Modern Mix: Curating Personal Style with Chic & Accessible Finds

by Eddie Ross, Jaithan Kochar, Bunny Williams (Foreword by), Bryan McCay (Photographer)

Overview

In this richly illustrated style guide from an unabashed hoarder of all things beautiful, design editor and entertaining expert Eddie Ross reveals his insider secrets to creating exciting interiors, table settings and parties with chic and accessible finds that celebrate who you are and what you love.

Featuring never-before-published photographs of Eddie’s own homes—his eclectic apartment in New York and Pine Hill Farm in Connecticut—Modern Mix cracks the code to navigating thrift shops, yard sales and flea markets with confidence. Funny and insightful, Eddie is like a trusted friend on the front lines of flea markets and thrifting, telling you what to look for, where to find it and how to restore it. Then he shows you how to use color and pattern to infuse your finds with a fresh, playful spirit, combining high and low, new and old, classic and modern elements into a warm and inviting style that expresses your personality.

In each of the book’s eight chapters—Inspire, Discover, Acquire, Restore, Curate, Mix, Style and Entertain—Eddie builds upon the essential insights he reveals at every turn, culminating in a gorgeous grand finale of gawk-worthy rooms, table settings, bars, buffets and parties.

With more than 350 full-color photographs, time-saving tips and real-life shortcuts to decorating and entertaining beautifully on a budget, Modern Mix will open your eyes to the extraordinary possibilities within your reach and inspire you to live every day colorfully and creatively.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781423637356
Publisher:	Smith, Gibbs Publisher
Publication date:	09/01/2015
Pages:	208
Product dimensions:	9.60(w) x 11.60(h) x 1.40(d)

About the Author

EDDIE ROSS is the East Coast Editor of Better Homes & Gardens. He has worked as a design, decorating and food editor for House Beautiful, Martha Stewart Living and Food Network. Recognized by design aficionados for his inventive, out-of-the-box approach to high-style decorating and entertaining on a budget, Eddie has re-imagined the aesthetic possibilities in secondhand finds, imbuing them with a chic and colorful sophistication within everyone’s reach. His sold-out tours of flea markets across the country have empowered legions of devoted followers to find the best things they can and, at the same time, to give fresh, new life to what they may already own.

A trained chef from the Culinary Institute of America, Eddie has styled parties and table settings featured in House Beautiful, Southern Living and InStyle. His design work has been published in Domino, Vanity Fair, Country Living and the New York Times. He also appeared in Bravo’s interior design competition series Top Design and entertaining specials for HGTV.

JAITHAN KOCHAR has designed the interiors of restaurants, clubs, hotels and retail environments around the globe. He has written for national and regional publications, including Better Homes & Gardens, Southern Living and Hamptons magazines. He is a graduate of the Lawrenceville School in Princeton, New Jersey. He holds a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology from Stanford
University and a Master of Interior Architecture from the Rhode Island School of Design.

Read an Excerpt

I am not a wealthy man, but I know how they live.

My grandfather Eddie was the son of Polish immigrants; he met my grandmother Dottie at the Electrolux factory in Stamford, Connecticut, where they worked, and eventually they settled in Greenwich. My father, Walter, worked for the town, trimming trees and maintaining its parks; my mother, Margie, stayed at home, raising four boys almost entirely herself. While most of the other kids at school spoke of private planes and sleep-away camps, I enjoyed my summers in the garden helping my grandfather plant flowers, or in the kitchen with my mother making pierogi. We were a close-knit family, living under one roof, holding onto our Polish traditions.

