Kips Bay Decorator Show House 2013

Living Room by Barbara Ostrom

Exciting textures, prints and materials dominate the recent Kips Bay Decorator Show House.  This year the annual fundraising event is held at the Sharp townhouse in New York’s Upper East Side.  Designers from all over are invited to design one of the rooms to wherever their imagination takes them.

Designer Barbara Ostrom layered her sitting room in a wide range of textures that resulted in a relaxing and inviting space (see photo above).  Covering the floor is a Stark sisal carpet upon which Ostrom added a striking zebra print rug.  The gilded Louis XVI armchairs provide sophistication and elegance.  Ostrom gilded the ceiling with a lattice pattern, adding another layer of complexity. To prevent the room from getting too stuffy, Ostrom added a fun fur-covered footstool. 

Gilt ceiling by Andrei Chichkine with Barbara Ostrom

Family Lounge by Eve Robinson

For her family lounge, designer Eve Robinson reimagined the midcentury look.  Using a few vintage chairs and a sofa designed by Danish Jens Risom from the mid 1900s, Robinson reupholstered them in modern muted purple hues.  The vintage game table is from L’Art de Vivre and the lounge chair is fromLorin Marsh.  Pulling the whole room together is a silver gray hide rug designed by Britto Charette.

Family Lounge by Eve Robinson

Designer Sara Story based her inspiration for the living room on her bamboo patterned wallpaper.  The geometric shapes of the bamboo led her to choose the fun cubist sofas and triangular pillows.  The black and white geometric rug is from Flor. 

Living Room by Sara Story

Sitting Room by Jack Levy

Another space with unique wallpaper print is Jack Levy’s sitting room.  Floating around the room is a quirky wallpaper of colorful fish that somehow tied an eclectic room together.  The tiered side table is from Fornasetti and the floral rug from Beauvais Carpets. 

For more wonderful Kips Bay rooms, check out our Designer Monthly.

Interested in learning more about interior design? Take a look at Sheffield School's Complete Course in Interior Design.  At Sheffield, you will learn how to transform a space, create color schemes, and select furniture, lighting, and accessories.

Feng Shui Homework: Paint a Prettier, Less Toxic Picture in Your Home

 

This is a great time of the year to start and finish projects around the house. One of my own personal feng shui adjustments includes painting a room in my home. And, I must say that it has been awhile since I’ve been paint shopping. Selecting the right color and shade was grueling. It took a few weeks. (Wow, this process is much easier when I do it for clients.) What I didn’t realize was the process of picking out the quality of paint. When I was at Home Depot, I felt like I was at a Starbucks. “Do you want glossy finish, semi-glossy, flat, low VOC, no VOC, etc…?”

VOC stands for “Volatile Organic Compound,” which is a number of chemicals that turn into a vapor and then pollutes the air. It is not only found in paints. It’s also in varnishes, glues, and certain cleaning products. Formaldehyde is a VOC, and so is fish odor. To be environmentally conscious, no or low VOC is best.

Now, I would suggest that even if you’re not planning a painting project, go around your house and see what other toxic items you have. Do you have old varnish cans in the hall closet? Do you know if any of your cleaning products are toxic? Yes, it’s great if something can cut through grease, but what else is it doing to us? Where do you keep the bug spray?

Ideally, all of these products should be stored out of your home. Unfortunately, many homes have attached garages, and that’s probably where all that stuff is. And if you live in an apartment, space is always an issue. I can only hope that at least nothing toxic is underneath your kitchen sink.

If you can, get a shed, put it somewhere on your property, and store the products there. Hopefully, it won’t be too close to your neighbors. But if you safe storage isn't possible, make sure no harmful products are in the kitchen, in the bedroom, or near any place where you spend a lot of time. Just being aware where things are stored can be very helpful.

Feng Shui Homework

I am giving you a big assignment for homework this month.

• Pay attention to the products in your home. Read the ingredients. Look up words you don’t know. 
• Properly store or dispose of anything that is not healthy. 

Educating ourselves is very powerful and an essential step towards having a healthy, picture-perfect home. And a healthy home is a healthier you.

Now, all I have to figure out is if I want a satin finish paint or not. Argh!

Until next month,

Be well,

Franca 

Franca is one of the Feng Shui instructors at Sheffield School; visit her website for more information. If you're interested in learning more about feng shui and interior design, then we encourage you to explore the Sheffield School, New York, NY. Sheffield began as an Interior Design school in 1985, and then expanded our course offerings to train people in other design-related fields, including Feng Shui, Wedding and Event Planning, and Jewelry Design. With thousands of active students and more than 50,000 graduates, Sheffield has trained more design professionals than any school in the world.

• Request a free Sheffield School catalog describing our distance education courses.
• Subscribe to the Sheffield Designer newsletter.

My Favorite Bold Italian Furniture Designs

Aster Papposus sofa from EDRA

There is no greater sin in interior design than blandness. Interiors should make solid statements, and they could be far-ranging - comfort, luxury, sensuality, rustic, quaint - but if an interior isn't communicating some kind of distinct message, or if it's too shy and retiring, why bother? (And I'm addressing both homeowners and interior designers here.)

