Interior Designs
Yet for all the advantages of skillfully bringing daylight into houses through windows, skylights and even solar tubes, it is possible to have too much sun. Expansive glass walls can have their appeal, but the light that floods a space can be unbearable at times, so means of filtering sunlight should be explored.
Like hallways, stairs can sometimes be buried within a plan or for various reasons not be given any windows. These vertical spaces are great for windows and skylights, since light can filter into adjacent spaces and the chimney effect can draw up warm air through operable skylights (more on that in a future Ideabook on passive cooling). This example shows not only the benefits of the window and skylight, but also that the room on the right is borrowing light from the stair and hall via clerestory windows.
When a skylight is not possible, a solar tube may be an option. (My parents actually installed a couple in their open-plan living space, and it made a huge difference.) This example shows part of a master suite that clearly benefits from the solar tube overhead. Compare the light level in the foreground (without any artificial lights on) with the space above the stair, where a number of downlights are on. Not only is it brighter in the foreground, but the quality and color of light is superior.
Rustic touches. An oversize barn door, painted pine shiplap and leather armchairs bring in the comfortable feeling from the rest of this equestrian-inspired house. This is another example of a line of pendant lights over a table. The designer, Ann Sneed, recommends looking to see if a line of two fixtures running along the length of the table will fit better than one hanging in the center. That’s what she wound up doing here.
Industrial style. Industrial and salvage elements made their way into dining rooms, with vintage wooden chairs, factory table bases and light fixtures being the top spots to insert machine-age touches. In this midcentury modern-inspired room, a gigantic R from a marquee sign grabs attention. See more of this home Dining table: Anthropologie; dining chairs: Leslie Oschmann; pendant lights: Terence Woodgate
Farm table. Farmhouse style continues to grow in popularity, and long farm tables were a favorite in 2015 in every kind of home from strictly traditional to super contemporary. This trestle table is complemented by the overhead lanterns. The Louis XVI ghost chairs bring in a contemporary touch. Pendant lights: Holloways of Ludlow; ghost chairs: Kartell
82mmphotography SaveEmail Triple the texture. The key to giving neutrals an edge is texture, texture and more texture. Soft, tonal colors blossom when combined in a way that creates visual interest: rough with smooth, matte with shiny. The contrast of wooden planks and a metal table and lamp with the soft bed makes this sleep space a winner.
Avoid sterility. All-white spaces can appear rather clinical. One way to avoid this is to incorporate rough finishes, such as wood, concrete and brick, which all create the opposite effect. This kitchen has very little in the way of color but certainly packs a powerful design punch, thanks to these textured, industrial-inspired elements.
Soft gold makes a handsome pairing with wood elements. And because it’s such a light color, you can use it on all four walls and your ceiling — it will make the space appear open and expansive. For a small dash of drama, add some accents in a vibrant color such as cranberry red. by Jennifer Ott Design Jennifer Ott Design SaveEmail Try these gold paint colors: Governor’s Gold from Benjamin Moore or Honey Tone from Behr
Soft gold makes a handsome pairing with wood elements. And because it’s such a light color, you can use it on all four walls and your ceiling — it will make the space appear open and expansive. For a small dash of drama, add some accents in a vibrant color such as cranberry red. by Jennifer Ott Design Jennifer Ott Design SaveEmail Try these gold paint colors: Governor’s Gold from Benjamin Moore or Honey Tone from Behr
Soft gold makes a handsome pairing with wood elements. And because it’s such a light color, you can use it on all four walls and your ceiling — it will make the space appear open and expansive. For a small dash of drama, add some accents in a vibrant color such as cranberry red. by Jennifer Ott Design Jennifer Ott Design SaveEmail Try these gold paint colors: Governor’s Gold from Benjamin Moore or Honey Tone from Behr
0. Add layers of lighting. In this kitchen seating area, the backsplash is lit, the artwork is highlighted and the cabinet interiors are filled with light. One central lighting fixture would not have had nearly the same dramatic result. Professionals build layers of lighting to create interest, intrigue and variety. In a room where everything is lit evenly, nothing stands out. Pick a focal point and perhaps a secondary focal point and highlight those. Add general ambient lighting and some lower lighting, like table lamps, for interest.
2. Give your furniture some breathing room. Resist overcrowding a room. Gracious living means space to maneuver with ease. This is really great news if you are working with a tight budget. You don’t need to fill up a space with lots of furniture. Spend more of your budget on fewer but better-quality pieces, and your room will look better than if it’s stuffed to the gills with flea market finds. The high-backed chairs shown here, for example, stand out because they don’t have to fight for attention.
