Hello Again

It’s been a while.  I’m sorry.

I’ve been distracted by, I’ll admit it, Instagram.  It’s so narcissistic and a bit voyeuresque… but for a kid with a little ADD, it’s great.  I still troll design sites, blogs, retailers, vendors, and manufacturers of blog worthy design.  I have a desktop full of images I had intended to say something about over the course of time I have been neglecting this blog.  So here is a deposit of chic white rooms, with black and natural wood tones dominating the aesthetic.

I do love a clean and serene environment but damn if I don’t fill up every table top with birds nests, twigs, stones form trips to beautiful beaches and do-dads I pick up along the way.  These rooms for the most part have a un-designed design to them, intentionally “thrown together” creating an environment that is comfortable, feels organic, and is beautiful to experience.

 I should mention two things: There is not really anything new about black and white in design with the exception that it seems to go along with the quirky anti-design design and feels current and clean and edgy.  2. Black and White was the strongest trend to come out of High Point ( the furniture and lighting and home show in North Carolina).

The rooms shown here are curated, found objects, collections… each item chosen for it’s color, texture, shape value and  visual weight.  A balanced room dosen’t feel like a museum, or shed for that matter.  Don’t over do the amount you decide to display or live with.  Less is typically more (unless however, the pieces used in the simpleset of vingettes must be of stellar quality beauty and form.  Put your best feet forward kids!

A Parisian Time Capsule – Borrowed Blog

    

This “discovery” isn’t so new anymore and  has apparently been passed around from Facebook, to Apartment Therapy to soulpancake as well as most recently Messynessychic.com  I just saw it for the first time the other day so I thought I’d pass it on to you…hope you enjoy it as much as I did…

 A Parisian apartment left untouched for over 70 years was discovered in the quartier of Pigalle a few summers ago and I’ve been meaning to share the pictures with you. Time to unlock the vault …

The owner of this apartment, Mrs. De Florian left Paris just before the rumblings of World War II broke out in Europe. She closed up her shutters and left for the South of France, never to return to the city again. Seven decades later she passed away at the age of 91. It was only when her heirs enlisted professionals to make an inventory of the Parisian apartment she left behind, that this time capsule was finally unlocked.

The team that had the honor of opening what must have been a very stiff old lock for the first time in 70 years, likened the experience to ‘stumbling into the castle of sleeping beauty’. The smell of dust, the cobwebs, the silence, was overwhelming; a once in a lifetime experience.

There is a further twist to the story. In the apartment a painting of familiar style was discovered of a beautiful woman in pink. One of the inventory team members suspected this might be a very important piece of treasure. Along with the painting, they also found stacks of old love letters tied with colored ribbon.

With some expert historical opinion, the ribbon-bound love letters were quickly recognized as the calling card of none other than Giovanni Boldini, one of Paris’ most important painters of the Belle Époque. The painting was his. The beautiful woman pictured in the painting was Mrs. de Florian’s grand-mother, Marthe de Florian, a beautiful French actress and socialite of the Belle Époque. She was Boldini’s muse. And, despite him being a married man, she was also his lover. The art world went a bit nutty for the whole story and the painting was later sold for $3 million at auction.

What I find so intriguing about this story is not so much the discovered painting and the revelation of a love affair between a great Italian painter and the beautiful actress in an enchanting era, but more the story of Mrs. de Florian and why she stayed away from Paris for so long.

What kept her away even after the war? Was she running away from someone or something other than the Nazis? For all those decades, her rent on the elegant apartment in a flourishing city had been faithfully paid, but it was left to freeze in time. It all sounds like the perfect mystery…

