Tag Archives: luxury

The title might surprise you, but it’s the truth. Just a touch of black can make any spring colour, like yellow and green, pop in a room thanks to the magic of contrast. See how.

[caption id="attachment_14991" align="alignright" width="320"]iStock iStock[/caption]

Even a hint of black can improve the look of any room by providing more depth to the dominating colour. Orange, yellow and pink are all the more vivid when paired with black.

Others will say, on the contrary, that a touch of black will tone down any overbearing colour. It helps to soothe plenty of bold colours that can be irritating over time. It’s a fact. Black will mellow down any colour proclaiming to be overpowering.

This trace of black can be a trim molding halfway up the wall or a crown molding, a door, an entire staircase or parts of it, the woodwork, a curtain, the upholstery fabric, the ceiling beams, the den, a lampshade, a wrought-iron structure, a strip of wallpaper or a screen.[……]

Read more

Do you like comfort, order and elegance? Take an Art Deco tour. You will find yourself in a world of luxury and prestige and you will come back with a head full of ideas.

A little history. The Great War (1914-1918) just ended. So much blood, so much death! Europe is traumatized. People need their spirits uplifted. They have to be convinced that happiness is coming.

In France, hundreds of thousands of homes destroyed by the war must be rebuilt. The ones that are still standing need a lot of work. Everything has to be redone. During this time, thousands of farmers are leaving the devastated countryside to live in Paris. Things have to be done fast, but what to do?

Industrials and artists at the time focus on a style that was born just before the war: Art Deco. It also lends itself well to new technologies and mass production in factories.[……]

Read more

Collectable books always make nice gifts for the simple reason that we refuse to buy them ourselves, under the pretext that it’s an unnecessary expense. A foolish waste of money we would say.

Sometimes we tell ourselves that we will buy ourselves the coveted book one day. Time passes by and we forget and never buy it.

Are you wracking your brains trying to figure out what to buy for your loved ones for Christmas? If someone on your list has a decoration bug, why not offer a coffee table book?

Even better if they’re about to redecorate. They could study ideas, compare styles, put their imagination to work.

There are so many new books and reprints that here is a short list of what’s available.

Ros Byam Shaw proposes his coffee table sized book English Eccentric. It’s dynamite! In this work, we are immersed in the dizzying heights of the British imagination. The book features 14 residences whose owners include an artist, designer, a documentarian, a politician, a hairstylist.

[caption id="attachment_11229" align="aligncenter" width="580"]iStockphoto iStockphoto[/caption]

The editor emphasizes the courage of these owners when it comes to interior decoration. That says it all. This book contains a wealth of ideas as the author avoids trends and unabashedly seeks originality.[……]

Read more