By RSS
By EmailHow to Accessorize your Bathroom
by Robin April 11, 2012
Accessories are one of my favorite parts of any room! Remember my post about unique ways to accessorize your bathroom? Well here are some more ideas…Check it out!
Picking a Great Neutral: Taupe
by Robin November 2, 2011
I’ve been reading a lot of paint SOS messages from our Simplifying Fabulous! readers and on Benjamin Moore’s Expert Exchange app on Facebook. Choosing bright colored paints is often more difficult than choosing a neutral, as there are sooo many types and shades. For me, one of the best neutrals is taupe. The color “taupe” is an umbrella term, as you can have taupes that tend more toward the grays or the browns, greens or even purples! Taupes are warm, homey and very versatile!
Q: I’m moving into a townhouse and am painting the entire main floor. The ceilings are soaring. The trim and the mantle of the fireplace are white and the hardwood floors are light. The kitchen has espresso cabinetry. My look is cottage-y with several shabby chic antiques. I need a great taupe neutrall. HELP! Thank you! - Lori K.
A: Taupe sounds like the perfect color for what you’re describing. Here are three of my favorite taupes from Benjamin Moore. This is three shades of the same color, as I’m not sure how deep you want to go: BM 1550 Cumulus Cloud, BM 1551 La Paloma Gray and BM 1552 River Reflections. For the walls, I usually like to use the an eggshell finish.
a gorgeous taupe I used in a recent kitchen project!
How high off of the dining table should a chandelier hang? How large should an area rug be? What is the best way to integrate antiques with modern furniture? Have your design questions answered…Ask Robin! Your question will be answered here on the blog, added to our Ask Robin archive, and posted on Facebook!
Color & Design Advice: Benjamin Moore Expert Exchange
by Robin October 24, 2011
I’m happy to announce an exciting partnership with Benjamin Moore! I was asked to share my expertise on interior design and color as part of their Experts Exchange app on Facebook. It’s a great platform to ask experts about color, learn design secrets and share your own projects!
Experts Exchange is a one-stop-shop for color and design advice. You can upload images of your spaces and ask for help on choosing colors and shades, browse through the forums and image galleries to get the creative juices flowing and find a retailer to buy the color of your dreams without having to even leaving the page.
Ask me a question directly through the app, here, and while you’re on Facebook, pop over and say hello!
Fab Fridays: Feng Shui Expert Alex Stark
by Robin October 21, 2011
Each Friday Simplifying Fabulous! presents Fab Fridays, an up-close-and-personal look at how one of our community members simplifies fabulous in their own life. Is there someone you’d like to see featured? Email your submission to info@simplifyingfabulous.com.
Simplifying Fabulous! with Feng Shui Expert
Alex Stark
ABOUT ALEX STARK is an internationally recognized consultant, advisor, and teacher on issues of creativity, efficiency, and design. A graduate of the Yale University School of Architecture, he is a practitioner of feng shui and European Geomancy. Alex is married and has one daughter. He currently resides in Berkeley, California. I’ve worked with Alex many times for clients and in my personal life. He really changes lives! See his full bio, here.
Robin Baron: What are a few simple feng shui changes that people can make in their home that would be the most impactful?
Alex Stark: Clutter is the single most detrimental factor to success in finances, relationships and health. Keeping a home tidy and clean is a sure way to improve opportunity, increase a sense of self-worth, and promote harmonious relationships.
Flow within a home is also important, so you should try to keep critical areas free of obstructions: the front door, the entry foyer, and all hallways should feel open and bright. If these are narrow or dark, you can improve them by adding mirrors and brighter lights, or by painting them in light colors, avoiding blues, dark grays, or dark browns. Lighter colors in warmer tones (reds, oranges, yellows, light greens) help to open up space and make it feel more bright and welcoming.
Another important thing is to make sure that your home reflects who you are. Since your home is like an engine that supports your goals, all items should reflect your aspirations: images should speak of prosperity, health, wholesomeness, and harmony. Try to avoid images that feel lonely, are too dark, or which are hard to understand. Images of single people or of vast empty landscapes, for example, tend to emphasize loneliness and are not recommended for individuals who are looking for a relationship. Landscapes with health trees or vegetation could symbolize the abundance of nature and are therefore used in feng shui as symbolic of prosperity and good fortune.
RB: What about feng shui should people keep in mind when shopping for new items for the home?
AS: The first thing to consider when shopping for new items is, “Do I really need this item?” Most people tend to buy home items on impulse, and are easily seduced by charming or beautiful objects. Over time, however, homes become cluttered, and this slowly undermines the potential of the home, as well as the good fortune of its occupants.
