ask patrick

... about where to start.

2012-11-13T15:00:00.000-05:00

More and more, people are asking me how to pull a room together...

layout advice, color inspiration, how to make a room feel finished, why a room isn't "working," where to start when selecting a color scheme... So I thought I'd start publishing some of those questions, share some advice, and meet and work with people outside of Manhattan.

Welcome to Ask Patrick, an interior design site where you can submit your own rooms and questions for makeover advice, guidance, and inspiration.

Send your images and questions to hatrickdesign@aim.com.

...about Holiday House 2012, Part 3: small, odd and lovely

2012-11-13T14:47:00.000-05:00

The triple-wide mansion that’s the annual setting of Manhattan’s Holiday House has largely been spared the cut-and-paste architecture that a house passing through multiple owners, years and hands tends to suffer. This storied mansion still has its share of ample spaces, with plenty of room and plenty of character before the first Oushak is unrolled.

But there is still a scattering of odd rooms, tucked under stairs or off entry ways, that threw designers a curve, odd angle, and vaguely defined function. Often, they’re not even rooms at all. They’re corridors, landings, stairwells, and the design equivalent of Top Chef’s Quick Fire challenge. And often, they're just as revealing of a designer’s problem-solving and space management skills.

Even with such tough starting points, the solutions, when they work, exhibit great style, prowess and, to this small-space resident and design practitioner, big inspiration. Without fail, the rooms that hold my attention are these small ones. Like last year, these small and odd spaces are often my very favorite moments in the house.

Claudia Giselle Design

This dressing room, from Claudia Giselle Design is called “Girls’ Night Out,” but this is no ordinary girl. This is Christine from Phantom of the Opera, or maybe even more fittingly, Carlotta. It’s all Diva, this space just off the entry (and missed by one or two visitors for its odd location.)

Taking the style-factor soprano-high is the gorgeous and clever use of the Maya Romanoff Bedazzled Leaf beaded crystal wall-covering, here applied to drawer fronts and (under glass) tabletops of the practical wall of built-ins.

From the pair of Jonathan Adler lamps (like back-up genies at the ready) to mirrored walls and dramatic lighting, this room is all sparkle and shine.

A brocade fabric cloaks the walls, and the whole room is framed with gilt, dotted with crystal (in both natural and cut-and-polished form), and underscored with mascara-black accents. A sweep of skin-tone flattering coral fabric (from Hyland, whose head, Christopher Hyland, is this year’s Holiday House co-chair) helps set the stage for this dramatic little endeavor. The music of the night, indeed.

Mr. Call Designs and J.Pocker

Upstairs, interior designer Jon Call of Mr. Call Designs and Robyn Pocker, of the venerable New York framing house J. Pocker & Son, used the tricks of both their trades to give Versailles shine to an upper floor stairwell. Jon combined stock mirrors and custom framed versions, creating a trumeau-effect and instant architectural presence.

A striped wallpaper was cut apart and reapplied with panache, like Art Deco lightning bolts or the Chrysler building’s rays. It’s a dazzling display of what can be done to elevate an economical purchase with a little out-of-the-box thinking (and a patient paperhanger).

Floating against that patterned ceiling, a stunning tiered crystal fixture that shares the paper’s banding, the mirrors’ sparkle, and even a touch of lavender from the nearby Sweet Sixteen confection of Robyn Karp Design. All together, it brings a little Radio City Music Hall to a space that not many would even consider decorating. It also exhibits perfectly Jon’s take on design: some prêt a porter, some haute couture, some investment, some savings, and a lot of style weaving it all together.

My only regret about this space? That my portraits of the dashing Mr. Call himself did not at all do him justice.

Janet Rice Interiors

Things may be bigger in Texas, but Dallas designer Janet Rice seems to make her mark in just a few feet of space. In a multiple-arched but hardly ample hallway (leading to Charlotte Moss’s grand cube of a bedroom) Janet used a trailing and lyrical Gracie hand-painted paper (in a yet another paperhanger’s tour-de-force). Pewter, dove gray, platinum, crystal and quartz bounce limited light and up the elegance, while custom shallow demilunes give the space actual function.

In a note of show house chance, serendipity, and karma, the paper Janet chose is the same paper in the bedroom of Evelyn Lauder, pictured in Evelyn’s portrait downstairs.

The overhead fixture (an arching Venetian glass lantern, not shown) seems too good to not have been part of the original house, but it’s one of Janet’s limited, but super-smart additions.

My favorite element (also not shown) is a high-tech gem of a freestanding light fixture, bringing contemporary spin to this otherwise traditional take, like a dazzling Elsa Perreti pin on a vintage gown.

I have a soft spot for this, well, spot. Last year, Dineen Architecture + Design turned this pass-though nook into destination with equal aplomb.

Brett Design

There are at least fifty shades of gray in the wallpaper of her own design in the room of Brett Beldock, and that’s exactly the tone being set in her kitten-with-a-whip take on Valentine’s Day. Sure, there’s romance in that all-over modern floral, (the effect is a New Age, amped up grisaille), chocolate-evocative daybed, and a table set for two, bon-bons at the ready. But while the table is set for dining, the room is set for, well, dessert.

What sets the nicely naughty tone? Mostly, contemporary (and lush-lipped) photography by Alex Prager, evocative of movie stills and rife with seductive tension.

The biggest of the smalls among this little roundup, Brett's room was still a challenge with an odd footprint, low ceilings and just one window, but all no match or worry for the seasoned interior and wallcovering designer. She incorporates two of my favorite space-stretching tricks to overcome. First, a dining area hiding in plain sight, with Niedermaier’s Saarinen spin-off table, scaled down then raised to perfect sofa-dining (or laptop surfing) height, that would stretch function for miles in a studio apartment. The other, a large photographic landscape which makes another window where there is only one, in this odd little el of a room.

Brett’s paper backdrop is the modern floral to Tobi Fairley’s black and white contemporary grasscloth trellis just steps away, proving that timeless black and white is not going anywhere, ever, if only for its ability to provide the perfect foil for whatever’s in front of it.

SMG Photography 2012

Archives ID

Alla Akimova, of Archive ID, made celebration, ceremony and art of a stairwell, a light well and what basically amounts to an elevator lobby. That’s the modern alchemy of Archives ID, and Alla has bridged two trends shown elsewhere in the House: Art installation and classic show house storytelling, to make a mark in two of the home’s toughest spaces.

Both images, SMG Photography 2012

Up the stairwell, a botanical and contemporary lightbox installation, to bring light and life to a back stair, and honoring Arbor Day. Even an awkward lightwell providing roof access has been turned to something noteworthy, with a sound installation and flickering candles.

Up the steps and around the corner, great tricks and perfect choices make the most of a windowless throwaway space. The stunning Maya Romanoff Meditations Ohm paper and overhead Arctic Pear Double Wave fixture from Ochre (at once, both ocean wave and water drops) prove that the exhausted décor term of “Zen” can still have great life deep-breathed back into it. Uplighting and lush, creamy textiles create a window where there is none, and creates dreamy, diffused and flattering light in the process. A square of watery turquoise, on loan from LUMAS, is the monochromatic room's sole color jolt, above a Niedermaier console.

Details extend the Arbor Day theme, but the narrative changes, and this room celebrates Columbus Day, with New World watery, natural and nautical references that stayed “inspired by,” and not “slave to” the holiday at hand. The built-in banquette of Alla's design is ship-shape and super smart: the inward orientation of the shelves keeps things practically right at hand, but keeps the visual of the room calm.

Roger Thomas Collection for Maya Romanoff

Speaking (again) of Maya Romanoff, Roger Thomas' design of red-hot hallway (shown, very top) was due to yet another generous donation from these exquisite paper and surface crafters. The hand-painted Tremolo hand-painted lipstick-red wall covering brought life, and opium den-meets-Grauman’s Chinese theater intrigue and Hollywood Deco glamour to another tiny hall that could have otherwise been lost to the shadows.

Design is, in large part, problem solving. Even in the smallest of spaces. Sometimes, as shown in this year’s Holiday House, especially in the smallest of spaces.

What details did you most love from among the house’s more diminutive spaces?

Holiday House 2012, to benefit Breast Cancer Research Foundation, is open to the public from October 25th through November 18th, 2012 at 2 East 63rd Street, in New York City.

Get Social! Find Holiday House, Mr. Call Designs, Janet Rice Interiors, Maya Romanoff, Archives ID, Ochre and Niedermaier on Facebook.

PREVIOUS: Read Part 1 and Part 2.

All photos, Patrick J. Hamilton unless noted.

...about a holiday wreath giveaway.

2012-11-04T19:39:00.000-05:00

The plans have changed for this year's second annual Holiday Wreath Giveaway. Hurricane Sandy saw to that. While many of us were extremely lucky, and weathered the storm with little or no ill effect, many saw the worst this area has ever seen... losing homes, businesses, and hope. I'd like to help bring a little of that hope back. But I need your help.

This year, the giveaway will be an auction, to benefit the Ali Forney Center, whose West Village Drop-in Center was flooded, four feet of water ruining all facilities and equipment. Ali Forney provides support, counseling, a safe place and more to at-risk teens in the LGBT spectrum.

The rules are simple: Post here with your bid amount. If there's a bid, you need to beat it by $5, and the highest amount above the cost of materials ($150) by December 1st wins this year's fully custom wreath.

On December 1st, the winning bidder will be contacted and a custom 20" wreath will be creating especially for the winner.

The money will be donated to Ali Forney, to help restore the space and equipment they lost this past week. Winner be be responsible for shipping costs. Any amount above $150 is tax deductible to the full extent of the law.

Pictured, the winner's wreath last year. See more about how it came together here, and read some tips about putting together your own wreath here.

Opening bid is $155... and starts... NOW!

...about Holiday House 2012, Part 2: Five big designs, in not-so-big packages

2012-11-02T19:17:00.002-04:00

Bigger spaces in a show house are both blessing and curse. So much space to flex creative muscle! SO MUCH SPACE TO FILL. Holiday House, in its ample footprint, has a handful of rooms that are big on space. But to this studio-dweller and frequent designer of small spaces, I’m much more interested in rooms of a more manageable size. I love to see how fellow designers coax the most style and function out of rooms that, to many in Manhattan, still seem ample, but by high-end designer/client standards, are mere shoeboxes. But like the high-end shoeboxes in Carrie Bradshaw’s closets, there are some well-heeled and sexy designs lurking under the lids.

Dineen Architecture + Design

Last year, the lovely ladies behind Dineen Architecture + Design showed considerable small-space prowess in what otherwise could have been a throw-away space, and the moment they created was one of the prettiest, smartest pictures painted in the house last year.

This year, Joan Dineen and Alyson Liss got an upgrade and a lot more legroom, then ran with it. With their architect’s eye, they focused first on the envelope of the room, adding tailored, graphite gray grasscloth and a buttoned-up bleached-wood wall that gave the fireplace elevation a 40’s French and shipshape streamlined makeover (lurking beneath, a wild mosaic surround from years past).

In a room full of such individually high-personality pieces, the net result is surprisingly quiet. But a whisper is often much more intriguing than a shout, even if whispering is a show house risk, when trying to grab a little ink and vying for press and publicity.

The portrait of this lady is intriguing, too. There are lovely storytelling details in the styling, which these architects so humbly said is not their particular strong suit (coulda fooled me). Speaking of suiting, Chanel-suiting-inspired window treatments (look close! There’s a little glitz in that warp and weft!), curvy art furniture (the wood piece, fireside, by RISD alum Sean O’Hara, from A.Rudin), and a beveled wall mirror that’s pure jewelry all bring to life a fictional grand dame of confident style.

And while all about her, the room tempers the girly with elements of harder edge... an angular Dineen-custom daybed (that some manufacturer needs to start producing asap), the floral but not flowery area carpet from Fort Street Studio, the spiky Vestal firescreen by gentleman designer John Lyle, and a gender-bending Marcus Leatherdale photo, one of several pieces of art I wanted to smuggle out under my coat.

I also love that this collection of items, decisions and art looks like it came together over a life's time, so hard to do in a room that apparates in a matter of weeks, usually from a designer’s familiar, go-to and signature sources. And bonus, of growing import: many of the room's main pieces were locally produced, including the Brooklyn-crafted overhead light fixture.

Interesting to note, and a great by-product of the show house taking place in the same venue each year: this was the space given a Halloween take in 2011. The deep-dark walls from Suzanne Eason’s haunting design made this room seem far larger, living proof of the adage many still disbelieve: dark rooms seem bigger. But here, bigger wasn't necessarily better, and size seemed no obstacle to style.

Donald Schermerhorn

Never has second place seemed so appealing. Donald Schermerhorn’s take on President’s Day tells the story of an also-ran, licking his post Election Day wounds in a cozy octagon of a room that I’d gladly take as runner-up consolation. Donald's show house narrative kicks off with a copy of "Almost President: The Men Who Lost the Race But Changed the Nation," and the unnamed oil portrait with decidedly near-presidential airs.

Driven by spectacular textiles, and above wall-to-wall muted leopard spots, Donald conjures up Federal style in a most capital way. This patriot’s palette steers clear of cliché, but the effect is still full-tilt Blair House, with Chinese export pots, deep woods and traditional upholstered silhouettes. Modern oils over the mineral blue sofa shake the dust off the place.

The ceiling-raking and show-stopping screen (not pictured), put in place to balance out an oddly-placed door seems perfection, but is also a runner up: Donald chuckled about the call he received, days before install, that his first choice screen had been sold out from under him. Plan B, it was. A+.

Full disclosure: I am an unabashed Donald Schermerhorn fan, since seeing a past show house room of his where a queen bed was floated, mid-room, to inventive and heavenly effect. But this room won me over on its own merits, not the designer bromance I have with this gent’s gent who always solidly delivers, under the radar of far too many shelter magazines.

Robyn Karp Design

A bedazzled door getting all the attention of wanna-be-teens wandering in opens on to a candy-colored room of lilac Venetian plaster, an all-out girl's room by Robyn Karp Design. Part Willy Wonka, a lot of Violet (Beauregarde), and most definitely all Veruca Salt.

There is always risk with uppercase-t Themed rooms... but just when you think this lavender confection is headed to sugar overload, it reaches the end of the cul-de-sac and spins right ‘round, baby. What steers it back in the clear? A shot of coral (an amped up version of Tobi Fairley’s shell pink), most notably in a pair of Bergeres, fireside, some funky art and graphic pattern, confidently mixed.

Then there’s the room’s real star, the constellation overhead. My delightful tour companion Jill and I joked that this would be one lucky 16 year old for the light fixture alone, a starburst that stopped Robyn in her tracks when she first spotted it in a store window from a moving car. This going-on-Seventeen Magazine inhabitant better be getting straight As. Or be Selena Gomez. Hard to believe, too, that last year this was the scene and setting of Charles Farruggio’s dark and handsome engagement party.

Suzanne Eason

To paraphrase a hot topic, “Life begins at decoration.” At least that’s what happens in the apt hands and glowing almost-cube of a room of Suzanne Eason. A jewelbox of lapis blues and malachite greens starts at the walls, with Trove’s Double Helix DNA-inspired "Chroma" wall covering. It evokes joy as much as it does science: it’s every bit happy birthday ribbons and confetti as it is genetically encoded protein strands. The room is arranged on a symmetrical plan, but enlivened with bright, unapologetic colors and simplified, tailored shapes.

The room is a sly, witty and elegant face-off of Science vs. Creationism (more than one serpentine and Eden-esque reference lurks and slithers) that stands on the merits of beauty alone, even if you take away the high concept.