Rift bar stools by Patricia Urquiola for Moroso 

In our school's Complete Course in Interior Design, we talk a lot about making sure furniture is in scale with the rest of the room, and we talk about all of the elements coming together in harmony.

Baku bed with stunning leather headboard and footboard from Promemoria

Yet sometimes it's important to include some strong statement pieces of furniture that help an interior "jump the tracks" and demand attention.

Accurate street and building details in the Baghdad Dining Table (above) and Baghdad Coffee Table (below) designed by Ezri Tarazi for EDRA

I enjoy unusual design, comfort, striking colorways, attention to detail, and a sense of humor when I'm looking at favorite designs.

Outlandish Meryl revolving bookcase features shelving space, LED lighting, amp and hi-fi system, and a wine cellar - from Promemoria

And lately, I've been finding what I'm looking for from several Italian companies who specialize in producing great statement pieces.

Witch chair by Tord Boontje for Moroso

Click on each photo for more product information, and I hope you give extra thought about shaking up an interior with a jolt of freshness. 

Like the "Princess and the Pea," the Principessa daybed from Moroso boasts a pile of colorful "mattresses" 

Are you interested in taking a great interior design course and learning more about how to get started professionally in this creative field? Sheffield School began as an Interior Design school in 1985, and then expanded our course offerings to train people in other design-related fields, including Feng Shui, Wedding and Event Planning, and Jewelry Design. With thousands of active students and more than 50,000 graduates, Sheffield has trained more design professionals than any school in the world.

Request a free Sheffield School catalog describing our distance education courses.

Subscribe to the Sheffield Designer newsletter.

Capturing Mood

Living Room by Bunny WilliamsAn important feature of a successful interior design is setting the mood.  The mood can be warm and cozy, cool and light, fun and casual, or sophisticated and formal.  In other words, the mood is what gives the room personality.  Without mood, the room can turn out bland and forgettable. 

How does an interior designer capture a mood?  There are many tools that a designer can use.  The easiest is the use of color.  If you want to establish light and airy, the mood of spring, then you can use the colors of spring.  In the living room above by Bunny Williams, she applied a color scheme of sky blue, bright yellows, greens and whites, a spring-like palette.  Accessories are another tool used to establish mood.  Ms. Williams used topiary and graphic prints of flowers to remind you of spring. 

Bedroom by Catherine CleareIf you want to create a soft, romantic mood, then study designer Catherine Cleare’s ideas for a master bedroom. Cleare applied a variety of textiles to achieve her romantic look.  She used soft cottons for the bed canopy and added ruffles to the vanity and bed linens.  She also chose floral wallpaper to further the romantic effect.  Lighting is also another tool which a designer employs to create a mood.  Since a soft look is the goal, Cleare used several small lamps with linen shades to soften the light output. 

Living Room by Joe NyeMany clients want a warm and cozy feel in their living space.  To achieve this mood, Los Angeles designer Joe Nye applied a warm muted palette to his room.  He used an orange raffia wall covering by Phillip Jeffries to add warmth and texture to the space.  He chose dark woods for the furniture and mirror to give depth and warmth.  He also chose a tufted sofa which is very inviting and added several pillows for the cozy touch. 

Interested in learning more about interior design?  Take a look at Sheffield School's Complete Course in Interior Design.  At Sheffield, you will learn how to transform a space, create color schemes, and select furniture, lighting, and accessories. 

Jewelry Inspiration: Here's Looking at You, Kid

The Carrotbox is a site dedicated to all those wonderful rings made of glass, lucite, resin, plastic, jade, wood, bakelite, metal, and even stone. Alice Matsumoto from Vancouver, BC, Canada has a ring shop and has kindly given us permission to inspire our jewelry lovers at Sheffield with her discoveries. In this post, Alice focuses on some eerie rings that watch you.

There's something vaguely, disconcertingly alien—sentient, even—about these "hose rings" from Germany's Höllwerk (Astrid Zipp & Christine Maxand). It's like they're looking at me! I, for one, welcome our new ring-shaped overlords.

Bonus

Here's a ring that''s definitely looking at you. Glass and silver ring by Mexico's RXVrings (Ruben Viramontes), who makes lots of eye and skull jewellery.

Even more jewelry:

• Fisheye Jewelry (California) - dyed eyeballs
• Pernille Schou-Elsass (Denmark) - simple circles
• Anna Von Bergmann (Germany) - cabs & cords

Are you interested in taking a great jewelry design course and learning more about how to make your own jewelry or get started professionally in this creative field? Sheffield School began as an Interior Design school in 1985, and then expanded our course offerings to train people in other design-related fields, including Feng Shui, Wedding and Event Planning, and Jewelry Design. With thousands of active students and more than 50,000 graduates, Sheffield has trained more design professionals than any school in the world.

Request a free Sheffield School catalog describing our distance education courses.

Subscribe to the Sheffield Designer newsletter.