A vaulted ceiling. These high ceilings offer a host of design opportunities, from large light fixtures that suit the scale to exposed beams, timbers and rafters — or planks that fill in for texture, as seen here
Connecting to the outdoors. In this family-friendly Texas living room, large French doors, windows and transoms, a brick floor and vertical painted poplar boards inspired by the exterior siding create a strong connection to the views and the pergola-covered patio right beyond the doors.
Beautifully arranged shelves. Homeowners mixed in favorite artwork, souvenirs, photos, plants and other beloved objects with their books. This adds interesting shapes, colors and textures to the composition, giving the eye places to settle.
Accessories. This bedroom has good bones and therefore doesn’t need a whole lot of color to jazz it up. But even if your room isn’t similarly blessed with charming architectural details, you can add appeal via furniture and accessories. Ultimately, it’s all about those little details.
Sheen. An often neglected, but very important, design element is sheen — the reflective quality of a surface. You may want the ceiling and walls to have a flat sheen, but there are many options for adding shiny metallics and other sparkly finishes to a bedroom. A little bit of shine goes a long way, though, so use super glossy or reflective surfaces thoughtfully, on a few pieces that you want to really stand out.
Lighting. Another important element to consider in a white bedroom is lighting. While it’s true that all-white or mostly white rooms will feel light, open and airy, they still need light — preferably warm white light. And, if you have interesting textures in the space, think about adding wall-skimming light fixtures to play them up.
t’s the time of year when many paint manufacturers and color forecasters release their picks for top shades for the coming year. And while these selections typically vary widely from company to company, one emerging trend for 2016 is what some would call a colorless color: white or, more specifically, shades of off-white. Here are four major paint brands’ achromatic color picks and how best to use them in your home. by Jennifer Ott Design Jennifer Ott Design SaveEmail Benjamin Moore and Glidden have made off-white hues their “color of the year” for 2016, while Sherwin-Williams and Behr are each showing an off-white in their 2016 color trend forecasts. Shown here: Simply White from Benjamin Moore, Ivory Keys from Behr, Alabaster from Sherwin-Williams and Cappuccino White from Glidden.
I tend to be drawn to colorful interiors but can still appreciate an all-white space that’s done well, such as this kitchen. The cabinets, painted in Benjamin Moore’s Simply White, are simply beautiful. Benjamin Moore has been slowly but surely moving toward softer and lighter hues with its “color of the year” selections. In 2014, Benjamin Moore’s pick was the subtle sky blue Breath of Fresh Air, and last year, it chose the light and neutral Guilford Green. Simply White is perhaps the next logical choice in Benjamin Moore’s evolution toward barely there, wispy hues. Unlike color management company Pantone’s recent selections, these shades are soft and neutral enough to be used generously in a space, rather than as a small accent only.
If you prefer whites with a little more substance, check out Sherwin-Williams’ Alabaster. This neutral white doesn’t veer too far to the warm or cool side and pairs nicely with pretty much any other color.
Alabaster also works well as a soft accent to a more true white. Here it subtly sets off the house trim from the pure white exterior.
Cappuccino White from Glidden is a creamy white that works best with warm hues. Here it contrasts with the room’s dark brown accents. It’s a good choice if you need to boost the light in a space, as it mimics the warm glow you get from a sunny day.
Here’s another room clad in Simply White, from Benjamin Moore. White spaces can often feel cold and sterile, but you can counteract this if your space has striking architectural details and charming furniture, fixtures or accessories. In fact, the white wall color allows these details to take center stage where a vibrant color would be too distracting.
10. Cherish your memories. Do you have a lot of old photos and prints lying around? Hang as many as you can on your walls. Sort through piles of old family photos, print out the new ones, grab your children’s artwork and get hanging. For a more cohesive look, choose your pictures and buy the same style frames in different sizes to hold them. Command strips are a quick way to hang photos, and they make it easy to reposition pictures if you change your mind or you rent your home. Tell us: Do you have any tips for creating order without throwing everything away? Share your tips in the Comments below.
W I N B E R G Interior + Architectural design SaveEmail 9. Love your workspace. Improve your home office and it could help your productivity. If you like to have your projects around you, make space for your books and tools. The book display shelves in this office are a great way of keeping research close at hand but neatly out of the way. Love the space you work in by providing a home for everything but keeping your most-used items within arm’s reach so as not to disrupt your workflow.
