Yeah, I might want to marry these pictures… is that really so wrong? Is it truly unnatural to have a crush on home decor porn? Because there is a straight up delicious zeitgeist sweeping the decornation, and it’s taken me a while to pinpoint exactly what it is that I like about it, but I’m on to it now.
Contrast. Oh, sure, contrast has always been a decorating principle; the eye loves a good focal point, right? It’s just that lately it’s been contrast in pattern(s), contrast in color(s), and some of it — while fun — is frankly fatiguing and may cause retinal scarring. I’m certainly not going to abandon the best of trends past (why throw the baby out with the zebra bathwater?), but what I’m currently digging is contrast in form and texture, and especially, especially, contrast that comes from abutting something old with something slick and new. Like this:
This is the number one reason that I’m sad to be an American: we don’t have buildings this old, and if we do, I will never, ever, be able to afford to live in one (insert your own economy joke here). Nevertheless, I can freely admire these images shot by photographer Thomas Loof because they are sexy as all get out (whatever that means).
I spy a Barbara Kruger photograph and it’s funny. That hallway is NOT ugly enough, but somehow such an ugly print just sharpens the pretty. Oh, and my family members may or may not be reading my posts, so I won’t mention all of the illicit things I would do to own that house. (Instead, just think about what you would do, and feel free to leave your musings in the comments section below…)
Of course, there’s contrast that real people can achieve, that isn’t entirely dependent on jaw dropping architecture (although gorgeous bones definitely mean you can cut down on the makeup, as seen above).
This little gem comes from Apartment Therapy, where the owners chronicle their hellish transition from cesspool to quirky San Francisco repository for a billion vintage collections. I do really love all the modern touches that keep this young couple’s roughed up home from looking like crazy old Aunt Frances’ cat-filled hovel. What do you think: is one Ghost Chair a gimmick, or does it go a long way towards adding polish and structure to this deliberately aged space? (Guess you know which way I’m leaning, but I love to argue…)
Of course, you can always depend on Tom Scheerer to show you how to mix and match new and old furniture for a splash of eclectic panache:
Are you sick of tulip tables and Panton chairs yet? I’m not, as long as they look like this.
Although I appreciate the clean white walls of Scheerer’s rooms, I also like the ancient looking, rough hewn treatments that have been popping up everywhere, as seen here in Lucas Allen’s portfolio:
Did I say I didn’t like zebra rugs, or blue for that matter? (But I totally want that Marcel Wanders chair!) As crazy Harvard professor cum shaman Timothy Leary said, “Set and setting.” Modern shapes and patterns take on a new life when paired with natural elements (as in, NO imperial trellis wallpaper… although I’ll probably eat those words when I see a single trellis papered wall hanging out in the middle of a forest… Actually, I kind of like that idea).
More brick juxtaposed with modern angles courtesy of Shoot Factory:
I love the bluntness of the furnishings against the randomness of the brick. (But I’d have white couches instead of brown, thank you very much).
Perennial faves Wary Meyers are masters of this aesthetic:
Yep. Another tulip table. But it looks so good when it’s set against dark and natural surroundings. I love the oldness of the floor and the dinginess of the brick heroically holding its own against what appears to be relatively alien technology. I love the contrast. I know the new rustic aesthetic would throw a farmhouse table into this woodland mix, but I just can’t go there. I need some relief from the browness of it all. (But there ain’t nothing wrong with a farmhouse table in a super sleek and modern white house…)
This is another house that deftly mixes old and new, muted and punchy, baroque and sleek:
Holy hotness, William Sawaya’s home featured in Metropolitan Home is incredible. To say anything else would be superfluous. (Except this: hey Met Home, your pictures are too tiny and would it kill you to make the watermark smaller???)
My last picture for today comes from He Who Must Not Be Named (no, it’s not Voldemort. Well, maybe it is).
Reminds me very much of the gorgeous Suzy Hoodless pics I posted a few days ago. I now have the overwhelming urge to run out and buy some fusty old tapestries for my guest bedroom and artfully toss some shockingly red pillows on top. Stay tuned…
Related posts:
Gorgeous post. My husband would never understand this aesthetic. He likes old and old.
Mmm.. Do people seriously live in these places?? I want to move in. They look like they are from an imaginary story book.
I love.
Hi Tams! Welcome!
I want to move in, too. And Hello Gorgeous, old and old can be good and good sometimes.
Great pics – I love the ceilings – just can’t decide my fav!
I was going to use that Lucas Allen photo for a Daily Deliciousness but the zebra rug was bugging me. I could die a happy designer if I had that Wanders chair in my living room.
Ghost chairs need to go away for awhile. Bring them out again in 5 or 10 years and they’ll look fresh.
The world’s best gossip site, DListed, ran a photo of actor Adrian Brody and some random chick in a bedroom that could totes work into this post:
http://dlisted.com/node/28897
I was/am pretty tired of the ghost chairs, too, but I have decided that recontextualization helps.
Either way, a new breeze is blowing through the design world…
And thanks for the dlisted link! Y’all need to click on that, y’hear?
