Animal Hides & Mid Century Modern Furniture

Like many designers, I love adding an authentic Eames, Bertoia or Thonet chair into my interior schemes for punch, but have you noticed that a lot of Mid Century Modern Classics are very hard (and cold) on the derriere?  I specified eight Tolix chairs for a studio space once only to discover that my clients spent the entire winter sitting on folded blankets!  So what to do about an uncomfy, chilly butt?  Take a leaf out of the northern European rule book of design and drape the chair in an animal hide of course!  I love the juxtaposition of the hard, man made edges of the furniture with the organic, textural feel of the hides.  It immediately turns the chairs into an inviting place to snuggle up and get toasty.

Kids Rugs

Finding rugs for children's rooms can be a real challenge, particularly when you want something that is going to add a real punch of colour and fun.  The new Junior Collection from Armadillo & Co is the answer to my prayers!  Bright band stripes and solid circles are mixed with natural tones to create a really stunning, vibrant range of rugs for kids spaces handmade from soft hemp and pure wool.  Sensational stuff!  

All rugs available through Angela Steyn Interiors.

How To Decorate With Neon

Neon shoelaces on a ten year old is one thing, but how exactly do you pull off electric hues in the home without getting it really, really, really wrong? The 80's child within me loves a dash of highlighter pink more than I care to admit but I have shied away from neon brights fearing they will be too loud and boisterous and overwhelming.  So my challenge was to find a way to introduce them so they worked with my typically white, classic and calm interiors.

The answer: restraint and lots and lots of white paint! By pairing just a pop of bright with neutral, natural tones it suddenly takes on a whole new personality.  By reducing the glare factor and turning the colours into neon pastels, the schemes become ridiculously pretty.  Mix in a few organic textures and I'm swooning. Candy coloured heaven!

Window Seats

Rustic Window Seat

One of the loveliest additions to any home is a window seat.  There is something so romantic about the idea of curling up with a rug and contemplating the passing world outside.  Window seats are full of the promise of quiet, solitary contemplation, a little nook to escape to when life becomes too hectic.

Window seats can also provide a great opportunity to incorporate some built-in storage or even an extra bed.  Add a thick, comfortable seat cushion on top in a beautiful fabric, combine it with some feature cushions and hey presto, you have yourself an enchanting, whimsical space.

The above image uses the Hemnes Daybed from Ikea - a brilliant and affordable solution!

If you have a space crying out for a window seat, why don't you send me a photo and I can advise you on how best to achieve the look you want.

Bay Window Seat

Traditional Window Seat

Contemporary Window Seat

Images

White Painted Floorboards - A Veteran's Story

I have spent a vast proportion of my adult life hankering after white painted floorboards.  Looking back, my infatuation probably began the very same day that I discovered the simple, fresh, austere beauty of Scandinavian interiors.  One look at all that blinding whiteness and I was completely brainwashed.  

So finally, one day, after endless discussions with my husband, we made the trip to our hardware store and purchased a very large tin of white paving paint. Having researched it to death, we concluded that regular paint wouldn't be tough enough to withstand the beating it would take in our home studio.  The first strike of the paint roller was nerve wracking to say the least, but not quite as heart-stopping perhaps as the point where half-way through the first coat we looked at each other and silently screamed "Mary Mother of God, what the hell have we done"!

Two coats later and our floor looked so sparkling and spectacular you needed sunglasses just to be in the vague vicinity of it.  It was breathtakingly gorgeous and serene.  We leapt and hugged and patted each other on the back, congratulating ourselves on our "fearless" and "brave" decorating choice.  "Ha!" I shouted, "We are designers God damn it and we shall have white floorboards no matter how fool hardy my mother thinks we are"!

I did love our white floor (we have since moved to a different home) but by crikey let me tell you it was not the easiest of loves to live with.  Everything, and I mean everything showed up on it like it was being examined in a science lab.  God forbid you should attempt to eat a biscuit at your desk or cut fabric.  Let alone the endless shedding of hair (me, Andre, Daphne Cat).  To clean it - which we did every other day, first with the vacuum, then the mop - I would get down on my hands and knees and scrape icky goo off with a kitchen knife.  Be warned, it is a particularly exhausting floor colour choice for anyone suffering even mildly from OCD.

