Open and Airy Rooms

In Venice, Calif., this living and dining area opens up on three sides: to the lap pool on the west with sliding glass doors; to the north courtyard with pocketing glass doors and to the south garden and guest house through pivoting metal doors.



Architect Scott Joyce designs a chic Hollywood Hills home with an entire rear facade consisting of glass walls that accordion open to create seamless outdoor/indoor living room.



A unique Palm Springs home features a white living room designed by Luis Ortega. The interior contains a mix of contemporary materials and natural elements, playing homage to American modernism.



Architect Max Strang designs an outdoor living room with a panoramic 360-degree view. Featuring "ipe" wood floors, an amazing ceiling of rusted industrial steel and furnishings from Bali, the space feels like a high-style tree house.



This Malibu great room with its eye-catching smooth stucco fireplace has a wall of bi-fold doors, which open to make the indoor and outdoor spaces feel like one. The glass-tiled pool is surrounded by a teak deck featuring a concrete BBQ and Viking appliances.



In Newport Beach, designer Mark Cutler creates a room that was designed to make the most of its waterfront location and enjoy a cottage-like feeling with a European flair.



Architect David Hertz designs an amazing glass-walled beachfront home in Venice, Calif., with an incredible roll-down window that opens the living room completely up to the outdoors.



Designer Mark Cutler creates a loggia at a Beverly Hills estate featuring an outdoor living and dining area in yellows and greens inspired by a Tuscan villa.

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Black and Bold

A classic palette of black, white and navy blue combines the glamour of old Hollywood with the richest of bold neutrals. If black walls aren't your thing, consider white walls paired with black furniture and accents of blue. This will keep the overall look dramatic but give the room a much lighter feel.

As you well know, if you follow my blog, I love the black pallette with splashes of color. This is a winner for me although blue is not a color of my choice. It does look great in this setting.

Homeowners with a flair for the dramatic may find black and cherry red an ideal color combination for their interiors. Painting walls is an inexpensive and easy task. So, if you want to audition these colors in your home, it's best to use red on walls and black on pricey upholstery. Because black goes with virtually every color, upholstered pieces will fit in perfectly should the red be swapped for another hue later on.

While many designers consider teal and lime green to be two of the most difficult colors to work with, when used together, they create a look that is fresh and inspiring. Experiment with this high-energy pairing in a small space where you don't spend much time, like a bathroom. Because the blue-green tone of teal is less intense than the electrifying citrus color of lime green, it's best to use teal as the dominant tone and lime as an accent.

Pumpkin, medium gray and dark brown is an excellent combination for orange lovers too intimidated to use red-orange or tangerine for their interiors. Adding medium gray to the mix prevents the otherwise autumnal palette from being labeled as seasonal.

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Foyers

A Pretty and Classic Foyer

Michael S. Smith designed the chair in this beautiful foyer and upholstered it with fabric from his own line.

A Rustic Entryway

All the antique American hooked rugs in this house designed by Barbara Westbrook, including those in this entryway, are from Rubs by Robinson.

A Neoclassical Foyer

Designer J. Randall Powers used creamy marble floors and a pair of antique Italian commodes topped by marble urns, which are centered by a noble Zodiac light.

A Glowing Entrance

Designer Susan Ferrier used a Richard Mulligan lantern, a 17th-century armchair, Directoire Dog Bed console, with custom finish, by Bobby McAlpine for MacRae, and Pier mirror fabricated by Stonehenge Framing.

A Classic Entrance

Designer William Hodgins said, "I felt like this wide walkway needed strong symmetry and strong furniture." To that end, he placed a pair of large Sheraton consoles against one wall. Foyer floors are faux-painted marble tile

A Heartfelt Entryway

In this entrance hall, designer Jeffrey Bilhuber used a rectangular table skirted in a custom fabric by John Robshaw.

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The Dining Experience

Informal Dining Room

Designer and homeowner Kerry Delrose didn't want a formal dining room, so he skirted the table and uses it for buffets.

Living Room and Dining Room in One

Designed by Andrew Halliday and David Greer, the living and dining areas are combined in this 550-square-foot room, typical of new condo construction. The curtains are one of the few patterned fabrics in the apartment. Dining chairs by Dualoy covered in perforated leather.

French-Country Dining Room

Designed by Cathy Kincaid, this dining room takes a cue from an old French farmhouse, with a beautiful French Directoire chandelier as the focal point

Dining Room by Barry Dixon

The dining room of this Maryland house is a textbook Barry Dixon design with naturalistic textures and shapes. Niermann Weeks Avignon chandelier; Swaim dining chairs in Bergamo's Siegfried fabric; Barcelona table by Panache Designs.

Michael Taylor's Style

The dining room designed by Michael Taylor features wallpaper that is a copy of an 18th-century chinoiserie original. Taylor had the baseboards faux-grained and waxed to look like pale oak

Inspired by Albert Hadley

Hand-painted 19th-century wallpaper mounted as a screen wraps around Carol Curtis's Atlanta dining area, which she designed with her daughter, Sarah Norwood. The zebra rug is a nod to Albert Hadley, one of Curtis and Norwood's favorite designers.

