Eclectic Vintage Color, Part 2 -- the Dining Room

Hi, and happy holidays to all!!

Welcome to Part 2 of my "Eclectic Vintage Color" home showcasing the Dining Room. I discussed the KITCHEN as well as project goals in Part 1 here, so check that out if you want a refresher.

For the BEFORE PICS:

And the AFTER PICS:

We started with an existing blue/gray handmade paper wallcovering we chose to keep. As in the kitchen, we continued the bamboo floors and painted the trim white. My client had inherited a beautiful vintage Henredon dining set I thought would be lovely and fulfill her vintage-love, so we reupholstered the chairs with a modern yet vintage inspired F. Schumacher fabric. We selected orange to bring in warmth, contrast with the blue walls, and give the room energy. We kept the existing and truly amazing chandelier. I believe it is a vintage Venini! Definitely a keeper! 

Bringing in more light and dark orange to coordinate with the chair upholstery, custom silk draperies with a darker accent trim were incorporated. For the wall, my client fell in love with a textile art piece found on Etsy, utilizing hand dyed fabric strips, and strengthening our blue/orange concept.

My client had purchased the artist made metal mirrors quite a few years earlier while traveling. At that time, we put them in the dining room, knowing someday when we revamped the dining room, they would be incorporated, and they worked out splendidly!

The small pillows made for the two extra arm chairs incorporate all of our colors...light and dark blue, light and dark orange, and tan hues from the floor.

For the floor, the perfect wool rug...again incorporating all of our colors. The beautiful artisan vase my client loves, now blends in with the new color scheme back at front and center in the middle of the table.

I hope your holidays have been pleasant and your New Years is fabulous!! XXOO Susan

Knowledge is Strength: Pantone's Color of the Year 2014, Radiant Orchid

It seems Pantone, the world-renowned authority on color, has surprised many in the industry with the selection of Radiant Orchid, 18-3224 as the upcoming Color of the Year. The PANTONE® name is known worldwide as the standard language for color communication from designer to manufacturer to retailer to customer. Need a color to match exactly from one end of the globe to the other? Pick a Pantone color!

Last year's color Emerald served as a symbol of growth, renewal and prosperity. This year's color Radiant Orchid is an invitation to innovation, expanded creativity and originality. Cheers to that!

Radiant Orchid is quite a unique color. At first I thought "Wow, where would I use that"? Perhaps a powder room, child or teen's room, as a small accent color...which surprises me because the last thing I ever want to feel is limited by color. I like to believe I can use color anywhere, at any time, depending on adjacent colors, what proportions have been used, and the values (lightness and darkness) or chroma (intensity of a color) used. So I started doing a little research and looking around for inspiration. Best thing to do whenever a road block starts creeping in!

I ran across this lovely view of famous designer Kelly Wearstler's office on Instagram today. Lo and behold, I see Radiant Orchid!

Gorgeous artwork! Pinterest/Jeannie Mills – Aboriginal Art Centre – Anaty 1105 “Bush Potato”

And of course, nature will always give you the most exquisite color findings.
Pinterest

 Pinterest

 I love this this room, the purple and orange combo, the ethnic vibe. It's fresh yet warm at the same time. Pinterest

 Ditto with this dining room! Pinterest

A little retro mod to balance out the selections. Pinterest

 How's this for a funky barn?! Pinterest

And of course, all I had to do was look above at my blog header to see a more saturated version of Radiant Orchid in this foyer I designed. In fact, I found two other rooms where I used versions of this year's Pantone color!

Not quite as unique and unusual an application as I had initially thought. How many other areas in your life can you bring in this type of questioning and conclusion? Challenge yourself. Knowledge is strength.

Later gators, Susan 

Quick Powder Room Update!

I haven't written a blog post for almost two months, wow... So let's not dilly dally! In a large project of mine, there are a couple of powder rooms where we want updates without the expense, as we are putting quite a bit of expense into the main living areas. I'm thrilled the way they both are coming together. One is completely done, and the other is just awaiting artwork. I'll do the one that is awaiting artwork in a future post. Really! I promise! Yes, for sure!

BEFORE

What we called, the "Black" bathroom. Kind of a perfect before and after since it's near Halloween, huh?

Black, white, gold faux painted walls, sconces and shades, mirror, and pleated shade on the window. EVERYTHING, everything (ok almost) had this texture applied to it.

Here is a closeup of the treatment. Not only was it dark, and overdone, but a glossy finish had been applied to the top. Eeeek!