In high school, I worked at a catering company washing dishes, scrubbing floors and taking out the trash. When the holidays came and we were shortstaffed in the kitchen, I once arranged a crudité of vegetables on a grapevine sleigh with an eggplant sliced lengthwise and hollowed out for dip. It really wasn’t any different from the flower arrangements I’d help my grandfather make growing up. Soon, I started working parties at grand estates, where I passed mini crab cakes on sterling silver trays and served Beluga caviar on mother of-pearl spoons. As a caterer, I peered into the cabinets of magnificent kitchens, looking for a single pitcher, only to find a hundred. Big pitchers, little pitchers—porcelain, glass and silver. I opened drawers in butler’s pantries with more serving pieces than Buckingham Palace. Long forks with four tines and short forks with two tines. Spoons with round bowls, oval bowls and spoons with teeth. There were toast racks and teapots, samovars and soup tureens, compotes and cake stands. China came with markings and linens with letters. Every piece had a story—a history—whether handed down or happened upon in some faraway place. Of course, I owned none of these things myself and would inherit little of the sort. But in the sublime beauty of coffee served delicately in a Herend Chinese Bouquet demitasse cup, paired with a sterling silver Tiffany Audubon spoon, I glimpsed another kind of life.

Catering parties in Greenwich, I saw how the wealthy entertain. Styling homes for House Beautiful, I saw how they decorate. Oil paintings in living rooms hung splendidly over mantels flanked by cloisonné vases, Staffordshire dogs and Baccarat candlesticks. On bookcases and étagères, collections of blue-and white porcelain punctuated stacks of beautiful books. Bar carts took center stage, stocked with silver cocktail shakers, gilded tumblers, and handblown glass decanters.
Lacquered trays adorned coffee tables with Venetian glass bowls and vases filled with flowers. Boxes came in brass, shagreen, tortoiseshell and alabaster. Obelisks were made of marble, malachite, lapis and agate. Chinoiserie figurines rubbed elbows with African statues. Natural curiosities lent whimsy. Crystal added glamour. Everywhere I looked, captivating combinations of furniture, textiles, art and objects told deeply personal stories of who lived there, where they’d been and what they loved. In every treasure, trinket, knickknack and artifact, there was a life well lived—and I found it at the flea market. Not all of us were born with a silver spoon in our mouths, but we can pretend, can’t we?

Table of Contents

4 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

7 FOREWORD

9 INSPIRE

21 DISCOVER

59 ACQUIRE

81 RESTORE

107 CURATE

141 MIX

169 STYLE

193 ENTERTAIN

224 AFTERWORD

Editorial Reviews

Holy smokes...it's so gorgeous and so smart!"

Pure Wow

Eddie has now captured the excitement of the hunt and presented his finds in one of the most beautiful books ever."

Bunny Williams

Like the fun, style-savvy friend we all want, Eddie shares his passion for locating and restoring vintage finds, then using them to give your home a fabulous boost of color and personality."

Better Homes & Gardens

Eddie Ross takes us on a thrilling journey through flea markets, antique malls and even junk shops to find secret undiscovered treasures. With page after page of beautiful imagery, Ross reveals how to decorate, entertain, care for and effortlessly mix these tantalizing finds into your home."

Traditional Home

In this informative guide, House Beautiful alum Eddie Ross takes us along as he scours flea markets for one-of-a-kind treasures, like mother-of-pearl flatware and Wedgwood pottery. Ross then shares tricks for restoring them to their former glory, plus how to make them shine at home."

House Beautiful

Design aficionado Eddie Ross has a keen eye for vintage treasure, and his new book, Modern Mix, reveals the secrets to a successful hunt.

House & Home

Modern Mix is chock-full of tips, tricks, and tantalizing rooms that showcase [Eddie’s] eclectic, approachable style.

One Kings Lane

In his new book…the design blogger expounds on how to find and live with things you love. All of them.

Washington Post

New York–based decorating and entertaining expert Eddie Ross is rather compulsive…he doesn’t limit himself to traditional options.

Wall Street Journal

…it’s fun, inspiring and full of great ideas!

Elle Decor

Everyone from Brimfield regulars to thrift-store newbies will appreciate [Eddie’s] advice detailing what to look for when scouring the stalls and stands, as well as how to navigate markets, tag sales, and online outlets.

Architectural Digest

This is no ordinary tabletop book…No, this is a fresh and masterfully curated look into the rich world of this lifestyle guru. It celebrates design, food, color, pattern, fashion, and art…

California Home & Design