Trove Wallpaper

Latest edition for Rue.  (Kind of a Mad Hatter cover for this issue, but don't let this deter you from looking.)

Do you all subscribe to Rue magazine?  It is a free online magazine that comes, I guess 6 times a year.  The pages are always super colorful, fun and free spirited.  There are ideas for home, parties, food, shopping and clothes.  While everything isn't always my style, it makes you happy to look at the magazine.  Anyway check out their website which features past issues, photo galleries, etc, and you can subscribe. 


Anywho...In the May/June 2012 issue, Rue features a home in Pasadena designed by Tamara Honey.  What a fun name?!  The interiors featured in the issue are not in my style (Her online portfolio is much more vast and eclectic).  They are kooky and feature bold bright colors everywhere, but I came across the living room walls and stopped.   

Home featured in Rue's May/June 2012 issue.

This image made me pause and take a longer stare!! How awesome is that wallpaper?  

Detail of Fuoco wallpaper by Trove. 

The great thing about online magazines is you can click on the picture and it takes you directly to the source's website.  I was taken to Trove's website to learn more about their amazing designs.  

I can't get over that wallpaper!  It's so funny, it will always be a conversation starter.  It could also be a good way to keep mischievous children to behave by making them find objects on your walls!  

Trove was started in 2004 by Jee Levin, a painter specializing in encaustics (a type of paint using heated beeswax and resin with color pigment added) and Randall Buck, a multi-media artist with a background in photography, branding and graphics.  When they moved to their Manhattan apartment they saw the lack of artistic wallpapers out there.  With their skills combined, they started to develop wallpapers.  They take pictures of things that inspire them to digitally create these beautiful patterns.  Because they digitally create the wallpapers, they are able to create much larger repeats than most wallpapers.  Pattern repeats can be 12' high and 3'-6' wide. All wallpapers are produced on commercial grade paper with UV resistant inks and a non-toxic wax based protective coating.   

It seems like pricing I have seen is around $20 a foot. You can purchase samples of the wallpapers from their website.  There also is an option to customize.  Each pattern comes in a few different colors. 

Here are a few of the ones I liked:

I just love how there is so much movement and pattern in the wallpapers.  With that in mind, you can understand why these are also being used in many commercial applications. 

Not only does Trove print their wallpaper with a linen or a smooth finish, they offer all the designs on wood veneer!  You can choose the type of wood such as birch or bamboo.  

How amazing does the Alcoyne print look on wood veneer? It helps create a more masculine look for the floral design. 

Not only can you get one of their 22 designs on wood veneer, but also as a window film.  For those that  live in apartment complexes with an unsightly complex next door but need all the light, this is a great alternative to window curtains.  You can also put them on shower or cabinet doors.  The film is printed on either rice paper or bamboo paper.  

Trove's wallpaper designs also can be printed for glass applications!

Aren't these all so beautiful?!  Hopefully you liked one or two!  My favorite was definitely the oceanscape "Sargasso."  But I also like the one below that, "Ursa" which looks like falling jellyfish. 


PS Oprah has featured Trove twice in her O at Home magazine.   If Oprah shows it, you know you are supposed to own it!!

All images from Trove.

Sometimes I get featured in magazines!

In January I was asked to do a feature in InsideOut Magazine, a Cayman design publication.  It was my first time ever being asked by a magazine to be featured and I was quite nervous.  I was not expecting to be the only designer featured in the article.  The writer emailed me a list of questions which I answered and emailed back to her.  My answers are pretty much verbatim as to how I responded, except she changed how I spell color to colour.  I was told that it would be coming out in a few months.  I had no idea the issue was out, until clients came in to the store today telling me they enjoyed my article.


The article is really about what I have discussed several times already on my blog.  It is not important if your home is trendy or looks like the cover of a magazine.  Instead, it should be a reflection of you and your lifestyle.  You should be happy and comfortable every time you come home.  


