interior home

Pure Style: Dressing Room

A dressing room: one of the ultimate luxuries. A client of mine came to me with the idea to change a spare room of hers into her very own dressing room and that's what we did.

She loves to shop & attends all kinds of parties & galas and has the most beautiful collection of ball gowns & cocktail dresses!!! Her shoe collection is amazing. The problem was she has nowhere to store her ever-growing collection of clothing. She used to keep her things in the guest bedroom (the guest bedroom I just recently showed pictures of), but that closet wan't big enough & we demo'd it for the bathroom renovation. So, the spare bedroom was the perfect solution.

Here is the room before: an office/ workout room/ catch-all. With her crazy-busy schedule, she was unable to get a handle on the room.

Here is her mother's adorable vintage tufted chair in need of some TLC:

My client requested an organized space that felt traditional & luxurious with some earthy elements. Nothing too feminine, but a space with just a touch of with subtle glamour. And, finally (below) here are some shots of the finished room:

(The colors are a little off in the pics- sorry!) I had the chair reupholstered in a green nubby fabric very similar to the original pink fabric but with a little metallic sheen. We did that walls in a faux-linen finish with a subtle gold sheen again emphasizing that natural-glam feeling. The custom cabinetry houses dresses & hanging items in the cabinets above & shoes in the drawers below.

And, below, you can see again that combination of natural & elegant in the juxtaposition of the natural shades with the silk Greek Key draperies:

And against the rough wooden mirror too:

Below, a celabratory glass of wine for the completion of the project!! (I thought it looked too perfect on the stool with her tiger striped heels!)

A here's a pic of a great little exposed shelf in the corner of the room for purses:

We went with oil rubbed bronze fixtures & hardware & the shots of black really added some needed contrast to the calm tone-on-tone space.

My client found all these great prints on Ebay (below) & Iwe had them framed in a series of gold frames. (I was so proud of the hanging job: we did it as a team & the laser-level is key!!!) The glass bubble lamp from Currey & Co is topped with a linen shade & sits on a cool transitional pedestal table.

Below is a picture of my awesome & very happy client. She's worked so hard for & waited a long time for this dressing room & she totally deserves it!!!

One last picture: (I'm definitely a little envious of how organized & functional the space is!! my closet is jam-packed! ;)

Soon-to-come will be finished pictures of her guest bath, master bed & bath & living room. (Our original project definitely grew!! :)

Northern New England Home Show, Manchester, NH

Bonin Architects & Associates is exhibiting this weekend at the Northern New England Home Show, Manchester, New Hampshire. Stop by our booth (#1703) and talk to us about your plans to build a green home! Feel free to bring your ideas and sketches. We'll be able to help you get started on a home design that will fit your family's wants and needs, make the most of your site, help protect the environment, and save you money in energy costs.

If your building plans are affected by the Comprehensive Shoreland Protection Act which protects New Hampshire lakes and ponds, we can create a home design that meets your needs and preserves the environment in accordance with the regulations.

Make plans to see the seminar "Green Home Design" by Jeremy Bonin, AIA NCARB LEED AP at the show Friday at 6:30 PM, Saturday 11:00 AM, or Sunday 11:00 AM. You'll learn about sustainability, guiding principles of green home design, the phases of design, passive green design, and active green design.

Show information:

Northern New England Home Show

The Center of New Hampshire @ Radisson Hotel

700 Elm Street

Manchester, NH

Manchester Home Show Tickets

Design Exercise: What's Your Personal Style?

I’ve been doing a lot of design-soul-searching lately, trying to really get a handle on my personal style.

