Mint Barstools

I was just about to suggest to a client that we go mint on the barstools in a largely white and wood kitchen. Thinking it might feel like a risk, I went looking for inspiration shots to share.  Turns out, there are lots!  Are mint barstools a thing?

I love that this fresh and unexpected color actually works in a variety of styles:

Home Beautiful Magazine, via decor8.com

via Mackenzie Pages

via ninahans.com

via The Design Files

Rosa Beltran Design

Barstools are such a fun place to bring in interest, especially in an open-concept kitchen/great room.  An unusual color, material, or shape can go a long way to personalizing one of the more difficult rooms to decorate.

Would you go a little crazy with a barstool choice?

Happy Monday, friends.

Sun. Burst.

Amber over at Amber Interior Design has a fun blog series called Trends I Aint Mad At.  I put sunbursts squarely in that category.  Yes, they are "trending now," but they are so classic, and for good reason.  They are available in all shapes, sizes, styles, and price points (or you can make your own), work in any room of the house, and bring an often much-needed round shape to a room that can easily get filled with rectangles.

Witness.

Bedrooms:

Living Spaces:

Lonny

House Beautiful

Lonny

Jamie Meares

Eating spaces:

Bathrooms:

And entryways!

Design Dump

I rest my case.

All hail the might sunburst!

White is a color, too!

This post is perhaps appropriate as the world is covered in snow and my children are staying home once again due to sub zero temps from another arctic blast.

But it is inspired by my contractor, who, after I sent him paint specs for a project, wrote back, "just so we're clear.  The whole place is getting painted one color.  WHITE."

Yup.  Atrium white to be specific.  I'll tell you this: white is not easy.  those undertones can go kooky, and of course it reacts dramatically to different light conditions.  Many a blog post and article has been written about choosing the perfect white.

For my current project, here's my seal of approval:

“I painted my whole house in Southampton in Atrium White—the walls, ceilings, and moldings. It looks amazing and has incredible depth with a fresh appeal.”
- Lulu de Kwiatkowski

One Kings Lane "The Perfect White Paint"

I don't often paint walls white (though my own house is mostly white, due to the open plan), but there is such a fresh, bright feeling about it, don't you think?

P.S.  The room was deep purple before, with a dark rust sitting room.  Should be quite the transformation!

A plan

While the living room rug continues to confound me, I finally have a plan for the upstairs hallway that is making me very, very happy.

I was (very loosely) inspired by this.

(Muriel Brandolini's old bathroom, published in New York Living, which continues to be one of my all-time favorite design books.)

This wallpaper.

My grandmother's 60s gold leaf sconces 

And black and white candid photography (maybe the party pictures from our wedding?), in a staggered line.

Only problem?  Funds for the wallpaper.

Alas.

You know I am thinking about creating my own stencil or block print, right?  Ugh.

Get the Look

Welcome Back!

I spent the past 4 days almost completely unplugged from work, and I am feeling refreshed.  Hope you can all say the same.

I got an email from a reader yesterday asking if I had source information for the rug in an old post.  The image is from an old issue of Chicago Home and Gardens, and while I suppose I could go dig up their "resources" and see if they listed the rug, my gut is that it is custom, high end, or both.  The reader wondered how she could get the look.

That rug looks like a patchwork cowhide, which adds really interesting texture.  But it is really the graphic pattern that the reader is after, and there are plenty of black and white tile-style rugs out there these days.

(Sources)

Not bad, huh?

This was a fun challenge because frankly, I'm betting that everything in the inspiration space is custom or vintage.  I was talking to a new long-distance client the other day who had interviewed local designers and was dismayed when each of them started in on designing custom furniture.  I share the belief with this client (and many others!)  that a great, custom-feeling room can be created without the major expense of all custom everything.  

I will admit that the big miss for me in the above is the wing chair--the fabric is obviously a different kind of pattern than in the inspiration shot, and the shape is not quite as interesting, but it gives the overall effect, and the neutral ties in to the West Elm curtains and the Safavieh ottoman (from Sears!).

(Sources)

With the little grouping on the side, the inspiration chairs are vintage, but these camel leather sling chairs give a similar vibe.  In fact, I think I like them better because they do not introduce chrome as an element in the room.  I threw in a second rug options because, well, there are so many out there to choose from!

What do you think?  I'm still on the fence about the very mismatched chairs, but it is fun to push out of my comfort zone.

I should be around with new content all week.  Hope to see you back tomorrow!

The Return of the ripplefold

Being a self-taught designer who obsesses over all kinds of source material, I generally know what I want, even if I don't know what it's called.  Design is a visual language, so, while knowing the lingo is super helpful, finding a photo can be equally--or even more--effective.

Take this room.  In order to quote the wall of sheers behind the bed, I dug up these photos for my workroom.

And promptly learned that this is called "ripplefold."   The next time I was in the workroom, the seamstress told me that she put ripplefolds in her living room 20 years ago, but over the years they sort of fell out of favor.  Now, all of a sudden, they have a bunch of orders for this style of drapery.  Isn't it funny how these details trend?  Sure enough, I got a catalog from Houles the other day, and they just introduced ripple fold heading.

Guess I'm on-trend with this one.  And now that I know what it's called, it is MUCH easier to find inspiration images for my client.

And guess what?  Turns out you can also order them through The Shade Store or Room and Board.

Or, better yet, go custom with a workroom.

Decisions, decisions

I made a decision.  A good one.  About my own house.  And if you have been along for the ride, you may be relieved that I will now stop talking about it.

It has to do with the living room rug.  And it goes a little something like this:

Lonny

Architectural Digest

Ken Fulk

Lonny

Matchbook

Miles Redd

I'm not sure if the clarity came from being away for a weekend, or having the kids away and the opportunity to focus on the house, but I am sure of this.  And when I called to tell my mom, she said "YES."

You know leopard is a neutral, right?

Maybe I should read my own blog more often.

Folding Screens

How's that for a catchy title?

I tried all the obvious puns but, well, the straightforward approach was probably best.

I was sourcing folding screens today for a project and looked at a bunch before realizing it would make the most sense to just have a custom upholstered one built.  But before I closed out all those tabs, I thought I would share my finds.

It's a: ROUND UP!

But first, some inspiration.

Homes and Gardens via Apartment Therapy

The Selby via Apartment Therapy

Domino

Martha Stewart

Domino

Lovely.  So, tomorrow: ROUND UP!

Also.  Do you have a visual memory?  I took one look at the green image above (found on a google image search) and went, "oh right, that's when Domino did that story about how to do monochromatic palettes."  And then I saw that last image and went "Shalom Harlow on the cover of Domino's green issue.  Madeline Weinrib textiles."  Curious to see if my memory served, I looked it up.

Boom!  

I have to say, I'm sort of impressed that I got this even when the shot was at a different angle (though maybe the angled shot was inside the magazine).  This issue is more than 6 years old.

I have lately been re-watching that show Felicity, and last night's episode had an annoying swim team friend of Ben's sharing his theory that everyone has their 3 things that they are the best at of anyone.  It's a pretty stupid theory when you think about how many people are in the world, BUT, this remembering of magazine decorating stories could be one of mine.  Useful, I know.  I guess I found my way into the right business.

So, two questions:

1.  Do you have a visual memory?

2.  What is one of your three things?

I guess this post should have been called something like "smokescreens" after all.

But if you actually want to make your own folding screen, do as Martha does.  Or check out the altogether reasonable tutorial from Ms. Jenny Komenda.