Category: Interior Design

20Mar

Palm Springs Style Via Michael S. Smith: From Modern to Eccentric

I’ve never been to Palm Springs, however it is on my national travel bucket list.  The desert town has a history of glamour linked to the 50’s and 60’s when a lot of the Hollywood stars owned vacation homes that makes it irresistible.  I love to look at the pictures of Palm Springs with its Palm trees and open landscape.  Interior Designer Michael S. Smith has a ranch there and has recently helped two friends to revamp their 1960 mid-century Modern home into a modernized Palm Spring Style residence.  The house is situated In Coachella Valley, the same area where the popular Coachella festival happens every year.  Michael S. Smith told Milieu that the house is situated high up, allowing a great view of the landscape… I think that would make up for the loud days during the festival.  “Because anything can be defined as ‘a style’, I developed the interiors in the context of what living in a desert means.” Michael.  Smith avoided the traditional look that defines some mid-century design and rather made a home comfortable and inviting with beautiful abstract work and Picasso porcelain that can be seen throughout the house.  The first two images were taken by me of Milieu Magazine spread, where the house is featured for the Spring issue.  If you didn’t know about this new magazine you should check it out.  In the current issue you’ll find a very insightful interview with the amazing and uber talented Philippe Starck.

Palm Springs Style via Michael S. Smith blue and white rugh via belle vivir

Palm Springs Style via Michael S. Smith living room via belle vivir blog

Below, pictures of Smith’s own 1970’s ranch in Palm Springs as featured in AD last year.  Besides the open plan of the Interior Architecture Rancho Mirage feels inviting and cozy.  The use of upholstered furniture, area rugs and neutral tones has a lot to do with the overall feeling of warm.

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19Mar

Deals of The Week

Now that we are moved into our newly renovated home there is so much we (need) want to make use of empty spaces.  Dining tables, mirrors, art and so on.  I usually take a longer time than normal to buy things for our home, but this time I’m determined to do it rather quickly.  I don’t want to spend my weekends rushing and hustling.  Soon it will be summer.  If you are in the same boat as me, I hope you can find something interesting in this week’s deals to ease your search.

Shavon Wall Mirror.  Marble Desk Lamp.  Wicker Lantern.  Moscow Mule Mug.

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13Mar

Modern Design As Interpreted By This Modern Apartment Full Of Light:

I love all kinds of interiors, from modern design to traditional.  I can find inspiration in all of them.   Although, I find a traditional leaning interior more cozy and appealing, I appreciate the feeling of lightness and calmness modern interiors can provide.  In my opinion modern design provides a warm home feeling when the color palette and materials derive from nature, as the likes of wood, brass, bronze along with elements like modern wood paneling, proper planned lighting and textured fabrics are implemented.  Such details are found in this modern apartment.  Unlike contemporary design -yes some people think of the two as the same however, they are different, modern design can and mostly relate somehow or somewhere to what’s known as mid-century or better known in my world modern classics.  Which is great because that is perhaps what keeps some modern interiors still warm, recognizable and therefore appealing.  A room with everything in it being new, detached from the known, pristine and sharp, most likely will soon grow into an uninteresting and oblivious room.

modern design, modern apartment via belle vivir blog

Beautiful design in this modern bathroom where modern and tradition meet with a dash of glam.

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12Mar

Special Deals Of The Week: Think Outdoors

What glorious days we had over the weekend, cold but beautiful.  So beautiful I couldn’t care it was below 30.  Got a lot done over the weekend, God wouldn’t it be nice if the weekend had an extra day…?  We are putting the finishing touches to our newly and fully renovated home.  I can’t wait to share the process with you here.  I also did a lot of research about Gardens, I know nothing about it and we have over half an acre to our disposal to work with.  I just don’t want to waste any second of it because Gardens are not built in a day year.  In order to see your vision and most importantly to enjoy it, you need to start planting yesterday and be extremely patient.  A beautiful Garden can take up to 15 to 20 years to fully bloom.  Of course I don’t have the patience to wait years to see and enjoy our Garden, so I’m looking for fast growing plants at an already developed stage to replant…  On Sunday I started drawing a plan of what I want it to look like and that was fun.  Planing a Garden is very complex, you need to think about all different seasons and how you want the space to look for each of them.  But enough said about my weekend and my excitement of our future fabulous green space.  Here are this week’s special deals of the week.  As I was putting the list together I realized that half of the items were intended for outdoor use while the rest share a beachy feel.

special deals of the week via belle vivir blog

A beach painting ideal for the Spring and Summer seasons approaching us.  A minimalist pendant in white and brass.  Moroccan outdoor pouf in black.  An understated and sculptural copper console table.  Potter’s serveware hand-painted and sold individually, will be perfect for outdoor entertaining.  Drum stool in white.

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06Mar

Easy Elegance By Ashley Whittaker

This month’s Veranda magazine is brimming with beautiful and inspiring homes.  I particularly love this five-story brownstone designed by Ashley Whittaker for a family with four children.  Ashley is known for her flawless use of colorful prints which exude happiness elegantly.  As pretty as this home is, nothing is too precious making it ideal for young children’s activities and cocktail parties.

Ashley Whittaker-Veranda-belle vivir

Can you tell that there are more than a dozen printed fabrics from large to small scale in this living room… all seamlessly balanced to strike the right note.  The walls have a glossy Venetian-plaster technique that makes everything look even more lively.  Eclecticism done right by Ashley Whittaker.  A well updated traditional Interior design.

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27Feb

Special Deals Of The Week: Mid-Century Modern

The sleek modern lines found in Mid-Century furniture are based on its most unequivocal purpose, form and function.  The early mid-twentieth century period was based specifically on the idea of less is more and form should follow function.  As a result,  the modern furniture deriving from the mid 50’s and 60’s presents an aesthetic that is clean, simple yet still sculptural enough.  This latter characteristic is, in my opinion, what makes them so timeless and coveted.  In an attempt to depart from the ornamentation and excess of the previous  periods, European Designers from the Bauhaus movement proposed this new and simple way of living which became so appealing to its time as an antidote to the hardship of The Second World War.

mid-century modern furniture Ilse Crawford via belle vivir blog

Materials were organic and original, such as Wood, Metal, Glass, Lucite and Plastic, with the latter the most associated with the period today.  Starting with natural colors such as wood, black and white and metal, the furniture of that period slowly developed into what is known today as Mod furniture which style came towards the late time of the period and mostly in America.  This unusual name represents the bright colorful furniture from late 60’s-70’s, see the pair of Panton orange chairs below.  In this special deals of the week, we went all modern… Here are 6 Mid-Century classic chairs on sale that never go out of style.

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