BOOK REVIEW: Palm Beach Chic perfectly captures Harry and Laura Slatkin's Gumdrop House, a French style retreat with great style
written by Jennifer Ash Rudick
photography by Jessica Klewicki Glynn
published by The Vendome Press
The Slatkin's Gumdrop Retreat
Two summers ago we were invited to Laura and Harry Slatkin's Labor Day celebration in East Hampton, an annual end-of-summer dinner party set alfresco under the trees of their gorgeous Georgica Beach area home. Overlooking their pond, fireworks ensued and we shared a delicious meal with over 50 guests amidst glowing lanterns, and it was divine. We were in awe of the meandering property and stylish home, and the event stays etched in my memory as one of the most pretty of summer evenings. Sitting next to Martha Stewart and other notable guests certainly added to the evening's charm.
When receiving the book Palm Beach Chic for review consideration, I was excited to peruse the pages of over 25 fascinating homes in one of my favorites cities. This book takes us on a dreamy tour of a cornucopia of homes with styles from a Mediterranean Revival by Mizner, Fatio and Folk to charming Moorish cottages and vintage condos. Additionally, the lush photography captures profiles of some of the finest homes, gardens, and verandas all while capturing the magic that helps to make this stylish enclave so special. As I turn the pages, I am struck with each fascinating home. Photographer Jessica Klewicki Glynn and author Jennifer Ash Rudick work together well compiling these homes in a way that makes you want to dial up the Breakers and book your winter vacation. If we can't all own a home in this bamboo and topiary heaven, we can certainly dream of visiting and basking in the glow for a bit. Palm Beach has always fascinated me, and it brings us back to Old Hollywood, channeling a glamorous lifestyle long gone. It is at once cultured and refined, lavish, yet it delicately balances a Waspy patina in its grasp, and this book brings that aesthetic alive. I languish all morning, sipping my morning coffee here on this dreary October New York City morning dreaming of meandering the halls and gardens of these homes.
I was pleasantly surprised to come upon the Slatkin's Gumdrop retreat, and it showcases a cozy enclave, and although a different style from their East Hampton home, it evokes the very same feelings. It is warm, inviting yet not over the top, but decorated and chock-filled with style, and of course smartly edited. The home is the work of legendary Palm Beach architect Marion Sims Wyeth who designed more than one hundred of the island's homes in the early to mid 1900s. It is French in style, with a muted neutral palette, which works as a perfect backdrop to showcase the couple's blue and white Chinese export porcelain and extensive collection of art and design books. The family home offers a tranquil environment, with the living room flanked by loggias, keeping the outdoors close and providing myriad opportunities for entertaining. The furnishings certainly channel grand style with Rose Tarlow chairs, Brunschwig & Fils fabric, Bielecky Brothers wicker, antiques from Paris' Drouot auction and topped off with glowing candles from Nest, the family's enterprising candle business.
Thanks Palm Beach Chic and I will most certainly keep this book close on my cocktail table. For now, check out the Slatkin's retreat to hold that Palm Beach Chic feeling close.
Happy Nesting
XO Tamara