Good feng shui, furtheremore, requires that every object in a home have a purpose, whether practical or aesthetic. A useful mantra you can use when considering something new for your home is, “Use it, love it, or loose it!” Objects belong in your home only if they have true practical use (vacuum cleaners, linens, light fixtures), or if you really, really love them (your mother’s china, the most beautiful chair you ever saw). If an object does not conform to either of these two criteria, it most likely will be superfluous, and should be avoided.
RB: Tell me a story about how your practices have significantly changed someone’s life.
AS: One example that comes to mind is the story of a very humble Mexican immigrant who came to me at a point in his life when everything seemed to be against him. Although educated as an engineer in Mexico, he was working as a gravedigger in New Jersey, living in a flop house with seven other illegal immigrants and without any prospects for improvement or even marriage. I am not even sure how he managed to gather enough money to pay my fee.
After working with him for about seven months, during which time I often felt that his situation would never improve, his employer at the graveyard noticed his dedication to his job, and during a very short conversation discovered about his university training. As a result, he offered him a job as a foreman on another company he owned, launching my client into a successful career (and legal status) as a construction manager.
At the same time, an old friend of his died, and his friend’s widow decided to move to the US. In the process of trying to help her, they fell in love and now have two healthy children.
All of this could have happened on its own, but my client credits feng shui with providing him with enough opportunity and “good luck” to position him in the right place at the right time. Feng shui did not provide him with intelligence or a university education, nor did it provide the discipline or dedication that he obviously already have, but it did help to compensate for circumstances that could have broken another man.
RB: If someone is interested in feng shui, what is the best way for them to learn more?
AS: It is very difficult to learn about feng shui on your own. This has to do with the fact that feng shui practice, as its name implies, is a practice, and requires that you live with it in order to understand it. Also, feng shui knowledge is very complicated, and there are competing schools of thought that could sound contradictory to the layperson. Some techniques require strong mathematical backgrounds, or may not be easily understood if you don’t already know eastern philosophy. Furthermore, there are levels of understanding in feng shui that go beyond words, and which are impossible to discuss in books or articles.
That means that the best way to learn is to hire a competent consultant and have them analyze your space and guide you through the changes that will bring improvement to your career, finances, relationships, and health. Doing this will bring you into direct contact with feng shui practice, which is the only real way to understand it.
Once you have done that, however, it is possible to expand your knowledge of feng shui by reading selected writings. My website has a short bibliography that only includes books I would recommend to the general public.
Around the World at 100% Design
by Mollie October 5, 2011
Day two of Blogtour 2011 found us at 100% Design where we had the chance to hear from Mix Publications on the color trends of Autumn/Winter 2012/13 as well as walk the show. Among all of the private vendors, a number of countries had large booths that displayed the products of a number of designers of that nationality. I made it a mission of mine to hit up all of the “countries” and to showcase the best/coolest/most out there pieces at each stall. Join me for an around-the-world look at 100% Design!
100% France
The fine folks who were manning the Fred & Fred booth within 100% France told me that this incredible PICT system of optical glass partitions was cool enough to be chosen for floating bathroom partitions in the Louvre! Each piece is super light and slides into each other to create a translucent customizable wall.
100% Austria
Philipp Bruni’s Pinocchio Billard vases (named after their ‘long noses’) sit on a little rubber stopper to hold them upright or can be set free to wobble back and forth.
100% Argentina
Coming all the way from South America were Miga de Pan’s (left) whimsical crocheted and hand embroidered Bosque collection of puffs, pillows and other cutsie items that would turn a children’s room into an enchanted forest. Heidi Jalkh showed me how her upholstered Fibra table (right) folds up into almost nothing–perfect seating for small living spaces!
100% Korea
The Korea Design booth totally blew me away. It was by far the youngest and most innovative “country” at the show. their focus was really to showcase emerging design talents who are setting trends with innovative ideas. The Design Virus gang showcased their Document Lamp, a paper lamp in the form of a document icon that can be attached to any flat surface and can be written on. Their Ta-rae lighting are inspired by spools of thread. CH Textile Collection applies digital media graphics to pillows, throws and wallpaper to give them the illusion of texture.
100% Taiwan
The “Charming Taiwan” booth was just that: visual, viceral, aural…just lovely. Yantouch’s 3D ambience iPhone docks create mini light shows to match your music; NDD Taipei’s Sprouts vase can expand or contract based on the size of the bouquet you want to put within it.
100% Norway
Wik & Walsoe capture just what I would imagine a Scandinavian winter wonderland to feel like…in china form. Nora of Norway is notorious for combining modern design with traditional craftsmanship. Just see Peg, a chair and clothes/coat/hat rack all in one.
100% Czech
Funky, funky are the Rainbow Maker sneakers of Botas 66 and the Ply Like Lajko desk by Process
100% Spain
Espana rolled in the big guns, showing off an incredible knitted ottoman by Patricia Urquiola (left), and Arturo Alvarez’ textured floral-like pendant lighting (right).
