Autumn Style Trends for the Home

with:Kristen Ordonez

Photo courtesy Lights4fun.

As the summer passes and transitions to fall, there are several ways you can incorporate fun, easy changes to your home style to showcase a sleek, sophisticated style that flows perfectly with the season. Rebecca Snowden, Interior Style Advisor at Furniture Choice Limited, shares three key décor tips to style a cozy home for Autumn 2019.

Jewel Tones and Inviting Textures

This autumn, let rich jewel tones like deep mauve, sapphire blue and dust pink take center stage. “Embrace the sophistication of the season in all its moody glamour,” says Snowden.

A lush black velvet bed instantly adds elegance to a bedroom and sets a luxurious base to build upon. Layer deep, rich tones via opulent textures like velvet and faux fur to create a lavish, comfortable setting.

Light up the space with distinctive fixtures to enhance the overall ambiance. “Individual pendant bulbs give off a modern, almost industrial feel while sleek, standing lamps are practical and stylish,” Snowden notes. Display fresh flowers for a burst of life or dramatic floral artwork with contemporary charm as final touches.

Photo courtesy LUXXU Home.

Black and Yellow – A Perfect Pair

On a brighter note, pairing black and yellow results in a lighter, modern take on autumn décor. One part dark, one part festive, and altogether stylish. Choose a dark yellow like mustard, in homage to autumn’s signature leaves.

“This trendy color contrasts nicely with a sleek black leather sofa to produce an edgy and seasonal-appropriate palette,” says Snowden. Go bold with a mustard feature wall or start small with yellow cushions, rugs and planters.

With this style choice, Snowden also recommends keeping the rest of the room simple and opt for pieces with clean lines to prevent overwhelming the senses. Add warmth with a soothing accent color like forest green, achieved through incorporating dark green, leafy plants. These not only bring in life but also a sense of freshness, all while contributing to the overall style.

Photo courtesy DelightFULL.

Accessorize

In the spirit of transitioning into the season, get crafty and DIY some autumn-themed accessories. “Metallic accessories are a simple and effective way to add a pinch of glamour and light to any space,” Snowden advises.

Photos courtesy Lights4fun.

September 11, 2019 Leave a comment

Tips for Your Tot’s Bedroom

with:Camille Furst

When designing a child’s bedroom, the typical idea is to create a space with a bright, happy atmosphere. Finding the line between fun and playful to childish and unfashionable can be a thin one. It’s important to keep this space clean and stylish, without making it too modern or uncomfortable. Here are a few ways to find the perfect balance:

Photo courtesy of Noa and Nani

1. Storage Space

The many toys and games a child has creates the need for just as much storage space to organize it all. To keep the clutter away, choose a bed frame that includes built-in storage underneath. The mess that’s usually found under a child’s bed is now tucked neatly away in drawers, to create a comfortable and relaxed atmosphere.

2. A Colorful Canvas

The key to decorating a child’s bedroom is balancing the tones and color schemes, in order to create a happy childlike atmosphere. Look toward colorful pieces to balance out more subtle tones. This way, the space will look warm and inviting while not feeling cluttered and chaotic. A bright, colorful rug like the one below can add a fun, youthful piece to an otherwise modern room. Shelving is also a great way to add color to a child’s room. While not too overbearing in its appearance, the bright color is a modern and stylish way to keep a kid’s room on trend.

Photo courtesy of Go Modern

Photo courtesy of 111 Leroy

Photo courtesy of The Alyn

3. Balance Between Modern and Warm

Designing a child’s room is also finding a balance between modern and functional while creating a warm and welcoming space. The goal is to avoid scattered and outdated designs. A designer’s trick is to use both warm and colorful tones with function in mind. Deep greens, browns, reds, and blues create a sanctuary that’s both stylish and comfortable. In this bedroom at the Alyn, shown below, a neutral color palette alongside other playful elements to maintain the balance.