(Image from Carlton Varney's Wisconsin lakehouse featured in House Beautiful)

While always evolving, I think it’s really important to hone your personal style or design philosophy into something you can wrap your head around & define. It makes us better designers/ decorators/ homeowners & more equipped to make decisions. When you really know who you are (or who your client is)and what you’re trying to achieve, it’s much easier to look at an object, a color or any other type of design-decision & know if it’s right for a space or not. Check out my first apartment (Ah! I can't believe I'm showing you this!!! haha I found lots of cool Asian objects & just decorated the room around the objects instead of what I actually loved. I used lots of bold colors because they created that "wow" effect I was after.) But looking back I really can barely stand this picture because it's just so not me & I've really found my style since then:

Now compare it to my townhome (below) & you'll see how much I changed & was able to sort of find myself (That was a summer pic of my townhome & even looking back at it I can see how I leaned towards a cottage feel. I still wouldn't say it's "totally me."):

Once you know your design style or philosophy, you can ask yourself some really important questions: Do I love it? Even if I think it's amazing, does it fit with my design philosophy? (Which was my problem with all the Asian objects- they were really cool & interesting, but they didn't strike any notes within me & as a result, the design rang hollow.) What’s the overall impact it’ll have on the space? Will it add or detract from what I’m trying to do? (For example, "If I want an uncluttered space, even though I love this set of antique prints, I know putting them in the room will make it feel too busy.")

(By Carleton Varney featured in House Beautiful)

But how do you figure out your personal design style/ design philosophy? Well, most of us crazy bloggers are doing it daily- writing posts about rooms we love, objects we think are beautiful, designers we admire… Scrolling down any blogger’s posts, it’s really cool to see how the collection of images (even from separate posts) creates this really telling ‘whole’ that gives us a peak into the writer’s style. Many of these bloggers have an amazing handle on their personal design styles. --- But I think it can be helpful to go further than that & really try to get our design philosophies into words.

(Philosopher from fineartprintsondemand.com)

As I’ve written in the ‘About Me’ section on the blog page, “My design philosophy, "pure style," is based on keeping things simple, beautiful & fun. “ But I’m in need of breaking it down & defining it further. I’m talking something deeper here. (And I don’t mean “Early American” or “Modern Asian” or “British Colonial” …. I mean something that can be translated across styles… Something more core, more innate.)

I think it’s really cool to see yourself begin to have a signature look that can be translated across many homes & styles. If you really get down & dissect what it is you love about rooms & what your recipe for a great room is, your personal style can translate across other design styles & I think that makes you a stronger designer. For example, what designers personally do in their homes is usually not exactly what clients want in their own homes, but there’s something about the designer’s style that clients see & love. – a signature look, a design philosophy, a personal style that comes across in every room. (Think Darryl Carter, below)

I think the more rooms you do, the more experience you have, the more your signature look will become apparent. I’m noticing this in my own work & it’s a really cool discovery. But it takes a lot of time & I’m SO not even close to where I hope to be one day. Blogging really helps you get a jumpstart because people start to say “Oh that’s so you” or “your style” and you start to realize that you actually are developing a concrete style. (Just scroll down blogger’s entire pages, quickly through all the posts & see how cool it is to get a glimpse of that blogger’s style!) -- Like Eddie Ross's signature style very apparent in his gorgeous living room below:

There have been some elements I’d never thought about until I started blogging. Here’s what I’ve got (SO FAR) for my ingredients in the recipe for a perfect “pure style” room: sculptural elements (such as spheres, large lamps, branches in a vase, certain furnishings that are just beautiful on their own like this table (below)from a Belgian-style home in House Beautiful:

A green element (such as plants/ flowers or moss) Here's a gorgeous fern in Carlton Varney's home:

A natural element (such as raw wood or coral or seashells or animal or nature prints,) like weathered wood & olive branch in this photo from House Beautiful:

White (& lots of it!) or another neutral or “huetral” (remember that article from House Beautiful?) like the white bowl (made by one of my best friends, Lindsey Augustine) combined with the white sofa & table:

A touch of pretty or maybe even something a tad fussy (such as an antique compote or a vintage plate, a fabric or a luxurious throw) to add some interest, like this pitcher in a room I did for my in-laws:

A hint of a Neoclassical/ Garden feel (I love topiaries, busts, urns & putting them in unexpected places or having fun with them). I love the feeling in the conservatory at Dumbarton Oaks in Georgetown (we were supposed to take our wedding pics there but it rained-- no poured!! )

A raw or rough element (such as weathered wood, linen, burlap), a feeling of age (architectural details in a home, an antique table, etc.,) like the table below and weathered finishes below from House Beautiful:

