Entries Tagged 'Playing House' ↓

For a world of darling baby room inspiration visit:

www.laybabylay.com

Images: Elle Decor

Images: Elle Decor

www.VictoriahHagan.Com

Jennifer Lopez knows a thing or two about red-carpet glamour. But at her California residence, a different, more serene glamour prevails. In the foyer, a dramatically sweeping staircase greets visitors. Beneath, a lunette sofa graciously invites them to stay. A white lacquered piano makes a striking statement in the living room, but it’s the ethereal blue-grays, velvet sheens and shimmering silvers that truly captivate. In the pale mauvedining room and pastel peach guest bedroom, crystal and blown-glass chandeliers gleam like pieces of jewelry.

“It’s sort of Jennifer in a nutshell—she has a romantic streak,” says interior designer Michelle Workman of her multi-talented client, who becomes a judge on American Idol this winter. “It’s tastefully glamorous, like Jennifer herself. That approach goes along with my whole design philosophy, which is about capturing the personalities of the homeowners.”

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Article and Images Veranda Magazine

“His stuff, your stuff, now what?”

By Joy Moyler, interior designer author Hautezone.Blogspot.com

As an interior designer with over 25 years in the game, you could say I have endured some design challenges. And now as design head for Armani Casa, Giorgio Armani’s interior design studio, I have been fortunate enough to design home environments for bachelors like singer John Mayer, violinist David Garrett, actor Adrien Brody, and various captains’ of industry. I’ve spent seven years designing showrooms for Ralph Lauren, including the Beverly Hills and New York stores amongst others. But the most challenging feat is often a new home for ‘newlyweds’

Man, Check! Ring, Check! Venue, Check! But did you really, sign on to gaze at that threadbare sofa ‘Til Death Do Us part’? What will your response be when he comes home dripping from sweat, some hazy, hot and humid mid-August summer day during a New York City garbage strike? He walks in, runs his hands through his sweat laden hair, hurls his Kenneth Cole laptop messenger bag to the floor, runs into the kitchen for one, no two, cold ones. Pops the cap, grabs the remote control and salt and vinegar chips, to watch the eighteenth run of Rocky 2 (like he never saw it before), poised to stretch out, feet up and realizes someone moved HIS sofa?

‘Till Death Do Us’ part. Hmmmmm. Sometime in the not-so–wee hours of the night (okay, day after he’d gone to work) the Salvation Army Truck arrived. I know, I know you never saw it coming, didn’t call them, but somehow they managed to enter your newlywed home and haul that raggedy thing to an unknown location. Hmmmm. Where, Oh where are the by-laws buried for the not-so harmonious task of ‘blending furniture’? This was not covered in marriage counseling. If so, the pages must have been stuck together. It is likely easier to ‘blend’ in-laws, and extended families. Well except for the ‘crazy cousin’ no one wants to claim much less talk to.

I am often asked to ‘marry’ styles. Contemporary, with Traditional, Moderne, with Bohemia, French with Vintage Metal, as in Heavy Metal. Generally there has already been a degree of editing done way before I show up. But all too often, there is that one piece that manages to be the ‘button’. The piece that can be a real deal breaker. The one fabric clad (often stained) heavy piece from the ‘hot’ bachelor/bachelorette days that can question your own judgment. The piece that makes you wonder is you should have married ‘Fred’ instead of ‘Ted’. What is the solution?

The answer, in short is ‘diplomacy’. The same level of ‘diplomacy’ required in deciding where to spend the holidays, how to tactfully avoid eating his mamas, overdone pearl onion casserole which is like chewing a plate of marbles, with cheese.

Identify pieces that fit well into the new environment.

When I say ‘fit’, I have four suggestions:

1) Scaled to fit. Do not keep a large sofa in a studio apartment just because your sister gave it to you.

2) Keep ‘non-trendy’ pieces that are in good condition and made well. Even if something is old consider updating with new knobs, pulls, hardware etc. Strip the finish and add a coat of paint. There are numerous shops allowing DIY practicing before committing to an entire job.

