Every Room Needs a Touch of Black

I feel like there is no better accent color than black. There are many interior designers who disagree with me, like Tom Sheerer, who says "every room needs a touch of Red." (I agree with that a lot of the time too, but we will get to that later.) I like black for it's focus, depth and elegance. It could be a piece of furniture, fabric or accessory, ( and did I mention black walls?) It is my opinion that few people outside of professional decorators and designers really like to use black. Most people associate black with 70's and 80's cheesy bachelor's pads. I hope I can show you a few examples that will change your mind.

Here are 2 rooms with chandeliers and shelves. In the first room designed by David Kaihoi, he uses black shades on the chandelier and a glossy black built in bookcase. clearly the white crystal chandelier would have been lost against the white ceiling, but the black shades draw your eye up, and add that dressy contrast that black does so well. The black bookcases also ground the entire room. There is a lot going on in this room with objects and color and the black really feels serious and gives the space some "weight".

photo: housebeautiful.com

photo: apartmenttherapy.com

 This room is primarily all white. White walls, white bedding, white curtains, white crystal chandelier. this room could have ended up looking totally bland, but the touch of black in the accents actually makes the white stand out, doesn't it?  The curtain rods, shelves and details on the chandelier are just enough detail to bring this space to life, and it didn't take much.

 This Red library by Alessandra Branca is incredibly warm with a lot of rich browns in the shelving, intricate wooden chair and sofa with LONG fringe. The Zebra carpet adds that tiny touch of black giving the floor weight, interest and global appeal. Many people would argue black  and brown don't work together, but this room definitely proves that theory wrong, and I am not a huge zebra print fan (although I LOVE this room).

 

photo: windsorsmith

 Windsor Smith uses a touch of black in an extremely glamorous bathroom to really add definition. Like the outlines on a cartoon character, the black stone outlines the room to striking effect. Oh, and there's that zebra carpet again!

Finally, this bathroom uses more than a touch of black. With black walls, black floor to ceiling curtains and windows, black is really the constant that makes the yellow chair, white tub and green floor really pop! Creating that cohesive background really creates some drama, but this look definitely isn't for everybody. Anyone out there ready for an all black bathroom?

Next time you are looking to add a little focus, drama or elegance to your home consider adding something black. It could be as simple as changing your beige lampshades out for black ones. Or repainting your floor and window molding, or fireplace surround a glossy black. Regardless of what style your home is, modern, traditional or shabby chic- black could be your new BFF!

Oh! Don't Do That! What NOT to do When Decorating

I usually take the "what to do approach" in everything I do.  Focus on the positive, let the negative quietly slip away.  But today, let's have a little fun, and talk about the funny things NOT TO DO when decorating.

1.  Don't Paint Every Room in Your Home a Loud, Bright Color

photo:yteng-mnmlife.blogspot.com

Painting every room a bright, "fun" color became popular with diy home decorating television.  Everyone wanted to decorate their homes like they saw on TV.  I am not against bold color in the home.  For so many people bright color energizes them!  Don't be afraid of color.  I think what ends up happening though is that amateur decorators get carried away trying to include every color they love into their homes.  They love green, so their bedroom gets a coat of bright grass green!  And what goes better with grass than a bright blue sky, so the trim or hall way is sky blue.  Then, they saw an elegant red dining room, and they paint that next.  You can see that this is already a mess, but many people fall into this trap.  Once you've started, it can be hard to stop!  Bathroom: Pink!  Livingroom: Golden Yellow!  Yikes! 

Okay, there are some easy rules to follow, for anyone wanting to add color to their homes
-Use different values of the same color (darker in some rooms, lighter in others)
-Make sure all of the paint colors throughout the house look good together (Even if the rooms aren't next to each other)
-Use one neutral paint color throughout the entire house, and pop in your bright shades with accents like pillows etc.
-Pick grayed-down versions of colors you love (less shocking, more sophisticated)

Several years ago when I was shopping for a "Fixer Uper" I went into houses that needed a lot of TLC.  Many of these houses had the "Every Room a Different Color" Syndrome!  If I was afraid of catching it, that experience cured me for good!

2.  Don't Display Every Tchotchke You (or your grandma) Ever Collected

photo:google images

If there was one "Don't" I am guilty of, this is it.  I do love stuff!  I like collecting, and styling tables, bookshelves, countertops... I have friends with homes that are very minimal, and I really admire that.  I have a few things I like to keep on display:  Chinese Blue and White Porcelain, Glass Bottles, Baskets, Books.  Aughhh!!  I am the first to admit all of this stuff looks like Clutter!!  Maybe this is pretty clutter, but too much stuff for your space looks cramped and disorganized.

