A Salute To Bedrooms... For Valentine's Day 2022

Since today is Valentine's Day, I thought I would re-share a popular post from the past: a salute to sensuality featuring some luxurious, fun, luscious boudoirs.

One of the most basic ways to create an inviting bedroom retreat is to simply make the bed itself seem inviting. A padded and tufted headboard, as seen in the two photos below, sets the stage for a bed that appears sprawling, substantial...a comfortable place to spread out, a tranquil spot to relax on, a soft sensuous spot to roll around in...

A bed with an attractive base and headboard signals a sense of place and purpose.
In the first photo, the bed seems like a cushy cloud nestled on a plinth of warm, rich leather. Second image: the soft blue headboard and footboard by Jay Jeffers announces itself in this superbly relaxed yet sophisticated room.

Layering soft, sumptuous textures is another way to add a decadent sense to a bedroom. In the tactile room below, designed by Eric Kuster, we see hair-on-hide panels on the anchor wall, and a soft faux fur throw plays well with velvets and satins.

Speaking of fabrics, another way to soften a bedroom is to use fabric panels on the walls, a technique I have successfully used for clients. You can use drapery panels as a floor-to-ceiling headboard, like the first image. Or you can run panels along an entire wall, like Elizabeth Gordon did in the second image below. It's also good for dampening sound (wink wink).

A dark color palette in a bedroom says moody, exotic, and romantic.

The first image below by designer Smith Boyd features a delicious palette of browns, taupes, and greys along with textures like leather. The wood-grain striped wallpaper creates a natural, slightly wilder feeling that is tipped a little to the masculine side. The feeling of the dark purple Arabesque wallpaper in the next image is carried through by the Rococo mirrors and night tables... it feels like a fantasia on Mozart's "Abduction From The Seraglio!"

And think about dramatic, steamy, over-sized photos for an addition of extra sass and whimsy.

In the first photo, Amanda Nisbet's wild room for the Kip's Bay Showhouse uses a photo of pink glossed lips by Marilyn Minter. Another Marilyn, this one Monroe, presides over the bedroom of Brazilian architect Jorge Elias and his wife Lucila in the second image. I love how the lightness, curves, and playfulness of the photo (and its subject) contrast with as well as compliment the Chinoiserie feel.

And finally, I must report that I have tried to give equal time but I can't find an image of a bedroom that uses sexy images of men, which seems a little unlikely... there have to be some expertly designed bedrooms out there with a painting of a male torso or even a stylized Tom of Finland image. If any of my readers come across such a thing, let me know!

Above photo by Trevor Tondro

Above photo by Roger Davies

And notice how, in all of these images, extra pillows offer more visual comfort as well as more opportunities to introduce color, texture, and pattern. I hope I have inspired you to think about ways to enhance your bedroom, and to make it even more of a special "destination."

Happy Valentine's Day and happy designing!

SALE! Burton James Furniture

I am happy to announce the Fiorito Interior Design September Burton James Furniture Sale*!

From now until the end of this month, my local Bay Area clients can save an additional 20% off my already discounted trade pricing on upholstered pieces from Burton James, a company who has been creating quality, bench-made upholstered furniture for over three decades. Their products include sofas, loveseats, settees, sectionals, chairs, ottomans, recliners, and beds.

With thousands of fabrics to choose from as well as the combination of myriad details below, we can create custom pieces like no other. For sofas, loveseats and sectionals, choose from:
* 10 arm options
* 4 back shape options
* 5 base options
* 9 leg options
* 7 nail head options
* 10 Standard wood finish options
* 6 Premium wood finish options

If you've been wanting to buy new upholstered pieces for your home, now is a great opportunity to save. Call or email to get started--visit my website for contact information!

This sale is for a limited time only! Orders must be paid for and placed by 5 PM, September 30, 2019.

Happy designing!

*Additional sale discounts do not apply to the Benchmark and Select II Burton James furniture programs.

May Marge Carson Sale!

For my local Bay Area clients, I am happy to announce the Fiorito Interior Design May Marge Carson Furniture Sale*!

For the month of May, you can save an extra 15% off of my already low, to-the-trade discounted pricing! Now is the time to save on the best of exquisite furniture including chairs, sofas, sectionals, beds, dining sets, stools, consoles, displays cabinets, desks, and tables of all kinds. Save 47% off retail prices from one of the world's largest and oldest privately-owned fine furniture companies.

This sale is for a limited time only!
Orders must be placed before 5PM, Friday May 31st, 2019.

Go to Marge Carson to make your furniture choices and either email or phone me (visit my website for contact information) to order and take advantage of this exceptional savings!

Happy designing!

*Additional sale discounts do not apply to Carson, Proximity and other already specially priced furniture collections.

Now You Can Sleep On A Masterpiece!

A collaboration between London's National Gallery and English bed-maker Savoir Beds (first created for The Savoy Hotel in London in 1905) has yielded the possibility of sleeping on any piece of artwork in The National Gallery's collection!

Savoir Beds says:
"Adorn a Savoir bed with one of the world’s finest paintings from the prestigious National Gallery in London. In an exclusive collaboration, Savoir Beds and The National Gallery have joined forces to deliver an inspiring approach that takes art in interiors to another level.

Housing over 2300 pieces of art dating from the mid-13th century to the 1900s, The National Gallery showcases paintings by the world’s greatest masters, including Botticelli, Leonardo da Vinci, Rembrandt, Monet and Van Gogh. Now Savoir’s clients can create their own masterpiece to treasure. Working closely with our design and upholstery specialists, we can incorporate and customise any National Gallery owned painting.

