Designer Raji Rm and Her Elegant Hamptons Showhouse Room

Irwin Weiner ASID - Having participated in the whirl of activities at the 2010 Hamptons Designer Showhouse, I know what it's like to find a bare room and face the task of turning it into a special place through raw materials, architectural details, furnishings, and accessories. I wanted to see what fantastic Washington DC designer Raji Rm did with her "lady's bedroom" or the Salon des Femmes - and the following video shows that she really rocked her space. Well done, Ms. Rm; a beautifully-thought-through design and an elegant execution of your vision.

 Click here to subscribe to our daily design videos and features. 

4 Mirror-Clad Furniture Favorites

Perth Mirrored Chest from HayneedleJanet Ramin - Mirror, Mirror, on the design floor ... which furniture is the fairest of them all? All right, it’s not Snow White, but since Hollywood has been churning out endless remakes of this fairytale, I thought I’d jump on the bandwagon and transform it to an interior design fairytale – my kind of bedtime story!

My client, Miss Dina Dithering, (not her real name, of course) can’t decide on the style of furniture she wants in her home. First she wants contemporary then she wants classic. Last week she loved the silver colors; this week it’s only true blue. Do you have one of these clients - or are you that kind of indecisive homeowner? We can’t move forward; we’re stuck in a murky, sticky swamp.

I offered her some tempting styles: how about Scandinavian? Georgian? Arts and Crafts? "NO!" she said. “That style is too cold; that one is too expensive; the other is too heavy!” And down the line, she crossed them all off.

Mirrored Chest from Elizabeth AustinOy vey, help me. And then, like a fairy godmother on speed dial, my vendors came to the rescue! I was showered with some glorious photos of mirrored furniture.

Click to read more ...

Interior Design Field Trip: African Pride Hotel, Cape Town, South Africa

Irwin Weiner ASID - This April I visited my hometown, Cape Town, South Africa. One impressive change since my last visit was the new African Pride 15 on Orange Hotel in the downtown area. Part of a major revitalization around government, museum, and other civic buildings, the hotel is a showcase for what I refer to as "international hotel style."

Contemporary, sleek, boldly designed, and brightly colored - this is the new hotel style sweeping the globe, and it's had a major impact on home design. Go to a mass-market consumer goods website like Overstock.com, for instance, and you'll find objects that could fit easily into hotel rooms and modern-look home decor. And regular readers will know my advice on hotel style: if you decorate in hotel style, remember that hotel rooms have no personality; they're like theatrical stage settings; you must add your personality into your home decor - whether that be family photographs, your collections, travel mementos, or family heirlooms on display in a more interesting eclectic mix.

But I won't steal any thunder from the African Pride. It's a first-rate hotel; absolutely lovely. Enjoy this slideshow of hotel scenes, and also click on this link to see my South African Details scrapbook, design impressions and other "slices of life" from my recent family vacation to South Africa - in it, you'll see an Indian Ocean resort, a tour of an almost-complete luxury home, and neighborhoods and streets in Cape Town.

 Click here to subscribe to our daily design videos and features.  

Diane Paparo - How to Finish Fine Furniture

Irwin Weiner ASID - Studio furniture maker and interior designer Diane Paparo sat down with Design2Share recently and kindly shared with us her tips on where to begin when it comes to dealing with wood finishes, stains, and treatments. It's one of those practical decorating considerations that most people "wing it," but we wanted to hear what a strong furniture maker had to say. Diane has designed furniture for fine homes around the world - even the executive office suites at Revlon. Let's see how someone who combines luxury, quality, beautiful detailing, and thoughtful functionality handles furniture finishes.

Choosing a furniture finish can be a tall order. First, you'll want to consider the design scheme and how the finish can be integrated into the whole, but you'll also want to think about maintenance and repair.

1. Let's tackle color first. You have four options: natural, stained, dyed, and painted. Some woods are naturally beautiful with just a clear protective finish, but most look richer when they're stained. Stains give you the option of deepening a wood's natural color or mimicking another wood's color. 

Stains don't penetrate the furniture's surface deeply; they lhave a transparency that enhances the grain. Stains can also accentuate imperfections, so inspect the finish carefully.

Click to read more ...