design

Planning for a "Perfect Room"

My theory behind the first stage is probably the most boring because you have to do your serious planning and detailed preparation. It's the stage where you have to seriously assess your space.  Are there any problems with the room such as low ceilings or enough natural lighting?

For a really unique room, you have to find the star piece for that space.  Does it have enough color and texture and pattern to work off of it?  For example, it might be a beautiful piece of art where you can pull certain colors for the upholstery, walls, floor and accents. It's also important to pick quality pieces because you don't want to have the sofa falling apart in five years or a rug wearing through or the floor scratching because you've used inferior quality products.

Embrace your room's natural features and take some of the qualities of what you have and go with them. Lighting is very important: quality choices in lighting will make or break a room.  Some people lay out their lighting way too early in their design scheme and they haven't figured out the total layout of all the furniture in the room. 

I also ask "what are your must haves" for the room and then we work around that. Is it a luxury cashmere throw or fresh flowers or beautiful scented candles of different sizes?  Make your dream your reality.

I try to mix a third from catalogs, a third from vintage pieces and a third from custom pieces because you have to reach a specific scale or finish and the custom items create a link between the catalog pieces and the vintage pieces and everything is tied together beautifully.  If I had to emphasize one point, I wish everyone would respect their own individuality and their own sense of style and taste and pick out their own fabrics and unique color scheme so each of us would have quite a personal home and environment. It's simply really wrong when it's too safe.  Putting yourself in "danger" is just so much more exciting and produces things that are much more challenging in your own space !!  

See you next time,

Karen B.
karen@finessedesignstudio.com