Sleeping on the job

Wow, where does the time go?!  I cannot believe it's almost the end of July and I haven't posted anything since last Christmas.  Sorry about that.  Sometimes time and I do not see eye to eye.  To get myself back into the groove of posting, I thought I would share some of the sets that I have created recently.

I receive a lot of requests for bedroom sets to showcase sheets, blankets, computers, and home decor items.

Dorm Room

Loft

I could easily recreate a bedroom over and over again, but I try to make each one look different.  I am usually given a direction to go -- modern, traditional, cottage, teen, masculine, etc.  But the rest is up to me.  I like to create a story for the room, such as who lives there, where the doors or hallways lead, etc.  It helps me create a more realistic look, in my opinion.








Two things that I change in each room are the night tables and what's at the foot of the bed.  You do not always need to get the matching tables when you buy a dresser. I've used all kinds of tables, trunks, stools, and chairs as end tables.  I usually stack books on the seat of a chair, but this time I went for a softer approach.

Cottage

Traditional 

Country

Farmhouse/Country

Girl's Room

I thought this color combination was interesting --grey, green, and hints of orange. I used an outdoor urn with round frosted glass top from another table as the nightstand.  It turned out to be the perfect height and looks great.














The combination of blue, yellow, and tan create a soft and serene bedroom that's comfortable for everyone.
















Collections always make a room look more personal and lived in. Clocks on the mantle or small chairs hanging on the wall; a big impact with only "one" item.  The round green night table doubles as a place to have morning coffee or write a thank you note.

Modern loft/hotel

Teenage girl

Cabin/Hunting Lodge

I really like how the headboard frames the lamp. Placing a simple tray on the ottoman turns it into a night stand.

Traditional

One of the best ways to make your room look pulled together and professional is to spread out the accent color(s).  In this neutral room I used blue as the accent.  The blanket on the bed, the chairs, lamp, art, and vases spread the color around the room and make it feel complete.  Even though the shades are slightly different, the room reads tan and blue and calm. 

Christmas time!

Decorating for Christmas can be a daunting task, especially for those of us who have been doing it since July.  Working for a  retail based company, Christmas seems to happen all year.  So by the time December rolls around, I have to gather all my Christmas energy and decorate my own home.  I usually do a color theme for the tree and then that spills over onto the mantle, coffee table, and other places.  2012 brings a red and white theme, with some woodsy hints.  We start with a Frasier Fir.  We like the more open feeling and sturdier branches.  This year's tree is quite narrow, which works out well for the corner we place it in.   A Christmas tree's magic lies in the lights. I have not switched over to LEDs and I am resisting.  I love the look of the small incandescents.  What you cannot see from the picture is the strand of large bulb lights running up the trunk.  I have randomly changed out about half of the static bulbs for blinking bulbs.  This creates a fun magical twinkling effect without being obnoxious. Then, I wrap the tree with strands of clear lights, and strands of clear and red lights.

The ornaments have been collected over years.  Most are round glass, but there are lots of other shapes and materials. Like I said, I only used red, white, clear, and combinations of the three.  To add the nature element I added some red birds, natural dogwood branches, and pine cones of various sizes and species.  The tree topper is a star made of white pine pine cones.  I wired each one to the top of the tree in a star burst arrangement.

 The mantle is an extension of the tree theme.  I started with white, natural, and iced branches.  Next came the pine cones.  There are white, sugar, Austrian, and other varieties.  I did one large grouping in the center, and then a grouping under each sconce.  I very rarely wire anything together.  I like the challenge of balancing and arranging.  After the cones are placed I start adding the greens.  I like to use a number of different kinds of greens.  Frasier, arborvitae, and Douglas fir were used this year. I often use white pine as well because I love the long needles.  And finally, the small red ornaments add the color and contrast. 

So what's the lesson here -- layering.  Christmas decorating is all about layering and mixing.  In the tree I layer the lights; large lights as close to the trunk and smaller ones towards the outside.  I put ornaments inside the tree as well as on the tips.  When you look at the tree you see white ornaments with red ornaments behind them.  The greens and branches are layered as background to the pine cones on the mantle.  I mix varieties of greens, sizes and colors of ornaments, and shiny and matte finishes.  All of this mixing and layering creates a sophisticated and festive look for the holidays. 

