Sneak Peek: Music Room/Library

Today, I'm giving you a sneak peek into a music room/library I am designing. You can see my color palette of turquoise and chartreuse here in the reupholstery pic (yes a tad blurry...sorry) of one of the sofas. There will also be grey and a tiny proportion of lavender. You'll have to stay tuned for the final look!!

Have a "COLORFUL" week!!!

***Susan***

GUEST BLOGGER FROM DESIGN SHUFFLE: Decorating in Technicolor!!

Hi, I'm Susi, a writer for Design Shuffle, a great site that showcases the work of designers around the world. I'm happy to be visiting Susan's blog today as a guest blogger. My guest post is all about decorating in Technicolor. Glorious Technicolor makes me think of old movies with intense color palettes like Wizard of Oz. Here are my eight choices for Technicolor decorating ideas. Enjoy!

A rainbow of Technicolor ruffle pillows fills this classic sofa.

Gorgeous color next to more gorgeous color gives this seating tons of style.

Bright Technicolor accents pop in this living room.

Painting a small side table a bright color, adding colorful throws and pillows are great ways to bring Technicolor to your room.

Fabulous colorful art work brings the Technicolor to this room.

Big, bold colorful artwork looks best against white walls but can work with other wall colors as well.

The Pacific Edge Hotel in Laguna Beach, CA is full of Technicolor vintage beach dÈcor.

Technicolor stripes and bright walls give this bedroom design in the hotel room a nostalgic feeling.

A large vintage photo (too bad it's not in Technicolor) sets the vintage tone for this eclectic loft.

Tons of colorful furniture, lighting and accents work together in the Technicolor space and offer lots of interior design ideas for those who can't seem get enough of this style right now.

These shimmering turquoise tiles make the brightly colored accents really pop in this colorful kitchen.

White cabinets and trim balance the brights, including red and a bit of green in addition to the brilliant blues.

Mixing colors creates a Technicolor room. Yellow, aqua, fuchsia and pale lavender are all happy, cheerful colors that work well with vintage style furniture and dÈcor.

These are great ideas for your living room designs.

Kelly Wearstler does Technicolor probably better than anyone.

Her fearless mixing of colors is one of her signature interior design statements.

[ Images 1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5 / 6 / †7 / 8 ]

Have you used any Technicolor in your home decor?

Head on over to Design Shuffle where you'll find great color inspiration and find brand new interior design guide!

Glamour, Ethnicity, and a Retro Spirit!

Hello, hello, hello (ok at least it's not ho, ho, ho yet)!  I am busily working on a living room project which combines glamour, ethnicity, and a bit of retro spirit.  All three styles really spoke to me with this client.  I have known her, personally and professionally, for about 10 years.  I LOVE her sense of flair!  Very unique, and not on one level; hence, the combination of styles...and lucky for me...integrating styles is right up my alley!

Fabulous, huh?  Stay tuned...

Above is a layout sketch for the living room furniture:  funky sofa, two super cool accent chairs, awesome cocktail table, hand painted side table, gorgeous gold leaf etagere, high gloss lacquer ice blue/white desk...What?  A few too many superlatives??  OK, guess I am super duper, over the top excited about our selections!

 We already have our main conversation area in the center of the room, correct?  So, I didn't want to just add another couple of chairs and a table in the lower right corner of the plan for more seating; hence, I came up with the idea of a built in banquette above...ala Morocco...I'm so excited about this!  Not only that...but listen to this:  

We are sitting chatting, and the husband says "Wait...I need to get something."  Huh?  He comes out with two dark turquoise (darker than above) capiz shell pendant lights with dark antique brass metal solder joints, somewhat tulip shaped, that hung on either side of the piano as he was growing up.  How FUN is that!  A bit more tulip than the round shape above, but I wanted to give you some visuals.  These are going to look absolutely stunning hanging together at different heights over the center of the banquette.  It will really ground the corner, AND his mother will be tickled fuchsia (we hope anyway)!!

We are using this Norbar blue velvet tufted in the back, smooth on the seats, and gathered on the sides of the cushion and base.

Across the top we are doing a chunky cording with this fabulous Pierre Frey cut velvet stripe.

Remember, from a previous post, this is going in this room above.  It now has wonderful warm caramelized bamboo floors, with the existing grey/blue handmade paper wall covering.

