletop wares making their debut.  
I was one of four designers invited to stylize a well-appointed kitchen in the Bilotta showroom in New York City.   I am grateful to have been included with talented designers Robert Passal, James Rixner & David Scott.  We each brought our creative vision to a different kitchen in the showroom to illustrate how we entertain in our kitchens today.  

This is Art of The Table's 4th annual event with Traditional Home and Lenox sponsoring the event.  Editor At Large documented the evening and interviewed us.  It was a festive celebration, and we tricked out our kitchens with four completely different styles showing the possibilities of modern-day entertaining.  My kitchen was complete with a slide show of my work on the large screen television in this modern kitchen.  I was given the beautiful expansive modern white and wood kitchen with state of the art appointments set in the back of the showroom.  

My idea was to warm it up showing an outdoor party indoors and celebrating the bounties of the fall season.  Inspired from my trip to the Italian kitchen show Eurocucina in Milan last March where I spotted sleek Italian kitchens made warm in the typical European manner, I utilized Lenox's DKNY and Donna Karan plates, and other glass and silver collections in my space.  I used blue plates from the Urban Essentials collection mixed with Donna Karan's various white textured patterns.  Other brands graciously offered up their latest products including Kim Seybert, Michele Varian, Viyet, Spin ceramics and RabLabs  My friend Jerry Teters loaned me a landscape oil painting of the Hudson River Valley which completed the design.  I hung 200 (yup, that's a lot) white paper lanterns onto the black ceiling to warm it up and evoke a sense of drama. I brought in a medley of pumpkins, crated apples, topiary, fall vegetables and even farm-fresh eggs and milk in antique milk bottles.  The idea was to channel the farm-to-table ideology prevalent today.  I set the table with handmade nests created by artist Hugh Shurley from California, and arranged little blackboard place cards inside for a final touch.  I brought in topiary, a terra cotta garden statue and created a succulent terrarium.  I baked homemade banana pecan bread and gave recipe cards away, then set out Jan's Farmhouse Crisps with local Hudson River valley cheeses and charcuterie.  There were almost 300 guests in attendance, and each of us designers spoke with the crowd about the inspirations for our designs.  

Thank you Bilotta, Lenox and Traditional Home for offering me this experience, and of course to the brands I've mentioned above for their continued support and for the use of their gorgeous, delicious and beautifully made products.   

And, one final treat -- today I chose one of the event's guests to win Wes Craven's vintage bar stools, which were donated by Viyet.  The winner is Claudia Giselle Tejeda of New York City.  Claudia is an interior designer and owner of Claudia Giselle Design.  She plans to renovate her own personal kitchen soon, so please stay tuned because I hope to bring you images of these stools in her home.  
Happy Nesting
XO Tamara
my homemade banana bread 
and recipe cards.
these little nests resting upon the 
Urban Essential blue DKNY Lenox plates.  

 I combined the DKNY pattern with vintage French plates. 

I created vignettes with Rab Lab book ends, Donna Karan tribal bowls and accessories from Michele Varian.
 I stopped into the wholesale flower market the day before and bought hydrangea, protea, thistle, cabbage, and geranium branches, then created a fall arrangement in my antique tole cachepot. 




 It was a festive party, 
and celebrating was in the air!
 the cameraman was getting creative with his angles.