The cold sets in. The good old fireplace will soon find our feet, our hands, our faces and our best smiles. It will offer us warmth and the crackling of its logs as soon as we get close enough. The fireplace is very practical, but it can also be very beautiful if you take the time to refit it with a nice exterior when you’re doing renovations, decoration or construction work.

A fireplace can be a column of rough and massive stones or, on the contrary, a column with a finely sculpted mantel that evokes Greek or Roman esthetics, to the great pleasure of owners with a classical taste.

A fireplace can be monumental in size and its relief or built in for greater discretion. The contemporary look is ideal for a built-in fireplace, because it spreads softness and simplicity. This makes the contemporary look perfect for a suspended fireplace. Most fireplaces are made of metal. They are so slender that they appear to be mobile.[……]

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Often created in decommissioned industrial buildings, lofts offer an immense open space to decorate, a single room whose dimensions are around 500 square metres, with ceilings of up to three metres and more.

Few doors, few walls, often nothing at all. A wave of natural light from the long vertical windows along the wall floods the central space. Added to these windows you sometimes find a windowed façade, skylights or windows on the ceiling.

Wood or steel beams, concrete, brick and metal surfaces are everywhere. And the abandoned vestiges of the building’s past: pulleys, wooden cases, platforms, giant washbasins, air conditioning conduits, steel tables, oversized chimney.

What do you do with this unrefined decor? Make it your home.

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Once the cleaning work is done, the real work starts. Most owners keep traces of the building’s former vocation for decorative purposes. That’s what makes a loft a loft. That’s what separates it from a penthouse.

If partitions are needed for a certain intimacy, they should be as discreet as possible in order to maintain the continuity of the space and let the light flood in. That is why complete walls are rare. Or areas are combined, such as the living room and dining room. Or low walls, mobile screens, opaque or trans lucid panels are added.  

A loft is a paradise for colour. Owners often use colour to divide the space into areas: one dominant colour per area, or one dominant colour on the ground floor and a second on the upper floor, which is usually a mezzanine.[……]

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From stripping the African hut, the cradle of humanity, we have , we have switched to decorative abundance throughout the centuries. In 2015, we have the impression of going back to square one as we progress toward the world of tomorrow. We are stripping things down again. The living room is no exception.

Living room decor will be marked by simplicity, but without austerity. In fact, tomorrow’s living room will have more of a lounge atmosphere. And God knows how much the lounge style can burst with beauty and freshness!

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Screens on the walls, futuristic furniture, projectors and recessed lighting, tomorrow’s living room will go from the contemporary style to a more dazzling style. Everything will be designed, from the bookshelves to the staircase.[……]

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Who said that home offices had to be ugly? A tour of offices in large companies showed us that times have changed. Work spaces are being redesigned, colour is being added and clutter removed.

Look at your children registered for post-secondary studies. They have no qualms about decorating their offices. Increasingly limited by self-employed workers, they let their personalities shine through the decoration. By doing so, they are setting up a work space that is likely to inspire and motivate them.

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Your home office is more than a workspace. It’s a refuge where the only dictatorship allows is efficiency. After all, environment is one of the key factors in work.

If you prefer a stripped-down office, or if your office is as exciting as a room in a monastery and you feel good and are efficient in your work, stay on the same path.

If not, let your imagination run wild.

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The wall is the first thing to think about, since that is usually the first surface you look at outside your workstation.[……]

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Dressing a window is an overlooked art. Yet, from a white, almost gossamer-like veil to an opaque velvet fabric, curtains contribute greatly to the look of a room.

For the choice of colour, the strong points are the same between the curtain and the room to decorate: contrasting, harmonic or complementary.

A pale and discreet curtain highlights the colour of a wall or another surface that you want to emphasize, such as an artistic wall. This same curtain would overshadow the flashy look of a room that needs to stand out from rest.

However, a dark curtain will add character to a pale, monochrome room. For example, brown has a tonic effect on a deluge of white or cream.[……]

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Household silver doesn’t go out of style. Centuries pass and it never loses its elegance. And if silver is spread throughout the room, the entire décor is filled with reflections and glimmerings. You allow yourself to be taken away by a wave of ease and comfort.

There was a time when castles around the world contained silver furniture. The furniture would be melted when cash was short. Silver in a residence was an undeniable sign of richness. And that hasn’t changed.

You usually find the classic pieces of silver in your dining room: utensils, napkin rings, mustard pot, sugar bowl, salt and pepper shakers, cheese plate, spice box, casserole dish, and creamer.

However, many accessories can be scattered around all rooms to create a river of silver: candy dish, jewellery box, tea box, fruit basket, candleholder, lamp, flowerpot, coffeepot, knickknack, blotter, inkwell, small storage case, flower stand, cookie jar, sugar bowl, water jug, wine jar, beer stein, shaker, dessert plate, dinner service, phials and flasks, chandeliers and shades.[……]

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Have you ever entered a room and come across an object so unexpected that it has an explosive effect on the whole decor? Yet, the object is supposed to play a decorative role. At least that’s what you deduct from its location and orientation. The owner wants you to see it and you do indeed see it. And you wonder: “What is that?”

Brazilian businessman Eike Batista, previously a billionaire, placed a Lamborghini Aventador. In the living room of his mansion in Rio de Janeiro. If you are not passionate about cars, the name will not mean anything to you. However, you should know that it is among the most prestigious cars in the world.

Mr. Batista’s model, a white 2012 sports car, was worth $1.3 million when he bought it. He had to sell it last year following a serious reversal of fortune.[……]

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