To read the article you can go here. Luckily I chose to wear a "colourful" shirt the day they chose to take my picture!

Rugs for You to Buy!

Here is my round up of great new rugs out there.  Several you can buy online, if you love the ones from Surya  you will have to find a dealer in your area to purchase through.   I tried to keep the price point below $1500 for an 8x10 but I can't guarantee the prices from Surya as each dealer will sell them at different prices.

Dash and Albert Indoor/Outdoor New arrivals:

Dash and Albert sells wonderful, affordable rugs.  Annie Selke designs for living, which includes having kids and dogs.  She sells colorful cotton rugs, a few wool rugs, and a great many indoor/outdoor rugs.  Her newest arrivals seem to all be the latter.  As I stated here, indoor outdoor rugs have come a long way.  They are great for high traffic areas and messy rooms like underneath kitchen tables, kitchen areas, and playrooms.  With 8x10's under $550 you can't beat that price for how durable they are.  Stripes seem to be the theme for Summer 2012.  All rugs come in several other colors.  My favorite is the new color for the Diamond pattern. 

Dwell Studio's rugs new arrivals:

Most of their rugs were a little more 1960's contemporary for my taste, but I did like this Dapper Stripe and brown speckled cow hide.  Both can be yours for under $800.  I'm thinking I need to get a cowhide, and hey you can always layer it on a solid rug because they tend to be 5x8.

Horchow's newest rug arrivals:

Horchow rugs can go real expensive real fast.  It was harder to stay under the $1500 cap for an 8x10.  However, these rugs are fun and at a good price point.  HGTV's Genevieve Gorder created the first two rugs.  They are a flat weave construction which allows you to flip them. As is the one below it and the pink geometric print.  Wouldn't the little pink and white be cute in a girl's room?  How about that crazy pink cowhide?  I was thinking more of the grayish cream one, but hey put a pink cowhide in your house!  They carry several indoor/outdoor rugs which the last option represents.

Surya's latest rug offerings for 2012:

 Wonderful coastal themed rugs.  The coral rug is part of a new collection from Somerset Bay furniture. 

Playful geometric rugs.  They come in many different colors all for under $1500!

If you are in need of a traditional rug they have hundreds!

This year Surya has hundreds of new rugs on the market.  Including several new partnerships with designers and one with the popular furniture line Somerset Bay.  Many of the new rugs are just new colors in their popular lines.  They also offer throws, pillows, artwork, rug poufs, and indoor/outdoor rugs. 

Hopefully you enjoyed today's shopping trip of the latest rugs out there.  I would love to hear if any of you have seen rugs your are dreaming of for your home.  

Design Dilemma #3: Area Rugs

If you are looking at your current living room and feel like something is lacking, the answer is probably either: a) curtains (which I discuss here) or b) an area rug.  These two elements dramatically change a space into a cozy, warm environment that feels complete.  A rug will instantly ground the space and develop concrete sitting areas, while curtains help frame the space and add height.  

The main dilemma with rugs that I see in homes is that they are too small for the space.  The rug becomes a little cocktail napkin for the coffee table. 

Placing an area rug in your room creates a soft spot for your feet, often providing one of the only sources of softness besides the curtains.  It can also provide pattern to an otherwise lacking room. 

Here are the basic guidelines for choosing the right size rug for your space:

In a living room, you want to have at least all the front legs of your furniture on the rug.  Including end tables and side chairs.  This does not have to include your media console.  Other sources tell you that all four legs of the furniture should be on the rug.  I do not agree with that theory.  The main reason you want the legs on the rug is to delineate areas for the furniture.  The rug helps to organize all the pieces of furniture together, either in a living room, dining room, or bedroom. 

 

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This is my definition of using a cocktail napkin for your coffee table.   This massive sofa (which is awesome by the way) requires a MUCH larger area rug.  The rug seems interesting, and in this case, I would probably layer a neutral rug underneath to cover the floor space.  The chair also needs to be included in the area rug as it is a part of the seating arrangement.

