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Low Key Sophistication in a Greenwich Village Flat

Posted Sep 14 2009 by in Art, Color Flow, Continuity with 0 Comments

This is an optimistic setting, is it not? The splash of salmon color on the wall really caught my attention. It is a painting by James Nares and it really has personality. But whether this painting appeals to you is not the point. I hope that you will appreciate the interior designer’s ability to tell a “story.” It’s a style story of salmon-red-orange-carmel coexisting with dark wood floors and it carries gracefully through the space. Here’s more…

The other side of the room is dominated by a nicely chosen complement to the James Nares painting. This one is a diptych by Joe Gaffney using bold color and generous amounts of white space. Although the cowhide rug (from Rug Company) stays within the color palette, its geometric pattern is strong and takes some guts to work with. Is it too much? John Barrett, well known hair stylist and owner of this Greenwich Village apartment, asked designer Joan Schindler to help him make the statement he wanted to make.?”My furnishings and my haircuts actually have something in common – they never shout.” Yes indeed, the rug has a bold pattern but… it is balanced well by lots of “negative space” in the room. Negative space is a very important balancing element of design. Not to be underestimated. We all need a space where there is nothing. The eye needs a place to rest. In this case, the negative space takes the form of plain white walls, solid fabrics and sleek tables.

I love the way the salmon color is carried in to this conversation and art nook.


The kitchen cabinets are plain and pale. The color approaches some of the carmel tones of the living room. I absolutely love this e-NOR-mous arrangement of greens. It’s huge and wild, with red berries. The assymetrical arrangement gives it a very casual feel.

The bedroom is simple and sleek. The Stafford bed from Crate & Barrel is the simplest possible design. Here’s another abstract painting by Joe Gaffney.

The seating area in the bedroom features a pod coffee table by Kelly Hoppen. Burlap pillows are thrown onto the sofa. A silkscreen by Eric Watson on the wall.

I am intrigued with this desk and assymetrical bookshelf. We are told that it was purchased at auction but I don’t know the manufacturer or even the era. My hunch is that it’s mid century modern. Any thoughts out there in reader land?

Here is John Barrett in his tiny but exquisitely designed patio.

Images courtesy of Elle Decor September 2007

Bold Energy Meets Quiet Luxury in New York

Posted Sep 9 2009 by in Accesssorizing Shelves, Art, Color Flow, Continuity with 0 Comments

Where do I start my interior design? I am often asked this question and this New York apartment gives one very good answer. If it were my apartment, I would have designed the entire space around this bold piece of art by Sean Scully. It’s possible designer Michelle Prentice had that in mind when she went about creating this place for herself. The painting has the components of a beautiful color palette. One very dark color. One very light color. Two medium colors. One bright color. If you can find that in a painting, or a patterned rug, or a piece of fabric….it’s a perfect jumping off place. The room practically designs itself.

This beautiful piece of custom designed cabinetry makes a classic statement. It’s cornice is inspired by Paladian styles, and the white paint keeps the room pale. I really appreciate the well edited choice of books and accessories displayed in the shelves. Clean and uncluttered. The exquisite barrel-back wing chairs are genuine antiques…..that is to say, one of them is. The designer found one and wanted a pair, so she had the other one made to match. Many people who are not professional designers don’t know that you can actually design your own furniture and have a skilled upholsterer make it up for you. First a frame is built out of wood, and the shapes and curves are created with webbing, foam, cotton, down and springs. This chair is graceful and sculptural with a slim profile that gives it a sort of contemporary feel. Notice how the edge of the sisal rug is cut to run around the cabinet.

I love how the corner ceramic lamp echoes the deep red of the Scully painting.

Silk draperies are used here with simple pleats that are sewn on to the rings. The classic chandelier was found in pieces in a London antiques shop, purchased and reassembled for this traditional space.