Once commissioned, the design is specially printed in the UK, by Andrew Martin, using the latest technology on a selection of three fabrics – lustrous velvet, textured linen viscose and versatile cotton. Finished with a bespoke plaque detailing the portrait and artist, every commission will be personally approved by The National Gallery to guarantee the design preserves the essence and integrity of one of the greatest art institutes in the world. The fine art of sleeping beautifully.

A design from our collaboration with one of the world’s greatest art institutes, The National Gallery, this Harlech No 2 features Claude Monet’s, Water-Lilies, Setting Sun. With the vast number of paintings in the National Gallery to consider, Monet was a destined choice, considering our historic connection to the iconic artist. In 1899, 1900 and 1901, he stayed at The Savoy, on a Savoir bed and it is from the fifth floor he would spend his mornings painting the sun rising over London. We’ve worked with the National Gallery closely to apply the artwork to the design, with the calming water lilies in the sunset, flowing from the headboard down to the base in a beautiful velvet specially printed in the UK, by Andrew Martin. The detail is incredible with the brushstrokes in a range of deep purple and rich pink hues, complemented by the simple bed design. Finished with a bespoke plaque detailing the portrait and artist, this bed has been personally approved by The National Gallery.

A design from our collaboration with the prestigious National Gallery, the Felix No 4 features Gherardo di Giovanni del Fora’s, The Combat of Love and Chastity. Part of a series illustrating the ‘Triumphs’ by the poet Petrarch, our design and upholstery specialists worked closely to perfectly incorporate and position the painting on the Savoir Felix design to create maximum impact. This commission is specially printed in the UK, by Andrew Martin, using the latest technology on a luxurious cotton fabric. In this exclusive collaboration, we’ve joined forces with The National Gallery to deliver an inspiring approach that takes art in interiors to another level.

The Felix No 4 with Van de Cappelle’s, A Shipping Scene with Dutch Yacht firing a Salute, is a design from our collaboration with The National Gallery. A painting that is a notable example of a calm seascape with billowing clouds is the perfect scene to be upholstered on to a Savoir bed. Savoir’s skilled design team worked closely with The National Gallery to carefully take elements of the painting and incorporated them in to the Felix design, ensuring the headboard revealed the mood of the scene and the base featuring the calming clouds. The painting has been specially printed in the UK, by Andrew Martin, in a cotton fabric, which shows the minute detail of the painting. Our skilled craftsmen then being their magic, upholstering the headboard, ensuring the exactly placement and hand tapping every nail.

Happy designing!

White: A Blank Page Or Canvas 2017

Hello past, current, and future clients, and regular readers and followers: welcome to 2017. As we begin a new year with promise and possibility stretched out before us, I am reminded of these words from "Sunday In The Park With George" by the legendary Stephen Sondheim: "White: a blank page or canvas...so many possibilities." Here in the western world, white represents purity. It is basic, untouched, unformed. These are the qualities of a blank piece of paper or a painter's canvas, ready to absorb any ideas and to support whatever might be created upon it.

There are those in the interior design world who think that white is a lost opportunity for color, and being more of a maximalist myself, I might lean in that direction, but I can't deny the allure of the absence of color as well. White can be a bold statement as much as any hue and the following white rooms speak volumes.

Happy designing and Happy New Year!

When It's NOT A Four Poster Bed

You don't need to have four posters to have a beautiful fabric treatment over your bed. You can get a canopy look without having the posts to hold it up simply by installing rods and draping fabric. This awning-style canopy is easy to achieve by using metal drapery rods, wooden dowels, or even tree branches!

And then there is a style of bed cover based upon the idea of a four poster bed, particularly the large flat panel known as a "tester" (TEE-stir) suspended from the four posts. A half-tester bed is one that only has a short panel above the head of the bed from which falls fabric panels, as seen below. While the look originated centuries ago in Europe, the style today looks elegant and luxurious. The tester can have a valance of some kind, in a shape, even upholstered in fabric.

But when the tester is small or non-existent, and fabric falls from a central point, this is known as a crown. The examples below are rectangular but crowns come in demilune shapes as well for a more regal look!

And here is a literal crown bed...the crown is an actual crown!

Happy designing!

Know Your Sofas Beds: The Lit à la Polonaise

For this installation of Know Your Sofas, I am cheating a little bit. It is actually more like Know Your Beds.

During the reign of Louis XVI, King of France, a style of bed known as a Lit à la Polonaise, or a "Bed in the Polish Style" became quite popular. Why Polish? A similar bed, more like a day bed but with draped fabric hanging from a coronet was seen at the Royal Castle in Warsaw and the shape made its way back to France...it sounded exotic, and the style caught on. The French version was a kind of four poster, curtained bed, except that the columns curved inward--hidden by sumptuous drapery--terminating in a baldaquin or decorative ring or other shape in the center of the bed. The baldaquin was often cloth but could also be a dome of wood or metal. In the exquisite example below, made in Paris sometime between 1775 and 1780, we see a grand feature at the corner of the mounts before they curve inward: a pomme of ostrich feathers. The bed can be seen at the Getty Center in Los Angeles.

As you can see, historically, the bed was placed on its side, oriented more like a daybed and indeed, if one sees a Lit à la Polonaise now, it is generally used as a day bed. The first bed below is currently on display at the Musée Cognacq-Jay in Paris.

Happy designing!