 

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This beautiful Aztec rug provides plenty of pattern for this otherwise neutral living area.  Plus the rug is large enough for the sofa and chair.

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This wool rug provides subtle pattern and fits the sitting area completely so that all front legs of the furniture are on the rug.

The dining room is a crucial area where the rug needs to be a certain size.  The average person requires 24” of clearance to back their chair from the table to get up.  With this said, the rug underneath the table needs to have an excess of 2 feet around the perimeter of the table or 4 feet in length and width.  The dining room rug is also a good spot to choose a bolder pattern or color because the table masks a lot of the rug. 

 

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This rug is too small for the dining area.  If you were to push back from the table in the white chairs, you would no longer be on the rug.  It will cause the rug to flip up and get damaged.  As you can see the head chairs are not even on the rug. 

 

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This rug fills up the dining room beautifully, allowing plenty of excess space to move the chairs around.  It also shows how you can do a large patterned rug with plenty of color in an otherwise neutral room.

The bedroom allows for more flexibility in size.  Most people choose to have their bed covering the majority of the rug.  You usually have the rug starting just where the nightstands end.  Another possibility is having a smaller rug turned horizontally for the bottom half of the bed.  Or a less expensive route is to have matching rugs on either side of the bed.

 

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This bedroom uses a rug large enough (probably custom made for the space) to start at the edge of the nightstand and extends out past the end of the beautiful bed.

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This rug is used only at the foot of the bed, but encompasses the sitting area in the window. 

 

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This bedroom uses matching Summak rugs surrounding the bed with runners, while an 4x6 is used at the foot.

Standard size rugs are 2x3 (bathmat, doormats) 3x5 or 4x6 (entry way, sides of beds) 5x8 or 6x9 (ends of beds) 8x10 or 9x12 (living room, dining room, underneath queen or king beds) and 10x14 (large living or dining rooms). 

One way to save costs on a rug is to buy a larger solid rug.  If your living area could use a 9x12 or 10x14 rug, head out to your local carpet store and have one of their remnant pieces bound.  This is a cost effective way of having a rug.  Then you can shop for a smaller more expensive rug to lay out on top of the neutral rug. 

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A rug on a rug is a cost effective way to use a patterned rug for your space.

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The chenille rug underneath the bed is a cost effective way to provide softness when getting in and out of bed, while the antique Oushak at the foot provides color and more floor coverage.

What to keep in mind when shopping for a rug?  First thing, take measurements of your room.  As I have listed the standard sizes, have an idea of what would work in your space.  This article had a great idea of laying out towels of the different dimensions.  That way it visually shows you the area rather than marking with the tape measure.  Bring all your fabric samples and paint sample with you while you are shopping.  I love the customers that come in with their Ziploc bags of all the necessary items for their space.  It makes shopping so much easier and allows in-house designers to help you more effectively. 

 If the rugs are hanging up in the furniture showroom, they will look VERY different once they are on the ground.  A rug will change colors once it is flat on the ground.  If it is a hand knotted or vegetable dyed rug the colors will run different if you look at the rug from different angles.  That being said, ask to take the rug out on approval to see it in your space.  With your own lighting and furnishings, the rug will change colors again.  Generally design stores will allow you keep a rug or two for 24 hours on a trial basis.  If they do not allow this, find out about return policy.  Do not buy a rug without checking it out in your home. 

While you are shopping you may notice the large price range in rugs.  They are not cheap!  Most rugs are made of wool, and take months to complete.  It is an amazing, pain staking process to create those beautiful hand made rugs you see in stores.  One should truly have an appreciation for what you stand on every day.  I found quite a few Youtube videos that show the process from start to finish.  This video is by Surya that makes beautiful rugs.  The video is a thorough description of the process in 6 minutes.  I highly recommend watching it.