Fashion Underfoot
by Robin September 15, 2011
West Elm offers a gorgeous array of eco-friendly accessories and furnishings, and their coveted designer collaboration collections are no exception. The company’s venture with textile, clothing and interior designer Allegra Hicks resulted in this Printed Harlequin rug, made of hand-woven natural jute, a highly sustainable material. Jute is 100% bio-degradable and totally recyclable…so green and so gorgeous!
Hicks’ design is nature reinterpreted—the geometric, graceful pattern is based on her own watercolor studies of raindrops; the colors are inspired by the colors of early autumn in Italy, where the designer was born. Her inspirations produced a design and color scheme that is soothing and simple. This rug would add a touch of tranquil color to a relaxing master bedroom retreat or a peaceful bath (jute is naturally water-resistant).
If the pattern or hues won’t jive with your interior design, you don’t need to look far. West Elm offers a whole bunch of other eco-friendly rug options…One of them is sure to suit your space! Keeping it green with jute, there are bouclés in a range of neutral hues as well as chenille herringbones and braided versions. One of my other faves is their recycled denim jute rug. Tres fashion forward!
I love the idea of taking a fabric that may have lived a past life, such as jeans or upholstery, and reimagining it. The use of recycled fabrics often yields some very innovative and interesting pieces. It’s a little Project Runway, isn’t it?
And if you need help fitting your chosen rug into your room, check out this helpful link, which gives you the scoop on furniture configuration and how to choose what size rug you need for different arrangements. From an eco-friendly selection, a range of colors, patterns and textures, and a cheat sheet on fitting it all together in space, West Elm has got your floors covered!
Translating Trends: Industrial Glam
by Robin September 13, 2011
Industrial glam. Sounds oxymoronic, doesn’t it? Industrial style is sleek, clean, and minimal – how can it be paired with glamour, which is known for it’s plush materials, detailing, and over-the-top design? Even though these styles are at opposite ends of the design spectrum, they go together like peanut butter and jelly. I’m completely obsessed with the look and am currently designing my new townhouse to be a mecca of industrial glam.
Here’s how to get the look before this delectable design duo hits the peak of chic:
Walls Warm up an industrial loft space walls with a funky reflective wallpaper such as this foil wallpaper from Brocade Home. The stitch design is very industrial chic but the glistening metallic color is all glamour. Or opt to accessorize those brick and stone industrial walls – the rough patina on this Anthropologie mirror would fit into an industrial space nicely, while the beautiful rosette carved detailing adds glam.
Tabletop The table is perhaps the easiest place to mix and match styles. Top your favorite industrial table with glitzy placemats (such as these mirror ones from Z Gallerie), crystal tumblers, and glamour chic table linens. Flock with industrial chic chairs, such as the Jackson Metal Tub Chair from World Market. Balance it out with flatware, using antique-inspired items such as this silver set from Pottery Barn. For a centerpiece, fill an industrial accessory, such as a vintage toolbox or wire basket, with a bouquet of your favorite flowers for an unexpected contrast.
Lighting Our favorite lighting companies are stripping down their luxe chandeliers and adding in industrial materials, such as this fabulous vintage birdcage chandelier from Restoration Hardware.
Flooring Warm up cold industrial flooring with plush, glamorous rugs, such as this one from Z Gallerie (not to mention, a soft rug is much more favorable to land upon than cold concrete when climbing out of bed on those chilly fall mornings). For the kitchen, rubber flooring is a fantastic, often eco-friendly industrial material, and is perfect for those of us with slippery fingers (glasses will bounce instead of break!). The variety of hues allows you to add pops of color – who knew rubber could be glam?
Furniture The easiest way to create this look with furniture is to pair an industrial piece with glamour accessories, such as this couch from CB2 with metallic pillows from DwellStudio; or an iron rod bed with a frilly duvet, seen here at Anthropologie.
Design on a Budget, Part 1: Discover Your Style!
by Robin August 8, 2011
Everybody deserves a home that they love and feel great in. Afterall, confidence begins at home!™ Great design, and feeling great about it, isn’t a matter of budget…it’s a matter of style! You can make your style work on any budget. My four-part Design Insider series, Design on a Budget, will help you define your style, make a budget and then put the plan into action and tying it all together with the finishing touches! The goal? Create a home you love on any budget!
Design on Budget, Part 1: Discover Your Style!
The first step of any design project, regardless your budget, is to define what you want! Let’s get started!
1. What do you like? Flip through magazines and tear out things that you like. Colors, travel imagery, products that you find interesting, a beautifully styled photoshoot…Surf the internet and bookmark, bookmark, bookmark! Carry a camera or phone around and snap a few photos when you are out and about. Anything that catches your eye is worth noting. Ignore price for now! This is just about inspiration.
Keep track of things that inspire you by taking photos!
