It's Wednesday Whimsey - Ruffle me!

When I dreamed of having a little girl...almost 30 years ago...I thought about pink, curls and ruffles.  I have an amazing daughter, but she is in No way pink, curls and ruffles....more like khaki, pottery barn and solids-no patterns.  Now I have 2 (almost) grandsons, so if I want pink, curls and ruffles, I'll just have to give them to myself.

So my Wednesday Whimsy is Ruffles....lots and lots of happy ruffles!
Where are you on the "ruffle" scale???

...and my favorite......

All images from Country Living Magazine

 

Finally!

Snow and freezing temps yesterday.....

Spring and beautiful today.....

Texas weather....gotta love it.

Floral design by Jonathan Andrew Sage, as seen in Veranda

Out of Dodge for Spring Break

It's the end of Spring Break here in my Texas town, and I worked straight through it.  But I can always vacation in my imagination, so I decided to conjure up a fabulous experience in my very creative little mind.

I'm allergic to bathing suits, and I look like a lobster after 10 minutes in the sun, so the beach is off for me.   I love the mountains, but I decided that I wanted a little more activity, so NYC here I come.

I found this amazing boutique hotel in Soho...The Crosby Street Hotel...and it's the first class retreat I was looking for.  It's the first Amercan venture of London hoteliers Tim and Kit Kemp and the flagship hotel of their Firmdale hotel group.  There are 86 individually designed rooms (by Kit herself) with quirky, comfy and cozy as her design esthetic.  Every ammenity that you could ask for has been provided for guests, and it's become a favored spot for visting rich and famous....You know that's me!

It's going to be a great trip even if  never leave the hotel....come along with me, won't you?

Entry from the street and meet the Mondo cat....ok....a little weird, but at least you know to expect the unexpected.  Afterall, it's Soho.

Another view of the lobby...yes, it's a head...and a plastic dog...I'm not going to ask.....

A pink lobby....

Do you love the pebbles on the columns?

A bench....for plants.  I love the organic shape against the straight lines of the windows.

Ready to see your room, Madam?

OMG....how chic! 

Pink and coral and white....Oh MY!

Of course, we have a suite.

Anyone know whose fabric this is?   I'm n love!

I love the introduction of the gray stripes on the walls.

The dress form, the lamps, the mirror....

TV anyone?

A glass of wine with your bubble bath?

Now that we're all relaxed, let's explore!

Tea in the drawing room?  I prefer champangne!

Or the library?.....where's the books?

Then drinks in "Refuel" the restaurant/bar.

Dinner party in one of several private dining rooms.

Then it's off to the screening room to catch up on all the movies I've missed this year.

I've heard that people actually leave their hotel rooms to explore NYC, but there's so much design magic going on in The Crosby Soho, that I may never leave.

There's tons of eye candy in each of these spaces.  What's your fav?

Whimsy Wednesday!

Whimsy - (hwĭm'zē) A fanicful or capricious idea...

Wednesday is humpday....middle of the week....weekend almost close enough to touch... and my favorite day of the week. 

So I'm combining two of my favorite things...Whimsy and Wednesday in a weekly post that celebrates something that takes my breath away and sends me into designer daydream land.

I hope you'll be "taken away" with me on your own fanciful, whimsical Wednesday. 
Here we go !

This is a beautiful loft conversion by the Ochs Design Firm from NYC and was featured in the magazine, Tashens New York Interiors.  Click on the link to see more of this magical 2,700sf artist's loft space. 

I'm imagining my artsitic self, painting magnificent, artistic, large-scale canvases in the beautiful light of this artistic space, and falling into this glorious bed at the end of a fulfilling, creative and artistic day.  I have arrived...artistically speaking!

Now let's share the whimsy.  Leave a comment and let me know how you see youself in this beautiful setting!  It's humpday.....find your bliss!

Back to basics

Even though I haven't taught school since 1997, I still have this internal calendar that tells me to get a snack at 4pm, take bathroom breaks on the hour and gear down to summer when Spring Break comes along.  Even as a fledgling designer early on in my career, I was always passing along bits of information and ideas with my clients that would help them to learn to work their own rooms.  Once a teacher, always a teacher. 

