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Artists with a Sense of Humor

02/12/2008, 21:08 | Original Site: designer's library

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From Cody Hudson

C0097_03
From You Work for Them

From Tamara Shopsin

Design Drinking Games

00/00/0000, 00:00 | Original Site: Hatch: The Design Public® Blo

Here are a few new objects for our design drinking games. “Take a swig” everytime you see one of the following:

A Globe Collection:

Not-so-casually-tossed Hermes boxes (”casually tossed” Hermes boxes count too). Do stylists just keep a bunch of these in their cars for photo shoots?:

Gaining on the Tom Ford book and The Cabinet of Natural Curiousities, it’s the Tony Duquette book! Also in this picture, another trend, putting an entire shrub into a vase.

Tortoise shells, real and faux. By the way, picture number two is chock full of extra points, so look carefully:

Zebra rugs. Because these are so ubiquitous, to be fair, let’s say the magazine or blog post has to have at least three of them in order to count (I really love both of these rooms by the way, especially the first one):

Photographs in order from top to bottom:

â€¢ Southern Accents

â€¢ Metropolitan Home

â€¢ Elle Decor

â€¢ Domino

â€¢ House Beautiful

â€¢ Southern Accents

Eleven Questions to Ask Before Hiring an Interior Designer.

00/00/0000, 00:00 | Original Site: Landfair Furniture (Blog)

Back in January 2006, we wrote a post entitled Eight Questions to Ask Before Hiring an Interior Designer. The eight questions were part of an article in Home magazine and we linked to the magazine.

We like to link to an article and highlight several questions in our post, rather
than list all the questions. That way people go to the linked site and we both benefit from the traffic. One of our frustrations looking back at some of our posts is that not all articles are archived. If you click on the link above, you land on the magazineâ€™s website, but itâ€™s the June 2008 issue and the â€œEight Questionsâ€¦are gone!

Itâ€™s been awhile, so, because of inflation, weâ€™ve come up with our own eleven questions:

1. Do I like the designer? Can I spend a lot of time with him/her? Good communication is a must. Working with an interior designer involves some give and take. You will share ideas, and the designer will contribute insights and advice based on his or her talents, knowledge and experience. Depending on the scope of the project, you could be working with your designer a couple of weeks to many, many months.

2. Do I get that he/she is trying to understand me by asking a lot of questions? The key to success is really getting to know you in the early stages and how you and your family use your home and your interests.

3. Does the scale of my project really warrant an interior designer? Even if you think you could accomplish the redesign, do you have the time and inclination? You need to be realistic about how much money you are willing to spend. Include in this estimate the cost of all raw materials, new furniture, labor for installations, and possibly a designer.

4. How do you charge for your time? Designers may charge by the hour, which can be anywhere from $35 to $300, and these costs can quickly mount up. Others may offer a free first consultation, and then quote you a flat fee on the basis of your discussions. Some may charge for the first meeting in advance and then a fee for the whole project based on the estimated hours. Some may bill you for hours used each month. Some may bill each month a level amount. Some may get a designer discount and pass some or all the savings on to you. Whatever the basis on which your interior decorator is paid, make sure you both agree on the budget.

5. Can we accomplish the redesign and stay within my budget?

6. I canâ€™t decide if I like the design. Do I still have to pay for it? â€œYes! When you decide to hire an interior design firm, you have decided to trust the design recommendations of that firm.â€

7. Are you available for conversation about changes and fine tuning? A good designer knowing you may present you with several options and give you the choice of one or the other. ASID recommends: â€œMinimize changes to your plan. Each part of the design will affect the whole. Changes or special requests can require any number of adjustments that will add time and expenses to your project.

8. My friend doesnâ€™t like your ideas. Why shouldnâ€™t I listen to her/him? If you have to ask this question you should probably have hired your friend.

9. Can I go to the local Design Center? With or without you? Of course, just let them know that you are working with a designer and his/her name.

10. What if a piece of furniture comes damaged? The furniture store should inspect the furniture when it arrives. The designer should also inspect the furniture before it goes to the client. If something is missed or it breaks when it is used, the designer and the furniture store will work together with the vendor to resolve any problem.

11. How long does it take to receive things, once they are ordered? Hereâ€™s a guideline (though individual vendors may vary):
Upholstered Furniture: 10-16 weeks depending on vendor.
Casegoods â€“ Chests, bookcases, tables, hutches, etc.: 8-12 weeks depending on vendor.
Window Treatments: 6-8 weeks depending on size of job
Accessories, Lamps, Art Prints, Silk Flowers/Plants: 4-6 weeks or less.
Rugs: If machine made, 2-4 weeks. If hand knotted, 3-4 months
Wallpaper/Fabrics: 3-5 days.

