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I plan to gather with friends Saturday at 11 a.m. at St. Edward Catholic Church to celebrate the life of Dr. John Whelton, a longtime Palm Beach resident who died Oct. 25 at 75.

Known to many simply as “Dr. John,” he was originally from Ireland, a rheumatologist who practiced in Palm Beach County for more than 40 years and who was loved by so many of us.

It’s pumpkin time, a time to celebrate the harvest and to find the perfect costume for Halloween.

I always know Halloween is on the horizon when the costume shops pop up around South Florida. Who wants to be Darth Vader? Who wants to be Cinderella? Who wants to be a fierce pirate?Or do you just want to wrap yourself in a white sheet to be a ghost?

In the 1960s as a young decorator in New York office of Dorothy Draper & Co., I had the opportunity to decorate an apartment for the late, great Judy Garland. It was a hotel apartment in Manhattan on the 18th floor on East 52nd Street.

It just happens that at the time, we also were engaged in designing an apartment in the same building — but on the 15th floor — for another star, Broadway legend Ethel Merman. When I think back to the contrast in personalities and decorating wishes of the two ladies I can only say: Vive la différence. But more about that in a moment.

Looking for decorating talent? You really need look no farther than Palm Beach and vicinity. There are so many talented designers here who contribute so much to ensure that local homes, hotels, restaurants, country clubs and condominiums are filled with happy and beautiful rooms.

And among those at the top of my own list of favorites is the amiable Stephen Mooney, who has been a Palm Beach presence for some 22 years with an office, retail showroom and studio at 6 Via Parigi off Worth Avenue.

Many homes I see in my work have been beautifully decorated. But something critical is missing. They lack character, as far as I’m concerned.

Beware such a room. All the furnishings are in place, and the upholstery well coordinated with the curtains. The lamps and shades are in order, and care has given to carefully light the art hanging on the walls.

Get ready for it: Chintz is staging a decorating comeback, big time.

Picture the Victorian days when sofas and chairs were covered in posh velvets, only to be slipcovered in a happy flowered chintz when summer arrived. I remember my grandmother’s home, and it was filled with furniture covered during the warmer months with glazed summer chintz.

Greetings from Ireland, where I'm enjoying the late-summer green of the hills and the excitement of the ever-popular racing season.  

These days, I've been spending some time among the horses and dogs on Sundays at Limerick Racecourse in Patrickswell, where the best of the best are awarded red ribbons for placing first, while second-place finishers take home blue and third, yellow.  It's the Irish way.

What family home has a ballroom these days? Few indeed, but there are still some around.

In the days of yore, a generously proportioned ballroom was a staple of Palm Beach mansions. At Mar-a-Lago, Marjorie Merriweather Post enjoyed hosting dinner dances in hers and often hired dance instructor Frederico McMasters to teach the guests a little cha-cha-cha or maybe the rumba.

Decorating inspiration can be found beneath your feet if you’re in Arizona and New Mexico.

Those living the desert life long have loved all that is clay — and that includes the color we call clay. Imagine the color of a terra-cotta pot, and you’ll know what I mean.

Large urns of all kinds of shapes and forms are manufactured in the American Southwest or in Mexico and find their way into American homes, where they are filled with blooming plants and ferns. Perhaps they are then placed on a clay-tile floor.

I always marvel when I encounter an artist who is adept at both painting and sculpting. And Dan Meyer of Lake Worth certainly falls into that category.

I once had the pleasure of using one of Dan works as a golf-course sculpture, of all things. Yes, his colorful groups of super-size golf tees never fail to wow the eye, as they do at the Greenbrier Resort in West Virginia.

It’s July Fourth and weather permitting, the beaches today will be filled with suntanned people while Benny’s on the Beach in Lake Worth will be mixing its famous piña coladas and turning out the best-flavored French toast and pancakes in South Florida.

For décor Benny deserves a mention, too, with lots of bamboo-covered posts and natural-finish seaside furnishings, all in keeping with the warm and welcoming style of the Bahamas.

Perle Mesta may have been known as the hostess with the mostest, but my late friend Charlene Nederlander — a client for 10-plus homes — could certainly have been at the top of the list.

She was married to the late Jimmy Nederlander, the Broadway producer and theater owner. From Arizona to New York to Palm Beach, the Nederlanders were always decorating. And as much as Charlene loved designing, Jimmy loved it too. The two never missed an antiques show or a jewelry exhibition. Charlene always knew diamonds, rubies, emeralds and sapphires were a girl’s best friend. Jimmy also loved jewelry.

Are you a minimalist or a maximalist? Or maybe a bit of both?

In the decorating world, we’re constantly seeing new names and titles to describe design styles and those who love them.

