B&W House

Cottage living room

You may know how much I love colors in houses but at times I am fascinated by the serenity of monochrome and I actually often love to shoot my photographs in B&W instead of color, so this time I am presenting you an interesting house on Shelter Island, completely restored by the New York firm Schappacher -White Ltd.
They are a couple in real life, she is an interior designer, he is an architect and what a combination  of talents. I always thought couples are quite lucky to share many interests and passions, just like designer Brooke Giannetti of Velvet & Linens and her architect husband Steve, I am always admiring their combined efforts and splendid results.  By the way they now also have a book by Barnes and Noble titled Patina Style, where you can too admire their talent.

Cottage living area

Going back to the couple from New York…they searched for a holiday retreat and found this cottage on Shelter Island, NY, where they can relax, enjoy cooking and gardening and where friends and family are welcome all the time. The cottage was built in 1904 as fishermen’s house and over the years became almost a wreck.
They decided to keep the original structure and give new life to the open space areas, creating  new  transitions between inside and outside, with new openings and doors French style and building a freestanding veranda with a fireplace that can keep them warm even in mild winters.

Colors are neutrals, white is the privileged choice and black accents create a great stark contrast.

Cottage guest room and bathroom

Upstairs the project required more effort, new closets, new wood floor, another bathroom, but as you can see they maintain the romantic atmosphere of a past era.

Cottage kitchen

Black ardesia takes the whole wall in the kitchen, where drawings and notes are added constantly by the family and their friends, creating a lively ephemeral mural.

Veranda and outdoor fireplace

An extension of the living area is the new veranda with the fireplace in red bricks found in a former factory in New York.

What I love most is that the whole project was done on a tight budget, using non expensive materials, reusing whenever possible, finding inexpensive pieces at flea markets, adding old items. Money was not the issue, but taste was and the house was created with an harmonious blend of old and new.

In this house every piece gives light to the others and everything has its place, no need for more!

Photography by Laura Moss

©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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Christian Lacroix!

The apartment featured on my post Can you guess whose house is this? was fashion designer Christian Lacroix’s previous house in the elegant Marais area of Paris, in a 16th century building.  Nearby the superb Place des Vosges, the Picasso Museum and the Carnavalet Museum to name a few attractions of the area.  Lacroix studied Art history, wishing to become art curator for Museums, but then he worked for years as the creative mind at Emilio Pucci’s fashion house and soon became a famous stylist with exuberant taste. You can see his style also in this house, full of antique elements and of contemporary daring choices.

Can you spot the whimsical Fornasetti’s chair?

Colored textiles, contemporary art and eccentric accessories frame the delicate original fireplace.
The large house is almost 7,000 sq. ft. and has 12 feet high ceilings.

 

 

 

 

 

All the original elements were perfectly restored, wood floors, gilded stucco, doors’ frames,

all in a typical French late 16th Century style.

 

Another treasure is the inside courtyard  of about 600 sq. ft. an oasis of tranquility in the center of Paris and I can imagine how alive it was during Lacroix’s famous dinner parties.

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A few years ago Lacroix started using his talent also in the Interior decoration of three boutique hotels in Paris:

 

Hotel du Petit Moulin

 

Hotel le Notre Dame

 

 

Hotel Le Belle Chasse

Paris, boutique Hotels, Christian Lacroix creative genius…who can resist?

The first comment on my previous blog post with the right answer was from The Swan and you can see all the other comments on my previous post HERE.

©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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Les Macarons

Ladurée is a prestigious French maison of pastries and cakes, famous also for the incredibly light shells of meringue with the most delicious flavors of ganache inside, called macarons in French.

Ladurée flyer with the assortment of flavors.

 

The macarons were introduced to France by  Caterina de’ Medici, a wealthy Florentine who in 1533, at the age of fourteen, married the future King Henry II of France, who was also of the same age at the time.  The Florentine cooks who went with her brought the secrets of Italian cooking  including canard a l’orange and the pastry makers used their innovative genius with sorbets and ice creams,  pastries and of course pasta dishes.

Colorful Macarons

Paris store

Rendering for the Milanese new store.

In September 2011 another Ladurée store will open in Milan, the second one in a few years, and it will be designed by the famous French architect  Jean Nouvel.  I can’t wait to see it (well actually not just to see...)

If you have a few moments enjoy the sweet, in every sense, Ladurée website (HERE) it will bring you back to your childhood!


©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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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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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.

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.

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

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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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…

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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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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.

 

 

 

 

 

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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