Several websites contributed to this list of questions and their answers:

Apartment Therapy LA Good Questions: Hiring an Interior Designer
ASID Working with a Designer
Nancy Werneken Interior Design Frequently Asked Questions
Lynle Ellis Designs Before You Hire an Interior Designer
NWSID Why Hire an Interior Designer?
CCIDC Frequently Asked Questions About Certified Interior Designers
Directory M articles Interior Decorator

Bev & Mike
Landfair Furniture + Design Gallery

Reader Design Dilemma-joining rooms

00/00/0000, 00:00 | Original Site: Hue

What do you do when you have combined living spaces that flow together? Do you paint them all the same color? How do you visually separate the spaces? Or do you want to make them more cohesive? We've got a great example of this quandary, submitted by reader Mary Beth.

I would like any advice you can offer about what color to paint my kitchen/family room. It's all one big area and needs to be painted the same color.

Here's a montaged image of the breakfast nook and the living room area

(Kitchen cabinets being painted, so doors are removed.)

I'm planning to put a beige slip cover on the small side chair in the family room, but I need to keep the burgundy sofa. The floors are a medium reddish oak color. And there's a small traditional area rug that is gold, beige, black, and burgundy.

I'm really sick of beige walls! But I need to keep the color light. Maybe a light blue or green? I love the grayish blues and greens, and think they might work with the burgundy sofa. Any suggestions?
-Mary Beth

Okay, here's my take on the matter. First question-why do the areas need to be the same? Who says they have to be the same colors? I say, each space has it's own purpose, and deserves its own color. Of course, there are architectural restrictions to work around. For instance, you shouldn't try to break a wall into multiple areas of color without natural breaks in the wall, such as columns, cabinets, or other elements. So, the structure and layout of the space does determine where colors are placed...to a certain extent.

So, where do we go from there?

First, you need to figure out what kind of lighting the space gets. Is it bright and sunny, or shady and cool? What design goals are you hoping to achieve with the spaces? Is the living room supposed to be relaxing, or energizing? Should it be spacious and airy, or cozy and intimate? These are all issues to consider before launching into color selection. That being said, since we don't have all those answers for this dilemma, let's play around with color:

Here's a soft sage green living room, paired with a neutral warm mocha color (you'd need to check how it worked with the detail work in the tiles, as I can't quite tell what color they are)

Alternatively, here's a cool gray blue, paired with the same mocha kitchen color.

Just to get daring here, pushing towards cleaner, brighter colors could further liven up the space. Here, I simply bumped up the saturation level of the green and added a cheerful blue wall for the kitchen.

You may wonder where I pulled the bright blue suggestion. When you are really stuck trying to figure out a good color for a space, try inverting the colors to find the compliments.

If you have a photo editing program, you can do it digitally. Otherwise, grab a handy-dandy color wheel, and travel across the wheel for the color opposite your color in question. (Ie with a red couch, we'd be looking at blues and greens) Here, for example, are the inverse colors of Mary Beth's rug. Voila- a lovely complimentary blue shade.

As a last suggestion, to tie the couch into the decor, a rich burgundy wall would work really nicely-pulling in the living room colors with the reddish undertones in the tile work.

I'd like to hear from readers to weigh in with your suggestions. What colors do you think would work best for Mary Beth's kitchen/living room combo? How would you solve her color dilemma?

The many colors of house-hunting

00/00/0000, 00:00 | Original Site: Hue

Phew! I am back from our whirlwind trip to the Bay Area to try and secure housing. Emphasis on "try"... Boy oh boy, are houses out there expensive! I guess it's all about "location, location, location".

Nondescript white-walled room. Totally forgettable.

Really dated kitchen in desperate need of a make-over.

While house hunting, I had a completely different perspective from that which I normally inhabit- that of adviser. Often, I have clients who want to spruce up their house, but are concerned about selecting colors that will make the house easier to sell, eventually. So, here I was, a potential buyer, examining houses for my own needs. I have to say that staging and colors helped a TON with the appeal of a property. Of course, I'm rather biased, but in my head, I imagined I could see through what wasn't there to what I would do to the spaces. But after days and days of touring properties, you don't want to expend the energy. Turns out, I was much more intrigued (as were other house-seekers I noticed), by those spaces with color.

Love, love, loved the colors in this house. We were ready to move in, and I didn't even have the desire to change their paint choices. This house wasn't staged, but really tastefully done by the owners. After peeking in an office cabinet, I discovered someone living there works as a color consultant.

For those of you unfamiliar with the term, staging refers to taking a house for sale, and spiffing it up to make it more appealing to potential buyers. Sometimes, a stager works with existing furniture and accessories, editing where necessary, re-arranging items to maximize space and flow. Other times, stagers will bring in furniture and pieces into an empty house, to give the buyer a sense of how the space would feel when its inhabited.

Testing the authenticity of a staged "bed" that turns out was just cardboard boxes draped in fabric. Aren't these walls just screaming for chromatic assistance? A distinctly unsuccessful staging, I hate to say.

Sometimes, stagers will go further, advising refinishing floors or painting walls. I've got to tell you, it made a huge difference as we were strolling through our 15th house of the day.

Soft yellow walls and muted sophisticated accent colors (check out the throw pillows, rug, even the golden bowl on the table) really made this room appealing. The touch of green helped round out the palette. This was another favorite house, but alas, an offer was already in on it.

Those properties with unique, rich or even just understated colors on the walls certainly made the place feel more homey and more personal. Loved the pumpkin.