Photographed at press preview before the sculptures found their final home on a pair of pedestals, the lovely (and pretty genetically-perfect herself) Suzanne brought me up and into the back halls of the house to see the pair of plaster statues by Daniel Williams, of the New York Academy of Art, waiting in the wings. The sculptures were commissioned by Suzanne, who has a patron-ly track record of highlighting and engaging artists to bring life to her room, and her rooms to life.

Like any polished woman knows, sometimes all it takes is a dash of cosmetics and a bit of jewelry before making a new appearance. That’s how Suzanne chose to address the adjoining bath, with its existing mother-of-pearl border and soaking tub: add a deep blue ceiling, a rock crystal fixture, and oil painting (one of two by Kathy Buist)... done. It’s a simple lesson in how a few definitive details transform a room without ever having to dial up a contractor.

Javaras Kennally Associates

First-time Holiday Housers Javaras Kennally Associates made a grand and glowing entrance in a small room with big givens. An existing wall of built-in bookcases throws the little alley of a room out of balance, but their choices of strong art and an all-over golden glow threw it right back in.

The collaged photo portrait felt old and new, downtown and tribal, and settled back into the hand-applied squares of gold leaf, torn edges marrying the two. That gold-leafing also blurs the edges and pushes out the walls. This is a tough little room, where some have struggled in years past, but perfectly scaled pieces made this gilded box hardworking and highly inhabitable.

Like I said before, I miss some of the outright holiday references, house-wide. But there’s still plenty to love in Holiday House. Even in small doses.

NEXT: The smallest spaces and details that show big creativity! See how designers chose to take on their challenges here. PREVIOUS: The biggest rooms, and the three ways designers address show house design, here.

Holiday House 2012, to benefit Breast Cancer Research Foundation, is open to the public from October 25th and has been extended through November 25th, 2012 at 2 East 63rd Street, in New York City.

Get Social! Find Holiday House and Javaras Kennally Associates on Facebook.

All photos: Patrick J. Hamilton

...about Holiday House 2012, Part 1

2012-11-01T11:00:00.000-04:00

I love a lot, and there’s a lot to love, about Holiday House. It’s the annual Manhattan charity show house, now in its fifth year, and this year benefitting the Breast Cancer Research Foundation, a venture of the venerable Lauder family. Almost thirty spaces, rooms and passages are transformed by interior designers and architects (along with armies of upholsters, painters, cabinetmakers, volunteers, paperhangers, florists and stylists). But it’s also not just an exercise in décor... it’s themed decorating at its finest, in all its finery, as the designers also add a holiday interpretation on top of their design plan. Win, win, indeed.

One of the things unique to Holiday House among other show houses is that each year, the venue remains the same. It’s like watching the same Broadway play with different casts, or maybe more aptly, different scenic designers. You get to see how a parade of high-powered design names chooses to enhance, celebrate, correct or even ignore the spaces and architectural detail (or lack thereof) they’ve been given. It’s the perfect place to play compare and contrast (my very favorite game!) with past years’ installations.

Aside from those designers, and like in a Merchant Ivory film, the other real star of this show is the house itself. An historic and rare triple-wide townhouse just steps away from Central Park’s tony east edge, the house has several rooms that are spectacular even empty, and it’s been fascinating to watch those rooms, specifically, get dolled up and decked out.

The first floor holds most of these spaces: a stone-walled, wildly-marbled, fully fire-placed and almost double-height Grand Entry; a spectacular vaulted dining room; a front parlor/formal living room with arched French doors opening to a center courtyard; and a back room with leaded windows, dark and deeply-carved paneling, and remarkable fireplace.

Over the years, designers have dealt with these period-ready rooms (some have been backdrops for HBO's Boardwalk Empire) in a multitude of ways, either giving into the existing vibe and bones, or updating the traditional spaces with modern art and broad strokes in an attempt to upstage the diva they’ve been dealt. The successes seem to come, mostly, from working with, not against the rooms (Charles Pavarini’s Thanksgiving dining room, and Bradley Thiergartner’s Christmas entry from years past, most notable among those successes). But whether success or near miss (there are generally no failures here), it is delightful to see the spaces get attention from another annual string of suitors.

This year, the first floor was handed over to show house veterans and shelter mag favorites, and their rooms alone presented an encapsulated view of three trends of how designers tackled their task within the house’s remaining entirety: artful installation, walk-in magazine spreads from style-first designers (whose signature is immediately evident to anyone following design today), and traditional show house storytelling.

Artful Installation

Show house rooms are generally works of art, but several participants pushed the artful concept even further, creating spaces and rooms that were more “installation” than décor.

Leading the charge of the art brigade was Inson Dubois Wood, whose partnership with luxury brands Hermes, Lladró and Promemoria, and his “Carnavale” theme, yielded a riot of color, shape, texture, and pattern, in a room already lacking none of the above. This is a love-it-or-hate-it room, but it’s sure to garner the bulk of the conversation and press. It’s a Salvador Dali production of Alice in Wonderland, or the barcarolle scene from Act III of Tales of Hoffman, after a big gulp of absinthe.

All the elements of a dining set-up are here, but faceted, fragmented, deconstructed and exploded. It is one notch away from feeling merchandised, and getting so close without falling over that edge is no small feat. The fun Inson had with gilding this lily of a room (even the already-ornate ceiling got an extra layer of gold, paint and venetian plaster) is quite clear.

Art is modern and sharply cutting edge, and every single piece of furniture is stand-alone sculpture. The Phantom-of-the-Opera crash-landed chandelier is part art, part necessity... no overhead junction box, in this large room with only one electrical outlet. No doubt candlelight was intended in the original room, but the uplighting from this grounded flight-of-fancy is almost as flattering.

It’s one of the most exuberant showhouse rooms I’ve ever wandering into, amazed and agape. As a room that people are going to run home and duplicate, probably notsomuch, but that seems far from the intent of the same designer who wowed here last year with his lacquer red box of Chinese New Year. As a designer looking to garner clients, this assemblage is perhaps also a risk, but the bravado of this showhouse showman has to be admired either way.

Installation-chic rooms also included the “Grand Entrance Hall” by Paula + Martha, given the tough space of the entry, where traffic must first be stopped before getting any further notice. The inverted Baccarat crystal stalactite above a stalagmite of sand or salt did just that. A Jacques Jarrige screen held its own against the room already full of detail, a giant artful scribble on the mantle against the travertine walls, as did their large-scale color field paintings and highly sculptural furnishing choices. I’d still settle into last year’s Christmas set-up on a snowy day faster, but I wouldn’t turn my nose up at this decidedly insouciant take on modern glamour in a traditional envelope, either.

Paula + Martha also eased us further into the house with their more traditional design of the adjacent space, an homage to Evelyn Lauder. She makes a most elegant and suitable lady for this folly of a house, her oil portrait flanked by artfully modern sconces, proving that a woman of grace and presence can command any room. The tangerine dress doesn’t hurt the cause one bit.

Not pictured, but of art-installation note: the Christmas yoga room of Stephanie Odegard, actually two adjoining rooms. One, felt-cloaked with a custom Tibetan cloud motif; the other, a room where Tibetan monks were making sand mandalas... far more living art than living room. Other rooms also fit the bill, closer to store window installations than show house room.

Walk-in Magazine

What was black and white and dramatic all over was the easily pegged room of Geoffrey Bradfield. His signature crisp drama, and his love of white as a color, limited palettes and floating seating groupings all made walking into this room a familiar experience to anyone who has picked up a copy of Architectural Digest in the past decade or two, where he makes frequent appearance.

This is signature, and vintage Bradfield. He did dabble in art installation himself, with floor-to-ceiling graphics of dandies from way back in the day, in an homage to Marcel Proust’s “Remembrances of Things Past” and the house’s own history. On opening night, it was more like performance art: Geoffrey’s room was populated by tuxedoed, gloved and moustachioed boys, like a belle epoque Abercrombie and Fitch.

Geoffrey manages to keep Dynasty-era (Carrington, not Han) glamour fully alive, in a room of a scale which could easily accommodate the shoulder pads and charisma of Alexis herself, creating three seating areas of similarly proportioned pieces. Malachite green canvases and Nevelson constructions gave the room some old money gravitas, while a tongue-in-cheek and pie-in-the-face bust in the firebox gave this old dame of a room a little age-erasing nip and tuck.

Other “I can name that designer in three notes” rooms included Vicente Wolf, and to a lesser extent, design and social media maven Tobi Fairley. Vicente’s room had his elegant thumbprint all over it: barely-there glass green, Asian influence, an anachronistic mix of eras, and confident, dark notes against a pale backdrop. When you Wikipedia "Vicente," if Wikipedia had pictures, this room would be it.

In a showhouse-smart gesture of space management and crowd control, he set all the room’s action against three walls, demurely tucked behind gauzy scrims, leaving a clean pass-through left completely unadorned. With those curtains and an opening upon which the bed was centered, it became the stage set of a most elegant drama, but even in the wings, the designer still stayed the star.

Tobi Fairley dialed her normal high volume color choices down a notch but still stayed true to her identifiable signature style. It was a nod, said this buoyant and omnipresent Arkansas designer, to a more refined New York audience, who, for all their sophistication, still seems a little color-wary.

With limited choices and an overall backdrop of (Trend Alert!) printed grasscloth (from Phillip Jeffries), this room was graphic and crisp, but every bit as color confident as this gal normally is, and Exhibit A why the magazines seem to love her.

Tobi managed, with whispers of blush, a dusting of coral-y pink and a shot of emerald green (another color jumping from room to room) to keep visual appeal high while allowing plenty of breathing room. That was accomplished by limiting pattern to basically two (stylized trellis and sketchy faux bois), restraining the palette, and giving shape and silhouette the real star turn.

It yielded a breezy Palm Beach-meets-Hollywood Regency room (where last year, James Rixner taught us life is indeed like a box of chocolates), all floating above a black area carpet (sisal?) to keep the sugar content from rising too high.

Showhouse Storytelling

Typically, showhouses seem a slight exaggeration of a designer’s style, amped up for press appeal and the sheer fun of it, then given a healthy layer of styling detail to tell a story about the fictional inhabitants.

In that more classic showroom fashion, Holiday House veteran Ally Coulter told a deep and layered story for her cheeky spin on Father’s Day, for a real DILFF (that’s “Daddy I’d love to furnish for”). Last year, Ally spun a decidedly more feminine yarn with her Hollywood-glam, Mommy-Dearest-fantastic take on Mother’s Day, and like that effort last year, this is the kind of room you get hired from and for.

This redhead’s Ralph Lauren roots (and sponsorship) showed nicely in this masculine room where the guy also gets to get his glamour on. Like traditional show house narrative styling, it looked like the dude of the den had just sauntered off to check the whiskey reserves. Like her neighbor Inson, Ally had palpable fun telling this story, with racy props (riding crop and phallic missile, anyone?) and muscular art. Even in such a high-personality frame, Ally had the last laugh: Her showstopper was the gun over the mantle, a vintage piece gleaming like the most contemporary of sculpture, having a great conversation with the moderne light fixture overhead.

Overall, the Lauren look worked perfectly with this equally handsome space. Ally worked the room (as only this Rita Hayworth-invoking designer can) with deep blacks and rosewoods, so her pieces settled back easily into the room instead of just perching nervously within its walls as has happened in other years, while reserved doses of regal purple and camel took the cliché off this most elegant of mancaves.

The tented ceiling (a vestige of when Ally had briefly considered an all-over and Out of Africa tented room, perhaps) was a tiny question mark, but the rest was pitch and picture perfect. It made me want to meet this man of Ally’s making, even if he didn’t wield that big of a gun. We’d find something to do, in this room I didn’t want to leave.

Charlotte Moss managed two trends of the house: that walk-in, recognizable, signature style, magazine look, plus classic showhouse storytelling. Like Ally’s room, Charlotte’s was propped to tell a real story about the inhabitant, in this case a classic but modeern woman destined to split her time between the Upper East Side, the south shore, and perhaps Darien.

This is a more traditional take on showhouse style than Charlotte’s boxwood aerie for Kips Bay, and she managed to activate the entire large volume of room without overfilling it. Favorite spot was the tea table and window banquette, where an afternoon could be whiled away with cucumber sandwiches or Apple laptop.

"Opportunities"

With a growing number of friends as Holiday House designers, since design is so subjective, and because the house itself a charity endeavor, it’s hard to find fault. But there were a few minor bones to delicately pick...

Lacking in Holiday House this year is the “Holiday.” It seems this year more than most, designers have stretched the definition and interpretation of “holiday,” coming up with themes like Charlotte Moss’ “Every Day is a Holiday,” Vicente Wolf’s “Winter White,” and DiSalvo Interiors’ “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest.” While they yield gorgeous rooms, a trademark idea of this house is the holiday, and I think watering down that aspect is a huge misstep. It’s a concept, and the event’s brand, that sets this house apart. This year, without the banner fluttering outside, this could be any showhouse, and that seemed a shame. Even Christmas seemed a throw-away, and there wasn’t a single room I walked into and knew what holiday was being honored without asking.

I’m not saying this house should read like Party City, but past years have managed to strike a balance between holiday theme and high-design room... Suzanne Eason’s Halloween, Bryant Keller's Columbus Day, and James Rixner’s Valentines Day, all perfect examples. Sure, most holidays have been done before, but that’s the fun of it: seeing how a new batch of designers steers clear of theme cliché and expected holiday palette pitfalls.

Also throughout, lighting seemed to be an afterthought, and a lot of rooms seemed just plain murky when perhaps moody was the intent. We’ll chalk that up to the dreary, dreary day of the press preview and move right along.

The other issue, a holdover from years past: that top floor. It is a gargantuan space, with skylight and arched windows with odd curtain rails, and odder lighting that seems to combine rope lights and some sort of schoolhouse fluorescents. It’s also an often-missed room, reached via back steps and a small passageway. I know people who never knew this room existed.

As yet, it has proven to be too big a beast to be properly tamed, although the sculptural and poetic pieces chosen this year by Huntley & Co. helped zone and define a space bigger than most Manhattan apartments. But even the best laid plans and sharpest eye (and Huntley & Co. had both) still leave this room perennially feeling slightly unfinished year after year. Their Intrepid-scaled sofas were all but swallowed up, as one example. I would have loved their work even more if it existed in a space one-half the size.

To make this space work next year, two thoughts: Give this room to a real design headliner, to make it a draw and a destination, and make it someone with enough clout (or eager sponsors) to give the room the amount of content it demands. I'd LOVE to see Darryl Carter or Thomas Pheasant take on this room, with its Palladian-meets-loft references. I could also see Bill Sofield coaxing maximum potential from this airplane hangar.

Or, return to the tabletop roots of Holiday House, and fill this space with ten or twelve tables, each decked and designed to full holiday effect by another, newer generation of New York Designers. Make it an event party space, the site of an actual luncheon perhaps, a different kind of draw, where the room becomes a non-issue and the table's the thing. It’s a thought.

Even with a slight case of hiccups, Holiday House always keeps me up for a few days after first tour, plotting and planning what room and holiday I’d pick. I’m kinda a Halloween guy. But I love birthdays... hmmm! Maybe next year I’ll be writing about my own room at Holiday House. I'll make a wish as I blow out the candles next August.

Holiday House 2012, to benefit Breast Cancer Research Foundation, is open to the public from October 25th through November 18th, 2012 at 2 East 63rd Street, in New York City.

Get Social! Holiday House is on Facebook.