I don’t think one is allowed to get tired of tulip tables – that would be wrong, right?
And I agree with you about substituting the brown couches for white. For sure.
The ghost chairs are an instant classic – I have one on my wishlist and so have to defend them, they will not become passe until about half an hour after I finally manage to afford one!
Also I will not tire of tulip tables and panton chairs, but that panton chair pulled up to the piano does look wrong, a little contrived maybe?
Cybill, Your Ghost chair assessment cracked me up!
Cortnie, I hope you’re right… I have one in my office.
And Cybill, you have pinpointed with laserlike exactitude the central problem with interior design: as soon as one works up the cash to buy a wanted item, it’s out of fashion.
That really sucks.
And yeah, piano + panton chair is a wee bit odd.
I’m late to the party again…but at least i showed!!!
I’ve never felt comfortable with the ghost chair – sure they look cute styled all fancy in the magazines – but in reality I’m thinking they would be all scratched with the jeans pocket metal bits and well -life.
As for the panton chair – I’ve always been a little Eh on that!
Long live the tulip though – it always pleases me to see a glimour of it in the pages of the glossies! -that is until the time (could be close!) where it is on EVERY page of the glossies and Ikea has an ‘alternative’ to offer!
hmm…i got a little off topic didnt i! – blame it on the other comments….!!
Camilla, I have a feeling you’re very early to the party, considering your time zone!
You’re probably right about the Ghost chair getting all scratched… plexi — I mean “lucite” — is very fussy.
Have you seen Ikea’s Docksta table? Yep. It’s the tulip table. (but I still love them, too).
OH. MY. GOSH. These are all sooooooo lovely!
ThisIsKindOfWhatILiveFor.
Move over Camilla, I am officially LATE LATE LATE to the party. But here’s my summation:
-no on the ghost chair. it’s too forced in that room. A good rule of thumb: if you can rent it for a wedding, you don’t want it in your house
-I think I may be the world’s latest bloomer on the Panton chair, it’s just never spoken to me
-You have officially gotten me obsessed on the texture contrast look: lately I’ve been thinking that the wall behind my bed needs texture not pattern. Go figure
-And finally: thanks for the living room rearrangement, I’m still loving it. Oh, I also hung the new hall light and painting, it looks divine. Will post pics once the doors are painted. Sheesh, now I don’t have energy to post.
I wonder about the people who live in these rooms – some seem more personal than others. Some feel a little decorator/stagy to me, and I think this kind of stuff really has to have honest personality behind it to work. Otherwise, I start to think ‘trying too hard’.
I do love that room from AT & the one by Wary Meyers, and I have decided to scour the world for old tapestries to use as bed coverings. And also that white wire chair in the stone and tile bathroom. I NEED it.
Probably the homes that are featured in AT (or Wary Meyers — that’s from their own personal home) ARE the only ones real people live in. The rest are staged and photographed to the max, kind of like fashion photos or the runway. I try to think of them more as inspiration than anything else.
And I definitely struggle with the fashion aspect of interior design. Even though I’m aware that my tastes are being manipulated to propel a consumerist industry, it’s still a trap I fall into continually. At least I (and Karly, for that matter) buy vintage 90% of the time. It assuages a tiny bit of my guilt.
It’s too bad you don’t live in Austin… I just sold 4 chairs that looked a lot like those. I could have recycled them onto you
On second thought, I may just be jealous of the utter fabulousity.
(And I guess that I am in the pro-Ghost chair camp. I am just hoping all the trendsters will get sick of them and sell them in awesome yard sales that I happen to be conveniently passing on my way to get a Slurpee. And maybe they could throw in some Paul McCobb, too.)
Oh Stephanie, you are too busy being nice. Join the evil world of interior design where snarkiness becomes second nature. Unless you would like for advertisers to appear on your site.
And I am still pro Ghost chair.
ps, that sounds like the yard sale of the century… call me if you find it!!!
When Ghost Chairs were cool I was still camped out in my slobby notreallyaboyfriend’s clothes strewn basement in an SF party house and had no idea what a shelter mag was. Don’t like them personally, missed that boat.
Panton chairs I used to think of as the somewhat affordable entry-into-mid-century-classic-collectibles that aren’t really that appealing, except wait, in some pictures they look really really curvy and really really hot. Funny that.
I like the blue peacock screen, and at least the zebra rug has a TAIL! I like tails.
But my favourite, as I said over in Flickr, is the dangley crazy thing on the staircase… that’s my bag, sparkley, detailed textural beauty, faint faint.
Wait, before I submit, I just clicked over to the tab I’d opened of Adrian Brody — what a lame looking bird with him. I mean, snore? He deserves a much better hottie than that! Maybe she was just a snack to hold over before the buffet…
WPZ, sparkles never fail to please! And seriously, L’Adrien deserves much, much better… like one of us?
OH my gosh!!! I found your blog totally by accident, well thinking about it, no it wasn’t an accident, I don’t believe that. Your blog is stunning and your humor is priceless.
Thanks, Renee! Your comment made my day!