jmlelkw's ideas

This Victorian in San Francisco, designed by Envelope A+D, may have launched the black house trend as early as 2007. It garnered much attention when it was completed and showed the world that black exteriors, trim and all, were exciting and edgy

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When you strip the structure of distractions like coordinating trim color to body color, the eye is forced to focus on the design. When that design is a good modern one, the effect of an all-black exterior is minimalist and clean. Quite the wow factor.

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1. Just add foliage. One of the most beautiful things I ever saw during the holidays was at a restaurant I used to frequent in Venice Beach. Its walls were all white, and up near the molding, fresh green garlands, peppered with tiny white lights, were swagged across the room. There were no ornaments, no ribbons, but there was something really magical about it (and it worked so beautifully that they actually kept it like that all year round). This staircase takes a similar approach. Simple, approachable, lovely and festive.

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