Category: Interior Architecture

functional and beautiful home library via belle vivir blog

If the kitchen is the heart of the house then the library is the brain.  Cliche, but true.  A Home library that is both cozy and functional will secure its place in the house as the room where everyone will want to be.  Regardless of your decor style, weather classic or modern, libraries should provide a restful and inspiring atmosphere to the user.  In order to be functional I think it’s a good idea to organize the books first by categories and then by color.  I’m not a big fan of covering books to make them look the same color I prefer the more realistic appeal of a library full of non-covered books.  Rolling or wheel ladder for high ceiling libraries is a great idea.

functional and beautiful home library via belle vivir blog
Gisele Bundchen and Tom Brady home library

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Joseph Dirand, A Paris apartment designed by Joseph Dirand

After posting the kitchen designed by Joseph Dirand yesterday, it’s a rigor to post the rest of this breath taking Paris apartment.  This apartment designed by him is situated in the widely popular neighborhood of Saint-Germain-des-Prés in Paris and I would say that it also falls into the “new modern” category I spoke about yesterday where the design concept is still simple with “less is more” as the standard but, without sacrificing the warmth and provenance of the space.  And I’m sure that you would assume that such magnificent Interior Architectural features as stunning parquet floors found all throughout the house, extraordinary floor-to-ceiling French doors providing unbeatable amounts of light, and walls dressed with elegant ornate moldings, doesn’t need much to be enhanced further.  Unquestionably though Dirand went on and did his magic by adding wonderful and sculptural furniture, paired them with top notch art while keeping the color palette to the minimum.  The result is a perfect symphony of harmony and beauty to treat our eyes.  See more gorgeous Paris abodes here.

Joseph Dirand, A Paris apartment designed living room by Joseph Dirand

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Michael Bruno, Home in Tuxedo Park, Michael Bruno Home Tuxedo Park via Belle vivir blog
The collection of unique furniture in Machael Bruno ‘s home in Tuxedo Park, New York should not take any by surprise.  He is the founder of 1stdibs, the international online retail site for antique aficionados.  Michael Bruno ‘s new home seems to be on a picture perfect setting:  a Georgian home located in 11.3 acres with an impressive waterfront lake.  Michael’s keen eye for great properties comes from his earlier days as a real estate agent which I think only enhances his experience on antiques.  via WSJ Magazine

It’s easy to recognize a warm and cozy home.  Is that feeling of familiarity and honesty that invites you to stay longer, put up your feet while asking for more hot coco and praying you don’t have to leave ever again.  That’s the feeling we all want in our homes notably because our homes are the best reflections of our real selves.  Hence it would be practically impossible to have a  warm heart and not have a warm home or vice-versa as it’s equally impossible to create fake characters of our home.  The great news is that the process to make a house feel cozy and inviting may be even easier to tackle than we all think.  Here are five elements to make a cozy home and to create the most inviting of spaces.

five elements to make a cozy home via belle vivir

ADD COLORS

While all-white interiors can be very relaxing, color makes homes cozy.  By colorful interiors I mean spaces with either warm tones or full colorful ones.  Colors have a special magic to bring out the soul in the room and it’s also the easiest way to change things around.  Usually warm and dark colors provide a better result at accomplishing coziness.  Painting a wall, upholstering a sofa or adding a colorful rug are only a few of the ways to bring color inside a home.

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Jib doors have nothing to do with mystery anymore.  They no longer are meant for secret passages, high power secret operations and/or certainly not for hiding the ugly side of a freakish double life.  So, if you were planing to partake in one of the above activities then you’ll have to find another way of keeping it to yourself.  Now a days Jib doors are too popular to disguise what’s behind.  It is more for aesthetic purposes than anything else and that’s ok, you should not panic!  Jib doors have just decided to catch up with the 21st century and it’s doing the right thing now.  Mostly used in European estates for centuries, it has slowly come to take part in American design.  Actually the oval office has a jib/hidden door.  Jib door is a concealed door that is meant to blend with it’s surrounding wall.  It’s usually frame-less and it carries on the design of the walls around it.  It grants everybody the freedom to camouflage a kitchen that happens to be in the wrong place.  It also gives homeowners and designers the flexibility of keeping their wallpaper intact without any door frame disturbing the view.  So as you can see Jib doors, also known as hidden doors and mystery doors are the coolest thing now a days and it provides a seamless design.   Enjoy!

jib doors, with shiplap via belle vivir blog
Pierre Yovanovitch design
There are a lot of only-positive words that can be said to describe Pierre Yovanovitch‘s style, one and an absolute appropriate one would be Ultimate Cozy Refinement.  By looking at his design we can clearly spot in every detail of craftsmanship his “Made in France” signature style.  From amazing Chateaus to five-star hotels the presence preservation of good architecture is a a trademark.  I can honestly spend hours looking at his striking work and
never get tired instead always inspired.  Enjoy!
pierre yovanovitch pick sofas

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