Archive for the ‘TIPS & TRICKS!’ Category
Design by Phoebe Howard
Does your bookcases look a bit crowded (with books)? Need a fresh and free update? The highly ordered bookcase with books stacked neatly from left to right is a thing of the past because, lets face it; it’s not that interesting to look at. Bookcases are not just furniture for storing books anymore, it’s a blank canvas for us creative people to decorate till we drop! Let’s learn from the professionals:
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The fabulous (and free) online design magazine Lonny featured this beautiful bookcase. All books and magazines are stacked horizontally. On the top two shelves each stack is topped with decorative accents. The two bottom shelves are further from your eyes so you’d want to use larger items here for balance, like framed art, family photos and your favorite books. TIP: Lean books, artwork and framed photos against stacks of magazines and books to cover them up!
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Emily Henderson, the winner of Design Star decorated this built-in bookcase in a white, royal blue and turquoise color palette, and added a touch of glamour using gold accents. Notice how she plays on layers and proportion. TIP: Group small objects together to increase the impact!
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This bookcase is part of Interior Designer Anthony Gianacakos’ masculine bedroom featured in Lonny Magazine‘s second issue. An epitome of beautiful AND functional at the same time if you ask me. TIP: Pretty boxes and baskets are perfect for organizing magazines and hiding clutter!
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Can’t remember who designed this, please email me if You do so I can add proper credit.
The designer of this beautiful bookcase centered all the items in this built in bookcase in little A-type vignettes (learn what they are here). She combines books with accents of interesting shapes, and sticks to a color palette of black, white, blue and silver. TIP: Open a book to a page with pretty images and use it as part of the decor!
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Another beautiful yet functional bookcase, photographed by Julian Wass. Numbers, letters, and a pop of red is key here. TIP: Keep functional to the bottom shelves and beautiful to the top!
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A wonderful bookcase decorated by Domicile ID. Very simple and interesting. TIP: If your books don’t have gorgeous jackets like these, wrap them up with pretty wrapping paper!
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Ashley Whittaker pairs books with organic objects and pattern in this bookcase. I love how she uses the black contrast and the pops of color. You can see the rest of this room in this previous post ;) TIP: Incorporate natural elements like shells, corals and crystals with interesting shapes and beautiful texture.
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After redoing my own bookcase a while ago, I was amazed by the fact that books stacked horizontally appeared to take up a lot less space. This of course depends on the height to width ratio of the shelves in the given bookcase, see for your self by drawing a few figures on paper. So what’s your take on the bookcase decor trend? Have you jumped on that train yet? Or are you planning to?
The pattern on wallpaper is usually repeated throughout. This is what separates printed wallpaper from the hand painted variety. Only drawback? The hand painted variety is obviously super expensive. Like $500 per square meter expensive. Since I love the look of hand pained wall papers, and chances are that you do too, I thought I’d round up a few ways to achieve this look without breaking the bank. But first, let’s take a look at the real thing:
Hand painted wallpaper makes it possible to achieve beautiful non-repeated scenery which isn’t possible with standard wallpaper. Beautiful, isn’t it?
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Here’s four ideas on how to achieve the hand painted wallpaper look:
1. Printed Murals:
There are actually printed mural wallpapers available, like this one by York Wallcoverings. A good alternative for a feature wall.
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2. Hire a painter.
WINDSOR SMITH / SCOTT WATERMAN
This wall is painted by LA based artist Scott Waterman.
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Allison Cosmos is a professional mural painter. At $75 an hour this isn’t an option for everyone though. This girl is insanely talented, click the link to see more of her work!
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3. Paint a mural yourself!
If you are a good painter, you can free hand a mural yourself. If you don’t consider yourself a good painter, pick a beautiful scene and trace around it on a transparent sheet. Use an overhead projector or mount the sheet in front of a bright lamp. Move the projector further away from the wall you are working on to make the scene larger. Then trace around the shadows on your wall, and fill in with paint. To achieve more depth, paint on wallpaper!
