MID-CENTURY TRADITIONALIST DINING ROOM

I have a husband and wife pair of clients who have somewhat different design sensibilities from each other.  It often happens this way, and the fun challenge is finding the right combination of styles that not only mesh well together, but also make both people happy.
In this case the husband leans toward mid-century designs, and the wife is more of a traditionalist.  As this process unfolded and their predilections became clear, went back and forth a bit with the design of their dining room.  You might remember the first dining room design I posted here.  Our jumping off point was their fabulous blue Hermes china pattern, and I built a breezy but elegant room that combined a rustic reclaimed wood table and wood bead chandelier with more traditional chippendale chairs and mirrored buffet.

ROSA BELTRAN DESIGN

But as we went it became clear that they wanted to incorporate a bit more mid-century modern style into their home, so back to the drawing board we went.  My clients themselves came across this dining room by Nate Berkus and absolutely fell in love with it.  It blends a very traditional table and chandelier with those groovy mid-century chairs and modern art.  And how about that emerald green velvet!?!?

NATE BERKUS

They set their hearts upon having chairs just like that....emerald velvet and all.  And that's not something you see everyday.  So this is the solution we all came up with:

DINING CHAIRS

These Saarinen style side chairs and two arms chairs for either end of the table:

(All found for a pretty great price on overstock.com)

All the chairs are currently being re-upholstered with this sumptuous  emerald green velvet by Pindler & Pindler:  


And all the chair bases were powder-coated in a matte brass finish that emulate the inspiration chairs: 
How's that for some creativity!?  Believe me, it took more than a little research and chasing my tail to source the exact shade of emerald velvet (I think I went through about 30 swatches from all over the known universe before I found the right one) AND to research the right coating process for the chrome chair legs.  Turns out that electroplating them in brass would have been far too costly at a couple hundred dollars per chair, and I had no confidence in simply spray painting them...I was afraid the finish wouldn't hold up, and it wouldn't look enough like real brass.  Powdercoating turned out the be the right solution...cost effective and supposed to be bomb-proof.

TABLE This weathered wood dining table by Restoration Hardware:


CHANDELIER And this scissor-arm brass chandelier with black linen shades: SIDEBOARD
One more addition to the space is this beautiful metal-work sideboard by Aidan Gray. Can you see it??  Completed with some sort of large scale piece of contemporary wall art to tie the whole look together, I think my clients will have the dining room they are dreaming of.

DIY GIANT WALL MURAL FOR THE NURSERY

I'm a big fan of wall art in the correct dimensions and the right proportions for a space.  I think it's one of the primary hallmarks of a thoughtfully decorated home.  And it's not really about how much the art cost...it's often more an issue of framing and hanging.  Something as simple as a map or literally just sheets of colored paper can look fantastic if the presentation is right...

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And there's nothing worse than a big wall with small chintzy-looking little frames stuck up there.   Case in point:

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OK that might be an extreme example, but even with the whole gallery wall craze, I really can't stand when little 4x6 and 5x7 frames are thrown in.  This is obviously an intentionally decorated space and some might like it just fine, but those little frames are just not my thang...

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I much prefer the look of a gallery wall using larger frames, and I especially like to use wide matts within the frames....all the white space really helps keep the wall from looking cluttered and gives the art room to breathe...

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Better right?  I tend to think that no frame smaller than 8x10 belongs up on the wall...with rare exceptions.  For instance sometimes you can group multiple small frames together to have the same impact as one larger frame...but you must only use this trick sparingly!

LITTLE GREEN NOTEBOOK

But I'm off on a gallery wall tangent when what I really came here to write about today is the huge DIY wall mural I made in my son's nursery.  

ROSA BELTRAN DESIGN (photo Bethany Nauert)

Sometimes a really large scale piece of wall art is what's called for in a room.  I wrote all about one way of doing this affordably with stock photography here.  
For the nursery, I started with the same premise by finding a free online image of an antique engraving with a mama and baby elephant.  I loved the sweet subject matter, and it worked right in with the classic elements and "tiny explorer" theme I have going on in the nursery.  
I knew I wanted a really large piece on that wall above the sofa, so I took the digital image to the print desk at Office Max and for about $7 they blew it up to 36"x48" and printed it out for me.  36 inches tall is the maximum size that those large plotter printers can do...but you can have any length you want because they're printed on a continuous roll of paper. It's super cheap because it's just basic xerox quality and it's only available in black and white.  
I actually wanted mine with warmer sepia tones, so I made a lightly tinted "wash" with just a squirt and brown acrylic art paint diluted with lots of water that I brushed on top of the image.  The paper got a little wet and wrinkly, but as it dried it took on an aged, antiqued look that I liked a lot.

We nailed some basic stick molding to the wall and painted it white to create a giant frame...no glass needed since this would be a collage adhered directly to the wall.  I made the framed area larger than the printed image so that I could surround it with a map border...essentially creating matting for the picture with a collage of maps and making the whole thing even larger than the max size printed image.  I cut up some old maps I had on-hand, and also used a couple of these $5 decorative paper maps found in specialty paper and art stores.

Once I had the layout I wanted, I used Liquitex Matte Gel medium to stick it all up and decoupage the entire collage to the wall.  Liquitex mediums work the same as Modge Podge...it's just more cost effective if you need a large quantity to buy the big tub of Liquitex from the art store. 

