6 Ways to Bring Spring into Your Home

Tra la la la.  We made it through another winter!  While I'm not quite in the mood for a summery, hot weather decor, I definitely want all signs of winter banished from my delicate eyes.  Here's what I'm doing right now:

1.  Clean and edit.  I know, it's a bummer.  There's no getting around the fact that a good spring cleaning does wonders for your home.  Put stuff away, polish everything up. There, we got through that together and now can move on.

Here I am, in my lace apron (as if).

2. Walk through every room and remove the nubby red throw, the jewel toned accent pillows, the big bowl of pine cones, the puffy comforter, etc.  Send them off to the cleaner or store them away in a closet.  Replace them with a lighter throw (in weight and color) and accent pillows in some fresh, lively shades.  Fill the bowl with river rocks or sea shells and put a thinner coverlet on the bed.

F. Schumacher fabrics
A fresh color scheme to consider.

 F. Schumacher fabrics and a Room and Board pillow

Here's a quieter palette, but still light and lively.

3.  Replace some of the artwork on the walls and shelves.  This really makes a nice change for me.  Rotating your artwork, or family photos, means that you're really going to notice them, not just walk by them day after day.  The beautiful still life painting that's been sitting on our mantel gets changed out for 3 big, matted frames featuring photos I took at the nearby lake.  Super cheap and easy.

(from the Metropolitan Museum of Art, NY, not mine)

Replace this...

With something like this.

4. Add some fresh sparkle--have you got an old mirror stowed away somewhere?  Find a new place for it.  How about someplace offbeat, like over a doorway, as if it were a transom?  How about at the end of a hallway? Just remember to look at what it's reflecting.  A mirror reflecting a window is fab, but it can reflect artwork hanging on the opposite wall or a pretty tablescape on a console or anything else that you like to look at.  Don't let it reflect the kitchen!  If you don't want to use a mirror, think about any metallic object.  Sparkly candlesticks or a shiny picture frame can do the trick.

Sparkle Plenty  (at Pottery Barn)

5.  Flowers!  I'm seeing lots of very inexpensive pots of flowers, even at the grocery store.  I think some of them are meant to plop right into your outdoor planters, but we still have a chance of frost.  I'm putting a pot of posies into a container on the kitchen island for a week or two, before sending them outside.  The same could be done with those yummy herbs they've got at the big home improvment stores.  A little group of them in a basket right now, next to the bathroom sink.  So nice.

My little flowers from the Teeter (grocery store).

6.  Fresh dish towels.  I said it before, I love beautiful dish towels.  Spring is a great occasion to buy a couple. 

French Connections in Pittsboro.  

1 or 2 will do! 

Ciao,

Anne

How to get transitional style in your interiors, Part 2, upholstery fabric on the sofa

In my residential interior design business in Raleigh, I get to be around a lot of fabric and I get to sit on a lot of sofas.  What I've learned over the years is that the best fabric for a sofa is a soft, neutral fabric in a fairly solid color with a little texture to it.  Let me show you some swatches and you’ll see what I mean: 

most of these fabrics are from F. Schumacher

These are just a start.  There are many gorgeous textured neutral options and most stores carry a large selection, including buttery soft aniline dyed leathers.  But of course you want your sofa to be special and that's what welting and trim are all about.    See this little snip of a pillow I just showed you above :

The trim on this is called welting, and this welting has been done in the same fabric as the body of the cushion (it's also called self welting).  But you can ask for contrasting welting on your sofa--oh, the universe opens right up and starts singing at this point because now you're starting to express yourself.  Here's a chair cushion (not neutral, but chairs don't have to be neutral):

Isn't this a fab look?  It's done in  a menswear suiting sort of fabric--houndstooth.  Masculine yet inviting. This chair has contrast welting, which gives a crisp outline.  And do you see the subtle mix of color and pattern achieved with the throw?  This piece would be comfortable in any room, any style.  But I digress.

Now I want to be sure you know that NEUTRAL does not mean BORING.  Transitional design is never boring, because it's not a one-note kind of look.  You will always be able to dress up a neutral sofa, regardless of how your taste may change or what colors you want to bring into a room--that's the point of neutral choices on big pieces.  Pillows and throws are available to do your bidding and transform the look in seconds. 

If you already have a sofa that you want to bring into the transitional world, consider the beloved slipcover.  If you don't love slipcovers, I'm betting it's because you haven't seen them done right.  Tight and fitted with zippers out of sight.  Find yourself a seamstress who does a beautiful slipcover and treat her well.   A few years ago I wanted to bring some red into a room with a camel toned sofa so I had my slipcover lady cover the seat cushions (just the seat cushions) with a vintage red chenille from Kravet.  The welting on those new red cushions was done in the original camel fabric.  The result was an updated look with a shot of color that can be whipped off whenever the mood strikes.   Every piece on the sofa doesn't have to be the same, but the slipcover leaves you with options for down the road.   Let me find a picture of that very sofa for you...

Here it is.  I could make this sofa look more transitional with a leather accent pillow and a solid, nubby throw. 



Let's end with a couple of pictures of transitional sofas.  Unless otherwise credited, all the photos in this blog come from my visit to Expressions Furniture in Raleigh.  I told you that I enjoyed myself there!

This is a stylish sofa for anyone who doesn't want just any old sofa. It's like a nest!

American Leather makes wonderful seating, now including fabric.  But their leather pieces are still among my favorites.  This one, called Carson, is a handsome hunk of man.  I'm told it's a great sofa for people with back problems.  Sit in it and see.  Isn't that color divine?  Neutral, but not boring.

Nailhead trim.

Ethan Allen's Bryant.  Imagine this with one of those fabrics that I've shown.  Yum!

Ballard Design's Manchester. Clean lines, cushy back.

Next we'll tackle accent tables and lighting.

Ciao,

Anne