heaven on earth

: : I spend my days longing for this place. the view from the sauna at my family's summer house. it's heaven on earth : :

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happy belated easter!

: : I know it's after .easter. already, but I couldn't resist sharing these beautifully crafted eggs by Slovenian artist, .franc grom. incredible!

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Happy Weekend

This Concrete Pod by Architect Kazuya Morita is a piece of Sculptural beauty. Just think of all the different applications for this amazing piece.........

"Concrete-pod" is micro-space furniture for private and public use made of extremely thin concrete. In the dome, because of its minimal scale, it makes us more sensitive and relax perhaps like when we are in a traditional tea-house CHA-SITSU. It was exhibited in "Concrete Art Museum 2005" in Nagoya, Japan.

"Concrete-pod" is made from fiber reinforced concrete, which is the mixture of white cement and light-weight aggregate and glass fiber. By application of Japanese traditional plasterer's skill SAKAN, it was plastered on the dome-shaped mould by a trowel. After hardening, the mould of Styrofoam was dismantled and removed.

The diameter and the height of "Concrete-pod" is 1700mm each, thickness of shell is 15mm only. A minor axis of a hen's egg is about 40mm and thickness is 400 micron, so it means this concrete-shell is just like an expansion of a hen's eggshell. Though it's "hen's egg thin", "Concrete-pod" has the enough strength that a grown-up man can climb up. Even when you are in the "Concrete-pod" which is tenderly covered by the concrete-shell, you can feel the outside environment through the number of the holes, so it makes us feel indoor and outdoor at the same time, and takes us to the sensitive feeling and deep relaxation in the nature.

Patricia Gray writes about Interior Design inspirations, emerging trends, and the world of Design.
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Category › Happy Weekend

Nursery Wallpaper

How cute is this wallpaper?  It is some of the nicest wallpaper I have seen for children's rooms.  It is from a British company called Fromental. Established in 2005,  Fromental produces a beautiful line of hand painted wallpapers.  The Company is headed by Tim Butcher, former seven years Creative Director of world-renowned hand-painted Chinoiserie house de Gournay.  Their latest line is called "Brainchild" (I love that name), and is a mini collection of 3 fun layouts for children's rooms.  The pictures show the colorways available in each series.  The schematic shows how the panels go together to create a mural on the wall.

 

 

 

 

 

Category › Wallpaper

ready made kitchens

: : found these wonderful and warm kitchen pieces by architect .knud kapper. for .hansen living. when I was browsing .inhabitat. today. beautiful pieces in oak, maple and teak. the first image is called an instant kitchen meant for studios and small apartments, just hook it up to water and electricity and you have a kitchen ready.

and I fell in love with the yellow on the walls in the last photo. I like the contrast between the yellow and white, and the yellow is so warm, reminds me of spring......or maybe I'm just in easter mode.

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Farrow & Ball Launch 18 New Colors

Farrow & Ball Paint has just introduced 18 new paint colors in their line. I like the Farrow & Ball Paint range because it is complete yet concise. The specification of the product is very clear without too many different finishes or too large a product range to make it confusing. To use, it is just superb, like brushing silk onto the walls. The depth of colour can only be compared to silk, a fibre with a great capacity for pigment.

The product is premixed ensuring good colour matching. Every Farrow & Ball Paint colour is perfect. It is the exact shade or tint that works for a particular colour. The depth of colour and finish is way above all other paints. Every colour is a winner.

I also love the names of the colours; no other product allows you to specify ‘Drab’ and have the result be fabulous! I am especially happy to see the bottom 3 new Farrow & Ball colors: Pelt, Tanners Brown & Pitch Black and can hardly wait to try them. Wimborne White and Skimming Stone will definitely be on my list of new whites to try. I have paired some of these Farrow & Ball colors to pictures that I think might closely approximate the new paint colours in their line, so you can see how they might work in a room setting. Paint is a wonderful avenue for decorating. I always tell my clients that one colour doesn't cost anymore than another, but it can make all the difference in the world.

In rooms like the ones above I would use Farrow & Ball Paint No. 239 Wimborne White to bring out the detail in an all white space.
Photos Scott Yetman

Farrow & Ball Paint No.254 Pelt - A rich plum-brown, would be an elegant and very current choice for this room.

Farrow & Ball Paint No. 264 Cinder Rose for this room - "a fresh mauve colour" with perhaps just a little more pink in it than this picture.

Farrow & Ball Paint No.244 London Clay - the name says it all.

Farrow & Ball Paint No.242 Pavilion Gray - a pretty light gray

Farrow & Ball Paint No.249 Lancaster Yellow - a fresh and clean pale yellow

Farrow & Ball Paint No.247 Terre D'Egypte - a deliciously warm red-brown terracotta

Farrow & Ball Paint No.253 Drawing Room Blue - A traditional ‘salon’ blue, this colour’s clean hue is reminiscent of the pigment Cobalt,
used by artists and discerning decorators ever since its discovery in the 19th century.

Farrow & Ball Paint No.248 Incarnadine - A rich, crimson red, similar to the red gloss paint used by the late David Hicks
at Baron’s Court in the 1970s.

Farrow & Ball Paint No.240 Cat's Paw - A stylish, yellow-based neutral colour which has an especially soft tone.

Farrow & Ball Paint No.251 Curlish Green - A yellow-green colour has been used decoratively for centuries,
both on its own and as a ground beneath patterned wallpapers

Farrow & Ball Paint No.245 Middleton Pink - A very delicate and near-translucent traditional
pale pink which is pretty without being too sugary.

