The Scheme of Things

Living room of Frist house in Nashville - McAlpine Booth & Ferrier via Architectural Digest

When I look at pictures of homes, I love analyzing all the different layers of the decor: the furnishings, the colors, the use of light. But one thing that is so important - and such a hallmark of good design - is the basic layout of the room.

Bonesteel Trout Hall

It is a real challenge to make a space functional for those who live there (determining what its true purpose will be, optimizing the flow of traffic, etc.), while creating an environment that is aesthetically pleasing.

Home of editor Deborah Needleman - via Domino

When faced with the blank canvas of a large room or one with multiple uses, the task can be that much greater. I love to see rooms that succeed at it though: carving out spaces to curl up by the fire, play music, or have a casual dinner.

Phoebe Howard

This is a smaller room, but it is laid out so beautifully. I imagine it as a guest room and I don't think it could be anymore thoughtful or gracious. There is cozy bedding, a vanity area, attached bath, side chair for tossing items or putting on your shoes, extra towels, plenty of light, and a soothing color scheme. Perfection.

Chris Barrett

Alice Lane Home

The folks over at Alice Lane Home in Utah have a great formula for floor plans: 1 sofa + 2 side chairs + 1 statement chair. They use it in most of their projects and why not? It looks so put together and classic.

Jeffrey Bilhuber

These last two rooms are the epitome of comfort and grace. Just look at that custom, double-sided sofa above!

Victoria Hagan

Hope y'all are having a great day!

Amalgam

Living room by Katie Ridder

As much as I love traditional design, I also adore the unexpected: that feeling of when you peek into a room and immediately want to see more.

So, today I am featuring rooms that are an amalgam of colors and styles. Whether it is a blend of mustard, moss, and purple hues (like the room above) or campaign chests living in harmony with graphic abstract art, I appreciate the energy and fun that these adventurous palettes and pairings bring to these spaces.

Family room by Windsor Smith

I love how Windsor Smith can do rooms that are so over-the-top glamorous and then do a room like this one that is so decidedly cozy and pretty. Don't you just love those ruffles on the ottoman?


Pillows in room by Windsor Smith

Here is a close up of the pillows placed on the banquette under the far window. What a lovely (albeit, girly) mix!

Design by Miles Redd as featured in House Beautiful

You know what is funny about this room? The palette that Redd used here is so vibrant that the "unexpected" color, to me, is that creamy apricot on the armchair! Redd's creativity and fearlessness are just endless.

Bedroom in home of painter Kolene Spicher

This is such a cozy space, not just due to the canopy and slightly rustic furnishings, but the combination of patterns and the softness of colors (like the almost untraceable pink on the walls and chair and the mauve-lavender of the rug). They all combine perfectly, creating interest without seeming busy.

Den by Sara Gilbane

What a happy room. It is just so cozy and interesting with its mixture of patterns and worldly accents, paired with such classical pieces as the Louis Philippe mirror and matching urn lamps. Just lovely.

Great room by Martyn Lawrence-Bullard

Mr. Lawrence-Bullard certainly does not shy away from a bold palette, as is illustrated by the room above with its mustard yellows and bold blues, combined with some mossy green and (why not) red for punch!

Unknown design

What a gorgeous layout. I love how the chaise is positioned in an unusual way: parallel to the entertainment console as opposed to facing it. A very creative plan for a small space!

Bedroom in home of Jamie Meares of Furbish Studio

Now talk about unexpected! Candy colored walls, bold artwork, a dalmatian print pillow, and black bedside tables all collide in this festive bedroom. Miss Meares often works with what clients already own, mixing high and low, modern and traditional, to create something new - a talent that, as her website says, is "a rare combination of good taste and accessibility that could only be born in the South". I totally agree.

Home of Sara Tuttle

I think this last photo of the day perfectly encapsulates the idea of how bold pops of color and irreverent combinations of styles in rooms can make them so fresh, happy, and perfectly personal.

(And I just cannot end the post without pointing out the fabulous gilded barometer, malachite box, and footed orchid bowl! Just gorgeous!)

Here's to happy spaces for all! I hope everyone is having a great week so far!

Green with envy

Dining room by Grant Gibson

Green is not a color I really turn to in design, but, after several of my friends requested that as the foundation of their rooms' color schemes, I had to give it a second look.

I do love vibrant color, and this leafy, emerald green (like in the pic above) is one I can definitely see using. However, the other shades in this post certainly give me pause to rethink my opinion of this quite diverse hue.

Living room by Jeff Andrews - Photo courtesy of Trad Home

Love those flared, wing-back chairs by the fireplace! (So much so that I am actually sitting in one of my own right now!)

Enoteca restaurant design by Angie Hranowsky

I love the very classic-yet-cool vibe of this restaurant. What an interesting twist the green curtains and banquette give to the space.

Green leather chair at Scout Designs office

Study by Kim Winkler of Westbrook Interiors

Dining room by Melanie Elston

Living room by Markham Roberts

Roberts shows here what a perfect match green is with grays and deep aubergine.

Library by Timothy Whealon

This last room is so beautiful: glowing wood bookcase, wool oriental rug, and rich green velvet chairs. Classic!

I hope you are all having a good week!

In living color

A glimpse of the many pillow options at Kathryn Ireland's West Hollywood store

A friend of mine just recently purchased the most fabulous, most enormous, vintage rug. The massive piece is 10 by 14 feet and is alive with color. Indigo blues, fiery reds, and leafy greens mingle in happy patterns all over. I am unsure of its origin, but it is handmade and signed in a language that I could not read. So unique!

One corner of the folded rug

As I was looking through my pictures of the rug (and its new home) today, the bold colors and exotic designs immediately made me think of a similarly exuberant designer: Miss Kathryn M. Ireland.