Photo courtesy of 100 Barclay

September 9, 2019 Leave a comment

Stained Glass is Back With a Modern Twist

with:Camille Furst

Over the past few years, stained glass has gone from a dusty antique item in an old home to modern works of art. With the industry making a comeback into the luxury scene, interior designers are challenging themselves to design a space around the ornate glass. Here are a few different ideas:

Photo courtesy of Bespoke Glass

Photo courtesy of Florence Broadhurst Fabrics

Stained glass can add a pop of color and make your space feel both cozy and modern. The green colors on this partition add a bright finish to the room, making it the centerpiece for all the other furniture to gather around it. While still looking modern, it brings back an old-school style to provide a sense of comfort as well. Nowadays, adding a piece of stained glass to a home brings a unique style unlike any other — one that brings you back in time, while also staying ahead of the times, too.

Located in New Haven, Connecticut, the Blake Hotel adds a unique style to the space by featuring the work of Bespoke Glass, a studio-based business in Brooklyn, New York. The different shades of blue colors and the glimmer of the glass adding a retro look that transports you to a different time in the past, while also staying current and on-trend. The placement of the blue pieces adds an edgy and one-of-a-kind appearance. Not only is it a partition, but it’s a work of art in its own right.

Photo courtesy of Reed McKendree

Photo courtesy of Bespoke Glass

By changing the designs stained glass was normally confined to in the past, studios and interior designers around the globe are beginning to take out the dusty antiques from their storage bins and create works of art instead. With so many different styles and colors, the possibilities are endless.

September 7, 2019 Leave a comment

A Style that Comes Together

with:Kristen Ordonez

After designing the pieces Let it Be and Come Together in 2017 and 2018, designers Ludovica and Roberta Palomba at Poltrona Frau have fortified their third installment that further pays homage to the Beatles. Get Back and the other two pieces inspired by the musical legends are welcoming, tailor-made pieces that offer a return to comfortable spaces, where one can really feel at home.

Get Back

Inspired by the refrain, “Get back, get back, get back to where you once belonged,” the Get Back sofa was designed a product of “in-depth research into comfort,” according to the brand when the piece was introduced at this year’s Salone del Mobile.

With generous, spacious and open lines, reclined backrests that encourage relaxation, and numerous modular elements to combine freely in lots of different compositions, it’s difficult not to find a sense of inner peace when sitting on this sofa.

On top, soft cushions and chaise elements offer unexpected depth, as well as an alluring invitation to “Get back home” and enjoy the relaxing and convivial atmosphere of your living room.

Let it Be

Rejecting convention and formalism, Let it Be was the first of the Beatles-inspired modular furniture systems designed by Ludovica and Roberto Palomba for Poltrona Frau.

Channelling the popular Beatles song, this seating solution embraces and reinterprets the notion of the Roman triclinium where individuals lay down, ate, talked and lazed about in earlier times.

As a refuge for relaxation, the sofa’s infinite configurations afford individuals the opportunity to curate different arrangements to fit their space and lifestyle.

The purity of the design is accentuated with beautiful details including leather and saddle leather stitching as well as refined plush cushions.

Come Together

Keeping comfort and sociability in mind throughout the creative process, Come Together was born out of a desire to offer people a place for sharing — even moreso, an invitation to rediscover the dimension of physical and concrete proximity of exchanging ideas and emotions.

Each facet of the design encourages people to come together and enjoy the company of others. With limitless compositional possibilities, this system features a series of accessories that are versatile and functional.

Differing elements were designed to connect seating compositions to ultimately create more livable, shareable and convenient arrangements.

All photos courtesy Poltrona Frau.

August 31, 2019 Leave a comment

Simple Squared Offers Innovative Designs

with:Unique Homes Staff

As the founder of one of the leading multidisciplinary design studios in California — Simple Square — Sahar Boloorchi strives to provide the best service for her clients while bettering the environment in the process.

Renderings courtesy of Simple Squared.

