Wednesday, July 21st, 2010
Have you ever tried to find a light fixture and felt overwhelmed by all of the options out there? Well imagine having access to every lighting catalog out there, and then try not to hyperventilate.
That’s why it is so important to have a great lighting team to work with that knows every catalog they have and where they are most likely to find that fixture you have in your mind but aren’t sure really exists. My favorite local resources (in alphabetical order) are CitiLights Lighting (across from the Basilica in downtown Minneapolis), Filament Lighting (on Excelsior Blvd in St. Louis Park), and Lappin Lighting (in the warehouse district of downtown Minneapolis). They all have great staff that know their products and are fun to work with.
But sometimes you see a light fixture in a magazine and you just know it’s the one. You start daydreaming about how it would totally transform that boring front hall. Often lighting ends up being the last thing we select on a project so that it fits well with all the other players in the room. But sometimes a fixture is so special you just have to go for it and build the room around it.
When I saw these gorgeous photos in Elle Decor recently I had one of those daydream moments. The photography shows off these fixtures so beautifully and it’s rare that you get to see how they cast light in a pure setting like this. But which one to pick? I’m a kid in a donut shop who can’t just pick JUST ONE thing (candy is nice and all, but there are so many yummy types of donuts, scones and croissants!)
Drool. I love how it pops against that dark background! The modern asymmetrical shape could work as an unexpected touch to make a traditional room feel fresh.
Not usually my style, but it’s a fun spin on a chandelier with a more casual vibe.
Hello gorgeous! I love the Moroccan vibe of the top light. And is it just me, or does the bottom light remind you of a donut (in a really good way)?
Clean, simple and chic. Thomas O’Brien gets it right again (the clip on desk lamp at the start of this post is another of his designs).
Aren’t the patterns on the wall and floor amazing? Think how magical these shadows would look in a dining room or bedroom at night.
Sources: All photos from Elle Decor September 2009.
Lighting Sources: Visual Comfort, Matter, Currey & Co., Niche Modern, Visual Comfort, Oly, IKEA, and Moooi.
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Tags: Citilights Lighting, Currey & Co., Elle Decor, Filament Lighting, IKEA, Lappin Lighting, lighting, Matter, Moooi., Niche Modern, Oly, Visual Comfort
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Thursday, July 1st, 2010
Getting in the spirit of the 4th of July can take many forms.
You could decorate a bedroom in a patriotic color palette, complete with the American Flag.
You could give yourself a camp flashback and grab some colorful arrows, and do a little target practice with your bow and arrow. (Don’t forget the arm guard. I always scrapped up my arm in archery class… I probably wasn’t the most gifted archer.)
You could go to the local zoo, petting zoo, or farm and commune with the animals. Imagine what it was like back in the days of our Founding Fathers.
Or maybe you just want to turn an oversized image of an animal into a new work of art.
In Minnesota, going up to the cabin is a popular weekend escape in the summer. If you don’t have one of your own, maybe friends will invite you to join them. Sweeten the deal with some good homemade (or store bought if that’s all you can manage) treats. S’more bars (made with Golden Grahams) would be rather appropriate fare.
But if the city is your final destination, perhaps a relaxing evening around a fire pit in the backyard with good friends is all it takes to appreciate how blessed we have been this year. I’m certainly grateful for my independence, and I hope next year to have even more good times to remember and celebrate.
Happy 4th of July everyone!
Photo credits:
1. Unknown – possibly Cottage Living 2. Valerie Shaff 3. Francisco Costa designed bedroom in NY Times 4. Sweetshorn Etsy shop 5. SALA Architects 6. Unknown
Tags: animals, arrows, backyard, bedroom, Blue, cabin, fire pit, flag, Red, zoo
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Wednesday, April 7th, 2010
This week we continue our look at the process of designing the interiors of a home from start to finish. Since this home started as a prefab home designed by a local architecture firm, we had great bones to start with, and we just needed to tweak the details of the rooms to improve functionality for the clients. Let’s start with the lower level.
In the original concept, which was created for another client that needed a garage built into the footprint of the house due to site conditions, the lower level of the house also included storage, laundry, a multi-purpose room and bathroom.
Since my clients had room for a garage elsewhere on their site, we were able to reallocate the garage space into a larger den.
In order to offer the family a space to watch movies, do homework and craft projects, and just hang out, I added a long desk with built-in cabinetry on the right wall. There is still plenty of room for all the other functions without them falling over each other.
What had been an undesignated room in the previous plan became a guest bedroom by closing it in with a new wall and the addition of built-in closet storage that also incorporates space for a TV on the wall. The adjacent bathroom is conveniently located for both the guest bedroom and the den.
