Working out the right size is easier than you think Subdued or flamboyant, thick and cushy, or flat woven, a rug can be the crowning touch to your bedroom decor. How to choose a bedroom rug is illustrated in the various diagrams. The diagram above shows, one of the most common placements for rugs in the bedroom: two runners on the floor alongside the bed and one at the foot. … [Read more...]
Multi-Purpose Kilim Rugs
Kilim rugs can be used in many decorative ways -- over furniture and on other surfaces including floors. In terms of decor adaptability, the most versatile carpets have to be kilim rugs. This flat-woven textile is reversible, making it a great floor covering and pliable enough to use as upholstery. A fairly lightweight rug, especially in smaller sizes, kilims are tribal … [Read more...]
Cotton Summer Rugs
Lightweight and brightly colored cotton summer rugs are a seasonal alternative to Oriental carpets. Take a look at beach house decor and you’ll likely find a variety of striped cotton summer rugs. Unfussy and cool on bare feet, they’re often the first rug of choice for cottages and seaside homes. This beach-theme Nantucket bedroom by designer John Willey sports a typical … [Read more...]
Newlywed Ikea Penthouse
Tour this $3.545 million penthouse furnished for newlyweds completely from Ikea High wedding season is reason enough for a show house dubbed “Newlywed Nest,” sponsored by Bride’s magazine and designed by top New York residential designer, Inson Dubois Wood, using furniture and lighting exclusively from Ikea. The 2,000-square-foot interior space is essentially a two bedroom … [Read more...]
Natural Moroccan Rugs
Natural Berber Moroccan rugs are stylish organic alternatives to retro shag carpets. Moroccan rugs are varied and while that country may be known for its vividly colored, flat-weave rugs, another style is so completely different you may not guess it too, hails from Morocco. Vintage Beni Ouarain (the name of the tribe) rugs are pale and shaggy with geometric designs. They … [Read more...]
Toddler-to-Kids’ Bedroom
A simple change creates an age appropriate kids bedroom. Designer Robyn Karp turns the tot’s room into a kids bedroom for a big-girl room with one simple change. First was swapping the toddler bed for a twin. Everything else remained unchanged. A solid three-color palette of cotton-candy pink, apple green, and bright white afford the luxury of using a vibrant multi-colored … [Read more...]
More Inspired Design Showhouse
Tour part two of the Inspired Design showhouse celebrating extraordinary women A large amount of space has been devoted to the Inspired Designs Showhouse here in New York City. It features two apartments full of rooms — nearly 10,000 square feet — created by 15 top designers as a benefit for The Breast Cancer Research Foundation, founded by Evelyn H. Lauder. Each room was … [Read more...]
Inspired Design Showhouse
Tour the Inspired Designs showhouse in NYC with rooms dedicated to extraordinary women. Move over Kip’s Bay. A group of 15 premier New York interior designers combined talents in a unique showhouse event to launch a new condominium building on West End Avenue, a street that hasn’t changed so much in 30 years or perhaps longer. As it happens it’s in my neighborhood, … [Read more...]
Chic White Shag Carpets
Plush white shag carpets are a natural choice for mid-century inspired rooms Synonymous with the Sixties, wall-to-wall white shag carpets were a staple of every household in my neighborhood. Fast forward to the 21st century, and we find today’s shag is hipper, sleeker and very much back in style. Less is definitely more in the designer rooms featured, where solid white … [Read more...]
Stain Proof Sisal
The popularity of sisal and natural fiber area rugs is far from waning. The sisal look made popular by interior designers years ago is still going strong, if not stronger than ever. Touring the San Francisco Decorator Showcase this past May I noticed most of the rooms had a natural fiber rug as a base floor covering often embellished with an area rug. Maybe it’s the whole … [Read more...]
White House-Worthy Kids’ Rooms
Note to Michael S. Smith: Here are ideas for kid's rooms -- Malia and Sasha Obama's private spaces. America’s first daughters, 10-year old Malia and 7-year old Sasha Obama are getting age appropriate kids' rooms in the White House. The sisters have become overnight 'tween sensations since their dad’s inauguration. After all, who could resist such endless adorableness. So … [Read more...]