If there seemed to be a few more great deals at the Southampton Fresh Air Home Decorators-Designers-Dealers Sale, Auctions and Cocktail Party Gala, perhaps it was because Aida Turturro had slowed down. For years, Turturro has shopped her way through the sale, furnishing friends and family homes when her own was filled. Why not this year? “Maybe it’s my allergies,” she said. No worries, spending cohort Carolyn Sandoval showed off a handful of receipts. “I’ll have to put it in storage,” she laughed. That’s okay. “It’s for the kids,” Aida stressed. And besides, “Don’t you love this auction?!”
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Celebrity chef Eric Ripert. (Photo: PatrickMcMullan.com) |
Yes we do. Each year, designers comb through donated furniture and accessories to create their own rooms. Prices are insanely low. Rare wines are a signature of the live and silent auctions, which also feature trips, fashion and services. It all goes towards giving a camp experience to physically challenged children.
We also spied chef Eric Ripert, Radio and TV Sports Personality Ann Liguori with Scott Vallary, Melanie Wambold, Kim White, Debbie Bancroft and Will Bancroft, Jean Shafiroff and Marty Shafiroff, Donna Soloway and Dick Soloway, and Francesca Beale.
Turturro does the heavy spending. But this year, not the heavy lifting. “My friends told me no more armoires, couches, or dressers!” she said. “But maybe next year with my new decorating business I can buy more furniture and get a storeroom, so when I decorate I’ll stuff to decorate with.”
She calls her new business Home Coach. She’ll get your domicile organized, functional and beautiful. “It’s something I always did in my life when I was younger. I miss it and I’m going back to it.”
She also likes getting back to her “Sopranos” family. “It’s really nice to stay friends with people from the show,” she said. “I helped Edie (Falco) decorate her new brownstone in Manhattan. And Steve Schirripa invited me to a screening of his great film from Nickelodeon, ‘Nicky Deuce.’”
She just wrapped filming “Rob the Mob” with Michael Pitt. “And my cousin (John Turturro) is working on some new TV show he’s putting together, so we’ll see how that goes.”
A longtime Montauk resident, she laughs. “It’s getting to crowded. Soon, I’ll have to move.” You can’t get any farther East, we reminded her. Where will you go? “To the MOON,” she cried. New real estate to furnish!
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Annelise Peterson, Carola Jain, Brent Nicklas, Laura Nicklas, and Sandra Ripert shopped at D-D-D. (Photo: PatrickMcMullan.com) |
