Love it or Leave it| Sofa at the Foot of the Bed

The bench at the foot of the bed - it's a staple in bedroom design, particularly in master bedrooms. It's the perfect spot to put on your shoes, decorative bedcovers can be folded down onto the bench, it helps to fill the space in larger rooms. I've even been known to add a bench in rooms designed by Beautiful Habitat.

via Beautiful Habitat

Lately I'm seeing the bench replaced by sofas, settees and chairs - furniture pieces with backs.

via Knight Carr

And then I started to see sofas morph into full seating areas such a this room below.

via Mrs. Howard Personal Shopper

What do you think of this trend? Love it - it's an out of the box use of the space; it creates more function; it uses the space better? Or leave it - it closes off the room too much; it distracts from the bed; I'm not holding board meetings in my bedroom? What are your thoughts of sofas (or other furniture with backs) and seating areas at the foot of the bed?

via House and Home

via Furbish Studio

via Design Shuffle

via Pinterest

via Design OCD

via Lonny

via Atlanta Homes

via House Beautiful

Beautiful Habitat: Interior Design & Decoration www.beautifulhabitat.com

Design Inspiration | Future of the Home Library

I'm working on a Home Library design in a beautiful, traditional home in Denver. Few homes have these beautiful, inviting, bonus rooms, and I fear that even fewer will in the future. Libraries, public and private, really are a treasure. I was recently in New York and had a chance to admire the public library building. How could I be anything but inspired by this beautiful architecture and detail? The woodwork, the windows, the chandeliers... all adding elegance to a highly functional space.

What is the future of our printed word? E-books have outsold printed books since 2010 and the margin grows each year. Will our printed books really go away? I think not. Most people still prefer the touch and experience of reading a real book. What is the future of our libraries, public and private? Whether your library is a proper separate room, or a bookshelf in your office, bedroom, or living room, most homes do have a library. Those shelves tell a brief story of who we are, our hobbies or interests. In some cases our books are artwork, or nostalgia. What is the future of these cozy spaces once designed to house our reading treasures?
  What do you envision when you hear the term "library"? I envision warm enveloping chairs and a cozy environment. The kind of place you really want to curl up and read. Good lighting is essential. Some might prefer a table or work area. And some may require a place to put your feet up. Following are beautiful Library Spaces that are inspiring me today.

 

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Contemporary Living Room by San Francisco Interior Designers & Decorators Lizette Marie Interior Design

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Contemporary Dining Room by Laguna Beach Interior Designers & Decorators Michael Fullen Design Group

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Libraries are so often traditional in design, decor and feel. The space below is a fabulous library of bold and modern design.

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Do you have a library or reading nook in your home? What are the essential elements to you? Share with us here, or on Facebook.

For even more library inspiration, check out my board on Pinterest: Beautiful Habitats - Library & Workspace, or my Libraries Ideabook on Houzz.

Beautiful Habitat: Interior Design & Decoration www.beautifulhabitat.com

Orange & Blue Decor

Colorado is all abuzz about the Denver Broncos heading to Super Bowl 48. In honor of  the big event and my favorite team, I've got to share Orange and Blue decor ideas. Orange & Blue look great together because they are complimentary colors, or colors that are directly opposite each other on the Color wheel. Other complimentary combinations include Red & Green and Yellow & Violet. The opposite nature of the colors creates a pleasing balance to our eyes. The colors are dynamic together, playing off of each other. For more on this, read about Color Theory 101.
 
 Moving forward with orange and blue, we have two great options from the Pantone 2014 color report: Dazzling Blue and Celosia Orange. Don't these colors look lovely together? Imagine adding just a hint of each to a neutral room to really spice it up.
 

Now let's really see orange and blue in action together. The following rooms feature Blue and Orange at deep, full hues. However, some rooms go full color and others add just a splash of the two colors. Both techniques create interesting and energetic rooms.

via House Beautiful

Contemporary Kitchen by Weston Interior Designers & Decorators Katie Rosenfeld Design

via BHG

via Mary McDonald

As often happens with colors opposite on the color wheel, the full hues can be quite intense. Toning down the blue to a softer turquoise and the orange from tangerine to coral, creates softer rooms. The intensity and energy is lowered, but the resulting combinations are still incredibly pleasing and balanced.

Modern Kids by Atlanta Interior Designers & Decorators Erika Ward - Erika Ward Interiors

I often see rooms with just a neutral and blue combination. Adding just a touch of orange could completely change the mood as in the room below.

Traditional Bedroom by Little Rock Interior Designers & Decorators Tobi Fairley Interior Design

via Quadrille Fabrics

What do you think of orange and blue interiors? Do you love it or would you leave it? Do you live with orange and blue interiors now? Share with us on Facebook.

By the way...

Go Broncos!

Beautiful Habitat: Interior Design & Decoration www.beautifulhabitat.com

2014 | A Year of Living Awesomely

 The year of living awesomely... I love it! I've spent time reviewing 2013 and creating intentions for 2014.

The intentions boil down to a few fundamental desires: enjoy life, have fun and adventure, create, run a world-class interior design business. In order to run that world-class interior design business, I intend to make changes for 2014. Beautiful Habitat will be expanding! I've come to realize that I really can't do it all and, more importantly, I don't want to. I want to focus on designing solutions and amazingly beautiful rooms and spending time with my clients. In reality, I also spend a lot of time tracking products and bogged down in administrative work. It's time to add an assistant and expediter -extraordinaire to the Beautiful Habitat team.

