Charging station. Speaking of technology, charging cables are another modern necessity that seem impossible to escape. Outfit your closet, desk or kitchen with a charging station, and you’ll be able to keep your cables out of sight but at hand when you need them. Consider getting a custom drawer unit like this one from a closet company. Or drill a small hole in the back of a cabinet and thread the cables through the opening yourself. Alternately, you can use butterfly clips from an office supply store to gather a few cables together and clip them to the back of a floating shelf or desk.
Minimize columns. If black and other moody shades make objects recede or disappear, it stands to reason that a dark hue would be the go-to choice for painting structural necessities you’d rather not call attention to, such as columns in an open floor plan. Notice here that white paint covers the surviving walls; again, color can be used thoughtfully to highlight what is desired and downplay what isn’t.
Dowell used a gray sofa that the family already owned instead of the leather sectional. The parents opted to not have a coffee table, because they didn’t want to worry about the kids breaking it. Dowell offered them custom ottomans as a versatile, worry-free and functional seating option. With a yes from the homeowners, he had the ottomans created and upholstered. Because the rest of the lines in the room were clean and straight, he gave the ottomans a curved edge to balance out the style of the room.
Bright yellow. For a sunny palette, try partnering yellow with a splash of rose gold accessories. The golden undertones of the yellow will pull out more of the radiant nature of rose gold, creating a brilliant and fun palette. Any shade of yellow works fairly well with rose gold — it’s like pairing yellow and orange. When pairing rose gold and yellow, opt for a neutral background. This photo shows a perfect example of how a neutral gray room is brightened with just a small dose of yellow in the form of throw pillows. The complementary rose gold pendants add just the right amount of glow to make a glam statement but not take over the entire room.
Style on the diagonal. Coffee tables are often viewed from all sides, so by using diagonal symmetry, you can create a balanced effect. On this table two similarly sized piles of books are mixed with matching hurricane lanterns, and a central floral display nails the look. This idea works particularly well with a square table, or where the seating is arranged on two or more sides of the coffee table. When the candles are lit, the light will be evenly distributed for a cozy and stylish effect.
After the paint dries, insert the screw eyes into the pine cones. Use a cordless drill with a one-16th-inch drill bit to create a pilot hole. Point the drill bit down through the very top and drill about one-eighth inch into the top of the cone. Then twist the screw eye into the hole. If you do not have a cordless drill, you should insert the screw eyes by hand before you bake them. Because the pine cones are so dry after baking, they will crumble when you try to insert the screw eyes.
Fireplace focal point: Triggs felt that with a fireplace surround of waxed leather extending all the way to the high ceiling, she had few options for anything that could compete with it as a focal point. Instead, she played it up even more by creating a clear path to it, flanked by two custom sofas. A barely there coffee table also keeps the visual weight on the fireplace, while a satin brass chandelier accentuates its height. Designer secret: “Adding texture to a square space adds so much interest and dimension,” Triggs says. “The puzzle lamps, waxed leather fireplace, the lamb fur on the stools — all of these textures and various shapes bring some much-needed depth to the overall design.” “Uh-oh” moment: “Space planning was a challenge here, as we wanted to have two large sofas with large tufted arms that felt grand and inviting, but we didn’t have a lot of room to work with and we didn’t want to block the fireplace views in any way,” Triggs says. “We realized that standard-size sofas would have been too large, but just shortening the sofa length would have resulted in large tufted arms that were out of proportion with everything else. The solution was to have the sofas custom ...
The open-plan living room and kitchen open directly to the outdoors. A fireplace of hand-carved white limestone nestles into a corner. Murphy and his team designed storage along the paneled wall to artfully house the homeowner’s extensive collection of audiovisual electronics. The beams in the vaulted ceiling are reclaimed alder stained a deep walnut color. They are a stunning point of interest in the otherwise creamy room.
The chimney is made of a natural stone from the island, but unfortunately, years of former residents smoking had coated it in nicotine and changed the color to orange. McLeod primed it thoroughly and added several coats of paint, being sure to really jam the brush into the grout. He then added a retail store-style security mirror that he found online.
10. Follow function without being beholden to it. Determine the function of the room before selecting the colors. A game room, for example, will lean toward a different scheme from a formal living room. Understanding the function will limit color palettes and narrow down choices. At the same time, don’t be afraid to go bold wherever you want, provided a bold color choice is a clear reflection of your personality.
Built-in cabinetry frames a new TV and hides electronic equipment without distracting from the view of the Pacific Ocean. The white Shaker door style in a soft glaze complements organic-colored fabrics used elsewhere in the space to create a relaxed but stylish atmosphere. A Roche Bobois sectional and ottoman have a striped pattern for added spirit. “By keeping the hard surfaces neutral, we were able to really play with the soft materials while still keeping the space calm and relaxed,” Cordero says.
Set your greens around a theme — think of a colonial veranda, conservatory-style dining space or hunting lodge. Because botanic greens have links to nature, they go well with textural elements like raw concrete, distressed and aged wood, rattan furniture, and jute rugs.
Color Matching Is Key One key to rocking this look is to choose stone and wood varieties with similar coloring. Here, the red tones in the wood pick up the rosy hues in the stone, so an identifiable color palette is subtly expressed by materials we usually think of as color-neutral.
Chimney with shelves
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Ceiling
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