Interior Design Book Signing

Foundations of Interior Design by Susan Slotkis

Interior designer Susan Slotkis will present her latest book, Foundations of Interior Design, 2^nd ed., at the GE Monogram Showroom in NYC.  Slotkis, one of our experts on our recently released Sheffield School videos, has been a New York designer for many years as well as a college professor.  Her book provides young aspiring interior designers with a thorough grounding on the practice of interior design.

GE will host the book signing party in its beautiful kitchen showroom at the A&D Building this coming Thursday, May 23^rd at 6pm. Come and join the author for a great party!

Local Talent at Brooklyn Designs

Cabinet by Eric Manigian

Brooklyn has been the hotspot for an outpouring of small-scaled artisan studios in the last few years.  To celebrate this creativity, Brooklyn Designs has hosted an annual exhibition of local furniture and accessories designers. 

This year, the selections reflect superb craftsmanship and a strong affinity for presenting materials in their best possible light. As shown above, Eric Manigian designed a tall display cabinet out of walnut.  He followed the tree’s veins to create the natural edges of each door, thereby creating a stunning, unique piece. 

Coffee tables by From the Source

From the Source, another local company, used contrasting woods of rosewood and mangowood to create these overlapping coffee tables.  The Kai desk below is also of mangowood but oxidized to give it a unique gray finish. 

Kai desk by From the Source

Additionally, many designers are following green methods and using reclaimed woods as their building blocks for their furniture. Aellon designer, Daniel Husserl, reclaimed the woods from an old Indonesian boat that was going to be junked and transformed it into a striking oval table with radiating strips of wood. 

Coffee table from Aellon

Interested in learning more about furniture 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.

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.

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.

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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.