Trends_2011 PDF

Author of Trends 2011 is Katie McGovern, Interior Decorator with DecorAndYouDC.

Related Interior Decorating Articles:

• High Point, NC Market 2011 Day 2
• Interior Decorating: Window Treatment Tips
• Decor and You DC Named Exclusive Provider – Center for Foreclosure Alternatives
• Welcome to Decor&You DC

Chair 1:   Womb Chair (and interior decorator, Patty Lustig of Springfield, Virginia)

History: The Womb Chair is probably one of the most comfortable Saarinen chairs in history. Made in 1948 by Eero Saarinen, as a request by Florence Knoll, the chair was manufactured just for and by her! With its cradle form designed for a relaxed seating position, the Womb chair is perfect for a modern living room as an accent piece or perhaps a quiet corner where one can kick off their shoes and catnap on this little piece of heaven.

The Womb Chair is enveloping, lap-like form continues to be one of the most iconic and recognized representations of mid-century Scandinavian organic modernism. In fact, ask most designers and architects what lounge chair design they covet and they promptly tell you it the Womb Chair. By applying foam molded over a fiberglass shell, Saarinen was able to create a single-piece form that perfectly facilitated a relaxed sitting posture and a sublime feeling of security.

Chair 2:  Bubble Chair or Ball Chair (and interior decorator, Katie McGovern of Clifton, Virginia)

History: Eero Aarnio created the Bubble Chair in 1967 which was born from the Ball Chair*** concept. Except this new and improved chair was reduced and suspended to lessen the bulk of the Ball. He also used clear fiberglass to let the light in from all angles for a weightless effect.

***Ball chair History: Designed in 1963, this retro modern Ball Chair also known as the Globe Chair still looks like something out of the future! Eero Aarnio created the prototype for what would be the most unconventional chair of its time which started a new line of fiberglass seating. Originally, the chair was geared towards industrial design and today these reproductions also function as home furniture all over the globe.  ‘There is no nice way to make a clear pedestal’ Eero Aarnio notes. That is the lucky reason why the Bubble Chair hangs from the ceiling.  Like the Ball Chair the Bubble Chair also impresses the user by the special accoustic. The Bubble Chair swallows the sounds and you feel isolated inside in a pleasant way, even when you are in a crowded place.

The biggest update to the chair this century is we can customize this chair with your own personal stereo speakers.

(Historical content of Chair 1 & Chair 2 provided by Whitney Giannelli, Vendor Relations Manager of Decor & You, Inc.)

Chair 3:  Motion Chair or Recliner

Most believe the history of the recliner starts in the early Twentieth Century, but the recliner chair dates back much further. The earliest recliner chairs actually appeared in the late Eighteenth Century, and were functionally similar to todays recliners – allowing the user to sit upright or recline back with the legs and feet off the floor.

What has been dubbed by many designers as motion furniture, the recliner has been with us in one form or another for over two hundred years. Modeled after the chaise lounge, the long history of the recliner has seen this popular piece of furniture go from simple to fully motorized. Thought to be an American invention, the recliner has its roots as far back as Napoleon.

Two American cousins, Knabush and Shoemaker, are credited with gaining the patent on a wooden recliner. There was nothing remarkable about the design as it resembled a wooden beach recliner. The difference between this and other recliners was the patent. Issued in nineteen twenty eight, the patent led to the founding of LayZBoy. It would not be until nineteen thirty one that the cousins would patent an upholstered model with a mechanical movement. It would not be until nineteen forty seven that a competing company would add a built in foot rest. The addition of a foot rest would become a standard part of recliner design (content from Mitch Endick, online writer).

Recliners have come a long way, don’t you agree?

Written by Sandra Hambley, Principal Interior Decorator of DecorAndYouDC of Herndon, Virginia.

Related Interior Decorating Articles:

• Top 8 Trends, High Point 2011 Market
• Decor and You DC Named Exclusive Provider – Center for Foreclosure Alternatives
• Interior Decorating: Window Treatment Tips
• Interior Decorating Project Overview

Sandra Hambley, principal of DecorAndYouDC, is delighted to announce the addition of interior decorator, Connie Sims.  Connie brings her experience in construction and decorating of landmark and registered historic buildings and spaces.  Her expertise will prove invaluable with clients, particularly those who have homes inside the beltway and in the District of Columbia.