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4. Invest in stencils.
The Stencile Library has a large collection of multi-layered stencils. This requires little artistic abilities, and the result is simply stunning! Here is an example of the result you can get with these stencils. This particular wall is created using this stencil.
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Here’s a closeup of the stenciled wallpaper. To top it all of, Helen, the proud owner of this bedroom wall, placed crystals in the birds eyes and on the flowers. I LOVE this!
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Here you can see that this mural consists of 4 panels. Many of their stencils constitute three or four layers (sheets) for each stencil design, which means you can use many different colors on one stencil, and achieve a nice depth. The girls at the Stencil Library shows lots of examples on their blog ;)
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Have a great day everyone!
Before I started this blog I had no grasp on the correct way to hang art. I’d pick out a bare wall, pull up a chair and hammer a nail into the wall. Boy, was I misguided (or more correctly, unguided). I’ve later come to recognize a few rules for hanging art correctly, and now I’ll share them with you. Here are the three points I always consider when hanging art, photos and mirrors:
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1. When hanging art or framed photos on the wall, never ever pull up a chair to hammer in the nail. If you need a chair, you’ve aimed too high. Artwork should be hung at eye level. Just think about it; you would never hang a mirror at any other height than eye level, right? The same should go for art and pictures.
Design by David Kaplan See more pictures of this room here.
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2. When placing art over a furniture, never hang it higher than a few inches above the furniture. Why not skip the nail altogether and place the artwork on the furniture leaning back on the wall? By relating artwork to the furniture below it, you’ll create little interesting vignettes. You can read a guide on how to make a perfect vignette here.
Design by Elizabeth Bailey See more pics of this bedroom here.
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3. I’ve always seen art as a way to fill out empty wall space. Once I realized that art should relate to furniture, I started questioning how much bare wall was “acceptable”. Then I realized that the bare walls around the vignette actually aided in making the vignette a focal point. Moral of this point: Don’t fear leaving it bare!
Design by Charles De Lisle Workshop See more pictures of this room here.
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And that’s it! Of course there are always exceptions to any rule, but these three points have served me well so far. What’s your strategy when hanging art and photos? I’d love to hear it in the comments!
Archive for the ‘Purple’ Category
Dream Home?
On February 19th the winner of HGTV’s Dreamhome 2010 will be chosen. This is the fourteenth Dream Home since it started in 1997. The house is located in Sandia Park, New Mexico, and has eighteen rooms (counting the 3 car garage). Let’s take a look at a few of them:
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Calm green bedroom with light green walls with brown and cream accents. Also, all trim and window frames are painted a demure blue. If this was my bedroom, I would paint the ceiling, I have a personal war going on with bare wood surfaces.
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The same bedroom viewed from the bed. To the left is a “sunrise room”, separated by a wall with an open fireplace and a flat screen TV. To the right is the master bathroom, with blue sliding doors to the tub. You don’t of cause need to climb through the tub to get to the bathroom, there is a normal entry on the side.
Wall color is Sherwin-Williams Svelte Sage.
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The color scheme is the same in the master bathroom, but with less brown for a lighter cleaner look.
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One thing I noticed in this house is the extensive use of tiles. In this kitchen for example, the whole wall behind the stove is covered in tiles. This kitchen is in open plan solution with the living area though, so I guess it is a nice way of defining the kitchen area. What do You think?
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And with that I had to cover this beautiful “casita” (as they call it), a tiny bedroom with a built in bathroom (see below). I was really surprised they made a feature wall of tiles behind the bed…
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But it makes more sense when you see the bathroom placement. I would love to have a guest suite like this to offer my visitors, but personally I prefer a bit more privacy in the bathroom, lol!
The wall color is Sherwin-Williams Foxy.
