In my opinion, it takes guts to paint a wall a color like this. (Benjamin Moore’s California Breeze) and to have the room still be livable. The reason we can live with it is because it is balanced out by lots of neutrals and darks. There is plenty of white in this room. This cuts the turquoise like tonic cuts gin. The golden area rug, deeper golden leather ottoman, and rich brown velvet sofa are neutrals that pale out that big turquoise statement. The room has symmetry, and we all love that. Two large paintings on the wall, pairs of objects on the mantel, and more. But the designer has surprised us by interrupting the circle of chairs with a single red contemporary chair (the famous Egg Chair). Unexpected? Totally! Are we thrown off balance? No! One reason we are not thrown off balance by this is that the red color is repeated elsewhere. The back panels of the chairs are upholstered in a red ikat pattern and a vase of red flowers sits on the table behind the chair. This keeps the color in balance.

The pair of artichoke paintings are by Sarah Graham. I don’t know the exact size but I am guessing 42′ wide by 54″ high. Bold of scale. This designer is not afraid to go there, and it certainly creates drama. I encourage people to use larger scaled accessories than they think will work. Take what’s “appropriate” and double the size. Do this once or twice in each room and see how it makes you feel.

A front view of the brown velvet sofa with its nail heads and narrow arms, shows a display of loved appliqued fabrics. The wall color is repeated here, which enhances both the wall and the fabric. The other major bright color in the room is this lovely mango/orange. Notice the very high oversized urn behind the sofa, and the large contemporary metal sculpture on the wall to the left. The brown picks up the sofa’s color. This kind of color repetition makes us happy (I’m not joking) and is one of the reasons this room is so great.

This is a view of the other end of the room. The golden/mango fabric on the dining chairs beautifully echoes the sisal rug and throw pillows and even the honey colored floor. Of the size of the bookcase, Williams said “You’ve got to get your proportions right… I had the fireplace and the big strong botanicals, so I wanted the other end {of the room} to have the big strong bookcase.” The room itself has great bones including an extremely high ceiling which the designer wanted to show off to its greatest potential. Hence, the large scale and tall furnishings and the pale gray paint above. This next view shows us another angle of the dining table with its extraordinarily tall planters.

Pulling off an interior like this really takes confidence and vision. Extreme color. Extreme scale. And a fascinating combination of furnishings, antique and new.

Photos from House Beautiful August 2009

There is nothing so serene as a farmhouse. Especially if it is surrounded by green fields and grazing horses. And especially if it’s interiors were designed by Brussels/Antwerp based antiques dealer Axel Vervoordt. When it comes to pure timeless eclecticism, Vervoordt is a master.

Against a backdrop of neutral walls, some of which are colored by earth found on the property, furnishings and antiques have been placed sparingly and with great intention. Vervoordt’s taste “spans centuries, continents and economic strata.” ?The rustic is paired with contemporary. Antique objects from simple origins become art. This vignette pictured above is composed of a vessel vase and dog statue from China, a carved piece of stone from India, and a table which the designer created an 18th c. tabletop and his own design for the base.

An arrangement of exquisitely simple Khmer ceramics sits on top of a 17th century Italian cupboard. Through the door in the room beyond is an interesting hunk of metal. It appears to be a rusty old steel plate from some industrial use, no doubt. It makes great “art,” don’t you think?

Every view is a perfectly balanced composition. Here, for example. The graceful little Ming chair tilts to the left of our “picture.” It feels a bit unstable (in a good way). The black door frame is a stable rectangle in the center. ?The two chunky wood sculptures in the right foreground provide a solid balance against the chair. It’s fun to go around and make balanced pictures out of objects in your home. Geometric things complement round things, and they can look very beautiful together. It’s almost as if they “need” each other.

Here is another example of geometric played against curved. The table is very angular and squared off. The Ming chairs that surround it are curved like long horns. Together it’s a wonderful combination. The sandstone head and the terra cotta horse are Chinese. Speaking of sand, this whole house feels as though it has been dusted with the color. It’s a theme that repeats from room to room, creating a serene color flow.

A French stone table sits under the windows. French dining table and chairs. Spanish earthenware dishes.

Below is a photo of the upstairs living space which….surprises me. It is all white! Although it is beautiful and inviting, it needs some sort of visual reference to the downstairs rooms we have just walked through. I think I would have left the ceiling beams natural, rather than whitewashing them. The floor and door would have been better natural as well. But that’s just my opinion. Perhaps I’m a bit of a design nazi that way. What do you think?