There's something so sterile about an empty, white walled house. This fireplace wall would have looked much better with an accent color to ground it in the space.

I'm not big on black counter-tops, as they are hard on the eyes, ergonomically. Not enough contrast between the work surface and items on top. But I loved how the stager took cues from the existing palette to bring in black and white plates in the empty cabinets and pulled in touches of bright blue here and there. I couldn't get enough of the sunshine streaming through the window-just like a cat, I suppose...

I noticed it in new apartment complexes, as well. They advertised "designer colors" and would point out accent walls in the model unit that were either standard, or not included.

image source

Unfortunately, I forgot my camera when we toured the complex, so I can't show you the cool hall and unit colors. In any case, evidently, the general public has become much more color and design savvy, for the salespeople to emphasize color so much.

So, that's just a little taste of our adventure out west. For the time being, I think we will settle for a rental while we continue the quest for our house. I'd like to hear from those of you who have gone house-hunting in the past: how important were the wall colors in your impression of a property? Did it make a difference in the end when you bought something?

Etsy Love...

00/00/0000, 00:00 | Original Site: absolutely beautiful things

Loving these little cuties from My Folk Lover @ Etsy...wouldn't they be gorgeous hung in a child's room!!

Will Wick

00/00/0000, 00:00 | Original Site: katiedid

The cover of the latest Western Interiors was graced by the work of Will Wick. The issue is dedicated to smaller homes, but Mr. Wick is able to make this San Francisco residence appear luxurious in size. He also combined heirloom furniture pieces with new finds making everything feel modern and fresh:

For example there was a pair of traditional drum tables flanking the sofa in the Living Room that he topped with organic tree trunk lamps. Very unexpected, but it gives the space a humorous edge. Instead of the expected Oriental area rug, he uses a goatskin rug to change things up a bit.

In the Family Room, he uses soothing light colors with just one punch of color in the art to expand the smallish space into something that seems much larger. Gorgeous!

For many more photos from the Wick Design Group's portfolio, be sure to check out this post from Desire to Inspire.

I believe I have a new crush!

come dance with me

00/00/0000, 00:00 | Original Site: studio wellspring

ok fine folks, i told you it was coming ~ and now it's officially here. studio tango vida, the newest and easily most gorgeous tango studio in san francisco has opened its doors for your dancing pleasure. ney melo and jennifer bratt are the proud owners and they are offering classes every day {except sunday} for beginners thru advanced tangueros and even some special lady's technique classes.

they are also selling comme il faut's for the ladies and a custom-made men's tango shoe from italy that they became rep's for after their last trip to italia. the photo just above is ney showing off his amazon-green alligator shoes {that just so happen to match the wall paint color} from the men's line along with his new rug from argentina {he's *very* proud of both!}.

i took two classes last night & will be taking another two tonight. so now i can give you the official report that the fresh, hip space is a delight to be in! the brand new bamboo floors are fabulous for dancing ~ i don't think my pivots & ochos ever felt better. the accoustics are great ~ it's not a huge studio but just roomy enough, and di sarli sounds perfectly enchanting within. it was a warm night, so they kept the front door open to let in the breeze and many passersby stopped to take a look. i'm sure the sights & sounds were just too much to keep from stopping to take some of it in.

after the last dance everyone agreed it was a blessing to be there. also, ney & jennifer shared champagne left after their opening party on sunday, so that certainly helped with the blissful vibes. but, believe me, you won't need bubbly to come alive on this dance floor.

so if you're in the bay area please make a point to stop in for a class soon {ney & jennifer are here for the month of may but they're off to tour in europe for the month of june}

and if you're not in the bay area, now you have an even greater reason to come visit {hint hint, wink wink, mr.you-know-who}

Branca... the Store!

00/00/0000, 00:00 | Original Site: The Peak of Chic

You Midwesterners are certainly lucky. Alessandra Branca, doyenne of snappy and snazzy design with a lot of sizzle, has just opened a new retail shop in Chicago (17 East Pearson to be exact). The shop, called Branca, is filled with things that Alessandra both loves and actually uses. Table accessories, furniture, books, candles, and African feather headdresses are all here, much of it in Branca's beloved black, white, and RED color scheme (the red is what gives everything the sizzle.)

Travel plans aren't taking you to Chicago this summer? No worries, because currently a limited selection of items are available for sale via the website (you'll need to call the shop at 312-787-1017 to actually place the order, but online shopping on the website will be up and running this summer.) While you're visiting the site, you can also view some images from Alessandra's gorgeous portfolio.

Here are a few items from the website that caught my eye (also available in the store for those of you lucky enough to visit in person!):

Pair of 19th century German Neoclassical style fauteuils (the fabric is vintage red Turkish ticking)

White glass optik glasses- highballs, lowballs, and stemless champagne glasses

Branca Signature Candles: I-Mint, Musk, & Tea; II-Tomato Leaf, Basil, & Black Currant; III-Fig Tree; IV-Green Tea with Lime

Branca Red Hide Rug

Images at top: A view of the new shop, and one of the shop owner herself.