All photos: Patrick J. Hamilton

NEXT: Five big designs in not-so-big packages, and the magic of Suzanne Eason, Dineen Architecture + Design, Javaras Kennally Associates, Donald Schermerhorn, and more.

...about holiday trends: West Elm holiday preview.

2012-08-30T15:47:00.002-04:00

If it's August, it must be Christmas. That's the retail rule that cranks up the calendar so we all have time to plan ahead, and figure out what style we want when we finally get our merry on. I was lucky to be invited to the West Elm headquarters, in the shadow of the Brooklyn Bridge on a hot July day, to preview their fall and holiday collections.

What West Elm does, they do really well, and their holiday collection of tabletop, home, kitchen and cool-season introductions proved to be more of the same: collaborative endeavors, smart and stylish packaging, great staples, an "evident hand" and seasonal accent that have a shelf life past the red letter day. And throughout, the seasonal introductions build on collections and Christmases past (the dotted penguins are back!), allowing you to continue to layer on and tell your own home and holiday tale. Here are my highlights...

Gifts of the Manguy

For those stumped by man-shopping, West Elm has you covered with items you won't need to save the gift receipt for. Grooming and bar-stocking seemed the center of the gifting, and standouts included a chic prepackaged sake set that looks like way more money than it is.

No guys on your gift list? Not to worry... the individual decanters with turned-wood-ball stoppers, agate-slice coasters (FINALLY, available in all one-color or mix and match!) and more seasonally-themed items (peppermint-striped paper straws, felted reindeer and penguin coasters) make ideal host or hostess gifts... or make you look like the perfect host or hostess.

Gifted for Good

With the success of past giving campaigns with St. Jude's, West Elm once agains shows its charitable side, this season with a new collection of mugs benefitting St. Jude's, the SPCA, AmFar and other worthy causes.

Menagerie, a Trois

West Elm continues to explore whimsical animal themes, and new additions give the streamlined ceramic menagerie of Jonathan Adler a run for the money... for a lot less money. While they look wintry now, most will survive the season. I know a few Bears who'd love to be on the gift list this year, lined up for the polar bear cake plate and cookie jar. I'd use the fox or squirrel in a nursery to stash away smaller items.

Tree Alternatives

West Elm has always addressed the challenges of small-space living, even with holiday additions. This year's introductions include a flat-pack tree, with classic Nordic roots and cool graphic style. It could hold its own without a single ornament.

Smart Kitchen

They've continued to stock the pantry over in the West Elm kitchen section since its recent introduction, part of the company's attempt to create more one-stop shopped for brides-to-be and first apartment furnishers. Especially of note, these chic and sleek knife blocks. Designed with that headsmack of "Why didn't anyone think of this before?" their cylindrical design takes up vastly less space on a New York countertop. And thank you, West Elm: knives and blocks are sold separately if its just the wood you want to get your hands on.

Patchwood

Speaking of wood, long gone are the days when the only flavor of wood over at West Elm was Chocolate. New introductions for Fall and beyond show a playful, artisanal approach to wood. The patchwork dresser is the first piece in a coming collection, but even on its own, it's the dream piece to knit together an existing room's worth of mismatched wood tones.

Are We All Lit?

On almost any interior job I do, a lamp from West Elm manages to make it onto a table, nightstand and into the portfolio picture. Their unique designs and pocket-friendly price tags make them both standouts and go-to pieces. Two new introductions give great shine and shimmer to country home or city boudoir. The cast twig lamp also shows that shine is not emasculating. I'd love it in a deep-cola or navy men's study or master bedroom. Use that one as a single to capitalize on its found quality, but use the stacked silvered glass lamp in pairs: it's perfectly nightstand-scaled.

Well Seasoned

West Elm continues its collaboration with Allegra Hicks, and her newest bedding looks nicely icy when surrounded by snow-covered trees, but I'd gladly slip into this printed and embroidered bedding when trying to keep my August cool. Pillows also easily find their way into a living room, and the duvet alone creates a dreamy palette for an entire bedroom.

Menswear and Modern

The new Victor chair was already a welcome addition to the West Elm custom upholstery collection, but the style quotient has been haberdashed way up in this straight-from-the-design-buildings menswear flannel check. Bulky knits also made more than one appearance throughout all the collections, even used as a printed motif on serveware.

Tree Trends

Icy, woodsy and colorful: these were the three main tree stories, with collections that prove one-stop tree trimming doesn't have to end up looking cookie cutter. The signature mix of handmade, organic, and a dusting of holiday bling made each tree look collected and quaint. And lots of the ornaments would also be perfect table-top accents or gift wrapping trim.

Wood Luxe

I've always loved the wintry mix that West Elm serves up: like Elves at the disco, Studio 25th of December, with birch bark, snow and glitz in a winter wonderland. And the tablescapes of West Elm's holiday collections aren't just for Christmas: they'd go all the way from Winter Solstice to the perfect New Year's Eve fete, feast or festival. And again, don't let the setting fool you: most pieces can stand on their own year 'round.

Good Look for the Money

West Elm manages to get a lot of look for the money, and these glass shapes (perfectly and beautifully packed for giving) are no exception.

Fall, for Bronze

I've often joked that my favorite season is "Retail Fall," and although West Elm's big brother Pottery Barn does it best, West Elm does fall with warmth, modernity, and a global air. Bronzes, moroccan lighting, foxed mirror, metallic glazes and custom tableware designed by Laura Zindel will all cast a far eastern and Indian summer glow from living room to dining table.

Modern (Color) Family

Not all fall and holiday colors are deep... a sand-washed palette, more Santa Fe than Santa Claus (perfect for a mid-century-a-phile) worked its way into hand-blocked textiles and a growing collection of seeded-glass vessels that look like they came from a gallery or craft fair, not mall or catalog.

Square Biz

I also can't wait to get my hands on the new and untrimmed preserved box wood wreaths: fresh and modern in a square shape, manageable in price and size (enough to easily consider multiples), and the perfect backdrop for a custom wreath design.

Color Blocked

From rubber-dipped canvas totes to linen and velvet pillows, West Elm doesn't shy away from color, and gives you lots of colorful ammunition whether upping the color ante for a holiday party, or giving a white-walled rental or color-fearful some easy-to-change hue and dash.

I left West Elm, indigo-dipped goody bag in hand (including the clever Mason-jar martini shaker!), whistling a holiday tune (okay, humming. I can't really whistle). Who knew, in the dazzling summer sun, we need a little Christmas now? Thanks West Elm! Counting the days!

What West Elm look are you most excited about? How would you use it in your home! Tell me!!

Get social! Follow West Elm on Facebook, and follow their blog, Front & Main.

... about Rachel Doriss.

2012-07-23T13:30:00.000-04:00

Listen in on my conversation with Rachel Doriss, textile designer and Creative Director of Pollack Fabrics, as she talks to Apartment Therapy about the Bed Stuy apartment she shares with her music-producer husband Joel and daughter Coco, about where she finds inspiration, and her deeply embedded love of the textile arts, just one of the many gifts she's plucked from her family tree.

See the whole Tour over on Apartment Therapy.

...about theme decorating: out to the ballgame!

2012-06-14T22:58:00.001-04:00

Theme decorating (especially when it’s a sports theme) can get a bad rap. And for some very good reason. The celebration of sport, interior design-wise, is not always pretty, and it’s often a point of division (and not just of the Yankees/Mets variety), when one resident is more a fan than the other. Rather than arrive at a design compromise, many times “the sports room” becomes the den or home office that gets closed off when company comes unless they’re coming for game day. It doesn't have to be.

Clockwise from upper left: Relief Pitchers, Elizabethton, TN, David Deal; Maya Romanoff “Stitched II, Vinyl Wallcovering; Swan Chair, Fritz Hansen; Tim Thumb, Andrea Modica, “Minor League;” Cherner Task Chair; Stratus Mini Pendant, Fredrick Ramond; Segreto Desk, Potrona Frau Andree Putman.

There’re the rooms designed to be a mini-museum of photos, memorabilia. Then there’s the little league: kids bedrooms built around a favorite sport or team... done right, a great inspiring space that’s positioned to grow as team loyalties change. Done not-so-great, these rooms can look like a little like a birthday party exploded.

Is it possible to create a tasteful room built on team spirit? I got ideas, how ‘bout YOU?! Warning: mixed sports metaphors ahead. And I will say "balls" a lot. Balls.

Relief Pitchers, Elizabethon TN, 1999, David Deal, from "Prospects: A Portrait of Minor League Baseball"

Inspired By the Game

I love the idea of peeling away the layers of a theme, and applying some design principles to make rooms that fanatic and non-fan can share without having to call in the ump. Any sport, its equipment and the places it's played present a whole toolbox of texture, color and shape from which to build, whether basement rec room or nursery. I love the idea of building a room from that toolbox, with shapes evocative of a sport, and not necessarily actual items or theme-y, literal and team-branded pieces by novelty makers. The sport of baseball is great source for these kinds of material inspiration: leather gloves and balls, exposed metal, simple shapes. And there are great pieces where the context makes the piece sport-driven.

Above: Random Light Suspension Lamp, Moooi
Below: No. 46, by Don Hamerman

The Random pendant is seen without any obvious sports connection in many a contemporary interior, but against a blue backdrop of seamed wall covering from Maya Romanoff, and suddenly you’ve got yourself the start of a sports story. Add a Bertoia chair, and you’ve made a subtle reference to a catcher’s mask. Okay, maybe not sooooo subtle, but you get the idea. The bonus is that since these rooms are often the repository of lots of branded and busy memorabilia, these bigger, simplified shapes create a great backdrop and keep the shell of the room quieter, letting the treasured ball or bat or jersey stay the star.

Bertoia Side Chair with Cushion

Interior designer Joe Cangelosi agrees that it’s all about inspiration, not piracy: “Take elements of the client's favorite team. For example, Yankee pinstripes on the walls. Or use team colors as accents in your accessories.”

Like I advise in any design plan to keep a room cohesive, sports-themed or not, make sure anything you bring in has something in common with what’s already there. If you know the room will house signed red and white baseballs and autographed wood bats from your favorite Yankees, then you’ve already got your room’s palette: White, red and blue, with wood and leather (and the plexi of the display cubes) your potential materials.

Clockwise from upper left: Artifort 585 Chair, Geoffrey Harcourt; Baseball Chair, YoonJung Heo; Nut Pendant, LZF; Ball in Hand, David Deal; Maya Romanoff “Stitched II, Vinyl Wallcovering; “Rawlings,” Don Hamerman; Center, Bertoia Chair with Cushion.

Head Office

I like the idea of tackling a sports-inspired room as the design for a sports front office instead of a sports bar. Instead of a throw-away directors chair emblazoned with a team logo, make more grown up choices (like that classic Bertoia chair). Suddenly, you go from farm league to the majors, and even the non-sporting group will start to feel comfortable in the room, too.

Clockwise from upper left: Bats, Amarillo TX, David Deal; Random Light Suspension Lamp, Moooi; Maya Romanoff Braided Hemp Wallcovering; Clybourn Desk, Crate & Barrel; No. 46, Don Hamerman; Bob End Table, Poltrona Frau; Bertoia Bench; Placentero Chair, Batti

New Jerseys

I love framed jerseys... IF they are framed well. Forego the multiple mats, color-matched frames and logo embellishments. A great jersey (or ticket or baseball card) looks best in a clean presentation... floated in a plexi box, or shadow-boxed in a warm walnut or black-stained frame. Modern, clean and simple is the best way to slide into home.

Ball in Hands, David Deal, from "Prospects: A Portrait of Minor League Baseball"

Framed Art

If you want to deck the wall of a room to honor Sport, but you’re not a collector of signed photos, look outside the sports memorabilia shops and turn to galleries and fine artists for images to anchor the space. There are some gorgeous images of players and places by some talented, exhibited photographers... Andrea Modica and David Deal show off their amazing eye and love of the game in pictures of farm league players. David’s images work at any size, but absolutely soar when blown up to three or more feet wide. The bonus of some of David’s outdoor images, especially when used large, is the illusion of adding a window to rooms typically devoid of them (basements and home offices). Home run. (I warned you.)

Bob Coffee Table, Poltrona Frau

Color Coverage

Team colors are always big players in sports-themed rooms. Here in New York, we’re lucky to have two blue-and-white teams, easy to work with in large or small doses. But when your team colors are something a little more loud than you want the room to be, use them in smaller doses, tempered with lots of white, silver, wood and black. A purple and yellow jersey in a largely white room looks like a grown-up lives there. A purple and yellow room, notsomuch. So, like the Bud you down in the bleachers, know when to say when, or you end up with a sloppy mess.

Stratus Mini Pendant by Fredrick Ramond

But if you are adding team color, remember that color doesn’t just come from paint. I love the idea of a colored lighting fixture, like the Stratus Mini-pendant. But again, steer clear of the lamp made of a stack of baseballs. Save up for the collectors signed ball instead. In this executive office or mogul's media room, it’s about class, not kitsch.

Baseball-inspired Table and Chair, YoongJung Heo

The Thing’s the Thing

If the room’s destined for a serious collector and not just a fan, remember that the accessories will be the collectibles themselves, so go light on anything else you bring in, however tempting. Jim Fairfax, of Fairfax Designs, gives an example: “I worked with an attorney several years ago obsessed with baseball. The design for her home study became about the display of her collection rather than any sports references like team colors or patterns.” How did he make that happen? “Custom cabinets, spot lights on important pieces.” That included some pieces bigger than Jim had planned on. “During the design of this room the old Yankee Stadium began offering the physical stadium seats for sale. Guess where her season seats ended up? Front and center in the room. Those two seats were as important to her as someone else's 15th century collection of jade carvings.”

Bats, Amarillo TX, David Deal, from "Prospects: A Portrait of Minor League Baseball"

Go Old Team

If your room is just meant to celebrate the love of sport, and not necessarily a favorite team, interior designer and blogger Brion R. Judge, of B.R. Judge Design and Bastion & Lark, thinks old is new: “I've only had one client that wanted a sports-theme room of any kind (thank god for little favors!) My solution was to find vintage sports pieces, old boxing gloves, a vintage basketball outfit ... a great vintage leather football helmet and things of that nature.” Plus, he notes, “these type of pieces help bring a bit of heritage into a space.” Aside from adding great texture and warmth, Brion likes them for what they don’t bring: “Most of these things generally don't have vivid, bright or gaudy colors (much unlike current sports gear) so they become neutrals in the space while still being focal points.”

While all these ideas are meant to make rooms where taste levels rival team spirit, ultimately they're meant to be rooms built on fun, spirit and personal style, and Jim doesn’t disagree that it's okay if spirit trumps style. “Design for me is always about creating spaces that celebrate a client's passions. If sports touches someone's heart, the theme isn't important. It's all about the celebration. Why not put it on display?”

Whether it's sports-, travel- or, well, anything related, there are plenty of ways to keep themed décor stylish, grown-up, and in a room you'll be happy to keep open all year long. So maybe "theme décor" isn't an oxymoron after all. Balls.

Get social! Find Fairfax Studios, Joe Cangelosi Design, and B.R. Judge Design on Facebook.

...about "downstyling:" Deborah Needleman at the Decoration and Design Building

2012-05-31T20:41:00.005-04:00

Her title: Editor in Chief of WSJ. Magazine, the Wall Street Journal luxury lifestyle title. Her legacy: the masthead matriarch of Domino. Her book: The Perfectly Imperfect Home. Her keynote at the D&D Spring Market: all about where luxury fits in, in the grand scheme, designer’s toolbox and Manhattan apartment. It was an interesting conceptual take on what everyone is always hungering for from editors and industry insiders: What’s new, what’s next? What’s the new It, the next Trend?