A Well Dressed Room

A sofa, chair, table, rug and lamp really isn’t all that different from a jacket, shirt, tie, pants and shoes.  Designers are constantly referencing lighting as jewelry in the room, and that’s because it quite literally IS the jewelry of the room.  Small accents in metal, glass, stone, mirror, ceramic and the like serve a similar purpose to jewelry.  Sure they provide light but they also add a sparkle, a layer of something small and pretty. Paired with a large swath of fabric (sofa or sweater) the two create a beautiful relationship and complement one another.
Much like wearing a suit (pants, jacket, vest),  a room can be furnished with matching sofa chairs and ottoman.  The look is clean and polished, simple maybe… but done in leather, cashmere or linen the vibe can be tweaked to become something extraordinary.  Rooms can also be a lot like a pair of jeans and an old favorite sweater.  A slip-covered sofa in a hard-working twill and a cozy wool  blanket only needs a fireplace, a good view or a reading light and a book to make it complete.  Whats the point? When you’re furnishing a room, think about getting dressed. Start with how you want the room to look or feel – if you were getting dressed you’d be thinking about the weather, the occasion and of course whats clean – So you should start with whats right for this room, apartment, home. Decide on a palette or a vibe and maybe pick an inspiration piece to guide your decision-making – like a pair of shoes you just have to wear! Your room will need underwear, a good foundation aka. paint and flooring. You’ll need the basics… Rug, sofa or bed, tables or dressers, a chair perhaps (and if we were really getting dressed, a belt, watch, shoes and sox, jewelry, tie pocket square and maybe even a hat and coat!) this means lights, pillows, books, art and of course accessories. Each layer is important and will help give your space a finished quality. Attention to detail is key, you’d iron your shirt right?

Caramel & Cream

I should warn you… I’m dieting, hence the title  I’ll try and keep food references to a minimum.  What I did for today’s blog was just go through some unused pictures on my desktop looking for a common theme.  It’s no surprise that I’m a major fan of whites, off whites and creams all used together.  Well is seems I really like a dash of caramel mixed in with my whites.  

Even though it is a “neutral” I like to use caramel as well as tan, camel, light brown, and other warm mid-tones as I would a color.  In a white room with tonal upholstery, those rich warm colors can be the accent or the “punctuation” in a space.  But there is more than just a strong color story here.  The furnishings are transitional to modern – in a mid-century meets 70′s bohemian mixed with Scandinavian leanings type thing.  The look is decidedly masculine, yet appropriate for either sex.  I love the simple and clean look of these spaces with the extra dash of exuberance in the layer of found/collected/layered accessories.

Art has a great way of really taking center stage in rooms like this.  If you think you’re going to try for this type of vibe I suggest you pay strong attention to the walls.  If you can’t afford statement pieces, found and collected groupings of interesting small pieces will work, but you can’t put multiple groupings on every available wall, so plan ahead!  I’m a sucker for a four-post bed, but in white in a white room with the warmth of the wood floor and doors, perfection!  The softness of the drapery header, the easy matelasse coverlets and the simple bedding are classic, simple and just perfect.  The hide rug really sums up the prefect color palette white and tan dash of black… the percentages of colors is right on.

You can knock it out of the park with this color palette in the kitchen too.  I’ve helped many clients create kitchen palettes with cabinets in both whites or creams mixed with a yummy pecan, fruitwood or other warm stained mix.  They are the perfect compliment and reinforce the “furniture” feeling in some kitchen design that is still so popular today.  The mix works with traditional, country, as well as shaker, contemporary and modern.  I love the open and random boxes used in this kitchen.  Found object meets function for a look that is easy, not too precious and fun to be in.  I WILL USE THIS IDEA in my beach house.
I’m mixing in this shot because I love the room and because It proves that this “look” can work with any style.  The glam of the gold mirror and sconces and the deeper tones of the wood pieces suit the white and camel upholstery and elevate the textures in the space to becoming the pattern.  A room with no pattern is not as easy to produce as it sounds.  Texture becomes very important… the crown moulding, the basket, the books, that great mirror! even the legs of the stool all become the details your eyes see.and just because I love the feeling of these images…

They all seem to suit the idea or vibe of the spaces I’ve highlighted today.  

