The house is now have two stories and the main entrance has double staircase to the second floor. The living room, dining room, kitchen, utility room, library, and two guest bedrooms with baths are on the first floor. All rooms are open to walkways and terraces at both the first and second floors. The studio and garage are attached to the main house with a glass walled and roofed corridor. A combination of steel, concrete, glass and aluminum bring together natural materials with modernist choices – synthesizing the contemporary style of the home inside and out with the surrounding natural landscape. (more…)
Much like we can expect from the American people in next year’s election, the votes among the nation’s top interior designers and manufacturers are split when it comes to forecasting what will be “hot” in home decor in 2008.
The good news is that there’s no mudslinging or veto power. In fact, design bipartisanship is encouraged, as it results in a myriad of choices for today’s style- and value-conscious consumers.
Here are the top 10 trends on the ballot for 2008:
1. The Incumbent – Wall murals are always a hot ticket, particularly those produced by Hopkins, Minn.-based Murals Your Way (www.muralsyourway.com), the industry leader in the production of decorative wall murals for more than 35 years. “Personalization is the key driver in mural selection,” says Todd Imholte, president of Environmental Graphics, the company that operates Murals Your Way. “We are finding more and more people choosing a mural that fits their personality.” With a gallery of more than 5,000 wall mural images, as well as the ability to create a custom mural from a personal photo or artwork, the possibilities are truly endless. Some of Hollywood’s celebrities are using the murals from Murals Your Way like Madonna, Julianne Moore and Woody Harrelson. (more…)
The Art Deco Home has many new designs of Art Deco furniture for sale, including works by the great masters of Art Deco design.
PIERRE CHAREAU
The Maison de Verre (French for House of Glass) was built from 1928 to 1931 in Paris, France. Constructed in the early modern style of architecture, the house’s design emphasized three primary traits: honesty of materials, variable transparency of forms, and juxtaposition of “industrial” materials and fixtures with a more traditional style of home décor. The primary materials used were steel, glass, and glass block. Some of the notable “industrial” elements included rubberized floor tiles, bare steel beams,perforated metal sheet,heavy industrial light fixtures and mechanical fixtures.
The design was a collaboration between Pierre Chareau (a furniture and interiors designer), Bernard Bijvoet (a Dutch architect working in Paris since 1927) and Louis Dalbet (craftsman metalworker). Much of the intricate moving scenery of the house was designed on site as the project developed. The external form is defined by translucent glass block walls, with select areas of clear glazing for tranparency. Internally, spatial division is variable by the use of sliding, folding or rotating screens in glass, sheet or perforated metal, or in combination. Other mechanical components included an overhead trolley from the kitchen to dining room, a retracting stair from the private sitting room to Mme Dalsace’s bedroom and complex bathroom cupboards and fittings. (more…)
More than 150 years ago, Edgar Allan Poe, who knew a thing or two about ravens, decided to offer his insights on interior design too.
In “The Philosophy of Furniture,” Poe wrote: “The soul of the apartment is the carpet. From it are deduced not only the hues but the forms of all objects incumbent. A judge at common law may be an ordinary man; a good judge of a carpet must be a genius.”
That’s pretty high praise for something we’ll spend most of our time walking on, vacuuming or cleaning spills out of. But carpets — or rugs — say a lot about the people who live inside a home. (more…)
Walk into your neighbor’s back yard this summer, and you might swear you’d taken a wrong turn and ended up in the living room, save for the grass, trees and open sky.
Outdoor “rooms” can include all-weather rugs, grill islands — even fireplaces. And customers are looking for beautiful furniture to complete the look, with pieces that are as comfortable as they are stylish.
“They want it to be the comfort center,” said Carl Vice, general manager of Casual Living and Patio Center on Industry Road. “They want to feel just like they’re sitting inside on their recliner. They want to be that comfortable outdoors.”
Pieces that move, says Vice, are desirable. Seven out of 10 chairs sold at his store, he guesses, rock, swivel or glide.
While wicker is still a popular choice, the traditional natural material, which deteriorates if left outdoors, is being replaced with a synthetic wicker, a man-made material woven around an aluminum frame. (more…)
