Interior Design and Beautiful Things
The name of our shop is often confused with the words I painted on the outside of our black awnings. In a fit of inspiration one day I decided to add the words, “Beautiful Things” to our storefront. While the Apartment 46 logo is on the front door, it’s the white-on-black phrase that catches people’s eye. I’m okay with that.
While I am decidedly devoted to the vintage-mixed-with-modern decorating ethos, I think a room amounts to little without a curated assortment of art and accessories. The tone and feel of a space are made more solid through personalized touches.
Ah love. We love “love”. In fact, our whole shop is about love – loving the weird and wonderful, odd and creative, strange and beautiful, and sharing it!
It’s that time of year. Again. I’m here to remind you about the de-cluttering, decorating or fixing of things that you put off because the holidays were coming and you didn’t have the time, money or energy to see it through.
An aside: 2011 was a year full of opportunities, changes and challenges on both personal and professional levels. When I stop to think about it (and I often do), I am overwhelmed with the amount of love our amazing friends and clients have shared with us these past twelve months.
The 50’s and 60’s are amazing examples of entertaining done right. Details mattered, inviting people over was always a big deal, and even casual after work drinks were served in decorative highballs. What drink doesn’t taste better in a fancy glass?
I’m in love with the idea of “Harvest Decorating” as opposed to Halloween or Thanksgiving specific decor. I’ve never been particularly thematic, and I never really “get” headstones and amputated limbs as decoration.
Changing the format of our blog meant shifting content into specific buckets. While this makes things so much easier to find, it also means that unless you’re looking, you may miss our latest work!
How would I describe a romantic room? I don’t think of it as a room where the romance necessarily happens, but a space that inspires a romantic feeling. The Fontana Park Design Hotel in Lisbon, Portugal (above) is a perfect example for me. Luxurious, other-wordly, and deceptively simple and elegant. It’s like roaming around on a cloud.
Romance in design is about lighting, textures, colors and overall ambiance. While sexy spaces are very similar, they’re a little darker, edgier, and secretive. A romantic space is more airy, melancholy, sweet, and ethereal. Think medieval maiden mixed with Flokati rugs and billowing linen window coverings. There is usually an element of fantasy in a romantic room intertwined with soft fabrics. Benjamin Noriega Ortiz does an amazing job of creating beautiful rooms that are modern, eclectic, and interesting.
Although pink, fluffy, ruffly, and floral are usually associated with the word romantic, there are many ways to interpret those design elements and keep it modern and fresh. Featured on Apartment Therapy, Cynthia and Oliver’s San Francisco flat has all of above but it was done in a chic, warm, comforting, stylish way. The lines of the furniture are soft and curved, the materials – leather, ceramic, lacquered wood – are sleek and smooth. It’s all pretty seductive!
Modern Romantic is as much about the physical aspects of a room as it is the way a room makes a person feel. Above, the mix of heavy and curved lines, spare but elegant accessories, and pink tones creates a blend of feminine and masculine that is a little mysterious and a little melancholy. It’s a contemporary but romantic interpretation of a sitting room.
I am madly in love with this bathroom. The industrial + glamor combination is heady stuff for me. It’s such a small gathering of things but it invites you to imagine an interesting, complex and impossibly chic person living there. Velvet, vintage, glass, warm wood, cool steel…it’s all completely romantic.
Grace and Dennis Hu’s living room is a good example of Modern Romantic. The raw silk curtains, deep sofa, velvet pillows, brushed nickel and crystal accessories, tufting…Of course, style is subjective. My definition of romantic design is tied to my own likes and dislikes. I absolutely hate chintz and fringed sofas but many people think it creates a romantic ambiance. I think of it as elderly. For some, candles are romantic, but putting them in a Super 8 motel room won’t transform it into a romantic room (sorry). In the end, a room is a room and it’s very much about the memories you create in it and the things it inspires you to do.
Melisa
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All art is subjective. I may not love velvet Elvis tapestries that much – but there are thousands that do. The same impulse that drives someone to purchase a print of the Eiffel tower from Target is the same impulse that drives me to buy a vintage print of the Virgin Mary.