But Ms. Needleman avoided the “T” word, making no color forecast, no prognostication of the Next Big Thing. Instead, she talked about where she finds relevance and inspiration as she curates the story of good living to her blue chip readership (with great and growing numbers, per the excited publisher in his introduction of Ms. Needleman). But inspiration is not necessarily, from this interior design maven, where you’d expect she’d find it. Her muses of the moment? Fashion photography, the fashion runway, and food trends.

From fashion photography, via a recent couture story from WSJ, Ms. Needleman talked about today’s kind of elegance... unadorned, tough, edgy. The photos, shot against bare backdrop and with a barefoot Stella Tennant, were used to show the swing between classic elegance and a contemporary air. “It’s about,” she said, “the tension of beauty and mood.” Ms. Needleman called Tennant “a woman with a real life,” and cited her athletic, Amazonian presence, palpable strength and unexpected dyed-white brows as the reasons why these shots were a new-school take on Old World elegance.

What’s the interior connection? According to Ms. Needleman, even a dressy traditional space needs something in counterpoint to keep the excess at bay. Her “Do” illustration was a room at first glance every bit as decadent as the “Don’t,” but Ms. Needleman picked out the quirk and charm she said made the interior a new kind of luxe: mismatched sofas, contemporary Schiele portrait, and a lived-in sense of comfort. In this example, it seems, the English, with their layered country homes, have it right, even right now. “Now is the time for charm,“ she said, adding an apt rallying cry for the room of assembled decorators, “and more pillows!”

In contrast, she flashed a “Don’t” image of unadulterated tradition, more Crystal Carrington than Duchess of Windsor, with an air of conspicuous consumption that might give even Gordon Gekko pause.

From fashion’s runways, the same sort of connection (softness with an edge, and vice-versa) but she also used images where a humble or “sweet” material was used architecturally, and without apology... an allover print, lace or floral. What she saw on these runways was something “decorative, yet puritanical,” and “an elegance tempered with simplicity.”

The rooms she used in concert were more of the same: chintz or florals used with abandon, or humble made chic, and in Ms. Needleman’s estimation, made fresh and new in the celebration of the simple. She was quick to clarify that these comparisons were about “letting something simple speak,” and that they were meant to be more ethereal examples and less literal connections than Domino’s “Turn this outfit into a room!” feature, although the difference did not seem all that defined... just a touch more upscale.

And finally, food. Citing farm-to-table movements, gastropubs and the hyper-specialization of the likes of olive oil stores and meatball shops, Ms. Needleman made a delicious case for the same kind of living: a celebration of “honest” materials, and rooms were the function is clear and celebrated. A stripped-down but sunlit room, with vintage soaking tub provided illustration. “This room is about bathing, and the pure joy of the Bath.” She got lots of nods from the room when she said, “Who doesn’t love a bath?”

There were tie-ins here, too, to the runway concept of using one “ingredient” and running with it (chintz or pattern or function substituting for the meatball in the metaphor). What it’s now about, said Ms. Needleman, is “simplicity, authenticity, a narrative and sense of place.”

But what of all this authenticity? Is that a relevant topic to a roomful of people charged with spinning yarns for their clients with imported textiles and custom-made pieces, much from within the walls of this top-tier and trade-only building?

There seemed to be in many of her examples a statement, too, about femininity: that something sweet can be strong, no explanation necessary. Along those lines, and with a slight apology to the handful of men in the packed room, she said, “It’s a good time to be a woman decorator,” going on to say, “women think more about how people use space.”

The idea that rooms are meant to be used, frayed edges be damned, and her mantra of “perfectly imperfect,” the essence of Ms. Needleman’s book and at the root of her keynote, all rings true when we are pressed for time and tight on budget. But Ms. Needleman’s examples still felt quite aspirational. The same could also be said of Undecorate, the book by DwellStudio’s Christiane Lemieux, where each interior seems to try to outdo the next for how “unstyled” the highly styled interiors could be. Likewise, those shots of supermodel Ms. Tennant were done by the absolute best in the business, with staggering day rates and a cast of many, all in the interest of “simplicity.” To paraphrase Dolly Parton, “It takes a lot of money to look this undecorated.”

And, apparently, it takes a bit of cash to live this simply... English manors, Spanish country homes, rolling family estates, and Porthault linens were the images on the screen. No connection was necessarily made to how to get these couture ideas right off the rack, in a building of high-end sources where a CB2 recently moved in just downstairs.

It seems also, to be about context: a threadbare sofa seems chic and terribly unaffected in a manor on the Scottish moors. In a Manhattan studio, something gets lost in the translation. And if not context, maybe backstory. That “real woman” Tennant? She’s the granddaughter of Andrew Cavendish, 11th Duke of Devonshire and Deborah Mitford, the last of the noted Mitford sisters.

It’s also all interesting, in the context of Ms. Needleman’s past with now-folded Domino, a casualty of the tough times besetting the shelter-magazine world. Domino had a DIY and budget vibe (The scripty captions! The exclamation points!!!) while heralding designers who wouldn’t take a commission under $10,000 (and up) in fees alone for a single room. It seems that high/low disconnect possibly led to an advertiser/reader disconnect, too.

Is all this intentional “downstyling” a self-conscious apology for wealth in an Occupy Wall Street world? Or is it just the next iteration of tradition through the lens of a new generation? Is “It’s time to lighten up the luxury” just a way to address a still-faltering or stalled economy or a return to something real? Choice, or necessity? Not sure, but interesting to consider. Is, as Ms. Needleman suggests, the idea of “indulgence” as dated as the shoulder pads of Dynasty? Or is the attempted avoidance of looking indulgent just a shtick and charade, like the court members of Versailles dressing like peasants for kicks and giggles? Or maybe this is just what luxury and style will look like when our newest wave of Facebook-funded millionaires start hiring designers and showing their lofts off on The Selby.

Granted, “budget” is a HIGHLY subjective topic, especially in a design building (where later in the day, curator-extraordinaire Murray Moss touted the "simple" joys of $200 drinking glasses, although his namesake store Moss, which used to sell those glasses, is now defunct) and another presenter talked about the issues of removing her MoMA-caliber collection to make way for her daughter’s at-home birthday party. I just wish the connections to a different tier of client had been made, by someone, somewhere. But maybe, to this audience, that would have been sacrilege, like bringing a GAP shopping bag to Fashion Week.

Later in the day, I spoke to the connected and buoyant Suzanne Sokolov, of Boost Marketing, and she talked about a rising vibe of similar “authenticity” in the interior blog community, specifically, “Things I’m Afraid to Tell You,” a viral confessional of sorts where some of the blogosphere’s best admit to not being able to make rent or afford the luxury goods they’re all-a-Twitter over, among other things laid bare, publicly. There seems to be the desire for honesty there, too.

Are we ready for al this honesty, and a new kind of warts-and-all, perfectly imperfect, downstyled luxury? Not sure. When times are tough, there's something, sometimes, to be said for aspiration and a little bit of artifice. I do like, though, the idea that definitions of beauty and good design need a good airing out every now and then. Just like those English Country homes.

Get social! Find the D&D Building and WSJ Magazine on Facebook.

All images, except for the event photo and the D&D Building/CB2 image: WSJ.Magazine, from Deborah Needleman's keynote presentation, used with permission of the D&D Building.

... about a West Village home.

2012-05-29T08:30:00.000-04:00

I talk to John Behan and architect David Burdett of DAS Studio as they open their home a second time to the readers of Apartment Therapy. Their West Village 30s era apartment was reworked and fine tuned, by decor and design, to better suit the duo, and make an apartment live larger without moving or removing a single wall.

David, Part 1

David, Part 2

John

See the full House Tour here on Apartment Therapy.

...about "it's all in the details:" Kips Bay 2012

2012-05-25T01:15:00.000-04:00

Today, I'm letting the images speak for themselves, and let the pictures do the heavy lifting. I posted already about what the take-aways were for the Kips Bay Decorator's Showhouse 2012, when top designers tackled new construction. But aside from the overall rooms, I love the "moments" in showhouses... an item, a vignette, a detail, a chair, a juxtaposition. So without further comment, my favorite moments of Kips Bay 2012. (Pictured above: David Scott's study.)

Patrik Lonn

Laura Bohn

Coffinier Ku Design

Neal Beckstedt

Scott Sanders

Alexander Doherty

Brian Del Toro

Alexa Hampton

Jamie Drake

Raji Radhakrishnan

The Show House runs through June 14th, 2012. Hours are Monday through Saturday, 11 a.m. – 5 p.m.; Tuesday and Thursday until 8 p.m.; Sunday, Noon - 5 p.m.

Get social! Find the Kips Bay Boys & Girls Club Decorators Show House on Facebook. And read my full tour here.

...about Wendy Kidd.

2012-05-21T12:09:00.001-04:00

I talk to the highly creative Wendy Kidd, of Wendy Kidd Entertainment, about her live/work space in Manhattan's East Village, designed in concert with Jim Fairfax, of Fairfax Studios.

See the full House Tour on Apartment Therapy. And listen to Jim's take here.

...about Jim Fairfax.

2012-05-21T12:06:00.001-04:00

I talk to interior designer Jim Fairfax of Manhattan's Fairfax Studios, about the live/work space he helped create for entertainment impresario, hair stylist and rock drummer Wendy Kidd. Listen in!

You can tour the completed interiors over on Apartment Therapy, and listen to Wendy's take on the design process that adapted her apartment into a working salon.

Jim also just completed his very first year at Design on a Dime, with an equally curated offering and chic take, to benefit Housing Works.

Get Social! Find Fairfax Studios on Facebook.

...about lime, lacquer and taming the white box: Kips Bay 2012.

2012-05-17T21:39:00.000-04:00

It sounds like a scandalous entry on a society page: “Grand Dame moves West, has major work done to conceal flaws and hide age.” But this bold-face name and the grand dame in question is the annual Kips Bay Decorator Showhouse, to benefit the Kips Bay Boys and Girls Club. It’s historically (with one slight but still-east detour, to a white-brick mid-century landmark building) been staged in brownstone, mansion or townhouse, all typically offering built-in grace, plaster molding, fireplaces and aged parquet. But this year, a new box was wrapped around the event. And new it is... the 40-story Aldyn still has that new house smell, and (until early June) is the site of the city’s swankiest Model Apartment. Two, actually. A pair of 6,000 square foot mirror image two-story homes that NY Times deemed, “each equally unpromising in architectural terms.” They’re the modern stage sets for a cast of the décor profession’s premier players, strutting their stuff to garner attention, ink and clients.

But the age concealment here was not the typical nip and tuck in the quest for the fountain of youth. Quite the opposite... the designers seemed to want to add a sense of history and grace of age to a basic white box (if you can call sweeping river views, double-height living rooms, sneak peaks onto private rooftop lap pools and private terraces “basic.”) and there were several tricks trending high, and all lessons in how to take the edge off of new construction.

So how did premier decorators and designers tame the sheetrock beast?

No Wall Untouched

Charlotte Moss did it with faux a boxwood hedge and trompe l’oeil barnboard wall covering that you’d swear you could still get a splinter from. Bryant Keller did it with a scattering of zebras. Raji Radhakrishnan of Raji RM Interiors did it with venetian plaster, turning her box of a room into the inside of a luminescent, magical pearl. But whatever the finish, the walls were the stars in all but a few rooms.

Mere paint appeared in only the briefest of moments (the rare column walls, and Todd Alexander Romano’s deep aubergine) but otherwise, walls got serious treatment where there was no cove molding or raised panels to provide vertical anchor. Grasscloth is still big (Phillip Jeffries still apparently the grasscloth go-to), but there was a definite lack of upholstered walls. Smooth new construction gave no good reason for this decorator trick when older walls are past repair, although an upholstered panel acted as backdrop for the main art in Jamie Drake's emerald green study.

Designers know that treated walls give texture to rooms with no chair rails or crown, but they also took advantage of the opportunity to layer on some history and story telling. Bryant Keller’s entry sported that bold red iconic Scalamandre paper to hold attention in a high-traffic showhouse, certainly. But it was a nod to the past from one of the assembled grouping’s younger participants. That paper is as much about the history of New York’s interior design community as it was about a newcomer’s grand gesture.

Proving that subtle can also grab attention, Brian Del Toro did a tone-on-tone plastered grid of an earthy blue in one of the Showhouse’s most understated, but designer-talked-about rooms, no doubt taking color cue from the lap pool just past the window. Parchment-sided chairs and shocks of lime, all reflected in a showstopper mirror made this subtle room memorable.

Charlotte Moss seemed to have the most fun of anyone, creating an owl-inhabited, hedge-walled study, a room just outside Hogwarts if Hermoine and Ron could afford the going design rates of these high powered and big ticket decorators.

Ask The Panel

When life does not give you paneled libraries, you build them yourselves. But these were modern applications, not faux recreations or Metropolitan period rooms. Alexander Doherty used the wood du jour, a paler or cerused oak, for his quiet grid, and so did David Scott, channeling all the warmth and charm of paneled rooms with none of the dusty, dated baggage.

The Longest Yard

The bold repetition of an even bolder fabric can give a room a sense of architectural presence, and both Scott Sanders and Ed Ku and Etienne Coffinier of Coffinier Ku Design took fabric and bolted with it. Scott’s bright ode to summer and (for this South Floridian) a citrusy conjuring of Miami in his “Cabana" (most likely a guest bedroom, and ensuite bath on the floorplan) spilled from one Scalamandré fabric.

Missoni Home was well-represented in the Coffinier Ku room-cum-product celebration, where an amazing lace-back embroidered fabric took several star turns, fabric-backed and applied to uninspired builder’s basic doors, and left unfettered at the windows, the perfect flighty backdrop to an installation of Baccarat butterflies.

Ginormity

Come home and go big. That was the strategy of some, using heroic scale as architectural stand-in, or to hold a room’s own against double-height walls. Susan Zises Green brought her high ceilings down to scale with giant mirror and big columns of framing drapes.

Todd Alexander Romano used over-sized pineapple, giant slices of geodes, grand chandelier and Bustamante brass giraffe to tame the scale of a silo-esque room he had quipped to the New York Times that he originally wanted to “paint gray and fill with corn.”

And Raji Radhakrishnan filled a builder’s bump-out edge to edge with a mural, adding to the storytelling air of this poetic room and making it seem the designer had actually requested the frame’s odd existence.

Walk Off the Floorplan

Sometimes the best way to make new construction work is to ignore the builder’s intention, or at least make it more personal. James Rixner took what was most likely pitched during a real estate walk through as an eat-in kitchen, and turned it into a bright but cozy sitting area. Were I the resident, I’d be in this room a LOT. It was also one of many places where lime green added twist to the tonic (see “Green is Good,” below).

New Tapestry for the Modern Castle

While no one was using tapestry-like installations of draperies to kill a castle’s chill, all used it for regal air. But these are not your Tudor’s swags and jabots. In the jointly designed living room of Bunny Williams, Brian J. McCarthy and David Kleinberg, a draped wall and tapestry conjured up a modern castle, and the collected spirit of Albert Hadley, the honoree of the room’s design.

Draped walls were also used in Thom Filicia’s entry, an unlikely but working mix of menswear fabric and tribal rug.

And Alexa Hampton/Mark Hampton used tapestry-like draperies to create a sense of enclosure in the Master Bedroom, and also to balance a room sided by three windows.