Connie Sims, resident of Alexandria for over 20 years, combines her extensive background in business and contracting with her passion for décor to help clients enhance their home’s value and beauty. Connie’s extensive experience with the building trades, contracting and project scheduling, ensures that each project is delivered on time and with the maximum amount of “Wow Factor” for each budget. As the mother of a busy household complete with several teenagers and a myriad of pets, including a large German Shorthaired Pointer, Connie knows the importance of creating functionality and style using beautiful, sturdy furniture, high quality (and stain resistant!) fabrics and floor coverings. Whether decorating for a large family, single executive or urban professionals, Connie’s goal is to ensure her décor plans reflect the unique personal style of each client.
“There’s nothing more satisfying than looking around your home knowing that it’s well designed, beautiful and comfortable. It’s so easy to down play the importance of a decorated space. But living in a home that is well designed and well-lit with beautiful, quality furnishings, truly makes a difference in how you feel about yourself, your life and your family time. It sets the stage for you and your family to go out into the world and do your best knowing you have a beautiful home to return to. Simply put, a beautiful home really does make for a happier life!”
Connie has been an active member of Queen of Apostles Catholic Church in Alexandria for 20 years and has served as the chairperson of many Galas and fundraising events. She enjoys her busy life in Alexandria, but also spending time with family and friends at her home on the Eastern Shore. Connie’s easy going style and warm personality make her someone you’ll truly enjoy working with to achieve the dream of a beautiful home. 

You may schedule an appointment with Connie directly at connie.sims@decorandyou.com or by calling her at 703.389.0940.  Please join us in welcoming her to our team!

Related Interior Decorating Articles:

• Contact Decor and You DC for more info.

Decorators at High Point 2011

My team of decorators arrived in High Point, NC and are ready to visit 40 of our company’s most exciting and reputable companies.  They all have day jobs (of course!), so they can’t visit the showrooms of all our hundreds of manufacturers unfortunately.  The biggest question posed each year … “What are the trends this year with staying power?”  Our Katie McGovern describes what she is seeing as “Industrial, Earth shapes, Natural/Organic, Ocean. Colors: vibrant yellow family & blues, TEXTURE and multiples are everywhere.” 

It continues to be challenging living for many people financially and emotionally, and these trends reflect this reality.  Organic looks really speak to people who appreciate discoveries in nature - that is, in their natural form and environment.  Getting back to the basics after having cut out many of the extraneous add-ons and excesses of the last decade can be completely liberating.  Vibrant colors and calming blues are a perfect palette to key us energized, cheerful and restful.  Industrial and commercial design of furniture made its biggest move from the hospitality to the residential market a couple years ago.  People who may not be traveling as much due to circumstances, such as an unpredicatable national or even global economy, are striving to create luxury accommodations at hotels and restaurants in their own spaces, especially their bedrooms, kitchens and eating areas.

Katie says, “We LOVE our lighting vendor, Natural Light, as well as, Soucher Marin, art vendor.   We also like the Artisan Shoppe line completely revamped, looks like a Paris antique market…Fabulous, for any style. Two new lines of solid mahogany and walnut, respectively.”

This summarizes most of Day 1.  Check back to see images of my team’s inspiring finds and what Day 2 brings.

Related Interior Decorating Articles:

• Contact Decor and You DC for more info.

Please come to our office, 1039 Sterling Rd., Ste. 104, Herndon, VA and pick up great finds at great prices:  window treatments, bolts of fabric, artwork, rugs, artwork and more.

Related Interior Decorating Articles:

• Contact Decor and You DC for more info.

Mary Gilliatt and Sandra Hambley at a Designer Open House in Prince William County, VA

Related Interior Decorating Articles:

• Contact Decor and You DC for more info.

This particular day of interior lighting installation was in a beautiful, custom home in Herndon, Virginia. The hammered metal wall sconces and eclectic overhead metal lighting fixtures are the perfect accents to the freshly wallpapered foyer and hallways. Once the client saw the lighting fixture, she had to have it. She fell in love with the ceiling light because it “looks like a very bad hat!” What do you think?

Lighting may seem expensive by the time you invest in the fixtures and hire the electrician. But, we do our best to have all our interior decorating clients considering adding more lighting – general, task and accent. Most all homes need more light – a good design rule of thumb is 8-12 light sources per room. Start counting … we can almost guarantee you are under lit!

Once you realize you need more light, be sure you design the proper lighting plan which meets your functional needs. And, don’t forget to select fixtures that satisfy your unique personality and sense of style.

And, if you find yourself craving those extra set of hands, a set of finely-tuned design eyes , or the most gorgeous and extensive selection of lighting fixtures available to the design trade, don’t forget to call us: 866-WOW-Decor (866-969-3326).

