" We're visiting the mount the summer home of Edith Wharton. Edith Wharton was a woman who. Probably has most fame today in connection with the decoration of houses that was the name of the book she wrote in 1997. She was a woman of the gilded age and she was someone who continued writing about a book a year for thirty or almost forty years they're after she died in the 1930s. But what is magnificent about this place not only her design but the fact that its condition today. Is impeccable it has been restored over the course of the last four years a restoration that has included all of these formal gardens that you see around it. And we have to thank a program called the save America's treasures program. This is a neoclassical house there's a bit of palladio in it there's Georgian influence and it there's also a -- and -- it. Now the condition of the house twenty years ago when I first visited was a little mean at the time. But if you look at photographs taken just five years ago. You'll understand what dilapidated really meant so we're very fortunate to be able to have saved this treasure and to be getting a close look at it today. Our guide during our tour will be Stephanie Copeland president of the Edith Wharton restoration come on. As cottages of the gilded age go."

" This kind of small isn't it oh yes -- for eight gilded age cottage but that was all part of her assigned here. -- scale its suitability that a house should be suitable for the inhabitants and not be -- show palace proportion proportion."

" What I'm looking forward to showing our viewers the proportion of some of the rooms but the other interesting thing in what's been done here is that it's not. Strictly a house museum right look at a piece of furniture such as these little set -- in the hall here tonight."

" Historic. We -- and practice -- list -- trying to project they've left trail contemporary designer because Edith Wharton is credited head. We -- establishing interior design as a profession in this country. To celebrate the 100 anniversary of the house we invited leading designers to come and decorate rooms. Showing how her principles of design are still applicable today."

" This is the library indeed and what a beautiful and it is now the size of the room obviously proportion was the buzzword with."

" Absolutely ask great with all the rooms in the house and you can see it in the estimates that about twenty by 25 so it has although it's not overly large does -- Eric does have space -- life and yet it's cozy. Much of that has -- with the wood tones now is this all original paneling yes it is it's all original and it to restore we had to bring in a team actually all women oh really yes who came in and did everything by hand because this this original paneling. It had a hundred years of grime and dirt group and they get it paints teeth cleaned it painstakingly by hand to talk quarters on --"

" And these wonderful. Garlands and then this is -- given a veteran of the -- yes it's very much of the sad things."

" Gibbons who was adamant earlier century head -- the room is furnished. Obviously with the look of the past but everything looks relatively new who did the room."

" This is lady Henrietta Spencer Churchill. One at the end designers we invited to do this right she's from Inglewood and faction after cousin David Linley to design furniture for the -- you can see by this desk right here with David Linley to."

" David Linley is the son of the late princess Margaret and he has a furniture collection that's I guess he's been doing this for twenty years yes your hat -- beautiful beautiful pieces. Can we see the drawing room oh yes right next door."

" OK now this room is about twice the size is this a double cube yes well not quite. Not quite -- all cabinets -- long and rectangular yeah sixteen by sixteen by 32 I think is one of the most perfect. Dimensions for a formal room like this that makes the room feel very elegant -- And also what I'm establishing here is there's what they call enough he --"

" A row of rooms right exactly it was designed he could go from one room to the next save -- from the library to the drawing room to the kind of."

" And yet there's still the gallery on the other side into the gallery is like the spine and could also enter each room directly from the gallery. The French doors. Directly opposite me here it."

" They're placed very kind of huddled in the middle when she can't -- deliberately infecting original design had five French doors and she reduced it to three. And that's to allow a certain intimacy in the room. And to keep the light in the center OK and."

" I did distinctive features of the room like for example that the mantelpiece. This is original -- survey asked yes that's a hand carved imported marble."

" French probably French marble means and what about what about the ceiling. All of the ceilings wonderful story -- how OAS and and she writes in the book that this is the kind of ceiling that you should have in your formal room where you're receiving guests. But not the kind of ceiling that you would happen your veteran. That would be a simple -- ceiling what about the furnishings in this room. These furnishings this room was done by Charlotte -- she's the one that the designer who came from New York to do this -- And she has very generously donated these all of these furnishings to the restoration it's incredibly elegant that it could be. In a park avenue apartment -- actually she chose to put very much the furniture in the places where Wharton had them originally about me."

" So I assume the next room is the dining room yes shall we go out there."

" Now again the proportion of this room is very much like where we started in the library exactly -- it's the same size that balances the library in between you have the drawing room which -- long -- perfectly ordered."

" And this has been done very much with a contemporary."

" Flavor this carpet. Yes bunny Williams designed this room and she had this it's a sisal carpeting."

" That she had hand -- here's an aspect of interior design that's really wonderful and of course it's sitting on top of the original terrazzo floors yes you may have noticed that we have terrazzo floors in the drawing room in the gallery."

" Wharton admired she saw this in Italy and she admired it and incorporated it in the designer perhaps as well so a lot of what we see here is really European influenced the."

" The mantelpiece resent very much this is after French -- marble here."

" And and then again you see -- grinning Gammons this decorative plaster design. Notice that the theme of this that the plaster in this ran reflects the use of the room as we have a dead duck it is a dining room -- you see fruits and nuts. In other in the garlands that are dripping off the Wall Street. "