Turn your Back on the Window

Like the Hampton room comprised of mostly window walls, several designers lost precious furniture-anchoring walls to floor-to-ceiling glazing. Neal Beckstedt, in one of my very favorite rooms in both units, employed one of my favorite tricks: a wall of sheers to make window into wall, and furniture placement no obstacle. He also displayed a big piece of art on the main vignette, and it was the draped backdrop that made that make sense.

While some would cry foul to covering a view, this home has many... and by draping one, Neal distilled the view to its absolute best... the sweeping view down the Hudson, where the day I shot and I’m sure many days after, one cruise ship was perfectly placed just beyond a slice of rooftop pool. Plus, even draped, the windows and views still sparkle and shine. (Sidenote: That wood lamp! The hallway console! Neal gives GOOD vignette.)

Lacquer or Leave Her

Shine, on. Alexa Hampton for Mark Hampton lacquered their East Side homage with a deep battleship, and Thom Filicia and Jamie Drake were also among the high glossers (some lacquer, some paint, some plaster, but all high shine, no doubt magic when evening falls.) My friend and industry insider Lloyd Marks unlocked the mystery of why so much lacquer on the walls of this year’s Kips Bay, and it was practical one, born of the home’s newer vintage: New walls provide a smooth-enough canvas for this mirror-like application. It’s not always a viable option in the older homes where Kips Bay normally takes place.

Lynne Scalo, of Lynne Scalo Design brought the shine in one of only maybe a trio of white rooms, with lamé lounge, gold table and vintage glass, on loan from Culture Object.

In a brave move of full disclosure, she let the window unit HVAC hide in plain sight, and it stood out in the art-inspired room like a chic installation.

Green is Good

Split pea, lime, grass, emerald, acid and poison: green was a Go. It was Emerald City all up in here, with green in all its glory as the runaway color story. Anchor (like in Laura Bohn's kids room) or accent, the strong take on this secondary color seemed to be the way designers were dealing with a lack of green views, or demonstrations that designers understand strong color can bring an architecture all its own.

Just Add Age

Most, if not every room save for the kitchen by Robert Schwartz and Karen Williams for St. Charles featured vintage or antiques, patina’d woods and the depth an “important” piece lends a room of any era.

The most successful designs, in this modern assemblage of rooms, seemed to be the ones where at least a nod was made to the fact these are brand new rooms. When “Upper East Side” was loaded in and layered on, without any reference to modernity, the union of room and décor wasn’t necessarily the happiest of marriage. Patrik Lonn managed to go largely traditional and it still worked well, owed in part to gorgeous parchment pieces, European antiques and the timeless grace of fine dining. He also is on trend with settee as dining perch, in a move that seems both totally modern and Gilded Age graceful.

The quirks of an older house sometimes lend themselves better to the design schizophrenia that sometimes comes from unleashing 30 or so designers in the city’s biggest interior design tour de force. Here, rooms spilling from one to another created some jarring transition, but that just made it the chicest of chic fun houses.

The St. Charles kitchen

Success or failure (although no real failure here), I loved this year’s Kips Bay Decorator Showhouse, since in this bright shiny tower and all the white boxes inside, it was a real decorating assignment... no unbelievable Before and Afters, of the transformation of a room where years have changed its shape and function (you could still see the bones of each original room) and no architecturally grand detail to start the conversation or save the day. The designers and decorators had to ship it all in, apply the patina, use the tricks of their trade and art of their eye to make the most of rectangles and squares, with the reality of vents, switches and HVAC units all fully in the mix.

A few notes of absence: while last year’s House seemed to be highly art-driven, this year only a few pieces stood out for art’s sake, in Jamie Drake’s and David Scott’s separate studies. I guess with those views, art does take a back seat. And draperies were largely simple, wall-colored or white, sheer and unfussy, again, owed to the views. (Lust alert: The blue zebra rug by Carini Lang!)

Somehow, on my afternoon of shooting (that also involved dodging President Obama’s post-The View motorcade before rushing off to the Alpha Workshops’ Annual Alpha Awards) I missed Shawn Henderson’s room completely. I’m going back for Shawn. Um, Shawn’s room. And for more lessons on making “new” feel “lived in,” beautifully.

In one of my favorite “moments" in the entire house, Todd Alexander Romano floated an antique clock on a contemporary acrylic pedestal, like a magic trick. It was an apt metaphor for the Showhouse itself, where time and age were in the spotlight and discussed over blueprints, cocktails and walk-throughs. Here, new construction, ageless antiques, industry legends and new players all met somewhere in the middle. And most of the time, found the magic right at that intersection.

...about sixteen sweet tips: Design on a Dime 2012.

2012-04-30T21:03:00.000-04:00

The planning went back to January, and it’s an unconventional way to design: build a room around the generosity of donors and friends, styled to delight and propped to sell: Design on a Dime is the amazing annual event to benefit Housing Works. I was pleased to be asked back for my sophomore outing, and this year, I knew what I was in for (last year, I was blessed with some ignorant bliss!) and had more time to do it (last year, I was an eleventh-hour addition.) The extra time was both blessing and curse: Blessing, since it’s a major undertaking to round up a room’s full of furnishings, art and lighting from across the country and still have it converge in New York on time, so every second counts. The curse came from having time to over think, and it took away some of last year’s urgency that lit a little friendly fire under wavering donors.

The process, however unconventional, still gave me opportunity to pull from my own bag of designer tricks. In no particular order, here are my sweet sixteen take-aways from Design on a Dime 2012. With a lot of lamps (#15!!), it will help shed a little light on why I picked what I did... and how you can pull a room together using these same ideas.

1. Insta-Architecture

Not every room has the benefit of pre-war detail or architectural interest (which in turn lends things like grace and substance), and when you’re in a rental or watching your pennies, adding it can be tricky, especially when you can’t enlist construction as part of the transformation. In this event, with three “walls” and no ceiling, I like to add something that creates the illusion of more sturdy construction, so I start with paper (actually, here a SEXY vinyl from Koroseal). And without windows, I wanted something for height and that gave the impression of a space beyond what we can see, so the four-paneled American Walnut folding screen from LazySusanUSA was the perfect addition. Both, relatively easy additions that can make up for a room’s shortcomings.

2. Get Out of the Woods

When you think of tables, desks and cabinets, the first material apt to come to mind is wood. But many more options exist, and give a room a layered and put-together-over-time sophistication. Here, a shell-topped table with bronze legs from John Lyle Design, a grasscloth covered desk from Bungalow 5, and concrete console from Currey & Company all happily coexist, and even if they did indeed all spring from boxes and packing blankets in a matter of hours, the combination gives the room a feel of personal history.

And if you do go woody, it doesn’t need to be brown. Now, I love brown as much as the next guy (actually, waaaay more than the next guy...) but it’s not the only color for wood. In fact, at the recent Architectural Digest Home Show, and in trade-only showrooms like the Frazier Collection and the New Traditionalists, bleached, cerused and tinted woods made a big showing (a deeper continuation of last summer’s driftwood trend.)

But why is such a variation of tones and materials able to happily coexist? Similarity, and repetition. The bleached oak has a lot of tonal similarity to the concrete. The red-stained Hourglass drum stools share tone with the Bernhardt upholstered ottoman. If every introduction into a room has something to back it up, nothing looks out of place, even if every piece has its own unique shape, color or texture. Your eye isn’t exhausted by contrast when you give it just a touch of similarity on which to linger.

3. Watch Your Tone!

The other thing that makes the woods work here is that each is a step up or down on the tonal scale... from the dark, almost-black exposed wood on the Mitchell Gold + Bob Williams chairs to the pale cerused oak on the Josephine Chairs (a pair donated by Serena & Lily). If you can pair something in a room with something else that’s a notch up or down the tonal scale, you’ll end up with a room that feels established, not freshly poured from just one can of paint or ripped from one bolt of fabric. The walnut screen courtesy LazySusan USA is also a big mediator here... its richly-patterned graining pulls all the rooms tones in, making sense of them all in the process.

4. Texture Rules

Rooms get their richness from variation in texture. Here, the floor is covered with an exotic Ikat from NIBA Rugs, and has an earthy luster (and perfect, unique palette from which to build a room). The walls have an edge-blurring sheen that subtly bounces light (and hides imperfections with its embossed pattern; The alligator pattern also adds a softening organic quality to an otherwise modern, angular room). And the matte/shiny, rough and polished play continues from floor up and walls out. Velvet and silk, stone and concrete, matte and polished... all texturally rich and varied. And don’t forget the textural differences art can bring, even down to the bounce of light of the glass itself.

5. Art is Not Just An Oil

To paraphrase Mr. Charlie Brown, “I got a rock!” But, oh, what a rock! The artful accessory stopping this show was the Chinese Scholar’s rock, of epic proportion, instant history and color perfection. It married the concrete, stones, browns and even upholstery’s burgundy. It threw a lovely curve at the angular console beneath it. And, most importantly, it was unexpected... lucky me, for the generosity of Pagoda Red, a Chicago retailer/dealer garnering quite a reputation for their collection of these “painted” rocks upon which scholars through the ages have focused their contemplative energies. No wonder.

In any room, I promote the concept of Invest, Splurge and Save, and this scholar's rock might be the best splurge of the room (even though here, so generously donated). But an investment like this, which SUCH presence, sets the stage to save elsewhere in the space. I am also a big fan of what might seem like overscaled accessories in a small space... it keeps things intentional, not junked up. It also had the type of presence that let me play with the symmetry of the console’s composition.

6. Every Introduction is an Addition (or, Mixology 101)

I started with the rug and wallcovering, and EVERY step after that included an element of something already there. To make cohesion out of diversity, the visual game I play is taking the elements of an existing piece (color or shape or texture or vintage or style) and adding its traits to something already in the room to make sure it works. The two main chairs were the result of the addition of the rug’s golden tan tones and the walls Bourbon brown. The Bungalow 5 stools took the Asian inspiration of the Scholar’s Rock and added the reddish-merlot upholstery of the ottoman. The Currey & Company Algonquin Lamp took its flame-like energy directly from the rug’s fiery pattern, with a mix of the brass of the neighboring picture lights.

7. Frame for Fame

If I could make a living of taking things to get framed, I would. I love the process, and the transformative power of a perfect frame. When framing multiple pieces for one room, don’t feel like every frame needs to be identical, even if the artwork is similar. Here, the two drawings by Dan Romer (one of the many gallery-caliber artists who donated to my booth this year) are each framed very differently, but perfect for each piece. The airier reclining nude breathes easier in a plexi box (my FAVORITE way to up the edge on any art) while the gutsy and muscular portrait “Big Carlos” needed some sturdier containment, here a rust-colored metal frame that also draws from the charcoal-y grit of this strong piece. Regardless of frame style, ALWAYS spring for the 8-ply mat. And mat wider than you think... add at least an inch or two to what you think looks good to start with. For the extra pennies, you get buckets of look. Even a humble piece.. a friend's Facebook profile pic... looks gallery ready when framed wide and presented on a desktop easel.

8. It (Gets Worse Before It) Gets Better

I am a HUGE advocate for homeowners NOT being present during major days of installation. It is NOT pretty. Boxes, mess, chaos... nothing to instill confidence in a homeowner who's hired you. And while this event is an extreme case, it certainly shows why.

I also like homeowners to steer clear of installation because even a well-planned floorplan needs some organic flexibility when real pieces hit the real space. Here, the plan to have the desk jut into the space just didn’t work, and a last minute pivot made things fall firmly into place... and give the rug even more presence. So cut yourself some slack when something planned doesn’t pan out. It happens.

9. The Art of the Pull-Up Chair

I get to work on a lot of open plan and adjoining living/dining spaces here in Manhattan, and one of my very favorite tricks is stocking the living room with overflow seating that can be pressed into service for dining when extra company comes... or moved around when wine tasting turns to Wii party. The trick is to pick occasional chairs that don’t look like they’ve wandered away from the dining table. That hide-covered Tyler armchair is one dining chair hiding in plain sight, and the split pair of the curvy Josephines are the others. Speaking of split pairs...

10. Pair, or Not to Pair

I love the formality and eye-catching nature of symmetry, so I tend to buy (or in this case, beg for!) pairs when the occasion arises. But pairs don’t always have to be, well, paired. The Josephine chairs are pulled apart (but still have a conversation as they diagonally bracket the room), but I’ve kept the Currey & Company “Signature” table lamps as a pair to anchor an otherwise asymmetrical arrangement.

I’ve used two pedestals (custom-finished by the Alpha Workshops) but also chosen not to accessorize them the same way. (Confession time: THAT was the result of a vase-cracking accident, not design... I originally intended to have two of the Roxanne Mei Ping Covered Jars, but the laws of gravity conspired against me during installation! In a Tim Gunn-inspired moment of “make it work,” the cherry branches in the Wisteria Colossal Hurricane went in the place of the shattered vase up against the brown walls, where I loved— and got the most mileage from— from the stems’ pink blossoms. So tip 11.5: Go with the flow, even when your vase cracks under pressure.

11. Bend the Gender

When left to my own devices, I’m intrigued by, and tend to design toward, a masculine vibe (maybe because I don’t have that many male clients). I like to see how masculine a room can get without falling prey to bachelor pad cliché, and the alligator walls certainly set the stage for men’s clubbiness. But this is a sale, and like staging for real estate resale, I wanted to make sure men and women felt comfortable in the space (and I admit, I also wanted to garner some girl-blogger attention!) Color and curve tempered the masculine dark browns, animal skins and concrete. Bright yellows and the pinks and clays and magentas of the art all served to bend the gender toward a happy median.

12. Reserve the Right to Bare Arms

Like our first lady knows, bare arms can garner lots of attention... so when I saw these two new chairs from Mitchell Gold+Bob Williams, I knew they were a must have. The un-upholstered arm strips away all the mass from these ample chairs, mass that would otherwise overwhelm a small space (display booth or studio apartment). And yet these chairs still have room for a companion Norfolk Terrier or purring Siamese.

These chairs also have no bad angle... so they can face pretty much any direction and still shine: a necessary quality when a floorplan calls for floating furnishings to designate a seating area or function zone... so look at a chair from all angles when purchasing. Even if your current plan calls for a wall position, a float-worthy chair will get you more mileage down the road.

13. Get Leggy...

Since I wanted this SEXY rug to stop traffic at the event, I looked for furniture that stayed up and off it. Leggy furniture is also a great space-expander in a smaller space, since your eye doesn’t stop at the base of a couch or the skirt of a chair. So the major upholstery pieces and the side chairs all show a lot of leg (and what’s sexier than that?).

14. ...Then Don’t

Eero Saarinen was famous for his quote on furniture legs, and the genesis and goal of his Tulip pedestal bases was to “clear up the slum of legs” that at the time was a downside of the airy modernity of Mid-century Design. Here, while I wanted the pieces on the rug to let the rug shine, the pieces around the edges needed to not add more legs to the party... or at least a different, more substantial type. The desk had a blocky Parson style leg (which all but disappear into the dark wall covering) and the concrete console has my favorite waterfall style side/leg. Even the Room & Board Moro cabinet (set up as a bar) avoids the leg race, with a clean-lined plinth base.

15. Lamp Light It

It is RARE I work with a client who already has enough lamps, so the lamp story here is the practice of what I preach: The most flattering light is the light through lamp shades, and the best-lit rooms have multiple sources and types... incandescent, halogen, overhead, direct, indirect, low, up, bare bulb and shaded... of lighting. With the venue’s overhead lighting standing in for recessed or track, every type is represented here. Lighting is ESPECIALLY important in a dark-walled room, where it creates pools of light accenting the best the room has to offer. That trick also has remarkable capabilities of making a small room seem bigger.