Simple Squared provides architectural design and consulting, sustainable design, and interior design. The company’s innovative ideas and designs stand out among the competition, especially as the demand and interest for sustainable designs continues to grow.

Located in Santa Monica, California, the studio is well-known for its work in Los Angeles and the surrounding areas, both in art and architecture. Specializing in single and multi-family residential projects as well as commercial and restaurant designs, Simple Squared guarantees bringing each individial client’s vision to life.

The studio has a step-by-step design process for each project, incorporating sustainable design solutions to better the environment through each completed project.

Quoting Robert A. M. Stem on the site, “The dialogue between client and architect is about as intimate as any conversation you can have, because when you’re talking about building a house, you’re talking about dreams.”

“The dialogue between client and architect is about as intimate as any conversation you can have, because when you’re talking about building a house, you’re talking about dreams. “

Robert A. M. Stern

All renderings courtesy of Simple Squared.

August 30, 2019 Leave a comment

Q&A: A Dive into Personal Style

with:Kristen Ordonez

KB Home Design Studio is known for working with customers as they are building a new home to help them personalize the space for their individual needs.

“Because each customer is unique with different tastes, we must be able to include choices that reflect many design aesthetics,” says Gena Kirk, Vice President of Design at KB Home.

This method comes readily at hand with a market that is continually evolving, with millennials currently making up the largest share of homebuyers in today’s market. We spoke with Kirk to learn more about how designers and brands like KB Home are staying on the pulse of emerging design trends and what millennials are really desiring in their homes.

What tools outside of work help inspire you while you work?

These are some of the mediums that aid me in selecting the best choices for our KB Home Design Studio customer. In addition to the usual interior design outlets that inspire me, I am also inspired by our supplier partner’s innovative products and consumer research such as Moen’s Magnetix Handheld Shower and Shaw’s Luxury Vinyl Plank flooring.

We’re accommodating a wide variety of customers who are looking to personalize their home at an affordable price so the more information we have about the products being developed and available the better we can provide value products to our KB customer.

Gena Kirk, Vice President of Design

KB Home

Are there some that don’t inspire but help you get away from work?

I am personally inspired by such mediums as home design shows, decorating magazines, Houzz, Pinterest, Apartment Therapy, decorating blogs and following retail furniture trends.

What kind of styles/trends are most prevalent in millennial-bought homes today, and why?

In millennial-built homes, we’re seeing from the KB Home Design studio a few things. For example, they’re prioritizing things such as flexible spaces within the home, an eye towards health and wellness, an interest in technology and a minimalist design. KB Home tracks these interests to make sure we’re offering our millennial buyer what they’re expecting and what they want to make their homes their own.

Millennials are purchasing only the square footage they need verses the biggest home they can afford. This makes flexible spaces very important to these buyers and they want to make best use of that space.

Millennials also have an interest in the home as a source of health and wellness. They have an interest in things like door fixtures that are antibacterial, or no-touch have become popular, as well as Energy Star HVAC that helps not only cut down on utility costs, but also provides clean indoor air.

Lastly, millennials are looking to a minimalist design aesthetic. This also helps maximize their living space and provide a clean, modern look. They will use neutral paint colors, like greige, to warm the space.

What has been your favorite project to work on at KB Home?

My favorite and most rewarding project to work on was designing, creating and building the new KB Design Studio. KB Home was able to highlight our personalization options in beautiful design studios across the company. Our suppliers have their product on display and are uniquely merchandised to promote customer interaction and product sales. Additionally, our customers love the interactive displays and organized choice making the selection process easy and fun!

Was there anything that inspired you specifically?

Designing the KB Home Studio was more challenging than designing a room. I considered the warm and welcoming feeling that I wanted the space to convey, as well as the idea that the KB Home studio needed to inspire our customers and provide them with a creative space to fully personalize and envision their new home.

KB Home Studio. All photos courtesy KB Home.

