We took a page, actually a board, from several local interior designers, to stimulate ideas and themes for your next home project.
We took a page, actually a board, from several local interior designers, to stimulate ideas and themes for your next home project.
Shawn Callaghan-Diaz loves color, but if she has the option she uses black as an accent color and fills the background with neutrals warm and cool and with an abundance of texture.
“I’m not generally adventurous when it comes to color with the exception of accessories which can be rotated seasonally including the art on your walls,” she says.
Her inspiration board includes fabrics, tiles, furniture, and lighting that can work in a variety of rooms and embrace both the masculine and feminine.
“Today’s floor plans are often very open and it is important for one room to flow well into the next and yet do it in a way that the spaces are well defined,” the designer notes. “I think it is important to visualize a room with accessories that pull it all together and give it a sense of history.”
Karen Kiarsis of Jordan Dahl Interiors always begins by seeing what a client already owns, from their grandfather’s oil painting to a pair of sofas from when they lived in the city. “I need to see it all and then listen to what they have in mind for the project. We discuss what should stay and what should go and this is where the inspiration begins to take shape.”
Her collage includes some of the details from a living room project where the client updated the room without changing absolutely everything. They chose a wool carpet that blends with the oriental rugs that are in adjacent rooms and existing draperies; a quiet textured fabric for a new sofa and to recover an existing sofa from another room; and a Clarence House blue-and-cream fabric for pillows. The beautiful side chair looks great with antique tables from their time living in London and new contemporary sconces.
“Projects like this can become a wonderful story as one inspiration leads to another and the fun never ends!”
In every project she does, Kathy Geoghegan says her goal is to help clients enjoy their homes more and guide them in personalizing their surroundings. “An effective design can do that and more,” she says.
Her inspiration for this project came from visits to the seaside. “I wanted to capture the tones on the bluffs of the sand, the ivory of the sea foam, and, most importantly, the reflection of the sun off the beautiful blues of the ocean. I wanted my clients to walk into calm spaces in their new home.”
The design plan was filled with clean lines and current, yet classic materials. Geoghegan’s goal was to provide a smooth transition from one room to the next while keeping with a cool palette of blues, creams, and soft silvers. Choosing paint colors like sea pearl, winds breadth, and etiquette set the tone for a calm setting. Wall coverings ranged from natural metal grass cloth to an elegant Picasso metallic platinum leaf for a touch of shimmer. Gray crocodile wall covering added personality to the children’s spaces. An inlaid French mirror across the wall above the fireplace mantle in the living room added a wonderful spark.
The fabrics played an important role in the design vision, starting with textured linen and a soft blue and gray velvet combination. “We kept in mind durability, comfort, and beautiful design to complete each room,” she noted.
Her favorite part of finishing a project is “filling the bookshelves with family photographs and displaying worn leather books and treasured collections that bring studied yet unassuming glamour into the rooms,” said Geoghegan.
