Great Interior Design: July 2009Great Interior Design

Adorable Garden Stools

Ceramic garden stools are everywhere nowadays. We think the trend started with the boutique hotel chains like Mondrian, where they were using white garden stools everywhere. More often seen indoor as decorative items, they are actually meant to be used outdoor. Super easy to clean and versatile, decorative garden stools can be used as seating, side tables, or just for decoration.

We thought instead of the typical white ceramic garden stools, we show you some other ones that are more colorful and interesting.

These range between $200-$250 each. All are from Emissary USA and can be found on our garden stool section.

Pretty Rugs from Surya

We have a soft spot for dainty & pretty looking things. Like things with soft, muted colors; subdued patterns, delicate designs.

It's the reason why we really like this rug collection from Surya. It's full of all the things stated above.

Here are some of our favorites:

The rugs are really inexpensive. They run about $400 (for a 4 x6) to $1100 (for a 8 x 10). They are machine-made with wool/vicose. Purchasing information can be found on our modern rugs section. If you like to see more of Surya's products (they also make fantastic pillows and throws), visit their web site.

Modern Silk Flowers from NDI

Silk flowers have a bad rep, don't they? They are perceived as chinzy and cheap, but truly, they do not have to be. The quality of silk flowers has improved tremendously over the last few years. Now you can find very nice, high quality arrangements that look almost as good as the real ones.

We think the key to pick silk flowers is to find arrangements that are as simple as possible. The simpler they are the more realistic they look. Mixing them with fresh flowers or branches is an effective way of displaying them. Finally, buy the best quality that you can find. Cheap silk flowers are like cheap shoes--you can spot them miles away.

NDI just came out with a new catalog and we thought some of the arrangements are quite nice. Here are some that we like:

You can see the rest of the catalog at NDI. Purchasing and pricing information can be found in our silk flowers section.

Our new decorating blog launched today!

We are pleased to announce the launch of our new decorating blog , Digging Decor.

Our new blog will cover interior design much more extensively, including design products, design ideas and design news. Think of it as a huge addition to this web site, which will still be updated regularly by our staff.

We'll hope you'll come visit soon. It's a great looking site, we're very proud of it!

White Decor-So Refreshing

Did you see the latest issue of Elle Decor? It features the home of Monelle Totah, vice president of design for Williams Sonoma. We thought it's worth a feature post because it's such a refreshing style that is so achievable. By that, we mean you can find everything in the home quite easily. Not like those features where the owners alway tell us they brought home these chandeliers from some Paris fleamarket on their backs, you know? For some reasons a Paris fleamarket always sounds more glamorous. What's wrong with a flea market in, say, San Jose?

Anyway, you can find most of the items in the feature (from Williams Sonoma, of course, but other sources as well).

Here is a picture of it:

To see the rest, click here...

The Five Most Tiresome Decorating Trends

You know how when you get too much of something, it becomes tiresome really fast?

Take reality TV for example, how many permutations of it can we take? Does anyone care about Jon and Kate, or the Real Housewives of whatever?

Sidenote: Eventhough this has nothing to do with home decor, here is an interesting article from the NY Times about reality TV.

Home decorating is kinda like that too. Once a trend is caught on it spreads like a virus and next thing you know, everyone is doing it.

Which leads us to the most tiresome decorating trends ever (in our humble opinion)...

Here they are:

1) The Faux Tuscany look. We see this in almost 50% of the household we go to. Usually they are McMansions. The kind that you see in Real Housewives of Atlanta or Orange County, for example. Lots of faux-finished walls, heavy Tuscany-inspired brown wood furniture, lots of fringe, lots of big rooms no one ever uses, lots of heavy drapes in jewel tones, lots of pillows on the bed, lots of granite counter. It's so dated!

2) The faux Hollywood Regency look-this trend was started by Kelly Wearstler & Jonathan Adler a few years back and now it's everywhere. Once you see it in Z-Gallerie, you know it's time to NOT get into it. This looks consists of a lot of fake white lacquer, lots of bright colors, lots of funky patterns. It could be fun (but only for a minute and a half).

3) The W-Hotel look-do you know this look? All the furniture looks like it's from the W-Hotel, and if you've been to one W-Hotel you've been in all of them. They are all brown and white and straight-edged and black and white and boring.

4) The faux-loft look-everybody is building "lofts" nowadays. But instead of authentic lofts that were converted from old buildings, the new lofts are cheap condos built without walls. It usually goes with the mandatory minimalist furniture that looks absolutely cold and uncomfortable.

5) The faux-Asian look. We were at this gorgeous, 7-million dollar home the other day and we swear, there was a Budha in every room. What is up with the Budha? One or two is okay, but lots of it, combined with everything Asian is an overkill. Like lots of red color, lots of bamboo, lots of elephants and horses! It just looks kitschy...

What do you think? What trend do you think is tiresome?

Los Angeles Taste Makers

The Los Angeles Time Magazine today has an excellent feature on the up-and-coming taste makers in Los Angeles, primarily in the field of fashion, interior design, architecture, arts and entertainment.

We find it so inspiring...It's so nice to read about people who are so incredibly creative. It's also nice to discover people & names we never heard of.

Featured here is Sally McQuillan:

"She doesn’t like to drop names—McQuillan prefers to let her résumé do the talking. But ask any number of decorating heavyweights, and they’ll tell you the fiercely inventive fabric designer, known for setting trends in color and pattern, is a home-furnishings sensation."-LA Times Magazine

Read on...

Smith & Hawken Closing All Stores

One of our favorite garden stores, Smith + Hawken, announced that it will close all of its 56 stores by the end of the year.

Another victim of this horrible economy....

Sales starts this week at all stores. The online store has been shut down.

Very Modern Lighting from Nuevo

We just saw some very cool lighting fixtures from Nuevo that we thought you might want to check out. This is a Canadian-based company and they make amazing barstools, modern furniture and lighting. We like their lighting collection quite a bit. It's are not too expensive and they are very unique. If you have a modern theme for your home decor, it'll be a great fit.

Here are some samples:

Now, because these are not too expensive they are not made of Murano glass or crystal or anything like that. They are made of acrylic, actually. They do look pretty cool though, and if you are in the mood for something fun but you don't want to spend a lot of money, it might be a good choice.

http://www.nuevoliving.com/ (this is a trade site only and you'll need a password to get in).

Fresh & Clean- White Home Accessories from Zodax

We just got back from Mexico lately and for some reasons, we are just so into white! Maybe it was because it was so hot in Tulum, the only appropriate thing to wear is white linen. And the only thing that looks good in a home is white furniture and white accessories.

So we were thrilled when we saw these home accessories from Zodax at the LA Home Show this week. This is a small home accessories company based in the LA area. They have very cute stuff!

Here are some samples:

This stool is adorable. It comes in blue/white and yellow/white...