I’ve also used what is found in almost every room I do: Picture lights, pharmacy lamps, and accent uplighting. What keeps the collection of lamps from feeling like a Bowery showroom is similarity... all the lighting shares a warm-metal finish (golds and brasses) and the fabric shades are all rectangular. Those common notes let the differences happen without getting noisy.

16. Home Stretch

During installation (a mere one-and-a-half days, from empty booth to party ready living room!), there was a stage where all art, lamps, and furnishings were in place, and the room looked finished. But what brought it to life was the introduction of smaller elements, and turned fictional booth into possible home. As a stylist, these are my very favorite details. Books, flowers, vases, candles (large hurricanes and small tealights), a SEXY brass Alessi ashtray courtesy SWITCH Modern, custom pillows, glasses, wine bottles and bar accessories, horn boxes and magnifying glass much courtesy SWITCH Modern, NEST Interiors, and Mortise & Tenon... all started to tell a story about this space’s fictional occupant (a world-traveled, art-savvy gentleman, in a very Mad Men meets Indiana Jones kinda of time travel) but do the same in any home: They bring a room’s scale down to a very personal level, tell a story about the homeowners, and give the room a detail and texture that keep it from feeling like a model apartment. And bonus... since each room is up for grabs at this charity sale, these smaller accessories FLY out of the booth when the shopper’s starting pistol first pops.
Which tip or trick are you already employing? What one will help make the most of your room? Let me know!!

A HUGE thank you to all my donors:

Koroseal: Wall covering: "Alligator" in Bourbon

NIBA Rugs: Red Ikat

Mitchell Gold + Bob Williams: Fleming Chairs (Venice Gold)
Room & Board; Moro Cabinet

Currey & Company: Concrete console, Signature Table Lamps, Algonquin Table Lamp

Bungalow5: Hourglass Stools, Parsons Console, Roxanne Covered Mei Ping Jar
John Lyle Design: Pen-shell Topped Bronze Table

LazySusan USA: Interlocking American Walnut Screen

The Alpha Workshops: Custom graphite finish on pedestals

Serena & Lily: Josephine Chairs

Jasyon Home & Garden: Tyler Arm Chair

Pagoda Red: Chinese Scholar's Rock

Bernhardt: Hawthorn Ottoman

SWITCH Modern: Whiskey glasses, Alessi Ashtray, Design House Stockholm Fia Carafe

Mortise & Tenon: Accessories

Baker Furniture: Thomas Pheasant "Stacked" Desk Lamp

Scott Frances: Signed copy of "MonoVisioN"

NEST Interiors: Horn boxes
Jonathan Adler: Bristol Table Easel
Good Design: Kaiser Porcelain Reliefware Vases

Solomonic Couture for the Home: Pillow and bolster fabrication
Wisteria: Colossal Hurricane and (not shown) Architect's Favorite Side Tables

Artwork

Victor-Raul Garcia

Margaret Pettee Olsen

Dan Romer

Steven Amedee Custom Framing
John Spencer

Thank you

Michael Tavano

Phil Fairley
Erik Retzer
Ron Dudding
Jody Kivort

And a HUGE shout-out the Housing Works crew, from the box-breaking volunteers, to the pricing team, to the sales force on party night, to my great friends, new and old, Joseph, David, Erin, Bill, Barbara, Rebecca, Denise and especially Mel.

All After photos: Jody Kivort.

Get Social! Find Victor-Raul Garcia, Margaret Pettee Olsen, Babette Herschberger, Mitchell Gold+Bob Williams, Currey & Company, Wisteria, John Lyle Design, Bernhardt, Baker, Serena & Lily, Housing Works and The Alpha Workshops on Facebook.

...about getting a little coverage: Design on a Dime 2012

2012-04-30T12:49:00.002-04:00

It's an honor to be part of the annual Housing Works Design on a Dime event. And even better to get a little coverage out of the deal! So I was super honored to be able to give some tips and help tout this event that does so much, for so many. You can see the piece here.

…an embarrassment of riches: artfully gifted friends, part 2: Design on a Dime 2012

2012-04-20T12:36:00.022-04:00

Art makes a room. It’s the color, the grace note, the personal expression. Art, if well-chosen and nicely hung (oh my!) can make up for lack of architectural interest, balance an odd floorplan, and tell a story about a home’s inhabitants like no other detail. It can keep a traditional room from feeling like a dusty museum, and it can take the edge off of new construction.

But art is also highly personal, and as someone with art school training and as an interior designer, I understand that the “right” art for a space to me is not always something about which a homeowner will share my unbridled enthusiasm.

So art is one of the most fun parts of Design on a Dime, since the room is pure folly: no client cues to shape the space… just my own choices, and then (and more importantly!) the generosity of the donors who make the 50 or so designers chosen for this event look so good.

Last year, I was artfully well-represented, with painting and photography (always my favorite mix)… a large piece by Babette Herschberger, and some amazing (and remarkably modern) photography of birds in flight by the talented photographer Marty Maynard.

This year, I am building on the lovely work both Babette and Marty used to set the stage, and set the bar so high, for. I'm OUTRAGEOUSLY excited about this year's art that has been soooo generously donated to my Sophomore venture into this fundraising event to benefit Housing Works. And boy, did I SCORE this year, art-wise! Babette Herscberger. Dan Romer. Victor-Raul Garcia. Margaret Petttee-Olsen. My own little gallery! And little in square footage only. This is GOOD stuff.

Last year, Babette Herschberger, a long-time friend and one of the most visually acute people I have ever met (we share past lives as Graphic Designers) got the ball rolling for me in a big way, and her piece was the anchor for the vignette. I love Babette’s work for its two-stage discovery… her paintings seem like brightly colored blocks of color (which alone, delight and have room-making potential). But a second glance, and the surface woos you… with its flecks of color, linear underpinnings, areas of gloss and chalk. Babette has a reason for everything she does, and yet her pieces never lose their buoyancy. The story is there in each piece, but the success of her work is not contingent on knowing every line of the play. She also donated last year one of her “Tidbit” collages, favorites of mine.

I did not want to overtax, so this year I worked with Babette to secure a small piece instead of a large one. Well, her generosity overrode my request, and I ended up with a pair from her “Drawing” series… small, blocky canvasses best shown in multiples. These two golden squares will command far greater presence than their diminutive size would suggest, as they zing off the deep brown alligator-clad walls (courtesy Koroseal). Any wise visitors to the booth will scoop up the set.

I’ve admired Dan’s work (well, admired is probably too tame a word…) since seeing it on the Walls… of Facebook. His exuberant drawings, mostly figure studies and portraits, seem ridiculously casual. But like Babette’s work, there are serious and studied underpinnings. I’ve said before that to me, Dan’s work is a combination of David Hockney and (the good parts of) Leroy Neiman. Dan’s color palette is remarkable, with pairings that shouldn’t work but do. His slashes of oil stick and smudges of charcoal capture anatomy, sensuality, gesture and mood, and he makes it all look as casual as a wave.

I responded so strongly to Dan’s work that I must admit: I pursued him for Design on a Dime like a crazed and stealthy stalker… er, suitor: A series of Likes on his posted work, introductory conversation, then outright request. Well, then, comedy of errors: Even at the moment of selection, there was some sorting out to do about whether these would be donations or loan (This is no showhouse: nothing donated to Housing Works for this event comes back to the donors.) I’d like to think it was my charm that won out, but it was actually Dan’s generosity and belief in the cause… TWO pieces “Young Man,” a nude in repose, and the heroic and muscular “Big Carlos,” a head-only portrait that validates my theory that sexiness comes, more often than not, from the face before the first belt is unbuckled.

Dan’s two pieces also gave me and my space the ability to bring in a whole range of new colors, and the creative license to work with colors I don’t get to work with much: a spring-y splash of clays, terra cottas, and… PINK! The perfect colors to take the edge off a room I didn’t want to be too bachelor pad cliché, for all its dark walls and concrete and cerused wood furnishings.

I did not have to stalk Victor-Raul Garcia (although you can see why I might!), but he did cross my path in the virtual hallways of Facebook, one of the many social media tools Victor-Raul uses to great marketing effect. What started as a gallery visit to his Chelsea garret ended with one of his works earmarked for my Design on a Dime space. And it was my very first and favorite choice. This charming gent’s generosity did not stop with me… he donated to another designer for the event as well.

Another of Victor-Raul's pieces, in his residentially-styled Chelsea display space.

This top piece, shown in Victor-Raul's studio (and heading up the post, above), as the seagulls say in Finding Nemo: "Mine! Mine!" Well, at least for a day!

Victor-Raul is an energetic self-marketer (another reason I admire him!) and he works hard to get his work shown around town, like nearby Nest Interiors. Victor-Raul also helped broker a deal with his friends there to get me two gorgeous horn boxes for Design on Dime, too. Like last year, that kind of item is sure to fly out of the booth before anyone finishes their first cocktail.

And last but not least, in scale or generosity, Margaret Pettee Olsen, with whom I attended RISD. I’ve admired (and written about) Margaret’s work here before, but I dared not ask for one of her lush, heroically-scaled pieces. Well, I didn’t have to: Margaret stepped up without prodding (well, unless you count my incessant posts about Design on a Dime to be prodding!) And not only was it a donation… it was a CUSTOM COMMISSION. The yellows, golds, reds and raspberries that had emerged as my palette are a little outside of Margaret’s paintbox, but she created a stunning work that is very much Margaret, even if the colors were, for her, a departure.

I also have my friend and framer Steven Amedee to thank... he's generously underwriting the framing of Dan's pieces, and a donated self-portrait by architect-friend John Spencer.

I’m almost a TINY bit guilty using these gallery-caliber (and gallery shown) pieces in such a “decorative” setting… but I would gladly use these pieces the same way in a home interior project. And for those bristling at my references to the art driving the room’s palette, I may not be a fan of “art matching your sofa.” But I’ve never been opposed to your sofa matching your art.

Even more delightful to me is how this roster of art stars is almost a marker of my own personal timeline… from college, to a first career, to a New York life, and an awakening to activism and social media: every chapter is perfectly marked. I will be, as I stand in that completed booth, among friends. And that is the best, and most beautiful place to be.

Which piece would you build a room around? How do you use art in your space? I want to hear from you!

This year's Design on a Dime opens to the public during preview and party night, April 26th, 2012 at Manhattan's Metropolitan Pavilion in Chelsea; It remains open to the public Friday through Sunday. If tickets are still available, you can purchase them here.

Read about the many other talented and "Artfully Gifted" friends I have here. And see which rug this art will be hanging above here.

Get social! Find Victor-Raul Garcia, Babette Herschberger and Marty Maynard on Facebook! And follow me on Pinterest!

...about bringing it home.

2012-04-19T13:21:00.040-04:00

It’s usually the people who need my help the least that I’m most excited to help (like Randi and her “work in progress”), just because their distinct vision, great start, and love for interiors make them fun clients. Lacy, and her Connecticut home she shares with handsome hubby and adorable Golden Retriever, was no exception.

Spread out on the dining room table (shortly before WARM SCONES!!!) were Lacy’s inspiration images (including one of my very own projects!). As is often also the case, the connections among the images were far more apparent to me than they were to the homeowner: The images were a mix of modern and not-so, often in otherwise traditional rooms. There was a collected feel of woods, metals and stones. There was a vintage vibe, but not MCM overload. The palettes were calm and sophisticated, but warm and earthy. The rooms felt “traveled,” with faint (not theme-y) traces of exotic locations. There were mixtures of rustic and refined, beautifully illustrated, too, in a book on African Safari style: elegant English set-ups, with dark woods, beneath canvas tents and surrounded by natural elements… including the wandering leopard and passing zebra.

This room, a past project of mine, was on Lacy's inspiration board! Photo: Jody Kivort

Even while showing off her amazing thrift and Craigslist scores, there were more common denominators than dissenting opinions. A tea set was elegant but far from uptight, great shape and banded simply in gold. A knife set was both burnished and modern, but softly so.

All these were traits that she wanted to continue, but had stalled just a bit when uncertainty about wall color left her second-guessing her decisions. (I see that a LOT! A first choice, on its own, seems to be the wrong one. Trust your instinct and SOLDIER THROUGH!)

But she’s already done a LOT right. That neutral gray on the walls (I love it, even if she is unsure): Benjamin Moore’s hardworking and shade-shifting Coastal Fog, and one shade slightly darker in the dining room (Berkshire Beige). She’s considering natural woven shades (yay!). She’s purchased a traditional but-not-stuffy sofa (and bonus points for the fact the rolled arms are NOT oversized.)

So what does Lacy need to do to “bring it home”? Since I still have those scones on the brain, here's the baker's dozen steps I’d take.

Clockwise, from upper left: Foxed Mirror Side Table, West Elm; Silk Dupioni Panels in Gray, Pottery Barn; Reston Corner Media Cabinet, Ballard Designs; Olivia Glass-Topped Table, Ballard Designs; Kuba Cloth Kidney Pillow, Wisteria; Pair of woven baskets, Horchow; Hourglass Lamp, Wisteria; “Sleek” Marble-topped Side Table, Wisteria; West Elm’s Carved Wood Side Table; Duncan Leather Cocktail Ottoman; Decorative Bowl Wall Art, West Elm; Medici Secretary Desk, Ballard Designs; Pair of Polished Pink Abalone Shells, Art.com; Sweep Leather Arm Chair in “Elephant,” West Elm; Catherine Rug, Ballard Designs.

1. Plan Your Party.

In any gathering, whether dinner party or cocktail soiree, you want the guests to have a lot in common. But not EVERYTHING, or else, you’ll be hosting a real snoozefest. I use that theory in room design: every room is a party, and everything you purchase to fill it is a guest. This theory has gotten me past lots of roadblocks, and it will work for Lacy, too.

So start by inviting someone for anybody who’s already on the guest list… so far, the ivory sofa is the only ivory in the room, which makes it a little lonely. Whether in stone tabletop or even a lamp or lampshade, give that ivory somebody to talk to! And it does NOT need to be an equal quantity. One lamp, across the room, in a great shape, could be plenty.

Then invite in someone a little louder (an accent color on a chair, a pattern on a pillow)… the proverbial life of the party… which, usually, is best in small doses!

You can also look at it like a big game of Compare and Contrast: everything should have something distinctly in common with something already there… but also some definite difference. Case in point: The exposed wood arms of Lacy’s pair of vintage chairs plays well with the warm wood floors, but they are more modern than the room itself. It’s the perfect tension, without feeling tense.

Clockwise, from upper left: Randolff Mirror, Pottery Barn; Capitol Lighting Taylor Medallion, VanDyke’s Restorers; Confetti Cube Pendant, Currey & Company; Pair of Polished Pink Abalone Shells, Art.com; Velvet Panels in Maple Leaf, Pottery Barn; Parsons Chair in Toscana Ikat, Ballard Designs; Seaview Woven Natural Grass Shade, The Shade Store; Florence Buffet Lamp, Ballard Designs

2. Start Weaving.

Lacy has done the right thing: kept her biggest upholstery piece a neutral (with a great chunky texture, btw, keeping that neutral from falling flat). Which starts off the room with gray walls, an ivory sofa, white molding, and warm-wood floors. So the next decisions (window treatments and an area rug for the living room) need to build from these givens (who are we inviting next to the party?). I call it "Weaving": combining the elements of color and existing material, and weaving them into your next decision.