And then there are the outside decorations.  I save the big wow factor for Halloween.  For Christmas I try to be a little more subtle and classic.  The urns outside reflect what is happening on the inside.  I started with a small three foot Douglas fir tree that I purchased at the home improvement garden center.  I've seen these trees at grocery stores as well.  I kept part of the base that came with the tree and buried in the soil to help keep the tree upright.  I then added greens.  Like the mantle, there are all types of greens to add texture and subtle color.  There are also holly branches to add some red. To add some more height to the arrangement, I added white painted branches and what I believe are red osier dogwood branches.  I picked up those items at the local nursery.  And it wouldn't be Christmas without lights.  There are two strands of clear white lights woven in the branches and greens.  This is really the first year I've done Christmas arrangements for the outside, and I think they turned out well.

The arrangement for the porch is done in the same manner, but on a smaller scale.  A friend told us a great phrase to help in arranging planters -- You start with a filler, add a thriller, then the spiller. And that philosophy is great.  The greens are the filler.  The ornaments and tall branches are the thriller, and the low arborvitae and pine cones that hang over the edge of the urn are the spiller. 

So as you make your way to friends and family this year, I hope you take note of all the beautiful ways that they have decorated.  It's just one of the many ways we can express the joy of the season.  

Have a Merry Christmas everyone!

More Fall

As promised, here are more photos of the home my partner, nkohlinteriors, decorated for Thanksgiving.  He had a florist do some of the arrangements, but he did all the other, non floral arrangements.  I hope you enjoy and can get some ideas for next Thanksgiving.

Wreaths on the front door.

 Here is the front porch and the containers that I showed in my last post.  All but two pumpkins are real.  Nature is full of beautiful colors.

Buffet table with gourds.

The inside staircase.

 The dining table is set for 14.  There are three of the flower centerpieces with the single candle and two of the other arrangement. The table cloths are a deep violet mixed with gold napkins. 

 I love this grouping.  It's in the kitchen and is therefore slightly less formal.  The glass cylinders have a mix of cranberries and nuts.  The small container is in a simple terra cotta pot.

The florist was asked to use fall vegetables and fruits in the arrangements.  There are pomegranates and artichokes mixed in with the magnolia leaves, pheasant feathers and other greens.

Flat screen art

One of today's modern technological wonders is the flat screen television.  But it's one the great challenges interior designers face.  How do you make a black rectangle look good?  There are ways to hide them if you do not want to have it out in the open.  Personally, we have ours in an entertainment armoire.  We were limited by the width of the cabinet, but that was fine with us.  There are console units where the TV rises up, and there are ways to hide the screen behind a movable piece of art.  And some people are fine with the TV being front and center on the wall.  So that's what I'd like to talk about, how to make your flat screen TV part of your decor.

In this example, I created a home theater; something that might be done in a finished basement. I faced all the furniture towards the TV, and raised the back chairs up a few steps. The TV was placed on a "built in" cabinet surrounded by red drapes.  We added uplights behind the TV and behind the flanking plants.  This adds some extra drama to the space.  It would be easy to take this up a  notch by adding some gold fringe to the curtains and even making them open and close with a remote control.  And this would look even more dramatic with a larger flat screen or projection screen.

How about adding some bookselves around your TV?  In this example the TV is mounted to the wall surrounded by books and collectibles.  I left plenty of room below the TV to decorate.  The low cabinets could easily turn into extra seating when the TV is not in use, just add some pillows or a cushion. The bookshelves frame the screen and make the wall interesting and pleasing when the TV is not turned on.  This a great solution for a small space where storage and floor space are much needed.

And if all else fails, make your TV art.  I completely surrounded the screen with framed art, empty frames, and shadow boxes.  I used black and white pictures and neutral frames.  The TV becomes part of the art wall even when turned off.  To make it blend even more, create a frame for your TV that coordinates with the frames on the wall.  To take this idea of TV art one step further, Restoration Hardware is just one of the companies that offer television easels.  Artists style easels built for holding flat screen TVs.  Great idea!  So don't settle for a TV stand, make your TV part of your room.

Day at the beach

Over the past few months, we have had to shoot a lot of lifestyle footage for bedding items. And that usually entails creating all types of bedrooms.  Some are modern, some are traditional. I've built dorm rooms, little girl's room, and tween's rooms.  Urban lofts and country cottage rooms. For a recent sheet set, we were asked to showcase the blue set in a beach home. Since we were not able to travel to a true beach home, we had to recreate one. I think beach houses tend to overdo the beach theme.  Just because you are at the beach does not mean you need to hang flip flops and "Life's a beach!" signs on every wall.  There are sophisticated and subtle ways to tell a beach story.  I came up with this:

I think of this room as relaxed traditional.  The paneled headboard, french doors and mantle with fluted moldings, are the traditional architectural details. The matching night tables, lamps, and curtains are some of the details I added to keep the traditional theme.  I also used a duvet cover that matches the curtains.  If you are having custom window treatments created for your home, why not purchase extra fabric and have it made into a duvet cover. This will give your bedroom a great custom, yet traditional look.  Because I needed to use the steel blue sheets, I picked a fabric that would keep the room light.  The floral fabric was perfect since it had some of that blue in it and I could use the coral color as the accent color for the room.

