Eye Candy Decorating

I am a Francophile through and through (Definition of Francophile as found in Webster’s Dictionary “A person who is fond of or greatly admires France or the French”.) Yup, Francophile, that’s me. So, when I recently received an email from Laurent of Teo Jasmin, an interior design company located in Paris, the City of Lights, it caught my attention. The company, founded in 2001 by Angéline Bailly, began by digital printing on wall canvas and then expanded on their range of products with cushions and classic furniture, using the same digital process on them to create amazing eye catching decorative items. I think the photos speak for themselves. Any one of these pieces would infuse a spark of life into any interior. Go to TeoJasmin to see their entire line of products.

DOGGY QUEEN CHAIR
UNION JACK SETTEE

Decorating is a Family Affair

One of my favorite activities as a decorator is to visit a client’s home for a design consultation. I call it an activity because it usually turns into a quick and snappy way to share with the homeowner my first impression design ideas as we sprint together room by room. Sometimes it gets quite strenuous, with the client on one end of the sofa and me, the decorator (sometimes in heels) on the other end of the sofa as we tug and pull it into a more pleasing place. And, more times than not we end up laughing about perhaps the absolutely hideous lamp that Aunt so and so gave them years ago that has somehow followed the family from house to house.

As I leave the homeowner with a long To Do list, I sometimes wonder how much of it they actually accomplish once I leave and the door shuts firmly behind me. Well, in the case of one young couple living in Arlington, VT I didn’t have to wonder long. Shortly after our consultation, I receive these cheerful photos in my email box. They took all of my suggestions to heart and it turned into a family affair with their adorable kids helping to strip wallpaper and paint. They were pleased with the results.

Portfolio of Interior Design Projects

An Unexpected Harbinger of Spring - The Laundry Line

As the winter fades from view and the days grow longer, I turn my thoughts to the laundry line that my husband and I installed at our house in Dorset late last summer.  Our main reason was to do our part to save energy in our household and fight global warming but unexpected things happened along the way.

Faded memories and a bit of nostalgia caught me by surprise as I hung my first load.  Don’t all of us of a certain age remember our mother’s laundry line? At that time, it was the 60’s, moms were still doing all of the laundry and our line hung in the backyard of our house in Brooklyn.  My mom would be out there in the bright sunshine hanging her laundry and chatting with the Grandmother next door, who had just arrived from China and didn’t speak a word of English, but somehow they were able to communicate with each other. Also, the memory of helping to fold the dry sheets - me on one end, my brother on the opposite end, making him bend and walk towards me several times since he was the younger one. And, the sound and clean air scent of linens flapping in the breeze brought back a flash of playing hide and seek between psychedelic patterned sheets.

By hanging our clothes outside rather than popping them in the dryer we have saved quite a bit of money on our electric bill.  According to Project Laundry List found at laundrylist.org, an average household can save $25 on their electric bill each month. Besides saving money they list many benefits that make hanging your clothes on a line worth the effort – clothes last longer (think about where lint comes from); sunlight bleaches and disinfects; clothes and bed linens smell better scented with the real fresh outdoors and not a chemical brew resembling it from a dryer sheet; each one of us in their small way is conserving energy and helping to save the planet; and the pleasure of being able to do a usually tedious household chore outside surrounded by singing birds.

Well, I have to go now bring in the sheets before dark, make the bed, fluff the pillows and jump in – surrounded by the fresh air smell of the outdoors. Heaven.

 

I HAVE SEEN THE LIGHT - It's a compact fluorescent bulb.

I have a confession to make. The environment is one of my top priorities and I am actively involved in helping my friends, family and community to become more aware of the problems of global warming. I am also an interior decorator who works really hard to make sure the interiors I design are color coordinated in every way. I tried compact fluorescent bulbs a few years ago and was put off by the blue light it cast in my interiors and the slow start time after flicking the switch. I secretly never used them in my own home nor would I recommend them to my clients.

