Recover and Renew

Designer Fabrics and Textiles from Bergamo

Recover, renew, reupholster! Bergamo designer textiles and fabrics are ready to change your impression of that sofa or chair you have been fighting to keep, you know the one where the fabric is shot but the rest is still good. Or you may be planning a ground up interior design project and really want to make a dramatic visual statement that only serious attention to detail will fulfill. Bergamo understands and has collaborated with top designers like Lori Weitzner, Ulf Moritz, and Dominique Kieffer who have designed entirely different fabric concept all of which are stunning. Here are a few of the Bergamo designer fabrics from their Rubelli and Sancho collections. I hope you get inspired!! -via LOVE IT!!!!!

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Coordinating Fabrics/Room at a Glance

When designers begin a project to design a room, this is how we start, first of all determine your style and the style of your furniture. Then select a main fabric.....one you LOVE LOVE LOVE!!!!! As an example let's say the top fabric in the above picture....then pull in color tones and textures that will compliment the main fabric pulling out variations of colors and shapes. Let's say you use the top fabric for you sofa, the second for a side chair, the third and fourth color for pillows. You are getting the idea. Have fun with the following photos designing your own room.



Guilded Merlot
Coordinating upholstery & drapery fabric. Click sub title to view suite.



Tropical Spa
Coordinating upholstery & drapery fabric. Click sub title to view suite.




Metro Transition
Coordinating upholstery & drapery fabric. Click sub title to view suite.




Jungle Love
Coordinating upholstery & drapery fabric. Click sub title to view suite.


How much fun is this, right!!!!!!!!!!!! This is why we love the challenge of design

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High Street Style

HighStreet was created for people who are wild about design. Co-founded by Matt Knotts and Leah Spurrier, the eight-thousand square foot downtown Cincinnati facility offers an award-winning Design studio and Urban Lifestyle Store.

Based on the boundary-free blending principles of modern London style, HighStreet exists to encourage American consumers and lifestyle enthusiasts to think for themselves when it comes to buying and collecting ... to hunt for fierce objects they can relate to ... and expect intelligent design to follow.

Other than the products of their own design, products at HighStreet come from literally everywhere, offering what they refer to as the greatest shopping of the world, abridged.

HighStreet offers enduring design products that mix well into any lifestyle - items that can be placed into any context (modern or otherwise) and elevate the outcome.
If you are on a mission of well-articulated personal expression, about collecting enduring living objects, and about not taking it all so seriously, HighStreet offers a design-conscious lifestyle that is personal and meaningful.
The Design Studio at HighStreet offers design services in many forms: Art Direction, Interior Design, Trend Forecasting, Consulting on Design Culture, Philosophy and Consumer Goods, Exterior Planning, Product Design, Corporate/Commercial Space Planning and Design, Restaurant, Hospitality, Total Brand Consideration, and Design of Outdoor and Public Space.

Whatever your visual intelligence, HighStreet is a vehicle to learn and to push yourself forward… a hotbed of activity, information, and the source of great inspiration.

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Animal Instinct

I placed this leopard statue under my personal coffee table. Decorating with animal accents allows creativity to go wild!!!! (Pun Intended!!!)

These hand drawn animal prints are a personal private collection given to me by two of my favorite and very creative friends. They know I love accenting with animal pictures, statues, etc.

My friend drew this picture which was featured on the back cover of a national geographic photograph.

One of my favorites!!!!

I am always in search of accents with animals and this was a gift by another friend who knew my style of decorating with black, animals and oriental touches.

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Now that you know my love for designing around animal accents. I was so excited to find another designer that shares that love and I am making his home the "Featured Home of the Month"!!!!!!

I found his photographs at HG and emailed him asking permission to publish his room. WOW, guess I can spot them, it turns out he is a creative designer living in Atlanta and also working on his own reinvented vintage style clothing line for ladies, a high end suits line fashioned after the late great Coco Chanel. His website is under construction and I will publish that information when he has completed it. Lon has used the basic black theme, which I love and created lovely rooms with his animal accents and fabric selections.( Chanel created the classic design of the little black dress) as we realize clothing fashion will flow into home interior fashion.
In this photograph Lon has a great accent chair and has covered the cushion in yet a different print pulling it all together as a focal point into the room.

I love the total look here, clean, stylish and comfortable!!!


Accenting the photo, Lon selected this leopard frame , a simple yet perfect touch.



How chic!!! BRAVO!!! to you Lon, can't wait to see all of the clothing line. It is a privilege to showcase such a multi-talented designer.


This is one sample of Lon's clothing line!!! Talk about animal instinct...we will keep you posted when his website is up and running and provide a link.

