Chairs that you REALLY Must Have

I was hunting around last night for some interesting chairs....and look what I found! This set of black leather swivel chairs....beautiful! They are from a vintage store called City Foundry in Brooklyn.

A quick scout of the web site and I am sure you will find a bunch of stuff that will take your fancy, from Garden decorations to cool industrial era furniture. Not sure what the prices are like, but as the ad goes "4 jetson style, black leather swivel chairs....? Priceless!"

Not a Pretty Chair?

Even on the scale of projects that I am used to working on, budget is always an issue. One way to make your budget go further is reusing some of the clients old pieces of furniture. This sometimes takes some creativity on the part of the designer. You can see above a perfect example of this. The top picture shows the clients existing Dining Room chair (the blue/green rinse over the wood really adds something don't you think?). Well, in the new Dining Room, that really wasn't going to work, so I re imagined the chair in a deep wood stain with this vibrant cut velvet seat, and all of a sudden it looks pretty cool. One other thing I did.... We needed more chairs that we had existing, so I simply created some very simple dark brown leather chairs, in the same silhouette as the existing ones.....they mix really well.

Here are some tips for reusing your old pieces in a new way:

• Be creative with the color, often all it takes is a coat of paint or stain and you will have a whole new piece.
• If it is a cased piece, such as a set of drawers etc, change out the hardware too, that can give a whole new direction.
• Another idea is to upholster the panels on your drawers etc, this can give a very custom loo9k, and is something you can do easily at home.
• The less important the piece the more vivid a color it can take, make it look a little frivolous and fun.

Slipcover that is Chic but not Shabby

A few years ago a store opened here in Santa Monica called "Shabby Chic" and it specialized in loose slip covered furniture and almost single handedly created a design genre. The look of loose white slipcovers were everywhere. Well I am pleased to say that the store is still going strong and it is still serving the market for which it was designed. I personally am not a fan of that look, it's a bit loose for me, but nonetheless I am thrilled that it has brought slipcovers back into the mainstream.

I like slipcovers to be much more tailored, like the one above. This was a chair that I did for a client years ago, for her bathroom. In fact, I found the chair sitting forlornly on the side of the road, so I threw in into the back of my car and took it straight to my upholsterer. Since it was for a bathroom, we decided that terry cloth was the ideal fabric, but since it was going to be sat in while wet etc, that we should make it a slipcover, so that it could be taken off and washed on a regular basis.

This, to me, is the key to using slipcovers. I think they are great for people with kids, who want the freedom to pull it off the sofa and throw it in the washing machine, or the other great reason is for people who may want to change their look from one season to another, a summer and a winter.

A couple of things to remember:

• ALWAYS wash your fabric before getting the slipcover made.
• When selecting a fabric go with a blend of natural and man made fibres, like a cotton/rayon. The natural fibre will allow it to breath and the man made fibres will keep it looking tidy.
• When getting a fitted cover made, be sure to tell your upholsterer to keep his velcro ties in hidden spots, that way you can still have a great looking sofa when the cover is off.
• The tighter, more tailored the fit on the cover, the more challenging it will be to get on and off, so you may want to garner some help and not try to tackle the job by yourself.
• I like to use an inexpensive fabric to cover the sofa, under the slipcover, rather than just using ticking. It's a little more expensive, but gives you two sofa's for the price of one. Just be sure to use a heavy enough fabric on the cover, that you do not see the lining fabric bleed through.

5 Books Everyone Should Have

This is the Ultimate coffee table book. Its full of great pictures of all sorts of curiosities from shells, to butterflies and even a chapter on snakes that anyone would learn to love. It's a big book at almost 10lbs but boy, will your friends ever be impressed!

I have to admit that this is a bit of an eclectic choice, but I love this book. It is about indigenous design and how by looking at communities that have grown organically, we can learn to see patterns that we can then apply in the way we organize our new cities and towns. It also has some of the same wisdom to apply to the way you look at the space in your own home. It is simply organized into a series of observations, so it's not a book to sit and read in one session, but enjoy it over time, perfect for beside the bed.

Well this is the part of the list that starts getting a bit personal. I remember when I lived in Australia, that I read about this building by a young architect that was going to revolutionize the way Australians look at their vernacular architecture. I had my parents drive me 6 hours to Kempsey to see this new little museum. It made me fall in love with architecture and has stayed with me ever since. Well that architect was Glenn Murcutt, and he has gone on to be justly lauded by everyone and their dog, including the Pritzker Prize. If you get this book you will never look at a barn or simple farm shed the same way again.

While on the topic of never looking at things the same way again, along comes this book on Los Angeles. The city gets a bad rap for being part of just a large urban sprawl, but this book by famed photographer Tim Street-Porter is an homage to the city he loves. It is put together in such a way that he has assembled his own street scenes, from a series of different photo's. Los Angeles has never looked so good, and it's clear to see his passion about this much maligned city, it is indeed, ready for it's close up.

I am sitting in one as I write this. The work horse of Interior Design, the chair, finally gets the star treatment. This book follows the humble piece of furniture on it's stylistic travel through time. Whether modernist or traditionalist this book is essential reading.

Thursday is Resource Day

So, as I said last week, on Thursdays I plan to try and highlight another resource that i think people will really like. This week that resource is Oly Studio, out of Berkely California. It was founded by two designers, Brad Huntzinger and Kate McIntyre, and I am constantly impressed with the way they create designs that are firmly based on tradition, but have a fresh modern feel to them. I don't believe that you can buy directly from their website (www.olystudio.com) but they do list all the stores across the country that sell their stuff, so with a bit of work you can get anything you see here.I have used pieces from their collections in both modern and traditional settings, always with great success. Some of my favorites are shown above.

• The Coral Chair is to my mind such a cool twist on the ever popular coral motif, but it is also a great scale, and very comfortable.
• The Chandelier is made of new wood, but has the beautiful patina of driftwood, a soft silver grey, that gives it a hip twist.
• This little tripod table I have used outside to great success; in a meadow garden, it adds whimsy and will always make your guests smile.
• The coffee table is another that does equally well inside or on a covered porch. I regard it as a modern, primitive piece, with nicely handworked metal.
• This mirror is totally glamorous and has a wonderful Kelly Wearstler feel. It would dress up a modern interior, or cool down a very traditional backdrop, much more versatile than you might think.

So please check out Oly Studio, the stuff is great, the people are nice, and the prices are great value!

Thursday is Resource Day

In an effort to give the Blog some structure, I thought it was a good idea to dedicate certain days to certain topics, Mondays to answer questions on design etc (if you have any questions, please do post them, there is only one the at the moment and i don't want to have to make them up LOL!). So, I thought on Thursdays I could share some valuable resources with you, and today that resource is Aesthetic Decor out of Los Angeles. http://www.aestheticdecor.com/

The Designer responsible for these pieces is Richard Johnson, he takes his inspiration from classical architecture, and he transforms them into decorative items for the home that transcend periods and styles, I think that they work equally as well in modern settings as they do in traditional. His work can be seen at the Wynn Hotel in Las Vegas, as well as showrooms throughout the U.S.. I think he is definitely someone to check out because of his unique point of view. Enjoy!

By the way the pieces are not meant to be Blue! I am new at this and these images just came up that way, when I work out how to get them back to their real color, I will change it.