This apartment is 2,200 square feet. Not huge. Efficient use of space and storage is important. Here is the guest room with it’s built in canopy daybed. The drawers beneath the cushion hold a multitude of essentials, and a trundle bed hides behind the baseboard. The pale colors and bare floor gives this small room a very open look. ?As you will see, every room in this apartment continues the running theme of a neutral color palette and the highest quality finishes. Continuity is the key to successful interior design. While this traditional style may not be your particular cup of tea, I hope you can see how well the designer accomplished a flow of color and design from room to room.

The master bedroom is luxurious but not over done. Beiges and whites don’t have to be boring, do they? The fabrics are very high quality, but quiet. Monogrammed euro style shams on the bed are a nice touch. I don’t think I have ever seen a chair pulled up to the desk at the foot of the bed. It looks great in this photo. The walls appear to be grasscloth…a great way to incorporate texture into a neutral room.

A small sitting area occupies the other side of the bedroom. Again, we see beautiful fabrics. Neutral chenille upholstery on the sofa next to an “airy acrylic table that takes up almost no visual space.” Large contemporary painting by Sam Samone.

Photos courtesy of Decor Magazine Late Summer 2009

How to Stay Cool Using Hot Color

Posted Aug 12 2009 by in Color, Color Flow, Continuity with 0 Comments

In New Mexico, bright colors are the air you breathe, the water you drink and the clothes you wear. Close to the Mexican border and other Latin American countries, the culture is oozing with bright pinks, brilliant oranges, golds and reds. This Albuquerque home is filled with hot color. Can you take the heat?


Here is the secret to keeping bright colors livable. Remember that a little goes a very very long way. So what do we do when we have a screaming passion for intense saturated melt-in-your-mouth bright colors? And, what’s more, we want to use ALL of them…in EVERY room. The answer is, we play them off against a big big neutral background. The walls in this home are treated with a hand ground mineral plaster finish and feel very adobe-like. It is difficult to say from the photos whether they are warm beige or pale yellow but the effect is earthy. The color enters the rooms in paintings, upholstered chairs and rugs. The same rule applies even if your interior design is traditional, or even contemporary. Use bright colors in small amounts against a much larger background of neutral. Can we break that rule and get away with it??Well….sure we can. Someone with a great eye can use large amounts a intense color and make it work. I say it’s too?crazy living with all bright colors and no neutrals to cool things off. On the other hand, I love the look in restaurants, hotel lobbies and other public spaces that we pass through for a short time.

This covered outdoor dining area features a ceramic tile mosaic in the home’s color palette by Albuquerque artist Paz. The glowing green pendant lights and the distant adobe fireplace create a romantic atmosphere.

The wall color continues throughout the home, tying it together beautifully as it provides that all important canvas against which to splash brilliant reds and purples. The painting is Rio Grande and Sandia Mountain by Jeff Otis. Large ceiling beams (called vigas) are a traditional element of southwest architecture.


Brown glass tiles cover the lower wall of the master bath, and the upper portion is finished with 1″ iridescent copper colored tiles. Purple and pinks are brought into the room through the textiles. Below you see the curved front portal or entrance. Notice the giant strand of purpe beads draped over the cottonwood tree and the glazed magenta planter. The echo of color between interior and exterior is a great way to hold a design together. It can even flow into the garden. Growing flowers to match the interior color palette look beautiful through the window or arranged in vases on the table.

Design was a collaboration of the homeowner and interior designer, Bree Lovelady.

Photos from Phoenix Home & Garden August 2009

Uruguay Mountain Retreat

Posted Jul 27 2009 by in Color Flow, Mountain Retreat with 0 Comments

We can learn something from the design of this cabin in the rocky mountains of Uruguay. It is a small space created as a retreat to poetry books, birds, trees and starry nights. And the layout is a beautiful example of simplicity and flow. There is nothing “fancy ” here… not even electricity. The space is simple, functional, tasteful and so inviting. I love a limited color palette like this one because it is effortless to be around. One might say it is easy for the subconscious to understand it. Clear blues and greens are used against white walls…. and this continues throughout.

