BLOG - Inspiration Boards

I am contemplating a bit of a do-it-yourself project this weekend: painting wide horizontal stripes in my guest bedroom.  The goal here is to liven up the room without breaking the bank. A bit of inspiration before diving in....

The dress on the top left is by Minnie Mortimer, hat:unknown, interior shot unknown, dress on bottom left is by free people, paint swatches are Benjamin Moore Simply White on Left and Balboa Mist on right and the background is Farrow and Ball Wallpaper.

After doing quite a bit of research online and scouring inspiration images, I stumbled across Emily Clark's blog. She gives excellent instructions, including what not to do, and I am hopeful I will be able to pull this off! One of my concerns is that the bedroom in question has a narrow entry hall (corners!) and a sofit running across a long wall near the ceiling. This means that I am going to have to be very careful with the placement of the lines and really plan my strategy ahead of time.

The following two images are from Emily Clark's room before and after. Doesn't it make such a difference?! I love how such a simple technique adds a level of sophistication. This is exactly what I am hoping to achieve in my own home.

Another useful source was the blog Young House Love. If you are contemplating any do-it-yourself project, I highly recommend them as a great source.

 Below are a few great images of striped walls, both vertical and horizontal.  Elle Decor has a great gallery of images for striped walls. Some of them are shown below as well as some others I found along the way. Enjoy!

Elle Decor Above

Elle Decor.

Here the designer has used a gorgeous Black and White Clarence House silk stripe. I have long admired this fabric and think this is such a great application! I am glad to see that someone found a place for it!

The above image is from Elle Decor as well and is perhaps my very favorite of the bunch. This Pierre Frey fabric on the walls is to die for.

^{From Here}

^{Below Tori Mellot's Often Photographed Chic Manhattan Apartment}

And Jenna Lyon's nursery below.

An Eric Cohler designed shower above

From Shelter Pop

From Shelter Pop

From Here

Source Unknown

I never considered myself a pink girl. Always the tomboy, I typically gravitate towards blues, both in terms of home decor and fashion.  As I was planning my wedding however, I became obsessed with pink flowers of all hues. This has seeped into my personal tastes for home decor as well. For one client we are doing the prettiest shade of blush for her walls and windows. I can't wait to see how it turns out. I love how pink can be used to express a variety of styles. From soft and serene to edgy and powerful, I am starting to come around to the endless possibilities of pink in home decor. Unfortunately I don't think my husband feels the same way....

Source unknown

From Martha Stewarts Maine Guest Cottage

From Martha

Again Martha

Another View

Also from Martha Stewart Living.

From Lonny Mag

From House Beautiful

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And now a few of my own inspiration boards.....(images from various sources)

A few images that are inspiring me today.....

Credits from Top Right Clockwise: Photo of Harem in Istanbul by me, Photo of fireplace: unknow, room with yellow chairs from Elle Decor, Babe Paley at Round Hill in Jamaica-unknown, Yellow door-unknow. If you know where these images are from or they belong to you, email us and we will post credit info.

I love pulling together fabrics for new projects and the combinations below are some of my new absolute favorites. 

A little background-the floors throughout the apartment are bleached white oak and crema marble.  The canvas, shall we say, is light, bright, and airy.

The scheme above is for the living room.  The plan is to paint the walls in a deep blue Venetian plaster (with just enough movement to not be heavy). The orange velvet in the top right of the image is for the sofa.  The gray blue large swatch is for the windows.  I love the tonality of this fabric and can't wait to see it in billowy full-length curtains.  The light blue wool (top row) and blue chevron (bottom right) are options for chairs, pillows, etc.

The Living Room of the apartment is connected to the study with pocket doors.  The Ikat is for the windows (romans)  and the blue and gray weave is for the sofa.  The glazed linen on the bottom right is for a chair and ottoman.  The thought is to paint the walls a deep chocolate brown lacquer. 

For the open Kitchen/Family Room the palette is clean and crisp greens, somewhere between an olive and a kelly green but not really either.  I just adore this color! The straw and green basket weave is for a big comfy L-shaped sofa.  The green velvet is for big pillows and the stripe with yellow and green is for the windows.  The cabinetry for the kitchen and family room will be white with the backs of the shelves painted green. 

The goal for the Master Bedroom was to create a soothing luxurious palette of grays and lilacs.  The bottom right fabric is for the windows (romans).  The top right gray/lilac nubbey linen is for the headboard, the gray and white print on the top left is for a bench and the purple mohair is for pillows.

One of our recent jobs was for a condo developer who wanted to decorate and furnish a model apartment as part of their sales efforts.  We like working on all types of projects and for this one the objectives were clear: stay on budget, get it done quickly, and keep the design sensibility as neutral as possible.  The building itself was beautifully constructed and our hope was to highlight the positive aspects of the space rather than overshadow it with heavy handed decorating decisions.  For these types of assignments, the palette should be subdued, refined, and have as broad of an appeal as possible.   We were able to add a pop of color in the scheme for the "child's bedroom" and here we chose orange (one of my favorite colors and gender neutral!).  On account of the budget and tight schedule, we were forced to explore many stock items from big box retailers.  By mixing these well-known pieces with custom window treatments and pillows, we were able keep the apartment schemes from appearing overly generic.  Below are the inspiration boards for the project. Enjoy!!!