Fabrics – Texture, color, pattern, design & style – The Art of Transformation

Everyone loves “Before & Afters.” The transformation of an object or a space is the magic of interior design.  One of the most valuable elements in our design wheelhouse is fabric. Fabrics have the ability to transform. Like paint – color – altering to enhance a piece or the entire environment, fabrics offer not only color, but texture, pattern, design and style.

I love a good find. Call it antiquing, thrifting, scouting, treasure hunting…the hunt is the intrigue. Exploring random sources to find the perfect piece. Once found – knowing what, if anything, is needed to transform it.

Reupholstery is a life-saving treatment. To salvage a tired piece with good bones and great lines is a service to good design. Pairing old pieces with new fabrics is rejuvenating. Inserting fabulous fabrics into a design scheme is a fine art that gives aged pieces a new life and contributes to the uniqueness of the composition of a space.

Of the design elements, paint is the one with the seemingly limitless choices. Fabrics are next. The worldwide variety of textiles, creatives, fibers and the combinations thereof are vast. Searching for just the right fabric for a specific piece is part of that treasure hunt.

You have heard the term “run of the mill.” Even for many, having never thought of this as a fabric metaphor – this phrase is used commonly to describe the common. It means ordinary – a common, mass-produced product’s run of a manufacturing mill. Using common fabrics is a cop-out when it comes to creating unique designs – especially when there are so many incredible fabrics from which to choose.

Personality comes into play when selecting a fabric. Along with function (how durable/cleanable it needs to be), the taste and preferences of the user, and the context in which it might occur – personality of the pieces plays a major role. For example, reading the personality of a chair – its lines and scale.

The personalities of fabrics are as endless as the textiles themselves. Fabrics evoke moods, seasons and even attitude. For commercial use, as well as heavy-use residential – workhorse fabrics have evolved. Not long ago, durable fabrics looked durable, less attractive and limited. And without turning this into a continuing education course about fiber content, it is obvious once you investigate the options, durability for wear, ultraviolet tolerance, mildew resistance, and antimicrobial properties – are all woven or applied to fabrics allowing amazing installations in commercial interiors that you would not hesitate to have on your living room sofa! 

Voila! The finished sectional is further detailed with custom throw pillows to bring together the caramel and blue tones of this color scheme. Warmly greeting guests upon arrival.

Residential interiors can now enjoy what commercial interiors have realized for years. By incorporating the durability and cleanability which allows for the wear and tear – without showing those signs of real life – residential and commercial interiors incorporate fabulous fabrics that defy their strength – beauty and style conquer!

Sustainability of the fiber sources is an increasing topic of conversation. That and the fiber contents regarding the health/safety of the materials and treatments, if any, used (Okeo Tex certification, for example).

With all this information regarding the myriad options, enhanced durability and the unique opportunities that textiles provide to dress your great pieces – treasure the history, family hand-me-downs (if not heirlooms) and give them new life!!!! Its ART!!!

Color. The Spices and Ingredients of Design

Colors for fashion, interiors or a composing a bouquet are like the many ingredients, spices and herbs selected for great food. Creating dishes with fine flavors and visual appeal, by selecting the right combination, is good culinary design. So we see the spices and ingredients of design everywhere!

Assembling the colors, textures and shapes in a bouquet…

The art is in gathering the right combinations, textures, colors, flavors,…ok – maybe edible bouquets…Well, we’re not tasting the interiors – but some are scrumptious! Ooh – good enough to eat! And the fashion – yes, we’ve seen edible fabrics…generally not attempted in draperies – but who knows? The sky is the limit in design!!!


A few years ago, Kingston University Fashion Student, Emily Crane began pioneering a new strain of edible couture created from gelatin and seaweed! Brilliant and beautiful!!

Inasmuch as edible couture and creating fabrics from edible materials is fascinating, I digress…the actual point of my story is to recognize the common denominators between gathering materials for all forms of art – the assemblages result in the creative finished products. In this instance, interiors and their color schemes which bear likenesses to beautiful foods!

