Color Coming of Age

When I first saw pictures of the Coastal Living 2009 Idea House My first thought was that I loved the furniture selection and layout but I was not sure if I liked the color scheme. I thought it was a bit jarring.


However, I am currently obsessed with this house and how spot on it is with current trends and colors. It has really grown on me. Considering that the planing and design for this 09" project probably took place in 08" the designers certainly had foresight.


I love the striped walls in this photo and the mix of furnishings. This room is vibrant and fun but has a soothing quality that must have been tough to achieve using these vivid colors.


The use of bold large scale patterns is terrific and I love the over sized accessories.


It is a fun and whimsical house that looks like it would be a blast to spend the summer in. It does exactly what a show house is supposed to do; show off new and growing trends and products.

I am really surprised how my taste has changed over the past few years. I think blogging really exposes you to so many new styles and options. I would love to re do my house in crisp colorful hues but I am too invested in what I have which is traditional and woody. I'll have to wait until I move - which may be never! Till then I will live vicariously through other designers creations!

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More Oscar Fun with Architectural Digest & Roger Thomas

Click on the arrow to view

Well I teased you in my last post with the beautiful rendering by Jeffrey Schneider and now I have another special treat for you!

This time lapse video, so generously provided to us by Architectural Digest, provides a fascinating look into the real life step by step process of interior design construction and installation! It takes a village to raise a child and a huge team of very talented artists and craftsman as well as creative manufacturers and vendors to decorate this green room.

You can see Roger hard at work, arm in arm with his team, putting everything in it's place. He's the very distinguished looking gentleman with the white hair and although I couldn't see them ,I am sure he is wearing one of his signature pair of colorful shoes. Constructing and installing all at once in such a small space must have been particularly challenging. You can see the work table still busy as the furniture is already being brought in. This type of install is like a complicated symphony and it takes and experienced and talented conductor to pull it off.

The room looks stunning and has Rogers usual flair for the dramatic while at the same time addressing the purpose of the room which is to provide a quite, calming, space for nervous nominees! It is a room that could be installed in any home as a main living space. It's not overly themed or kitschy as some rooms have been in the past. I love the reference to the golden age of Hollywood with the painted floor, use of mirror, and formal seating arrangements. Perhaps I am a bit biased being a Las Vegan but I believe he has done a fantastic job!

What do you think?

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Roger Thomas Does The Oscars!

Rendering by Jeffrey Schneider

Roger Thomas, my fellow Las Vegas designer and hospitality designer par excellence has been tapped to deck out this years Oscar Awards , Architectural Digest Greenroom! Thomas single handedly revamped Las Vegas style with such properties as The Golden Nugget, Mirage, Bellagio, Wynn, and Encore among many others all over the world.

He brought sophistication, class and distinction to a world formerly filled with plastic afrontery. Las Vegas owes much of its succes over the past twenty to Thomas and his muse Steve Wynn. I am so thrilled to see AI tapping into his incredible talent. Congratulations Roger - it's about time!

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Jan Showers Blog ~ Who Knew

Why am I always the last to know??? I think I have an idea of what's going on in the world around me but really I have no clue!

I just stumbled on to Jan Showers blog! I had no idea she had one and for over a year already. You'd think I would be paying attention but no.After all she is one of my all time favorite designers because she is a master fabric manipulation and bedroom design. Her bedrooms are light and airy yet cozy and welcoming. Her wonderfully tailored half testers are the inspiration for many of the designs in my book, The Design Directory of Bedding.



Everything she does has a fabulous crispness to it. Her furniture designs are amazing and her window treatments, perfection.



I am in awe of her new book Glamorous Rooms. The photos are stellar.



But what really blows me away is the back cover ~ animal print with no text! Oh, to have a publisher that would let me get away with that! How fabulous.


I intend to become a regular blog stalker and if you didn't know about her blog you can join me stalking her here.

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Mother Daughter Design Team

Since my own daughter will graduate in 2012 with a degree in interior design and architecture from the Academy of Art University in San Francisco and hopefully join me in my business I was particularly interested in this mother daughter team from New York, Robyn Karp Interiors. This mom and co-designer daughter look so young it doesn't seem possible that they could have achieved such an impressive portfolio - but they have! Check it out..........................

