Décor at the Core - Page 2

“Movies are also excellent resources,” Torbit says. “Are there environments you have seen on the big screen where you just wished you could’ve stayed and lingered for a bit longer?”

Keeping those collected images and notes on hand to refer to when making every decision about your house can be very helpful in keeping true to your initial design scheme. 

“Remember, if you get lost, overwhelmed, or confused, look back to your images and notes. They will ground you and remind you of what you’ve wanted in your home from the very beginning,” she adds.

When blending pieces from different eras or cultures, this is the key for finding balance. It will help to create a space wherein all areas of the room are inviting and interesting. When doing this, it’s most important to keep in mind differing sizes of furniture and colors.

“If you have a very large, bold piece of furniture in a room, pair it with something that is more delicate, but that possibly has a much bolder color than the larger piece—to balance the difference,” Torbit explains. “The equation would look something like this:  bold and large with little color equals vibrant color with small delicate detailing.”

Both Jessup and Torbit remind homeowners to be honest with how they currently live in their space. Just because you are influenced by a particular time period or style, it doesn’t mean that it will work with how you actually live in your home.

For example, if you’re a bachelor who entertains a lot, you need lots of places for people to stand, mingle, sit, and place drinks. If you’re a family with kids, be realistic about the need for toy storage and kid-friendly materials that can take a beating.

That doesn’t mean that your rooms won’t have style; it just means that those functional needs will play into the furniture and décor choices you make. Once you’ve solved the big picture, then you can drill down into the functional and décor spaces layer by layer, drilling down from big pieces to small accessories.

Whether a homeowner is moving into a new space, or remodeling an existing home he or she has lived in for decades, it’s important to be honest with oneself in order to have a home perfect for their needs rather than for some imaginary, future homeowner of that home.

Once homeowners really sees how they interact and live within their current home, an interior designer can begin to help them with the decisions of how to make a perfectly functional home; a home that flows smoothly, naturally coinciding with how they live, work, and play.

Color cues

Lush green Ficus hedges and the aqua blues of a pool naturally inspired the color palette for Richard Cardran’s Alexander Butterfly in Palm Springs.

“We immediately sensed that an authentic 1960s blue/green color pallet was an obvious choice,” says Cardran, who owns the home as a vacation rental with partners Bruce Lahey and Keith Ruoff. “This proved to be a challenge since blues in contemporary décor are frequently robins and royals rather than aquas and teals. But at least the commercially available greens have evolved away from forests and kellys and into a rich spectrum of chartreuses and earthy olives.”

Cardran brought those outdoor hues in by placing blues and green pillows on an oversized custom white leather sectional that tucks perfectly into the room to provide maximum seating. The same palette is repeated in the kitchen, where he displays teal and chartreuse glassware.