There was barely any light in the room because the metal sconce shades, which don't transmit much light anyway, had been painted black. Since the bathroom faces the front door entry, you couldn't really keep the shade up. The off white floor and white ceiling/trim only made the situation worse.

Lovely little cabinet that I removed and did not replace. Not particularly attractive either.

AFTER!!

Now called the "Lotus" bathroom. I kept the flooring, white pedestal sink and white toilet. I also kept the gold and black faucet, a truly wonderful design. I also kept the gold towel bar and ring. Ta-daa!

It's now a little jewel box! I installed a new mirror and new Jonathan Adler bamboo inspired sconces. 

I had the ceiling "de-popcorned" and painted a metallic gold. I also installed much larger artwork tying in the black. Incidentally, the wallpaper is called Lotus, and as I was about to have the artwork installed, I noticed on the back it was called Lotus too! How serendipitous!

The rug is a wool/silk blend that is a strike off or sample for a much larger rug. I love using these for bathrooms, powder rooms, etc. I have them all over my house. The quality and richness is amazing and truly elevates the status of a bathroom. Often, higher quality rug places will have these for sale for almost nothing! The shade is a simple gold colored pleated shade in the top down/bottom up style since this bathroom faces the front of the house. It still lets in plenty of light, which is probably why it's hard to even notice in the down position here.

Since there's no storage with a pedestal sink, and this bathroom is larger than your typical powder room, I got this cute little cabinet for TP and extra towel storage (contemplating switching out the towels to a darker color...hmmm...thoughts?).

Well, what do you think? Success? I know I'm super excited with the outcome!

Later!! Susan

Study Spaces

So here we are...taking my son to his 2nd year of college...already!!. A good friend of mine told me the college years went faster than the high school years, and she wasn't kidding!! For those of you in the midst of the same, or even if you are preparing your school age child's home space for studying, below are a few wonderful examples of work and study spaces for every style. Check it out!

This would be my favorite spot, feeling the heat of the sun rays coming through the window, hot tea, my favorite design mag...and wait, yawn, I think I'm ready to nap...

How about rough and ready? A little industrial style for a more rugged look.

You can never, ever go wrong with the extremely affordable Ikea Expedit system for storage. Loads of desk space doesn't hurt either!

A little old world flavor perhaps? Sometimes all we need is a cozy chair, light and a throw.

Need a little bit more room than a chair? A sofa with a large coffee table works wonders for studying! Love the world map mural!

Isn't this a clever nook with a bit of both worlds? Desk and lounge spaces in one!

I'm really in love with this one. A bit more open than a closet yet it still has the flavor of it's own little reading nook, and the architectural accent above to give it true savoir faire!

I've seen this pic before and it has always been one of my faves. Super cozy and inviting! However, in my house, it would be inhabitable due to total cat takeover and layers of cat fur!

If your child really likes feeling cozy, even a single door closet can become a personal study space!

Good luck to all students this coming year!!!

Toodles! Susan

All images via Pinterest or Houzz.

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***

Island Project

Hi,

I know I have been so delinquent in blog posts this summer...it's been very busy in the design biz so that's a good thing, huh? I keep telling myself just do a quick little blurb with one pic just to keep it going, but sometimes that's just not enough of an incentive.  However, I'm not giving up on that idea yet!!

Here are some pics of a fabulous project I am currently working on. So far, we have the custom 108" long ( yep it's a biggie!) Caperton sofa with F. Schumacher burnt orange velvet installed, and the Bernhardt cocktail and side tables. Both tables are new pieces for Bernhardt and I love them. Need I say so did my clients' grandkids, as the first thing they did was crawl back and forth through the large hole! Stay tuned for more -- lots to come!!

Toodles!!!!!!

Susan

A Contemporary, Colorful Living Room

Hello my fabulous blog followers!

Below are pics of a living room I recently completed. It is in the same house as the kitchen from my last post. The final piece for this living room took awhile. It was finding just the right table for the corner in between the two purple sofas. With those high arms on the sofas, we knew the table had to be fairly high for function, but if it was the same height as the arms, it would look awkward...happy balance time! We also really wanted a pop of copper on top (say that 5 times fast :) to tie in the chairs and complement the purple sofas. I really like the Asian art and the Asian feel of the table lamp. Both of those features soften or take the edge off of the contemporary lines and add more visual depth. Enjoy!

 Keeping everything very geometric for a contemporary feel...also the nature of the architecture of the house.

 I love the windows in this house! Beautiful dichroic glass art on the coffee table by Designs by Shoshana. 

Looking into the dining room...tying the rooms together with red.

Off set wall hung shelves provide a nice place for art, family pics, and mementos.

Later, Susan