Wednesday, July 27, 2011

Can you guess whose house is this?


This house, in the Marais area in the heart of Paris, near the charming Place des Vosges,
belongs to a famous French fashion designer.

He is an exuberant, very creative and daring designer and you can tell this also from his house, where every room is full of history and of eccentric contemporary choices.
He is known in fact for his theatrical style which came from his work in the theatre, designing costumes for the opera, dance and music. His use of color in the fashion collections is his trademark. Recently he has also put his talent as an Interior designer infusing three charming Parisian Hotels with his style.

Please comment only on this post, not on other social media, otherwise it is difficult to track all comments.  I will not publish the comments until the end of next week, so keep writing. The first person with the right answer will have an "honorable mention" and of course a link to the Web site or blog.

©2011 Brillante Interiors writes about new trends, timeless decor, iconic pieces, design ideas, or at times just musing about "a certain Italian way of doing things".


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Saturday, July 23, 2011

The joy of Summer


If you are at the beach somewhere in the world, you can collect big shells and create this centerpiece for a Summer dinner outdoor. The candles can be placed on a tray or a colored dish like this one, together with hydrangea petals and smooth pebbles.


candles
You can also use shells as decoration inside the candle, and shells scattered around to create an instant vignette.
If you like to make this decorative candle yourself you’ll need wax, wicks, a mold for candles, glycerin and of course some small shells.
Melt the wax in a double boiler, add color (the one specific for wax), put a few drops of glycerin on the inside walls of the mold and compose the shells at the bottom in a nice pattern. Add melted wax to cover the shells and wait a few hours, repeat to reach the mid section of the mold, wait a few hours and finally pour the wax an inch below the top of the container, only when wax is partially solidified insert the wick. The wax must be totally cooled before taking it out of the mold.
If you make more candles at the same time in a few hours you can have a nice collection, in that case I would use several thick glass containers you may have already at home.


colored candle holders
Simple as 1 2 3…insert tea lights in colored glasses and gather them together for a great impact.


Candles
These candles can be easily prepared by your children, you will need powder wax in different colors, wax coated wicks and colorful paper cups.
Insert the wax in each cup leaving some space below the rim, put the wick in the middle and slightly press around it with your fingers to keep it straight. Composing the candles on a reflecting, mirrored tray and adding some cut flowers will give any party a cheerful touch.

Enjoy your Summer!

©2011 Brillante Interiors writes about new trends, timeless decor, iconic pieces, design ideas, or at times just musing about "a certain Italian way of doing things".


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Tuesday, July 19, 2011

A visit to a penthouse in Rome



Only 900 square feet but open to a large terrace in the centre of Rome, this is an apartment that I particularly like, for its harmonious mix of antiques and iconic pieces of modern design, for the natural light coming through the large windows, for the classic wood floor and detailed ceiling, for the chosen color palette on the theme of chiaro-scuro, finally for the choice of colorful art on the wall.

The living area: white walls were chosen, as in the whole apartment, to dramatically show the black leather of Le Corbusier sofa by Cassina and the Barcelona chairs designed by Mies Van Der Rohe and produced by Knoll, the antique mirror is placed above the fireplace, not my favorite choice, since usually they only reflect boring ceilings when you are sitting down.

But let’s continue the tour…

Rome penthouse
The dining area: we can see the timeless Saarinen table, on the right the Toio lamp designed by Castiglioni for Flos, contrasting but not visually fighting with a classic chandelier and as a splash of color a surrealist oil painting in a vibrant hue. A great combination of styles.


Penthouse in Rome
Before going up the stairs to the mezzanine…be sure to appreciate the colors of the beautiful Murano glasses  on the chest.


Study
The study:  an antique desk, probably XVIII century, and a Thonet chair, a small abstract painting adorns the wall, in scale with the limited space of this area.



 apartment in Rome
Another view of the living room from above, note the colors of the art on the walls, giving life to the otherwise monochromatic scheme, the Carrara marble on the Saarinen table can be appreciated more from here for its beautiful swirls and veins.


Kitchen  penthouse
The kitchen: would you need stainless steel, thick granite, the latest gadgets in this kitchen? or the view itself will elevate this simple but functional working area to sublime? The church cupola is a real work of art framed by the window.


penthouse main bedroom
The bedroom:  another example of how to successfully mix different styles, with an XVIII century nightstand and a classic English table lamp. Pure white bed linens against the dark antique Chinese screen recall the color scheme of the whole apartment.


 penthouse terrace in Rome
Our tour now ends in this magnificent terrace where I would love to be right now, to absorb the warmth of the sun or to relax in the shade of the central area, enjoying the splendid lights of a Roman summer day or one of the glorious Roman sunsets.