Owner and creator of this sanctuary is Argentinian chef Francis Mallmann. The beautiful antique Chinese rug collection formerly graced the floors of his own restaurant. Because each and every rug is blue and white, they make a stronger statement ?than if they had been a variety of colors.

This central shelving unit was designed as a combination dining table and display unit for the owner’s Astier de Villatte faience collection.

Lots of books! The beautiful images seem to arise out of them, bringing a spiritual energy to the room. The fireplace, framed by unembellished granite slabs, is the only source of heat in this unelectrified wood dwelling.

A lower level bedroom is carved into the rocky mountainside and becomes the coolest sanctuary on the hottest days. Says the owner “I have no electricity, internet or telephone, but I enjoy the silence. When night falls, I simply get into bed under the covers, wrapped up in my thoughts, next to the many families of woodpeckers that have made perfectly round holes in my walls for their nests.”

Photos from The World of Interiors January 2009

Designing A Stylish Interior with Orange

Posted Jul 8 2009 by in Color, Color Flow, Eclectic with 0 Comments

If clients asked me to design their interior with an orange theme, I would do it like these designers have done. Sparingly. Orange is a beautiful color, but an intense one. When you walk into a room that contains even just a little orange, that’s the color you remember when you leave that room. The lively woman in this French poster above is dressed in oranges and rusts. It packs such a big punch that little more is needed. But a little is indeed needed. ?It is important to tie the orange to something else in the room so it is not all alone. Et voila’ – the designer has repeated the color (or something close enough) in the throw pillow and the coffee table book cover.

In the adjacent study a few bright touches of orange appear. The Pierre Cardin lamp with it’s orange silk shade makes a stylish statement. It nicely complements the other contemporary ?lamp with it’s brown velvet shade. The soft orange wool throw, vase of orange flowers sitting atop an orange book and just enough orange. No more is needed.

This interior is a combination of traditional and contemporary. The architecture is remodeled Spanish style bungalow so popular in Los Angeles, California. Enormous doors imported from France connect many of the rooms, and angular streamlined geometric art adorns the wall of the hall.

Deep rich brown is the the color that grounds all the orange. In the kitchen the cabinets, brown subway tiled back splash and long narrow island table all serve to keep those rust terrazzo tiles from “floating” up off the floor.

The dining room features a graceful Kneedler-Fauchere round table, custom designed drum shaped iron chandelier, and botanical prints with a touch of orange. This house is relatively small…less than 2000 square feet. But the ceilings were raised during the remodel giving it a more gracious and spacious feeling.

An antique Gothic chandelier hangs dramatically in the master bedroom, it’s drum shape echoing the
one above the bath tub. No orange in sight here. Did the owners think it might keep them awake at night?

Here’s a photo of the terrace and gardens at dusk. I love the stone columns made from reclaimed limestone. The plantings are lush. The fountains play their music. Who would have known this was formerly a simple backyard behind a plain little bungalow?

Photos from Western Interiors & Design June/July 2007

Relaxed Opulence in Napa Valley

Posted Jul 6 2009 by in Antiques, Color Flow, Continuity, Flea Market, Scale with 0 Comments

Ahhhhh. What a sensational picture.?I can smell the lavender… and I can feel the warm sunlight bathing my skin.?This outdoor room features a single solitary piece of furniture. It’s a 10-foot-long 17th century cast iron table with a slate top. It stands alone beautifully and provides a generous amount of “negative space” around it. Using empty space in interior design is a good rule of thumb because we humans need a place to rest our eyes. This view is of St. Helena in Napa Valley, California in a home designed by architect Wayne Leong and interior designer Erin Martin.

This kitchen really got my attention. The decorative painting, done by San Francisco artist Michael Dute’, is really extraordinary. The designs swirl across the vaulted ceiling and down the walls in a large open pattern. Backsplash blue and white tiles are French but with a Moroccan flavor. The countertop is classic white Calacatta marble.


