Elle Decor…great style ideas!

 Elle Decor this month has fantiastic two articles that caught our attention.

First is this lovely, but sort of funky Victorian in London that was once owned by Monty Python’s John Cleese. The current owners have redecorated and it’s brimming with a fresh,  vibrant feeling.

The striking cover photo is of the library in the home. The combination of the antique table and the modern sculpted walls is just stunning. The entire room is done in shades of white and beige with a few black accents for a high level of contrast.

The table, one of a pair, is from the 1940s and fits the overall French Art Deco style of the home. The plaster wall is done in a geometric motif based on the bias relief from a men’s store in Paris.

The walls in the living room are done with faux painted parchment panels that would be relatively easy to replicate with frottage techniques and decorative paint.

This library shows us that modern style and antiques can, and often should, sit side by side. They make the room feel both stylish yet contemporary – not your grandmother’s style.

It also shows that embellishments can feel at home in any space. The table’s embellishments are historic designs, all of which we have in our Efex collection. The Greek Key has small gargoyle-like characters on the corners. Below that are stars and then the shell and drop motif on the legs is from the Robert Adams catalog of the late 1700s.

The second article of interest was an interview with Gary Freidman, the CEO of RH Modern, formally known as Restoration Hardware. Like many of you, we have watched the transformation of RH over the years, while not really understanding where it was going. Yes, we still love most of the styles and have even been know to knock off some look-a-likes,  similar to the table below.

One paragraph in the interview made us sit up straight and really think! “The design world is going to massively evolve. There has been a lack of accessibility in the high-end home market. The trade design centers are like an iron curtain. You need an interior designer to even go look at the goods.”

He is right you know, elegant decor shouldn’t be hidden behind the showroom doors.  We see it every day in magazines and online and it truly should be available to everyone. RH really has made high-end design much more open and accessible. Reading the massive 2,500 page catalog, called The Book, you can actually learn something.

With modern blogs and online sites which provide you with more information than ever the mystic is gone, and in its place is a new and ever growing since of empowerment that “You Can Do It”. Just as Gary Freidman is changing the face of retail, the face of DIY is ever changing too.

Old fashion DIY is all about getting the look, and with modern paints and embellishments that has never been easier. It is easy to imagine how you could take a simple sturdy farmhouse table, embellish it, paint it, and then do something modern on the walls to get the same feeling.

But more important than the look is the feeling, the essence of what you see that you can add to your home. What we are all “looking for” is really a feeling and that is beyond simple DIY.  It is stripping back the curtain on the hidden design centers and giving everyone, especially you  – our customers and fans, the opportunity to affordably have that feeling in your home.

xoxo Lydia