Create an ideabook for your next remodeling project!
Browse more than 1,500,000 photos from top designers and save your favorites
Book Tour: Katie Ridder Rooms
Get ideas for your own great spaces filled with color, comfort, flexibility and shine
Katie Ridder worked as a decorating editor at House & Garden and House Beautiful for several years, opened a furnishings store in New York, and founded her own design firm in 1995. A new book, Katie Ridder Rooms, written by Heather Smith MacIsaac and photographed by Eric Piasecki, is an intimate look at Ridder's glamourous and colorful designs.
While the spaces in this book are impeccable, every room looks livable. Ridder is a mother of three, so she likes to make sure her designs are touchable and can withstand wear and tear. Organized by room, Katie Ridder Rooms is full of beauty, but also practical ideas that can be applied to any style.
While the spaces in this book are impeccable, every room looks livable. Ridder is a mother of three, so she likes to make sure her designs are touchable and can withstand wear and tear. Organized by room, Katie Ridder Rooms is full of beauty, but also practical ideas that can be applied to any style.
|
by Vendome Press
»
Like it? Save it to your Ideabook »
|
| Dining rooms. This Arkansas dining room is a great example of several techniques that Ridder commonly uses in dining rooms: strong colors, two-toned chairs, a unique light fixture, and a little bit of sparkle. Antique Swedish bird prints arranged around a pair of mid-century Italian sconces break up the apple-green wall. Today, most people decorate their dining rooms with evening meals and special occasions in mind. However, Ridder insists on keeping these rooms alive during daylight hours too. Her dining rooms burst with bold colors — from the paint, to the textiles, to the wallpaper. While many dining rooms become an overwhelming monochromatic mess of brown wood, Ridder limits her dining rooms to one major piece of brown wood — usually the dining table. |
by Vendome Press
»
Like it? Save it to your Ideabook »
Custom Fromental cherry blossom wallpaper was designed in an unexpected palette that almost starts to blend in with the colorful Ikat dining chair. A mirrored cabinet from the 1930s extends the rug's geometric pattern.
Ridder also believes that a dinner party can be destroyed by an uncomfortable chair, and always uses upholstered chairs in all of her dining room settings.
"Too often the dining room in American homes is regarded as little more than a container for a table and chairs to be dressed up for holidays and other significant occasions. All the more reason to shower attention on it, as Katie does, transforming it from the runt of the litter to the best in show," writes MacIsaac.
Ridder also believes that a dinner party can be destroyed by an uncomfortable chair, and always uses upholstered chairs in all of her dining room settings.
"Too often the dining room in American homes is regarded as little more than a container for a table and chairs to be dressed up for holidays and other significant occasions. All the more reason to shower attention on it, as Katie does, transforming it from the runt of the litter to the best in show," writes MacIsaac.
by Vendome Press
»
Like it? Save it to your Ideabook »
Kitchens. The cheerful green window frame in this kitchen echoes the color of the back hallway and the green accents in the mudroom wallpaper. Modern stainless steel barstools contrast with vintage Murano glass handkerchief pendant shades.
Ridder knows that kitchens are the center of the house and have to be functional, but she also believes that they can still be fun and bold. While she really likes white kitchens (since they "provide a clean, bright environment in which to take care of business"), she doesn't stick to a one color palette by any means. Materials add depth and richness to Ridder's kitchen designs, and she plays with colorful accents.
MacIsaac writes: "[The kitchen] is usually everyone's favorite room in the house and definitely the site of the most comings and goings. No other room as to serve as many functions or constituents, and for that reason, Katie likes to keep it simple."
Ridder knows that kitchens are the center of the house and have to be functional, but she also believes that they can still be fun and bold. While she really likes white kitchens (since they "provide a clean, bright environment in which to take care of business"), she doesn't stick to a one color palette by any means. Materials add depth and richness to Ridder's kitchen designs, and she plays with colorful accents.
MacIsaac writes: "[The kitchen] is usually everyone's favorite room in the house and definitely the site of the most comings and goings. No other room as to serve as many functions or constituents, and for that reason, Katie likes to keep it simple."
by Vendome Press
»
Like it? Save it to your Ideabook »
Living rooms. A Parsons table in bone-colored lacquer doubles as a decorative table and a desk space in this urban living room. Ridder placed this desk right in front of the window in order to take advantage of the high-rise view.