August 28, 2019 Leave a comment

Styling a Room with Darker Walls

with:Camille Furst

While dark-colored walls can add a depth to a room, it can sometimes be tricky to style around them. Every dark-colored wall brings a heavy tone with it, and it’s important to know how to design the space so has a balanced tone. While it’s a designer’s challenge, here are different rooms that prove it can be done:

Photo courtesy of Brabbu Design Forces

Photo courtesy of AUDENZA

1. Brighter Colors, Warmer Tones

When designing any room, it’s crucial to look at the colors you’ll be using and make sure they balance each other out. This is especially so for rooms with dark-colored walls. While they add a great tone to the space, too many darker tones can make a room feel cold and uninviting.

The perfect balance of colors involves a mixture of both darker and lighter colors, such as this bright red chair in front of a dark green backdrop. The chair adds a pop of color, making the dark colored walls feel warm and inviting.

1. Light versus Dark

Balancing the lighter and darker tones can be a challenge, since having too much of one can overwhelm and wash out the other. These baths represent the perfect balance of tones. The darker walls counteract against the polished bathtubs and light fixtures. This not only adds a great balance, but brings a rich and inviting depth of color to the room.

Photo courtesy of Garden Trading

Photo courtesy of Original Style

Photo courtesy of Original Style

3. Allowing Tones to Stand Out

When it comes to dark-colored walls, an immediate response may be to counteract the heavier tones with lighter statement pieces. While this can create a beautiful design, it’s important to allow the rich, dark colors to stand out. In this kitchen, there are minimal pieces that are lighter in color, allowing the walls to be full in color and provide a warm and cozy atmosphere.

August 26, 2019 Leave a comment

Bringing the Outside In

with:Camille Furst

With the push for wellness-oriented spaces around the globe, interior designers are looking for different ways to incorporate this rapidly-growing industry to their styles. While including more plants and flowers into the home is known to brighten up the atmosphere, some designers are taking this theme to the next level. Here’s how:

Photo courtesy of Maison Valentina

Photo courtesy of VG New Trend

Photo courtesy of VG New Trend

When it comes to lighting, many chandeliers are starting to incorporate elements of nature to bring a more natural, elegant look. Both of these chandeliers are surrounded by vines and flowers, allowing the natural elements to be woven into the design. While critics may argue that the “unrefined” elements of nature decrease the elegance of the chandelier, these rooms prove them wrong. While remaining luxurious, the chandeliers’ design provide a warmer and more relaxed atmosphere.

Natural elements can also be incorporated into the wallpaper of a room, adding a bold yet comfortable piece to the space. Regardless of the individual’s style, nature-oriented wallpaper can be incorporated.

For a more feminine look, a bold, floral wallpaper does just the trick. The bright colors add a fun and relaxed style, while the natural elements of the flowers freshen up the atmosphere of the room.

Photo courtesy of Wallsauce

Photo courtesy of Wallsauce

If you’re looking for a less feminine wallpaper, however, incorporating nature to the room is certainly still possible. The darker wallpaper in this bathroom, although much less feminine than a floral backdrop, still adds natural elements to give the room a fresh look.

August 24, 2019 Leave a comment

Styling a Room with Bold Floors

with:Camille Furst

An often underrated way to style a room with is the flooring, which often ends up as a simple hardwood or tile design. While adding neutral tones to floors can allow other statement pieces in a room to pop, sometimes a bold flooring can be just what the space needs.

With that, here are some tips and tricks to designing a room around a bold floor or rug:

Photo courtesy of Lithos Design

Photo courtesy of Chaplins Furniture

1. Matching Colors

When wanting to design a room with a statement piece, it’s always important to choose the piece that will pop before designing anything else. This way, you’ll know the colors and fabrics involved with the statement piece, and can design around that. In terms of flooring, a bold rug can make or break a room. Choosing the bold rug before anything else can ensure whatever you choose for the rest of the room will complement it.

