Two beautiful coffee table books came my way this past Christmas:  one on fashion, the other on home decor.   My friends and family know me too well.

An old friend from the past gave me “In Vogue, The Illustrated History of the World’s Most Famous Fashion Magazine”.  Gorgeous….I’ve enjoyed looking at old images from past editions and magazine covers and reading about the evolution of this world-renown magazine.  I’m a self proclaimed magazine-aholic.  As a young girl I can remember swooning over the glossy pages of Vogue.  (I even have a few issues from the late 70′s and early 80′s somewhere in my cabinets).  Then in the late 80′s/early 90′s I started to collect home decor magazines too. (surprise!)  One of my favourite keepsakes from the past is my black and gold covered Architectural Digest from 1990, our first year in business.

What better teachers could you ask for?  Studying  thousands of rooms done by design icons over the years can’t help but train the eye.  It trains the eye to understand colour, proportion, repetition, contrast, scale…all the principles of design…better than any school course could ever teach.

The fashion and decor world have always been very much intertwined. However, years ago it would take a couple of seasons for the decor trends to catch up to the fashion trends.  Now the trends emerge virtually simultaneously.  Fashion + Decor, a website that we follow brings us regular updates on runway trends and then artfully pairs them with emerging home decor trends.  If you follow Lumar on Facebook you might have seen our re-postings.  If you love fashion and decor like we do, then this website is a feast for the eyes! Have a look here.

Keeping your finger on the pulse is easier than ever.  On trend this spring is definitely going to be an influx of floral.  Fashion + Decor vividly brought this to our attention with the photo below.  From the pre-fall 2013 runways, Carolina Herrera dresses are sporting what those of us from the 80′s remember as floral chintz!

 

And the more we looked around, the more we started to see it pop up in home decor.  Below it is paired with a modern herringbone.

 

 

The back of this wing chair is upholstered in a beautiful green chintz from Lauren Weiss.  The front of it done is done in a solid – again a more contemporary feel to a traditional pattern.  The florals will look a little different from the ones of the 80′s, of course.  Things always come back a little different….the colours, the scale or the base cloths.  I’m not sure we’ll be seeing the shiny chintz cloth of the 80′s but many of those patterns will be re-coloured and printed on linen base cloths.

 

 

According to Marisa Marcantonio of Stylebeat blog, the  Lee Jofa front showroom in the New York Design Centre has been redecorated to sport happy colours and yes, an iconic Lee Jofa floral print on the love seat.

 

 

Now Carolina Herrera and Lee Jofa may be on the high end of fashion and decor…but that’s where the trends always start.  So the average person isn’t going to run out and reupholster their sofa  in a new floral print just yet, but give it a little time and you will see many more jump on the bandwagon.

If you get the urge to add a little floral to your life, give us a call or contactus@lumarinteriors.com.  Spring is around the corner…..

Stay tuned to find out about the second book I received for Christmas

 

 

 

A while back I posted that ‘chairs are like shoes’.  So shoes and jewellery are my favourite things….I guess that means I love chairs and lamps!

What gives the outfit the final touch, the wow, the feelings you want to exude?  The jewellery or the lamps, of course.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Whether its elegance or manliness or colour or panache….lamps can add any of  that to a room.

If you need help finding the right lamp for the feeling you are after…we’re good listeners, give us a call or check us out at www.lumarinteriors.com

 

 

Why do we love and appreciate comfortable and luxurious accomodations in hotel rooms and yet not give them nearly as much importance in our own homes?

True, we generally want to get the  main living areas done first and then the kids’ rooms take priority  and by that point you need a new roof or furnace….you get the picture.  Life happens and the bedroom is often last on the totem pole.

The talk of late seems to be about how ‘experiences’ bring you more happiness rather than ‘things’. Then how about a beautiful bedroom to retreat to at night?  Why do we ‘ooh’ and ‘aah’ over a beautiful bed in a hotel room?  One with amazing duvets and pillows and sheets, so smooth and soft….oh, and we love the throw at the foot of the bed that ties in with the drapery?….Maybe part of the wonderful experience of going away is enjoying the lovely accomodations.