Ralph Lauren for Visual Comfort

I think I’m a modern-kinda-guy but sometimes I find comfort in tradition.  The designers over at Ralph Lauren know how to put out the classics but give them a twist…  Like the collection for Visual Comfort.  These table lamps are a small sampling of the brass, glass, ceramic, nickel  and other great materials that are employed in the traditional yet up-dated collection.  These lights are easy to place, work into may different looks and have a high-end quality look to them.
I have a great client (who I have a small crush on) up in Newton, MA and this look will be perfect for her.  We are reusing some blue and white buffalo plaid silk drapes from her previous home and I’m thinking that these lamps will layer up the look nicely with a camel sofa and perhaps a pair of chairs in cream.  We have a small pair of occasional chairs to recover too, I think those would look great in a leopard but that might be too wild for her.  Stay tuned for up-dates on that project. This zebra lamp would look best in a room filled with cream-colored upholstery and dark wood floors.  I like the idea of making this lamp one of the only patterns in the room vs mixing it with color and pattern… That might just be a tad OTT (over the top) for yours truly.  Maybe the space could support a modern wickerish coffee table and a leather chair, but this with too much else is just too much.  Bottom line: careful how you use this light.I prefer Navy and Chocolate as my dark tones in color palettes.  Navy mixes with so much, it looks good with almost every other color AND it plays well with other blues & blues are notorious for not  being easy to mix.  Soft wall colors or a white room would benefit from the visual strength of this solid blue lamp.  And, if you’re feeling more than a bit wild perhaps a leopard based lamp will feel right at home at your house.  

White on White on White

White on white (on white) to me is like a little slice of heaven – and heaven looks a lot like a slice of cake to me.  I have a young couple I’m working with right now and we were discussing the direction for a pair of guest rooms in their summer-house, colors, etc. I suggested white and surprisingly they agreed.  Now I know that doesn’t sound like a milestone or a “stretch” by any means but when a person asks a decorator what color to paint, trust me they don’t expect to hear white (in this case Simply White by Ben Moore).  They want to hear about the latest and greatest, the trendy color, the color that going to make them look the thinnest or most tanned or the color that will work with EVERYTHING.  Frankly, you can not go wrong with white.  its timeless, classic, traditional, modern, neutral and given the day, hour and whether it’s cool, warm and everything in between.

I can not wait to fill these guest rooms with old dressers painted white and family beds white or maple or what have you.  Lay down a seagrass rug hang a few do-dads and a big mirror and call it a day.  Easy, chic, beachy – did I mention this project is on the water? – and a room that anyone would feel comfortable in.  You could ask your mother-in-law to use a space like this, let your teenaged niece crash with friend in it or treat your best friend for some landlocked state to escape to the ocean for a long weekend in a room like this:  Neutral is something everyone can love… including those who “live for color”.  Think about it what stands out in a room full of white? The person standing in it ( dripping in color and pattern )!

 

A bit of shiny never hurts a space this neutral…I think I will spec a few mercury glass bedside lamps for one of the two bedrooms.  And skip the seashell prints and cutesy  light house lamps… If your going to go coastal, use one big statement piece like this shell mirror.  Mixed with a few traditional pieces like a tiger maple bed or a chest on chest the whole thing comes together in a refined, luxe sort of way. If you paint your space all white, yes… you eventually have to put something in it… I don’t care how pretty the mouldings are!

 

 

ISLAND LIFE

The Islands of Nantucket & Martha’s Vineyard might be going into hibernation right about now but the projects with completion dates for mid to late spring are amping up bit time.  I will be heading to each island several times this winter to review construction and do a walk-through on lighting, floor plans, and paint selections on several projects.  There is a “look” on the islands.  Folks all seem to want their own personal take on interiors but there is a vernacular that seems to guide and inform many homeowners.  Because the building codes and rules about style, color, shingle etc are so rigid, perhaps many are used to following the “rules”…  But, I would describe the force as the “look” people want because it is the island loo.   People are drawn to the islands for the “look” and don’t necessarily need to recreate the mold when they are building their own dream home.

This would be closer to my version of the “look”.. updated an a bit more playful.  The animal patterns are fun and the boldness of the patterns wake-up the otherwise somber room.

