AbbeyK — On Interior Design

The Home of a Decorator Who Works Out of Her Home

When I go to client's homes, the first thing they often say is: My house is a mess, I am so embarrassed. My typical response is: I didn't make my bed this morning and there are dishes in the sink, or something like that. I should carry pictures of my home with me on my iPad.

The truth is, unless there's a hoarding problem or outside of the norm filth, I don't notice it. Simply put, I am not there to judge people's housecleaning. People live in their homes. If there are kids, there are toys. If they work, there are papers. If they eat, there is often a coffee cup or some crumbs.That's normal.

  
 
Here's my dining room and kitchen, which during the day morph into a studio. We worked on 3 projects yesterday: fabrics for a first floor of a 1850s Colonial Revival in Cambridge; lighting and finishing touches for the pied-a-terre in Boston; blinds for a home in Westwood.

Cleaning lady comes in an hour so I have to get it all put everything away NOW.

How to Choose Colors for Your Home: Trust the Decorating Process

Ever been in a home and the colors just look dead? Flat? No life? No zest? Me, too. I hate that.

So the question is: how do you get the colors right? I am a painter by training having gone to art school undergraduate. I actually refused to take color theory my Freshman year because I thought it would ruin my feel for color. (Arrogant? Maybe, but I was only 18...)

Anyway, I can talk color with the best of them, but I promise that most of what I do is from feeling even though over the years, I did actually sit down and learn my color theory. But I will tell you this: When it feels right, it's just right and you know. I feel it in my body. I am not making this up. I feel relaxation come over me.

A new client (who is very nice, by the way) showed me this bowl as inspiration for her great room. We set out to bring her fabrics to make her heart sing. Mostly blue, green, and a bit of plum. The amber tone, she already had covered in the lights over the island in the kitchen.

 

We found a whole bunch of fabrics she liked and some carpets. Here were the fabrics she liked after the first meeting. All satisfied what was in her mind's eye. We decided the sofas should be a mid tone brown, kind of a hazelnut color. We just needed to fill in the story a bit more. We needed some more purples and were hoping to find one fabric with blue, green, and purple in it. That would prove to be the challenge of the project.

 
 
Our first pass taught us that the cobalts, and deep plums were too much for the space, so we decided to tone things down a bit and go for more amethyst than plum, more pale blue than cobalt. But looking through many vendors (OK-- just about every vendor) at the Design Center, we realized that the tones she liked do not exist in any single fabric we could find. The greens were too acidy; the purples too bold. Or they contained pink or yellow or something equally that fell in the category of "not what we wanted." Some vendors, of course, will custom color, but we are not in that price point.

The morning before our meeting, I got ready, laid everything out, sorted through all the fabrics, and came to a (panicked) conclusion: we did not have enough purples. I have learned to trust this pre-meeting feeling due to what has proven to be an uncanny accuracy of my gut. So what's a decorator to do? Run to the Design Center, of course!

All of the purples she ended up picking came from that trip. Thank you gut! All we need now is some dusty blues for pillows and for the kitchen chairs. We are already working on quoting everything for her so we can order soon.

What I like about this color story, and working with this client is that she let the process go where it needed to go. When she realized that the bold colors she liked wouldn't work in her space, she let it go. The inspiration is still there. We do have green, blue and purple. Just not in the way that either of us thought, and the result is going to be so much more lovely than either of expected. I think this color palette we came up with is sophisticated, unexpected, and really, really pretty.

 

By the way, I am in LOVE with the purple circles. We are doing that on a 48" square ottoman and some pillows for one of the sofas. It's going to be DIVINE. Next week we are looking at tiles for the back splash. I can't wait!
 

New Work from AbbeyK

Things have been CR-azy busy despite the "bad" economy. I did a photo shoot with Eric Roth a while back and am finally getting around to posting the new work.

This is from a Belmont Hill project. Historic home. Client likes soft colors: gold tones + green-ish blues, as you can tell. Loves wood too! Pretty happy with how things came out.

 
 

 

 

 

 

 
 

 

Figuring Out Details for a Custom Ottoman

These days everyone seems to want an ottoman. Something about them says cozy. Right now I have 3 custom ottomans in the line at the upholsterer. All are very large. I am working on one now that is 52" x 40". It will allow everyone in the seating area to put their feet up on it. We're using a saddle colored microfiber for its durability and family-friendly features.

We decided to do some inset stitching to break up the mammoth size of the thing. So the question becomes: where does the stitching go? There's no classical shape to refer to, no cannon, no rule. The only way to figure it out is to draw it up and look at it. So I made a template. The paper kept curling and mugs did the trick to hold it down. Now that's a technical problem solver if ever I have seen one.

 

When I got to the upholsterer, he had made a template as well. Seeing both was interesting. Everyone has a different eye. I had made my stitching 2" apart and 6" from the edges, while his proportions were a bit different. We ended up re-working the details to be in between both of our ideas.