I have always said home fashions follow the clothing styles of any era. Victorian furniture — all bustled and tufted — was a reflection of the dress of the times. Ladies wore bustles with their long dresses, and velvet was the height of fashion.

Let’s talk about the brave new world of decorating and consider where we’re headed — or at least where some of us are headed.

A week ago, I was chatting with some young decorators — or interior designers, as some might prefer to be called these days — and one said the White House’s interiors were gaudy. The Blue Room, the Green Room and the Red Room, I was told, were all gaudy and outdated because “no one does color these days.”

For more than five years, Paige Padon directed a decorating showroom in California named Hollywood at Home. The showroom was filled with designer fabrics, wallcoverings, pillows and furniture, and it offered lots of variety to the Hollywood buyers — including Ellen DeGeneres, Drew Barrymore and Josh Brolin.

Paige has left Hollywood and brought her style, charm, her filmmaker husband, Tyler, and their 2-year-old back to her native state for sunshine and Atlantic breezes. Her Old Northwood shop, Row House, is filled with fine art, furnishings, decorative accessories and happiness at 419 Northwood Road in West Palm Beach. I guarantee it is worth a visit.

“Chiquita Banana” was a song I learned as a child and I also learned that one never puts a banana in the refrigerator unless you want the skin to turn brown.

I noticed while strolling South Dixie Highway’s Antique Row that Chiquita Banana was dressing up the windows of Judy Baron’s shop, The Brass Scale. In fact, that big banana was front and center, along with a watermelon painting on the wall above a small sofa accented with lemon and lime fabric throw pillows. It is always fun visiting Judy’s popular atelier of fantasy antiques and vintage wear.

On Sunday, we celebrate the shamrock — and everything else green — with the arrival of St. Patrick’s Day.

Now, I do love the poinsettia of Christmas and the red rose of Valentine’s Day, but the shamrock is so special — my favorite color of all is green. From banana-leaf green to pine-tree green and all the other in-between greens — lime, chartreuse, mint, granny smith apple, deep sea green. Oh, I could go on and on.

It’s always fun to talk to people about what you love. And that’s why I so enjoy speaking engagements that allow me to share my advice about creating rooms that are not only stylish but also livable.

On Thursday, I’ll be talking about just that at a fundraising luncheon sponsored by the Salvation Army Women’s Auxiliary at the Beach Club in Palm Beach. This year is the 30th anniversary of the event.

If you’re browsing the antique shops on South Dixie Highway in West Palm Beach or if you spend a Saturday or Sunday visiting the showroom at Kofski Estate Sales, you’ll most likely pass interior designer Gil Walsh’s new offices on the corner of Bunker Road.

The large white sign and the lovely white building at 5505 S. Dixie Highway is the decorating and design studio of one of Palm Beach’s star designers. Gil is a shorthand name for Marigil, a name created by her mother.

We are several weeks into 2019, and that means design-related companies have made their predictions for the color of the year.

The paint company Benjamin Moore has selected a color titled Metropolitan as its of-the-moment tone. You might not know it from its name, but Metropolitan is a very stylish gray with cool undertones, a color I suspect that today’s millennials will be using to drench the walls of their condominiums and houses. Grays — in all sorts of tones — are certainly favorites in the decorating world these days.

Whatever the meal, a buffet translates to easy dining. And if you’re entertaining at home, setting up a buffet also can be a great way to feed a crowd.

At luncheon and dinner parties, I sometimes find the table pre-set with the appetizer course, which is followed by the host’s instructions, in so many words, to get up and reach for a plate on the buffet. At other gatherings, the meal begins at the buffet itself.

I wish Brownie McLean, who died at age 101 on Jan. 9, could be here to hear the many stories people are telling about her and her many escapades, including a few that I might add.

She may have been a Palm Beach social icon, but I knew her as a friend who just happened to be a client.

If one of your New Year's resolutions is to read more, I heartily recommend "Popovers and Candlelight", a new can't-put-it-down book by Marcia Biederman (SUNY Press, $19.95).

It is the story of the rise and fall of Patricia Murphy, a restaurateur who truly captured the imagination of the social and traveling public.  The book is subtitled: "Patricia Murphy and the Rise and Fall of a Restaurant Empire".

Were you a Crayola child?

I know I was, and I believe nearly everyone has been influenced in one way or another by those crayons in Crayola’s distinctive yellow-and-green box.

It’s certainly the season to deck the halls with boughs of holly. But why not deck the walls with watercolors of orchids and other tropical flora?

One of my favorite artists, Karen Eskesen, will be presenting her portfolios of watercolors of lovely blooms this week at one of my favorite events of the season, the annual Christmas Boutique sponsored by the Garden Club of Palm Beach.