Perfectly minimal and innovative seating design the Obelisk represents the modernist ideal of form follows function with a ‘futurist slant’. The simplicity is evident and while Obelisk has a formality about it on the one hand, this has then been played with and some great twists added. The essentially rectangular forms that make up the body of this piece, have striking angular facets, while the whole upholstery has a pronounced tilt and is slightly elevated on broad, sturdy formed legs. The generous size, method of construction, and excellent ergonomics provide superb comfort and personal space in both the chair and sofa lengths. Obelisk was awarded a special mention for the Young & Design at the International Milan Furniture Fair, won the Inside IDEA Awards for product and has now been specified worldwide for prestigious architectural projects and installations including the famous Denver Art Museum.

Powder room - coastal powder room idea in Orange County

Example of a farmhouse u-shaped beige floor dedicated laundry room design in Phoenix with a farmhouse sink, raised-panel cabinets, white cabinets, wood countertops, white walls, a side-by-side washer/dryer and brown countertops

Using TimberTech's CableRail in this application offers the ultimate view of your surroundings. Made of strong, stainless steel, CableRail by Feeney installs easily and lasts.

Travis Mark
Inspiration for a contemporary straight staircase remodel in New York

Though successful in virtually any small space, area size Caucasian tribal rugs are especially effective in bringing a welcome new artistic dimension to elegant bath areas, where their folk art energy can be experienced every day on a direct, personal level. Here, the expressive, nuanced natural color of this very early tribal rug immediately harmonizes with the materials of the space: warm cherry wood and Carrara marble resonate with the carpet’s potent terracotta and sand tones, while the small scale tile detailing recalls the planned, geometric arrangement of the rug’s motifs. Yet, the mesmerizing, faceted allover pattern brings its own vitality that provides a completely divergent and fresh perspective, as well as introducing welcome accents of forest green, sapphire blue and indigo. There is an interesting relationship between the crisply drawn, deconstructed blossoms of the rug and the naturalistically rendered flowers in the upholstery and framed Chinese print, as each reveals something essential about these universal botanical forms in entirely different ways.

Design Consultant Jeff Doubét is the author of Creating Spanish Style Homes: Before & After – Techniques – Designs – Insights. The 240 page “Design Consultation in a Book” is now available. Please visit SantaBarbaraHomeDesigner.com for more info. Jeff Doubét specializes in Santa Barbara style home and landscape designs. To learn more info about the variety of custom design services I offer, please visit SantaBarbaraHomeDesigner.com Jeff Doubét is the Founder of Santa Barbara Home Design - a design studio based in Santa Barbara, California USA.

Soft gray cabinetry and a dark wood island create a balanced contrast in this transitional kitchen by Bradford & Kent. A broad white island countertop provides space for preparation and casual seating, with an integrated sink keeping the work area central. An oversized lantern pendant adds a sculptural focal point, while two skylights bring natural light into the room. Stainless steel appliances and a coordinating range hood complement the gray palette. White horizontal backsplash detailing and light wood flooring brighten the space, with warm metallic accents adding a finishing touch.

Two Birds Photography
Kids' room - transitional kids' room idea in Chicago

Beach style bathroom photo in Providence

Photo courtesy of Hansgrohe

Inspiration for a small contemporary u-shaped medium tone wood floor and brown floor eat-in kitchen remodel in Baltimore with an undermount sink, shaker cabinets, white cabinets, quartz countertops, white backsplash, subway tile backsplash, stainless steel appliances and a peninsula

www.ecole-studio.com

Chris Golden
Inspiration for a transitional carpeted living room remodel in Phoenix with beige walls, a standard fireplace and a tile fireplace