Photography by Adriano Brusaferri

©2011 Brillante Interiors writes about new trends, timeless decor, iconic pieces, design ideas, or at times just musing about "a certain Italian way of doing things".


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Saturday, July 16, 2011

House on wheels


Sunset Mobile Home, a project by Hangar Design Group is a mobile micro-home, completely produced in a factory and exhibited in 2010 at Shangai Expo, in the Italian pavilion.
It was such a successful design that it was recently awarded the XXII Compasso d’Oro, Europe’s oldest design award, established in Milan in the year 1954, based on an idea by Gio Ponti  to highlight the value and quality of Italian design. The award is held every three years and given to the best design projects ranging from cars, tools, machines, lights, furniture, down to editorial graphic and Web design. The items must be produced by Italian companies if the designer is foreign or the designer needs to be Italian if the producing company is not an Italian one.
Sunset Mobile Home consists in a contemporary open space of only 34 square meters, equivalent to about 365 square feet, tiny yes, but  with everything necessary for daily life.
The opening on three sides permit a large view and allow the outside to join the inside, so the visual perception  is that of  more spacious surroundings.
Certainly great for holidays and, who knows? maybe in the near future it can be used on industrial scale too.

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Light, fun, elegant, comfortable, mobile and…a great design!

Photography by Hangar Design Group

©2011 Brillante Interiors writes about new trends, timeless decor, iconic pieces, design ideas, or at times just musing about "a certain Italian way of doing things".


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Wednesday, July 13, 2011

So many choices, so little time

Elle Decor

Dear readers, I am quite busy with two projects at the moment so I have not much time to blog, since I spend my days (and evenings too) putting together ideas for layout, lighting, color scheme, choice of furniture and finishes for:

A kitchen



House Beautiful Kitchen
House Beautiful

 
House Beautiful Kitchen
House Beautiful


Canadian House & Home Kitchen
Canadian House & Home

If this project was not enough, and everyone involved in designing a kitchen knows how many crucial details must be taken into consideration and how every inch counts…I also have another project lined up and working on at the moment:

A showroom
for bedding and lingerie to open in October!  Renovation has started already and I am still flipping through books, magazines, previous projects to have everything in place for the interior decorating project presentation.

Jesurum Linen
Jesurum


Style at Home Bedroom
Style at Home



Etro bedding
Etro


Ralph Lauren Bedding
Ralph Lauren

I will post renderings, pictures, choices as soon as I will make up my mind…
too many choices, so little time.
Would you please wish me luck?!

©2011 Brillante Interiors writes about new trends, timeless decor, iconic pieces, design ideas, or at times just musing about "a certain Italian way of doing things".


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Friday, July 8, 2011

Brillante choice

Tolomeo lamp by Artemide.
The iconic Tolomeo lamp, designed in 1987 by Michele De Lucchi and Giancarlo Fassina, became an instant best-seller. It is produced by Artemide.  The lamp received the highly recognized prize of Il Compasso d’Oro, an industrial design award created in Italy in 1954.

Tolomeo Micro Pinza 

Artemide Tolomeo Micro Pinza
Tolomeo Micro Pinza, baby clamp light under kitchen cabinets.

Many years later Tolomeo is still admired for its lightness and purity of lines in the original design and in all the later additions as floor lamp and wall lamp. Interiors & Sources readers named the Tolomeo LED task light the best lighting product of 2010, based on the light’s performance, aesthetics and sustainability.

Do you own a Tolomeo? Tell us where you put it and what you most love about it.

©2011 Brillante Interiors writes about new trends, timeless decor, iconic pieces, design ideas, or at times just musing about "a certain Italian way of doing things".


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Wednesday, July 6, 2011

How to spend $ 85.00




Patio 2011 006 

Long week-end and a sunny day made me work to beautify my patio. The work is still in progress but almost done for now. As they say on HGTV the total cost of the project was $ 85.00, not counting the labour…which most of the time is the most expensive part, but in this case the labour (me) took only two hours between sourcing, buying, painting.
The mirrors were bought in a discount store, they are very inexpensive and may even last a few years, they went from black to aqua color in 1 hour. Fun to try different arrangements until I find the right larger acrylic mirrors for my patio. I am looking for some that may resemble a door leading to another secret garden.

