History of Furniture: Adam Style

When a twenty-six year old Robert Adam left his home in Scotland in 1754 for his Grand Tour of the continent, he actually spent nearly five years studying architecture under Charles-Louis Clérisseau and Giovanni Battista Piranesi. When he returned home to take over the family business from his architect father, he along with his brother John ushered in a style boom that is known as Adam Style.

The Adam brothers advocated an integrated style for architecture and interiors, with walls, ceilings, fireplaces, furniture, fixtures, fittings and carpets all being designed by the Adams as a single uniform scheme. And while the Neoclassical style was already very much in vogue at the time, this was mainly seen in architecture and the envelopes of buildings. Robert and John Adam brought the principles of Neoclassical architecture and design into a residential setting, taking into consideration all of the interiors of a home. Classical Roman decorative motifs, such as framed medallions, vases, urns and tripods, arabesque vine scrolls, sphinxes, griffins, and dancing nymphs, pilasters, painted ornaments, such as swags and ribbons, and complex pastel colour schemes are all hallmarks of the Adam style, which moved away from the strict mathematical proportions previously found in Georgian rooms, and introduced curved walls and domes, decorated with elaborate plasterwork and striking mixed color schemes using newly affordable paints in pea green, sky blue, lemon, lilac, bright pink, and red-brown terracotta. These colors mimicked the fresco colors one sees on the walls of the famous ruins of places such as Pompeii. One of the most famous Adam rooms is the Etruscan dressing room at Osterley Park.

The Adam Brothers introduced a striking idea of mirroring a ceiling design with a floor or rug design below. Take for example this image of the Music Room at Harewood House, with its circular ceiling design reflected in the rug pattern beneath.

Or this Tapestry Room at Croome House.

Aside from designing rugs, Robert Adam also designed many furniture pieces in this same style direction. He is known for shield and round back chairs in particular...

Happy designing!

Island Stone Patina Glass Tile

I'm excited about this new glass tile from Island Stone! The press release says:

Radiating old-world beauty, the Patina Glass Tile Collection from Island Stone expresses the strength of antiquity in a modern subway tile format. Architects and designers can create a variety of patterns with the individual 3½” by 12” pieces.

Setting this collection apart is a dreamy color collection, made with randomized patterns of abstract speckles and cloud-like wisps. The collection includes Akoya Pearl, a creamy neutral white with a subtle ethereal glow; Silver Lining, a soft blend of gray, blue, and white with a hint of iridescence; Champagne, a bubbly beige with traces of yellow and orange; Bright Side, a blue and white pattern inspired by the sky; and Evening Onyx, a smoky reflective patinated mirror reminiscent of antique glass. With each unique tile, the interplay of color and light helps to create a dimension of beauty that can only be fully appreciated by seeing it in person.

“Each color in the Patina Glass collection is unique in its style, allowing designers to combine tiles to create eye-catching, one-of-a-kind patterns,” said Nigel Eaton, CEO for Island Stone. “The shine and reflection of Patina Glass is well suited for a variety of statement-making architectural uses, such as a grand backsplash in a restaurant or a chic hotel lobby, as well as for elevating the sophistication in a residential setting.”

Patina Glass uses a proprietary blend of metallic oxides and reactive chemicals to give each piece a unique look and color, along with a protective coating that ensures a durable, long lasting installation even in moisture conditions such as tub and shower enclosures. 

Akoya Pearl

Evening Onyx

Champagne

Bright Side

Silver Lining

I love the watercolor-y feeling of these tiles, and they seem like they would go in many different style scenarios. I can't wait to use them for someone!

Happy designing!

Fantastic FEATHR

Regular readers may recall my love of wallcoverings, and I must profess my love for the Finnish wallcovering company FEATHR, founded by friends Tom, Anne, and Oli. I'm itching to find a client who will love these patterns as much as I do.

Their company creates amazing wallpapers and murals like this gorgeous watercolor series by LA artist Stacy Solodkin.

Artist Magnus Gjoen has created several marvelous wallcoverings for FEATHR that riff on the ideas of Neo-Classical, Georgian, and Victorian wallcoverings but with a wry, modern twist.

