Category

Color Inspiration

in Color Inspiration, DIY, Ispiration

2013 Spring/Summer Trends according to H&G

22 April 2013
2 Comments
In the latest issue of Homes & Gardens there was an attachment entitled “Trends -Spring/Summer 2013“, a nice idea with nice photos.
The trends listed were the following:
A touch of texture
Relief
Chunky Knits
Tapestry
Metallics
Setting the tone 
Cobalt
Mint
Pastels
Mood & meaning
Folklore
Tribal
On form
Stacking
Fragmented
We have in part already spoken about some of these trends (see for instance the post about Tom Dixon’s elegance, blue spaces and blue wall, fragmented rugs, tribal inspiration), some of these trends, like pastels, were a big hit last year as well so I bet they are on their way out. Tapestry (above from H&G) and folklore (below from H&G) are worth a mention above all if they are presented as well as they are in the photos from H&G.
in Color Inspiration, Interiors, Ispiration

Concrete : Casa do Coto in Portugal

17 April 2013
Leave a comment
I have been feeling like using concrete in one of my projects for a while now but I haven’t had the right project yet and when I mention the word concrete to any of my clients I can read panic in their eyes: they picture themselves living in a cold, bare, hard looking box. I believe doling concrete out and mixing it wisely with other materials and vintage pieces or antiques takes the edge off. Concrete in fact has a light grey not uniform colour that goes with basically everything but it needs to be “dressed” with warm furnishings.
The Casa Do Coto Hotel in Cedofeita Porto, Portugal partly does it. The historical facade hides a modern concrete interior characterized by baroque mirrors, vintage chairs, beautiful wooden pieces and engraved writing on the ceilings that give a new perspective to the rooms. 
in Arts+ Crafts, Color Inspiration

Roman colours

16 September 2012
Leave a comment
 
This morning I went with my friend Rebecca to the fascinating Circo di Massenzio in  Rome where they were holding a festival based on ancient Rome. There were many volunteers dressed up in Roman costume showing how they used to dance, fight, forge coins and earthenware, cook and much more. It was extremely interesting and it was like going back in time.
Above is a selection of some locally sourced plants that the ancient Romans used to dye fabrics (linen and wool). The colours are very pretty so I thought I would share them. 
 
in Color Inspiration, DIY

Decorating with stripes

21 August 2012
Leave a comment
I’m absolutely convinced that you don’t need much money to decorate, you need ideas and time. I started this blog and approach my work with this belief at the forefront of my thinking. Painting some stripes on the wall can make a corridor or an entry hall much more interesting. If you are not brave enough to use colour, you can copy this idea from the Maxxi Museum in Rome and paint black lines of varying heights. In order to achieve a good result, draw the line with a pencil and then mark with some masking tape and paint within the lines by hand. In the blog Centsationalgirl, a few people swear that the way to do it is by painting over the tape. I’ve never tried this but I’ll definitely be giving it a go, because just applying the tape and painting inside the lines requires a very steady hand and it’s likely you won’t end up with a straight line especially if it’s a long stripe.
in Color Inspiration, DIY

Candy colours for nails and interiors

10 July 2012
Leave a comment
 
 

 

I think the combination of these pastel colours would work very well as part of a colour palette in a white, airy, light house with a well balanced mixture of vintage and modern pieces. They are fresh, summery, yummy shades that lift your heart. I also love the way the beauty brand Mavala has named them (in particular “Fresh Melon”). Paint your bedroom in blue mint, add some cushions and curtains with a hint of fresh melon,lemon cream and pistacho, put some fresh pink flowers on the chest of drawers and life will be sweeter, I promise.
in Color Inspiration, DIY, Interiors

Neat masculine bedrooms

25 June 2012
2 Comments
living
elle 2
sciortino
Four beautiful neat bedroom looks that I would almost define masculine. If you decide to keep it minimal, it’s really important to find the right balance between natural raw materials, quality textiles and distinctive details, if you don’t want it to look just bare and boring. Also if you do go for this sort of look, keep in mind that it works only if it’s clutter free (and lets be honest men sometimes don’t understand this concept). 
 
