My Gallerys

Showing posts with label design boards. Show all posts

Zebra Ottoman Two Ways

I thought this was going to be a challenge, partly because I'm not much of a zebra girl, but it turned out to be sooooo much fun. Part of the point of this (new) series is to show very different ways of working with an element that tends to pop up a lot, and here I do think I pulled off two looks even though I chose to stick with the same color scheme. Maybe not as divergent as the minimalist and maximalist rooms I built around quilts, but different nonetheless.

First up: Trad.

I'm liking the way the green chairs and the paintings pop, along with the zebra, against a neutral ground, and all the curves, in the turned ottoman legs, the gold side table pedestals, the english rolled-arm sofa (did you know Pottery Barn makes one?), the double gourd lamps, and that crazy chandelier. The sisal rug and the wood of the bar cabinet are a needed natural element.

And then: Well, Trad. How about trad rad?

This one's definitely more to the modern end of the spectrum with all the clean lines and streamlined shapes, not to mention the matte black side tables and the jungle photography art and the amazing lucite base on the ottoman.

It's no surprise that I'm drawn to this cream, brown, green,gold (and orange) color scheme, considering my recent focus on my living room, which has this palette, and I have to say, the nude lamps in the first scenario and the cream chairs in the second are totally getting me right now (both from Mitchell Gold, by the way.) I sort of feel like I would like to live in the second one now, and maybe move into the first one in my 40s. You know?

As a side note, I would probably not actually do solid brown curtains in these rooms. While I think they work just fine, it's sort of a missed opportunity. In the second room I might use Alan Campbell's petite zigzag from Quadrille.

In the first, if the windows were by the chairs, I think I'd do a cream linen with a leading edge trimmed out in something with lavender. Just saying. It's tough to do "custom" curtains on olioboard.

What do you think? Do you have a favorite? Is there something you'd like to see "two ways"? Just let me know!

Quilts two ways

My husband likes to do side-by-side comparisons. So, for example, he might come home with 5 different brands of very dark chocolate and conduct a taste test. (This was one of my favorites, as you can imagine.) In Boulder, this was applied liberally to cooking, with the result a series of meals know as "two ways." Fried chicken two ways compared a classic American (Southern) version to a korean version. Thanksgiving brought sweet potatoes two ways: roasted and casserole. You get the idea. It all became a "thing," you know, and on my other blog there is a series of "two ways" posts, like this one and this one.

Last fall, I was working with a woman to lay the ground work for her eventual basement renovation (i.e. purging and organizing!), and to keep her eye on the prize, I put together a board for the family room down there. Only problem? Her one request was that I incorporate cowhide. Which isn't a problem in and of itself, but she has a sort of funky contemporary house but most of the decor is on the traditional side, and really cow hide goes both ways. I'll share those boards sometime--cowhide in a modern setting, cowhide in a more country setting--but to launch this occasional series, I was inspired by all the quilt inspiration I shared yesterday, and went ahead and built two boards featuring quilts. Fun, right?

First up, Minimalist.

One note: I would actually put the quilt on the bottom half of the bed, not as a wall hanging as the board sort of suggests.

I have to say, it was SO hard for me to leave this so spare--I am anything but a minimalist. In fact, I threw that painting in at the end because I couldn't quite stand it. But I have been really drawn to sort of industrial wall lights lately, and it was fun to use the prouve-style swing arm lamp in something. I think this works because the leather and chrome and industrial elements toughen up the quilt, while the natural wood and sheepskin keep it a bit organic.

And, perhaps a little more "me," (okay, a lot more me), the eclectic version.

To be honest, I want to redo my bedroom immediately to look just like this. Well, not quite: I would put a different stain on the legs of that armchair. This works because the color palette is totally drawn from the quilt, and the headboard, side tables, and lamps are of equal intensity, while the black, white, and natural elements keep it from going haywire. And aren't those bird paintings cool/weird?

What do you think: minimalist or maximalist?

Do you have a material or item you'd want to see two ways? Shoot me an email or leave it in the comments.

And the Living Room layout is....

Yesterday I shared three space plans for a tricky living room in New Jersey. Interestingly, of the Facebook commenters I don't think anyone chose the layout the clients did (which was my favorite for them, too): Number 1.

The one with the pair of loveseats and the little reading area.

In terms of the look and feel, the clients wanted something rustic modern. They wanted to keep their warm clay wall color (Behr's "Suntan Glow")

and a cool old trunk they use as a coffee table, but everything else was fair game.

Here are the looks I came up with, one a little more modern and one a little more rustic.

Look 1:

With a detail of the TV room side:

And look 2, with the upholstered pieces, curtains, and key accessories swapped out.

What do you think? Do you have a favorite? I know grey seems a little counter-intuitive with clay walls and copper radiators, but the fabrics are quite a green-gray that looks beautiful with the warm tones. Plus, brown (the more obvious neutral) would have gotten real muddy real fast. All the reds run to the rust end of the scale to bring the scheme to life, and all the white keeps things airy (together with the leggy furniture).

Speaking of white: white rugs in a room that's meant to be kid friendly? Makes me think of Secrets from a Stylist, when Emily covered all the furniture in white linen and then jokingly asked the (mom) homeowner "oh, you have kids?" But hear me out. Hide is incredibly forgiving--just wipe a spill down, like any kind of leather. And the other rug is a super deep shag with lots of different fibers, perfect for hiding anything but grape juice or red wine.

It will be fun to see this room come together. Being a big fan of COLOR and PATTERN, it was really fun for me to do something that derives its interest more from texture and finishes. I know the clients are already busy painting the walls (the suntan had been on two walls, they added it to the others), and priming the fireplace to paint out the brick white. I know they're planning to do this in bits and pieces over the course of a year, but it will be fun to see the status along the way!

Mixed-Gender Kids rooms

Okay, it's official: I'm insane.

I started making room boards for the whole mixed-gender kids room reader dilemma, and I kind of couldn't stop--there are just so many great things out there for the little ones! I was going to just choose one or two boards and go on pretending that I am a normal person, but if you've been reading this blog you already know about my sickness, so who cares, right?

I didn't list sources here--too many--but if you hop on over to polyvore by following the links, you can see where everything comes from. And some of you will faint because of the prices, so before you get your knickers in a twist, let me just say that a lot of that is just for looks. I would never spend $1,000 a piece of twin beds from Anthropologie; I would find a pair on craigslist and paint them to LOOK like I spent $1,000 a piece at Anthropologie. Although, I will admit, I could not DIY that rocking sheep way down at the bottom, and I challenge any and all of you to find the knock off and send it to copycat chic.

Let's see. I think these kind of go from youngest to oldest--the last one is for some dark and twisty tweens.

Primary colors plus his and hers sheets: