When it comes to table lamps—or lighting in general, go big or go home. Nothing can throw a design off like an ill-proportioned tiny lamp. Scale is so important, and lamps (and all lighting, for that matter) need to have a presence.
The goal is create height and stand up to the furnishings. And, by the way, you may have noticed my proclivity toward gourd lamps… The most basic, simple easy way to add a jolt of color to your space. If you are going to buy a lamp, start your collection with a gourd. I think most people are afraid of too big, so they opt for too small. And next to a sofa, chair or bed, a 26″ lamps fades into the woodwork.
As my friend at the design center in Boston says: “Too small is wimpy, too big is statement”… But in reality, there usually isn’t a too big. What may feel like too big is most times probably just right. For a regular sized table bedside a sofa or a bed, a lamp 30″-33″ inches is good. Save the smaller sizes for a desk, small accent table or small scaled space. Don’t be afraid of the big guys; they are probably what you need beside you….
Images via shopcandelabra.com and shadesoflight.com.
I read an article about designers’ own laundry rooms a few months ago in a design magazine. I think it may have been House Beautiful, and I expected the pictures to be outrageous. They weren’t so much… In fact, most were well organized, outfitted white industrial spaces—even closets, with little, if any decor and top appliances. I was surprised… I suppose that is why they used to be called “Utility Rooms”.
In terms of priority, this may be the lowest on the list, but for me, it’s actually quite important. I basically “live” in there, so in my home, I needed something to make me visually happy—let alone the ugly tile floors—so wallpaper did the trick. You’d be surprised what a little attention can do for your wash space. Colored bins, apothecary jars (highly impractical, but pretty), and dare I suggest a chandelier?
If I had the headroom, I would have one, I can tell you that! Give the washroom the respect it deserves—give it a little love. Hang artwork, wallpaper it, add anything you like to look at. You’ll thank me next time you spend all day in and out of there…
More laundry rooms:
Images via Pinterest.
Are you bored with me telling you client stories…? I certainly hope not.
My latest inclination is to blog about real life stuff rather than pontificate on Pinterest images—it’s what inspires me now! And what a great way for me to test my theories than to use you folks as my laboratory—my “think tank”….
Anyway, this particular family of 6 lives on their sofa, a gigantic, but very attractive pale dove gray colored sectional with no pillows on it as of yet.
The room is taking on a global boho-chic kind of feel, in a good way. Drapery is an Indian-esque pink, red and chocolate print that she had already selected. So, I thought I would come up with two options, one for colder months when velvets and chenilles are warranted, and a lighter, but none less bright— option for warmer seasons, where linen and cotton play well.
The thought was to work with the raspberry, magenta, and brown, but to bring in playful sidekicks like teal, acid green and orange to mix it up a bit and have some fun. Otherwise it is too matchy, and you know how I feel about that.
Both work; one is heavier and the other lighter. Do you have a favorite?
The fabric Pearl River from Schumacher is one of my all-time favorites. So much so, that I used it in my powder room as Roman Shades, mixed with metallic gold and bronze chinoiserie wallpaper, and also in the adjoining butler’s pantry as a huge oversized cornice board with sandy colored grasscloth walls and a pale aqua ceiling. What I love most about this textile is the painterly quality it has—it is a sort of a semi-abstracted, block print-ish, Asian toile-like scene. Does that make any sense? So, when a client asked me to design her living room using a base of chocolate brown walls, and she wanted to bring color into the mix without changing the wall color—I had a hunch where to start…
In this room, this lucky gal will get to see the entire repeat of this Asian watercolor-like fabric—she is using it as drapery panels. Pictured is the general room palette, where I am bringing in an abstract turquoise and brown/beige Lee Jofa linen, the iconic Brunschwig Les Touches in Brown, and A Raspberyy-Salmon solid velvet as pillows to adorn a sandy linen velvet sofa from Duralee with brass oversized nailhead trim.
For lounge chairs, we chose an unbelievably luxurious marbleized velvet by Kelly Wearstler for Lee Jofa, which lends an almost 70′s quality that I love.
Mixed case goods, sisal carpet, cool lighting are all in store. I haven’t finished yet, but in contest are also this bargello from Brunschwig and this modernized one from Romo:
This room has been such a natural, because it has all the elements I would use in my own home—-truly my style. This rarely happens in design—a situation where the client has your exact same inclination. Lucky me….
So, I am in the midst of designing a massive master suite for a client. The fabric she chose off the bat was a gorgeous ethereal lilac and beige floral linen, and we committed to doing extra wide drapery panels throughout the room, which takes over 50 yards of fabric! So, knowing that this would adorn the windows, how do you build a palette around it that is interesting? It would have been very easy to pull all shades of purple from lilac to lavender and plum, flaxy linens, creams and beiges into the mix. And make no mistake, that would be very pretty. But to me, that was a bit of a snooze.
Another predictable move would have been to bring in green, as the combination of purple and green is as old as the hills. Again, great looking, but how to do something more alluring with the palette? Something yummy.
I knew I was onto something when I pulled the candy colored cut velvet from Stark called Bimini Road in Potpurri. This gave me license to pull aquas, mauves, blush, delft blue and even salmon into the mix. I am not done yet, and there are still surprises in store, but don’t you think life is much more fun in candy color?