Using fabrics from toiles to suzanis (and everything in between), Ireland creates one-of-a-kind, fun, festive, and truly liveable interiors.

I love the Spanish flair that many of her homes have. So effortlessly elegant!

What do you think about her color combos? Could you be this daring in your own home?

Here's to living a colorful life and having a great week ahead!

Orange Crush

Design by Gil Schafer

Orange has become one of my all-time favorite colors. Without conscious intention, this cheerful hue slowly permeated my home in the form of pillows, throws, urns, and mats around favorite pictures. Before I knew it, orange was the color I was turning to to brighten up every corner of my home!

Vignette by Suzanne Kasler

Apparently these designers feel the same way, as they have brought orange to a bevy of their own design projects. Suzanne Kasler seems to especially favor the color, using it as an accent in many of her elegant spaces.

Foyer by Suzanne Kasler

Living room by antiques dealer Angie Warwick - Photo courtesy of Country Living


Whether used as an all-over wallcolor or just in touches throughout a room, I think this color brings a cheerfully modern warmth to any space.


Design by Jay Jeffers



Bedroom by Amelia Handegan

I love the apricot undertones of the happy wallcolor above.


Great room by Kemble Interiors


Here, citrusy pops of color from the accessories brighten up the grays and blues of this cushy seating area.

Foyer by Tom Scheerer

Tom Scheerer chooses a bold red-orange shade for this foyer....

Living room by Todd Alexander Romano

.... while Mr. Romano selects subdued, rusty tones for the upholstered pieces in this arrangement.

Design by Cathy Kincaid

Living room in home of Eric Cohler - Photo courtesy of NYSD

Whether used in spaces that are metro-modern or tastefully traditional, this color is at home anywhere!

Dining room by Timothy Whealon

I always like to end with a photo that, for one reason or another, stands out to me. I absolutely love the room below. You can just tell that a creative force lives here. There is something so bold and yet so comfortable about this space, making it one of my absolute favorite rooms.


Living room in home of hair guru John Barrett


Here's to a great week ahead!

So Fine

Living room in Lisa Fine's Paris apartment 

Colorful, layered, cozy, elegant, collected. Love!


Other side of Lisa Fine's Parisian living room



More is more

One of the rooms at the Duquette's "Dawnridge" home



This past weekend, One Kings Lane had a Tastemaker Tag Sale featuring vintage and antique items collected by the late, great Tony Duquette. It was amazing to see so much of his life and tastes reflected in the pieces, and gave me a chance to research his colorful life and works. 



Painted screen - from OKL sale



Tony Duquette



Rose Chest - from OKL sale



Painting by "Beegle"


Discovered in the 1940s by the ever-fashionable Elsie de Wolfe, Mr. Duquette was a creative force: working as an artist, sculptor, jewelry designer, movie set designer, and interior designer. As David Keeps of the LA Times wrote, he was always creating, "magically transforming plaster, paint, industrial materials, shiny discount store wares and mirrors into dazzling sculptures and exotic tableaux inspired by the storybook fantasies of his youth".

The Duquette's Malibu property called "Sortilegium"



Duquette created this sculpture: the 28 ft tall "Phoenix Rising From His Flames"


The "Phoenix" sculpture above (an icon I obviously relate to) was created by Duquette subsequent to the burning of his 100+ acre Malibu wonderland in the mid-1990s, and just prior to the death of his lovely wife, the artist Elizabeth "Beegle" Johnstone. (He called her "Beegle" because he felt she had "the industry of the bee and the soaring poetry of the eagle". Cute.)

Tony and Elizabeth at their Hollywood studio in the 1980s

Another Painting by Elizabeth "Beegle" Duquette



Bamboo Chest - from OKL Sale



Bedroom at their "Cow Hollow" house near San Francisco



Louis XV-style Chinoiserie Desk - from OKL sale


Mr. Duquette had several different homes scattered around California in which to exercise his creative talents, all doused with brilliant color and intriguing objects.

Living room of their "Hamster House" at Sortilegium



Elsie de Wolfe-style sofa - from OKL sale

Window at their "Cow Hollow" House



Ballroom Chair - from OKL sale

Although many of his interiors had an over-the-top feel, there always seemed to be classical touches running throughout.

Bedroom in their "Horntoad House" at Sortilegium



Peacock Panel - from OKL sale



I think it is quite interesting to see the objects out of context (in the sale listings) and then to compare them back to Duquette's creations. It just goes to show what you can do with a little (or a lot of) imagination!

Home of James Coburn designed by Tony Duquette

I. Magnin Chest of Drawers - from OKL sale

Kitchen at the Duquette's "Frogmore House" at Sortilegium

The Duquettes hosted many a party, their tablescapes and place settings on the grandest and most fantastical scale.

A gilded table setting at the Duquette's Hollywood studio

Current trendsetters and entertaining enthusiasts still imitate his style and his "more is more" aesthetic.

A table set at the Duquette's "Dawnridge" home

Duquette was not limited by preconceptions in decorating; he would use wild fabrics and strange accessories to create pseudo-still lives on each table.

Table setting featured in book "More is More"

Some of the fabrics used by Duquette, such as the malachite fabric in the two photos above, can now be purchased through Jim Thompson fabrics.

"Gemstone" fabric - Tony Duquette Collection for Jim Thompson

"Golden Sunburst" fabric - Tony Duquette Collection for Jim Thompson

From exotic glitz to moody drama, Duquette really knew how to set (and steal) the scene. Although I have yet to read either of the books on Mr. Duquette (however, I plan on ordering "More is More" soon), I feel he would tell us to trust in ourselves, be fearless, and let our creativity and imagination be our guide!

Living room at "Dawnridge"

I hope you all have a great week!