There is help out there (even for me):
-Focus on 1 or 2 small collections
-Make sure the amount of "stuff" you have is in proportion to the size of your living space
-Keep only what is functional and you really use, Edit, Edit, Edit!


photo: google images

 





A beautiful, organized, spare home is so much more wonderful to enjoy spending time in, than being surrounded by "junk".  I know I don't want to end up living is a space like this:


photo:cnn.com

3. Don't Create "Theme" Rooms

photo:lindapaul.com

You just got back from a fabulous trip to Italy.  Italian Kitchen!  Grapes, faux columns, Chianti bottles... Don't do that!  Or you love the islands and the beach.  Everyone knows this one.  Shells, shells and more shells, grass skirts, palm trees, hibiscus print.  It seems that whenever anyone comes back from a vacation, they want to recreate that place somewhere in their home.  I'm all for using a trip as inspiration, just not so literally. 

photo:themerooms.blogspot.com

I know rooms like this are really popular among the diy-ers and I in no way want to inhibit your creativity.  You can definitely have your Italian or beach inspired room, while still keeping it elegant and sophisticated.  You will be reminded of your great vacation, without it screaming "I just got back from Italy (or the beach, or Japan or whatever)!

-Use the colors of a place rather than iconic imagery to design your room
-Go as authentic as you can.  In Italy and the Islands, all of the materials are pure, nothing faux
-Try to replicate the relaxed feeling you had on vacation rather than "painting a picture" of a place

There are more "Don'ts" that I could include, obviously.  But really this is only for fun.  And that is what decorating your home should be: Fun!  Your interiors shouldn't be taken too seriously, it's all just stuff.  But that being said, the space you live in can enhance your life in so many ways when it is a place you enjoy!

Are you ready to create the space of your dreams?  Log on to http://www.designtheroomyoulove.com and enter your email address.  You will receive tips, tools and trainings directly from me, showing you step by step how to Design the Room You Love!

SR
    

Windsor Smith: Blending Glamorous Style with the Romance of History

 



photo:housebeautiful.com

Her style seems to be English Drawing Room and L.A. Glam.  Like so many amazing Interior Designers, her own home is a sight to behold.

Windsor Smith is a lover of treasures, traditions and architecture of the past, she has expanded from collector to one of the leading talents in the interior design and restoration of some of the finest estates in Brentwood, Bel Air and Beverly Hills.



 

 

Here, the ever glamorous Smith poses welcomingly at the chic font doors of her home.  Notice the details like bronze escutcheons on the corners and glossy midnight hued paint.  Chic, glamorous and with an elegant European aire. 

 

photo:housebeautiful.com

 

 

Past the front doors, you enter this Edwardian

Foyer.  Smith herself calls this her David Adler Foyer.

 

 

-Graphic marble and Limestone floor

-Silk Upolstered entry settee

-Zinc shelves with X detail

-Ferns

-Vintage Venetian Lantern,Venetian mirror, and mercury globe add miles of sparkle 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It's elegant, refined and glamorous for sure.



 

photo:housebeautiful.com

 My absolute favorite part of Windsor Smith's home is her Kitchen.  I can't even just call it my favorite- I am Obsessed!  My copy of House Beautiful, which features her home, has been looked through obsessively for many years.  Again, so much sparkle and understated glamour. 
-White, Slipcovered Wing Chairs
-2 Professional Thermador Stoves
-Dining table in the Kitchen
-Black Drum Shades
-French Doors and Windows
-Shelves filled with Hotel Silver
-Hexagonal Thasos Marble Tile

photo:housebeautiful.com

 

photo:lauraburciaga.com

I love the combination of Industrial resturant-style kitchen with Elegant English Library.   If you look at Windsor Smith's work, you can see that she successfully pulls off this kitchen look again and again.

photo:delavenne.blogspot.com

photo:lauraburciaga.com

 

Does anyone see the consistencies within her look?  There are the dining table in the kitchen, slipcovered wing chairs, marble, graphic floors, dark glossy paint and french doors.... 

photo:maileplusposh.blogspot.com

 



Here is a vingette from her bathroom.  Glamorous, elegant, European.  I feel like a broken record, but Windsor Smith's rooms are not. While her style is consistent, I never get tired of looking at it.  Love the orange from the vintage fashion photograph repeated in the hermes boxes and even in the cashmere blanket draped on the (Italian?) chair through the doorway.  
As Ilearned from her website, "Windsor loves creating timeless homes for her clients who share her love for classic detail... crown moldings, wainscotings, and cabinets that are crafted more like furniture. She uses old bricks with "weepy" mortar to surround fireplaces and creates clerestories to splash light into ordinary hallways. She once showed up at the glassmaker to ensure that the leaded windows on one of her projects "wobbled" as they would have in the past. "It is rumored that I come in at night and engrave my initials on every nail head of my projects. But it's not true: I am up thumbing through out-of-print architecture books or reading about our legendary women of style... Elsie De Wolfe, Slim Keith, Babe Paley... I draw inspiration from the armchairs they are reclining on, in their country homes. My eye travels to the crystal girandoles on the mantel they are leaning against, or the moss-covered garden statuary their horse is riding past." said Smith.


photo:livelikeyoublog.com

photo:housebeautiful

She fearlessly uses black walls and even black upolstery, which we all know I love!  I would paint an entire house black if  I could find someone to let me!  And I LOVE the blue ping pong table, it is a graphic note in an elegant black room, which is directly off the Edwardian Foyer. 

