Heres a wee taste from the photo-shoot with more photos to come once the post production and editing are finished!

In this project my aim was to give the children a fresh and fun room that celebrates color, pattern and is gender neutral. The design also needs to allow for the children to have their own space and personality.

Color is used extensively to unify the room; the use of blue, off white and raspberry red are the default hues that play very nicely with splashes of saturated secondary colors. Breaking up the walls by adding the dado running the perimeter and using the patterned wallpaper from Harlequin on the lower 2 thirds of the wall space adds buckets of interest without over doing it.

Bunk beds help to open up the floor space and the wallpaper has the additional benefit of being wipeable and more resistant to grubby finger prints, rogue markers, and nicks & dings – which will keep the room looking fresher for longer than using just paint on the walls.

Inexpensive shelving from ikea and baskets for clothing makes it easy for the two children (both under 5) to access to their clothes without squishing fingers in drawers. The shelves also provide more storage space for all the extra things parents seem to need with toddlers & preschoolers, transitioning to more permanent furniture pieces and perhaps separate bedrooms further down the road.

My design of the table base & bench legs were inspired by the youngest members of the household - the family’s three ‘kids’ (including ‘Starlight’ the yellow lab). The legs purposefully have a playful and anthropomorphic quality to them.

It was important to me that the legs not look heavy, as I didn’t want such large scale furniture pieces visually overwhelming the space. Stainless steel was the perfect choice to achieve the feeling of lightness whilst supporting such a heavy table top.

To enjoy the views by having the seating right next to the windows, I designed extra deep benches (with lots of throw pillows for comfort) which maintains a spacious and comfortable feel.  My intent for the benches was to enable multiple uses; not only as seating for family dining, but perhaps a comfortable place to do homework, or relax in the sun with a good book, and maybe dad could even stretch out and take a nap on a lazy sunday afternoon?

I was delighted to hear from my client that her children especially love the benches, and that they keep asking to sleep over night on them.  Im not sure if mum & dad have relented yet though!

Credits: thanks to John @ Kolkka, Live Edge Designs, Lucy from Custom Sewing, David at Interior Decorators Upholstery, and Good Moves Delivery Inc.

Leather chairs are the ‘folio’ chairs from Crate & Barrel. Fabrics: Lee Jofa, Kravet, Osborne & Little, Shears and Windows.

We recently installed part of the project – the new sectional sofa and custom throw pillows.  Since there are still various elements to be installed, I thought Id post a few images to show how the process of choosing some of the soft furnishing elements came about.

The living room has all the large foundation pieces in and has a warm and calm feel to it now, however there are still finishing accessory pieces and art & lighting to be purchased.  A slightly sterile feel can occur in a room when it is left without some key accessory pieces and/or smaller objects that delight. I prefer accessories to be simple and have charm, or a interesting quality to them that relate to the clients ’story’.  And these tertiary objects or things of interest need to be discovered the longer you are enjoying the space, never fighting with all the other elements to be center of attention.

I would love to replace the existing stainless steel fireplace surround (installed by the previous owners) as I think it feels a little cold and charmless, but that unfortunately is not part of the scope of work… at this time!

Credits: The pillow fabric is from Osborne & Little and the furniture is from Kravet (sofa), A.Rudin (leather chairs), Peter Alexander (mohair covered chairs) at Enid Ford, and Bernhardt (coffee table w/ Edelman leather upholstery), the large floor lamp is the Linley – Mortisse Angle Floor Lamp from Lee Jofa, and of course the cowhide rug is from Kyle Bunting Rugs.

The son of one of my clients is 8 years old and his mother wanted to have something in his room to ground the space and give the room some color and interest.  I came up with the idea of a custom headboard to give the room a focal point and a comfortable place for him to rest when sitting up in bed reading.

The son is really into football and I was asked that the headboard reference his passion and tie in with the bedding that the clients already had.  I’m not a fan of literal translations of a theme, so I chose to layer in the football theme by using curves and graphic elements to relate to the shape of the football. Being that the headboard was for a young man I really wanted the final product to be more than just a headboard – it needed to be multifunctional.  I designed a number of places to store items that are important to their son.  The white bands coming from the top of the headboard are constructed from wide elastic bands and stitched across to create sections allowing him to hold an ipod and more.  Large blue pockets can hold books or toys.  The leather section gives him more secret pockets to put special items that he wants to keep close by.  For the design of the pockets I imagined the football soaring towards the goal posts – hence the blue representing the sky, the leather the ball and the white bands the goal posts.

I recently renovated a truely aweful small bathroom in our 1929 fixer upper (it hadnt been touched since built and wasn’t wearing well).  A conundrum for me with this project, was that I have plans in the future to renovate & expand the house; at which time this particular bathroom will become a stairwell. So how to renovate a bathroom on a modest budget with as much bang for our buck, so that should we sell before my renovation plans are realized the bathroom adds value to the property but doesn’t cost us an arm or a leg.

In the beginning the number of different ways I could style the bathroom seemed boundless. Then I realized I had a direction: what could I afford!  The key influence to the look of the finished bathroom came down to a product of having budgetary constraints. For a classic but highly economical design simple white tile is hard to beat – but thats a little dull for my designer sensibilities.  However white tile with a crackle glaze has a touch more interest and so became the starting point for the overall look.