Even the laundry room can be made into an enjoyable space by thoughtful space planning and finish selections. By using washer and dryer units that fit under a standard height cabinet you gain a lot of valuable counter space. I’m a big fan of line drying clothes as much as possible to extend their life, so there is plenty of floor space for a pop-up drying rack. There is also a rod over the sink so items can be hung to dry over the sink, which is great for handwashing items or damp workout clothes that need to dry and air out. (The dad in this family is a marathon runner, so that is a real need!) I even added a fold down ironing board hidden in a cabinet on the opposite wall so that there’s no need to store and set up and break down a full size ironing board (which always seems to make the chore of ironing much less appealing).
Since there are so many floor plans and elevations for all the built-ins we designed in this house, I’m going to break this segment into 3 posts (one post per floor) so I don’t overwhelm you with information all at once.
Do you have any questions about the choices we made? Feel free to ask away! I’m happy to answer questions to help you better understand the process.
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Tags: Bathroom, built-ins, cabinetry, den, floor plans, Guest Bedroom, laundry room, playroom, prefab
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Wednesday, March 24th, 2010
A couple of years ago I worked on a project that involved furnishing an entire home practically from scratch for a family of four. They had just purchased a prefab home through a local design firm, and while the styling and layout of the house was modern, they wanted to maintain traditional touches to create a soft modern vibe that was kid friendly.
So over the next few weeks I will show you the process we went through, from concept images (you know how I love them!) to floor plans to furniture and finish selections.
One of the main design focuses for the house was to work with the principles in “Creating the Not-So Big House” by Sarah Susanka, a favorite author of both the clients and myself. One of the key principles we focused on was adding built-ins throughout the house to not only add storage but to define rooms and create intimate spaces within the open concept floor plan. Since I was brought in early in the process, we were able to work with the architecture firm that designed the pre-fab to modify the home to fit the clients’ desires.
Next week I’ll show you how we modified the floor plans, but let’s start with the inspiration images that helped guide the process as we moved through all the phases of the design process.
As you can see, we wanted to incorporate a mixture of open and closed storage. Think of all those everyday items and functions that need to be easily accessible and conveniently located. Everything from dog food and mittens to stereo components and pantry items. Everything needs a home and if it’s well designed and properly located people are more likely to put things back where they belong.
The living room spaces (which includes a family room on the lower level) are key spaces in a home where family time is all the time. This family spends a typical Saturday hanging out in their living room and dining room, reading Harry Potter, playing with trucks, doing a bit of work on the laptop, grading papers at the table, and then playing Rock Band all together in the evening. So of course it was essential that these spaces accommodated all these uses simultaneously, while also allowing them to not feel like they were right on top of each other.
The living rooms we selected as inspiration are cozy, curl up spaces filled with warmth. Layered window treatments add texture and volume. Big sofas with unartfully arranged pillows invite you to plop down (not sit down). The coffee tables and ottomans are meant to be used. The dining rooms are also filled with warm colors and finishes that help create intimate spaces. When you’re dining room is truly where you dine for all of your meals, it should be a space that you enjoy spending time in, after all.
For the bathrooms and kitchen we wanted to achieve that magical mix of clean, contemporary lines with a bit of cottage warmth. Using wood and other finishes in warm tones helps to make the contemporary feel inviting. You’ll also notice that there are a number of rooms in these images that have high contrast – dark brown woods mixed with bright white surfaces. Remember this because you’ll see the influence of these images in our finished rooms.
Since the master bedroom and the bedrooms for the two kids needed to have different vibes, you might notice there are two different qualities showcased in these images. The master bedroom needed to be a calm, relaxing retreat for the parents. But it still needed to be achieved in kid-friendly finishes to be realistic about how the room would be used. (“Little House on the Prairie” is often best enjoyed cuddled up together under a big comforter, after all. I read plenty of books with my parents growing up.) Since the kids’ bedrooms had a fairly small footprint, I wanted to ensure as much functional space was incorporated from the get go so that there would be plenty of floor space left open for informal play. The window seats offer a great place to sit and read or play with John Deere tractors. Plus they provide more storage. Bold colors in the kids rooms allow them to express their ever-evolving personalities. When we get to fabric and finish selections you’ll see how pattern and color are applied for easy updating.
Stay tuned for next week’s installment… I’ll show you how the inspiration images and book led to a refined floor plan with new storage columns and a kitchen that offers more storage while helping delineate the boundaries of each room in an open floor plan home.