So while I still love to look at beautiful homes sporting stunning white floorboards, I'm not sure my sanity (or my marriage) could withstand living with them again... unless we got a cleaner... who came every single day.  

For our floor, we used White Knight paving paint in White and applied it using a roller.

Images

Mood Board: Rustic Country Kitchen

Through all my recent meanderings along the beach with Leo, I have been totally inspired by the coastal colour palette and the rough, natural texture of the shells and driftwood that we collect.  It makes a perfect reference point for the home, bringing the inherently soothing qualities of the cool tones and organic materials into everyday living spaces.  This rustic kitchen is a stunning example - it combines the authenticity of bleached timber and Calcutta marble with lots of fresh white paint and subway tiles.  The result is absolutely breathtaking.

Details that I love:

• The rough hewn shelving
• The choice of pendant lighting
• The timber cladding that carries the theme through from the kitchen cabinetry

Interior Mood Board

Cabinetry: Custom fabricated drawers and doors in Bleached Oak
Benchtop: Aquagold marble from Sareen Stone 
Splashback Tiles: White Subway Tiles from Tiles By Kate
Butlers Sink: Belfast Sinks
Pendant Lighting: Magins Lighting

Bleached Oak 

Aquagold Marble

Butler Sink

White Subway Tiles

Boston Pendant Light

Mood Board: Traditional Entrance Hall

Cladded Entrance Hall - Image: Simply Seleta

Andre and I often debate the type of home we would like to build - like most designers, trying to decide on just one architectural style seems impossibly difficult.  We oscillate between the extremes of a super slick, uber-modern abode filled with designer classic furniture and a cosy clapboard cottage with wide architraves and roses in the garden.  

Ultimately, there are some unavoidable facts that will probably sway the final decision.  We both love housey houses and homey homes.  We have a young family, a British Blue cat and a collection of vintage trunks that I could never sacrifice.  Between us we own four mohair blankets.  I love white.  Andre loves open fireplaces.  You see where I'm going with this?

The traditional style entrance hall in the above image makes me want to bury all the books on Mies Van Der Rohe sitting on our bedside table.  I ADORE it!  It's so substantial and chunky.  So warm and inviting.  So stylish.

Interior Mood Board:

Flooring: Havwoods Europlank Engineered Floorboards - HW600 Walnut Nature
Paint: Dulux Natural White
Pendant Light: Nautic Ilford Weathered Brass Pendant Light

Havwoods Europlank Walnut Nature

Dulux Natural White

Nautic Ilford Pendant Light

Interior Design Tip: How To Select The Right White Paint

One of the most common questions I'm asked as an interior designer is, "which white paint should I use"?  It sounds so simple... how hard can it be?  You select white, white or white... right?  Wrong!  Choosing the correct shade for your walls is probably the single most important decorating decision you will make.  Not only will it set the tone for the entire scheme, but it will effect every other component of the interior.

HOW TO SELECT THE RIGHT WHITE PAINT

Step 1: Choose a tonal family

There are hundreds of different shades of white paint on the market so you need to narrow the field.  Broadly speaking, whites fall into three main categories: pure whites, warm whites and cool whites.  When you look at a colour chart, you will probably be instinctively drawn to either cool or warm tones... on the whole, warmer tones work best in more traditional interiors while cooler tones suit a more modern space.  The pure whites are great for trim (architraves, skirtings, doors etc).

Step 2: Look at paint colours in-situ

Once you have figured out which tonal family suits your needs, start picking out particular shades that you like and then paint a test patch on the wall... this is a critical step as different lighting conditions will have a tremendous impact upon the look of the paint.  If you are choosing colours for a new home that has not yet been built, order large brush-out samples from the paint manufacturer (large A4 sized colour chips) and look at them in similar lighting conditions - you will be amazed at how different a shade looks in a big piece!

Step 3: Create a colour board of all finishes

The easiest solution I have come up with throughout my years as an interior designer is to select everything at once... choose carpet, tiles, timber colours, laminates and other key items at the same time as you choose the paint.  Never choose anything independently.  That way, you can change things as required once you see them all laid out together... believe me, it's far easier to alter a paint colour (of which there are endless options available) rather than change a carpet colour that you love.

HAPPY PAINTING!

P.S. If you would like further advice or would like to arrange a colour consultation, please contact me at Angela Steyn Interiors.

Photos: Angela Steyn