This one too!  Fresh and crisp, rustic with a bit of modern form and bold color… the island “look” only fresher.

And, just incase you’re wondering… yes, there is an island “look” when it comes to dressing.  Vera, Tory, Lilly… Oh My!  yes those three ladies seem to be dressing everyone on the islands.  There are a few Bohemians that prefer long skirts and long necklaces in earth tones, but for the most part, the code is bold, pink, patterned and really, really top drawer!

PAINT IT

I’m not much for faux finishes, but I have been known to use decorative paint in my work.  I’m typically trying to add architectural interest where there is none when I employ decorative paint, or to add color in a room where I don’t want the color to be the focal point and sometimes I’m “adding visually” to a room where I’m limited by budget and by that I mean I’d rather wallpaper a back wall of a bookcase but a shot of vivid color (paint) usually does the trick.

The other night new friends hosted a dinner party at their home and before I could even ring the doorbell I was smitten with the interesting paint treatment on the glass doors to their turn-of -the-century homes vestibule (regret not taking a picture).  Dark blue mullions were “built-up” with a decorative band of robins eggs blue painted directly onto the glass,  adding dimension and visual interest from inside as well as out.  Inside the first floor foyer, the drywall between the coffers on the ceiling was painted a milk chocolate-ish deep taupe-y color that gave the room a rich and masculine feeling… a wonderful detail, well executed, and an inexpensive way to create a beautiful space.

Which finally brings me to these images.  These clever boys have painted the ceilings of their double parlor with bands of gold that highlight the crown detail and again added richness and detail to a room with just paint. Impressed? um, yeah.. I was in love.  I immediately started thinking about where in my home I could use this pretty detail.  Now on the prowl for more paint details and without  asking I took a peek into the office off the front parlor… more banding only this time it ran up the corners of the room across the baseboard and under the ornate crown.  The effect was fresh and modern and added a spin on the traditional architecture, the modern furniture is largely white, glass and chrome the dark taupe bands really popped and helped the furniture fit into the space…I’m still jealous.

Last room, didn’t really have to go but during dinner I checked out the bathroom and discovered a bold bright yellow medicine cabinet and more taupe banding, these guys got it going on.  the bathroom detail reminded me of the other rooms tying it all together and unifying the rooms.  Clearly they have good taste, and they are clever and come to find out handy…they did it all the painting themselves.

 

 

 

Masculine Modern – Inspired Room

MMMM… I love this image.  I look at it and I can imagine the rest of the house, how it’s furnished and how much I’d like to live in it.  The images that follow are not this structures interiors, but rather my interpretation of the colors, textures and feeling I’d finish this space with.  The warm wood ceilings of the first glass house would warm the exposed concrete shell and the heavy and thick walls make for a perfect juxtaposition with walls of glass.  Forrest or beach this structure wants to settle into its surroundings but split and grow from the earth like an outcropping of rocks.  

I would keep things low and clean.  Straight lines and simple forms honor the clean architecture.  Over-scaled art will make an even stronger impact with its surroundings left spare.  No patterns to distract.  Earthy colors.  The lightness of legless side tables and vanities plays well with the heavy walls.  I love a wall of subway tile.. floor to ceiling, wall to wall… Simple but textural.   Frameless glass walls in the bathrooms is an obvious choice, but interior walls of glass with curtains to provide privacy when necessary would be very cool.   I like the occasional Bauhaus piece, I imagine a sunken living room with deep built-in sofas and a giant fireplace.  Leather and linen seem to be a good fit here. 
The porthole in the showers glass echos the architecture and a built-in teak shower pan is the perfect foil to create a warm spa-like vibe in a hard, grey and cold environment.  And who doesn’t love a Saarinen table?