 

By the way, I am going to get some of the pattern paper Walter has. You can see below, it's the coolest stuff. It has dots on it as a guide and it did not curl up. Never seen that paper used before and I have been in a lot of work rooms over the years. I love seeing new things.

 

High Point Fabric Trends 2010

My name is Abbey and I am a fabric addict. I cannot help it. I just L.O.V.E fabric. Just back from NC, here are some trends I noticed while in High Point. Although High Point is a furnishings market, well fabric and furnishings go hand in hand. Here's a sampling of what I saw.

• Purple (from Century)

• Acidy and bold color combinations -- teal, orange, brown

• Botanical prints made into fabric -- These are in my best of show category from Design Legacy.

• Shiny! This one is a non-crushable velvet. (from Pearson)

• Words and letters, especially if they look like they might have come from a burlap sack from France or a signage of some kind. (from Pearson) Sorry this one's a bit blurry....new camera.

• Strong geometrics and cut out motifs -- The pagodas and the headboard geometric I saw at more than one showroom. How does that happen? (from Century )

• Suzannis and ikats and other ethnic prints. This exact ikat I saw a few times, as well.

What I Like about Starting Decorating Projects

There's something exciting about new projects. I love meeting new people, figuring out what they like, how they live. How they want their home to feel. But there's also a sense of exhilaration. (or is it panic?)

I go into a meeting not knowing any of the answers and somehow after a process it sorts itself out. This process, trusting the process, is very satisfying. I have no idea what clients will want or how I will solve their design challenges. But I always know that I will solve it. So I guess it's a panic wrapped in confidence. The two work well together, actually.

It's like in art school. Each project you start with the worry that you have no idea how to solve the assignment and then you do. That panic/worry drives the creative process for me.

Coming up with a color scheme that makes a client's heart sing is so fun for me. So how do I start from nothing? How do I get the vision? I have a designer friend who walks into a house and sees it completed. The first time she walks in the door. I do "see" it completed, but not on the first visit. How do I get there? Many clients ask and I can only sort of explain. There's no exact science to it, but there are steps:

I start with a floor plan. Architecture drives a lot of layout as does a person's lifestyle. While I am working on that, I work on color scheme for the fabrics. I look to what undertones people like and what kind of patterns...If you like grey-ed out color, or pastels, for example. If you hate green (sad but sometimes true), if you only like cream and shades of tan, if you like patterns that don't actually match, if you like high contrast, low contrast, geometric patterns, regular patterns, irregular repeats. Then there's the type of weave you like: chenille, woven, damask, etc.. Unless you are a designer of some ilk, these considerations may not even come into your consciousness -- really who goes about thinking about these things? I do. Every day, actually. I am a design geek.

Most people are consistent in their taste, and after a few fun exercises, we sort it out. All the options go in. The solution comes out like a sieve. It's so exciting and fun to figure this out with my clients. One of my current clients says: how do you know that about me? Well, that's what I do for a living and hopefully she doesn't feel too analyzed. :)

Thought I'd share with you a current project. I am totally excited about it. Here's the gold, grey-blue and rust color scheme. These colors will run through the house in different proportions in different rooms. It's really pretty, don't you think?

Repeating colors is not boring. It feels good and is consistent. It's not a color palette that is fashion-forward. I had a hard time finding any fabrics that contain all the colors, so we are mostly mixing solids which can be pleasing done in the right proportions. Here are the fabrics laid out on the sectional in the family room.

I still have some fabrics to find. Bed skirt fabrics, a chair in the library, but it's coming together and we are so excited. I'll post as we go a long.

PS The rugs on the floor are choices for the stair case that will be in the entry way. We need to look at it all together in the new house -- next week. Can't wait!

More Cool Stuff from Brimfield

Mmmm cool stuff. Great industrial looks, country style, re-claimed, and just fabulous upholstery. Scroll down for your viewing pleasure.

Spray Paint Your Upholstery

How cool is this? From the NYT To Reupholster, Spray Away

  

How does it work?

"According to its inventor, David Reizian, the president of Deval Products in Warwick, R.I., the paint can be used to disguise stains or transform anything from sofas to car upholstery to fabric partitions. It is nontoxic and, most important, won’t come off on your guests’ trousers, even if they deserve it."

Any one tried it?

Watch AbbeyK on TV.

Hey folks, just a bit of shameless self-promotion here.

Was asked by the folks at the Boston Design Center to spend the day shooting a segment for New England Dream Home. The segment to air on TV starting 6/15 was just posted on their web site and you can view it here or click below.

Happy viewing. And no I don't sign autographs. (tee hee.)

Thanks BDC and Dream House staff for this wonderful opportunity.

Let the Sun in -- Striped Canvas Fabric in NYC

Known as a manufacturer of espadrilles, this French textile company just opened in NYC in Chelsea.

Canvas has many great applications in your home -- from place mats to upholstery to roman shades. I always love a stripe on a roman. I have never felt this type of canvas. It may be too thick, so check with your work room first.

P.S. They sell beach totes and other accessories in the store.

Les Toiles du Soleil, 261 West 19th Street (Eighth Avenue), (212) 229-4730.