2. Look for trends: Once you’ve gathered enough inspiration, take a look at what you have. Lay everything out on the table or pin the images up on a cork board to make an “inspiration board.” Explore commonalities and themes. See what styles, colors and patterns run through the items and looks that you naturally gravitate towards. Is it a clean lined, contemporary look or a classic, casual look that catches your eye? You may be surprised what you find…often times what we think we want isn’t always what we really love!
Look for trends in this things that draw you in...here we were obviously inspired by the colors of the ocean!
3. Set the mood: How do you want to feel when you are at home (i.e. invigorated, inspired, calm)? Is there a place where you go to relax or to work? You to think about your home and rooms as living, breathing spaces that have the power to affect your mood.
4. Think function: A home should both look and feel great. Make each room and space work for you. Think about the current function of a room(s) and also what you now want the functions to be. Do you entertain? When people come to your home, are they large or small groups? Where do people tend to gather? These are important points to consider when you re-design a room or home.
Remember, redesigning a room or a home won’t–and shouldn’t–happen overnight. Take the time to reflect and really listen to yourself. Find the accessories, fabrics, and furniture that you truly love. Once you know what you want and love, you have the needed direction to really get started designing on a BUDGET. Next week, we’ll tackle that ol’ budget! In the mean time, let me know what you are finding that inspires you!
Easy Paint Solutions: HGTV HOME by Sherwin-Williams
by Robin July 25, 2011
In a home, paint is the glue that brings everything together! Color matching and choosing paint colors is something that many of my Robin Baron Design clients turn to me for. Taking the guesswork out of decorating is a passion of mine, which is why I’m a huge fan of the partnership between the paint pros at Sherwin-Williams and the all-star designers at HGTV. The all-star collaboration resulted in HGTV HOME for Sherwin Williams, a series of eight different paint schemes, as well as the tools and advice, that allow homeowners to easily pick color palettes that can match their existing homes or act as a basis for new homes. Everybody should feel confident with their homes and the choices that they make for them!
Each collection has its own unique color selection, including twenty paints that are beautiful and completely cohesive. The paint collections are designed to allow for seamless room-to-room transitions. The paints come in flat, satin and semi-gloss finishes giving homeowners even more options. The best part: You still have the flexibility to make your home uniquely you!
The color collections simply act as guidelines; the ultimate choices of where the colors should go, how much of a color is used, and which rooms the paints will coat is still yours. Sherwin-Williams simply took out the hard decision of finding colors that flow together. HGTV HOME leaves you to have FUN, providing tips and advice along the way!
The eight unique collections include Color Pizazz, Traditional Twist, Urban Organic, Global Spice, Livable Luxe, Rustic Refined, Neutral Nuance, and Coastal Cool. There is something for everyone! If you want a homey beach feel then Coastal Cool is the route to go. Perhaps a chic look with Livable Luxe is more your style. The possibilities are endless, and the best part is that you CANNOT go wrong. Everyone can find a look that suites their lifestyle using these color collections.
Paint the Town Green
by Robin July 7, 2011
ben paints in Pink Popsicle, Sundance and China Blue
If your summer sprucing up plans include adding new color to your walls, I recommend taking a look at Benjamin Moore’s new Color Capture App (very cool!), which allows you to snap a picture of anything that makes you smile—a blooming flower, a sandy beach, a great dress, a scoop of ice cream—and find it’s color match in Benjamin Moore’s range of paints. What’s even better is that many of the paints coincide with Benjamin Moore’s newest line of eco friendly paint, ben.
BROWSE FOR HOURS
Ben paint is truly green—but comes in a range of other great colors, of course! Both indoor and outdoor formulas come in hundreds of hues, perfect for color matching. I could literally spend hours browsing the website, but with Color Capture, you’ll be able to narrow it down much more quickly. You’re sure to find the perfect match for any inspiration!
GREEN ENVY
Ben bears the company’s Green Promise designation, meaning it meets or even exceeds the industry’s strictest environmental standards. Having super-low VOC levels helps earn this designation. Here’s a little background to give you painting peace of mind: VOC stands for “volatile organic compound”; they can be manmade or found in the environment, and can be harmful to you and the environment. Though the VOC levels in many paint are low to begin with, Benjamin Moore has worked to reduce the levels even more with ben.
HIGH PERFORMANCE
In addition to the great selection of colors and its Green Promise designation, this paint also delivers on performance. The primer, flat, eggshell and semi-gloss formulas all cover beautifully and give long-lasting color. If only they had a lipstick line that did all that too! Another feature busy painters will love: the super-quick dry time! In 30 minutes the paint is dry to the touch, and in 30 more, it’s ready for another coat. So you have time for all of your other weekend projects—or maybe to try a fun patterned design!
So while you’re out enjoying the sights and sounds of summer, let yourself get inspired, get snapping, and then get painting!