CAPTION: In photo, Janet Aurora, an award-winning interior decorator with Decor&You DC, services residential and commercial interior decorating clients in Arlington, Alexandria, Fairfax, Vienna, Herndon and Reston. Her turn-key design through implementation includes room layout and design, furnishings, custom window treatments, flooring and accessories.

Related Interior Decorating Articles:

• Top 8 Trends, High Point 2011 Market
• High Point, NC Market 2011 Day 2
• Interior Decorating Project Overview
• Interior Decorating: An Eye for Finishing Touches

An eye for detail is the factor that lifts competent decoration to the memorable level and, as such, it should clearly be cultivated.  It is the ability to choose, place and arrange objects in a compelling way, grouping them so that they are seen to their best advantage.   It is a feel for balance; the juxtaposition of texture and color; form and scale; height and width; solidity and lightness.

ARRANGING OBJECTS

Actually, there are two quite different schools of thought on the possession and display of objects: the school of simplicity and the school for comfortable clutter.  The offering up of one or two exquisite and interesting pieces; or an accretion of possessions and collections that is often called, rather aptly, memorabilia.

The trouble about the first school is that a few beautiful or singularly interesting objects really must be beautiful or singularly interesting. Or at least made to appear so by the way they are displayed or mounted.  The difficulty about the second is that the ‘clutter’ or enthusiastic accretion of possessions must also be organized to display it to its best advantage.  This involves a careful assemblage of texture and shape and color not to mention placement.

Collections of small objects should always be grouped together rather than scattered sparsely around a house or an apartment.  Very small things like decorative shells or stones or marbles can be put into large glass goblets or specimen jars and displayed on windowsills or on shelves.  Slightly larger objects, however different, should be grouped so that they have something in common such as color, national origin or period, or, alternatively, contrasted with larger, quite different things for the interest of the juxtaposition.  Add a plant for example, or a simple arrangement of flowers, or dried grasses, or a big bowl of dried lavender, or a pile of books.   If arrangements are grouped on tables that are also used for the practical dumping of drinks, food, or whatever, leave appropriate space so that the composition will not be ruined.

If arrangements are on a glass shelf or table, lighting them from underneath with a small up light is effective.  If they are not on a transparent surface try lighting them from above with a table lamp or down light recessed into the ceiling, or a miniature spot to give extra brilliance.   Interestingly, serious or at least energetic collections of quite commonplace or ordinary but unexpected objects often make for more memorable rooms than much rarer items.

Something sculptural, (whether it is from a young contemporary sculptor, or African or Oceanic, pre-Columbian or Oriental, classical figurative or abstract bronze, kinetic or a two-colored construction) will always add to the interest of a room. Almost all sculpture except standing pieces looks better on some sort of plinth made to scale, whether it is lacquered, painted or natural wood, marble, plaster, fiber or Plexiglas.

Related Interior Decorating Articles:

• Top 8 Trends, High Point 2011 Market
• High Point, NC Market 2011 Day 2
• Welcome to Decor&You DC
• Interior Decorating: Window Treatment Tips

Colors are so radically changed by differences in texture and pattern that a monochromatic or one-color room can be as lively and memorable through its subtlety as a more vividly contrasting space. Therefore, textures and pattern need to be considered as seriously and, at least in the case of textures, as evocatively, as the process of color-building.

Take textures first. The name of a known texture immediately conjures up an almost tangible surface. Just as thinking about one color in depth can evoke many images and variations, so too, different textures engender their own imagery. Consider for example the following:

Brick, Burlap, Basketwork, Cane, Cashmere, Ceramic, Coir,

Denim, Felt, Glass, Lace, Lacquer, Leather, Limestone,

Linen, Louvers, Matchboard, Plaster, Plexiglass, Quilting, Rope,

Satin, Silk, Steel, Stone, Tapestry, Tweed, Velvet

Pick out some of them and imagine how they would look distributed among floors, walls ceiling, soft furnishings, and furniture. Obviously some textures are more in keeping with each other than others. Rough contrasts with smooth and matte with gloss. But brick or stone or rough plaster walls look generally better contrasted with natural linen or burlap or cotton than with silk or satin. But there are no real rules, only sensibilities.

As for patterns, it used to be a convention never to mix them, as much to create harmony as to make things easier. One good way to become more confident about mixing pattern and texture with ease is to realize the pattern in a room is formed as much by possessions as by fabrics and floor coverings. Books with their various jacket designs; the way art is arranged on walls; the placement of objects; the slats of shutters; the play of light and shade; the shapes of different pieces of furniture; the leaves and flowers of plants… All these disparate things from patterns in their own right. When this fact is considered, one fabric, carpet or rug pattern more or less can hardly make much difference as the scale, tone and proportion are right. These last are obviously important. Large patterns that look interesting and diverting in fabric stores or furnishing departments are often more sensible for public rather than private settings, or at least large spaces unless one possesses a sure sense of scale, although it is a fact that large scale patterns and furniture used with confidence can generally make a small space seem much bigger. Similarly, one should remember that many small patterns often meld into one color when actually used for window treatments as opposed to hanging up show lengths.