"I like to create libraries where men with names like Howard, Bing and Spencer sat in cashmere sweaters and contemplated the 13th hole on the Bel Air golf course. I am drawn to a simple but elegant time when the women were so legendary that surnames weren't necessary.... Slim, Babe, Coco...", Smith says as she twists a sterling pen on the palest aqua velvet ribbon that once belonged to the Duchess of Windsor. "I'm so fortunate. Imagine... a career that beckons me to blend architecture and style with the romance of history.... I can't think of anything more delicious."

Are you inspired by the rooms of Windsor Smith, and want to figure out how you can recreate her look in your own home?  Go to http://www.designtheroomyoulove.com to begin learning to create the home of your dreams on any budget.

European Colonial Meets California Ease

 



photo:housebeautiful.com

Described as a mix of English, Far East and French, Interior Designer Dan Marty's style has significantly influenced my personal style.  He may very well be my favorite designer, which is quite something, considering I love so many people's work.  This first group of photos are from his apartment in Villa D'este in Los Angeles, an Italian Renaissance building built in the 1920's.  The amazing architecture doesn't hurt, but I love the casual collected look of it all.  It seems so approachable, and it feels possible to actually live a wonderful, full life in a home like this.  A few of his signatures seem to be: ginger jars, woven texture, natural linen, grain sack, wicker, red white and blue in a worn, casual, french way, union jack, black furniture, collections, antlers, the lived in look, a comfortable, easy lifestyle story.   He describes it as what "started out with a British     
Colonial feel, but I also mix in a French Indochine look."


photo:carriesdesignmusings.blogspot.com

photo:finderskeepersinc.blogspot.com

photo:finderskeepersinc.blogspot.com

photo:aliciabdesigns.blogspot.com



 

Dan Marty's Design Shop is Maison au Naturel on La Cienega Blvd. in Los Angeles. 

photo:stylebeat.blogspot.com

  A problem came up when I started looking at photos for this blog post.  I loved everything I saw.  I couldn't choose!  Dan Marty's rooms are so amazing, I truly want them for my own.  The pictures of his store are something else.  

photo:finderskeepersinc.blogspot.com

  I love the "steampunkian" collected feel, like you could make a mess, and it would still look amazing.  I also love that some of the pieces are distressed, it feels accessible that way.



photo:finderskeepersinc.blogspot.com

photo:finderskeepersinc.blogspot.com

His look is definitely on the masculine side, perhaps the men's version of "Shabby Chic"?  For all of you wives out there that I talk to, that love Restoration Hardware and Shabby Chic, and can't figure out how to get your Husbands on board, show them some pictures of Dan Marty's rooms.  You two will be in agreement in no time!

I have learned over the years that I can't successfully live in a home that can't take a little clutter.  I can appreciate the minimalist look, but find it really hard to maintain in real life.  You can imagine a jumbled pile of bills in a wicker basket on one of Dan Marty's tables, and it only adds more life to a gorgeous room!

This is a carefully curated look, however.  Everything seems to blend so well and nothing looks out of place.  His color palette is very consistent, and there is a sincerity to all of the materials he chooses.  Natural materials, and natural colors.  Even his reds, blues, and hints of yellow, are washed out and casual.  There also seems to be very little use of secondary colors: green, purple and orange.  This is where Dan Marty's minimalism lies- in his selection of color and material, everyting is incredibly timeless.  These rooms will never look outdated!

So, for anyone reading this, if you ever find yourself in my home one day, you can say, "This looks so much like one of Dan Marty's rooms.  Have you heard of him?"  That will absolutely make my day.

Do you love Dan Marty's rooms, but can't figure out how to recreate this look in your own home?  Are you ready to take the next step in creating the home of your dreams?
Visit http://www.designtheroomyoulove.com, enter your email address on the site, and I will send you free video trainings on how you can design your spaces just like professional designers do!  My How-To book coming soon!

Are You Eclectic?



photo:trendzona.com

Do you love things from different styles and eras?  Do you have treasures from your grandmother that you don't want to get rid of, and can't figure out how to coordinate with your love of a midcentury modern look?  Do you love a collected, layered interior?  If any of these are true of you, You might just be Eclectic. 

