November 3, 2015

Setting the Tone with Brass this Holiday Season

It's November and we are officially in the thick of the holiday season, which means it's time to get the house ready to party! Adding a little brass tone to your house is one of the quickest ways to accessorize your house with a festive spirit. Switching out knobs, pulls, and fixtures with those featuring aged brass tones will bring a feeling of rich, warm, inviting depth to even the most minimalist modern of spaces. And, nothing says family like a warm inviting interior. Forget the bright, loud, brass of the 80's, these brass tones are anything but tacky.

I love an antique French daybed in, well, any room, but when paired with the brass globe chandelier, the room is elevated to pure holiday-ready chic.

From the dining room and kitchen, to the living room, bathroom and bedroom, there's a place for brass tones. These tones are the jewelry of the home and pop against saturated walls, whitewashed interiors, and graphic wallpapers alike.

If swapping out fixtures is not in the budget or you run out of time before the turkey is on the table, brass accessories such as vessels and candlestick holders are the perfect way to add a little holiday tinsel.

Design Notes
Here are some tried and true resources to nail your brass tone holiday decor.

For lighting: Arteriors is a go to for inventive of the moment lighting - the brass polished Liberty Pendant is one of my favorites and, with its perforated pin-holes would cast an amazing holiday lighting in any room. West Elm also offers affordable chic lighting options - the Abacus Hammered Metal table lamp in antique brass would immediately transform any sideboard into a holiday-worthy cocktail bar.
For accessories: The Goodwill and other thrift stores are a mecca for finding brass candlesticks, vessels and objects reminiscent of the 70s. For those in a time crunch, West Elm and CB2 also offer a reasonably priced selection of brass goods. A generous row of CB2's Bubble Sphere in copper on the holiday table would be a glamorous alternative to a holiday table runner.
For faucets and fixtures: Waterworks offers both classic and sleek modern options in brass.

September 30, 2015

Small Spaces: Designing a Home Office Nook

by Brandi Brown in Interiors

Whether you use it once a month to pay bills or every day to blog, your home office needs to be inspiring and efficient. Finding a nook within a small home to create an efficient yet inspiring home office can be a challenge but also a necessity of small house living. We re-imagined a small "dead" space (too small for cabinets but too big to be wasted) in our kitchen into a chic and compact home office that is grounded in a calm greige color scheme (which makes me feel organized no matter how disorganized I am), full of re-purposed objets d'art from travels and architectural artifacts that inspire me, and maximized on efficiency with a bookshelf and inventive storage solutions.

Architectural pediments salvaged from a dumpster (which means free!) frame a custom bookcase, and artfully define the space. Grey graphic contact paper scored from TJ Maxx for $4 lines the back of the bookcase and provides a dramatic (and easily removable) contrasting backdrop. An antique French bistro table provides a compact work surface with chipped enamel character, evidencing its former social use. Sitting at my "desk", I can imagine all of the wonderful meals and conversations that took place over the bistro table and, for me, this is the ultimate inspiration.

Re-purposing discarded objects provides visually pleasing utilitarian office storage solutions in our petite office - an old glove form corrals post-it notes, a vintage trophy picked up in Ojai holds paint brushes, and an antique leather binocular case from Paris offers scissors and rulers. Laduree boxes add pastel energy to the otherwise grey monotone space and hold paper clips, cords and ink cartridges. As for the unsightly necessity of a modern printer, I tucked it away into a seagrass Pottery Barn Beachcomber Lidded Basket. Not only is the basket an aesthetically pleasing solution but it offers a rough texture to the space that is the yin to the grey sheepskin's soft yang.

A Kartell-style Louis Ghost Chair (found on sale at HomeGoods for $80) adds the functional necessity of a chair without adding too much visual weight to the compact space. Harry Bertoia wire chairs would be another great option to keep the airy feeling.

Bookshelf layered with travel mementos turned storage

An old sculptural glove form offers fun post-its

Design is never finished, and our home office is no exception...I'm on the hunt for a modern airy chandelier (like this one) to create unobstructed visual interest...

Design Notes

Create a space that inspires you. For me, that means being surrounded by calm colors and mementos from travel (and, well, anything French is my muse). For others, that could be something totally bright and boho, or modern and crisp.
Location and Light. Consider traffic flow and natural light exposure. Tucked in a corner of our kitchen that is flooded with light from two large picture windows, my cozy home office provides me with the space and quietness from the house traffic that I desperately need to withstand distractions. Do you work best in a quiet moody space or a lively bright space?
Accessibility of Storage. Keep the daily items within easy reach. Nothing is more inefficient than constantly searching for a pen and paper or the electrical cord that you need for your tablet, camera, printer, etc.
Form Need Not be Over Function. Home office décor should complement the adjacent rooms of your home, rather than being a soulless white box of desk and storage. For example, my home office echoes the colors of the kitchen cabinets and seamlessly bleeds into the adjoining kitchen. Creative accessories (such as vintage trophies for a pencil holder and Laduree boxes for small storage solutions) and artistic pieces (which could be your kids' framed artwork, a modern graphic or a classic painting) enhance the comfy feeling of an office. If you have the space, a settee or love-seat are ideal. The more comfortable you are in the space, the more likely you are to use it.
Master Modern Technology. Beautifying the necessities of a computer and printer may be impossible, but you can hide the unsightly device or cords. Make sure to store the equipment near an outlet for easy access. Hide the device in a basket or the cord with a fabric cord cover (such as Pottery Barn's Basic Cord Cover), and contain cords with velcro ties (found at almost all hardware stores).

Images by Brooklyn Boheme.

September 23, 2015

Greige - A Perfectly Neutral Palette

by Brandi Brown in Interiors

I am partial to French and Belgian decor in large part because of their primary use of the earthen based neutral "Greige". Greige is a proprietary French blend of grey and taupe, it's raw and ethereal while at the same time complex and sophisticated (especially when mixed with modern minimalism). It pairs equally well with saturated bold hues and faded colors. Natural fiber textiles, velvets, leathers and hides elevate Greige to chic. The widespread popularity of this palette transcends from home decor to the runway (Dior made soft grey eponymous with luxe) to beauty (Bobbi Brown offers a Greige eye palette).

I think the above palette board evidences the ethereal sophisticated glory of Greige, with the layering of white soft sheepskin and contrasting rough sisal rugs. A brown leather tufted chesterfield sofa (such as Restoration Hardware's Kensington Sofa) juxtaposed against gilded French armchairs would be a cool compliment to this palette, and I would throw in a modern Kartell Bloom Pendant for a minimalist twist with sparkling texture.

Here are my favorite Greige moments in design.

Sophie Malgat in Gray Chiffon Dior in Dior's Paris Home by Mark Shaw, available on 1stDibs.

Crisp Greige Swedish living room via Decorpad.

Natural Greige elements, via Haute Design.

Moroccan Rough Luxe Greige, via Lieuk Interieur Advies.

Romantic French Greige, via Haute Design.

Modern Art Greige, via Architectural Digest Espana.

Courtyard Dior Gray Chiffon by Mark Shaw, available at Jackson Fine Art.

Moody contemporary Greige in a Paris apartment by Matt Watts, Home Adore.