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Wednesday, February 3rd, 2010
So your child loves to travel the world, or at least loves daydreaming about it. And of course the newest generation of tweens is more tapped into the eco-consciousness than any generation has been before. So how do you update their bedroom to reflect their appreciation for world cultures and a sustainable ethos?
This bedroom is inspired by just such a situation. A warm palette with lots of natural materials and textures creates an inviting retreat. World maps and travel photos on the walls provide both reference (geography class, anyone?) and inspiration.
Walls in a deep olive green are accented with 2 stripes in chocolate brown and deep orange, and balanced with creamy white trim. This color palette pulls from the colors in the maps and travel photos – the deep greens of the forest, the chocolate brown trim on a Japanese castle’s roof line, and the orange gates in a Japanese shrine. Even the soft grey of an elephant is captured in the grey metal side table by the bed.
Soft chocolate brown roman shades are detailed with a coordinating stripe in orange to reference the stripe on the wall. A new seagrass headboard is both textural and made from a sustainable resource. New nightstands include a grey metal table and a stump table, which can easily be moved around the room as needed. The client’s existing desk is updated with a rusted metal faux finish, thereby reducing extending the lifespan of the piece.
Accent pieces provide texture and interest – large woven baskets provide easily accessible storage, a twig lamp can serve both the bed and the adjacent window seat, and a chunky woven throw blanket adds the necessary cuddle factor important in every bedroom. A funky perforated paper lamp shade hangs in the middle of the room, creating subtle patterns on the walls at night. And shelves made from reclaimed wood and aged metal brackets add history and storage. A chunky woven cable rug would add additional texture and balance the existing light wood floors. Fabrics in tans, chocolate brown, olive green and deep orange are used throughout the room.
This room is sure to inspire kids and adults alike. The entire concept could easily be translated to an adult’s bedroom or even a family room.
Paint color inspirations: BM 2142-30 Mountain Moss, BM HC-70 Van Buren Brown, BM 2170-10 Fireball Orange, and BM HC-27 Monterey White.
Tags: bedroom, chocolate brown, green, green design, orange, texture, travel, Wood
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Tuesday, December 15th, 2009
Every time I start a new project I have to find that magical “Inspiration.” So where does it come from? How do you find it for your own projects? For me inspiration can come from the color palette and mix of textures of a necklace, or simply a unique color combination in an advertisement. Primarily I am inspired by seeing other people’s homes and how they create their own personalized mix of colors, possessions, textures, and layouts. In order to get a steady stream of this inspiration I subscribe to design magazines that feature a variety of styles, and I read a wide variety of blogs online that feature everything from product design, home accessories, and fashion, to the homes of creative people who didn’t work with a designer. I’ve been tearing inspiring images out of design magazines since I was a kid, and the files keep growing and growing. Now I also save copies of inspiring images from websites electronically and organize them for easy reference. So now when I start a new project, I usually have an idea of the client’s general style, but I need to flesh out how their style will be carried through into all the details, and that’s where the inspiration images come into play.
So, let’s imagine a client who is interested in updating a guest bedroom and wants it to be neutral but with some pops of color to make it interesting but easy to update. I found this image, where the warmth of this den is created by using grass cloth on the walls and a rich palette of deep tones. But the neutral color palette is set on edge by the use of bright orange accents in the armchair and the two coffee tables.
Then, to show that a lighter color palette could work as well, the following image shows how pale yellow accents can add interest in small doses in easily updated pieces like throw pillows and an ottoman.
By pulling these images together with others you can begin to see the elements in common that highlight the direction for the design. From there, I can see what mix of materials, textures and colors I want to use, and it becomes a matter of finding the right mix of pieces to create a harmonious balance in each room.
Working from these inspiration images, I developed this example of how the guest bedroom could be designed to coordinate with the dark wood tones and clean lined transitional furniture and color palette of adjacent rooms that had already been updated (Concept 1a). Or the room could be taken in a slightly more modern direction with a more Danish influence with a bold accent color that still ties in to the color palette in the guest bathroom (Concept 2).
So for your own projects, start pulling images that you love, even if you are not sure what exactly you love about them, and start a folder. As a designer, it is really helpful and more efficient when clients have started the process of thinking about what their style is, and what they do and don’t like. Even if you feel like the images you’ve pulled together seem like a mismatch, I usually can see the unifying threads that weave them together and reflect your taste and preferences. So get that pile of magazines and scissors out and get inspired! Or just call me, and I’ll figure it out for you.
Tags: Danish, Deep Color Palette, Guest Bedroom, Light Color Palette, Wood
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Colleen Fox Slack | email: colleen@colleenfoxinteriors.com | phone: 612.868.0348
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