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There is just something about the color scheme in this home office that really speaks to me. I’m usually not into these muddy olive greens, but the pops of blue and red really freshens it up. Do you like it?
Wall color is Sherwin-Williams Sycamore Tan.
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This second bedroom is lilac with whites and creams. Two single four poster beds invites guests to a cozy sleepover.
Wall color is Sherwin-Williams Ash Violet.
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I love this detail shot. The chair is to die for, and the framed wall sconces are a great touch.
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Which kid wouldn’t love this colorful bedroom with a Toy Story and Cowboy theme?
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Turquoise and orange is a fresh color combination, but these both have black in them, which tones the colors down a lot.
The wall color is Sherwin-Williams Reflecting Pool.
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Behind this wall is a bathroom shared between this room and the lilac guest bedroom.
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So what do you think, is this your dream home? Are you entering the sweepstakes?
Bewitching Colors
Vignettes and tablescapes are those pretty little “landscapes” of beautiful items displayed on every horizontal surface in any professional interior design photo. These little “arrangements” are far from accidental, and could be considered a minor art form in itself. There are so many different opinions on the use of vignettes, some feel they can look too stillife-y and contrived, others think they are a must in any room.
Whether you love them or hate them, vignettes can be of great inspiration for getting the most out of a small space without compromising the overall look of the room.
So where would you create a vignette? The answer is quite simple; literally anywhere! Rearranging the items on your windowsill, mantle, shelves, dresser top or even night stand can have a dramatic effect, and here are some tips and inspiration for creating the perfect vignette.
One approach to creating a vignette is to start with a large background object, like a mirror or a framed picture. A mirror or picture frame can be hung on the wall or placed on the table surface, leaning against the wall. You can even layer it by placing a smaller picture in front of the other. Build the vignette from here, paying close attention to proportion, color and composition.
Two popular compositions are the V and the A -shapes. Lets take a look:
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THE V-SHAPE:
Starting with a mirror or a framed picture, create a V-shape by layering objects. Start with a tall object like a lamp, and add a few fitting accessories with the lowest point being around the centre. We are not trying to create a perfect V here (more like a tilted back L). Below is another example, starting with a layering of picture frames or mirrors:
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Notice how the tallest items are placed at the side of the tallest frame. If it was placed on the opposite side, the overall result would too square, like a box, which we are trying to avoid.
Lets put it to life by looking at some V-shaped vignettes created by the professionals:
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ASHLEY PUTNAM / LONNY MAGAZINE
A simple vignette in the classic V shape. Can you see the V?
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ERINN VALENCICH via DECORATI / MORE PICS HERE
A subtle V-shape vignette created by layering no more that 3 items in front of a framed sea fan.
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THE A-SHAPE:
This basic shape could not be more simple, and still I think it is one of the most dramatic.
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A nice example of the A-shape vignette.
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Two beautiful A-shaped vignettes. See, you can create them anywhere, even on your bedside table =)
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SYMMETRIC VIGNETTES:
VIEW MORE IMAGES
Symmetry looks ordered and simple, and a pretty symmetric vignette is not hard to achieve. Here are a few examples for inspiration:
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CHARLES FAUDREE VIA KATIE DID
A beautiful symmetric vignette. Don’t worry about creating perfect symmetry with all items, it’s enough to have a few main items to create the symmetric frame for the vignette.
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A simple symmetric vignette compliments the amazing eagle console table without overshadowing it.
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Your entryway can be both functional and beautiful at the same time, as proven by Dayka at Life + Style. Her vignette includes a bowl for keys and change, and a basket underneath the console table for paper recyclables. Beautiful and practical!
The best thing is you don’t really need to go out and buy anything, just rearrange what you already have! If you use a picture as a base, you can build a vignette around that color scheme. If you lack a tall item, go out and get a few branches and arrange them in a slim vase. Smaller objects work best in groups or pairs, some prefer to use only odd numbers like 3 or 5 similar items. Your only limit is your creativity!