**I. Spatial Composition & Architectural Volume** This vignette operates as a masterclass in the choreography of compressed urban space, deploying a classic enfilade strategy to extract depth from a modest footprint. The composition is organized around a cased opening — flanked by heavy, mitered pilaster-style jambs and a substantial crown-capped header — that frames the kitchen beyond like a proscenium, establishing a telescoping sightline from the foreground banquette nook through to the range wall and its marble backsplash. The immediate volume is a canted, faceted room; the angled corner walls and the polygonal ceiling perimeter generate a subtle rotational geometry that is echoed, with deliberate rhyme, in the octagonal tabletop and its faceted plinth base. Architectural discipline is supplied by comprehensive millwork: recessed applied-molding wall panels calibrated to the wall heights, a built-in bibliothèque with adjustable shelving and integrated media niche on the left, and a bench base detailed as cabinetry with a plinth and reveal, so the seating reads as architecture rather than furniture. The crowning gesture is a stone-clad soffit and cove above the multi-part cornice, which visually lifts the ceiling plane and dissolves the corner conditions of the canted plan into a continuous, luminous band. **II. Materiality, Color & Texture** The palette is a study in low-chroma tonal layering, structured on a base of dove-grey lacquered joinery whose cool, faintly greige undertone reads as both patrician and contemporary. Against this, book-matched white marble with grey and taupe veining appears in three registers — the ceiling cove, the kitchen backsplash, and the honed tabletop — creating a vertical and horizontal continuity of stone that binds the two rooms into one material narrative. Underfoot, wide-plank white oak laid in a herringbone pattern is finished in a wire-brushed, cerused grey-brown, its open grain supplying essential tactility and directional energy that counteracts the smoothness of the cabinetry. The tonal reserve is punctured by a single decisive chromatic move: the oxblood-to-cognac aniline leather banquette, its capitonné-adjacent piping and channeled seat cushion delivering saturated warmth and a supple, patinating counterpoint to the cool minerals. Metals are deliberately stratified — brushed stainless on the appliance suite, polished nickel on the cabinet hardware and pendant collars, and a high-mirror chromed column and base on the table that pulls reflected fragments of the room into itself. Textile relief arrives through a heather-grey wool bolster and the woven, honeycomb-textured sconce shades, while the sunflowers and pantry provisions behind glazed muntin doors introduce a curated, humanizing note of the quotidian. **III. Lighting, Atmosphere & Style Profile** The lighting scheme is layered and hierarchical. Ambient illumination is borrowed rather than direct: the kitchen functions as a light well, its own concealed under-cabinet lighting and cove-washed ceiling projecting a cool, diffuse glow forward through the cased opening, so the brighter volume beyond reads as both destination and light source. In the foreground, symmetrically paired wall sconces with textured drum shades cast a warm, amber-filtered ellipse of light onto the paneling — providing intimate, low-level modeling that emphasizes the millwork's shadow lines and flatters the leather's depth. The kitchen's aligned trio of spun-metal dome pendants, with polished collars and diffused lenses, reinforce the axial perspective and supply task-appropriate downlight, while the marble cove above serves as an indirect reflector, softening any residual harshness. The cumulative atmosphere is hushed, refined, and slightly cinematic — a quiet formality more contemplative than performative. Stylistically, the project synthesizes into a form of Transitional Classicism, or more precisely a tailored American Neoclassicism recalibrated for contemporary living: the vocabulary of paneled millwork, crown profiles, and cased openings is retained, but stripped of ornament, flattened in profile, and rendered in a monochrome envelope, then energized by faceted geometries, mirror-finish metal, and a single confident stroke of leather. It is restraint deployed as luxury.

Exterior, brick, lime, limewash, painted brick, architectural finish

The grey trend has evolved in the last twelve months. Nowadays browns, beige and a touch of grey are in demand. Greige is the new buzzword. Heavier hand scraped or contoured products, the rage that started around 2005 has taken a back seat in most areas, while a softer wire brushed "ceruse effect" seen mostly on White Oak has been remarkably strong showing no effects of becoming “dated” like the others mentioned. Ceruse Color Possibilities There are numerous color combinations to the "cerused" process with the most popular being white or off white. This design trend in hardwood flooring can have darker gray white oak with a mild ceruse off white effect. There are limitless possibilities in either a prefinished hardwood floor or with what we can create for you in a custom on-site finished hardwood floor. If something suits your fancy, contact us and we can work on creating just the look and sense of style you are looking for.

Shake Siding Close Up A Cape Cod style house with Alside Pelican Bay cedar shake siding, Color: Cape Cod Gray. Installed by Sidetex in North Haven CT 06473