8. Get your kids in the game. Always stumbling over toys or picking up after your children? Provide storage they can easily reach and define a play area with a vibrant rug, then get everyone to participate in a five-minute “tidy-up time” before meals. Toys don’t have to be hidden away completely — cubbyholes containing colorful boxes are great for storing things, and adding photo labels will make it easy for children to find what they’re looking for. Try to make it as easy to put things away as it is to get them out for the best chance of success.
7. Put pretty pieces on display. Storing items in cabinets is the best way to keep them free of dust, but if you love to see your things on display, glass-fronted cabinets are the way to go — and can be a feature in themselves. Glass-fronted cabinets can be used in any room, whether you want to show off your best tableware in the kitchen, favorite clothing or shoes in a bedroom, or colorful craft items in a spare room. And having glass doors on bookshelves is a great way to reduce dusting chor
6. Organize your bedroom. Smart alcove shelving with drawers below ensures this bedroom is sleek and free of clutter, but it still has a cozy, welcoming feel thanks to its coordinating cushions, comfy throws and patterned rug. When tidying up your bedroom, think about what you use there and where. If you love curling up to read at night, store your books neatly near the bed for an organized feel, rather than leaving them halfway across the room. Make time every morning or evening to put things away, whether it’s putting clothes back in the wardrobe or in the laundry basket. Just a few minutes each day will help you keep clutter under control.
Loaf SaveEmail 5. Weave in secret storage. Hidden storage is one of the best tools for maintaining a clutter-free home. This ottoman brings color and coziness to the room, but it also has a hinged lid, making it perfect for stashing away games and blankets. Ottomans also can be used as a coffee table or as extra seating, so they’re the ultimate in flexible furniture. Plus, the need to get inside the ottoman regularly is a great incentive to keep the top clear.
4. Choose what you love. This kitchen is organized, but it’s certainly not minimalist. Reclaimed and repurposed materials create a unique design that’s full of personality. When it comes to maintaining a clutter-free home, remember the old saying: “A place for everything and everything in its place.” If you have somewhere to store all your possessions, all you need to do to keep order is simply put things back in their place. In this kitchen, a combination of offbeat shelves and wall-mounted open storage — along with vintage storage tins, a box for condiments and a weathered cutlery tray — provide a home for everything, but also lots of personality. For a space that’s even more streamlined yet still filled with character, attach more storage to the walls to free up work surfaces.
3. Tame kitchen clutter. Kitchens are easily cluttered, ending up with dirty dishes, sticky recipe books and out-of-date food hiding at the back of cabinets. Invest in some beautiful storage jars into which you can decant dried goods. Not only do they look lovely, they keep food tidy, are easy to clean and let you see when items are running out. It’s also a great way to encourage your children to get involved in cooking, as they can see all the available ingredients. Square containers are more space-efficient than round ones — and be sure to measure your shelves and drawers before buying them
2. Make good use of your hallway. Entrance hallways attract clutter like a magnet — unless you provide suitable storage. Make the most of a narrow hallway by creating a little alcove with lots of hanging space, shoe storage, a phone charging point and even a custom umbrella nook. If you have little ones, make sure some of the hooks are within reach so they can hang up their own things. This hallway has a cozy, lived-in feel, but every item is neatly in its place.
1. Go up the walls. In any home, a great rule to adopt is “declutter first, storage second.” This mantra is essential in a small room, and if you can’t find space for everything, you may need to be even more ruthless with what you choose to keep. To maximize a small room, create vertical storage up to the ceiling. Here, the open shelves keep the room neat and provide space to display personal items, such as family photos and ornaments. Keeping all flat surfaces, like this coffee table, clear allows a room to breathe — and provides a handy space for your cup of coffee.
Steele Canvas SaveEmail 3. Go slightly gray. This laundry room is a perfect example of how industrial design can look light and fresh. No need for wrought iron and dark finishes here! Get this look with a soft, grayish-white wall color, and natural wood floors and countertops. The paint color used here is Classic Gray by Benjamin Moore.
“Saturday afternoons are our favorite day to sit in the courtyard,” Barroso says. “After cleaning the house, we can just look around our beautiful home and feel a real sense of accomplishment, especially at our age!”