A play of pattern however, can be very effective, varying as it does the whole balance of color.

The same design in two different colors can look interesting. So can the same design reversed – say blue on white predominating with white on blue predominating.

Very similar patterns in the same colors can be used together with effect, as in window treatments and carpet, with plain painted or plain textured walls.

Patterns with the same feeling if not design can also be used together effectively. Vivid striped North African or other ethnic fabrics with heavily patterned oriental rugs. Florals of all sorts with stripes or checks.

Use a large pattern with a smaller pattern in the same color way.

Do not forget the subtle effect of sheers printed with the same pattern as the curtains, or used with an allied or more simplified design, or in toned-down versions of the same main colors.

Lastly to mix patterns and textures together successfully, assemble as many samples of each as you can. Juggle them around. Think of them, as I said, in the context of existing surfaces, furniture, window treatments, upholstery, accents. Look at them in different lights. Then pick out two or three schemes for a final choice. This is the most effective way to learn.

Related Interior Decorating Articles:

• Top 8 Trends, High Point 2011 Market
• High Point, NC Market 2011 Day 2
• Interior Decorating: An Eye for Finishing Touches
• Decor and You DC: Don’t Underestimate Serendipity

Never forget that good interior design is as much about practicality, comfort and detail as it is about mood and style. However beautiful the window treatments you create, however original or subtle the color schemes, however splendid the furnishings, nobody is going to thank you if the overall room is not comfortable to live in, or does not function as it should.

I always advise clients and readers to start by assessing the optimum requirements, to price them out, and to work backwards from there in the light of the budget available for the project. You need to spend a good deal of time at the start of the job assessing just what really is needed, as opposed to wanted. Questions to ask a client (or yourself) at the outset include:

1. How long do you expect to stay in this home?  As long as possible?  Fairly short term? (it will make a difference to priorities)
2. Are there, or are there likely to be, children or pets in the house (this will make all the difference to surfaces and textures chosen)
3. Are there any elderly relatives living or staying for any length of time, or likely to be in the future?  (If so you will need to think about especially good lighting for stairs and corridors, and easy to reach bedside lighting. Bathroom floors must be non-slip, and grip rails and seats in a shower are a good idea and easy to install).
4. How many people are likely to be at home all day? (This might affect colors and lighting)
5. Where does the family feel most comfortable eating? (This will certainly affect distribution of rooms and choice of furniture)
6. Who uses the living room most and for what? (just relaxing? Bridge? Listening to music? Looking at TV? Working as well?)
7. How often do you entertain, how and in what room?  How many people do you generally entertain at one time?-(This will affect furniture and furniture placement. Also its amazing how many people look at houses with a view to parties who never actually give them…)
8. Do you feel that in general the overall space is adequate for your needs, or would be capable of being put to better use if only you knew how? (Partition walls can be taken down or put up quite easily to expand or contract space. You might find more living space in the attic, basement or even garage)
9. Is your home, in fact, in need of a complete re-think as well as re-decoration?
10. Do you and your partner have similar tastes or decidedly different ones? Have you agreed to each have your own way in different rooms or will you have to form some sort of compromise?
11. Is it possible to make the best of existing furniture, furnishings and flooring, if any? Remember you can paint, strip, lacquer, dye, or stencil pieces (and wood or cement floors) not to mention recovering and reupholstering upholstery or just covering them with throws. This can give a whole new look as well as freeing up more of the budget for possibly more important work.
12. What colors and styles are you most comfortable with?
13. If you could list the ten luxuries that would make your home seem more attractive and work better, what would they be?
14. What is the maximum you can spend on your project bearing in mind that you must always put a sum aside for contingencies?
15. What absolutely must be spent? Where can you make savings? Can you form a long- term plan so that the urgent things can be done now and other things can be fitted in as and when you can afford them?

Answers to these questions will certainly help you to determine the way your clients ( or you) want a home to function, how much can be comfortably afforded and how it should look. So always take the time to assess and re-assess right from the beginning.

Related Interior Decorating Articles:

• Top 8 Trends, High Point 2011 Market
• High Point, NC Market 2011 Day 2
• Interior Decorating: Window Treatment Tips
• Interior Decorating: Thoughts on Color