Carla Trivino
Palm Beach Daily News
After months of renovations, The Colony hotel unveiled its revamped lobby, and a new staff addition, on Dec. 18. The lobby, which will now be called the Living Room, has reopened under the supervision of Megan Brolley as the freshly appointed living room manager.
The new space caters to hotel guests and the community alike, serving as a gathering place for check-ins and a quick stop for locals to grab cocktails before dinner or sip coffee with the morning’s newspaper. Guests will have access to all-day beverage and cocktail service, and soon the hotel will add a menu so people can order light bites in the lobby.
For decorating aficionados, the Greenbrier hotel needs no introduction. The postwar redesign of the historic resort in White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia, was famously led by Dorothy Draper, whose office has long been run by Carleton Varney. Ever since he started at the firm in the â60s, he has been involved with the Greenbrierâthe sprawling and still-popular hotel that, Varney explains, requires daily design maintenance work. (No surprise there: It has more than 900 guest rooms.)
Varney has nearly six decades of Greenbrier design stories and memories to share, so itâs only fitting that he would write a book about it all. Out this month,
Speaking with famed interior designer Carleton Varney, head decorator of the iconic Greenbrier Resort for the last 54 years, certain things become clear.
One, he is the unofficial goodwill ambassador of The Greenbrier. Two, he is passionate about his work. Three, he is a living record of the history of one of the nationâs grand hotels.
It was these things that wove themselves together to form the idea for his latest book, âRomance & Rhododendrons: My Love Affair with Americaâs Resort, The Greenbrier.â The book is a love letter to The Greenbrier, nestled in White Sulphur Springs, with its opulent but inviting decor. The history, memories and sketches told through photographs and commentary from Varney weave themselves into a great romance story.
Carleton Varney
Special to the Daily News
Christmas at the White House is always exciting. I have been lucky enough to visit the executive mansion many times during the holidays and once assisted with the Blue Room tree during President Jimmy Carter’s administration.
As the Carters’ White House design consultant, I enjoyed designing events for first lady Rosalynn Carter and, especially, creating holiday decor for the late Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher’s visit to the White House in the 1980s.
During my visit to the White House with my associate Brinsley Matthews for a reception on Dec, 3, I saw that first lady Melania Trump had carried out the holiday decorations in the public spaces with an America the Beautiful theme.
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