 

My entire career has been blessed with wonderful clients, with whom I am able to develop a friendship and deeper relationship than that of client and service provider. I want to continue to build those types of relationships. In the process, I've been able to work on a wide variety of projects. However, a few projects have not crossed my path and I would love to face those new challenges in 2014. In particular, I'd like to work on a loft space, historical property, a modern kitchen and design more custom furniture.

Traditional Living Room by Spring Lake Design-Build Firms Degnan Design Group + Degnan Design Build

Industrial Living Room by Amagansett Interior Designers & Decorators Reiko Feng Shui Interior Design

Modern Kitchen by San Francisco Architects & Designers John Maniscalco Architecture

I also have several intentions for the design of our new house. I've made quite a bit of progress since our move in June, but there is more to be done in 2014. I have some beautiful visions to turn into reality and I'll be sharing those here. Perhaps a blue-lacquered library is in the works...
 

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My other intentions are things that many of us need: more self-care, even when I feel I am too busy. That means always making time for my health (physical and mental) and time with family and friends. Too often these items are crossed off the list as soon as we become busy with work and responsibility. However, we've got to feed that well of creativity and passion to continue to be productive in this world. Two dates on the calendar that I am particularly bad about canceling:

Modern Kitchen by San Francisco Architects & Designers John Maniscalco Architecture

What are your intentions to make your 2014 awesome?Beautiful Habitat: Interior Design & Decoration www.beautifulhabitat.com

Radiant Orchid | Pantone Color of the Year 2014

Radiant Orchid is the Pantone color of the year; the color experts have predicted that we'll see this color in design and fashion throughout 2014.
 

"The color for 2014?  The captivating, magical and enchanting Radiant Orchid. An invitation to innovation, modern and versatile Radiant Orchid encourages creativity and originality. Imbued with a harmony of fuchsia, purple and pink undertones, Radiant Orchid inspires confidence and its rosy undertones emanate great joy, love and health."

See more about the Color of 2014 and previous Colors of the Year at Pantone.

Inspiration for using Radiant Orchid in your Home

Radiant Orchid pairs so well with a number of colors. It can enliven a neutral on its own, or mix with other colors beautifully. On the warmer side, it pairs beautifully with oranges and it's sister-tone pink. On the cooler side, it looks beautiful with blues and teals or even a deep green. I've actually used a touch of this color in my home office recently. Using this beautiful fabric on a valance.
 

via Caitlin Wilson Textiles

via Beautiful Habitat (apologies for the iPhone photography)

This otherwise neutral Living Room is enlivened by the bright pops of Orchid.
 

via Elle Decor

This Library has taken the very bold route with Orchid lacquered bookcases. Wow!

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Although a fashion example, Radiant Orchid pairs beautifully with a pale green.

 For even more color combinations, look no further than the color experts at Pantone.

What do you think of Pantone's choice for the 2014 color? How will you be using it?

Beautiful Habitat: Interior Design & Decoration www.beautifulhabitat.com

Bringing Two Decorating Styles Together | Guest Post

Compromise can be hard, especially when it comes to clashing styles of home décor. I have a very vintage and bold style and would prefer to have my house look like it could be in an episode of Mad Men. Meanwhile my fiancé has more of a modern and simplistic style in mind. We are in the process of putting together our home which at first seemed impossible, but we learned a few things about making the two styles mesh.

Let each other win with the small things.
Make each room decidedly vintage or modern, but with splashes of its opposite thrown in. If your living room has vintage furniture and bolder colors on the walls, hang metal frames for a touch of modern art on the walls. This will make for a smooth transition from room to room as you negotiate each major theme per room.  

Incorporate candles simplistically to add warmth
 Candles easily add class to any interior design project. They can bring a lot of warmth to what I see as the cold modern style that my husband likes. Our dining room is more of the modern style, so we put a cluster of three pillar candles (QuickCandles.com has neat green ones) as a centerpiece to add warmth.
 
If the room you are decorating is primarily vintage, get some metallic modern candle holders to mix the two styles.  

Color the walls according to one style, and get appliances agreeing with the other.
 If you happen to have furniture that is decorative and vintage, keep the walls neutral and modern. This is a very simple way to compromise and make both people happy. The lime green in this kitchen design brings a very vintage look to this otherwise modern kitchen.

©Design Sponge

The biggest piece of advice I have is to relax and keep an open mind. Our styles have slowly started to blend together and look more like close relatives rather than complete strangers. When we first started combining our things into the same home, everything seemed to clash and provoke headaches. Thankfully, that is becoming less and less the case and our separate décor styles are working together in harmony.

About the author: Carmen Denny can’t believe that she’s finally engaged! In between wedding planning she enjoys spending time with her fiancé, bike riding and of course, more wedding planning. She writes while drooling over choices for wedding candle sets and other decorative pieces for QuickCandles.com.

Beautiful Habitat: Interior Design & Decoration www.beautifulhabitat.com

Painted Brick - Love it or Leave it?

Bricks in your interiors. Some people consider it an architectural bonus that adds character. Others consider it a nuisance to be designed around or over. Granted, this may be partially determined by whether you have beautiful red Victorian brick, or 1970's brown and tan brick. Or whether your style ventures more modern or traditional. Of many of the Love It or Leave It topics I've raised before, painted brick seems a bit more deeply divided. So I want your opinion. Painted bricks (inside) do you love it or would you leave it?

 

via Pinterest

 

via craftytexasgirls.com

 

via Simply Beautiful Now

 

via ehow.com

via A Perfect Gray

via Pinterest

 Beautiful Habitat: Interior Design & Decoration www.beautifulhabitat.com