 

Keep It Simple

More and more the masses are embracing the style of mixed vintages, mixed styles, mixed patterns.  Anthropology meets Tony Duquette meets thrift store meets your mothers good stuff, that’s the look in most of the nesting magazines.  I love the look and it really allows for abandon and free thinking (free thinking  = unplanned shopping) and a  ”by what you love” mentality.  Streamlined and deeply edited is a harder look to pull off, there are not patterns to distract from awkward lines, colors really need to harmonize vs balance in strength and texture is king.

I feel the same way about kitchens.  Add a splashy back-splash and cabinets with bells and whistles, multi-colored drapes and ceramic chickens (ok no ceramic chickens, but cow heads are ok) and who’s looking at the color values, interesting textures, well executed design? No one.   Now mind you this is not a white kitchen post, some folks like color I can work with that.  Grey is a popular cabinet choice right now. Not yet mainstream, pickled, weathered and grey stains as well as opaque grey paints in every shade are being offered by more and more cabinet companies and custom wood workers and seeing an increase in cabinets finishes that are not white or a traditional stain.

Trust me as a decorator I know it is hard to stay on message and follow though on a single design concept, there a lot of beautiful things available in today’s home furnishing market.  I like a house to have flow, repetition in materials every now and then.  A strong color palette that varies from room to room but allows for modification in use and presentation and perhaps additional colors.  Let the people and the art shine and let the furniture take a back seat.

 

This blog post is going to be nothing but beautiful rooms.  This first one makes me especially happy.  It’s pretty and hip, current without being trendy and fresh and modern without being cold.  I am surprised by how much I like the bold sofa and pillows… the neutral chairs are a good foil to the strong color but I really like the palette and for this beige lover, that’s saying something.

An all time favorite, this room rocks for so many reasons… first, it’s giant!  Second I love symmetry… balanced but not quite a mirror image.  It’s all my favorite color… Beige.  And, AND… it’s got such a good balance of easy-funky and luxe-glam.  The lines of the furniture are classic and modern and live well together, the center table is the perfect foil for the two sitting rooms.   Love love love.

This space honors my love of all things Thomas O’Brien.  It’s dark, moody and masculine, vintage and modern; found and curated.  This is not his work, but it reflects his signature style and resonates with me.  It’s about the mix, old and new, light and dark and the play of texture.

Funny how collecting a few photographs can enlighten and educate.  This is the vibe I’m crushing on… light with hits of strong color, sharp clean lines mixed with organic textures, the play of shades, an easy mix of fancy and simple… and not a print or strong pattern in sight.  Whats your look?

THE DARK SIDE

 

For those who live on the edge of what is current or in vogue the idea of painting a room a deep dark color is nothing new.  The trend started a few years ago but is now being completely embraced by the mainstream.  People have become comfortable with creating a room full of mystery and drama even in more traditional homes and modernists love the white Eames chairs, Saarinen tables and the like against a dark back-drop.

It seems as though trim work, doorways and bookcases are also getting the treatment.  No longer is the typical white trim!  We have moved into making architectural details really stand out and make a statement by accenting them in greys, browns, blues and blacks.  Now you know me, I love an all white room (ok all white house) but I do love the idea of a dark, cool study or TV room to get away from the heat of summer or the chill of winter.  and I love the idea of the high-contrast room within a house… a surprise if you will.

A great room to try this tend in is the bedroom.  A room typically darkened by night and a place you spend the majority of your time in sleeping, a dark cozy room is like a cocoon.  I adore this tufted headboard and think the colors here are beautiful.

Dark can go totally glam, and I love it…

…and dark can go rustic.  No matter your look there is a dark that you can make work.  Coastal house? Try Navy.  Uber-traditional, try Chocolate.  Modern? Go black!  It’s really a few gallons of paint and a weekend… trust me it’s worth the risk.

 

Dark & Stormy

It’s the height of summer, and I’m thinking about Dark and Stormy.  Not the Rum and soda concoction, the graphite to black boldness that turns a neutral, tonal space into a more edgy, more urban (and it up’s the chic factor if you ask me) space.  What dark needs is lots of light around it.  That’s the key to making dark work.  Dark sofas? White walls!