And this is the end result.  I love it, but more importantly my baby boy loves it...kids are SO into baby animals!

  There you have it....enormous, high impact wall art for under $30.

LIGHTING LOVE

I have lighting on the brain.  It's one of the most important elements we get to play around with when designing a space.  An unforgettable light fixture can set the tone of an entire house.  So obviously it's important to not pull your punches with this. You typically have just one main ceiling fixture in each room...that's ONE perfect chance to wow, rather than bore.
Here are some of the fixtures I selected with my clients for their lovely colonial in Los Feliz.  I hope this tantalized you...I can't wait to show you photos of each of these gorgeous lights in the completed rooms they will be going into!
LIVING ROOM

MARY MCDONALD

MARY MCDONALD

DINING ROOM

FURBISH

SUNROOM

(this one actually came with the house!)

OFFICE

SHADES OF LIGHT

GUEST BEDROOM 1 (We mounted this directly to the ceiling, with no hanging cord, for a more polished look)

URBAN OUTFITTERS

GUEST BEDROOM 2

LAMPS PLUS

MASTER BEDROOM (This one my client's picked themselves and it's just lovely in their bedroom)

VIVATERRA

ABOVE KITCHEN TABLE

REJUVENATION

STAIRWELL A big black lantern similar to this one is planned for the stairwell.  The jury's still out on  this one, but I'm hoping it makes the cut.  The size of these overscale lanterns can  be off-putting to clients at first, but they really do create a grand effect!)
We're still deciding on an entry fixture, after installing one lantern style that didn't totally work.  And THAT, folks, is the nature of this design animal...it comes as a surprise to some people that it's NOT always a straight shot! And by the way, I have no qualms at all with mixing metal finishes in a home...keeping it all the same is so old school...let's mix it up and have some fun!   We have brass, polished nickel and chrome, and black wrought iron going on in this house and it all works really well together and creates some much-needed variation.  

PASADENA SHOWCASE HOUSE

This Mother's Day I took my mom on a tour of the Pasadena Showcase House, a 10,000+ square foot Monterey Colonial mansion designed in 1941 by architect Roland Coate.  Dozens of designers had worked their magic on it, and I thought I'd share some of my favorite moments.

WATERCOLOR DANA MAREVICH

One of my favorite spaces in the entire home was the formal living room designed by Maya Williams Design.  It's the room I spent the most time in...I found that I didn't want to move on, I just wanted to keep drinking in all the little details.  The layers of champagne and platinum neutrals punctuated by that peacock blue-green were superb.  I love it that she didn't quite jump on the emerald green (Pantone color of the year) bandwagon; she was close enough to strike the right chord, but enough shades away to be totally original.  

It was an ultra formal space, not one that I'm usually drawn to live in or to design.  However, it was just so damn pretty...the upholstery was gorgeous with lots of special dressmaker details...the accessories were stunning, including a malachite green polished bar cart, and a huge slice of crystalline agate backlit by the bay window.   

I also like the softer blue hue on the chairs, and the silvery blue brought in with the rug...this room is a perfect example of how to successfully layer neutrals without risking boring.  It brings in so many various tones of warm champagne and beige, cool silvery grey and taupe, rich gold, and just the right amount of aqua and peacock blue to give it all depth.  Too often I find that clients think they need to pick a color scheme of just 2 or 3 shades and then stick to it for dear life!  But a room becomes much more interesting when the eye takes in many subtly different shades that work together...especially in mostly neutral palette room, it keeps things from appearing too one-dimensional.

This photo isn't large enough to do it justice, but that peacock blue-green velvet settee was incredible.

I think Maya hit it out of the park with this one.  It's classic chinoiserie done to the hilt, and done very, very well.  I'll be back to share more highs and lows from this Showcase house.

OMBRE DRAWERS AND OTHER PAINTED DRESSERS

While I'm on the topic (in my previous post) of ombre sofas, let me tell you about how fun I think ombre-painted dressers are, especially for a child's room or any space you're looking to enliven with a little tongue-in-cheek fun.

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(By the way, there's another dipped chair, a trend I wrote about here.)

Talk about an easy and high-impact DIY!  You'd need so little of each color that you could totally get away with buying just the small paint sample jars rather than full quarts.  I think I like it best when it's done on drawers that stack right on top of one another with no spacing in between, like so...

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This is pretty cute with the nautical colors and rope pulls.  Little sailor's room, anyone?

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For a different nautical vibe, scalloped ombre waves...

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And the perfect pink counterparts.  I love these salmon-y pinks mixed with the kelly green...

PROJECT NURSERY

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Or you can get your ombre on in a more subtle way... 

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I can see any number of inexpensive Ikea dressers lending themselves perfectly to this project, not to mention the multitude of thrift store dressers in America just dying for an ombre paint job!

I definitely see an ombre dresser project in my future, probably in a nursery or little kid's room, which are some of my favorite spaces to design because you get to let your hair down and be a bit cheeky and irreverent.   

And because Pinterest is the bottomless rabbit hole that it is, one image leading to another, and another...here's a great kid's room I just came upon.  Love the herringbone pattern!

DESIGN SPONGE

My parting shot is this art deco green chevron chest with the rounded corners by Nick Olsen from the pages of House Beautiful.  I like it.  A lot.

NICK OLSEN / HOUSE BEAUTIFUL

NICK OLSEN / HOUSE BEAUTIFUL