Great use of the KW Imperial Trellis.


Love the light fixture



Lavender and Lemon - Delicious




Soothing blues and tans



Adorable girls room in pink and grey.




The Venetian mirror hung over the back drape of the canopy is delightful and worthy of the great AH.



Perfection!




Nice...........




Fabulous tiny tot retreat.

These ladies seem to know what they are doing. I love their fresh aesthetic and the uncluttered arrangement of their rooms. I'm sure we'll see more of their work in the future. You can check out their website here.

All pictures Robyn Karp Interiors

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Betty Lou Phillips ~ New Website

If you are a Betty Lou Phillips fan , she has a new website where you can keep up with her numerous projects, books and products. The reigning queen of French & Italian design inspiration publications and I share the same publisher, Gibbs Smith Publisher.

Betty Lou's nine design books ~ an incredible achievement

When I began writing my first book and looking for publishers I went through my personal library and selected many of the books that I enjoyed the most and wanted to emulate. Several of them were Betty Lou's books and they led me to send my proposal to Gibbs Smith. So I really owe her a debt of gratitude for unknowingly leading me to my publisher.



Her work is classic, timeless and meticulously detailed and I am in awe of her soft treatments. The quality of workmanship is always superb.


I don't really have a favorite among her books - to me each one has it's own unique charm.



The one constant in all of her work is the timeless quality of the interiors. They could have been designed twenty years ago or twenty years from now. They are comfortable, elegant and soothing.



Her beds are all dressed to perfection and her draperies are luscious.


Antiques abound and add depth and character to her rooms


I've not yet met her in person. I had a weird notion when I began to write that authors, under the same publisher, would get together at book shows and sip champagne cocktails while discussing the current landscape of the design scene. Just one of the many misconceptions I had about what becoming a published author would be like!!! But thanks to the wonders of the internet I have exchanged a couple of emails with a few of them. I'll try to see what Ms. Phillips is working on next and let you know. In the meantime visit her beautiful website and tell her, Jackie sent you.

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Vicente Wolf in Las Vegas

International design star Vicente Wolf will be honored as a Design Icon by the Las Vegas World Market at the September market. Wolf, a longtime favorite of design bloggers and now an enthusiastic blogger himself will give a presentation on his work followed by a question and answer session and book signing.



The event will take place on the 16th floor of Building B on September 16th at 4:00 p.m.




You know I will be there!

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Vicente Wolf - Design Icon in Las Vegas

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Bedroom of The Week - Carolyne Roehm

I've posted before about my love for designer Carolyne Roehm's master bedroom in her spectacular New York City home. I was floored the other day to run across a lengthy pictorial in an old New York Social Diary post showing her entire home, including some new angles and view of the very large master bedroom that I had not seen before. From the photos I had seen I had no idea of the scale of the room.


This is the view that became so popular in the blogoshphere of the spectacular upholstered bed which was modeled after a late 19th century antique. Apparently Miss Roehm was so smitten with this Cowtan & Tout floral that she set out to cover everything in it. I would love to have seen her upholsterers face when she told him to cover the entire bed! It certainly must have been a challenge fit for only a true artisan but the finished product is spectacular.

The view from the end of the bed shows matching nooks fitted with glazed doors flanking the beautiful period fireplace.


Another view of that wall, again showing off a few of the many antiques used in the space. The entire home is filled with museum quality pieces and yet it has an overriding sense of comfort and hospitality.


This view of the bed gives a sense of the true size of the space, a rarity in the city.

More antiques and a lovely painting. Vignettes are placed throughout the space consisting of personal photos, small collections, and tiny flower pots.


A skirted vanity does not look like it gets much use but it is a pretty addition to the room.

Look at the exquisite detailing and the free scroll work on the pair of Rococo guilt mirrors that flank the bed.



Technology, aka, the dreaded TV, is cleverly hidden behind the glass doors on the fireplace wall. I am dying to know what is in the green and white covered books. Are they covered magazines, they look too large to be DVDs or videos? I suppose they could be albums of DVDs but that would be quite a collection! They are all the same size. What could they be - photo albums - why are they in the bedroom? A mystery!

Check out the entire post at the New York Social Diary to get a look at the rest of her spectacular home.

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