With this space, the bold rug has two main colors, with gold being its secondary color. Instead of choosing another blue for the chairs, the designer chose to use the rug’s secondary color. This way, the blue rug still adds a pop, rather than being one of pieces with a similar color in the room. By using one of the more minor colors on the floor, there is still a wide variety of hues to have a creative and comfortable style.

Photo courtesy of RugSociety

Photo courtesy of WOW Design

2. Sleek and Airy

By allowing the bold floor pattern to be the centerpiece of the room, the designer creates a light and airy atmosphere. Instead of cluttering the room with more designs and colors, the simple designs allow for the bold floor to stand out. The minimalist look along with various plants adds a sleek and refined style to the room while also adding just enough color to keep it vibrant.

The chevron floor interlocking tile and hardwood floors adds a one-of-a-kind design for the individual to enjoy. With the only other colors in the room being a hint of black and green, the minimalist design keeps the style interesting while also comforting in its simplicity. Keep this design in mind if you’re looking for a minimalist style with an added statement piece.

3. Eclectic Style

Don’t be afraid of flooring that gets colorful and different. When styled correctly, this can be the selling-point of the home. Its uniqueness never fails to impress those who are looking for something different yet clean and airy.

While this tile may look busy and complicated close up, take a step back and see the beauty it adds to the home. The mid-century modern design adds a flair unlike any other, while also staying sleek and refined.

Photo courtesy of Lithos Design

August 21, 2019 Leave a comment

Reach for the Sky

with:Camille Furst

High ceilings have become a statement piece in homes and apartments across the nation, and buyers have responded. The National Association of Home Builders conducted a survey in which 67 percent of respondents in 2018 said they would be willing to pay more money for ceilings higher than 8 feet on the first floor of their home — and with the percentage steadily increasing over the past few years, it’s clear that high ceilings are a great addition to any home.

With so many different benefits, high ceilings can become the selling-point of the home. Here are some benefits involved with designing a home around high ceilings:

Photo courtesy of 90 Morton

Photo courtesy of THREE MARKS

1. More Space

By adding more vertical space, high ceilings offer a spacious atmosphere for the individual to live in. The additional space adds a grander feel to the room, elevating the standard of luxury homes.

At 277 Fifth Avenue in New York City, the 13.5-foot ceilings provide a sense of grandeur and elegance, bringing an elevated sense of luxury to the residence. The light and airy curtains hanging from the top provide a sleek and stylish addition to the grand floor-to-ceiling windows.

1. Dazzling Views

In apartments and residential homes across the country, high ceilings can allow for even more windows, and therefore add spectacular views. With the potential of higher ceilings, floor-to-ceiling windows can provide spectacular views of the landscape before them.

At Summit New York, a private residential building located in the heart of Midtown Manhattan, the 15-foot ceilings allow for gorgeous views of the Chrysler building with the rest of the city in the background. The sheer height of the ceilings allows for a larger view, adding a dazzling feature to the home.

Photo courtesy of Summit New York

Photo courtesy of DooArchitecture

1. Creative Design

Although high ceilings include great benefits just by themselves, they also have added benefits for interior designers everywhere. Higher ceilings allow interior and architectural designers to get creative with the space they have available to them. Rather than creating a simple, high ceiling, designers have used their creativity to create spectacular pieces that can be the centerpiece of the space.

By using different materials and an eye-catching design, the designers have created a statement piece in the Ritz-Carlton Residences in Miami, Florida. They not only add a spacious and airy feel to the room, but its design allows for an artistic interpretation of the classic high ceiling.

Photo courtesy of DooArchitecture

1. Wellness-Booster

Adding natural light and creating an uncluttered, airy atmosphere, high ceilings with tall windows can increase the wellness of the individual. And with wellness becoming a hot topic in the industry, high ceilings and tall windows can become the selling-point of the home. By 2017, the wellness industry was worth $4.2 trillion, according to the Global Wellness Institute — a jump of 12.8 percent from 2015. And as the industry’s worth only increases, higher, grander ceilings have the potential to be a decisive element to the home.

