Instant Attraction: The Home of Amy Butler

The home of Amy Butler was featured in the November 2011 issue of Living Etc.  Photographs by Matthew Williams.  

I LOVE this living room.  So light and airy.  Very crisp and clean, but very homey and bursting with personality.  I love the wide plank wood floors and jute rug and other woven accents throughout.  Those cats really seem to enjoy those large ottoman cubes topped with pillows.  The far wall features one of Amy's wallpaper designs for Graham and Brown.  

A look at Amy's kitchen after the jump...

Instant Attraction: The New Modern (House Beautiful)

I would move into this home without hesitation and live here happily forever.  It uses my favorite palette: simple, neutral, black, soft whites, and lots of warm, natural tones coming from wood and other natural materials.  This creates a great backdrop for the color accents added by the artwork, objects, and textiles.  I love the casual arrangements scattered throughout the house: framed artwork hung salon style in the dining room, the "organized clutter" of objects on display atop sideboards and tables, and the worn-in collections of pillows upholstered in a smattering of fabrics scattered on that comfy looking sofa.  In fact, pretty much everything in this house gives off an aura of warmth.  The quilts, pillows and rugs all have an extremely handmade quality to them.  And OH!  that kitchen.  The counter seating, the materials used, the open storage displays of tableware, glassware, and spices.  A kitchen is for cooking, it shouldn't look like an operating room.  And this one is perfect.

More after the jump...

De Gourney Fishes handpainted wallpaper.  Photo taken from elledecor.com.  Photo by William Waldron.

Instant Attraction: The New Traditional (House Beautiful)

           

I believe you shouldn't have to think too hard about design.*  It just takes all the fun out of it.  When you flip through the pages of a magazine or go furniture shopping, listen to your gut.  If you have to look at something and think about whether or not you like it, then you don't really like it that much.  But when you flip to that next page and instantly feel at one with what you're seeing, it's an amazing thing.  That's when you should take the time to look at that image and think about what it is you like.  Why do I just want to jump into this interior and make myself comfortable for a while?  

So with that in mind, I'm going to start taking a closer look at those "gut-feeling" interiors and taking some time to analyze what it is that makes them so appealing.  

The first images I'm going to share are from House Beautiful Dec/Jan 2012, "The New Traditional."  Interior design by Mark D. Sikes & Michael Griffin.  Photos by Amy Neunsinger.

*This is not to say that one doesn't need to put a lot of thought and consideration into creating a good design.  In fact, each piece of furniture, material, artwork, or object that is chosen needs to have a reason for being there.  

More after the jump...

Skultuna

Skultuna is a Swedish firm that produced high quality silver and brass objects.  Here is one object that I am definitely coveting:

Belle brass jewelry holder.  It's only a matter of time until my wedding ring gets stolen in the night by my cat.  This would help to keep it safe.  The top part also comes off to store other small objects inside.  Designed by Claesson Koivisto Rune.

I poked around their website for a bit and discovered that they produce lots of great gift-worthy items.  A couple of standouts after the jump...

Ibride

After seeing this fantastic, transformers-like urn/serving set in House Beautiful I moseyed on over to the website of Ibride, a design firm that creates amazing and quirky furniture and accessories.  Their pieces are odd in the best possible way.  More treasures after the jump...

Kismet Tile

From their website:

KISMET TILE is Moroccan-made cement tile crafted according to traditional materials and methods but with bold, modern motifs which highlight the beauty, materiality, and geometric harmonies of these classic tiles.


I love the faded look of these cement tiles, especially the grey-scale ones.

Image scanned from House Beautiful Dec/Jan 2012.http://www.kismettile.com/