I always love to see what colors people paint their houses - particularly if they are interesting and fun. My husband has a problem with this when I’m the one driving…he’d much rather I watch the road then stare sideways (and sometimes backwards) to get my color fix. Sometimes you come across a house that is so fun you wonder if the mailman needs migraine medicine in order to deliver.
There are many houses more simple in detail that don’t call for a multiple-color paint job. I find that for these houses a fabulous front door does the trick. You have a single focal point, an idea of some personality and a fun little zing to appreciate as you go by.
My last house was an Italianate Victorian from 1847 with tons of detail- we had fun with the colors of that house:
My husband and i have gotten quite good at fixer uppers and have one we are in the middle of. Our current house is a more simple Victorian from the 1890’s. I will not stain your brain and risk injuring your eye’s with a photo of its exterior, but it is BUTT UGLY!!! It has aluminum siding from the 1950’s that covers every single inch of it- even over the window and door moldings. If that’s not bad enough we accurately named the color: Pallor. Our house is the color of pasty English people’s skin (I can make fun of this, I’m English by descent) when they have never been in the sun, don’t exercise, smoke two packs a day and don’t eat vegetables (perhaps just minutes away from contracting full blown rickets). There is not much that I can do to improve this until we rip off the siding and reface the whole huge place, and we have SOOOO many other things to do first. The only thing we’ve done is paint our pretty double Victorian front doors Turquoise. Within a week I’d gotten a positive comment from everyone in the neighborhood - they were obviously desperate for something to be done. This little festive color upgrade did so much, I then added various turquoise planters and flowers. Sometimes it’s just a little touch that makes it:
The best part of having fun with the front door is being able to easily change it. It only takes about an hour, so it is a great project for the commitment-phobic!
Should you buy art to match your room or should you decorate you room to match your art? Or maybe you should just buy art that really speaks to you, evokes an emotional response, buy it because you LOVE IT?
(frank Ropp)
Generally speaking If you always buy things you really LOVE then they usually go together. Have you ever heard of anyone buying a painting with colors they hate? NO! Have you ever heard of anyone buying furnishings in colors they hate? NO! I generally find that people’s possessions - or what they gravitate to buying - usually sit well together.
(Kelly Wearstler)
I come from a family of art lovers and collectors so i would never buy art I didn't absolutely LOVE. But what about the piece that hung in your childhood home? You don’t LOVE it, it’s not exactly “you” but you have a deep connection to it? Maybe it hangs in a guest room or maybe you build a room that you do love around it, all of a sudden it shines with new life.
(Melissa Gulley)
Or what about the art collector who buys for value first, then love? When art is bought for value, it is then an investment and often the purchaser has many pieces they have collected that need to hang together - but do not relate. In this case, a neutral pallet for interior design might be the best foundation for an eclectic collection. Maybe even colorless so the art can shine. By hanging art in a room in which it clashes, the art is by no means de-valued, the space is. The piece will not be appreciated fully, nor will the room…in that way the art can devalue the space. When art doesn't look good in a room it’s very clear that something’s wrong. There’s no harmony, the room looks disjointed and people’s enjoyment in spending time in the room will literally be diminished.
So with this said, if your not a collector by profession, should the art match the room? Not necessarily. However, it should compliment the room. Or to put it another way, the room should compliment the art. There should be a cohesive feeling. Often it can complete the room even if purchased first (which came first the chicken or the egg). Keep in mind; If you LOVE the piece of art, you may not want it to blend so much that it loses its voice.
(Melissa Gulley)
The last problem not touched on is what to do when your husband or wife has favorite art that you hate? As I have done with many clients- give them their room to hang the art and design the room as they see fit- an office, a man cave (or woman’s version). If this doesn't work then there’s always divorce???
Organizing books can be very personal. Really the person who’s books they are needs to be part of the organizing. Now some of you may be saying to yourself- “yeah, of course who else would do it?”. Well as an Interior Designer, I am asked very frequently to reorganize peoples built-ins to look really Fab. This is tough if the person is really into books. Which have they read, which are in cue to be read, does this person need them by subject or author? This is very important to most people, and is very different to how the book shelves will look best. They look best if arranged by color:
When they are arranged by color there is a visual calm that's achieved. Otherwise they seem chaotic and visually cluttered:
If you need your books to be by topic, author, or been read or not, then making smaller collections of those categories and separating them with some interesting objects is a great way to visually organize them:
or spread the arranging to other areas of the room as well, like the mantle:
Or the coffee table or console/hall table:
When people visit your home they are unconsciously looking for personality cues on the people who live there. Who are they, what are they passionate about, where have they traveled? By giving them those cues (books,accessories,art) your home instantly has more character, depth and warmth, not to mention instant conversation topics. Without these things your home resembles a furniture showroom void of all human touches.
