Red House at Bexleyheath

In looking at the fabric and wallpaper designs of William Morris & Co, I became reaquainted with Red House.  It was designed by Philip Webb for William Morris, and is one of the great exaples of English Arts and Crafts architecture.  The photo above is the "classic" view of the house.  It is a view of the back of the house. The tower in the corner is the stair hall, and the little building with the conical roof is the well.  I found some other, less familiar photos in a Phaidon press book.  The photos are by Charlotte Wood.

The well

The well seems like it would be incidental to the house, but in fact is the focal point of the garden.

Back of the house

Front of the house

View from the orchard

I just love all of the roof shapes, dormers and chimneys.  The house actually has a very simple rational floor plan, but the massing of the house is beautifully complex.

Front door

The drawing room

This room is on what the English call the first floor.  To us it would be considered the second floor.  This was the most important living space in the house.

The stair hall

I find it interesting that the wall paper shows up in places that you wouldn't expect, like the ceiling of the stair hall. Interestingly, in all of the interior photos I saw, the patterning is mostly on the ceilings.

The dining room

The oriel window in the drawing room

William Morris and "The Beauty of Life"

"The Beauty of Life": William Morris and the Art of Design was a wonderful exhibit  at the Yale Center for British Art a few years ago. They had an amazing selection of drawings, paintings, fabric and wall paper.  The most interesting thing about the exhibit was that many of the most beautiful designs were actually created by the chief designer J H Dearle, rather than by Morris himself.  I had never heard of J H Dearle before that.  Later I found some more images of his creations.  The colors and patterns are just stunning.  I believe some of these patterns are available commercially through  Morris & Co.

The next few images are unfinished sketches of the designs.  It's fascinating to see the creative process in work.  It's really interesting to see how the design pattern is sketched out and then color is added.  I also love the little notes on the side of the sketches.

Chinoiserie

Fromental

Recently we were asked by a client to look at ways to give her rather traditional dining room, a more modern feel.  We added architectural elements such as paneling and a coffered ceiling, but with the owner's very traditional furniture, we knew we'd run the risk of having the room look a little frumpy and old fashioned unless we did something very different with the walls.  We came across a few images of dining rooms with chinoiserie wall paper, and we thought that's perfect.  It's formal, yet modern and young.  My favorite designs, because of their vibrant colors and fabulous imagery, come from the French company De Gournay and the English company Fromental

Nate Burkus

Cindy Renfret

De Gournay

Fromental

Fromental

Fromental

Fromental

Fromental

Fromental

Bilhuber

De Gournay

De Gournay

De Gournay

De Gournay

De Gournay

De Gournay

De Gournay

De Gournay

Interior Vignette

Isn't this adorable?  My mom was visiting yesterday and painted this little vignette of my living room.  I think the painting looks better than the actual room.  Nice job Mom!

Paneled Living Rooms

A client recently asked me to design some paneling and a new mantel for her living room.  She and I both wanted to do something a little different from the normal colonial wainscotting with a chair rail and raised or recessed panels.  Here are some images I found which put a twist on the paneled room.  The room above is by Manuel De Santaren.  The large scale panels, muted colors and modern light fixtures give this room a modern sophistication.

This room by Van Day Treux is one of my all-time favorite rooms  I never get tired of the color scheme and the layout of the art.  I also really like, in this particular case, that the trim and walls have been painted the same color.

This slightly more formal room by Thomas Pheasant doesn't really have paneling, but he has gracefully framed the mantel with a pair of pilasters and an architrave. 

This is a beautiful living room by Katherine Newman Designs.  The paneling is very tailored and she has cleverly added both fabric and mirrors to the panels.  You can see the detail better in the photo below.  It's a beautiful detail.  I also really love how she mixes great light fixtures, and modern peices with the formal paneling.

Great art too.

This is a bedroom by Katherine Newman Designs.  But this simple fabric paneling could look really great in a living room as well.

This room by Victoria Hagan has paneling and a mantel that are very similar to what my client has now.  I really like this look, but I'm afraid it will be just a bit too casual for my client.

The overall look of this room by Barclay Butera is more beachy than we are going for.  But I like how the panels end just below the ceiling and the grass cloth continues from the wall to the ceiling.

This paneling from Martha Stewart Living is a little bit more historical looking than the others.  But I like the pilasters on either side of the mantel.  And the full wall of raised panels is a really nice look.  But I don't love this green.

This is a great mantel, aslo from Martha Steward Living.  The paneling is really secondary.  But the paint color is quite pretty and so are the light fixtures and chairs.

Garden Inspiration

Happy Mothers Day to all you moms out there.  My favorite thing to do on Mothers Day is to visit the New York Botanical Gardens or White Flower Farm in Litchfield, CT.  But this year I won't be able to make it to either place.  So a couple of gorgeous photographs from Barbara Israel Antiques are going to serve as my inspiration as I putter in my garden.