To continue yesterdays post, the second thing to bring home from the furniture store-besides measurements–  is the fabric samples.  It is vitally important to view fabrics in the place where they will eventually live.  Just as it is difficult to judge size in the massiveness of the shop, it is also difficult to accurately assess the color. 

The light in your home is different from the florescent glare of a showroom.  Color is influenced by what surrounds it.  Samples should be viewed near the flooring, paint and other objects in the room.  I have seen furniture that appeared blue in the showroom look green in the home. 

Step back and view the sample.   Has your impression of the color changed?  This can happen with tight, small patterns.   For instance, a fabric with a background of yellow and a pattern of small red checks can appear orange from a distance. 

In the photo above, the neutral swatch on the bottom right appears beige.  It’s actually a weave of green and coral.

Nothing can strike fear in the hearts of homeowners like the need to purchase new furniture.  Analysis Paralysis often results, and so many of my clients live with furniture they HATE for years before venturing into the Land of Confusion.

 The easiest cure is to hire a decorator, of course.   And a good one at that—I personally know a decorator who purchased a sofa for her Living Room that was too big. Because it is impossible to judge the size and visual weight of an object in the showroom.  Furniture stores are huge. Your perspective is off as soon as you walk in the door.  My advice? Don’t even think about making a purchase before you take the dimensions back home. 

My recommendation is to get some painters tape and mark off on the floor the area of the item you are considering.

There is more to study than the footprint. Add items inside the marked area so that you can visualize the space in three dimensions. (If a sofa is in question, two Dining Chairs can be placed at either end of the tape marks.)  Is there enough room to pass by?  What about the height?  Will something be blocked by the piece visually, like a window or door?  Does the piece just feel too small or large for the scale of the room?

Drawing a floorplan is always a good idea, but if you are a woman, don’t rely on just that.  Was this the problem with my decorator friend?  It is no secret that I am less “traditionally feminine” in a lot of ways than my colleagues.  I’m not afraid to admit it. 

So in honor of my newly found knowledge, here is a room I designed for a client that is crazy about purple. 

Sofa  Chair  Rug  Ottoman  Endtable  Drapery Panels  Lamp  Pillow  Pillows

Her family room is the latest.  We chose the paint colors at least a year ago.  A deep sage covers three walls, and the far, fireplace wall is a russet. 

I gave her these two options.   

Option 1: Sofa  Chair  Rug  Drapery Panel   Media Stand  Coffee Table  Console  Pillow  Vases

Option 2:  Sectional  Chair  Rug  Ottoman  Side Table  Media Center  Pillow  Pillows  Vases

*tap tap* Hello?  Anyone out there? 

I know, it ’s been me that has vanished.  Sorry for the unexplained absence.  I got so tied up with the musical production that I couldn’t even lift my fingers to type.  When it  all finally ended, aside from sinking into a mini depression, I realized that I had been writing quite religiously for an entire year.  A blog vacation was in order.

So today I will begin with baby steps.  I don’t want my fingers to cramp from lack of use. 

Here are some fuzzy pictures my client put on my Facebook.  (Obviously taken with a phone…sorry.)  Somehow we were inspired by the vast collection of pictures stacked from the move in her basement and we determined that a collection of empty frames would fill a blank wall space without closing it in.

These frames were purchased on a family trip in South Carolina.  JoDee texted me during the process, so the transcript is gone, but I believe they came from a flea market.  Looks wonderful, doesn’t it?

Great Room

The Great Room was designed to showcase a view.  We discussed treatment options for large bank of windows looking out the screen room viewing the pond and the new landscaping with gorgeous lighted palms.  Neighbors have fabric covered verticals which Roseann really likes.  My recommendation was to have window film professionally installed and then address if treatments are still needed.

A new shelving unit had been designed and recently installed.    I accessorized with family photos and added orange pieces with intention to collect more.  I decided not to accessorize the fireplace as the speakers and television are already crowding the space. New accessories were purchased for the sofa table.  Two huge ceramic spheres and a long row of tea lights in the same two colors follow the horizontal line of the table with texture, color and drama.  We purchased four large metal platters with hammered designs to hang on the siding in the screened room.

Concerning the large empty area to left of fireplace, Roseann loved a photo of a basket display in Pottery Barn catalogue.  We used this as inspiration and purchased a wonderful array of highly textured woven trays and shallow bowls and hung them in a pleasing, random pattern.  The arrangement will look less harsh once the walls are painted Ralph Lauren Crab Apple, a very complex taupe.  We still need to procure a long low bench for this area to ground the basket display and to hide the sub-woofer.  The bench will be easily moved to the conversation group when Jim and Roseann fill the house with neighbors and margaritas.

I designed a tile pattern to be installed on the wall area under the bar using colorful glass tiles and matte ceramic squares.  I tried to convince Jim that tiling the entire 70 square feet of an angled and awkward wall visible upon entry with glass tiles would be completely amazing.  My rough-estimated cost of 3K combined with the permanence of it seems to have overshadowed my enthusiasm.  (Trust me–IT WILL REALLY ROCK!!)

Dining Room

After much searching, we decided to purchase a colorful, graphic wool rug at Pottery Barn.  Roseann was very unsure, as her taste is more traditional, but loved it once it was in place with the Dining set.  (The Dining table, chairs and buffet were some of the only pieces to come from the Woodbridge house.) 

The rug set the tone for the accessories.  We found a wonderful squat glass vase in a gorgeous orange.  I filled it with oversized tropical fronds.  The perfect giclee canvas presented itself in our shopping frenzy for a crazily discounted price of $15.  We found a small wool rug in a perfect mustard for the Foyer on clearance.

