Accessories - Home & Design Magazine Blog

This is a blog for Home & Design magazine's website from a few months ago.  It was fun to do.  Hope you enjoy it!!

http://homeanddesigndcmdva.wordpress.com/2011/10/19/design-insight-guest-blog-series-the-season%e2%80%99s-best-accessories-2/

Organizer vs. Designer

Here is the link to a blog that was published in the Washington Post's online blog this past Wednesday.  It discusses how to figure out whether you need a designer or an organizer.  I was honored when Washington Post reporter Teri Sapienza contacted me regarding this issue.  Do you feel you need an Organizer? A Designer?  Or both?  Let me know which one you need at your home.  Hope you enjoy the blog!!

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/where-we-live/post/do-you-need-an-organizer-or-a-designer/2012/01/31/gIQARW5phQ_blog.html

Sweeping Color

Remember your high school art class?  Do you remember learning about how the eye sweeps over a page in a magazine? The eye sweeps from top around and back up.  This is true for designing a room as well.  When you walk into a room, you will focus on a single wall.  Perhaps the focal point is the art, and what is below this art?  Try to use the Sweep of Color to pull your eye down from the art onto something below it, and then back up again.  Very appealing.  Your eyes will love it.

Whe you see some designers' work in the magazines, you can almost tell what the starting point was for that room.  Was it the artwork? Or a piece of fabric? These rooms most definitely started with the artwork as a focal point.

The above room absolutely started with the large piece of art on the wall. The eye is drawn downward to the furry pillows, soothing sofa fabric and light blue walls, then back up again to focus for a longer period on the art.

This light, contemporary piece of art ties in with the mantel below, and then continued throughout the space with grays and light yellows. Fab.

 The same theory works for fabrics, finishes...anything.  The picture above has the beautiful blue drapes. The eye sweeps over them and down onto the sofa pillows.  Same effect with panel drapes.

Aaaccck!! Please Help Me Accessorize!!

Home and Design magazine approached me this past September and asked if I would Blog for their website on accessories.  While writing that blog, I decided to write a series of blogs on Accessorizing, since one blog couldn't do it justice, so here's the first in the series, and this one will focus on Mirrors.

"Aaacck!!  Please Help Me Accessorize!!"

Often at a cocktail party, someone will begin to talk to me about the interior design of their home, and they will lament its current state.  The questions and comments that I get the most center around accessorizing.  I always hear things like, "I have everything in place but it just doesn't look right…something's missing." Or, "Can you help me out? I can't do the final touches."  Or, "It just doesn't look warm and homey…it's very sterile."

Adding those final touches can be the last straw for most people.  They see ideas in a magazine but cannot translate them to their home.  So what to recommend that so people find that warm balance they're looking for?

First, study magazines that you like.  Study the catalogs.  Cut out pages.  Put them in a file, and put them away for a day.  Then go back and look at them.  Do you see any similarities or  trends?  Can you hone down what it is that you like or dislike? 

It is all in the design basics: all about balance, proportion, color, and then adding touches of texture here and there.

Some of the latest, most exciting design trends offer great examples:

Mirror Image

Every room needs at least one mirror for sparkle, to make the space look bigger.  My all time favorite style of mirror is a sunburst style mirror…very dynamic and very in style right now.  Look at these rooms using mirrors as a focal point:

This is my all time favorite sunburst mirror.  It's the Constellation Mirror by Thomas Pheasant for Baker Furniture.  Isn't it amazing?  Tom was inspired to design this mirror after seeing a brooch in Paris that was similar to this. He's so talented.

Picture above:  Design House at Washington Design Center by Margery Wedderburn Interiors, LLC.  I used this favorite mirror in a room for The Design House...such a fun focal point.

  In years past the only sunburst mirrors out there were beyond most people's budget, but now there are so many to choose from at reasonable prices.  Here are some favorites:

This mirror from Ballard is about as dynamic as you can get.  Add some fun vases to a chest below it, or some pillows on a sofa and you are all set.  Here's the link:

http://www.ballarddesigns.com/suzanne-kasler-sunburst-mirror-234/15125



And what about this interesting sunburst mirror from Ballard?

It looks amazing in this space:

http://www.ballarddesigns.com/oversized-sunburst-mirror/198107

What is not to love about this mirror from the Ballard Designs catalog (above)?  Dynamic, casual, you can't beat it.  It can go above a chest of drawers (any toned wood or a painted finish), or above a sofa…add some energy to your wall with this mirror.  And don't be afraid to go big…sometimes one big mirror on a wall is all you need.

Now take a little look at this fun one below, great for that outdoor space:

http://www.crateandbarrel.com/decorating-and-accessories/mirrors/driftwood-mirror/s577238

And how fun is this one for a super casual space (above)??  This is from Crate and Barrel and is made with driftwood.  Add this to your Recreation Room or that outdoor space for something fun and different.

Stay tuned for more on these fun sunburst mirrors.  Next blog: accessorizing around and below these super dynamic mirrors.