Style contrasts (a modern painting hanging over an antique console) like this modern stainless oven paired with the antique linen dishtowel & botanical prints in my dad's kitchen:

A “WOW” element (like a huge hutch or tall ceiling or an insanely gorgeous mirror over a mantle, or beautiful furnishing or fabric or a striking color scheme) like this tub from Ina Garten's home:

Something quirky/fun or unexpected (like cute little porcelain busts on a dining room table or the flea market froggy) Check out this lady we've had in our family for years. She used to hold fake fruit (My Grandma Maestranzi was an old Italian lady who put plastic on the sofa) & I stuck her in my dad's bathroom to hold the soap as a joke but we actually ended up loving it:

A clean, well-edited look like this room by one of my FAVORITE DESIGNERS, Nate Berkus:

"Something off" like this surfboard in the picture below from Leslie Klotz's home featured in House Beautiful:

And, finally, enough room for change (I never want to be “finished” and our rooms are constantly evolving, be it seasonally or just when I feel like it… I love having a neutral base that I can inject punches of color or pattern into.)

Ok, so here goes my attempt at defining my personal style, or shall I say "pure style" haha. Pure Style is clean & simple, well-edited, natural, beautiful, sculptural, a blend of old & new, neutral with splashes of color/pattern & a little quirky & fun.

That was hard for me. Haha. It's a mouthful! I'm sure it'll evolve just like my rooms but it feels really good to define my style & really break it down. So, what I’m asking of you is that you tell me your personal style. Think hard & really dig deep. Whether you're a design enthusiast, do-it-yourselfer, designer or decorator, this can really help. If you’re reading & have never commented before, please do!! List your ingredients for YOUR perfect room recipe. If you can break your elements down into a philosophy, go for it!! (If you feel you need pics to explain like I did, you could always do a post on your blog & come link it up here in the comments section too!! :) I can't wait to hear everyone's!!!

xoxo,

Lauren

Florida Flea Market

This antique Chinese console at the 2007 San Francisco showhouse was dressed up by Suzanne Tucker of Tucker & Marks. If you'll remember, it's from that same "Neautrals" issue of House Beautiful that we all loved so much. Of course this vignette totally jumped out at me because I loved all the white, the mix of the rough antique Chinese altar table & the refined brass dolphin hurricanes, the cement spheres (we know how much I love to decorate with balls), the greenery, the modern element of the charcoal print and finally the adorable white frog planters.

The frogs really made this table for me. They add that little quirky element I love. Anyway, since I saw this image I never really got them out of my head & look what I found this weekend at a flea market in Florida!!!!:

There was only one & he was $4 and the first purchase of the day! Below, I cleaned him up & thought he would make a great little addition to the kitchen to put herb cuttings from the garden in. He could just stay under the sink & come out for fresh herbs.

I also found some other copycat items at this crazy Swap Shop Flea Market in Fort Lauderdale, which is huge:

The furnishings & home accessories seemed to be few & far between to me but I still had some luck. Check out all the goodies:

Do you remember the lion print from Lucketts? (Below):

Well look what I found for $2.50!!

And check out this beautiful drop-leaf table! If had been near home, this baby would be mine!

Below, I found this crazy vintage chandelier for only $8!!

I didn't really have a place for it so I gave it to my cousin & suggested she put it over her bed. She has promised to send me after pictures so I'll post them when I get them :)

And I had to have this great little chrome stool for $8. I sent it home with my dad (who had his SUV) to Illinois to go in our lake house, I think in my bedroom there :) I'll be reupholstering it & will post 'afters' on the whole room when I've finished it. (almost!!!) I think it would be a great with a tray on it for drinks, books, or at the foot of the bed for luggage &/or a pretty throw.

I thought this china was really beautiful. I didn't ask for the price & I totally forgot who makes it (sorry Eddie! :) but isn't it just really special? (haha it's hard to keep coming up with adjectives for pretty & beautiful when you're blogging!! ;) The blue was so gorgeous though.