Just the name, Coco Chanel, was enough to define a pair of shoes, a hat, a purse, a suit, perfume, jewelry-an entire look. It conveyed prestige, quality, impeccable taste and unmistakable style.
Since Coco Chanel introduced it in 1926, the little black dress, has become the epitome of timeless fashion. It is the answer to every "What should I wear to..." question from cocktail parties to casinos to class reunions. Just add pearls or completely change the look by adding color accessories or a patterned scarf . It is the same concept many designers use in homes or offices , simply changing the accessories changes the total look for a timeless design.
As a concept, the little black dress has even moved on to represent an ideal of a perfectly simple, yet sexy object. Even the computer industry recognizes the need to inject a bit of "little black dress" into its design and marketing.
A fashion anomaly, the concept of the little black dress never changes, much unlike the trend-crazed home interior and fashion industry.

. http://womenshistory.about.com/od/chanelcoco/a/coco_chanel.htm

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Color Palettes

Selecting a color palette can be confusing, these samples show if you stay within the same color tones you can add interest by mixing and matching fabrics designs, color and scale.. Furnishings with simple lines invite fabrics that are more complex in color or texture. Most people use two fabrics when decorating a room -- a print and a solid. Add interest and variety by using three or more fabrics in a room with a pleasing mix of color, pattern, scale and texture. First, begin by choosing your focal or main fabric. Be sure it is a pattern that you LOVE!!!!!, it is the main pattern which guides you to choose the coordinating fabrics. Choose a pattern with a minimum of three colors. Choose two more fabrics, each having one or two of the focal fabric colors in their pattern. Vary the three fabrics in contrast. One fabric should be light, one medium and one dark. Change the scale or size of the patterns by choosing one fabric with a large pattern, one medium and one small. Solids fall into the small-pattern category. Using all the same size patterns will cause each one to overpower the other. Of course, fabric decisions will depend upon your room’s ‘design styles’. This means that a particular style will require a specific material pattern.
Be sure to bring home a sample and view it in your home lighting, colors appear different in sunlight or showroom lighting .

Today, fabric companies are offering coordinated fabric sets; which mean choosing matching fabrics is easier and the decision is less confusing.

http://www.housefabric.com/defaultproduct.asp

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Silk Trees and Plants

You're staying at a gorgeous mountain resort in the middle of a forest of trees. The large lobby is filled with birch and spruce. It looks great and green and you are excited to be there. Everything in the lobby is lush and green. You go to check in and there is a large bouquet of fresh flowers...but wait. There is no smell and usually you're a little sensitive to live flowers, what gives? Don't be surprised. Commercial decorators have know the wonders of Artificial Trees and plants for quite some time. Hotels and offices don't want high maintenance trees that need constant care. They what set it and forget it convenience that comes with high quality artificial trees. Silk trees are available in nearly any size you can imagine and they are available in nearly any tree variety. With the advances in manufacturing that the silk plants industry has gone through, the quality of these artificial plants has gotten to a point where most people don’t notice. Decorating your home with silk plants is a valuable décor tool. The trees are great for filling empty corners or adding warmth to a poorly lit space. Entryways are perfect for fake trees and can save you $100's over buying expensive furniture to decorate a space you don't spend much time in. You can buy evergreens, foliage trees, tropical trees, fruit trees and flowering trees. You can buy trees that are always in summer or always in fall. If you can't find a tree that is exactly what you are looking for you can have one made for you. Custom built tress are more expensive but they can fill exactly the space and decor you need them to fill. Visit my overstock for great prices at

http://www.overstock.com/

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Sensuous Silks

Silk fabric has a soft, lustrous and supple hand. For centuries silk has had a reputation as a luxurious and sensuous fabric, one associated with wealth and success. Silk is one of the oldest textile fibers known to man. It has been used by the Chinese since the 27th century BC. Silk is mentioned by Aristotle and became a valuable commodity both in Greece and Rome. During the Roman Empire, silk was sold for its weight in gold.Characteristics of Silk Fabric Cultivated silk is a beautiful luxurious fiber with a smooth luxurious hand. This type of silk can be dyed and printed in bright colors that are very pleasing to the eye. Silk's abrasion resistance is moderate. However, it is ranked high in strength for natural fibers. Silk fabrics have good absorbency. Fabrics made from silk are comfortable in the summer and warm in the winter.Silk fabrics have only moderate resistance to wrinkling. It is often recommended that silk garments be dry-cleaned. When hand or machine washing washable silk garments, test for water spotting in an obscure place because silk gets water-spots easily.

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Trimmings

Simple elegance can be added to draperies, pillows, and table runners for a simple touch of class. Holidays and everyday can be enhanced with these accents to create a feeling of warmth and luxury.

Placing a large tassel around a large clear vase and filling it with greenery can also create an elegant center piece. Crystal beads or key tassels can be used as napkin rings to add more glamour to your Holiday table settings. Don't forget the fireplace to top off the perfect holiday mood.Placing eyelash fringe around the top and or the base of a lamp is simply sumptuous.

http://www.fabric.com/home-decor-fabric-tassel-trim-fringe.aspx

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