Farrow & Ball Paint No.255 Tanner's Brown - A dark, earthy brown, considered one of the most timeless of decorative tones.

Check out another post on the new Farrow & Ball paint colors at Windlost's Blog

 

 

Patricia Gray writes about 'WHAT'S HOT 'in the world of Interior Design, new and emerging trends, modern design,
architecture, and travel, as well as how your surroundings can enhance your world.
© Patricia Gray Interior Design Blog, 2009

Category › Color , Farrow and Ball

dala häst och tupp

: : these guys are my inspiration right now. maybe I'll have some more time to spend on my patterns this week.

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too much work

: : so sorry folks. I've been absent for too long. work has been taking up too much of my time. this week I hope things will be back to normal. and I have an exciting visit from my cousin, aunt and uncle to look forward to.

too busy at work, but still important to take breaks here and there, and my friend's wedding is giving me a reason to distract myself with browsing wedding blogs and photography sites. there's so much emotion captured in wedding photos. I like the first one, a simple backyard party. and the second with bold and colorful decorations. .julie harris. seem to be capturing the right moments.

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Thinking of You

I've been short of time last week and I may not have time to do a full posting this week...but I am thinking about all of you. I have several wonderful new clients that are consuming my energies. It is all good and I am doing some new and wonderful and inspiring things that I will share with you soon.

Picture via Le Petit Cabinet de Curiosites. Check out Melanie's blog. She is in France and has a great eye for design and color.

Category › Blogging

handmade american furniture

lovely .ali. shared this site she found. these guys do some amazing woodwork with so much attention to details. and if you visit their site, you'll see that they have a lot of fun too. visit them here bddw

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The Color Purple

I was at a color seminar a few weeks ago in Vancouver given by the very knowledgeable and iconic Leatrice Eiseman, ASID, IDSA, FGI, CGM.  Leatrice is the author of seven books on color.  She is a color consultant to many industries and is the executive director of the Pantone Colour Institute. I am fortunate to hear her speak every year on the Color Forecast Trends for the coming year.  This year "Purple" is one of the hot color trends for Living Spaces.  Like most things, new trends are slow to take effect on one's psyche.  They trickle in on a subconscious level and then all of a sudden you are seeing that trend everywhere.  So now that Purple was on my radar screen, I was pleasantly surprised to get back to my office and see Elle Decor March issue which had just arrived, and voilà a light purple wall was featured front and center on the cover.  I have also been collecting images of various shades of purple rooms in my file for awhile and I now have enough ammunition to do a post on this amazing color. In doing my research for this post and going through my paint fan decks I found a glaring shortage of this color.  Pantone has selected the color Blue Iris (PANTONE 18-3943) as the 2008 Color of the Year . Lilac, Iris, Mauve, Violet, Lavender, and Heather are all softer versions of the color Purple and are delicate and romantic, while deep or bright purples like Aubergine, Grape, Plum, Eggplant, and Iris are bolder and more dramatic.

 

 
This picture could have been used for my post on {The Color Orange}  This soft shade of purple is such a nice compliment for so many colors.  It goes well with orange, yellow, fuchsia, green, blue and taupe.

Above 3 pictures Elle Decor March 2007

Photo Katie Ridder

Madeline Weinrib Area Carpet

 

Jeffery Bilhuber has chosen to upholster two chairs in a deep rich shade of purple. 
I like how the shades of taupe and beige in the room tend to accentuate and enrich the chairs.

  

This library/office with painted walls in a beautiful shade of lilac is reminiscent of the 50's, but totally is recognizable
as being set 50 years fast forward with the advent of Apple Computer and the Zebra inspired wool area carpet.
photo Elle Decor March 2008

There is something so soft and feminine about the feel of the wallpapers that have been used for these lamp shades. 
I can smell lavender. 
photos Elle Decor March 2008

A classic English Campaign sofa with arms that drop down to extend the length for sleeping on.
photo EKB Interiors

A set of very fine Macassar Ebony side chairs for sale on 1st Dibs designed by Jules Leleu French Circa 1923

And now we move on to the deeper shades of purple: Aubergine, Grape, Plum, Eggplant.  So very appealing and dramatic.  In Medieval times Royalty & high officials of the Catholic Church were the only ones able to wear purple because of the expensive and rare dye that was used to make this majestic color.  So for many centuries it was associated with Royalty, Wealth and Majesty......Purple was the favorite color of Egypt's Cleopatra.

Velvet seems to be the right fabric choice and purple a very fitting color for these chairs in the style of William Haines.
photo Antonia Hutt 

 

A dramatic use of deep aubergine.
photo S Gambrel

The color of the cushions in this sunroom remind me of the color of a grape popsicle.
photo Tom Scheerer

I don't think that any other color would have worked as well for this room.  I would feel like a Queen sleeping here!
Hotel Luxe Marrakech 

There is even a Blog called Purple Area written by a wonderful Blogger located in Malmo Sweden

 

 

Is Purple your favorite color? What is your favorite shade of Purple?

For other posts on Color click here

Patricia Gray writes about 'WHAT'S HOT 'in the world of Interior Design, new and emerging trends, modern design, architecture,
and travel, as well as how your surroundings can influence the world around you.
© Patricia Gray Interior Design Blog, 2009

Category › Color , Color in Interior Design , Purple