And finally at the end we got our coconuts!! (Christian, of course, was fast asleep under his blanket in the stroller- Momma trained him well!- so he's not in the picture ;) My husband, Dave, loves these & drank 2 himself.

Blog Love: Thank you Blog Friends!

I wanted to thank Michele from "My Notting Hill" SO MUCH for doing a post on me. I'm super-flattered & really excited! :)

And ~No. 35 Style ~ also did a great post on adorable cottage lighting & put a link to my blog on there. She has some great ideas for ways to use it!!

Lindsay from LEB also set up a link to pure style home & wrote a fun post about moss and all the great ways to use it!!

Joni from the famous Cote de Texas wrote an amazing post on kitchens & included the kitchen from Beach Dwelling that I'd written about & a link back to pure style home. Thanks Joni!!

And I found myself on Room Lover which was pretty cool. I wrote a comment on there but I'm not sure if that's type of blog. But it's a very cool site she's set up. She does bios on a bunch of interior designers. It's a great reference.

And thank you to Camila from High-Heeled Foot in the Door, for a really sweet post she wrote about me. She was one of my first non-family member readers haha & has pretty much taught me how to blog. I remember emailing her after her first comments & asking her how to blog haha. And she told me! :) Thanks so much Camila!!

And how could I have forgotten, one of my FIRST EVER blog mentions (I went nutty when I got her email alerting me that she'd picked some of my posts for her favorite posts of 2008!) Things That Inspire!

And finally, Eddie Ross for his mention in his first flea market trip post. He & Jaithan carefully documented the whole trip & wrote about it on their blog, even putting a link to my website on it. Since then we've become friends & had the best time revisting them again at their (beautiful!!!) apartment in New York.

Ayway, thanks so much to all of you & I'm just having the best time getting into blogging & meeting so many new, sweet & extremely talented people. Everyone just includes everyone & it really has been a great experience. I was afraid to write comments when I first started because I thought no one wanted to hear "oh i love that!" but I realized how happy it makes me to get that from someone else & now I'm so much less self-conscious about leaving comments than I used to be. And I'm definitely looking forward to some type of blogger reunion one day!!! (Let's get thinking!! :)

xoxo,

Lauren

ps- Off to Florida to visit family for the long weekend!!! wahooooo

Why Hire an Architect For Your Home Design?

Architecture plays a unique role in our everyday life. An architect has the expertise to combine your wants, needs, and aspirations with your goals of energy efficiency and sustainability to successfully match your project objectives.

Architecture affects people every moment of every day. We reside in homes where we sleep, cook, eat and spend time with our families; we typically travel to a building to work or a school to learn. Architects address requirements such as function, aesthetics, economics, environment, safety, and regulations and translate these into a home design that matches each owner’s personal taste and family dynamic.

The National Council of Architectural Registration Boards defines the role of an Architect as "the primary building professional qualified to protect the health, safety and welfare of the public through the enhancement of the quality of the built environment and the richness of space and form”. Buildings inhabited during those functions are essential to our lives and our health. Architects are ethically bound to continually better that built environment.

For instance, Architecture entails more than just a physical building. It involves:

· Correctly interpreting the client’s dreams, visions, and objectives
· Exploring all possibilities
· Studying and responding to the site and its environment
· And translating all these into a home design that will exceed expectations

Sustainable architecture or green building is only a small part of a greater whole. It has been said many times that “sustainability” is a good short term goal for home design. Sustainability is simply the equilibrium, a tipping point where we are no longer damaging the planet that we inhabit with the effects of our daily lives through manufacturing, power production, construction, transportation, agriculture which affect our global ecosystem. Sustainability, by definition, is actually the point at which we cease to harm the environment. Beyond sustainability is where we begin to repair the damage done, which, ultimately, is the goal.

There are many great minds working toward both of these goals with ideas and solutions far greater than most people’s typical reach; however, anything that can be done better and is financially feasible should be done.

Green architects enrich the design and the project through integrity, conscientious design, environmental awareness, and the application of skills specific to their trade – keeping the ultimate goals of energy efficiency and sustainability clearly in view. Should your home design be anything less?