I could go into WAY more detail about the varying types, construction of rugs, etc., but I will save that for another day!  (If you have any questions about rugs feel free to ask me.) My main point today is to discuss a design dilemma I often see and how to rectify it.

I have seen many great new rugs on the market now, so I will dedicate my next post to showing you new rugs that you can have!

Instant Living Room

Unfortunately for us, Grand Cayman does not have big box furniture stores.  (I guess for the wallet you could say fortunately!)  I am constantly looking at websites of Crate and Barrel, Pottery Barn, West Elm, etc. to see their new arrivals.  It gives me inspiration, as well as showing what the trends are.  Luckily for many of my clients, several of these stores now offer international shipping to the Cayman Islands. 

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While checking out Crate and Barrel's new arrivals, I came across this good looking slipcover chair.  Such a cute print.  This is how you can do a floral, but still have it masculine and sophisticated. With its white background and blue flowers, it remains light and airy at the same time.  

Using the Cortland Chair as my inspiration, here is how you get an instant Living Room: 

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Beside the slipcover chair, I would have this wood carved accent table with the glass jug lamp.  It will instantly create a cozy spot for your coffee and a book.

The rest of the Living Room looks like this:

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The rest of the room is drawing inspiration from the blue and brown in the chair.   For the walls, Benjamin Moore's Mt. Rainer, it is a very soft gray-blue.  

It is important for any home to have a successful balance of feminine and masculine, soft and hard.  The sofa lines could be considered more feminine, but the color is more masculine, as well as, neutral. 

 The rug has a beautiful pattern almost Art Nouveau, but wouldn't be considered busy for the man in your life.  It mixes the browns and blues perfectly, plus creating a soft wool for underneath your feet.  

The coffee table brings in the hardness (and it's on sale at Crate and Barrel!)  It mixes in a bit of modernity to the room to keep it from getting too fussy.

For the side tables flanking the sofa, we have graceful metal base with mirrored tops.  Bringing in the masculinity on top with the amazing Moroccan lamps.  

The plantation chair brings in another element of "nature" and texture, which every room requires.  This chair could either sit beside the sofa or fill a corner.

  Then we have plenty of options for throw pillows.  Mixing and matching solids and pattern for the sofa and the plantation chair.  A solid lumbar pillow could also go in the Cortland chair.  I love the solid pillow from Pottery Barn with its' jute trim and the  pillows handmade from rugs are amazing!  (Feel free to give to me at Christmas.)

Hopefully you enjoyed my instant living room.  Please don't rub in my face the amazing things you have seen lately at West Elm or any other chain furniture store.  

PS When we move back to the States, I am going to be hitting up West Elm and Z Gallerie.  I have never purchased from these stores, but love what I'm seeing online!!

Design Dilemma #2: Curtains

I already stated here about the necessity of curtains.  They are one of my top elements for creating a Southern style room.  But, many clients seem to want to skimp on curtains.   Why oh why would you do that.  If you were to look at all the beautiful images you have saved from magazines and Pinterest, I would imagine every single image has curtains in them.  Yes, they can cost a lot of money because of the amount of fabric you need and the labor.  But you aren’t going to be changing them out for many years to come. (This is what you have to tell  your husband when he looks at the estimate!!) 

There is always the option of buying inexpensive ready-made curtains from Target.  We will need to add lining and add contrasting fabric on the ends to make them long enough.  These are tricks to turn inexpensive into gorgeous.  I'll show you some images of how you can do this.

Wait, what’s that you say you can sew and you aren’t scared of making your own curtains??  Hang on one second while I fly to your house and bring you fabric to make me some!  If you know anyone that you trust enough to make you curtains have at it!  But don’t skimp on them, curtains add softness and are the finishing touch to any room. 

Continuing with my theme of quick and simple fixes to add a designer stamp of approval, we are moving on to window treatments!  I am only going to be discussing window panels.  This is where I notice the most issues.  While I feel Phoebe Howard perfects all things curtain, I am going to branch out and not include any of her work.  You should look at them anyways to see perfection. 