Color is the most apparent ingredient of most artistic design endeavors. It is the most obvious and first to catch your eye. Assembling an interior is usually grounded by a desired color. The foundation of a room begins with deciding a direction with color. This might seem to be contrary to the concept that form follows function – but I believe that the designing for the two are often concurrent events. The vision occurs while the function is simultaneously examined. Most people visualize in color.

I often write about color. It is an ongoing fascination to discover who prefers what color(s) and why. It offers the beginning of the visualization of a concept. As the framework is discussed – such as programming a kitchen. Inevitably, in the early stages, colors and materials are discussed. They might change. They might not end up as first imagined, but color aids in the visualization and process of  design.

Look around your world and consider color. Why did you choose your interior colors? When selecting a color for the surfaces, fabrics and finish materials what would you do differently and why. Taking care not to merely react to trends, what colors will bring you joy? Trends often tempt. They are enticing and new, but they move along…It takes thorough examination to determine if a trend is truly applicable or merely a passing temptation. The validation of design is the approval of the occupants or function for whom/which it serves. Not just the feature of a new trend.

So have a little fun seeing these interiors paired with edible color schemes as dishes are correlated to interior schemes.


The spices and ingredients selected to create the flavor bursts might be hot green jalapenos, serranos, tart limes, dried red chiles balanced by the soft and warm yellow of corn tortillas.

What interior might look like a spicy platter of festivity? Perhaps bold wall colors sprinkled with myriad decorative accessories and functional art.

Spicy colors in this festive kitchen.

Imagine creating a creamy white-sauce mushroom pasta with velvety texture and soft finish. The ingredients you would reach for would be the cream, pasta, white pepper and perhaps a touch a sherry. Sautéing the mushrooms in butter for a luscious golden brown.

Invitingly divine.

An interior that captures a similar feel derived from the same palette of colors…


Mimicking the creamy mushroom palette, rich wood, copper and steel tones contrast against the creamy whites in this interior featuring one of our favorite furniture and fabric lines – Duralee/Robert Allen!
Duralee/Robert Allen has many collections providing the perfect fabrics and furnishings for so many deliciously diverse interior projects!

From creamy, soft and warm to cool and refreshing…


Cool sushi plates featuring the pink and orange tones of tender fresh fish, cilantro sprig greens, and so white rice!

An interior possessing similar colors – the perfect ingredients to create a stunning design!


Durlaee encompasses many fine collections. Here the Clarke & Clarke Oriental Garden fabrics are gathered together to present a fresh scene reminiscent of our colorfully fresh sushi plate!

Ready for reds?


A berry lovely dish with creamy whites…Our delectable raspberry tart presented on a lace-embossed white pottery piece accented with finely sliced toasted almonds sets the stage for the next interior color scheme…

Once again we are featuring Duralee’s Clarke & Clarke statement called Zanzibar a brilliant raspberry and red ethnic statement inspired by the exotic and vibrant world of Tanzania, Africa. Discovering the creativity of colors and fabrics in distant places offers a mélange of ingredients with which to create an exciting interior design!

 Mix it up. Gather the ingredients that will bring you joy and result in a deliciously creative interior!!! Come see and feel these fabulous fabrics and furnishings from Duralee/Robert Allen in our comprehensive design resource library at PATRICIAN DESIGN! Call us and we will send samples!

Relocating – Making a new house a HOME

Thirteen or so years ago we designed the interior of a home for a young family complete with a toddler. The desire was to bring color and modern accents while still selecting durable materials and hopefully timeless elements.

Fast forward these many years later and this same family now with two beautiful daughters is relocating to another city, another state and a new home. This home was well furnished and much, of what was shown, stayed with the house. The trick was, after having adopted so much from the previous owners, how would they make this house their home?

The point of arrival – the front door – was a tasteful charcoal grey, but by changing it to a bit lighter smoky green, it made a significant difference.

It’s tough to be up-rooted anytime in your school years…these girls missed the only home they had ever had, friends, activities, groups and familiar environs. This challenge was to help all four of them – parents and kids – get settled and assist in making this new house their true home.

As I flew to consult with them, I imagined the scene having seen photos to get somewhat oriented. I made the natural assumption that paint would make new statements to alter the previous owner’s selections and introduce the new family’s preferences. However, despite the change we made to the front door, it wasn’t all about paint once I arrived.