Photos from Veranda Magazine October 2008

In my continuing exploration of artist’s living/working spaces, I stumbled upon the functional and beautiful loft space of artist John Alexander in New York’s refurbished Soho neighborhood. It’s functional because half of this city-block-deep space houses Alexander’s painting studio. It’s beautiful because Alexander and his partner Fiona Waterstreet are naturally aesthetic. Like most lofts, this space is vast. Almost a planet unto itself! The furniture is interesting because it is of normal scale and rather homey and tranditional, striking a strange contrast to the cavernous volume of space. The project designer, Lorraine Kirke understood that the place was to be kept fairly raw, simply brightened and lightened up. But it was not to look “designed.”?

Layers of Lower Manhattan’s dingy grime were scrubbed away and the paint splattered wood floors were polished. Walls were torn down to expose long vistas. Remaining walls were painted a warm white, the best backdrop for the artist’s huge expressionist paintings, as well as their collection of other artists’ works. Our eye travels through the ?high ceilinged space as it follows red and pink accents repeating and repeating in different ways. Here a vintage embroidered blanket. ?There a bold red and white stiped chair. Over there a classic mid century red kitchen stool.

The little kitchen is functional but certainly not fancy. Stainless steel appliances and chrome shelves expose the tools of living and cooking that a busy informal family enjoys.

The paint studio houses a vintage velvet sofa…….who doesn’t love a velvet sofa! I’m glad the parrots are red! Had they been green or blue and I would not be saying….”ahhh….balance.”

Their son’s room features a lovely ?collectible Empire bed and big splashes of red.

The space seems to go on forever, does it not? This round Biedermeier table’s ebony finish and dark wooden sofa legs punctuate the space, and repeat the dark tones of the artist’s canvases hanging behind. The industrial track lighting used throughout the space makes reference to other times and other occupants. Perhaps a factory. Perhaps a warehouse. These walls have lots of stories to tell, no doubt.

Here’s a glimpse of our artist, John Alexander, in the blue shirt. He purchased the loft in 1979 when Soho was just beginning to come up in the world. “It was grand and funky,” says the artist. And now it is grand and very liveable.

I am excited to show you this lovely example of visual flow (my favorite subject!) within a home designed by J. Randall Powers. In fact, I love what Powers says and will quote him right off the bat. “I’m not a red room-yellow room-green room kind of guy….I want everything to work with everything else if you ever should move. Any piece of furniture in this house could move to any other room. I also like repetition of fabrics, I like to use the same one a little bit in every room – it’s so pleasing to the eye.” Above is the stunning entry with it’s almost mirror image arrangement of consoles, planted urns, upholstered ottomans. The unique neo classic hanging lamp is available through Circa Lighting. Symmetry is so calming and stabilizing….which is a good thing.

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The breakfast room in this Houston home centers around an antique walnut table, upholstered banquette and armless chairs with button tufted backs in the same neutral pallette that carries through the whole house. The used brick backdrop fabulously brings great character to the room. Any style (from contemporary to french country) can be done against used brick. Up to the ceiling so it feels like an old stone building.

Urn shapes and other neo classic elements are repeated throughout the house, a touch here and there in each room. The continuity feels wonderful. The designer likes neo classic for its sleek masculine feel but he does not overdo it anywhere….which is another good thing.

More neutral color and neo classicism (the mirror in the window and chair below it) in the master bath. Note the symmetry in this room too. And the urns on the top shelves.

The guest bedroom wall displays a striking arrangement of smallish framed classic style architectural engravings punctuated with the three dimensional slice of column capital. The impact of this collection makes an elegant and formal statement.

The living room is inviting and unpretentious in its soft neutrals and quality fabrics. The aristocratic wood bust is one of a pair. Its match appears on a pedestal across the room.

Photos from House Beautiful August 2008

These rooms are the inspired creation of Boston designer Frank Roop (featured in Elle Decor November 2007). Sophisticated, comfortable and full of unique combinations of furniture and art. Clearly an “artist” lives here…someone who makes bold choices that don’t go too far. Just far enough. The colors speak (but they don’t shout) to each other. They call across the room. they sing from space to space. The neutrals are in the smokey gray family, and the darks are rich chocolate and deep blue. The brights, however, are an amazing and courageous choice for this chilly northeast location…. bright aqua, turquoise, chartreuse and sky blue. (this is not Key Largo, after all!) But the designer has pulled it off beautifully. Shown just below is the other end of the same room which demonstrates more of this energetic color dialog from upholstered sofa to throw pillow, glass vase to book binding as the lively colors echo and repeat.

I adore the feeling of balance I have when I look at this room. Capacious sofas are set next to an elegant spindley etagere and contemporary floor lamp. And the sofa end of the room (first photo) features a big square upholstered mass with a pair of curvey, wirey legged mid-century tables that would float off the floor if they weren’t grounded by the more dense solid pieces! The combination of heavy and light, mass and weightlessness is spot on and just perfect.

This seating area repeats the theme of square upholstered pieces combined with curved mid century (Sergio Rodrigues) chairs and further iterations of aqua and chartreuse as they echo from room to room throughout the townhouse.