We ordered a beautiful new chandelier from Ferguson sight unseen.  It’s partner, a carriage light, was on display and we all immediately fell in love with it and decided it would be exactly right for the foyer.  We felt a bit of economic desperation at the store and received both at a fantastic price.

I chose silk striped panels at Pottery Barn for the pair of windows.  I advised them to wait for an inevitable sale.  The colors in the stripes are lighter, slightly off versions of the paint I chose. 

Jim has an irrational phobia to wallpaper.  (…Which has absolutely nothing to do with the miles and miles of square feet I forced him to remove in the old house…)  Texture is necessary in this space so I chose Ralph Lauren River Rock in Sandstone Cliff for under the chair rail.  The rest of the Dining Room and shared wall in the Foyer will be Benjamin Moore Adams Gold.

Tomorrow:  the Den and the Kitchen.  And Drama over Plates!!

I envision a wall of quotes in her Living Room. If you remember, we are creating an unconventional space by rejecting the normal sofa and two chairs. Televisionless and focused on the conversation circle, this space is for connections. A table of family photos and this mural will reinforce the theme.

The difficulty has been deciding if we are going to use readily available vinyl lettering or actual paint. I am leaning toward having the quotes hand painted for many reasons.
1) I like the organic look of paint. The variation in pressure and color will make the total image dynamic rather than static.
2) Overlapping the words will add dimension (a good thing) and I am unsure if vinyl can be layered (a bad thing).
3) Paint can be changed. How often can you move the vinyl before it looks bad?
4) I would love to support a local artist if I can find one.

I have begun to layout some of the quotes JoDee wants included.

It all started with this mural at the Starbucks on Hoadly in Woodbridge.  The principal of the high school pointed it out to me.  He wanted it in the Teacher’s Lounge.  It still hasn’t been done, but it has not yet been deleted from the Windows Files of my brain.  When JoDee mentioned a family quote mural, this file opened first.  I really like the dimension and all the quotation marks.

She found this online.  Nice, but too small and rather expensive.

Looking for inspiration, I found these on Flickr:

A tribute to Warhole from narcotic.glitter

Interesting and cleanly framed with Pink from Flumpster

Smalbloc gives us a wall from a vegan restaurant in Phoenix

Samuel Mann’s photo from the Queensland Museum

This photo appears to be one huge quote.  Maybe a few pages from a favorite book? 

I need to find an artist that is willing to work in Fredericksburg and is very good at lettering.  (Which I am not.  Have you seen my handwriting?!?!)

I love black and brown together. Add a bit of white and it is the perfect combination for a dog.

I have always wanted a black and brown herringbone club chair. It’s been a fantasy of mine for about 20 years to have a room with a chair like this with a beat up leather sofa and a wall of books.

The room at the top of this post is from Ralph Lauren Home.  It is a little more elegant than the one in my head, but if for some reason Ralph just had to give it to me, I wouldn’t complain.

One day last year I thought my 15 year-old’s outfit was especially cute so I told her so. She said I may want to repeat that to two of her frienemies. She said they told her that Black and Brown together was a Fashion Don’t.  Well, Ms. Know -It-Alls, YOU may want to tell that to Ralph Lauren.

And to the tiny little fashion house known as Dolce & Gabbana.

Don’t forget to inform the lovely Orla Kiely. This Fashion Don’t will set you back $444!

Not the snuggly club-style I imagined, but I have included this chair from William Sonoma Home because it is named Sylvia, just like my mom. (She is in the hospital preparing for surgery today. If this post seems disjoined it is because as I write my sister has phoned me 4 times. She is with my mom today. I will join them in Ohio during the recovery period when I can be more effective.)

From the Classic Color Palette from Benjamin Moore:
Davenport Tan HC-76
Black
Toasted Almond 1098
Plymouth Brown HC-73

And to finish, how ’bout some nice fabric, again from Ralph?

A few months ago I had suggested to her that she rearrange her Living Room. Her sofa was positioned against a wall not viewable upon entry to the space.  A large armoire loomed, smack center of the sight-line.  The complaint from this family was that this space, with its wonderful furniture and global decor, was seldom used. 

My suggestion was very simple.  Move the armoire to the corner of the wall not seen.  Place the sofa on the wall opposite the entry, and flank each side with chairs.  Position the rug beneath.  Creating this conversation U draws occupants in. 

And she confirmed this is now the case, and this Holiday season the room was used more than ever before.

My camera motor is dying.  Unfortunately I have no photos to illustrate this post.  But in the spirit of yesterday’s post, I will borrow a few from Domino, The Book of Decorating. 

Recently released by Domino editors Deborah Needleman, Sara Ruffin Costello and Dara Caponigro, this book covers the fundamentals of decorating enough to be useful for the most design challenged.  I find the layout to be sloppy and a little chaotic, but if it is read like the magazine from which it came, in little bits and pieces, than it is navigable.

Three photos drawn from the book illustrate my earlier point.  In the first illustration, the sofa back is impeding entry (if we assume entry is at our viewpoint.) 

 In the second, the conversation area is closed. 

In the third photo beacons.  “Come in.  Sit and talk to me.”

Most sofas spend their existence sitting against a wall. But it needn’t be this way. Sofas look wonderful in front of a bank of windows. Mine floats perpendicular to the fireplace.

But since in most homes the sofa is in its expected place against the largest open wall, there is an area above it that needs addressed. A large picture will suffice. Or a collection of smaller prints, grouped as one large.

Rebecca purchased a wall system from At Home America. I worked with her yesterday to hang it. We incorporated a large clock from their collection. Two of the rods have clips that will hold four yet to be bought black frames.

Coincidentally, when I got home I had an email from a client who has been working with me on her apartment. She sent me a picture what she had just done with her blank space above the sofa. She hung squares of Amy Butler fabric on canvases. The colors are wonderful and give life to the white walls.