Monthly Archives: January 2020

Hush Little Baby: Nurseries that calm

Posted in artwork, Color Trends, Lighting, Paint Colors by
Hidden Falls would provide a wonderful accent on all three of the base wall colors. I would hold it down an inch from the molding, painting a 1 – 1.5″ perimeter strip around the entire room. Great for low ceilinged rooms as it lifts the eye.

We seem to be having a winter baby boom in my industry. The gals are popping up at events with beautiful baby bumps – left and right. A few have already delivered their new year’s baby bundles, and it got me thinking about all those tiny little fingers and toes, and paint colors and furnishings, rugs and lighting, you know, all the normal things someone that is obsessed with design thinks about.

Overland . Long Wool Sheepskin Baby Rug. $79.00

A baby room should be cozy and calming – not for the baby, they are happy in a onesie, snuggled up next to mummy, but mummy – well she needs a space that will making her happy, smooth out the rough edges of motherhood, because what she does is hard.

Given the crib and the bedding from which to launch the plan, I developed a number of different options for the color palette. I have to recommend mineral ice again and again and again. It’s worked in NYC apartments, in Cape Cod Cottages, in ski chalets. It’s so versatile, which is ironic because it reads so wildly differently from location to location, time of day and amount of light the space receives. Still it is beautiful. It is subtle, it is neutral….serene. There isn’t a person or a place that can’t benefit from my very favorite Benjamin Moore color.

Left: Etsy . Liberty of London Baby Pillow $41.05 Right: Maisonette . Deer Lamp Grey $220.

Gabrielle selected PB Kids . Ramona Woodland Baby Bedding, which ties all the colors I selected together seamlessly – though it is not my recommendation that they all be used. Rather I would select one of the three: BM’s Bridal Rose, Mineral Ice or Lavender Mist for the base wall color. For a more traditional feel I’d paint the casings, base and molding in BM’s Chantilly Lace, more modern and I would paint the base, case and moldings in the same color but change up the finish – walls in egg shell, wood in high gloss. An option I’d consider creating a faux wainscot by painting up the wall from base to roughly one third of the overall dimension from ground up, in the selected color – again – high gloss finish. These little tricks add visual interest to the room. A note of caution – if the walls are in less than perfect condition, high gloss won’t be your friend. It shows all the imperfections. Want to make it super cozy? Paint the ceiling the same color as the walls or a hue that is slightly darker, and prepare to snuggle in.

Left: Etsy . Little Playhouse $12.41. Middle: Society6 . Here Comes the Sun $21.59 . Right: The Small Art Project . Woodland Animals . $179.99

PB . Dahlia Flushmount $224.

Other touches that make the space feel particularly special include lighting. Ceiling fixtures, and tabletop lamps help to warm up the space – dimmers required.

Yume . Branch Mobile. $68.00

Wall art need not be all about baby, though a little bit of happy, a little bit of silly, soothes the soul. Etsy provides offerings at really affordable prices that allow your taste to evolve as baby grows.

I love soft things. I want a carpet underfoot that I can sink my toes into. If you are not in the market for a rug that is just for baby, consider a tiny sheep skin carpet that you can throw under your tootsies will you rock your screeching child to sleep. You’ll thank me for that tiny bit of comfort you get from the carpet.

Double Take: Cane Wallpaper that’ll make you look twice

Posted in Architecture, Designer Profiles, Uncategorized, wallpaper by
Drop – NXLX Wallcovering Cane Webbing Collection

We owe a lot to the Greek’s – in door plumbing, the olympics, philosophy, democracy, modern medicine found its way from the Greek exploration into the same. Where would we be today without any of these amazing inventions and conventions. They were also responsible for painting in the form known most commonly today as Trompe-L’oeil – a word that means to deceive the eye. Who was it that said, “people loved to be fooled”? I cannot remember, but it’s true. I supposed it has to do with the element of surprise – that moment that washes over you when you feel young and curious again.

Sheer genius – you’d think if you got close enough you could see through it.

I felt just this way when I saw NLXL’s new wall covering collection entitled: Cane Webbing Wallcovering which they market alongside a complementary wainscoting covering to be featured below your selection. Having just completed a caning project of my own – I hired a company to build me cane front doors for two amoires that were as plain and off the shelf as they come. This wallcovering is anything but! Tricked I was, and though I have yet to see it in person, it looks so authentic, magically making me believe that it has texture and dimension.

Add dimentionality and texture to your space.

So many of the homes I take on have walls, nooks and jogs that are far from attractive. What an opportunity this cane webbing presents to transform the unimaginatively dull, the old, worn, and lackluster – into something truly special.

Why pay the cost to build it when you can roll it on?

I’m absolutely on the edge of my seat with anticipation for No. 6, and Netherlands based NLXL is going to help me do it. Founded in 2010 this company is clearly making a splash. When your work is featured on 5th Avenue, and embraced by the fashion industry – you’re hot. Like the Greek’s whose inspirations have been around for centuries – caning made its debut in the weaving of baskets in ancient China before finding its way to France and other European destinations. From basket to chair, it revolutionized this simple household object, making lighter, and cheaper to make. Esther Viak and Rick Vintage of NLXL found a way to make it new again, and that friends, is what innovation is all about.

Happy Sunday.

Back Splashes that take the spotlight

Posted in Uncategorized by
Orlando Photography showcases the reflective beauty of mirrored glass back splash.

Nary a home renovation magazine exists that doesn’t place the kitchen at the center of any publication. After all, it is the gathering space for most families, the location that guests and friends convene to catch up on the latest gossip over a glass of wine or a hot cup of tea. There is a warmth to the kitchen – a vibrancy, an electric energy that draws people in. It’s one of my favorite places to design and to be in, despite the reality that I am rarely there to cook for myself. It is made all the more special to me, because when I am there, I am preparing meals for friends.

The wood back splash envelopes this kitchen in cozy – and btw it’s one of the best materials to have underfoot when cooking.

I love tile. Manufacturers are always developing new twists on something that could seem, same old, same old. The colors, textures, gloss and matte, metallic, honed and glazed bring a never ending array of twists and trends from which to select, but it’s an ode to the industrial that’s captured my attention of late.

Hello…if that rolled brass back splash doesn’t grab your attention, what will?

When I worked in a kitchen it was not at all unusual for the back splash to be a simple stainless steel sheet, cut to the appropriate proportions, scarred by the fast working, abrasive steel wool cleaning pads, but at turns both tough and beautiful. A few years ago I spied in a magazine an amazing little kitchen with a rolled brass back splash and I knew instantly that one of my projects would include the same. Having seen Jean-Louis Deniot, a brilliant French Interior Designer – I’m not just saying that because he loves the color grey and I feel we’re kindred spirits because of it, but because he so cleverly uses materials – particularly metals – to make his point – having seen his little Parisian kitchen designed with hammered metal cabinets. It was those cabinets that elevated him to the realm of brilliance in my mind, and reminded me that it’s the unexpected that draws in the eye.

Jean-Louis Deniot – starry night.

Using a mirrored back splash does quite the same thing, but so much more. Its reflective properties expand the proportions of space, a decidedly enormous benefit when you are dealing with tiny galley kitchens, little corner nooks, spaces that demand their size not relegate them to an afterthought.

As we launch off into the vast unknown of this new decade, I plan to make a commitment to the unexpected. Why ever would anyone want to be predictable?