Monday, November 12, 2012

My Apartment Challenge :: Inspirations :: part 1

Home of Frank Muytjens via Elle Decor
In my first post about my Apartment Challenge I mentioned that I feel I've reached a point where I know what I like immediately when I see it.  I really believe that if you need to think hard about whether you like something, then you probably don't like it.  Go with your gut.  Basically I either feel like "I want to be in that room" or "meh" or "that room gives me hives."  My opinion, of course, is only my opinion, and just because something isn't my jam, doesn't mean it's not a good design.  And just because I lurve something doesn't mean that everyone else will.  But I hope you do.

As part of my planning for this challenge, I've rounded up some of my favorite interiors and analyzed them to develop a sort of interior design rubric/set of guidelines to help explain what it is that I love about these interiors so much, and hence, what is important to me in a design.

Read about these guidelines after the jump...

Basically, for me, it all boils down to the four points below.  There's lots of overlap between these categories, and a nicely designed interior should have the right amounts of all four.
  • Balance
  • Use of natural materials
  • Contrast
  • Personality
The living room in the home of Frank Muytjens, pictured at the start of this post, is a great example of a room with the right mix of these four elements.  It has balance in its loose symmetry, use of lighter and darker neutrals, and contrast of soft and hard, shiny and dull materials.  The abundant windows let in lots of light.  This would be a great place to sit and read the paper in the morning.  Natural materials such as wood, hides, flowers, and branches really add to the serene feeling of the room.  The collections of paintings, books, and objects add tons of personality, but are not cluttered or overwhelming.

I opted to use this image as my first example because I think it's a good precedent for my project specifically, but over the next few posts I'll show more gorgeous rooms that excel in  and illustrate each of these four categories.

No comments:

Post a Comment