Showing posts with label den. Show all posts
Showing posts with label den. Show all posts

Thursday, September 01, 2011

A Southampton Home by Meg Braff

This is a pretty house with interior designs by Meg Braff.

Since the house is located in East Hampton, New York, I immediately thought the color scheme was based on the surrounding scene of sky and ocean (blue), sand (sisal, toile and stripes in master bedroom) and the natural third accent color would have been yellow to represent the sun.  But, I was wrong.

As I perused the images, I saw the third accent color was green.  Aha!  Never assume anything!

As I read the interview with the designer, I realized it was the living room painting over the fireplace from which she drew her colors.  It's one of her favorite 1960's Swedish artists, Gustav Bolin, whose works she collects.  Although the clients were at first hesitant about the painting, Meg convinced them to try it for a month and they were thrilled with the final results.

And therein lies the secret of easy color combinations by designers.  I've heard it over and over again......if you are not sure where to start with a room color scheme, use a favorite piece of art, fabric or colorful carpet.....after all, the artists and designers of all of these items are master colorists.    

We all know that the artist, Matisse, is famous as a master colorist, so I was intrigued to read some time ago, that he used fabrics of the time to gather his color schemes.  Interesting!!

Enjoy!











All images via House Beautiful




Wednesday, June 22, 2011

Oprah's Santa Barbara Guest House

I saw Oprah's estate in her own magazine a few years ago and have never forgotten it's jaw dropping beauty.  Yes, she paid $50 million dollars for it (and that was before the decorating)!  And yes, she has her own tea house!   And a flower garden with 'hundreds of rose bushes, thousands of hydrangeas and a sea of dahlias!'

But, it was the guest house interiors that were featured that day that left me wanting to move in there.....she can enjoy the 'big' house, but who would want to leave the guest house?  Would you?

And guess who her decorators were?  Her hairdresser and his partner......who were wannabe decorators!  I'd say they are pretty good at decorating, wouldn't you?  Of course, when it comes to decorating, money talks.....sometimes!  In this case, it helped.......along with a lot of great taste!

Hope you enjoy!  I'll do her Hawaiian property another day!

Oprah's Santa Barbara Estate

Guest House Living Room Fireplace

Dining Room
(Collection of art by a single artist)

Dining Room

Library Fireplace

Library opposite fireplace
(Notice the African American doll in pride of place)

Den
(This den was designed around the large Lincoln penny)

Den Fireplace

Study
(Green (serene) study designed around painting of black lab above sofa)

Guest House Master Bedroom
(Lavender for optimum relaxation)

Master Bedroom Fireplace

Tea House - Oprah's Sanctuary
(Surrounded by thousands of roses, hydrangeas and dahlias)

Tea House

Tea House

All photos via Oprah.com