Quattro look lineari per la camera da letto, che defineri quasi maschili. Se vuoi andare sul minimale, è importante trovare il giusto equilibrio fra materiali naturali, tessuti di qualità e dettagli di carattere, altrimenti il risultato potrebbe essere spoglio e noioso. Inoltre, se si opta per questo tipo di look, bisogna tenere presente che funziona solo se tenuto ordinato e con pochi oggetti.
in Color Inspiration, Interiors

The Glade, a new idea of trompe l’oeil

20 June 2012
Leave a comment
  +deco_the_Glade_london_sketch_1
+deco_the_Glade_london_sketch_4
I just came across a curious and sophisticated new version of a trompe l’oeil and I couldn’t resist  publishing it.
Carolyn Quantermaine has collaborated with Belgian artist Didier Mahieu on the new design of The Glade at Sketch in London, coming up with an exotic, decadent, dreamy garden that functions as a tea room by day and a bar by night. In order to recreate the depth of a forest, they enlarged an image from a Communion card, recoulored with paint and printed it again, cut it and rearranged it with the decoupage technique. What is it? Is it wallpaper (the print process suggests so)? Is it a trompe l’oeil (the painting process and the fact that it looks tridimensional suggest so)? Is it decoupage? Is it an art piece or a design product? Who knows, we just know that it looks amazing and that it is very innovative.
in Color Inspiration, DIY

Multicoloured stripes

13 June 2012
Leave a comment
 +deco_seletti_chest_of_drawers_stripes
+deco_lampshades_squint_limited
+deco_original_retro-style-striped-velvet-armchair +deco_ikea_rug_stripes
+deco_anne-claire-petit-mama-elephant-croc
The minimalist era, all gray and sleek, has come to an end. Colours are finally back. We wear yellow trousers and coral tops, fluorescent shoes and golden accessories. Our houses welcome new oranges, minty blues and bright yellows. Considering the difficult financial period that a lot of the world is experiencing at the moment, we need to bright up our days and rooms. Easily done with one the items above (just don’t go over the top with the stripes!).
From top:
– Seletti: “Trip- 3 drawers” chest of drawers
– A re-uphlostered vintage armchair from Not On The High Street
– Squint Limited : silky lampshade
– Ikea : “Randerup” rug
– Anne-Claire Petit : Elephant teddy bear
in Arts+ Crafts, Color Inspiration, DIY

God (and Pantone) save the queen’s sense of colour

3 June 2012
1 Comment
+deoc_pantone_queen_color_palette_2 +deco_queen_pantone_color_palette_1
Most Italians believe that she hasn’t got much dress sense and that she often looks like a kid’s ice-cream or a bottle of Lemoncello (for instance at William and Kate’s wedding). 
I think she is faboulous: she never clashes with the background even if she wears quirky colours, she is always elegant and appropriate, she has always been faithful to herself, she loves colour and she uses it to express a feeling or help to transmit a message.
Today she was wearing white, a peaceful calming colour that stood out but didn’t clash with the red and gold of her surroundings on the barge (Kate also did well with a red dress).
I would love to have one of the limited edition Panton Queen’s Colour Guide released with Pantone and Leo Burnett London! It displays the monochromatic outfits of the queen over the  last 60 years as a colour palette with the Pantone references. Brilliant.
in Color Inspiration, DIY

A colour palette of flowery fabrics by Designers Guild

13 April 2012
1 Comment
+deco_flowery_color_palette

Even if the weather today is horrible and it looks like we’ll have to wait a bit longer for the summer to come, I wanted to show you my summery colour palette and 3 flowery fabrics that use the colours: from left, Madame Butterfly-Peony, Amrapali-Peony and Orangerie-Rose by Designers Guild. Flowers are really in these days but there are not many  modern flowery fabrics around, most are just old designs. You can go for a ‘granny style’ fabric, but then you need to be sure to match it with the right furniture and wall decor if you don’t want to recreate your grandma’s sitting room. These designs, on the other hand, are fresh, elegant and colourful but contemporary; you can’t go wrong. 

Close