It’s about the positive and negative spaces.  Dark, light, open… closed.  Love the ying/yang of this kitchen.  Check out the closed, open, closed wall cabinets around the window and the half-open half closed island… cool!  NOTE: floors, walls & ceiling = Light.

Dark sofa? Light pillows!  it’s that simple.  bring the wall color into the room via the coffee table, pillows and other upholstered items (and the rug?!).

Dark and Stomry-ish.  Here is a safe version of what adding depth to a room looks like.  The commitment is  minimal but imagine this room without the black in it… quite a different look.  Not all that dark but a statement none the less.

 

 

perfection.

This is what perfection looks like because it’s not perfect, but it is.  One great thing about this room is it feels like it happened, not as if it were planned.  There is a great balance between light and dark, delicate thin dark accents and wide swathes of whites and creams…  Dark floor grounds it all.

A new good friend told me say less, so I’m leaving it at that today…

Just met with a young client who has a wedding coming up in a year or so who has bought a beautiful waterfront lot along with a home that is in need of some up-dating.  Our first meeting went really well and we seemed to like each others ideas and the rooms are a good scale so I’m excited to begin the process with she and her fiance.  The major requests are tonal, natural, chic, comfortable, easy and no florals.  Easy enough!  It’s basically my dream home, but for her… I’m good with that at least I get to help create it.  I posted these pictures with the post because I think they all have something we could borrow for the living room in my clients house.    

Sisals will be laid, un-dyed linen covered sofas filled with down on top of wide plank floors and under a coffered ceiling.  White accents and white orchids everywhere.  I wonder if she’d go for a cowhide rug under the coffee table(s)?

There was much discussion around what patterns if any will be used.  Geometrics and trellis is ok, vine, floral, seashell motif are all out.  Can’t wait to have our next meeting, I already have a file bulging with clips and ideas.  Stay tuned for some “before pictures” I plan on taking them next time I’m there.

Naturally Beautiful

This beautiful Nantucket home was featured in Architectural Digest and spotted on Cococozy’s webpage just a few days ago.  Too pretty to not repost!  It a little bit old fashioned, but a lot stylish.  I love the mix of the old victorian style wicker and the soft neutral palette.  I think this is a great look for a baby boomer , the perfect mix of pulled together but easy living, perfect for a summer house, beach home or second home.  Walk in, exhale and relax.

 And this is what a younger version of that neutral natural tonal vibe would look like.  herringbone floors, stump side table, and slightly more modern lines throughout.  Love the double mirrors.  This for me is very Sag Harbor, hampton-esque.

Talk about easy… wide board floors, simple window treatments and a view like that are all you really need, anywhere.  As most of my readers know they have me with the split bamboo roman shades – love!

Every beautiful house decorated in neutrals needs a wow bathroom… and this one would be prefect if we were building the perfect house with images for houses all over the world.  Loving this space because the masculine strength of the dark trimmed windows and the simple lines compliment the more lyrical lines of the tub.

Here’s a modern version of the natural beautiful house.  Strong, clean lined and bold but easy on the eyes because there are no jarring colors, patterns or flashy bits… rough-hewn, natural, earthy and cool… right? Traditional, modern, young, conservative, there are thousands of ways to execute natural and neutral but it always comes up a winner.

 

Navy Blue

This blog post was going to be about Navy Blue Sofas.  The concept was going to be how they (Navy Blue Sofas) are like a good blue sport coat in that they are timeless, pair with practically everything and always look good – when in doubt, overdress. ie: wear a sport coat.  As I began pulling images I like to show you how you really can’t go wrong with navy blue all these other great images of coats, bags and curtains were all begging to be used, and as I thought about it, navy in general is the classic.  Whether it be fashion, furniture, paint, or even a car. Try to name a color that looks bad with navy, you can’t.  

I’m working with a client right now… I may have mentioned in an earlier post that we are painting her dining room navy blue – Van Deusen Blue to be exact from Ben Moore – and we could not be happier with the results!  It was a big room to start so adding this deep blue erased the walls, it’s like infinity when you’re in the space, the only thing keep you from feeling like your floating away is the white trim and white ceiling.  Pictures soon! 