Photo courtesy of Turnberry Ocean Club

Photo courtesy of Turnberry Ocean Club

August 19, 2019 Leave a comment

Jewel Tones and Inviting Textures

This autumn, let rich jewel tones like deep mauve, sapphire blue and dust pink take center stage. “Embrace the sophistication of the season in all its moody glamour,” says Snowden.

A lush black velvet bed instantly adds elegance to a bedroom and sets a luxurious base to build upon. Layer deep, rich tones via opulent textures like velvet and faux fur to create a lavish, comfortable setting.

Black and Yellow – A Perfect Pair

On a brighter note, pairing black and yellow results in a lighter, modern take on autumn décor. One part dark, one part festive, and altogether stylish. Choose a dark yellow like mustard, in homage to autumn’s signature leaves.

“This trendy color contrasts nicely with a sleek black leather sofa to produce an edgy and seasonal-appropriate palette,” says Snowden. Go bold with a mustard feature wall or start small with yellow cushions, rugs and planters.

Accessorize

In the spirit of transitioning into the season, get crafty and DIY some autumn-themed accessories. “Metallic accessories are a simple and effective way to add a pinch of glamour and light to any space,” Snowden advises.

Get Back

Inspired by the refrain, “Get back, get back, get back to where you once belonged,” the Get Back sofa was designed a product of “in-depth research into comfort,” according to the brand when the piece was introduced at this year’s Salone del Mobile.

With generous, spacious and open lines, reclined backrests that encourage relaxation, and numerous modular elements to combine freely in lots of different compositions, it’s difficult not to find a sense of inner peace when sitting on this sofa.

On top, soft cushions and chaise elements offer unexpected depth, as well as an alluring invitation to “Get back home” and enjoy the relaxing and convivial atmosphere of your living room.

Rejecting convention and formalism, Let it Be was the first of the Beatles-inspired modular furniture systems designed by Ludovica and Roberto Palomba for Poltrona Frau.

Channelling the popular Beatles song, this seating solution embraces and reinterprets the notion of the Roman triclinium where individuals lay down, ate, talked and lazed about in earlier times.

As a refuge for relaxation, the sofa’s infinite configurations afford individuals the opportunity to curate different arrangements to fit their space and lifestyle.

The purity of the design is accentuated with beautiful details including leather and saddle leather stitching as well as refined plush cushions.

Keeping comfort and sociability in mind throughout the creative process, Come Together was born out of a desire to offer people a place for sharing — even moreso, an invitation to rediscover the dimension of physical and concrete proximity of exchanging ideas and emotions.

Each facet of the design encourages people to come together and enjoy the company of others. With limitless compositional possibilities, this system features a series of accessories that are versatile and functional.

Differing elements were designed to connect seating compositions to ultimately create more livable, shareable and convenient arrangements.

KB Home Design Studio is known for working with customers as they are building a new home to help them personalize the space for their individual needs.

“Because each customer is unique with different tastes, we must be able to include choices that reflect many design aesthetics,” says Gena Kirk, Vice President of Design at KB Home.

What tools outside of work help inspire you while you work?

We’re accommodating a wide variety of customers who are looking to personalize their home at an affordable price so the more information we have about the products being developed and available the better we can provide value products to our KB customer.

Are there some that don’t inspire but help you get away from work?

I am personally inspired by such mediums as home design shows, decorating magazines, Houzz, Pinterest, Apartment Therapy, decorating blogs and following retail furniture trends.

What kind of styles/trends are most prevalent in millennial-bought homes today, and why?

Millennials are purchasing only the square footage they need verses the biggest home they can afford. This makes flexible spaces very important to these buyers and they want to make best use of that space.

Lastly, millennials are looking to a minimalist design aesthetic. This also helps maximize their living space and provide a clean, modern look. They will use neutral paint colors, like greige, to warm the space.

What has been your favorite project to work on at KB Home?

Was there anything that inspired you specifically?

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