Modern Dining Room

Designed by Betsy Burnham, this modern dining room features an eccentric yet artful collection of Nymphenburg porcelain figures. The upholstered chairs are from Artistic Frame

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Home Librairies

Red Library

"Red libraries are best!" says designer Alessandra Branca. Walls are upholstered in wool paisley. The sofa and ottoman are Branca designs.

Mahogany Library

Since a mahogany-paneled library can tend to be dark, designer Markham Roberts brightened up this Connecticut family's home library. He says, "Almost everything was chosen for its ability to pop," including the Tibetan rug, curtains in Pierre Frey's L'Incourt, ottoman upholstered in Tiger Velvet from Brunschwig & Fils, and 1920s French vases mounted as lamps. The Swedish Neoclassical writing table is from H.M. Luther.

A Touch of Toile

Designer Robin Bell covered the sofa, armchair, and ottoman in this New York summer home's study in antique toile.

Sea-Inspired Library

Designed by Gene Meyer and Frank de Biasi, this library features seahorses throughout the room, including the vintage plaster lamps with rattan shades. The pink on the walls, decorated with seashells, is a custom mix that is fitting for this Miami home.

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Studies

Manhattan Apartment Library

 

The paneling in the library of this New York apartment designed by David Kleinberg, is inset with bronze in a square motif, echoed by Roger Thibier's gilded coffee tables. A Chanel-style sofa is covered in Classic Cloth's Kansas.

Two-in-One Room

 

Designed by Andrew Halliday and David Greer, this study/guest bedroom features three bronze panels designed to mask the ventilation system. The vintage airplanes are from Bizarre Bazaar. Desk chair by Dualoy covered in perforated leather.

Dark and Cozy Library

 

Designer Amanda Kyser has filled Long Island home's library with artistic details. The Molina sofa from Bespoke is covered in Arabica Belgian linen from Libeco-Lagae, and the pillows are a mix of antique silk ikat and 19th-century Thai patterns. Walls are painted Dark Taupe and bookcases are Merlot, both by Benjamin Moore.

Glamorous Study

Designed by Joe Nye, the cocoa-brown color of this L.A. Condo's study was a dramatic departure from the rest of the house. Walls are painted Benjamin Moore's Shenandoah Taupe.

A Masculine Library

 

Designed by Albert Hadley, this New York City apartment office features a custom bench with corner arms, which is upholstered in Tiger silk velvet in Oro by Lee Jofa. The desk chair is covered in Liberty's Papageno from Osborne & Little. The Stark rug is made of vintage carpet fragments. Italian marbleized paper lines the bookcase.

Sophisticated Library

 

Designed by Alex Papachristidis, this library is a cozy mix of classic, modern, and Asian design, and is meant to be a dark, bold contrast to the light-filled living room in this home. Metal zigzag table is a 1970s Italian piece.

A Barry Dixon Design

 

In this study, designed by Barry Dixon, a sofa covered in a Nottingham paisley from Quadrille and a Julian Chichester twig table sit atop an antique Oushak rug. The mock crocodile leather desk is from Scalamandré, as is the curtain fabric, Ping.

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Updates In Minutes

Break Up Dining Chairs

Unless you seat 8 to 10 people at your dining table every week, your chairs probably don’t get much use. Steal two from the dining room, and use them to flank a console table in your entry, a dresser in your bedroom, or the sideboard in your living room.

Update Your Lampshades

Outdated lampshades can make a room feel stale. To give your space a more modern feel, trade your pleated shades for simple drum-shaped ones -- they’re better looking and easier to keep clean. If you really want to make a statement, forgo a white shade in favor of something more dramatic, like gray.

Decorate the Personal Spaces

When decorating, we often spend our time, money, and energy on the rooms that we assume will be appreciated by other people. But if you find that you spend more time in your study (or bathroom, for that matter), it should be decorated with the same zeal and enthusiasm as your living room. Take one object you love -- try a lamp, painting, or pretty book -- and move it to a place where you can appreciate it most.

Change Your Light Fixture

Instead of a standard chandelier, try hanging a lantern over your dining room or breakfast table for a less fussy look.

Ditch the Matching Pillows

Many sofas come with a pair of pillows in a coordinating fabric, but the matchy-matchy look can be a bit obvious. Upgrade to down-filled pillows with removable covers in a fabric you love -- and don’t be afraid to mix it up with different patterns. A graphic floral looks fantastic against a small-scale stripe.

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Corian and Missoni

“Corian loves Missoni”. Corian, by DuPont, offers the kind of versatility that lends itself perfectly to enhancing the unique Missoni sense of style. The solid surfaces of Corian are used to create a vision that ranges from the most delicate, elegant cut-out patterns to the boldest, most beautiful of stripes, to items of absolute simplicity in the purest of whites. Together, Corian and Missoni present collections running with breathless exuberance through kitchen, bath, living and dining areas... Corian’s special qualities lend it to applications that only imagination limits: the hardwearing, bright and flexible material expresses an ethos of modern living that is perfectly partnered with Missoni. Simple, rational designs for living show off the stunning colour combinations and distinctive flair of Missoni - now so perfectly captured in Corian!




Images are courtesy of DuPont.

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