Showing posts with label Dwell Studio. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Dwell Studio. Show all posts

Saturday, March 10, 2012

Robert Allen Sale!

Robert Allen fabrics have been a favorite of dabblers and decorators and design pros.


For over 70 years, The Robert Allen Group has been the source for the world’s finest fabrics. Long recognized as the vanguard of innovation, the Company pioneered the broad distribution of fabric books. The renowned Robert Allen Color Library, with its exceptionally effective method of organization by color, was another industry first introduced by the company.

fabric.com is having a flash sale of Robert Allen right now. They have several collections at discounted prices, and this sale is even better. So stock up for those Spring projects.


Here are some of the collections at fabric.com:





And here's a round up of some images with Robert Allen fabric to inspire you!

The fabulous Dwell Studio features Robert Allen rabirics

More Robert Allen at Dwell Studio

Outdoor fabric by Robert Allen

The fabulous Sarah Richardson uses Robert Allen fabirc

More Robert Allen used by Sarah Richardson

Robert Allen from UK House and Home


Happy Weekend!  Have fun shopping!

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Monday, December 12, 2011

The Dwell Studio Dance

Moving things around in your house is a sure fire way to get a new look fast without spending any money. Buying things in the first place that have a common thread the weaves throughout the whole house makes for good design with stylish results.

Guest room now - Dwell Studio bedding, the Peacock pattern in Citrine moved in here - Also move in the painting that used to hang over the bed in the master bedroom, and the pair of mercury glass lamps, and the "santos" lady on the vanity

A few years ago I got some bedding from Dwell Studio. An investment for sure, and well worth it. The quality is gorgeous to the hand, and the wash and wear is awesome. The design ethos at Dwell Studio is modern and fabulous, with touchstones to the  traditional, so it mixes in really well with all styles.

The flip flopped bedding works with everything in the guest room

Recently i repainted the master bedroom, changing the color scheme. Rather than get new bedding, I swapped the Dwell Studio bedding I have in the guest room, with the DS I had in the master. Magically it works wonderfully, and it feels like we have "new" bedding in each room.

The Hedgerow pattern bedding from Dwell Studio moved into the master bedroom


Because of the color changes in each room, I also flip-flopped the accessories. Orange came into the master bedroom, and blues went into the guest room.

All the orange accessories from the guest room look great with the new green color scheme - I really love the Foo dog with the Nanjing toile headboard


The other nightstand has a vase of orange flowers, and the  lamps with the red lamp shades  that were in the guest room look wonderful in the master bedroom now


"Shopping" for things you already have in your house, and moving them around is the perfect way to chase away the doldrums and make everything feel refreshed and fun again.

I love my Dwell Studio stuff for sure!


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Monday, November 21, 2011

Whatever Happened With Miles Redd Green?

It all started with the ceiling falling in. The bedroom had not been painted in seven years. So why not change the color, along with the ceiling repair? The Veranda cover featuring Miles Redd with its green wall beckoned. The green bedroom of Sara Silverman done by FORM Interior Design inspired. Nick Olsen's love of emerald green tickled my fancy.

After all was said and done, and all the paint samples collected and put on the wall, the all green bedroom was not the way to go. With only one window in the room, the color wasn't so much the issue, as what the lack of light did to the color. It would have been like living in a terrarium.

This is how it turned out!

Onto Plan Z. I painted the walls greige. My Vamp Greige that I have used over and over again for myself and for design projects for others. BORING?! Yes and no.


Greige walls with green accents -  A peek inside the door of The Visual Vamp's "new" bedroom - This is how it looked in transition to the fianal look

Determined to use the gorgeous greens I collected, I switched gears and decided to use them as an accent. First up was the Nanjing Toile, with props to Tobi Fairley. I saw photos from a show house she did, and while show houses are usually the stuff of make believe, I thought the vibrant green on a new padded headboard would be the major green moment in the room.

The other side of the room - You can see the greige walls with the hand painted green diamonds done by Mitchell Settoon

Equally important was the idea to hand paint pattern on the walls, using green of course. I had the idea of doing a huge diamond pattern. Ring-ring, I called fellow blogger and my friend Mitchell Settoon, a crackerjack designer and inspired decorative painter. Both of us are not that great in the exact science of straight lines and the uber precise painting of them. I suggested a free hand approach, so the lines would look hand painted, perfect in their imperfection. Doors and bump-outs got the pattern too. I think Mitchell did an awesome job. The hint of green of the greige walls gave me the best of both worlds.


The chevron rug provides more color cues to play with - Cholo loves it!

I purchased two chevron pattern rugs, a real bargain I could not pass up HERE. There are two put together to look like one large rug. The colors in the rug gave lots of opportunity to play, and pull them into the rest of the room. The turquoise silk drapes I already had, came back into the room. They work really well with rug.

The nightstands were painted a vibrant green

I painted the nightstands the same color as the green lines on the walls. A TV armoire got repurposed elsewhere as a linen press, The two dressers remained and got rearranged. The larger flat screen from the living room got moved in on top of one of the dresses. The chaise lounge was purchased three years ago, and moved around the house first in the living room, and then in the guest bedroom. It is a tricky piece of furniture to make fit, and I think it finally found it's proper home. I also moved some huge mirrors out, replacing one with a smaller one over one dresser, and creating a gallery wall where the other one was.

The TV armoire is replaced by one of the dressers -   Now that the chaise is in here we use the room more - Note how the pattern continues on the doors

The flat screen is where the old armoire used to be

The chaise moved in

I found this green box in the closet and used it to elevate a basket of throws

The gallery wall over the chaise

The smaller mirror over the dresser

The Lucite tray Nicole Cohen made for Alberto

The guest room lamps with their bright shades came into the room, and the art work over the new headboard changed too. I hung three fabulous Philip Mayberry/Scott Walker platters over the bed. I have had these for twenty years, and never had a place to hang all three together.

Philip Maberry/Scott Walker platters over the Nanjing toile headboard - lamps with red shades moved in from guest room - Dwell Studio Hedgerow bedding - I over dyed the little Dwell Studio pillows and the Ikea duvet covers green

The guest room Dwell Studio bedding came into the room, and I over dyed two little Dwell Studio pillows and an Ikea Duvet in green. Later on I'll post the changes in the guest room. It is so great when you shop your house, and flip things around. It totally makes things new and fresh again.

Detail of over dyed throw and chevron rug - I spy some little kitty feet!

The bedroom now, is so much an expression of us - lots of unexpected color and patterns, and it's totally comfortable, even more than before. We really like the chaise and the bigger flat screen in the room. The room is much more useful as a bedroom and a sitting room.

Kitty Kitty Bang Bang loves the new room

Many of you think I change things all the time. It seems that way, but really the changes happen over the years. I use my home as my style lab, trying things out before I  do them for a paying customer. Also as repairs come up in this old house, opportunities present themselves for a change or two.

The Miles Redd Veranda cover that started me down the green slippery slope

I'm writing a decor book for Gliterrati; doing freelance writing assignments; doing local TV home decor spots; styling and doing some design projects; and still teaching tango. My time is flexible, and my own. It still takes effort and planning and energy to do the home projects, and  it is something Alberto and I enjoy doing.

Master Bedroom of Valorie Hart The Visual Vamp - November 2011
But it ended up like this!
This is the final finished  version of the room - I added a fabric wall and dust skirt in emerald green, a slipcover for the bench in  the Nanjing Jade, white lamp shades trimmed in black gross grain ribbon, four prints of Hermes Kelly bags done by Anne Harwell of Annechovie, and new white bedding with black trim and monograms
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To see what other bloggers are up to check out:  Mod Mix Mondays at Mod Vintage Life, and Metamorphosis Monday at Between Naps on the Porch.


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Saturday, November 19, 2011

Nanjing Toile Headboard

The master bedroom has been refreshed. The walls are painted, some furniture moved, and a couple of new accessories added.

The former headboard was comprised of two ends of an antique daybed mounted on the wall. The update is a padded headboard, purchased HERE. It is a basic white duck headboard, that got recovered in Schumacher Nanjing in a color called jade, but actually looks more emerald green.

This inexpensive headboard comes in three sections

We traced the shape of the headboard on some paper. A rubbing was made using a pencil to get the impression of the mounting hardware. Then we taped the paper headboard on the wall and used a nail to mark where the holes had to be made for the screws to hold the headboard to the wall.

Paper template of the headboard was used to mark where the mounting screws would go


In no time at all, and with a little fiddling around, the new headboard was up on the wall.

The new headboard mounted on the wall - The fabric is Schumacher Nanjing Toile - Leonels did the upholstery job

I think it turned out great!  It's all a part of my green thing that I wrote about HERE

The new headboard with the bed made up with Dwell Studio Hedgerow

Te Nanjing toile is beautiful, but it is a challenge coordinating bed linens. I cannot afford to do the whole matchy-matchy thing using more Nanjing for a coverlet. So I looked at what I had, and rotated the guest bedroom bedding, the beautiful Dwell Studio Hedgerow print shams and duvet. The persimmon color plays off the emerald green really well. And the print looks like like a larger more expanded modern toile. I'll move the other Dwell Studio bedding I used in the master bedroom (Peacock in citrine) into the guest room.

Designer Sara Richardson boasts that she usually uses no less than a dozen different prints in a room, so I thought the trick is to mix in several prints with the toile. I would love  to add the Dwell Studio Draper Stripe sheets in the new color they have called Poppy.

Dwell Studio Draper sheets in Poppy - Don't you think they'd look great with the Nanjing toile?!


Would you like to see the rest of the bedroom???? Stay tuned.

This is how the bedroom looked before - note the headboard and the Dwell Studio Peacock bedding that has been changed for Dwell Studio Hedgerow -  this photo by Sara Essex Bradley - all others (except Dwell Draper Stripe) by Valorie Hart


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Monday, September 12, 2011

Get This Look From The Book Undecorate

There are so many good ideas in the book Undecorate by Christiane Lemieux. There is one in particular that I  have been toying with. Some renovation due to termites has been taking place at Casa Visual Vamp, and a crumbling wall is about to be replaced.  I have been dreaming of wallpaper for a couple of years.

I love this Clarence House wallpaper Lisa Borgner-Giramonti imported from England and uses in the foyer of her Los Angeles home.

However, ahem, I do not have the budget for Clarence House.

The foyer of Lisa Borgnes-Giramonti in the idea filled  book Undecorate - Clarence House wallpaper imported  from England photo by Melanie Acevedo via Dwell Studio blog tumblr page HERE


I am very comfortable covering walls with fabric. It is much more forgiving them installing wallpaper, and easier to remove when you want a change. I have fabric covered accent walls in the bedrooms of our home, which you can see in Undecorate in the chapter called 'True South".

So I was quite taken by the similarity to Lisa's wallpaper of a fabric found on Fabric.com, one of my favorite sources for fun designer style fabrics, that I think l really looks alot like Lisa's wonderful foyer.

Aviary fabric from Fabric.com


The 411 on the DIY is simple: Buy quilt batting (I got mine for $1.00 a bag on clearance at Wal Mart, but here's an online source HERE - but check your local stores sewing departments). Staple it to the wall. Then staple the fabric to the wall (with the quilt batting behind it). Cover the staples if they show too much with a narrow trim. I have used twine from the hardware store.

I also love it in black  - I would change the wall color in the living room and dance parlor - I love the Chinoiserie and botanical feeling of the print, and would paint the walls my signature "greige" - It could be fabulous! - I would do one accent wall, the wall presently covered with a collection of mirrors in the tango dance parlor
Casa Visual Vamp up for a change? I would replace the wall of mirrors with a fabric covered wall, and paint all the walls "greige", and of course paint the orange chandelier black, and change out accessories - Just writing about it makes me want to get started! BTW the wall with the mirrors was a major snack for the termites, and is being replaced along with a support joist that runs under the entire length of the house - it's been a fascinating process to say the least! Ask me anything you like about jacking up a house filled with contents, replacing a joist, and dealing with termites -

Friday, September 9, 2011

Lucky Life

Do you have a lucky life? Christiane Lemieux does! Founder of Dwell Studio, author of  the best selling design book"Undecorate",  wife and mother, an all around wonderful woman living a lucky life as shown in the October 2011 issue of Lucky Magazine, where we get a lucky glimpse of her beach house. Pick up the this issue of Lucky and read all about Christiane's home by the sea.