His "Flower Bomb" paper looks like a typical design featuring a spray of flowers but when studied closely, that spray is in the shape of a missile.

Gjoen's incredibly realistic trompe-l'œil paper "Victory Over Ignorance" is startling in its depth. The red stripes actually seem to hover over the antique black and white botanical etchings below.

And finally, what self respecting Victorian would not love this florid, Flemish-flowered paper with hidden skulls.

The papers from their regular lines are just as wonderful. I love the Art Deco vibe of this design called "Ember."

The mash up of graffiti and oil paint is exciting in "Glowing Shards Blue."

Take a look at the tranquility of "Ornament," "Oslo," and "Raindrops."

And "Superabstract" is a fun homage to the graphics of the 60s and 70s while "Utopia" is pure 1980s Memphis style!

If you think you could be "that client" who might love these papers as much as I do, give me a call and let's create something!
Happy designing!

Cranky With Crank Windows? Pella Solves the Problem!

Greetings and Happy New Year readers! Welcome to 2021...we have high (or desperate) hopes for the new year. And in the spirit of new, let's start 2021 by looking at a new product!

Over the years when I have been working on ground-up builds or whole-house remodels, it's common for homeowners to choose elements and finishes that are the opposite of what they have lived with. They know what did not work in their previous home and they want a product or finish to behave better than whatever they might have suffered with previously. But I have seen people get stuck when they get to windows. Not every home can have sash windows and if a slider is not desired, often a casement window is one the few options remaining. However, the big complaint about a casement window is the big clunky crank handle that sticks out. Not only can it be unsightly but the crank handle can be difficult to use.

But window manufacturer Pella has engineered a solution to the crank problem! This new window is called the Easy Slide Operator. The easy-to-use operator is a button installed inside the jamb and slides up to open and down to close. It couldn't easier. And the new design satisfies homeowners wanting something easy to use, and satisfies designers wanting something sleeker and more modern.

The slide button was designed with a comfort grip and the entire mechanism was tested for 20,000 open and close cycles, which exceeds the industry standard of 10,000. This is equivalent to opening and closing a window once a day for more than 54 years, says the company. The new operator can also withstand extreme weather conditions. These seem ideal in so many ways!

Happy designing and Happy New Year!

Happy New Year! Welcome 2021!

Happy New Year to all my followers and regular readers. May 2021 be a healing, peaceful, and prosperous year for the planet.

See you soon for the first post of 2021. Until then, Happy Designing!

Happy Winter Solstice and Happy Holidays 2020!

This year, 2020, the Winter Solstice--the shortest day and longest night of the year--for the northern hemisphere will happen next Monday, December 21st. I am wishing everyone a Happy Winter Solstice and a beautiful and joyous Holiday Season! See you all in 2021.

Know Your Sofas: Tufted

Upholstery is a huge and varied topic, but for this installment of Know Your Sofas, let's look at an upholstery detail that can define a sofa: tufting.

Simply, tufting is passing a thread through a base, like a cushion, to make a depression. When done with thread only, this is often referred to as blind tufting. But the practice of adding a button to the depression is--you guessed it--button tufting.

Because it is without any ornamentation, blind tufting lends a more contemporary, sleek sense to furniture, especially if it is done in a grid pattern, like this sofa below.

But buttons can be unobtrusive and blend in with a mid-century modern look as well...

...this button tufted single row, below, unmistakably references mid-century modern.

On the other hand, a diamond tufted pattern really feels a lot more luxurious and traditional. It can look great on a camel back sofa...

...or on a classic Chesterfield!

Then there is another type of tufting that is executed in a row called channel tufting. This detail can speak to a few different time periods like Art Deco...

Pavel Vozmischev/Getty Images

...or the 70s!

Happy designing!

Happy Thanksgiving 2020!

"Be grateful in your own hearts. That suffices. Thanksgiving has wings, and flies to its right destination."
—Victor Hugo

"Enjoy the little things, for one day you may look back and realize they were the big things."
—Robert Brault

I wish all of my readers and followers in the United States a very happy Thanksgiving Day!