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" Since opening an antiques shop in Los Angeles 35 years ago, Shanghai-born, Fifth Avenue\u2013bred Rose Tarlow has come to define classic California style. Her collections of handsomely detailed updates on old-world furnishings that fit both modern and period homes are renowned. &amp;quot;Antiques are not always beautiful,&amp;quot; Tarlow says. &amp;quot;Just because they are old doesn&amp;#039;t mean they are well proportioned. My sense of scale gives my pieces a little more personality and presence.&amp;quot; The passionate collector and interior decorator&amp;#039;s newest designs\u2014a range of teak outdoor furniture for Sutherland and fabrics for Perennials\u2014are inspired by nature. &amp;quot;I have a thing for wood,&amp;quot; she says with a smile. &amp;quot;I must&amp;#039;ve been a tree in a previous life.&amp;quot; Inspirations \u2022 I used to go to Mus\u00E9e Carnavalet in Paris, where Madame de S\u00E9vign\u00E9 lived, because I had a particular interest in her dishware. But French country houses? I couldn&amp;#039;t care less.  \u2022 I&amp;#039;m an Anglophile\u2014I love manors and Castle Howard and the way life was lived in 19th-century En\u00ADgland. I will only read English mysteries. \u2022 My favorite fashion designer is Ralph Rucci; his work is like sculpture. \u2022 Anyone who becomes a decorator has to be obsessed with beauty. That&amp;#039;s a gift, but it can also make you crazy. A cabinetmaker once asked me, &amp;quot;Why go bananas over a quarter of an inch?&amp;quot; My answer: &amp;quot;Because that&amp;#039;s what makes it better.&amp;quot; Antiques \u2022 I have a flat in London I decorated 30 years ago that has all the grand coromandel screens and lacquered furniture that I still love. Good-quality \u00ADpieces can work anywhere. \u2022 People say you can mix anything that&amp;#039;s good. Not true. A Louis XV chair next to a Biedermeier chest doesn&amp;#039;t look so hot. For me, it&amp;#039;s hard to digest too many ornate things together. Too much caviar will make you sick. \u2022 Always bring something modern, of the day, into a room with traditional furniture so it doesn&amp;#039;t look like Grandmother&amp;#039;s house.  The California Look \u2022 I never pay attention to what&amp;#039;s the rage. In Los Angeles, people love midcentury modern and Hollywood Regency, but in the wrong hands they can be very contrived.  \u2022 Michael Taylor was like Jackson Pollock. He changed the way we think about things. He invented the California Look, bringing trees and wicker and stone and huge furniture into rooms. He didn&amp;#039;t know about periods, he just knew what was good. Five Essentials \u2022 I love woven things, like an old rush chair in a fancy room; it pulls things down to just the right level. Which is why I am obsessed with American Indian baskets.  \u2022 If you go by Edith Wharton, the better the house, the less the need for curtains. I&amp;#039;m insane about Venetian blinds and sheers: They are contemporary and add freshness to a room.  \u2022 Overstuffed furniture is not for me. A good sofa has to be tailored, well proportioned, and large.  \u2022 All rooms need mirrors, but I am not crazy about new ones or copies. I like simple frames\u2014Queen Anne, Flemish, William and Mary\u2014but then again, in my bedroom I have a R\u00E9gence mirror I adore. \u2022 I prefer midcentury and contemporary lighting to fancy lamps, especially in a room with antiques. I love Cedric Hartman lamps because they&amp;#039;re modern and you can fit them in anywhere.  The Great Outdoors \u2022 I prefer the country. I&amp;#039;m not a city person. Who wants to go into a New York elevator building, push a button, and enter an 18th-century ch\u00E2teau? That doesn&amp;#039;t make sense.  \u2022 Jacques Wirtz did my garden in France. When he put yellow flowers outside my room, I took them out. I&amp;#039;m pretty particular. I like boxwood hedges and lots of grass\u2014no distractions except coming upon blue and purple flowers, which I prefer.  \u2022 Outdoor furniture shouldn&amp;#039;t make a statement. I like it to look like you&amp;#039;d come across it in the woods. It should blend in. So no bright red or blue upholstery; use cushions that are the colors of trees, stones, grass, and autumn leaves. Click here to see the gallery for &amp;quot;Rose Tarlow on California Style.&amp;quot; "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
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