Comfortable Fabric

When it comes to creating a more rustic look and feel to a room, I personally like to add a dash of
color to create a spark of interest somewhere in the room. In this particular case the orange wing
chairs combined with the natural light pouring in from the windows behind them tend to draw
interest to the back of the room and give it depth.

The large windows bring ample amounts of natural into the room and the fireplace adds a homely touch. Two attributes that shed light onto the conversation areas quite nicely. In response to the existing features of the room, like the Victorian plastering over the fireplace and the open ceilings I decided to go with more comfortable fabrics to compliment the rustic accents, the whole idea behind that is to create a sense of balance in the room.

All in all, the whole room almost gives you a step back in time while giving you that hint of
modernism. Just another contrast that help create enough interest to make the room pleasing to the eyes.

Designing on a Budget

Lets face it we all have budgets, some are just bigger than others. But the true value of using an Interior Designer, is that they know how to make your $1,000.00 budget look like $10,000.00. This thought reminded me of a project that I did a few years ago in Southern California, we were getting to the end of the project, money was starting to run out, and I still needed a drop dead fireplace surround for the Living Room. It was going to be the first thing you see when you walk into the house so I wanted it to be dramatic. Also, it was a big room, so it had to be able to deal with the scale of the space too.

I decided that a simple wall treatment would create enough drama and scale to create an illusion of a tall, grand fireplace. So I found some leather floor tiles and laid them up the wall. I used a sheet metal guy to do a very simple surround around the firebox opening and then had it coloured to look like bronze. So far, so good.

Now for the mirror, I wanted something simple, chic and slightly modern, so with a basic drapery rod, two leather belts from the gap, and a sheet of mirror, mitred with two slots cut into the top portion....and voila!

The point of this is to show that with a clear objective in mind, it can be not as daunting as you think to create something special, without blowing your budget.......

Traditional with an Edge

This is a house that I did a few years ago, that has never been published, but remains one of my favorite homes ever. It is Southern California and is done in a quiet Traditional style with a few twists that gives it some interest. This is the Living Room and you can see that it is a blend of textures with the rubble stone wall, antique plank ceiling and the solid bronze French doors. With all of this happening, I wanted to layer the room with some more old world pieces, so I used a cut Linen velvet on the sofa and some antique Bergeres adjacent to that. I also used an old rug too, that was a nice complement to the stone floor. The coffee tables though are a little bit more modern, and by using two I was really able to break up the scale a little bit too. Even the under scaled painting did a lot for the whole composition, and makes the painting feel more important.

I like mixing styles and directions, it creates a feeling that this is a collection that has grown over time, not a random selection of stuff that your designer has brought in. Here are some ideas that you may want to implement to help create that "lived in" look:

1. Don't be afraid to mix furniture periods, but if you do, pay close attention to scale and color, there should always be some unity between the pieces you choose.
2. Any painting will take on more importance if you place it on a wall by itself, so be sure it can stand up to the attention, if not place it in a grouping.
3. When contrasting textures try to go from extremes, hard to soft, rough to smooth. Almost smooth to smooth, just looks bland.
4. Don't be afraid of adding in more modern pieces to your collection, it will spice things up and make your older pieces look more special.
   

One of my Favorite Rooms

I was wondering what to write about today and I was scanning through my old images and I cam across this picture. It's the Living Room of a house that I am still working on (we are doing it in stages), and I just paused when the image came up on my screen, it's one of my favorite rooms I have ever done.

The room is is a Mediterranean house that is fairly new, but we did a lot of work on it to try and make it feel a little more time worn. The goal was not to make it feel old, I believe that doing that you end up feeling like Disneyland, what I wanted was some attention to detail, that created an old world feel.