In the previous residence all those many years ago, we punctuated the interior with paint accents. Good design transcends trends and the years. Who would think that this interior was created thirteen years ago?

 

The dining room in the new home was painted entirely charcoal – trim and walls. Oppressive was an understatement and before I even got there they painted all the trim white to match the rest of the home.  However, they left the fireplace charcoal – waiting for a discussion as to how to proceed.

 

 

Notice the dining room furniture having moved from one home into the next. We decided to paint all the wood trim surrounding the fireplace area white to match the rest. But it produced a startling brightness that will be absorbed once a new painting is selected for above the mantle.

They inherited the chandalier with the home and although it is quite different from their previous dining room fixtures, they are making it their own by mixing their chairs, table, rug and sideboard.

The framed lounge chair found a home in the new living room alongside the large sectional that they acquired from the previous owners of the house.

Here in the previous home, the painting over the fireplace has a prominent position, yet also has a place of prominence in the new home along with the chair and a half and the arm chair in the foreground.

 

Checking out a sample of a rug to add further color to the otherwise neutral scene.

The simple placement of custom throw pillows initially designed for the banco in the kitchen are now colorful accents in the living room, on the newly acquired sectional left by the previous owners, are a remarkable save.

 

These pillows had seen their share of spilled milk and ground-in cereal over the years. But with periodic cleaning, they maintained their appearance perfectly.

Here the pillows are the perfect accent on the camel-colored sectional that came with the new house. The painting has been a family favorite for years.

The rest of the collection of throw pillows from that original breakfast nook are being re-purposed on the sectional in the lower level media room/office.   They add the necessary splash of color in this neutral scene.

The fully upholstered chair-and-a-half also transferred from old to new. Previously in the family room, now in the music room/office. The master bedroom transferred completely. The girls’ rooms have a mix of their things and some new features. All in all it is beginning to take shape.

It pays to buy good materials that maintain well and take proper care of them. Not only will they offer years of enjoyment, in this case they bring the familiarity, to the new house, that is beginning to make it feel like “home.”

Sure, some might like the opportunity to start new without remnants of the previous life – but in this case, they cling to that which was comforting, familiar and theirs. Moving to a new home and being able to mix existing pieces so well with new ones to make this new house a home is a design success story!

 

 

Living Room Transformation

As an adjunct to last week’s story about the progressive young couple and their dramatic kitchen remodel, I thought I should finish the subject and tell about the adjacent living room transformation and comfortable family room on the lower level.

When the kitchen grew to become the focal point upon entering and the bar counter expanded into the living area, it reduced that space to now become a comfortable sitting room for guests to gather or the family to relax while activities are  brewing in the kitchen.

Looking through to the dining room where a built-in storage bench was added along the window wall, offers additional seating. A new fabric-shade chandelier softens the light levels. All lighting in this remodel are on dimmers.

The former white brick wall had gently rubbed edges to suggest a distressed condition exposing the red brick beneath.  The fireplace had an unrelated golden oak mantle and surround with insipid tile inset also used to cover the hearth. The tile was a glazed faux marble with a Victorian design accent feature.

By simply painting the oak white to match the rest of the wood trim throughout the home and also painting the brick a soft taupe/grey tone, the look was instantly transformed. But they still had that awful tile…so here’s a design tip: to buy time either while you decide or until you save-up for the next phase, paint the tile away!!! To accommodate a new TV that is to go over the mantle, the wood surround was shortened. Notice the extra piece of wood trim that was removed to lower the mantle.

The hearth was removed and rebuilt (without the cut-off corners) with brick and painted to match the wall. Lucky for them the hardwood floor went beneath the hearth – so when they modified the size, they didn’t have to patch the floor! Tile was removed and replaced with 2×2 mosaic Carrara marble to coordinate with the herringbone mosaic of the same marble in the new kitchen backsplash/wall (see last week’s  blog).

A sofa found, for nearly free, was in good shape and reupholstered beautifully in this plush, durable navy solid.

The classic blue and white motif was punctuated with organic yellow.