On the windows, Lacy was already considering one of my very favorite treatments: woven natural shades. Using the “Weave” approach, we narrowed down her choices quickly… the winning “Seaview” from The Shade Store was both the cool gray on the walls and a touch of the floor’s woody warmth. Inside-mount grass shades are the perfect choice for the “base layer” of the entire first floor… since privacy is not a huge issue. They bring the floor’s warmth up onto the walls, and they also demystify the tricky bay window trio (read on to see what else is in store for the other windows). And the bonus is that natural materials, like these woven grasses, are highly forgiving when it comes to pairing with other materials and colors, since they really work as a neutral. Plus, I LOVE the humble material against the windows more stately moldings. They also look cool and coastal in the summer, warm and reedy in the fall and winter.

For the floor, and to give Lacy a jumping off point for more color than is already in the room, I’d do a modern take on a traditional carpet (my favorite place to turn to create a color scheme) like the Catherine rug from Ballard Designs.

What makes it modern? The tan and gray palette. Its broad tonal range also opens the door to making lots of other stock upholstery and pillow choices work, a great trick when you can’t rely on custom choices to precisely match a textile color.

3. Consider the Picture.

This tidy and sweet house, a lovely balance of traditional rooms and open-plan modern living, has created some great framed “pictures” (or the makings of them!): The view from the living room into the far dining room wall, the view from the sofa, the view from the kitchen into the dining room…so those are the opportunities for great color and solutions to attract the eye. To stretch a budget and get the most impact fastest, I’d focus some attention, and make the biggest statements, there. These are the places for a showstopper light fixture, a color risk, a fabric splurge. Let your rooms tell you where the eye, attention, and money should go.

To find the “pictures” in your own home, get your camera out! Imagine the Afters… and where you’d take the best pictures… if that doesn’t help, pick up a magazine and see how the photographer has framed a shot... and why.

4. When is a Doorway Not a Doorway?

When it’s wiiiiiiiiiiiiide. Here, the double-wide opening between living and dining rooms does a nice job of separating the spaces but not stopping the flow, and Lacy has already taken a step that most won’t, and it’s the right one: use part of that opening as a place for furnishing. She’s floated one of her pair of gorgeous vintage chairs here, and while I think those chairs would work better as a pair at the bay end of the room, I’d replace the one floater chair with another (perhaps armless) that looks good from front, side and back. And don’t be afraid to use something with a higher back here: It will help define the room’s boundary, even if the eye still wanders past it. One of my favorite chairs on the mass-market today is the West Elm Sweep Chair, and the fact that it’s now part of their custom upholstery program has made it even better. Here, I’d do the stock “Elephant” gray leather, to play up the grays of the rug, but you could make a case for the Honey and Ivory leathers here, too. But since we’ll probably do a cream-stone or caramel leather coffee table, I stand behind the Elephant. Well, maybe beside the Elephant!

5. Know When to Say Goodbye.

Lacy has one of the best eyes I’ve come across when it comes to thrift stores and online classified ads, and the green upholstered chair in the living room is a great example. But its deceiving scale (it’s lonnnng in the seat!) means it may need another home elsewhere in the house. That sets the stage for pairing her other two chairs side by side, with a table in between them, my first choice of where this handsome duo should park at the party.

6. Don’t Leave it Hanging.

Lacy admits that the TV is too high… but it’s all hard-wired, with an outlet that would show if the TV were brought down to a more comfortable viewing height. So aside from rewiring, I’d use a piece made to NOT hang the TV… and choose one that’s designed to work in a corner. That makes the top candidate the Reston Cabinet from Ballard Design. Don’t think that putting the TV in a larger piece gives it even more importance. Actually, just the opposite, as the piece itself, not the TV, is what you’ll notice first. And the room will be the richer for the warm wood tones.

7. Balancing Act.

That TV, especially if in a larger dark wood unit, has the potential of throwing the whole room out of balance, visually, even if the intent is to make it a focal point. So on the other side of the entryway into the room, let’s get some visual weight there. There’s opportunity on that prime slice of wall between entry and windows for a great little étagère or secretary, like the Medici Secretary with Hutch, and the balance would benefit from some height.

But height is achieved not just by the piece you pick… it can also come from what you put above it. Because this room has few walls for art (and fewer by the time we get done... keep reading!!!) I’d go with a shorter piece like the Medici, but without the hutch, and a great, substantially framed piece of art above it, linked with a lamp. For Lacy, my very first choice of art would be framing a charming wood turtle picked up from a local craftsman on an island getaway. The rustic piece, framed in a modern shadow box, above a more traditional piece, and this one corner has all the room’s attributes rolled into one. Plus, it gives a place to set up a bar for some casual entertaining. The two pieces (for the TV and the the desk/chest) should match in wood tones, but don't have to be a matched set.

8. Lead… and Supporting Roles.

Adjoining rooms, even if open plan, do not need to have identical color schemes. But there should be some commonality and flow. My trick is to swap the “Lead” and “Supporting” colors in adjoining rooms. The living room’s mostly cool palette can use a tiny touch of earthy warmth, like the rusty accents on Wisteria’s Kuba Cloth Kidney Pillow, perfect on the sofa, or their Kuba Cloth Pillows on her vintage chairs or doorway chair. I’d also throw a warm color onto the wood-armed pair of chairs when it’s time to reupholster. Their pairing, at one end of the long combined space are then the perfect companion and balancing element to the drapery panels at the far end, so relate those two fabric choices.

But in the dining room, I’d go bigger on the warm color… and frame the far window with cognac or straw-colored silk, like Pottery Barn's Dupioni SIlk Panels in Deep Amber. (To save some pennies, get the inside mount shades done professionally, but find off-the-rack window panels and hanging hardware from a retail source, even if your local dry cleaner has to shorten the hems.)

And I’d bring some of the rug references (gray, and pattern), which is a star player in the living room, into the dining room’s supporting cast: Two Parson's Chairs, in Ballard Designs' Toscana Ikat in slate gray, cream and camel fabric, at the table’s ends, and the party is really getting started. These two upholstered chairs work well with Lacy's existing side chairs, on which I’d do a DIY reupholster, popping off the seats and brandishing a yard or two of fabric and a fully loaded staple gun. Don’t feel like the seats have to match the other chairs… I’d reference the curtain color, instead, or something that marries the two.

So the side dining room window doesn’t feel underdressed, I’d do a fabric valance (outside mount) in the same fabric as the stationary panels…. And, paired with an amazing light fixture, our “picture” from the kitchen in to the dining room is done!

9. Window Trickery.

Two windows seem under-scaled for the role they need to play in the room. On the end of the dining room, that smallish window needs some backup for it to take the starring role it deserves, and to paint the picture it’s already starting to, based on prime visual location alone.

On the side wall in the living room, the couch seems to teeter on a small center point window. Since window replacement isn’t in the credit cards, there needs to be another solution. And that solution is window treatment trickery.

For both windows, a rod stretching far past the window frame then hung with stationary hanging panels will give the windows more visual weight, introduce more softness and color into the dining room, and give the couch a suitable backdrop. For the illusion to work on any window, the panels need to cover the window’s side frames all the way into the glass, making it appear the windows are far wider than they actually are. Rods should be mounted about a third of the way down in the space between crown molding and window frame, and fabric panels should be ample enough (you may have to double up on store-bought panels) to give the illusion they could be pulled closed across the entire expanse. Dinky drapes won’t do! It will look like you ran out of money.

But while the dining room windows should be dressed in warm-toned panels (like the Deep Amber Dupioni already mentioned, or these Velvet Panels in Maple Leaf... and the room is big enough to handle the wall-to-window contrast), I’d go with something cooler, and closer to the wall color in light/dark value for the sofa wall, like Dupioni Silk in Gray, or West Elm's Silk Panels in Pewter in the living room. But the living room panels don’t need to match the wall color exactly… just close in value, so they're not too contrasty. I’d actually pull one of the rug’s grays up and into the room. The panels and hardware should be pretty close to the sofa’s full width… or even better, just a bit past. Don’t panic: you CAN put side tables in front of drapes, even with lamps on the tables!

As noted before, this window trick in the living room means a tiny bit less space for hanging art. But the sofa-grounding balance, and-room-enveloping coziness it will give overrides that.

10. Phase it In, Phase it Out.

Not everyone can throw everything out and start over. Nor, generally, should they. So I always look for ways to temporarily transition or repurpose existing pieces. Since Lacy wants a new coffee table, (I agree the two cubes are too chunky and traffic-stopping where there are now) they make perfect interim side tables for the sofa (even if they're a little low). Their dark finish, even in small amount, helps hold their own against the TV wall’s dark woods and big screen.

11. Table Talk.

So what would I use for a new coffee table? Something leggy (let that rug have its star turn!) and Lacy’s suggestion for a stone topped table could be great (again, marrying the molding’s white, the sofa’s ivory, and the rugs grays) into one natural palette, itself then a perfect party-companion to the window’s natural grasses.

I love the finish and nesting sides of Ethan Allen’s Evan Coffee Table if we’re sticking to stone.

Aside from stone, I love the shape, modern air and hardwearing leather top of the Mitchell Gold + Bob Williams Duncan Coffee Table Ottoman, or their vintage-y Nash. Of all these, the EA Evan or the MG+BW Duncan are my strong frontrunners, and worth the slightly higher investment value…. Just keep an eye for sales, which both vendors frequently offer.

All these would be perfect if the side tables stay the cubes. If side tables go airier, the coffee table can get a little more heft and visual weight… the Wisteria Avant Garde table, for example.

12. Light, Fantastic.

Every room needs lots of lighting options, and without fail, I find that people underlight (and "under lamp") rooms. Lacy is willing to forego both the living room’s ceiling fan and the dining room’s pleasant but underwhelming (in style and scale) fixture. Remember, the dining room overhead fixture is a big part of the “picture” we’re orchestrating here, against the newly-redressed window wall.

To get that dining room fixture exactly where you want it (not centered over the table) use an oversized ceiling medallion to hide the source of the wiring when the new fixture is ceiling mounted, like this simple version from VanDyke’s Restoration, which could easily look like it came with the house.

I am NEVER a fan of a general overhead light in a living room, with recessed or track lighting the only exception, but here, they’d be too modern for the space. So I’d do something simple, pretty, and ceiling-hugging, that perhaps feels of the vintage of a past renovation, like Horchow's Silver Satin Ceiling Fixture. But honestly, I’d never turn it on except during some serious Spring cleaning.

But in the dining room, we need JEWELRY. And even in a traditional home, I love more modern or and more exotic lighting. I’d even break the metal-matching rule here, and go with something brassy or gold to the rest of the space’s nickels and silvers. This is your most entertaining party guest, so make it something with great personality. My first choice for Lacy would be the Currey & Company Confetti Cube Pendant (How’s THAT for a party guest??). Also consider Horchow's Alita Basketweave fixture, shown further above.

Another option could be Currey’s Arabiah Pendant (an transportive companion to the exotic Ikat in the chairs) or the equally high-profile Sputnik Filament Chandelier from Restoration Hardware, but I’m betting good money the eagle-eyed Lacy could also find the perfect vintage fixture in her travels.

13. Odds and Ends.

Back to the living room: I’d consider Wisteria’s Sleek metal and marble accent table between the two vintage chairs, in their new home centered on the bay windows. Reupholster those two chairs in a designer to-the-trade fabric… a great place to splurge, since the design of these chairs is sparing of yardage.

Finally, add a basket or two (like these from Horchow) beneath the legs of a side table or atop the Medici Secretary Desk.

And remember, a little room (the front living room is not ginormous, and still needs to function as circulation) can take way more furniture and layered detail than you realize, and this space is no exception. But Lacy is most certainly up to the task! Hopefully this plan lets her add pieces as she goes, with a cohesive but collected end goal in sight.

What did I miss? What would you do to design Lacy’s space? I’ll be eating my scone while you think about it.

Get social! Find Mitchell Gold+Bob Williams, Ballard Designs, Horchow, Pottery Barn, West Elm, Currey & Company, and Wisteria on Facebook.

...about Friday field trips: Frazier Collection

2012-04-06T12:30:00.002-04:00

Frazier Collection, the dark and swanky furniture and lighting showroom created and assembled by Richard Frazier, is one of the newest introductions to the chic tenant roster at the New York Design Center, which made headlines awhile back when it opened its doors, and its entire tenth floor, to the first brick-and-mortar iteration of 1stDibs. And the edited Frazier Collection is just as welcome an addition to the building known by insiders as 200 Lex.

Frazier’s vibe is masculine and muscular, but without ever losing a sense of grace… and a sense of history. Proportions are elegant (and mostly apartment-scaled), and the pieces pull from lands far away and times long gone. There are Deco references, influence both Asian and Arbus, plus a little Wiener Werkstätte worked into casegoods and upholstered pieces, all managing to seem fresh and evocative, not mere replica. John Eason, of John Douglas Eason Interiors (himself known for the tailored and timeless, smoky and swank) heartily agrees: “These pieces have historical reference to a not-so-distant past, yet feel modern and new.”

One thing that links them all (and their historical origins) is a love of metalwork, in studs (yay!), banding, ferrules, finials and jewelry-like hardware. Bronzes, brass, warm nickel and burnished gold are the metals of choice at Frazier, and a high level of customization means you’ll get exactly the piece you came in for.

Caning, shagreen, leathers, raised and patterned wood grains and mottled surfaces add a layer of elegant texture. In some ways, it evokes the “timeless history” of design heavy-hitter John Saladino and finds a slightly more contemporary counterpart at the vaguely vintage and Mad Men infused Ted Boerner showroom (both must-see stops at 200 Lex).

But the story of Frazier is also a color story… and the palette is muted and muddy (in the good way). It all stays one part earthy, one part urban. Color even finds its way onto woods, which are tinted, stained and washed with color (a trend seen more and more, here and at places like The New Traditionalists).

The Frazier Collection has already found fans, among them, Kati Curtis, Principal at Nirmada Interior Design, and one of the designers in the NYDC Access to Design program: “Our clients are looking for furniture with unique details, heirloom quality materials, and impeccable craftsmanship. Frazier fits the bill perfectly!”

Designer Kirsten Brant Casey, of K. Brant Interiors, loves their occasional pieces, particularly the Scalloped End Tables, citing the "chic details on the legs and the brass fitting-- including the wrap-around on the feet." And Kirsten likes the balance of masculine and feminine, a harmony many pieces in the Collection manage to hit without losing anything in the mediation.

On the topic of successful marriages, Richard is happily married to the lovely and talented interior, furnishing and lighting designer Laura Kirar, no stranger herself to jewelry-caliber metal touches.

Frazier pieces are also all highly usable, fitting perfectly into a project that veers either more classic or more modern. “Frazier’s line is exactly what we’re looking for in the market today – exquisite pieces that blur the line between traditional and contemporary,” says Kati.

No doubt, the Frazier pieces will seem like vintage finds of an era that you just can’t quite put your finger on. But if true vintage is your style, the Frazier Collection can hook you up there, too. Dotted around the showroom (feeling every bit the chic loft, with bare floors and exposed industrial elements) are antique and vintage pieces hand selected, and they share line and interest with their newer cousins. Showroom manager John Anthony Harrison is actually pleased when people can’t tell the difference between new and old. That, he says, is the ultimate compliment.

Frazier is the perfect stop when you’re looking to invest in a piece that will add warmth and patina to new construction, bend the gender lines, and add a hardworking and dramatic player into, and onto, any stage of your life. John sums it all up, nicely and neatly: “Frazier feels like that missing line of furnishings that I've been trying to find for years.”

Take another Friday Field Trip! Visit John Lyle.

Get Social! Find Nirmada Interior Design, the New York Design Center, Laura Kirar Design and the Frazier Collection on Facebook.