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Don't let your curtains hang inches above the floor.

The worst mistake you can make is hanging your curtain panels too short.  There is much debate on the perfect length for your drapes.  Several designers go with the ½” above the floor.  Others go to exactly touching your floor.  I think a good rule of thumb is to touch your floor or add up to 3”.  This allows for slight puddling that you can lift and plop the curtains where you want them to go.  However, if you have multiple pets in the house and have hardwood floors, stick to touching the floor or 1”.  Curtains can be quite the pet hair collectors.  (Having your curtains rest on the window sill is not an option, except for at a kitchen sink. )  

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Do: Curtains are hung directly below molding and are grazing the floor. (Crazy kooky room isn't it?)

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Do: Look at that pretty lilac fabric on the curtains!  These curtains are puddling a few inches on the ground.

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Don't: hang your window treatment on the molding!

The next mistake is hanging your curtains directly above the window.  The point of curtains is to frame out your window, and to elongate and widen your room.  This cannot be accomplished if they are hung an inch above your window.  Place your rod directly below your crown molding or ceiling. 

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Do: Elevate your room by placing curtains all the way to the ceiling. 

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 Don't: cover your whole window with the curtains and don't place the curtains directly above the window.

While we are discussing rod placement, consider getting a rod 2 feet wider than your window.  This allows for the curtains to actually frame your window.  The panels should touch right where the glass starts.  You want your curtains to make your windows look larger.  Adding a foot to either side of the window should allow for this.  Rods can get expensive if you are using something solid.  Consider using plumbing fixtures from your local hardware store and piecing them together.  

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Do: make your curtains begin at the window's molding and place them at the ceiling.

 

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Don't: make your curtains only one width wide.  Extending your rod allows room for fullness in the panels.

Skimpy window panels can make a window look so sad.  You want the fullness of your panels to be 2 times the width of the window.  This is where draperies get to be expensive.  If you are using a $45 a yard fabric you would need 7 yards of fabric for a standard 48” window hung at 9’.  With this being said, don’t fall in love with a fabric at that price, find one for $20 or even less!! 

 

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Do: This famous image of a Windsor Smith room created quite a stir.  The silk curtains have crazy fullness, at least 3x I would say.

Below are some examples of inspirational curtain styles you can do with store bought panels.  You could also do this with simple cotton fabric you can buy for $8 a yard. 

 

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Sew together two solid fabrics into stripes or chevron stripes.  The light fabric can be a simple drop cloth.

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This living room creates a coastal themed curtain wall by using three solid fabrics one width wide. 

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How about buying simple linen panels and punching it up with a 4" banding of your favorite color?

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These beautiful silk curtains have been accented with a wide greek key border. 

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Curtains too short?  No problem just add length with an accent color and why not incorporate your favorite color purple as a thin tape?  Tan on the bottom also will hide dirt!

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Another pair of beautiful curtains this time with tassel trim around the whole perimeter.  I want that wallpaper!

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Beautiful coral drapes with subtle puddling.  I can't make out exactly what the trim is on the side but it is a nice detail to add more texture.

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Nice linen panels with more banding, this type creates a more modern interpretation with repeating it 4 times.

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How about spacing out your banding to create contemporary stripes.  Will someone buy me a zebra skin?

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Such a pretty room.  More banding along the edge.

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How about putting a stencil on it?  Or you can block print it, but make sure you practice plenty of times before.

In conclusion, please add some curtains.  In the words of Phoebe Howard, my favorite decorator, a room without curtains is like a face with no eyebrows!  Perhaps you have been putting it off for a long time due to cost, well today is the day.  Measure the height of what you need and head out to Target, West Elm, World Market, etc and pick up some ready made drapes.  Then you can go to your local fabric store and pick up a pretty greek key trim to add to the length of your drapes. Instant custom drapes have now been created!

If you want a more summed up version of what I am talking about, I found this article on Elle Decor.