I was thinking this weekend about what really makes a room stand out....what makes one design really work, and the teacher in me said "Go back to the basics".  So I began to think about the Principles of Designs (yes, I need to capitalize that....very important stuff).   The principle of rhythm and repetition seems to be such a unifier to a room that I started looking for it just to see what I could learn.

This piece caught my eye.   Such simplicity, but beautiful.  Check out how many things are being repeated here....rectangles in the drawers, circular objects, the color black, horses, books, all set off by the glorious tuquoise back.  Do you see anything else?

The same repetition on the theme.

This vignette is in my studio.  The pear in the painting that I did repeats in the raffia pears on the buffet.  I repeated the chartreuse green and the terracotta browns from the painting to the topiary and the pot.  I think it works really well as a focal point in the studio.

It's easy to see the repetition in these pictures....color, shape, line.

But rooms can also utilize rythmn and repetition as an element to bring everything together.  I thought it might be fun to see some designer rooms of celebrities to show how this principle contributes to a beautiful space....ok, unlimited funds helps too!

This is Diane Keaton's kitchen, shown in Architectural Digest several years ago.  The repetition in the colors, shapes, tiles, and objects draws you into experience this room.  I'm hungry for nachos just looking at it.  I know from this picture that a lively, interesting and courageous person lives here, and that there must be a party in the works. 

I dare you to count all the repeats in this space!

Here the repetition is a little more subdued, but still a player in the design of this room.  All the vertical lines really frame the view of the Hollywood hills in this room in Ryan Seacrest's home. 

Certainly the repetition of the rectangle is pretty obvious in the doors and into the butler's pantry in Jamie Lee Curtis' house.  Did you know she was married to Christopher Guest!....learn something new everyday....I digress.

The Asian inspired sohji doors, muted color palette and the orderly repetition of shape tell us so much about the couple who live here. 

Clearly, I'd rather live in Diane Keaton's house!

This dining room is in one of Kelsey Grammer's houses.  I like the eclectic mix in this room, and I'm a big fan of the Georgia O'keefe inspired flower paintings.  Color repeated in the rug, paintings, drapes and hostess chair is balanced by the repetition of the neutrals in the walls and slipcovers. The pops of white in the rug and repeated in the candles act as accents in a mostly rusty red room.

Every lesson ends with a test right?  How does repetition work in this picture of Rod Stewart's dining room? 

OK....too much of a good thing can take a room to a whole other place, but clearly you can see the homeowner's personality and design style because of what he chose to repeat!    EVERYTHING !

Just because he's a celeb, doesn't mean you have to like it, but I guess it goes to show that good design can exist without good taste!!  (Did I say that ???)

I got a good laugh out of this one.....do you think Rod looks like the woman in the painting, or is my sense of humor just perverse??

Lesson over for today.  Your homework is to put a little rhythm in your life and repeat something in your space.  I'd love for you to share your success with me.  Leave a comment or send me a picture of your space to sally@sallyjdesigns.com 

Enjoy your Spring Break !

Good Day, Sunshine!!

We've actually had two full days of sunshine and 70 degrees this week, and after a long, cold winter with all kinds of precipitation, I'm very grateful to see the sun. 

The rain and warmth have brought out all kinds of green things, and there's a freshness and energy that wraps around everything.  I'm reminded of how the color yellow, just like the sun, brings a punch of excitement and vibrancy to everything it touches. 

Let's put the top down and enjoy the ride!

 So here's my homage to yellow..

Bring on the sun!

Bold yellow is balanced by crisp white and accented with black.  It worked for the bumble bee....gotta be good.

A more modern take on the color scheme is to substitute black with gray.

Moving on through the neutral palette, combining yellow with taupes and browns gives a more relaxed look to the scheme.  Because browns are more closely akin to shades of yellow, the contrast between the hues is diminished and we see a softer,more monochromatic look.

Yellow and green.....nature does it so well.....

I always love a shot of pink......

Nature does too !

A bright and cheerful color scheme.

Classic red and yellow....the country French standard.

Wonder where the combination came from ??

Blues continue to be the "go-to" color way this year, and when combined with a burst of yellow, it a happy combination.

Yellow, yellow, oh so mellow....

New from Pierre Deux

Don't you want to add a little yellow to your life??