3) Make breathing new life into old pieces a ‘date night’. Wear sexy clothing and he will forget you’re ripping the denim fabric off of his favorite football night chair, replacing it with velvet and a colorful Jonathan Adler toss pillow. Whenever, he see’s the chair, he will imagine how much fun you had frolicking on it, forgetting what it used to look like. And if he can’t remember, frolic some more until it’s all he can think about. You know what I mean!

4) 1-800-STO-AWAY and any likely facsimile available in your region. Costs are generally manageable. Who knows, down the road there may be more room for it, or the style will come back. Again, only keep pieces in great condition.

Remember, “keep it moving or be left behind”. So try not to worry about sofas, curios, tables and such. When the music stops, just be glad to have a chair! - Joy Moyer

For More Info visit: www.behance.net

The 54 Bond Street building was conceived in 1874 by celebrated architect Henry Engelbert, and now caps the corner of a quaint, cobblestone block that has become the most innovative, high end residential street downtown.

The interior of 54 Bond has been carefully restored and re- imagined by Architect, Steven Harris, into beautifully detailed and light-filled spaces, with soaring ceilings and modern classic appeal.

Over the last 100 years, world renowned painters, composers, screen sirens, muses and musicians have called this brilliantly poetic building home. A few of the exceptional residents who have been part of 54 bond’s history: Lauren Hutton, Jane Russell and Pearl Bailey.

www.54bond.com

Images: Elle Decor

1. Natural fiber fabrics made with safe or no dyes are used for furniture and draperies. Cushions are made with natural latex foam and down.

2. Solar shingles are low profile panels designed to blend with traditional roof shingles. The panels capture light emitted by the sun and convert that energy into electricity.

3. Salvaged stone was taken from a terrace during landscaping and installed on the dinning room walls to add rustic old world character to a previously dressy room.

4. Antique Doors from Italy open to the foyer, with an antique console, mirror and lamps made from 19th century candlesticks.

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Take a serene Santa Barbara setting with to-die-for interiors, add a triangle mixing love, divorce, and renovation, and you have all the elements of an unusual romantic comedy.

In theaters on Christmas Day, the sophisticated yet relaxed California-style interiors in Universal’s upcoming film It’s Complicated will vie for attention with a star-studded cast-Meryl Streep, Steve Martin (both seen here), and Alec Baldwin. The comedy weaves the tale of a divorced mother of three and bakery owner (Streep, as Jane) involved romantically with both her ex-husband (Baldwin) and the architect (Martin) helping in her kitchen renovation.

Written and directed by Nancy Meyers (who has given us such design-rich films as Something’s Gotta Give and The Holiday), It’s Complicated is reminiscent of the classic Hepburn-Tracy comedies of the ’50s (think Desk Set). In true Meyers fashion, it features a strong female lead, snappy dialogue, a memorable sound track, and trend-setting interiors.

Besides being a master with pen and camera lens, Meyers is a dedicated design devotee as well. From the Hamptons beach house of Erica Barry (Diane Keaton) in Something’s Gotta Give to the Wallace Neff bungalow in The Holiday, with Amanda Wood (Cameron Diaz), Meyers’s imprint is seen in every club chair, paint color, and light fixture. Apparently it’s in the genes-Meyers’s mother was a designer who worked well into her 80s.

As in all her movies, the house as character plays a major role in the latest Meyers film. After a decade as a divorcée and now facing an impending empty nest, Streep’s Jane decides to redecorate her 1920s Spanish-style ranch.
“Since more than half of the movie takes place in the house, we really get to know the place,” says Meyers. “What the characters wear and how they live and decorate really say something about them.”

The film reunites (for the fourth time) the director with production designer Jon Hutman. “My job is to try to understand and interpret Nancy’s vision,” says Hutman. “What I do, with strong and special guidance from Nancy, is make the sets real, striking something in people.”

Working with set decorator Beth Rubino (who decorated the interiors of the much-admired beach house of Something’s Gotta Give), Hutman designed the sets with a key component in mind-storytelling. “I like the sets to look the way they feel to the character,” he says.

The overall design direction came directly from Meyers, who wanted a “Belgian look that is reflected in the house’s furnishings and a quiet palette with natural linen.”

Hutman’s interiors reflect a sophisticated influence mixed with California casual. “Whether in the Hamptons or Santa Barbara, the world of Nancy’s movies is one of casual elegance and not just a fancy way of life,” he says.