Coastal Sophisticated Sectional

That’s what this look is referred to as by many, coastal sophisticated.  Why would I bring it up today you may ask, well today I’m having one of my recent projects shot by a professional photographer and the look is, well… costal sophisticated.  It’s a mix of transitional furnishings, some modern some tradtional, all in a warm earthy palette of neutrals and blues ( think sand and sky ).  To me the coastal  look embodies a casual relaxed vibe and little rustic or textural.  Color palettes can be all over the map but think sunny days and cocktails on the screened porch at sunset.

These sectional sofas have all be styled differently and they range in style… from track arm to english arm to rolled arm.  A few of these sofas have T cushions ( where the seat cushion wraps in from of the arm) others do not, but all are casual in their fabric and comfortable looking pieces.  Interesting none are skirted,  sofas (and chairs) all have exposed legs to keep the look light and fresh.

I think all of the rooms in this blog are well done and suit the coastal look quite well.  Ottomans as coffee tables seems to be a strong trend running though most of the pictures. There are few patterns, no prints or florals, wide stripes and texture are the look here.

 I have to get to the store early and pull accessories and a few extra pillows to fluff the room were shooting.   Typically clients love this day because it really is the icing on the cake day.  They get to see the room go from being done to finished, if you know what I mean.  Accessories are really what set the mood and finish a space, I like to make sure they speak to the clients and who they are but they also have to be right for the house and room.

Hopefully I’ll have a proof in the next few days to share with you all.  Thanks – as always – for stopping by and checking out BILLblog.  Have a great day!

Summer Whites ( & Summer Fireplace)

Do I really have to say anything about this room? ok, ok… I’ll admit that this look might be a bit hard to maintain from many different perspectives – lets see, like… keeping it edited to white only and keeping it clean come to mind right off the bat – but it is pretty!  I love all white but I have to admit this might be too much of a good thing… can i get a tiny bit of cream, grey or beige?  And how about a dash of silver, bronze of gold?  A tiny bit?

Ok, now that’s better.  Creams and warm whites just feel cozier, don’t they?  I’d still like a dash of sparkle, but how cool is that custom sofa in the bay window?  Maybe the bed needs a little sumthin-sumthin.  Like big Euro (26′ x 26″) pillows, the plain sleeping pillows look a little less than luxe to me.

Bam!  Here it is done right.  the chrome legs on the ottomans adds a bit of glitz, the orange wakes up the space and provides energy and the majority of color is applied to something that should get the most attention, the art!

And my favorite of the day… Warm wood and taupey tanish greys mixed with the polish of nickel or chrome finishes to really make this room work.  The mix of shades is rich and the textures really work for me.  If I was asked to tweak this room I might hand textured sheers, similar in color to the ottomans, but that’s about all I’d change.  …and I’d add art.

Last Thought: I think I’m going to do this in one if not both of my fireplaces this summer.  I will admit that I’m a tiny bit nervous about bringing in little creatures in that much wood, but I have to say I love – no I LOVE – the look.  I think of this fireplace filler as the contemporary or modern cousin to the birch log stack that has been/is still so popular for so long. So, while the mantle is a bit more traditional, this would look great in a modern space.

Natural Beauty

Undyed linen, rustic woods, sisal rugs… Yes please!  I love the easiness of this room and the balance of light, medium and dark is perfect if you ask me.  I’m not a fan of any of the light fixtures but that’s an easy change… what I love of course is the tonal palette of the space.

I must be getting old, don’t remember if I’ve posted this image before, sorry if it’s a duplicate but it reinforces my point – You don’t have to use color or pattern to create a beautiful space.  Sometimes the natural beauty of a textile, or texture in some wood or the slub of a weave can be the detail.

Simple right?  Who knew some rope in a jar could be so pretty, set the right mood and cost pennies?  Well we all do now.  I love this look.  Celebrate  simple yet beautiful items by putting them on display.