Wait. Am I in an ancient castle? The stone walls in this room create that feeling. ?But remember…we don’t have to live in an old stone house to have stone walls. We can easily apply stone to our sheetrock walls to create this effect. The over-scaled antiques from France, Spain and Italy are chosen precisely because they bring perfect balance to the massive wall stones. Blue (the favorite color) is carried from the kitchen into the dining room.

Blue appears again in the bedroom. What lovely continuity. Other than the neutrals, it seems to be the only color in the house. The hand stitched French needlepoint headboard came from a flea market and is paired with a canopy bed from Ironies. The settee from Dennis & Leen is a wonderful reproduction. Stone floors travel throughout the house enhancing that old European feeling.

The guest bedroom with it’s large French armoire also has a little Spanish writing table with it’s classic spiral turned legs and Spanish Colonial chair.

The guest bath features an antique marble double sink. Is that blue marble?

I had to show you this gigantic bee-hive pizza oven on an outdoor patio. It blends consistently with the style of the house, yes? It’s European looking with it’s rustic stone. And it’s over-scaled. “All of it shaded by native oak trees and manzanitas in the summertime – the trees that were there before time began.”

Photos from House Beautiful May 2007

Surrealist B&B in San Miguel de Allende

Posted Jul 3 2009 by in Art, Color Flow, Eclectic, Hospitality Interiors, Scale with 0 Comments

How would this fireplace look if it were breathing flames? Fascinating! This big mouthed god of sorts is the creation of internationally influenced artist Pedro Freideberg who is of German heritage but has lived in and studied in many of the world’s cultures. Hence, he has absorbed the dreams of others and has given birth to many visual fantasies of his own. The fireplace lives in Casa Diana, a bed & breakfast/gallery in the small artsy colony of San Miguel de Allende, north of Mexico City. It’s owner, Carmen Gutierrez, has created rooms around her former husband’s art and it has become a gallery of much interest.

How did they pull off this great example of eclecticism? An over-the-top ornate guilded mirror next to a cow hide upholstered loveseat . What makes the loveseat work is the fact that it’s frame is ornate…similar to the mirror. This creates a graceful transition that we always seek in interiors. The cow hide is a wild idea. Who would have thought of it?! But it works because the colors are all from the same section of the color wheel in the white-gold-brown range…another graceful transition. This is a beautiful mixture of “same and different.”

The artist is often asked to explain his repeated use of hands. Hands everywhere. What do they mean? But he does not explain this. It is his surreal visual expression. Did Picasso explain his guitars?!?! The Louvre has one of his hands and we are told that his work is followed by many a discerning collector.

The exterior of Casa Diana is “alive” with Pedro’s art. He has framed the windows in slithering snakes, and an Aztec looking mask with his signature hands has the personality of Mexican folk art.

Atop the building, a cast head of Michelangelo’s David stands watch over the town of San Miguel.

Here is another beautiful plaster fireplace in an equestrian theme. The dynamic horses are Italian Renaissance inspired. And scroll down to see some other pieces that are housed at Casa Diana. Art commentators observe Indian iconic forms and colors as well as Hebrew, Islamic and Chinese symbols in Freideberg’s work. Regardless, it is obvious that this artist knows how to use visual language for a powerful impact.


It would be quite an adventure to stay in this B&B/Gallery but we are told that there remains only one room for guests because all of the others have been crowded out by the art.

Photos from The World of Interiors March 2008

Bringing Outside Color Inside Your Home

Posted Jun 15 2009 by in Color, Color Flow, Continuity, Floral Design with 0 Comments

The color palette used inside this fabulous old farmhouse in Tuscany is borrowed from the trees, flowers and fields of the surrounding countryside. Luscious greens… Edible apricot… Sunshine yellow. This livingroom is almost monochromatic with all colors taken from the same side of the color wheel to make a dramatic statement which spills out into the hall.

The walls appear to be finished in Venetian plaster, but if they were painted a color from Benjamin Moore, it would be Soft Pumpkin 2166-40. Have you ever played around with Benjamin Moore’s Personal Color Viewer? It’s a nifty way to visualize color for your walls, ceiling and trim.