So, perhaps, we don’t quite need a bedroom like the the Four Seasons des Bergues in Geneva……

 

But, here are our top picks to make your bedroom a wonderful experience:

1. Gorgeous bedding – whether simple or lavish but made to look pulled together (like a well-appointed hotel room)

 

2.  Dreamy Window Treatments – what’s the first thing you do when you enter a hotel room?  I go to the window, look out, make adjustments, let light in or black out the room….but not only are they so practical for a good night’s rest, they can dress up the room and totally add to the mood or feeling you want to create.  Custom window treatments offer the best of both: perfect function and beautiful fit.

 

3.  Beautiful lighting – lamps on the bedside tables for reading, please, and perhaps a pretty chandelier that makes you smile when you walk in.

 

 

 

4. Sparkling mirrors - imagine being  in a hotel room without one?  Make them practical and stunning…they add a little sparkle to a room.  And they don’t have to ‘match’ your dresser.

5. Pretty art – to accessorize the room (besides your traditional wedding portrait that found its way there?)

 

6. And finally, how about some sumptuous furniture to sit or lie on if you want to get away from everyone else?

 

 

So, wouldn’t it be lovely to spend a few hours  in this room?  You might even say it would be a beautiful experience…rather than a week or two a year, you can have it 365 days of the year….

 

If you would love some help in pulling together a beautiful bedroom, give Lumar Interiors a call.  We can co-ordinate and provide you with custom bedding, window coverings, furniture, accessories, lighting….everything you need to pull together a room of your dreams. www.lumarinteriors.com

 

 

The lines have become blurred.  But that’s a good thing.

Looks evolve over time:   fashion does as well as home decor.  Otherwise, we’d still be sporting animal skins as clothing and living in caves.  The direction of traditional home decor has shifted in the last few years. Traditional has become less ‘fussy’ and more clean; less  strictly period ‘Queen Anne’  or ‘Louis French’ …and more relaxed.  The look  is more evolved or collected-looking and its more common to see modern mixed with traditional.  Hence, traditional is actually harder to define or describe.

It’s particularly tricky when we’re trying to figure out the prospective client’s preferences. The joke in the office is that clients always lie.  They say traditional;  they really mean contemporary.  They say modern; they really mean contemporary…   That’s why we always encourage clients to collect pictures of rooms they like.  As they say ‘pictures are worth 1000 words.’

So what are the telling signs of the ‘new traditional’ look? For a very fresh perspective check out Traditional Home’s new on-line magazine: Tradhome.  I particularly love the video clip of Charlotte Moss and Jonathon Adler, two design stars.  They really describe this new look very well.  Charlotte, a traditionalist at heart, says tradition lends itself to redefinition; perhaps juxtaposing a Louis commode with a modern painting above it.

Jonathon, though more of a modernist, loves to use traditional floorplans as a foundation.  They both love to use a fresh modern fabric on an antique chair and Adler suggests using a fresh coat of paint, perhaps pure white, on an antique chair. Recently I’ve seen furniture manufacturers come out with brightly painted french commodes.  They look stunning: modern set in tradition.

Another significant aspect of this ‘new’ look is the use of organic and natural materials both in fabrics and furniture.  Fellow designers just back from High Point report a huge trend towards this.  I first noticed this trend to almost raw furniture a couple years back with Restoration Hardware’s direction in their wood finishes.  Now, many manufacturers have their version of this.  I think its a backlash to this high tech world we live in.  People crave things that look natural and of the earth.

If silk was the fabric for the last decade, then linen is it for the next.  Whether 100% or blends or just polyester copies, every supplier has its version.  We’ve been seeing them for a couple of years in the high end market.  Now they are slowly trickling down everywhere.  Whether its a simple upholstery or plain linen side panels (a.k.a. curtains) linen has a relaxed elegance about it – kind of like Europeans in their linen clothes.  In the higher end of the market you find stunning embroideries on linen.  Some are hand sewn like Oscar de la Renta’s new fabric line for Lee Jofa.  Others are machine made, but both reminiscent of a time long ago when this was a true craft.

 

AND SPEAKING OF RELAXED ELEGANCE AND TRADITIONS BEING REINVENTED….just finished watching the royal wedding….what a wonderful example…..Kate and William

 

 

Evolving traditions….a good thing.