We have a lot more selections decided, but I think I'll group them together for the next upcoming post!

~~ Ciao!!  Susan~~

Arts and Crafts Dining Room Completed!

A little add on to the last post...being it is the same house and all!  We also completed the dining room in the Arts and Crafts house where we redid the living room and made the cocktail table with the 19th century Turkish platter.  Below is the finished design.  My client already had the table and chairs, chandelier, and corner buffet.  We added window treatments and a focal point to the table.  We also added small turquoise glass tealights from Pier 1 on the plate rail for ambience during dinner parties.

Isn't it warm and welcoming?  We made absolutely stunning table runners from a Cowtan & Tout embroidered fabric called Castello in Celadon/Toffee.

 Close up of the stunning Cowtan & Tout fabric.  The fabric was not cheap, but the colors and design could not have been more perfect.  We both knew it had to be!

My client wanted a centerpiece that she could keep on the table during entertaining, would not block dinner guests from seeing each other, but would also look good for an everyday table centerpiece.  (Sorry didn't light the candles as they were brand new!  Thought I'd save that for her!)  The Chinese antique wood tray is from Zachary, and the mosaic/crackle glass hurricanes are from Pier 1.

Beautiful silk draperies using Pollack's Silk Route in Teak.

Fabricut's Quatrefoil trim adorns three sides of the drapery.  Sorry for the blurry pic.  The trim has a tad of blue in it to tie in with the table runners.

It makes for a very lovely dining experience!!  Don't you think?  I'm getting hungry already!

❖❖❖❖❖ Susan ❖❖❖❖❖

New Project Photography!! Master Bedroom!

I've been photographing interiors at a clients home with an incredibly talented photographer friend of mine, Lisa Bond.  It's amazing how much time and detail goes into one shot, and yet, so humbling to work with someone who can be just as consumed with the smallest of details as I am--until it is just right!  Below is a sampling of both of our work.  We did a lot of shots of various spaces, so I'll focus on specific areas for different blog posts adding "before" and "after"pics.  Stay tuned for more rooms!

Before

After
Photo credit:  Lisa M. Bond Photography

One of my most enjoyable design strategies is looking for "found" objects to use in alternative methods within a home.  It adds incredible personality and a "collected overtime" feeling -- (if done well--huge key point!).  In this master bedroom photo, I found the wood headboard piece, and knew immediately it was perfect for this bedroom.  It is an old architectural piece from Afghanistan that had blown off a house.  I got it, as well as many of my finds, at Alsadu, an import company that helps support economic independence in developing countries.  They purchase products from artists and sources making sure it is at a living wage and within safe and healthy living conditions.  Gotta love that sourcing!  I knew when the empty arches were upholstered in a fuchsia silk from our color palette, this piece would just shine!  The bolster pillow was made from a textile piece from the Swat Valley area and the throw at the end of the bed is made from a wonderful old Suzani from Kazakhstan.

Before

After
Photo credit:  Lisa M. Bond Photography

As you can see in the before pic, the bed was centered in the room with a huge built in bed frame creating privacy from the entry/bath doors.  Because I decided to move the bed against the wall, the entry and bathroom doors are now positioned to the side of the bed, (behind the turquoise silk curtain--you can only see one of the doors in the after photo).  I wanted to give the couple a stronger feeling of cocooning and privacy that they previously had, so designed the ceiling cornice board (see 1st after pic) with the turquoise silk draperies to hang down creating a tented feeling at the head of the bed.  There is also soft lighting within the ceiling cornice board that lightly shines down onto the draperies creating a warm glow at night.  In addition, the walls and ceiling are covered in a light carmel colored grasscloth to intensify the ambiance of coziness.

Before

Batik Art Room Inspiration

After
Photo credit:  Lisa M. Bond Photography

Within the seating area of the room, you can gaze out the floor to ceiling windows at the beautiful lake or chat with someone in the bed.  To the right of the seating arrangement, I decided to remove one window that was not part of the larger grouping for an oversized Asian inspired bookcase which holds mementos and books.  The wonderful art piece overhead was our inspiration for the room hence the turquoise, fuchsia, and yellow grounded by the light caramel on the walls, ceiling, and luxuriously thick wool carpet.

Truly a bedroom to crash in at the end of a day!!