The Seduction of Brown

Well I will have to warn you, right off the bat, that these photos are a little hard to see.  Photographing a window in the daytime is the most difficult thing. So I will start with a close up of the gorgeous brown faux silk fabric.

There were actually 2 layers of fabric - one layer was very sheer - held together by the embroidered swirls.  You can see that the wall color was a neutral tan  and the Finial Co. hardware was in Rose Gold.
Here's the before:

Such a pretty living room, but a little bare.
We added stationary side panels to soften it a bit.

The after picture is so hard to see, so I took a second shot:

Now we are anxious for the newly reupholstered chairs to arrive. The chair fabric is a tweed of red, green and brown and will be the finishing touch for this very clubby living room.

A Little Lesson in Color

No, this isn't a color theory post! It's just a little something I thought of to guide you in your next decorating project.
I was in High Point a couple of weeks ago and soon I will write a post about the trends I saw there. For now I will share a picture of a vignette I saw that sparked a conversation between some other designers and myself.

Now the good news is that there was color everywhere in High Point.  The sofas above are from a new collection from Tobi Fairley for CR Laine.  It was a gorgeous, cheerful collection and we all loved it! These orange sofas were fabulous with their nailhead detail and those Lucite legs!
The question came up whether we would actually use that strong of a color on a piece of furniture (no less TWO!).
My answer was no.  While I love orange and have used it a lot in my own home, this is so striking and vibrant and I think it might be too much in the room of a regular sized home.  Look at the volume of "air" around it! And this was in a very large showroom with huge ceilings. The pale grey wall color helped tone it down a little, also.
Think about that the next time you are in a furniture store.