Tamara Armstrong SaveEmail One of the home’s landscaping triumphs is this mini ecosystem in the newly added courtyard between the old cottage and the contemporary extension. “We created a mini ecosystem within our pond feature,” Barroso says. The plants and fish make the system work, without the busy couple having to add or do anything to i
The marble used throughout the house is dark-veined Statuario in a light gray. The couple prioritized spending more money on certain parts of the house, and this included the kitchen becoming a main feature of home. “We wanted it to be a standout feature and really make the marble pop against the concrete floors and monument color cabinets,” Barroso says.
The downstairs living area is by far Barroso and Valter’s favorite spot in the house. They enjoy the connection between rooms, and it’s a prime spot for entertaining. “We love food so much, so it’s really nice to be able to cook in the kitchen and not feel disconnected from the rest of the guests, if they were in the lounge or even outside,” Valter says.
A seamless connection of the living areas with the backyard was achieved through the installation of large operable doors. “Once you open those large sliding doors, the whole living area opens right up, and the space is just continuous,” Barroso says.
The wood counter in the powder room is also from the historic Bonded Stores building. Barroso designed and had the sink custom made from steel, which he again coated with Penetrol. It’s unusual in design and appearance, and cost only $60
he powder room and laundry are located directly behind the sliding steel door just off the kitchen, and there’s an external door in the laundry to access the backyard.
In front of the steps is another clever use of steel and wood, seen in this sliding door designed by Barroso. Slid one way, the door hides the entrance to a powder room and laundry. Slid the other way, it instead conceals this recessed shelving and cabinetry. Valter says it’s the ideal way to hide everyday clutter when people come to visit.
The stair treads are recycled wood from the recently demolished 1913 Bonded Stores building in Brisbane’s Margaret Street. They were old floor joists, and the original nail holes are still visible on the step nosing. Barroso also left the steel raw, simply treating it with Penetrol to create an industrial appearance that also enhances the recycled nature of the wood.
The bedrooms provide plenty of private space and a chance for everyone to incorporate their personal tastes.
The grandparents’ room faces the backyard, with a view overlooking a field and a distant farmhouse. “The benefit of the design is that they don’t see us, and we don’t see them,” Aimee says. “It gives a more isolated feeling.”
This bedroom belongs to the couple’s oldest daughter, Ava. The hanging chair is an ideal place to lounge while enjoying the backyard view, and the playful wallpaper pattern adds personality to the space. “We moved in when Ava was 13, and I wanted to design a room that she would emotionally grow into, not a tween-type room,” Aimee says. “We also have lots of places in the room for her to put up pictures and other memorabilia.”
This bedroom belongs to the couple’s oldest daughter, Ava. The hanging chair is an ideal place to lounge while enjoying the backyard view, and the playful wallpaper pattern adds personality to the space. “We moved in when Ava was 13, and I wanted to design a room that she would emotionally grow into, not a tween-type room,” Aimee says. “We also have lots of places in the room for her to put up pictures and other memorabilia.”
On each side of the common space is a private kitchen. Although there are doors separating the areas, the open feeling continues throughout the kitchen and dining areas for both families. The natural wood floors have a clear stain and help with the sense of flow.
Each side of the house includes bedrooms, living and dining areas, and a kitchen, but the best spot in the house is the area that connects each side. “The most unique feature is the center portion of the home that we call the ‘neutral zone,’ ‘common space’ or the ‘DMZ.’ If my parents need the space, they open the doors on their side. If we need the space, we open the doors on our side,” Bryant says. “When we have family parties, we open both sides, serve food from both kitchens and have plenty of space to dine.”
One last tip, if you opt for a variety of woods in a space — wood floors, furniture and ceiling: Think about whether you want the woods to match exactly, or make them very different from one another. If they are somewhat similar but not an exact match, it can look like you tried and failed to make a match. This space uses a variety of wood types and colors, which keeps it from having a monotone look.
4. Logs and Beams Another way to showcase wood on the ceiling is to expose your ceiling joists. Just be aware that there are often lots of unattractive wires, conduit, pipes and so on nestled up there, so you’ll need a strategy for hiding those. Mediterranean Dining Room by Colectivo Verbena Colectivo Verbena SaveEmail Early wood-frame construction often used entire logs. I’d definitely expose these beauties if I had them in my house. I like the mix of modern and rustic in this beautiful dining room.
3. Tongue and Groove These tongue-and-groove wood planks have a smooth surface and a nice linear quality, which can help elongate a room.
Acoustic Panels
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