Fresh!!!

One of my all time favorite bedrooms by Frank Roop

All photos from Frank Roop's website

I am ready to change the pillows on my family room sofa. It is a beige chenille sofa and now I have brown silk paisley pillows mixed with a soft blue cotton fabric pillows. I like the mix a lot, but am thinking I want to infuse a little more color now that it's summer. I am going to take inspiration from Frank Roop.

I love the work of Frank Roop. He is a designer out of the Boston area who used to work in men's specialty clothing. He takes the design principals he learned in men's suiting and applies them to his interiors so they have a couture feel. What I love about his work is his fresh use of color. I am impressed how he subtly mixes palates of blues, greens, grays and beiges with pops of a bright. I am focused on his pillows. He always uses solids, mostly velvets and I think the mastering of the color palate is what gives them a sophisticate air, instead of coming off as cute.

Along with my beige sofa I have chairs that have burgundy in them, so I could get away with some of the soft blues and seafoam greens he has in his rooms. This will also give a new feeling of freshness to my room.

I just love the bedroom in the top photo. This room is what interested me to look at his other work. I love the soft mix of color, the eclectic mix of furnishings and the formality of the architecture against the relaxed feel of the furnishings; I think the room looks sophisticated and playful at the same time!!

I am going to look for fabric and have some new pillows made for my sofa. I will post when done. Today's luxury is to look for a way to add a pop of freshness to an existing interior. It could be adding a new color palate in pillows, candles, vases, pictures. Look for interiors photos that catch your eye and borrow ideas from them. I am certainly going too!!

A Little Respite...........

Frank Roop Interiors

Vicente Wolf Interiors


Is there nothing more glamourous than a Barbara Barry room?

I feel as if I have been rushing around a lot lately; between work, my daughter's school, her activities and general household chores, it seems there is a lot of preparing and juggling to get to the end result!! I know that I am not the only one trying to fit a lot into a day, life is busy!! So I thought I'd take a few minutes off to dream of "restful interiors".

The photos above, to me, represent restful interiors, ones that soothe your spirit. They are rooms that beckon you to kick back for a moment, sit on a comfy couch, put your feet up and enjoy a cool cocktail. A room that gives the feeling of calm and serene when you enter it, like the busy world has stopped for a brief moment for you to take a deep breathe and relax!!

Looking at the rooms above I can imagine how luxurious the fabric feels to the touch. I imagine the clean smell of freshly cut flowers in the air. I imagine the temperature being just right for the season. I imagine feeling calm, relaxed and tranquil. I feel relaxed just to think about it!!

Rooms that put me in this spirit all have the same elements in common:

• Subtle color and fabric contrasts (I've blogged about my definition of these in previous posts)
• Luxurious and tactile fabrics, linens, velvets, silks and chenille.
• Warm color hues
• Lots of plush furniture
• Ottomans in place of coffee tables (I love ottomans!! Will dedicate a blog to my awe of them sometime soon.)
• Carefully chosen and placed accessories that pull the room together, but don't clutter.
• An air of sophistication
• Fresh flowers!!!!
  

I try to incorporate the elements that I find relaxing and soothing into my own home. I love having a respite from the busy day, even if it is waking up 1/2 hour early to have my morning coffee in my most tranquil room, I feel refreshed. Today's little luxury is to take a few moments to define the elements that you find soothe your soul in a room. Incorporate 1 or 2 into your interiors today. It can be as simple as a adding a vase full of beautiful, fragrant flowers or cleaning off a cluttered table and re accessorizing with items that make you feel calm. After all, in today's busy world, isn't the thought of feeling refreshed in your personal space the most luxurious thing of all?