The white tile I used is from the Walker Zanger ‘Soho’ collection and comes with simple elegant choices for trim pieces.  It was the simple style of the trim pieces and the classic looking tile that established the design style for the bathroom.  The inexpensive black vanity from Home Depot pared with a custom marble counter and backsplash afforded a high end look for a mid level price.  Walls painted to match the same white of the tiles, and the ceiling painted a dramatic ’stary night sky’ black gave the space a theatrical touch.  The proportions of the room are such that it was very conducive to painting the ceiling such a dark color.

Paring the dark ceiling with the wide crown molding in the same color as the walls gives you the feeling of being outdoors ie: the ceiling feels like it is allot further away and you are tempted to believe it is coved.  The flush mounted ceiling light with cut glass shade from Restoration Hardware turns into the moon in the night sky.

The large ceramic floor tiles were a end of stock sale item from a discontinued line from Walker Zanger, so they were very budget friendly. As was discontinued and on sale line of bath hardware & fixtures from Restoration Hardware.

Softness and a touch of color are in the choice of the shower curtain – the one I used is a printed & embroidered cotton from Anthropologie.

The bathroom was in such bad shape prior to the renovation that we ended up striping it down to the studs and installed all new plumbing, walls, floor and ceiling.  Because we were taking everything out it was the perfect opportunity to relocate various elements: The sink and the toilet flipped positions enabling a recessed medicine cabinet to be installed over the sink, and the shower location was flipped to the other end of the bath and we were able to maximize space by installing a pocket sliding door.

The inexpensive acrylic bathtub is from Kohler (#Archer w/integrated apron & tile flange) and is ingenious in that you get a deep soaking level with a low step over height.  The water overflow is a long slotted shape and placed high up enabling me to fill the bath to a decent level so that I can have a relaxing soak and the overall height of the bath is low enough to be able to comfortably step in and out to shower, or to bathe my children.

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Thank you to Erica Berger for taking such great photos.

My ‘Beach House’ clients had a very specific feel that they wanted their house to have and gave me very clear parameters. They wanted their historic Cape Cod style landlocked home to feel like a house at the beach and they love blue and white interiors.

The living room in this project involved the design of a new fireplace and entertainment center, new furniture, new window treatments, lighting and paint colors.

The fireplace featuring a custom stone mantel and incorporating a entertainment center was designed to utilize the original firebox that was set flush against the wall. Bumping out the fireplace combined with the beautiful natural stone and the panelling helped establish visual and spatial heirachy in the rectangular shaped room. Placed next to the fireplace the custom lampshade sits on a bronze floor lamp from Corbin Bronze that reminded me of seaweed pods.

The project has involved me designing some custom cabinetry for the office and in the kitchen/family room, as well as a overall design scheme for the house encompassing new furniture and soft furnishings (selection and custom design), paint colors, tiling schemes, one off designs of bedding and head boards for the two youngest residents of the home and reusing and relocating existing furniture pieces.

It has been an exciting project bringing together the Colorado roots and tastes of the inhabitants and melding them with the contemporary architecture of their new home and their California lifestyle.   I try to steer away from any obvious stereotypes – so no deer heads on the walls here. Instead bring the allusion of the Colarado mountains in by the materials and finishes I used.   A case in point is the fantastic custom cow hide rug styled by myself in conjunction with Kyle Bunting Rugs. I think it perfectly encompases the theme:  Clean, contemporary and unfussy (there are children living in the house!) with a splash of Colorado.  The rug is in the works at the moment, so no images to show yet.

In the living room we needed to update all the furniture so that it is not only elegant and appropriate for the architecture, but also the room’s status.  This is the first room that you view when you walk into the house and as such needed to set the tone.  The furniture needed to have elegance, interest and be top quality.  It also needed to facilitate various entertaining needs.  As such I have re-orientated the sofa so now it has views of the valley and the dining room.  The grouping of chairs gives more freedom when entertaining as they are easier to move around as needed. For group occasions I chose a large leather upholstered ottoman from Baker Knapps & Tubbs to function both as a coffee table and as a additional resting spot.  The leather is a subtly metalized white Edelman leather that gives a dash of verve.

The slightly deco looking chairs upholstered in mohair are wonderful pieces that I must give credit to my client for spotting one day when we were out visiting the Enid Ford showroom at the San Francisco Design Center.  The chairs are not only incredibly comfortable but so sculptural that they serve a double duty – my clients call them the ‘art’ chairs.  Beautifully crafted and incredibly comfortable – perfect!  The leather chairs are from A.Rudin and are equally as comfortable.

The atmosphere that I wanted to create in the living room was one of calm interest.  As such the color palate is fairly neutral – soft beige/sand colors, warm caramel leather and platimum greys.  When using such neutral palate there needs to be interest as well, so textures are extremely important - linen, leather and mohair are used in softened tones.

LIVING ROOM - IN PROGRESS. We are waiting on a beautiful new custom cowhide rug from Kyle Bunting Rugs, a Linley wooden floor lamp, case pieces, custom throw pillows and art work to finish the space.

LIVING ROOM BEFORE

]]> http://penelopejonesdesign.com/blog/2009/09/current-project-los-altos-hills/feed/ 0 http://penelopejonesdesign.com/blog/2009/09/current-home-office/ http://penelopejonesdesign.com/blog/2009/09/current-home-office/#comments Fri, 04 Sep 2009 23:19:20 +0000 Penelope http://penelopejonesdesign.com/blog/?p=95 The office space was a new addition to the house and needed all new custom cabinetry and furnishings. There are a few key pieces to be completed before we can take some decent photos of the space.