To give the room a more relaxed beach feel, I added two sisal rugs that overlap. They bring the look of the sandy beach indoors.  The weathered wooden beach chairs replace more expected club or wing back chairs.  The coral colored pillows on the chairs help to balance the colors in the room.  The wooden stool acts as a small table for the chairs since a large coffee table would not fit and is nice contrast to the night tables.  The weathered wooden star-burst mirror brings the relaxed feel to the bed wall.

For the traditional mantle, I could have hung a nice piece of art, and created a nice vignette of books, candlesticks and other objects.  But to keep the casual beach feel, I simply lined up books from end to end.  I faced the spines of the books against the wall.  This kept the mantle neutral in color and would not distract from the bed.  Would I do this in a real beach house? Why not?! You are heading out to the beach to relax and you just grab a random book and go.

The best beach accessories come from nature.  I used a lidded glass urn with sand and shells and piece of driftwood on the mantle. A large clam shell on the table and a starfish and conch shell on the night tables. I also added some small potted grasses to mimic dune grasses.  These simple items turn this bedroom into a beach house bedroom.  So rethink the boardwalk accessories, and take your beach house up a notch.

Books and ladders

This living room set has two interesting ideas:  lighting and book storage.  Chandeliers are not just for the dining room.  I hung a funky modern chandelier over the end table.   If you are someone who likes to rearrange your furniture every six months, I wouldn't recommend a hanging fixture.  But if your room has limited furniture layouts or you prefer great style for long periods of time, I say call that electrician!  A chandelier keeps the table clear, and adds vertical interest. I've seen designers add chandeliers over night stands, free standing baths, end tables, coffee tables, and beds.  There are so many great fixtures for every style that it would a shame to just buy the cheapest table lamp you can find.  Be as discerning about your lighting as your were for your sofa.

 

As for the books, I used an old farm ladder.  Now, since this was a TV set, it's just leaning against the wall.  If I were to do this in a real home, I would securely fasten it to the wall with "L" brackets or hinges and anchor bolts.  Adding some extra supports to some of the rungs may also be needed.  (*Side note -- If you have little kids roaming around, I wouldn't recommend this! A ladder and kids are a disaster waiting to happen.) Notice I didn't formally arrange the books .  I mixed sizes and stacked some vertically and some with the pages facing forward instead of the spines.  This stacking method adds to the informal nature of the ladder.   

It's little things like these that make impressions on people visiting your home and help make your room just as unique as you.  "I never would have thought of doing that!" is a great compliment that all designers secretly love to hear.

Let's get acquainted.

Every time someone asks me what I do, I always give a little sigh and chuckle.  It's not that I have a difficult job, it's just not easily summed up with a label, like doctor, accountant, or actor.  My official title is Content Production Stylist.  Huh? First off, I don't cut hair. Basically, I make things look pretty.  I am one of 3 people that make products look good for an electronic retailer that starts with a Q.  We dress models, "build" sets and decorate them, create table top environments for a slew of products (beauty, jewelry, accessories, collectibles, linens, food, and anything else), and work with producers, videographers (who double as Directors of Photography and Lighting Directors) and a bunch of office people, all in the name of selling you a product.  What we do is video, so it's seen on air and on the web.  There are 4 photo stylists as well working on web and paper publications.  

Here's an example:

I arranged the wall flats and decorated this living room set.  The camera tripod is behind the sofa in the foreground.  The tops of the flats were never seen, so on camera it looks like a living room with an office alcove. The product, a printer sitting on the desk.  The action was a model with a laptop sitting on the sofa and sending a document to the printer. This probably took 6-8 hours to set up, was shot the next day, and torn down as soon as we wrapped.

We do some interesting setups and can experiment with different looks for interiors, fashion, etc. I thought there might be someone out there who could translate that into their own life.  So I will be posting things from work, my home and neighborhood, travels, and wherever, that I think are interesting or of good design. Hopefully I can give some tips and hints so you can create some beauty in your world.

Enjoy!