These are some of the things that we did:

• Replaced the oak floor with a distressed Walnut floor
• replaced the baseboard with a ceramic tile border, based on a design from the 1930's
• Painted the walls a warm glowing gold
• Replaced the Fireplace with an antique
• Stencilled the beams in the ceiling
• Added more lights to the ceiling

All of this gave me a great background to work with. Then we started with the furniture:

• I built the room around this great cotton print that I found, and used on the drapery, and layered it with a split bamboo shade for texture.
• I pulled out colors from the drape and used it in solid textures around the room.
• The textures included, a rough linen, silk velvet and leather
• I also used a quirky carved wood coffee table that has a lot of detail on it, to add some interest opposite the fireplace.
• Then lastly, found an antique oriental rug to anchor the same seating group.

I think the room was a great success I hope you enjoy it.

Warm Modernism

Some people who read this blog are probably surprised to find out that I am a huge fan of modernism. I feel very strongly though that just because a room is modern, there is absolutely no reason for it to be cold and uninviting. I give the above room as an example, it is one of the favorite rooms that I have ever done, it was for a young family and they wanted something that felt modern, yet at the same time, somewhere where they could relax and hang out with their kids.

When approaching a modern room, here are some things to keep in mind:

• Keep the color palette neutral, let the architecture be the star
• I like to have only one or two patterned fabrics in the room. In this case I put a very subtle damask on the sofa, it gives a sense of tradition, but the silhouette of the sofa, keeps it feeling very modern.
• Make it all about the texture, I like to use all sorts of textures, from a luxurious wool rug, to silk pillows to venetian plaster on the wall, they all create a sense of the hand of man, that I think is crucial to making a space feel inviting.
• Modern doesn't have to be new. One of the hallmarks of modernism was that form was defined by function, this is not a new idea, I included a Japanese table and a pair of African stools, both of which the form was driven by it's function.
• Please don't ignore the windows, they often look, clearer, taller and more expansive when there is drapes, and boy does it make it more inviting.

Well I hope that you are now willing to attack the new modern house!

Fireplaces

Fireplaces have an incredible ability to anchor any room that they are in. I have even been known to add a mantle to a room without a fireplace, to create a visual anchor that would otherwise be missing. In the same way the perfect pair of shoes begs the question, what purse? The perfect fireplace calls out for something on the mantle. Too many times I see over done, over scaled and all together just too much on top.

Here are some guidelines to make the perfect mantle:

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  In some circles, too much is just enough, this is not one of them. Remember that a lot will go a long way, don't be afraid to put too little, you may just find that it's just right!


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  A Fireplace will always appear to be important, so you can add a little whimsy in this spot without looking foolish, like the seahorse in this beach house I recently did.


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  I am all about creating a home that speaks about you, this is the chance to make that statement, find one of your favorite things there, like this sunburst I found at a yard sale.


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  You don't always need a mantle shelf, sometimes just the texture of a beautiful wall is all you need.

Keep the home fires burning!

Painted Floors

One of the things that you do not see in Southern California a lot is painted wooden floors. Wooden floors of all types are common here, oak, walnut and mahogany are all popular, but they seem to be treated in a very special way. I know that they can be expensive, but like all other materials, I like to play around with them and see if you can get more decoration out of them, rather than just simply put them down, stain them and move on.

In a lot of older traditional homes they are painted, and I think this is such a great way to bring in color and pattern. In the image above you can see a kitchen that I did, where the floors were painted in a checker board. I think it gives such a great old world look.

Here are some tips and ideas on painting floors:

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  Don't limit yourself to a solid color, try painting in a border of another color


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  If free style painting is not your strong suit, then try stencilling, there are some great resources for these on the Internet and they can provide some great inspiration.


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  Be sure to layout the WHOLE design first, before you start to paint, it will save you from literally painting yourself into a corner!


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  In some rooms you may want to have a rug, but it might be challenging, fore instance, like in a Dining Room, where chairs can get caught on a rug. Find an image of a rug that you like and paint it on the floor.


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  One of my favorite libraries, was one where I created a Decoupage floor using, pages of books, it was a very cool installation.

Try and have fun with your floor, make it work for you, I would love to see some of your solutions.