The newly refinished original hardwood floors – taken from a golden oak finish to a rich espresso/walnut stain…

…with the blue and white wool hook rug creates a handsome contrast. The rug actually “reads” blue and white, but upon  closer inspection has warm khaki tones, soft turquoise detailing and is quite complex.

This revitalized cozy ambiance of this new sitting area/living room is perfect for this growing young family!

And for a more expansive gathering space, the lower level family room received a new sectional sofa in a durable charcoal fabric and a low-pile small diamond patterned wall to wall carpeting to conceal what had been cold tile  floors and make a comfortable room for all seasons!

Purrrrrrhaps someday they’ll have a cat to climb that crazy rope-wrapped pole!!!!!

 

Buying the Bones…Re-upholstering

Re-upholstery is good. If you like a piece of existing furniture and it has “good bones” it is fun to give it an instant face-lift with new upholstery. I find myself salvaging clients’ pieces often when they had every  intention of complete replacement. The satisfaction of transforming a tired or dated piece is quite gratifying.

The next best thing is finding a piece that is value-priced for the aforementioned reasons of looking tired or dated and recognizing that is has “good bones.” This is like a treasure hunt. Whether on Craig’s List or in a Thrift Shop, searching for a piece is exciting. You have to see beyond it – you can’t tell a book by its cover – right?

Many of my clients are believers in this practice, but often did not start out that way. In fact for this blog’s example, I have the perfect scenario. It began as I remodeled and designed a spectacular renovation for a  single man who wanted a sleek, modern interior. We started from scratch with all new finishes throughout, custom cabinets, enhanced lighting, and then the search for a piece of furniture that had eluded us. It was the primary focal point that I envisioned – a large orange ultra-suede sectional. I stood beside my illustrator render the room based upon photos of the space and a very loose sketch that I prepared. A picture truly does speak a thousand words and is a fantastic aid in communicating design ideas that might otherwise be misconstrued or just plain missed by the client.

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We began pricing custom fabric on a number of options, but everything was over budget. So I asked if he minded if I looked locally for a used piece that we could transform. Luckily, he was busy and trusting and told me to have at it – so I did. It looked like it was made from marshmallows, but the key detail was the curved corner piece. I did not want an “L” with right angles – I wanted that rounded, welcoming, beckoning corner piece.  This crazy, puffy, formal, dated piece was in perfect condition and the woman, original owner, was moving and could not take it with her. In step I and paid this grateful woman her requested few hundred dollars, called my upholsterer and scheduled the pick-up for the next day.

keiths-sectional-before-008

When I saw it for the second time in the back of the upholstery shop, I was psyched. It’s always fun- but this transformation was going to be amazing! Inasmuch as my wonderful client trusted me, I didn’t dare let him see it in its original form. I didn’t want to risk the probable fear and foreboding. I didn’t want to give him a permanent unsettling visual, of this puffy, white, marshmallow sectional, every time he saw his gorgeous, sleek, modern, orange masterpiece.

Therefore, the process began as I had already found the perfect orange ultra-suede and the guys at the shop stripped the layers of white damask, foam and fuzzy dacron from the solid wood bones of this beautiful frame. They slicked it clean as a whistle.

With a bit of work to lengthen on side to an imposing 10′ and shortening the other side by a few inches, the new sectional began taking shape. The arms were modified and the cushions squared and the lines simplified. In this case, the concealed feet were fine. Although we often replace feet, or replace skirts with feet, or feet for skirts – those options were not necessary in this case.

The finished product was the perfect piece. Our client was blown away with seeing it delivered and looking like the original illustration that we used to convey the design concept. The biggest response was that of the cost which was a fraction of the cost of buying this over-sized piece new. Because of the unusual size, it would have had to be custom all the way or we would have had to settle for a size less than perfect. Not to mention this was accomplished in less than 2 weeks rather than waiting a couple of months or more for a custom order.

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Ready-made, down-filled,  Ralph Lauren throw pillows were a great find to add a splash of color. The rug is temporary as a larger, lighter one is intended along with the custom cocktail table. Once again my team makes my dreams come true and the client has a unique piece perfect for his needs.