When decorating a living room, you want your furniture to help your guests feel at ease. The design should welcome them, look amazing, but not feel over decorated. Ridder always starts her living room designs with a furniture plan. This is the basic organization of the room, which Ridder says should contain multiple seating areas, all with comfortable seating, tables, and good lighting.
"A successful living room beckons you to explore, then invites you to stay for awhile. Less a product of decoration than sensibility, it projects an understated confidence that infuses its furnishings and puts guests at ease," writes MacIsaac.
When decorating a living room, you want your furniture to help your guests feel at ease. The design should welcome them, look amazing, but not feel over decorated. Ridder always starts her living room designs with a furniture plan. This is the basic organization of the room, which Ridder says should contain multiple seating areas, all with comfortable seating, tables, and good lighting.
"A successful living room beckons you to explore, then invites you to stay for awhile. Less a product of decoration than sensibility, it projects an understated confidence that infuses its furnishings and puts guests at ease," writes MacIsaac.
|
by Vendome Press
»
Like it? Save it to your Ideabook »
|
| Studies and family rooms. This 15-foot sofa is one of two that were built into Ridder's own family room — which was once a service room over the garage. Ridder littered the room with low tables, leather poufs, and Herman Miller chairs — all of which can be easily rearranged. The couch is covered with pillows in a variety of shapes and sizes. Ridder loves using bookcases in the studies and the family rooms she designs. She uses them so often that these rooms can start to look like colorful libraries. "Katie turns to bookcases not only to provide necessary storage and lend a room character, but also to literally shape a space," writes MacIsaac. "Bookcases built perpendicular to a wall create reading nooks; those built out around a window frame it in an alcove and provide a deep sill or window seat." |
by Vendome Press
»
Like it? Save it to your Ideabook »
Entryway. Ridder placed a Khotan rug from Turkestan on the floor of her own entry. The handrail on the staircase was covered in red and silver leaf for a colorful accent.
Because the entryway is the first thing guests see, Ridder believes that this part of your home should have an impact. She consistently uses bold styles and textures in the entryways she designs, blending big light fixtures, mirrors and wall art, wallpaper, color, and unique floor treatments.
She also keeps practicality in mind, and often has grasscloth installed in entryways where strollers and bikes are bound to bump into the walls.
MacIsaac writes: "Entryways don't usually require much furniture, but they do need to be well furnished. In decorating a transient space, form is more important than comfort."
Because the entryway is the first thing guests see, Ridder believes that this part of your home should have an impact. She consistently uses bold styles and textures in the entryways she designs, blending big light fixtures, mirrors and wall art, wallpaper, color, and unique floor treatments.
She also keeps practicality in mind, and often has grasscloth installed in entryways where strollers and bikes are bound to bump into the walls.
MacIsaac writes: "Entryways don't usually require much furniture, but they do need to be well furnished. In decorating a transient space, form is more important than comfort."
|
by Vendome Press
»
Like it? Save it to your Ideabook »
|
| Bedrooms. Katie's older daughter's bedroom is subtly lined in curves. The earthy linen headboard mimics the Chippendale mirror on the wall, and Katie's "Leaf" wallpaper on the walls echoes the same lines. Ridder creates bedrooms her clients will want to spend time in during the day as well as at night. Upholstered headboards are one of her favorite things to add to a space — they define the bed's place in the room, provide a great canvas for pattern and color, and are comfortable to lean up against. "No other room is dominated by a single piece of furniture as the bedroom. And no piece of furniture is more unwieldy than a bed. Its expanse is a wide visual plateau that all designers wrestle with," writes MacIsaac. |
by Vendome Press
»
Like it? Save it to your Ideabook »
Katie Ridder Rooms is available through Vendome Press
Photography by Eric Piasecki
More Book Tours:
Salvage Secrets
Exotic Tastes: Orientalist Interiors
The Happy Home Project
Photography by Eric Piasecki
More Book Tours:
Salvage Secrets
Exotic Tastes: Orientalist Interiors
The Happy Home Project
Comments
Mona Katie is pretty eclectic, but I love it. Does not look overly staged. These designs really move your eyes around the room in a comfortable way. I truly love the mix in patterns. I am a hug fan of same color - different patterns! Thank you for this post.
19 months ago · Like
Susan E. Brown Interior Design Love Katie Ridder's style! Eclectic and colorful, but so unified!
19 months ago · Like
Ideabook updated on Nov. 10, 2011.
What are you working on?
News From Our Partners
Latest Ideabooks
People found the photos in this ideabook after searching for:
View over a million photos:
