Revisit: Four Easy Steps For Autumn Décor

Since it's that time of year again, let's revisit a post from 2013 about autumnal décor:

This is the time of year when the air chills, days grow shorter, and we turn to our indoor lives. Since the temperature is dropping, we desire warmth and comfort, we desire insulation from the elements, and we desire to cocoon ourselves in special places that allow for beauty and contemplation of the season. Below are four very simple--and inexpensive!--ways to bring a touch of autumn into your home.

1. Nature
This is the easiest, fastest way to achieve a rich, fall texture in your home. And there are a few ways to work with nature.

A trip to the produce section of your local supermarket will yield a bounty of decorative objects. Think of buying a bag or crisp red apples to put in a basket or on a wooden platter as a centerpiece for a table. Pick up a selection of pumpkins (large, medium and baby pumpkins) and gourds to arrange on an end or hall table. Red or purple grapes and fresh cranberries can be put into decorative glass bowls or vases. Even things like stalks of Brussels sprouts, artichokes, or deep hued purple eggplants can be effective in centerpieces or tableaux. Another wonderful element to use in autumn décor are nuts: walnuts, Filberts, hazelnuts, pecans... just pile them up in an amber colored glass dish or scatter around a table setting.

A trip to the florist or nursery can provide you with some beautiful autumn color in the form of cut flowers like autumn colored chrysanthemums or potted orange marigolds. You can also find dried flowers and greenery like hydrangeas or eucalyptus to use in vases or other containers (I have a lovely antique ceramic German beer stein that gets some dried hydrangeas around this time of year.) Many places sell colorful Indian corn as well to add to the mix.

Finally, the most accessible way of obtaining natural elements to use is to forage! Autumn leaves, twigs to bundle or gather into bouquets, pine cones, sheaves of wheat or grasses can be found almost anywhere. Keep your eyes peeled and if you see a pretty fallen branch with a bit of moss on the sidewalk, snap it up!

2. Candles
Candles add a wonderful ambiance any time of the year but they seem especially appropriate in the colder autumn and winter months. Display pillar candles on a platter surrounded by nuts and pine cones, put them in lanterns, arrange a bunch of candles of varying heights with apples and mini ceramic pumpkins on a dining table. If you have a non-operational fireplace, candles look wonderful grouped in the firebox, giving the same visual cue as a log-burning fire.

3. Texture
For added interest, turn to earthy or rich textures:
* woods like oak and birch (candle holders, branches, bowls)
* burlap (a rustic table runner or cloth)
* velvet (pillows, drapery)
* blankets or throws in thick woven materials or faux fur
* rich patterns like paisley (pillows, throws, rugs, tablecloths or runners)

4. Color
At this time of the year, we are naturally surrounded by a rich palette: rust, crimson, purple, russet, mustard, forest green, umber, sienna...Use these hues as inspiration for objects in your own home.

It is easy to change out pillows, add some earthenware vases, and display some autumn colored fruit.

The addition of a throw and some white mini-pumpkins along with branches and dried vines in rustic jugs on the mantel above a warming fire sets the stage for fall.

Warm autumnal tones and a large scale paisley print look cozy and inviting.

Branches with brilliant rust and brown leaves placed inside honor the crisp days of the season. Notice the blanket of leaves, apples, and a gnarled piece of wood at the foot of the arrangement.

Gourds, decorative mercury glass pumpkins, an antler, and lanterns with glowing candles make a textural, interesting grouping. Image from Pottery Barn.

Branches and a selection of pumpkins in various hues are displayed with antique rakes in an almost minimalist tableau.

This casual table setting includes cinnamon sticks on forest green glass mugs (a lovely touch), apples, pine cones, leaves, and a coarsely woven cloth in natural hues of linen and taupe.

I set my Thanksgiving table every year with some gourds, red leaves, and a dried floral arrangement studded with eucalyptus, dried lotus pods (I love their shape) and pheasant feathers. I also use my grandmother's pressed glass turkey candy dish filled with an assortment of nuts (although some years, it holds cranberry relish!). Photo by Jeff Fiorito.

Bare twigs in simple glass cylinders (available at any craft store or florist) are anchored by what looks like a mix of wild rices. Berries, moss and lichen covered branches, pine cones and mini pumpkins complete the festive look.

Hazelnuts act as vase fillers for copper mums. Brilliant.

The simplicity of a single leaf on a white plate still expresses the richness and bounty of the season.

Now that you are acquainted with some simple, available ingredients, I hope you are inspired to gather some of these elements and honor the textures, smells, and sights of the season. And remember my helpful guidelines for creating a tableau, previously here: think about the shape your grouping makes; include tall, medium, and low objects for a variety of levels; odd numbers work best; and most importantly, contrast brings interest (rough next to smooth, light next to dark, large next to small).

Have a wonderful autumn and happy designing!

It's Fireplace Weather: Terms To Know

Now that summer is officially over and we have begun our journey into autumn, it is feeling a little like fireplace weather. And over my decade of working in interior design, I have noticed that often people might speak about their fireplaces but don't know what to call parts or areas, while others use different terms for the same object. So in an effort to offer some clarity, let's walk through some of the major parts of a fireplace.

The central and most important part of a fireplace is of course where the fire itself is located, the firebox. This is sometimes referred to simply as "the box." Fireplace boxes can be lined with brick, fireclay, metal, pretty much anything that is fireproof (obviously).

The next area of importance is the hearth. This is the area in front of the firebox and it too needs to be fireproof if you have a live fire. This ensures that popping embers from the firebox will not start a fire. For this reason, a hearth needs to be at least 18" deep. If you have a gas insert instead of actual burning logs, the hearth should still be made of a heat-resistant material since many of today's gas inserts give off a tremendous amount of heat that can still cause damage.

A hearth can be flush with the floor or as close to that as possible. Or a hearth can be raised. In the case of a raised hearth, the structure can turn into a bench!

Now we come to the fun parts of the fireplace: the fascia of the mantel can be clad in a myriad of stone or tile choices (again, any non-combustible material that covers at least 6" from the edge of the firebox), and of course the mantel shelf (people often refer to this simply as "the mantel") can be wood or metal. The shelf is a perfect spot for collectibles, art, and holiday decorations. See my previous post about Mantel Inspiration for a brief overview of what can be done to incorporate rich design into your fireplace.

If you don't have a mantel, you can add a floating shelf which offers a very sleek take on a standard fireplace.

On very traditional fireplaces, the mantel sides can also feature carved or fluted panels which are referred to as legs or pilasters. And the last large piece of a fireplace is what is called the breast. This is the structure that covers the chimney and flue. This is another perfect area for some extra embellishmnet. Traditional fireplaces might feature a material on the fireplace breast that is the wall material in the rest of the room. But modern fireplaces can be clad in tile or stone, often all the way to the ceiling.

But wait, there are some areas of your fireplace that you can't see! The chimney is the structure that rises from the fireplace itself and the flue is the duct, pipe, or opening that allows smoke to rise up and out of your home. If you have a gas insert, the flue can be directed either up or off the side to vent outward but if you have a log-burning fireplace, smoke only rises, so it is imperative that your flue go straight up. You most likely also have a flue cover that allows air to flow up when opened. Because burning natural materials coats the inside of your flue with creosote (a tarry by-product of burning wood), it's good to have a professional chimney sweep clean your fireplace at the beginning of every cold season.

Happy designing!

Chandeliers Make The Dining Room

From the ground up, a chandelier is the last element in a dining room and for that reason acts as a crown or topper for the design below. A lighting fixture can be complimentary or contrasting in style, but the most successful fixtures are in scale with the table below and the room around it. But no matter what the style or scale, it is best to generally hang a fixture so there is roughly 36" between the bottom of the fixture and the table top. Take a look at some of these special pieces topping off a dining room with flair...

This Murano glass chandelier in a dining room by Katie Ridder references a traditional, ornate chandelier but the sleek white and red glass offer up a modern interpretation that feels at home with the lacquered blue walls.

San Francisco designer Jay Jeffers added a zingy orange accent to this highly dramatic dining room with this chandelier that feels traditional but features a sleek, clean-lined sensibility.

This beautiful turquoise chandelier by Marjorie Skouras lends a bohemian flair to this Provençal flavored space.

The contrast between this marvelous 70s brass fixture and the Craftsman bones of the house make for a fantastic, engaging tension in this dining room by Taylor Jacobson

The current "It" lighting designer has to be Lindsey Adelman. This extraordinary lighting designer creates mouth-blown glass covers for structures made form bronze, steel, brass, and sometimes hemp rope! In the fascinating library-dining room designed by Studio Ilse below, an Adelman light fixture becomes a work of art in itself.

Jean De Merry created his sea urchin-like Lumiere lighting fixture in 2001 and here it is in a gloriously textured, tone-on-tone dining room by Los Angeles-based Jeff Andrews.

And who says there can only be one fixture over a table? The following examples show that the old adage less is more is not always true. Sometimes more is more!

I hope this inspires you to put something wonderful in your dining room.
Happy designing!

Engaging Entries, Part 4

These Engaging Entries are a continuation of previous posts, here and here and here, in which I remarked that every house should have an entryway that announces the personality of the homeowner... an entryway that is playful, engaging, welcoming, or dazzling.

As usual, I hope this has inspired you to create your own engaging entry!
Happy designing!

Get An Instant Vintage Look With Pressed Tin Ceilings

One of the most overlooked areas in a home is the ceiling plane. Since it's not in our immediate view, the ceiling takes a backseat to wall color, wall decor, and of course any furnishings and rugs we may put into a room. But turning that overlooked plane into a focal point can do wonders to liven up a space. There are many options for a ceiling finish including paint, wallpaper, plaster, and relief details. Depending on the material and how it is applied, it can enhance a space concept, making it more modern or rustic or fun...or even vintage!

And a material that says vintage like no other is pressed tin.

Introduced in the late 1800s, embossed tin plates imitated carved and molded plasterwork from the finest European and American homes but at a reduced cost since they were machine made. They were a popular feature in many commercial and residential buildings of the period because the Industrial Revolution and the proliferation of the railroad helped to disseminate this product all over the country.

Below are some photos of actual pressed tin ceilings during this period. First we see a view of the saloon at the Columbian Hotel in Trinidad, Colorada, sometime in the late 1800s.

And here are two views of private homes with pressed tin ceilings: a sitting room and a music room...

Of course pressed metal ceilings fell out of favor with the coming Arts and Crafts and Streamline Moderne (Deco) movements but they have made a resurgence in recent years in both commercial and residential applications. Thy can be ordered in a variety of metal colors and are paintable.

Restaurants like to use the material to reference a sense of a by-gone era. Below we can see a photo of a pressed tin ceiling in the Greenwich Village restaurant Tavern on Jane. The vintage-style milk glass schoolhouse pendants look wonderful against the tin.

And here is a fun view of a seating area in the restaurant and bar Kettner Exchange in San Diego featuring large-format copper colored tiles.

Pressed tin ceilings look particularly good in kitchens. They truly lend themselves to an old-time, antique sense of Americana. White cabinetry with beadboard panels, vintage light fixtures, and wood floors recall a time long gone.

Pressed metal ceilings can be used in any room. In fact, I am currently specifying the material in a rustic but luxurious master bathroom design for a client.

For applications in places like a master bathroom or even as a kitchen backsplash, PVC tiles that are engineered to look like pressed metal are a great option since they are easy to clean or wipe and won't rust.

There are also versions that can be used in dropped ceilings for commercial projects with T-bars already installed.

Happy designing!

La Belle Salle de Bain: A Chic Master Bathroom Remodel by Fiorito Interior Design

A master bathroom should be a luxurious treat, a place to relax, refresh, and renew. What my client had was anything but. A small footprint was made even smaller by an unnecessarily large tub and a separate water closet built at an awkward angle which cut into the space even more.

By eliminating the water closet walls and replacing the tub with a smaller model, we were able to open up the bathroom and make it the airy, tranquil sanctuary it always should have been. My client’s love of Paris led us to design a bathroom that embraces a kind of chic, couture sensibility with a stylized floral tile of Carrara, Statuario and Bardiglio marble, white subway tiles, and a Calacatta countertop. French grey walls and a sparkling, petite chandelier lend the final touch to this classic ensemble.

All after photos by Bernardo Grijalva

The before photos tell the entire story.

Have a bathroom that needs a facelift? Call me!

Happy designing!