Mirrors can really do magic things.

Patio 2011 017
I found by chance Sunbrella vivid turquoise pillows  heavily discounted, I bought hot pink impatient for a few dollars at the corner store.
The table base, wrought iron, was found a year ago in my lane…with a glass top it became my favorite place to have breakfast, weather permitting of course! I only wish I had more space for a larger glass top but so far dinner for two was never a problem.

Patio 2011 012 

Patio 2011 028 

Patio 2011 030
Mirrors expand the small patio, instantly doubling all my plants and creating some focal points. Did I say that all the trellises were also found in my lane? They were black but with a can of color they blend with the  walls. My friends now call me “The Dame of the lane” but I always loved to go to garage sales and flea markets to find things I love for a few dollars (I actually found quite valuable pieces for almost nothing and the hunt  itself is exciting).

 Patio 2011 027
A friend is coming for coffee…

©2011 Brillante Interiors writes about new trends, timeless decor, iconic pieces, design ideas, or at times just musing about "a certain Italian way of doing things".


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Saturday, July 2, 2011

How to photograph your house and sell it fast


If you are looking at real estate online to buy a new place or to compare your house to others already for sale you know that you are immediately attracted to some images, compelled to read further and see more images of that listing.
I find that interiors shot are the most appealing when choosing the right angle, the right light, the right atmosphere so they can induce the potential client to make an appointment with the agent, the first step leading to a transaction.
But of course images alone will not sell the house, you need to take further steps to make the experience pleasurable, more on that in a future post.
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Let’s talk about presenting the house online, the above image shows a  well presented room and you feel the space, it was most probably taken by a skilled photographer, but usually pictures are taken by the real estate agent, many times in a hurry, with a point and shoot camera, often not presenting the best features of your house.
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See what I mean? This house is listed today for $ 5,000,000, who took the picture?
And why was it part of the listing images?

What to do? Either you hire a professional interior photographer who preferably has also some experience in interior design and staging, like myself, or you can try your best in preparing the house before the real estate agent takes pictures.
Here are some tips because we know buyers want spacious homes or at least the sense of space in a great layout:

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De-clutter
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De-clutter more
1.  Remove all items you will not need until you move to your next place, pack away most of books, family pictures, collections and in a word “de-clutter”. You will be moving soon, hopefully, so why not simplify the process now giving away items, clearing closets and so on.

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2. Remove all rugs and keep the floor clear, that alone will make your rooms look larger in a picture.


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Unidentified objects obstructing walkways, including a waste basket.
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3. Arrange furniture so they don’t block views or passages and move to a storage too large pieces, table, sofa, chairs… pianos and laces…replacing them  with  smaller ones, this way you are really showing the square footage.


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Empty room
4. Strange but true an empty room looks smaller than it is, so try to fill an empty space with furniture you may have in other rooms or bring in items from a staging company.


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Darkness reigns!
5. Before pictures are taken turn on all the lights, open the drapes and let the light come in, every room will look more spacious and attractive.


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6. Last but not least…make the bed!
This is not the way to present your house… the last 2 no-no pictures I found on a real estate agent website, let’s not name names.   Price listing for this house? $ 8,995,000… yes…almost NINE million dollars.
What were they thinking?

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Another house, picture taken at a good angle, bed well done, a nice view, I would have lit the fireplace though!
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Same house, pleasant living room, appealing to many viewers, no clutter, a great view and a lit fireplace!


Finally a few words for the exterior photographs and I am sure you will agree with me:
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A nice house selling at $ 4,400,000 but a bit sad looking I think!  I may be tempted to skip this listing…

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Same price as above but don’t you see more appeal? I now would like to see the interior of this welcoming house.

I gave just a few examples of how to and how not to present a house with photographs for the online market, especially if the selling price is astronomical, but at any price range just a few clever adjustments can make a huge difference.

Did I make my point? So call me if you need my help!

You can also read my previous post “How to stage your apartment for sale” clicking HERE.

Photography source

©2011 Brillante Interiors writes about new trends, timeless decor, iconic pieces, design ideas, or at times just musing about "a certain Italian way of doing things".

If you receive this post by Email and wish to leave a comment please click HERE and go to the comments section.
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