The bedroom carries the same color scheme through. Same walls. Same warm colored sisal rug. Rich brick red accents on the bedding with it’s slightly Moroccan canopy.

A view from the apricot hall into a green library refreshes the eye with what I would call a spring green on the walls, and rich olive velvet pillows. In interior design, it’s always wise to view one room from the point of view of an adjacent room such as this photo suggests. That way we can check to see if the transitions are smoothe. Square market umbrella and lounge chairs covered in orangey-red sailcloth fabric repeats the interior color scheme around the pool. The stunning ancient tower from the 11th century topped with a richly colored antiqued tile roof.

I had to include this charming image of the dining table’s vases overflowing with yellow roses. I’m guessing they climb in abundance along some crusty stone wall near the house. Notice how loose flowers and petals have been allowed to stay on the table as if they just fell out of the arrangement. Gloriously lush and casual….and they will last through the meal before they wilt. So, the effect is there.

It was architect/designer?Piero Castellini Baldissera (of C&C Milano Fabrics) who held the “big picture” with grace and ease throughout the warm interiors and out into the verdent gardens and patios. This is one of the advantages of using a good professional interior designer. It is too easy for home owners to get side tracked with exciting but random shopping finds along the way. When this happens, we often veer away from the core vision of our home because our great ideas (as wonderful as they are!) do not complement the “big picture.” A smart designer will keep you consistently on track so that the end result has the visual impact that you desire.

Photographs from Veranda November-December 2007

How to Create Chic Comfort in an Interior Space

Posted Jun 12 2009 by in Color, Color Flow, Continuity, Ranch and Farm with 0 Comments

We don’t have to sacrifice chic and beautiful style in order to achieve a comfortable interior. This casual country home in Round Top, Texas (USA) was designed by Ginger Barber. It’s a compound of buildings composed of a main house, a guest house, barns and other out buildings. The walls have been “planked.” That is to say, paneled with wood but not in an exacting way. Just measured, cut and nailed up there with irregular spaces in between. All whitewashed. Carried throughout the house, this achieves a wonderful casual look that feels like the inside of a wood cabin.

The color palette throughout the buildings is very limited. White walls, warm gray upholstery with touches of pale colors in the accessories, and a brown and white striped floor painted imperfectly as if to say….”go ahead, scuff me up some more. I can take it.” Slip covers can be removed and thrown in the washing machine.

This charming screened porch features a willow swing and a repetition of neutral fabrics. The giant wheels on the coffee table bring in a unexpected touch of contemporary exposed mechanical parts so often used in loft apartments these days.

Here’s an inviting nook featuring a rustic console table and as grouping of botanical prints. I really love the way the core design features (white washed planked walls and neutral colors) continue and continue through the home. Repetition provides a feeling of calm and stability which we all desire in our living space.

This is a Ralph Lauren iron bed with a delightful purple striped coverlet. Set against white, it is a great touch. The color purple is repeated in the bathroom with wild flowers bringing continuity to the bedroom suite.

A nook in the guesthouse features a cow photo by Vivian Arcidiacono. Old grain sacks are used as throw pilllows on the sofa.


A pine table by the window was stripped “rosy raw” and holds some chipped glazed pots and a big branch of sagebrush to bring the outside in. Crisp white chairs are a great contrast to the old and worn table. A sisal rug carries through the informal theme and neutral color idea. There is nothing like a sisal rug to pull together other elements.

The exterior of a home should always reflect the inside, and visa versa. Here’s a great outdoor covered patio which offers peaceful views of the surrounding cattle pastures. The indoor-outdoor Cannes wicker chairs (also used in the screened porch shown above) are from Janus & Cie. The antique pine table is painted gray to pick up the color of the fenceposts and the interior color palette.

Photos from House Beautiful July 2009

An Artist’s Loft: Grand and Funky

Posted Oct 4 2008 by in Art, Artist's Studios, Balance, Color, Color Flow, Scale with 0 Comments

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.

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