...about Julie Exley.

2012-03-29T11:45:00.004-04:00

Sunny! San Francisco interior designer and member of the Masters Program at the Academy of Art and Design School of Interior Architecture and Design talks about her Marin County rental home, her love for taxidermy and dogs, how to mix patterns, why white is always right (even if you love color!) and why flea markets and glue guns are still a big part of this seasoned designer's repertoire.

See the full tour of her lovely home, and read the interview, on Apartment Therapy!

...about creative inspiration: Dining by Design 2012.

2012-03-26T00:41:00.002-04:00

It's the most inspirational design event of the season, and invariably keeps me awake at night after one viewing, mind racing with the possibility of how I would have handled Dining By Design, the annual event to benefit DIFFA, Design Industries Foundation Fighting AIDS. This year’s was no exception, and I was wide awake last night at 4am after attending Cocktails By Design, visions of tabletops, stemware, seating plans, construction details and floral design dancing in my head.

What started as a tabletop event (a longstanding standard in the interior design/fundraising world) has turned into a staggering feat of engineering, construction, logistics, generosity and creativity. The money is made by selling tickets to fundraising events in and around the dining vignettes, including a sit down dinner at and in these high-design spaces.

The parameters are simple (create a dining space for ten or twenty) but the end results are anything but. Much of the credit for the elevation of this event from simple to sublime lies withMargaret Russell, DIFFA Executive Director David Sheppard, DIFFA Chair David Rockwell, longstanding and outspoken champions of DIFFA and Dining By Design, giving it high praise, high profile and now, a national presence (events happen, now, in several cities across the country).

If you’re wondering now, “Well, how creative CAN you get with a dinner table?” you, dear reader, have never been to Dining By Design.

I always love seeing whether colleagues shoot for practicality or theatricality on their setups which have to be equal parts folly and photogenic, party-ready and practical. And the degrees are as varied as you’d expect. Some designs are created by companies, too, so there is of course a vested interest in showing off their wares, not just flexing their creative muscle.

And while there are NEVER any losers in this event, there are most certainly winners, where designs catch the eye, fire up the mind, and, very often, stop the heart with visual poetry fashioned from plates and textiles, light and whimsy. I always try to create my own criteria for what makes a homerun at this event, and I came up with one very unscientific, highly personal way: How excited would I be, were I invited to a party or dinner at any of these tables? Past favorites passing that test with flying color or elegant monochrome have been the center-scrimmed zen/tech combo of DIFFA Chair David Rockwell, and the sunny-stripes and interactive shades of the equally sunny Michael Tavano.

This year, it was a first-timer (to the event, but certainly not to the industry) who wowed at the get-go… Stephen Mitchell, of DESIGNLUSH, created a 70’s inspired dark and chic table that was the perfect expression of the glam/organic DESIGNLUSH look.

But where the showroom stays deep and moody, Stephen shot exactly the right amount of shine, fun and bubbly into the DbD mix: the season’s metal of honor, gold, made this a Midas-touched party that set the tone for almost the entire room with its killer placement, architectural presence, glittering pavilion and ridiculously fun GOLD SLINKIES at every setting.

Circles and hoops went from chandelier (a creation of one of the many thoroughbred talents in Stephen’s stables, Matthew Shively, of CercaTrova Design) to the overscaled gold screens. Smoky Lucite, mink-inspired coverings on DESIGNLUSH signature Modernist benches evoked Studio 54, and it seemed just a matter of minutes before Bianca and Halston pulled up a chair. (Full disclosure: Stephen is a friend and past employer… but even if he weren’t, I’d still pick this as a frontrunner.)

Toned down in comparison but sill commanding, the serene pavilion of former Ebay style guru Shawn Henderson, a slightly amorphous table shape in a slatted cube of gray wood. Shawn has a knack for saying a lot with a little, and while the word “curated” is bandied about, if the impeccable loafer fits… and here, it slipped on effortlessly. Perfect art, a sculptural vintage light fixture, and quiet details (that tureen!!) made this, simply, into a space where you most certainly dress for dinner.

Other faves… the white on white DWR table (all white is a designer staple in this event where color can be hard to compete with), a corporate table showing off their product mix and delightfully displaying a table full of iconic Vitra miniature chairs.

Ralph Lauren is always a standout, having, in the past, built a an elegant racing winner’s circle, and last year, an entire western general store. This year, they spun a winter fantasy that New York never got, with (virtual) roaring fire, stacked wood and frosted window panes. ALMOST “ski Lodge Mod,” and no detail overlooked. Of course, lifestyle is what Ralph Lauren Home does, so their consistent showstoppers here are never a surprise... and they never disappoint. It’s also lovely to see Ralph Lauren's Alfredo Paredes, DIFFA Trustee and über-Creative, as the guest of honor at last night’s opening soiree and Monday's big dining bash.

Another product-driven table was the elegant jewel box created by Maya Romanoff. Their capiz shell tiles were used as flooring, and again, gold set the tone. I’m also always a sucker for shaded lamps on dining tables, conjuring up big-band era supperclubs.

Libby Langdon also celebrated the natural, with grassy colored Ikat chairs, water feature and a chic gray and green palette.

Ethan Allen was fresh and Floridian while still honoring their traditional roots, with pink lacquered Chippendale chairs looking very much like the flamingoes they used to style the space. A riot of tulips held their own beneath an exuberant chandelier, all very Palm Beach preppy chic... but most certainly NOT your grandmother's Ethan Allen.

Resource Furniture’s table (here, and top) designed with Marie Aiello Design Studio, was one part poem, one part tech marvel… an LCD wall washed the undersea fantasy with deep marine blues, and the iconic Tord Boontje crystal chandelier was reinvented as a branch of coral. William Yeoward stemware in watery blues extended the ocean fantasy, with airplants and protea standing in for coral and sea life. This is how a modern-day Neptune rolls, no doubt.

Proving that a monochromatic (brown) palette and limited materials can still be lush and sexy (with an eye for detail and perfect lighting), and that elegance does not preclude a trim and masculine demeanor, Mark Cunningham Inc. used teak, tortoise shell and an avant garde centerpiece against slatted walnut walls. While it defied convention that a centerpiece should not block your view, I’d still happily join this shipshape party. Plus, it gives your across-the-table dinner companions a bit of mystery til after-dinner mingling.

Other standouts included DbD veteran Eric Warner for Aesthete Ltd., who had some of the event’s most novel repurposings… riding stirrups and bridles created the overhead lighting, holding flickering votives and the full-moon globe.

The local design schools are also represented with the DbD Student Design Initiative, and among them, NYU managed to strike a lovely balance between avant garde and garden party, with exquisite floral design in a just-past-sweet palette, while stacked chairs created instant architecture and art school edge.

Lifestyle lovely Evette Rios created an entire fantasy world with her treehouse for ten, and the hard-to-photograph, but dark and stunning table for Artistic Tile showed off stone and tile surfaces to their elegant best, with unique choices of crystal and candle colors.

And transcending practicality for art’s sake, the artful installation of Benjamin Moore… an Alice-in-Wonderland-esque tea party table made entirely of books, flaunting the hues of their extensive range of designer-favorite paints. Benjamin Moore, and their own Eileen McComb, have been longtime and staunch supporters of DIFFA, and of my friends at The Alpha Workshops. The New York Times weighed in with a gallery-worthy installation, both serious and buoyant, a minimal but sculptural collection of seating set against a vertical garden wall and a surreal crystal and umbrella chandelier.

In one corner of the exhibition, a banner defined the reason for all this creativity and joyous displays: an AIDS crisis that has taken many, in this industry and many others, away from their own tables and creative endeavors. While I'm sure the creativity on display will find many, many ways to live on, I hope the reason for this event some day fades away. Thanks to DIFFA, and Dining by Design, that day gets a little closer.

Admission to Dining By Design to benefit DIFFA is included with your ticket to the Architectural Digest Home Show, open through Sunday, March 25th, 2012.

Get social! Find DIFFA, Benjamin Moore, DESIGNLUSH, Shawn Henderson, Libby Langdon, Ethan Allen and the Architectural Digest Home Show on Facebook.

All photos: Patrick J. Hamilton

...about Ann Mack and Christina Love.

2012-03-19T12:00:00.005-04:00

One renter, one designer, one apartment, one breezy makeover. Listen in on the conversation that made a rental more livable, and a friendship a little stronger. I talk to homeowner and trend spotter Ann Mack about her East Village studio, redecorated with personal vision and the assistance of her friend and designer Christina Love.

Here's Ann Mack's take on the renovation...

And here' s what Christina Love (pictured, in Ann Mack's redesigned living room) had to say about working with her friend Ann:

Read the article, and see the apartment images, here, on Apartment Therapy!

Get social! Find Love Design and Apartment Therapy on Facebook.

...about golden moments: honey, I’m home.

2012-03-15T22:41:00.032-04:00

I am sooo not a morning person. But I love what mornings stand for. Fresh starts, sunshine, a clean slate. So perhaps it’s no coincidence the color I’m loving more and more is the golden rich color of a sunny, honeyed egg-yolk.

Sure, there was great hoopla about Tangerine Tango (coincidentally, my stage name one summer back in Ft. Lauderdale… but I digress) and design diva Irene Turner celebrates my runner-up color crush, Teal. But the color somewhere between lemon and orange is the one that I want. Citrusy, happy, rich. One part school bus, one part Florence by candle light.

I’m using the Mitchell Gold + Bob Williams’ version, Venice Gold, a sumptuous velvet that feels like a mohair and plays with the light like a kitten plays with yarn, on their brand new Fleming Chair, where the decadent gold works so well with the deep wood exposed arm. They’ll be one of only two golden highlights in my dark and moody vignette for this year’s Design on a Dime, against a dramatic Bourbon-colored faux-croc wall covering from Koroseal.

Mitchell Gold + Bob Williams' Fleming Chair, in their Marlow Striae Velvet, Parchment... but a pair will be sporting their Venice Gold for my sophomore entry in Design on a Dime.

The other? A pair of Roxanne Mei Ping Ginger Jars from Bungalow5 in a sexy, sunny and deeply toned yellow they call Amber. My friend Christopher Miller described it, deliciously and aptly, as "a butternut dusted with saffron." (Stay tuned for more Design on a Dime 2012 info!)

Kravet has a full range of golds, and is showing the color on their Duet Bench and Banquette (top) in their showroom at the New York Design Center.

And suddenly, I’m not the only one letting the golden sunshine in. Designers, retailers, venerable textile houses are all stocking, and singing the praises, of this deep and decadent gold. Room & Board calls it Vance Gold. Kravet has a few shades in their Versailles line. Textile master Bruno Triplet calls it “Sunny Side Up,” and instantly found a fan in Nitzan Tagansky, of NITZAN DESIGN. Says Nitzan, “When we came across this very special yellow, (which has a golden tone to it) we fell in love with it instantly. When we do introduce a color into our minimal spaces, it has to be special color.” He adds, “This particular shade of yellow manages to be elegant and sophisticated, while adding an unexpected jolt of color to our primarily neutral backdrops.”

And that’s exactly how to use it: in small doses, against neutrals light or dark. I could see it against a Navy backdrop, or adding their golden highlights to a tan and camel scheme. Because unless you’re all-or-nothing colorist Benjamin Noriega-Ortiz, a little goes a long way.

When Nitzan asked Bruno why he decided to introduce such a bright color to his famously monochromatic fabric collections, Bruno replied, “We needed some ‘happiness’ in this gloomy economical climate.” Can I get an amen?

To celebrate the color, I turn to, as many have... Spandau Ballet...

gold

always believe in your soul

you've got the power to know

you're indestructible

always believe in,

because you are

gold.

This could make me a morning person after all!!

Get social! Follow Irene, Nitzan, Benjamin, Kravet, Mitchell Gold + Bob Williams, Room & Board, Bungalow5 and the New York Design Center on Facebook.

...about a tale of two rugs: Design on a Dime, 2012!

2012-02-04T10:20:00.011-05:00

And so it begins: the process of designing from donations, for my sophomore entry into Design on a Dime, the annual fundraiser to benefit Housing Works here in New York City. It’s an amazing event, and an absolute honor to be included, but the selection, solicitation and assembly of donated goods is not without its challenges!

Unlike last year, I have a bit more time (a blessing and a curse: blessing, since it gives me and my donors a little more breathing—and shipping!-- room; a curse, since it has a way of leaving me too much time to overthink!) Like last year, one of my first Yes's was from the generous and lovely folks at Niba Rugs (headed by Beth Arrowood, whose happy confection of a Miami home was featured here.)

But I'm faced with a lovely dilemma: There are two rugs, mine for the taking (and subsequent sale at GREATLY reduced rates during the Design on a Dime sale). But which to choose??

The first, my front runner (no rug pun intended) pictured top: the Ikat-inspired 9 x 12 (the booth is 10 x 12). The pros: It's a traffic-stopper, the kind of rug you SHOULD build a room around. Its scale will command the space. I wanted a warmer palette than my watery blue-greens of last year. Ikats are red-hot right now. It's perfect with my front-runner for a wall covering, a SEXY embossed vinyl ("Alligator," in Bourbon!) from the equally generous folks at Koroseal. And since I love dark and moody masculine rooms with a reference to the global and exotic, this rug seems a no-brainer. Also LOVE that the near-random placement of the pattern lets me position furniture anywhere, without a center medallion or border to dictate a furniture plan. Flexibility is CRUCIAL this far out on Design on a Dime, since I’m not certain what’s still headed my way…

The probable wall covering, "Alligator," in Bourbon, courtesy Koroseal.

The cons: Will people buy a 9 x 12 rug on the spot? (This IS after all, a sale… and every decision is being run through that filter.) The second hesitation: A new donor this year (I am DELIGHTED to report!), Bungalow 5, tends to be lighter and airier, and I can see more of their pieces pairing with a lighter, paler rug.

The second choice, a modern organic, the branch-y Belleview. The pluses: It’s an 8 x 10, so perhaps an easier sale for the Manhattan space-challenged. I love bringing organic motifs into modern spaces, to soften and temper the hard edges (especially helpful in a three-walled booth with no architectural saving graces). It’s lighter and the event is a Spring event (April 26th! Mark your calendars!) Plus, I could see it working seamlessly with the lighter side of Bungalow 5.

The challenge, too, is I won’t be able to see either rug in person until they arrive on install day… so I am gauging colors (as designers often have to do) from small yarn samples (“poms”), to help guide my next round of choices, probably my upholstered pieces. The poms for the Belleview look a little less green-and-gold than the images… hmmm, what to do, what to do?

What would YOU do? SELL ME on your favorite rug!!

...about Agustin Sanders.

2012-02-03T12:00:00.001-05:00

My favorite part of doing House Tours for Apartment Therapy is the interview (a close second to being a total voyeur into how other people create and shape their spaces), and it's a special treat when the conversation is with a fellow designer. My latest House Tour is of the home of San Francisco-based Agustin Sanders, graduate of the Academy of Art University (School of Interior Architecture and Design), where he is now on staff. Listen in here:

Agustin shares his designer tips and secrets on how he makes one room serve the purpose of at least three, how to turn a rental into a home with just two tricks, what's hiding in his closet at Thanksgiving, and what he picks up on the streets of San Francisco...! TOLD YA it's a good one!

Read the full post, and see all the pictures, here. You can catch up on my past Tours and Posts for Apartment Therapy here.

Get Social! Follow Apartment Therapy and the Academy of Art University on Facebook.

Photo: Patrick J. Hamilton for Apartment Therapy.