In my last post, I put up some photographs from this weekend's trip to Sedona. I felt an instant connection to the landscape and thought that the natural beauty of the area could be easily translatable to the way I look at interiors. Taking my digital learning curve up another notch, below you will find attached my Pinterest board.
http://pinterest.com/elizabethhome/sedona/
My jumping off point for the whole design is Phillip Jeffries Java Cork wallcovering. To me, it is a literal interpretation of the red rocks of Sedona. I would love to use this as a focal wall in a bedroom. To soften it up, I would place a wood and upholstered headboard in front of it in a Lee Jofa mossy green velvet. Paired with some southwestern influenced textiles, a little leather, some animal skin (faux or real), and a few pieces of clean-lined furnishings, this would be quite a little adobe villa of your own!
Monday, January 16, 2012
The wild west
Just back from a quick weekend out west to Sedona - What a magical place with perfect temps for hiking and picture taking! Here are some of the wild landscapes that encompass the town. I will be following up this post with another about how to recreate this feeling in your interior...
And now for some details of color and texture.
And here's a peek at our sweet little adobe villa.
Monday, January 9, 2012
Up and down and side to side
Clients often ask me to help them arrange their bookshelves. I understand that this can be a daunting task, and not everyone reads enough to actually fill them up with books. So if you are not using them in the traditional utilitarian way, then this is a great place to highlight some of your family photos and favorite found objects. With a little down lighting, they can even be the focal point of the room.
Everyone goes about assembling their things in their own way. There is no real guide (or at least not one that I know of) on how to actually do this. For me, it's about balance. For every vertical object on your shelf, you need a horizontal one to counter it (usually above or below it and on the diagonal). You also need stabilizers to finish each run. To translate, usually I like to flank 6-8 books vertically against the side of the bookshelf and then support it with a bookend or a vase. To keep the shelf from feeling too heavy, I usually place something lighter on the other side of the books, like a pair of photographs, a pottery collection, or an interesting box. I will then do the reverse on the shelves above and below the one that I started from (like a zig-zag). Below on my own bookshelves, you will find an antique ladies lap desk, an assortment of nautical tools, a small painting found at a flea market, a gurgling cod, some Chinese pottery, a few reference books, and some of our favorites novels.
Also, bookshelves are a great place to showcase pictures or souvenirs from a trip. One entire shelf can display a grouping of photographs, especially if the frames are similar but in varying sizes, and even more so, if all the photographs are done in black and white. Another shelf can tell a story from a vacation with a few items that you brought home to treasure.
Here are some favorites from my trip to Jordan and Egypt:
And another shelf gets my Balinese wedding couple paired with some antique Chinese buckets:
If you are an avid reader with beautiful hard copy books, then by all means, fill your bookshelves up with books. If you have multiple bookshelves linked together with a center stile, then hang a painting on the stile to break up the line of books. Or, use family photos to act as a bookend at the end of a run. But if you're not reading the books that you put up there, then fill the cases with something more meaningful and something that will strike up conversation when you have company. Anything goes!
Everyone goes about assembling their things in their own way. There is no real guide (or at least not one that I know of) on how to actually do this. For me, it's about balance. For every vertical object on your shelf, you need a horizontal one to counter it (usually above or below it and on the diagonal). You also need stabilizers to finish each run. To translate, usually I like to flank 6-8 books vertically against the side of the bookshelf and then support it with a bookend or a vase. To keep the shelf from feeling too heavy, I usually place something lighter on the other side of the books, like a pair of photographs, a pottery collection, or an interesting box. I will then do the reverse on the shelves above and below the one that I started from (like a zig-zag). Below on my own bookshelves, you will find an antique ladies lap desk, an assortment of nautical tools, a small painting found at a flea market, a gurgling cod, some Chinese pottery, a few reference books, and some of our favorites novels.
Also, bookshelves are a great place to showcase pictures or souvenirs from a trip. One entire shelf can display a grouping of photographs, especially if the frames are similar but in varying sizes, and even more so, if all the photographs are done in black and white. Another shelf can tell a story from a vacation with a few items that you brought home to treasure.
Here are some favorites from my trip to Jordan and Egypt:
And another shelf gets my Balinese wedding couple paired with some antique Chinese buckets:
If you are an avid reader with beautiful hard copy books, then by all means, fill your bookshelves up with books. If you have multiple bookshelves linked together with a center stile, then hang a painting on the stile to break up the line of books. Or, use family photos to act as a bookend at the end of a run. But if you're not reading the books that you put up there, then fill the cases with something more meaningful and something that will strike up conversation when you have company. Anything goes!
Thursday, January 5, 2012
Switch hitting
It's a new year. I have started my annual cleanse, and now on day 3, I'm jonzing for my morning coffee, a glass of Pinot and some cheese and crackers. I know that if I can just stay strong, the cycle will continue, and in a few days I will feel clarity and more refreshed to kick off 2012.
To keep on track, today I took a trip over to Barnes & Noble to pick up a copy of Shape magazine - It's always inspiring to see before and afters of people who have dropped some serious lbs (did you see that issue of People magazine this month where they were 1/2 their size?)! Anyway, while I went there to pick up Shape, I started flipping through Vogue and the like. Finding the images a little too far out of touch for my physique, I ended up in the house & home section. Go figure.
But, that's it.