Well, folks, I should not have discounted American ingenuity because compact fluorescent bulbs have come a long way since 1980 when they were first introduced. There has been a gradual replacement from magnetic ballasts to electronic ballasts, which has removed the flickering and slow start problems of the earlier bulbs. CFL’s now come in a variety of color options – Warm white or soft white is nearest in traditional light to incandescent bulbs and the ones that I choose now for all my interiors; white or bright white is whiter than incandescent but still on the warm side; cool white is a pure white tone; and daylight is slightly bluish white. Choose a bulb that has the same lumen rating, for example, a 60 watt incandescent bulb = 800 lumens.

This is a simple way for all of us to do our part in combating global warming and it begins at home. Here is a quote from the Energy Star website, “If every American home replaced just one light bulb with a “compact fluorescent” we would save enough energy to light more than 2.5 million homes for a year and prevent greenhouse gases equivalent to the emissions of nearly 800,000 cars.”

If each and every one of us rethinks our lifestyle choices in small ways, we could become part of the solution. Check out Environmental Defense Fund website (Environmentaldefense.org) where you can join the “Make the Switch” campaign called “The One Million Bulb Swap Out” and encourage your friends to do the same.

Now, I have to get back to switching the rest of my bulbs. I must find the tall ladder for that ceiling fixture.

The transformative POWER of color -

This is for all of you out there who, when faced with a decision on what to paint your walls, default to that old standby, Benjamin Moore’s Navajo White, a bland but safe off-white color. You know who you are. As it turns out, this is not actually the safe choice anymore, thanks to all of the fun and fast paced HGTV shows, homeowners are realizing that color on the walls can transform a room like no other decorating element. I call it a bit of magic in a can.

Now, your next question will be, “Then what color should I choose?” Here is one method that is simple and foolproof. I have used it many times when decorating my client’s homes. I want you to select something from the room that will be your “inspiration”. This can be a patterned fabric, oriental carpet, oil painting or even a torn out page of a particularly pleasing room from a home shelter magazine. From this “inspiration”, I want you to select paint chips that match colors from the object you selected. Invariably, you will have a neutral color for walls in an open area, a rich color for the dining room, a contrasting color for another room, and so on. Essentially, what you are taking advantage of by doing this is that some artist somewhere designed that fabric or carpet, belaboring the color choices to create a thing of beauty. Half of the work is already done for you. With this exercise you have created a color story for your home and a reference point to come back to time and again. It’s simple and a great way to select pleasing colors for your home. I know you are going to have fun doing this.

Why you should choose a neutral fabric for your sofa, AND NO, that is not the boring choice!

The choice you make in a sofa is a crucial one because it is usually the piece of furniture that a living room is built around. Taking the time to contemplate a few key aspects in the selection process is well worth your while.

You can express the style of the room, whether it is traditional, country/cottage, contemporary, transitional or eclectic by carefully choosing a shape that reflects that particular style. The next important decision will be the fabric choice. After many years of designing rooms for couples and families, I strongly suggest choosing a neutral fabric, usually solid with some texture so it has a nice feel, as the basic fabric. Then, you can build out from there in any direction stylewise with pillows that add color and pattern. Here is where you want to spend time getting personal and creative in your coordinating fabric choices. Add a colorful throw for another shot of color and texture. It is simple and fun and takes the doubt out of the decision making process.

This is a topic near and dear to my heart. Confession time. I once selected a fabric, it still pains me to admit this, in a fruit pattern on a black background. Sounds scary. Well it was. It actually turned out to be a bit of a family inside joke with many family members clocking how many hours they spent on “The Fruit Couch” as it was affectionately called, as it was a sleeper sofa. Hopefully this illustrates the problem with not selecting a neutral fabric - I had to live with that choice for many years before finally coming up with a good enough excuse to bring it to the local thrift – my husband and I were purchasing a pellet stove and needed the room.

Usually a sofa lives with you for at least 10 years or more so your neutral sofa can be the base around which you can change the look of the room with the seasons or the changing style of a decade by simply replacing your patterned pillows and even wall color in the living room as the spirit moves you. It widens the choices and the possibilities are endless.

If I have saved just one homeowner from making a big mistake I will have done my job. Happy decorating!