I am also (very often) asked to shop for all accessories, picture frames, art and books for a home owner that currently does not own anything. This can be interesting, I am essentially creating the personality of the client, which people will see and adopt as the client’s identity. Usually by this point in a project, I have a very detailed idea of who these people are so I’m not pulling personality out of thin air.
There is the rare client who makes me wish there were more books on garden variety sociopaths – that way I could help them portray their true personalities to their visitors.
Well - Yes!!! First of all I love to see men wearing pink- it evokes a nice confidence about them and flatters almost all complexions in such a healthy way.
This is taking it farther then I expect for most men but how Fab are these guys?
(Carlton Varney and friends)
Pink in decoration of our houses usually starts with a girl’s room - until they outgrow pink and want the space to reflect the grown-up they are in their own mind. But at what age can we accept pink again. Some just never get back to it and dislike the color but then their are some - like me - who really love the color. How can it fit into our current houses with husbands and boys running around who may not gravitate to pink?
Maybe it’s just an irreverent splash of color in a masculine setting (above - Ned Marshall) or as accents (below - Brad Ford).
This (immediately below) is a picture of my Dining room and another picture (below that) of my Foyer with splashes of pink (thank goodness my husband is secure - if not daring!)
So, if you liked pink once – maybe it’s time to revisit pink again.
My Daughter is turning 10 (yeah OMG!!!) and for her birthday she wanted a room redo, OK- that I can handle. She currently has an over the top girlie pink and green room- see below:
Her room has looked like this since she was born, I’ve gotten ten great years out of this room. When she was younger she LOVED it and certainly everyone who sees it falls in love and wants to be a little girl again for a few minutes (ok- so most of the men who see it don’t have that reaction- or maybe they do… hmmmmmmm). But at ten years old- “pink is so not cool anymore”- she is “so over it!” My little girl who was such a girlie girl is now 10 going on 25. She designed the new room’s color scheme as “tonal creams and whites with accents of silver”- holy shmoly who’s kid is this??? Ok- so at least she has not asked for a cave with a black light and Zeppelin posters, although maybe that's next. She has designed a tranquil, sophisticated room with a very eclectic mix of traditional, contemporary and ethnic. We are half done with the room and will show pictures on the blog in a week when it’s finished, as long as my husband and I can put in the extra 5 hours of work a night to get it done by then. Stay tuned this week as I examine kid’s rooms, pink as it pertains to adults and the finale- the finished room!
Guilloché, phonetically pronounced gee-oh-SHAY is a French word for the process of engraving either by hand or by machine intricate repetitive patterns. Guilloché, is an engraving technique in which a very precise intricate repetitive pattern or design is mechanically etched into an underlying material with fine detail. Specifically, it involves a technique of engine turning, called guilloché in French after the French engineer “Guillot”, who invented a machine “that could scratch fine patterns and designs on metallic surfaces”. The machine improved upon the more time-consuming practice of making similar designs by hand, allowing for greater delicacy, precision, and closeness of the line, as well as greater speed. Yet another account is that it derives from the French word for an engraving tool, not the engine turning machine.Further details on Guilloche from e-Bay:
Although Enamel and Guilloché was used, pairing-first, applied by Peter Carl Fabergé on the Faberge eggs in the 1880’s-they are nevertheless two separate techniques and were not applied to one another until Fabergé.And then of course, there is my favorite- CLOCKS. See below a bevy of clocks to delight the eyes:
Below is a picture of Guilloche with out the applied enamel:
Next group of pictures below are examples of Guilloche after enamel:
The machines used to create guilloché designs are no longer produced. Today true guilloché can be found in mostly luxury watches and then only a very few companies practice the art. The guilloché technique can be seen in various antique and vintage jewelry and vanity items from compacts, pocket watches and dresser sets to charms.
