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.
For those who love consistently warm weather throughout the year, Florida is known for its tropical, relaxed atmosphere. The palm trees and sunny days transport you to the Caribbean — especially in a residential amenity like Laguna Solé.
Laguna Solé is a massive 7-acre, man-made swimming lagoon large enough to fit 21 Olympic-sized swimming pools. The crystal clear water imitates the Caribbean while its ultrasonic filtration system uses 100 times fewer chemicals than a regular pool.
The lagoon is located in the heart of Solé Mia, known for being the “city within a city” that’s being built by two of the most powerful real estate dynasties in America, the LeFraks and Soffers. The LeFraks developed LeFrak City in New York and Newport, New Jersey, while the Soffers are known for developing much of what Miami is today.
The lagoon is accessible by residents and guests of the Shoreline, Solé Mia’s newest two residential towers located right next to the lagoon.
The $4 billion city of Solé Mia is known for its residential amenities that are elevating the standard of residential living — and Laguna Solé is the most recent and extravagant example.
Photos courtesy of Solé Mia.
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.
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.
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.
On beautiful Lake Huron in in Sarnia Ontario, Canada, this home was originally custom-built by renowned Pineridge Timber Frame Homes. The 6,500 square feet of living space is detailed with a 37-foot stone hearth, Rumford fireplace and two more gas fireplaces.
“This unique, custom-built home features wood beams and walls throughout the entire main floor, giving it a log cabin type feel, with a modern twist,” says Jim Pumple of Coldwell Banker Southwest Realty who is listing the home for $2.5 million CAD.
The home also showcases a beautiful winding staircase, professional kitchen, four bedrooms, four baths, granite islands, heated floors under ceramic, marble and cement, a steam sauna, and a home theater with leather seating.
For more information, visit www.sothebysrealty.ca
This property originally appeared in Homes & Estates Summer Supplement ’19.
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
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
By creating a warm and inviting atmosphere, the fireplace can always become the centerpiece of the home. With so many different styles, however, it is becoming increasingly difficult to make decisions based on the look of the room. Here are different styles that can be used to complement your own personality and the atmosphere of the overall home.
Photo courtesy of THE OLD CINEMA
Photo courtesy of DelightFULL
1. The Classic Grand Fireplace
For a more refined look, the grand fireplace will do just the trick. The gray and white colors in this living room add to the polished atmosphere, bringing luxury to the forefront of the space.
If the style of the home is more traditional and elegant, this is the perfect fireplace for any room. Although it will blend in with the character of the rest of the home, it can still be grand enough to catch your eye. With its intricate detail and sheer size, it is certain to be the masterpiece of any home.
2. The Simple and Sophisticated Fireplace
If you’re looking for a fireplace that warms the atmosphere without taking away from other statement pieces in the room, head in the direction of a simpler, sleek fireplace for your home.
For a more sophisticated style that blends into the background, look toward matching the color of the fireplace with the dominant colors of the room. Tans and light greens dominate the following space, with the chandelier in the center being the main statement piece of the room. To avoid taking your attention off of the chandelier, allow the fireplace to blend seamlessly into the rest of the room.
Photo courtesy of John Cullen Lighting
Photo courtesy of Brabbu Design Forces
4. The Avant-Garde Fireplace
For the more eclectic, a fireplace can also become a piece of art. Instead of a simple or elegant design, tough material such as metal and less-common designs can add the perfect conversation piece to any room.
This fireplace in this living room adds a bold style that is not just a functional piece of the home, but a work of art in it of itself. The layers of metal that are perceived to have been peeled back to open up the fireplace, which adds a unique addition to the piece. With a bold wallpaper in the background and dramatic lighting, this style is for the most creative and eclectic individual.
3. The Space-Saver Fireplace
For those who live in apartments or are simply looking to save a bit more space, don’t rule out the possibility of having a fireplace in your home. For a more eclectic style while also saving space, look toward the stove fireplace. This style blends seamlessly into older-style apartments or spaces, and can add a pop of old-world flair to more modern rooms as well.
Photo courtesy of Ludlow Stoves
While the warm weather is slowly coming to a close in most of the country, greenhouses and conservatories are great for any type of weather. Both can add a beautiful, unique addition to any home — but what’s the difference, and how do you decide between the two?
While greenhouses are primarily meant to grow plants in a climate-controlled space, a conservatory is meant to be more of a living space where plants can grow in the same area. Here’s how to decide which would be better for your home:
Photo courtesy of Conservatory Craftsmen
Photo courtesy of Conservatory Craftsmen
Photo courtesy of Garden Trading
1. Use of Space
If you’re looking for extra living space in the home, a conservatory would work better. Add couches and benches for comfortable seating in a relaxed atmosphere. The glass walls allow in the much-needed light to create the bright, refreshing atmosphere for you to relax in.
If you’re interested in cultivating plants and produce, a greenhouse is a better fit. While it won’t add another seating area to your home, it will contribute to the uniqueness of the home allow those who love gardening to continue their hobby all year round.
2. What are Your Hobbies?
For the green thumb, adding a greenhouse to the home is always a step in the right direction. The main purpose for the area is to cultivate plants regardless of the weather outside, which will keep the hobby alive during all seasons of the year. Used solely for growing plants, it’s important to understand the commitment involved with keeping a greenhouse alive. The space requires upkeep, which may only be enjoyable for someone who loves gardening.
Photo courtesy of Garden Trading
Photo courtesy of English Blinds
For the person who likes to read and relax more than garden, a conservatory might be a better fit. While still allowing the individual to connect with nature, they don’t have to be as involved as a greenhouse owner would.
3. Atmosphere is Everything
The atmosphere in a greenhouse would be much different than in a conservatory. Look toward a greenhouse if a more nature-oriented atmosphere centered on gardening is desired.
Meanwhile, a conservatory will have a more finished and refined atmosphere with its furnishings. While still oriented around nature and the plants it holds, it is much less involved in the gardening process and therefore has a more polished atmosphere than a greenhouse.
Photo courtesy of Conservatory Craftsmen
Photo courtesy of Garden Trading
4. Overall Style
For a more modern and refined style, a conservatory is the right direction — while involved in nature, it is primarily meant for relaxing near the outdoors during any season of the year.
While both add a unique addition to any home, a greenhouse is a niche space for those who love nature and gardening during all seasons of the year. For a more eccentric look, a greenhouse is the perfect fit.