For so many people starting to decorate the rooms of their homes, they get bogged down by the idea that they have to follow a strict theme.  Like modern, or contemporary or farmhouse, or...whatever.  This can be hard for those of us who are just starting out, because we want to come home to rooms we love, but our budget doesn't allow us to buy all of our dream pieces.  Everyone has that random piece of furniture or art that they love, but are afraid will clash with everthing else we have and look like they just stuck it in their living room after picking it up at goodwill! 

photo:krystleandfelicity.tumblr.com

photo:apartmentherapy.com

There are people out there who have created rooms that look amazing, by artfully combining all of the things they love.  They can make a bunch of "junk" from a flea market look amazing, by combining it in the right way.  They take things that clash, and create a cohesive space.  While there are no hard and fast rules for eclectic design, here are some things to keep in mind to achieve a successful result. 

Choose pieces with personality

One of a kind finds
One or two bold, interesting pieces can make the whole room.

photo:fleamarketinsiders.52ndwest.com

 





















Clean and Contemporary or Vintage and Collected?

photo:inthralld.com

photo:rileysittema.blogspot.com

Collections add a lot to the look

Frames
Books
China

Dogs?
Alphabet letters also seem to be a very popular collection.

photo:modern-vintage-clothing.blogspot.com

photo:dersignsponge.com

Distressed



photo:countryliving.com






















Something pretty can serve a new purpose

photo:afewprettythings.com

photo:afewprettythings.com

Combine flea market finds with new pieces.

photo:rileysittema.blogspot.com

photo:apartmentherapy.com



Mix don't Match

Layering pattern and texture.  This goes for furniture finishes and styles, as well.



photo:rileysitema.blogspot.com

photo:homeklondike.com

You ready to Design the Room You Love?  Learn everything You need with the Designtheroomyoulove.com system. A home that you love to come home  to, could virtually improve your whole life!

Dark Walls? Instantly Chic!



Interior Designers know that paint is one of the easiest ways to create instant impact in a room.  They also know that darker, deeper colors give a lot of look, for very little effort.  Trouble is, when people decorate their own homes, they are often too timid and safe in choosing their paint colors.


photo:plabcity.co.uk

There are commonly accepted misconceptions about dark walls.  That it will make the room look smaller.  That nothing will look good with them.  That they are...depressing.  Too dark...Ugly.  Do you realize that many of the rooms you love in magazines, decorated by professional interior designers, have darker walls that expand the room, make all of the furniture and fabrics look amazing, are cool or cozy, inviting, and...beautiful!

photo:nycinteriordesign.com



photo:housedecoratingidea.com

 Here are two livingrooms of very different styles, but equally successful.  Both are painted in very dark gray or black.  White glows, leather looks rich and the texture is highlighted, and the woodwork in black looks traditional and fresh at the same time.


photo:designsponge.com

 













When people are decorating their own home, they choose light neutrals thinking they will make their rooms look elegant and professionally decorated.  This often leaves their rooms looking bland and safe, and sometimes unfinnished.  Taupe, tan, cream, and other pale colors can be beautiful (stay tuned for a post on how to make the most of these colors!), but if you want drama, and that WOW factor in your rooms, consider colors that are a shade or two (or many) darker than your comfort zone.  The results are virtually guaranteed to instantly make your room something you love, even if the wall color is all you change.





photo:interiordesignstyles.com

Dark walls in a traditional setting look sophisticated and enveloping, while letting the table and art take center stage.




photo:housebeautiful.com

photo:minimaltrends.com



Two livingrooms done in a deep purple.  Both have a glam sensibility, one with a more eclectic feel and the other more contemporary.  What would these rooms look like with white or taupe walls?  The dark paint gives the rooms focus and a point of view.  Pretty good for the cost of a can of paint!

photo:housebeautiful.com

photo:iseecubed.com


Bedrooms are a great room to start using darker colors because they are generally not the "public" rooms of a home.  The room on the left was designed by Mary McDonald, known for bold and glamorous looks.  You may have seen her on Bravo TV's Million Dollar Decorator!  The green bedroom was designed by Miles Redd, who uses color and pattern to amazing effect.  If you are looking for inspiration in bringing bold color into your home, these two masters' work are great for reference.



photo:carpettheworld.org

Any color kicked up a few notches can look fantastic.  Orange definitely isn't for everyone, but it is one of  my favorites.  I love how the deeper color really makes all of the bold patterns cohesive.  In a room that had timid walls, all these bold statements might look cluttered and confusing.  The bold walls say " this was meant to look this way!"

photo:.ur-homeinteriors.blogspot.com

And don't forget the bathroom.  This black high gloss bathroom looks so chic!  Anywhere in your home that you want to make a statement, dark walls may just be your jumping off point! 

Looking for a system to put it all into place?  http://www.designtheroomyoulove.com has all the tools you need to design the rooms of your dreams!  If you are ready to create a space you love coming home to, take the next step!  Log onto the website, enter your email, and you too, can learn to Design the Room You Love!