A friend of mine, Gretchen Aubuchon, is launching a new website next month called Fashion + Decor (http://www.fashionanddecor.com/). She has come up with the great concept of coupling fashion with interiors. She is literally "pairing fashion to home decor to inspire dressing our homes as we would dress ourselves". Though personally I am still an old school believer that interiors (or at least the ones that I create) begin more organically, there is an opposing school of thought out there that believe they are influenced more by how you dress or what you see on the runway.
Now I am not a girl who is hung up on fashion. I always thumb through the design magazines before I pick up a fashion one (which usually comes after a dose of US Weekly), so for me, this theory works a little backwards. I see a beautiful space and then conceptualize it as an outfit, especially with color schemes that I normally wouldn't think of putting together on my body. But, in trying to stay on track for a healthy new year, I came across this inspiration. This is my goal. I am going to look great in this swimsuit. AND, for the first time that I am aware of, I'm a switch hitter. Fashion is going to influence my design, and I'm going to use it as my jumping off point for a new project....
Mara Hoffman
For more about Fashion + Decor, make sure to check out Gretchen's blog, http://www.gretchenaubuchondesign.com/.
To keep on track, today I took a trip over to Barnes & Noble to pick up a copy of Shape magazine - It's always inspiring to see before and afters of people who have dropped some serious lbs (did you see that issue of People magazine this month where they were 1/2 their size?)! Anyway, while I went there to pick up Shape, I started flipping through Vogue and the like. Finding the images a little too far out of touch for my physique, I ended up in the house & home section. Go figure.
But, that's it.
A friend of mine, Gretchen Aubuchon, is launching a new website next month called Fashion + Decor (http://www.fashionanddecor.com/). She has come up with the great concept of coupling fashion with interiors. She is literally "pairing fashion to home decor to inspire dressing our homes as we would dress ourselves". Though personally I am still an old school believer that interiors (or at least the ones that I create) begin more organically, there is an opposing school of thought out there that believe they are influenced more by how you dress or what you see on the runway.
Now I am not a girl who is hung up on fashion. I always thumb through the design magazines before I pick up a fashion one (which usually comes after a dose of US Weekly), so for me, this theory works a little backwards. I see a beautiful space and then conceptualize it as an outfit, especially with color schemes that I normally wouldn't think of putting together on my body. But, in trying to stay on track for a healthy new year, I came across this inspiration. This is my goal. I am going to look great in this swimsuit. AND, for the first time that I am aware of, I'm a switch hitter. Fashion is going to influence my design, and I'm going to use it as my jumping off point for a new project....
Mara HoffmanFor more about Fashion + Decor, make sure to check out Gretchen's blog, http://www.gretchenaubuchondesign.com/.
Friday, December 30, 2011
Farewell and onward
As the eve of 2012 draws near, I am looking back on 2011 and thankful for such an adventurous year. From roadtripping all over the USA, to an Southeast Asian homecoming, to loafing it in Bermuda, I have found inspiration from all over the globe! I feel blessed for my entry into the digital age and am grateful that I am able to share my travels and creations with you.
So farewell 2011. I am looking forward to indulging in Sedona in January, skiing in the White Mountains in February, hitting High Point in April, and RV'ing the Pacific Northwest over summer break. I have some fun projects kicking in too and am excited to work with some old friends. It's on to a new year, so keep reading 'cause there's so much more to tell!
Happy New Year!!!
So farewell 2011. I am looking forward to indulging in Sedona in January, skiing in the White Mountains in February, hitting High Point in April, and RV'ing the Pacific Northwest over summer break. I have some fun projects kicking in too and am excited to work with some old friends. It's on to a new year, so keep reading 'cause there's so much more to tell!
Happy New Year!!!
Tuesday, December 27, 2011
A super sunny sun room
After taking the week off to spend time with the family and relax in my in-laws' newly finished sun room, I finally got back to work this morning and took some photographs of the space. My husband surprised me with a wide-angle lens for Christmas, so hopefully you'll like the shots as much as I do.
This was a great room to redo. The original space had dark stained wood paneling on three of the walls, with one wall of exposed brick. It had a terracotta tiled floor and too much furniture. It was very 1970s. To update the space, we brightened up the walls with Ben Moore's Powell Buff and all of the trim work, including the beams in the ceiling, went White Dove. For some architectural detail, we kept the exposed brick and pulled the wood tone back into the room with natural woven roman shades. We also softened up the tile floor with a beautiful wool and sisal Stark Carpet. Now it's light and airy and the most utilized room in the house!
Here are some super-grainy before pictures so that you can get an idea of what I had to work with:
And, here is the reveal of what it looks like now:
This was a great room to redo. The original space had dark stained wood paneling on three of the walls, with one wall of exposed brick. It had a terracotta tiled floor and too much furniture. It was very 1970s. To update the space, we brightened up the walls with Ben Moore's Powell Buff and all of the trim work, including the beams in the ceiling, went White Dove. For some architectural detail, we kept the exposed brick and pulled the wood tone back into the room with natural woven roman shades. We also softened up the tile floor with a beautiful wool and sisal Stark Carpet. Now it's light and airy and the most utilized room in the house!
Here are some super-grainy before pictures so that you can get an idea of what I had to work with:
And, here is the reveal of what it looks like now:
Wednesday, December 21, 2011
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