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In this issue:
Before & after: A cheerful dining room for a couple with young kids
Article: An art gallery for your home
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Tassels Home Design, based in Boston's Back Bay, provides premier interior design and renovation management services in the Greater Boston areas.
To schedule a complimentary design consultation, please phone me at 617.504.8400 or email me. I also encourage you to browse my website and my profile on Houzz.com.
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| Before & After | |
A cheerful dining room for a couple with young kids
A couple with young kids in Needham, MA, recently hired me to transform their very traditional dining room into a more contemporary and colorful one. The new dining room still needed to blend into the traditional architecture and interiors of the rest of their home. Their other requests were to keep the same dining table, to provide storage for the extra table leaf, and to hang the husband's collection of framed menus from restaurants around the world (the couple travels wide and far to dine at great restaurants). I used the red mats of the framed menus as the starting point for the new color scheme.
This project is a wonderful example of combining high-end and low-end for great results. We invested in custom-upholstered chairs from Kravet (since there is nothing worse than having uncomfortable chairs in a dining room) and high-end wallpaper from Sanderson. But we saved by using semicustom cabinets from a big-box home improvement store for the wall of built-ins, and by accenting the room with a rug from West Elm and a mirror from Overstock.com. Not everything needs to be high-end to achieve a great look.
BEFORE:
AFTER:
To brighten the room and provide more storage, we moved their wooden vitrine into the living room and installed a wall of built-in cabinets in its place (and included a storage area hidden behind the toe kick for the extra table leaf). We chose white semicustom cabinets with sleek nickel hardware and white Ceasarstone quartz countertops to keep that side of the room looking as light and airy as possible. The large, round mirror, which we hung in the middle of the built-ins, reflects light back into the room and further adds to the airy feel of the room.
My clients initially wanted to keep their existing wooden chairs for the new dining room, because they had sentimental value. Unfortunately, they were too narrow and too short to be comfortable for sitting at the dining table (when we tried them, we felt like little kids sitting at a table that was too high). Instead of shortening the legs of the dining table (just kidding), we found another place in their home for these chairs. Free to select new chairs, my clients love how comfortable their new chairs from Kravet are. To make them kids-friendly, we had the chairs' fabrics protected against stains.
The wife was immediately drawn to an assortment of bright and fun wallpapers that I showed her. We decided on a wallpaper from Sanderson, a 150+ year old wallpaper company from England. This wallpaper is a modern interpretation of a distinctive Art Deco style design from 1926, that used to be hand blocked on gold foil. The modern version is printed on paper and has accents of silver metallics throughout the design. This busy wallpaper works in this room because it is balanced by the white wainscoting, which runs around the perimeter of the room, and the wall of white built-in cabinets. And because this wallpaper has some red in the design, it plays off the red mats of the framed menus.
The final touches included a contemporary chandelier, a round mirror to reflect more light into the room, and a bright area rug.
 
["After" Photography by Randy Gross]
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Article
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An art gallery for your home
You might have noticed in the dining room project highlighted above that we hung framed pictures onto the wallpapered walls. Some of my clients are hesitant of hanging pictures onto their walls for fear of creating nail holes that become permanent. This is especially true when dealing with wallpapered walls where nail holes permanently mark the wallpaper.
When hanging art, I sometimes use a simple mechanism that was popular in homes during the late 19th century and is still being used today in art galleries: install a picture rail molding near the ceiling and hang pictures from there. A picture rail eliminates the need to put nail holes into the wall and it allows you to move the pictures around without any fuss as your collection expands.
You can purchase picture rail moldings and the coordinating accessories at most lumber retailers. For the dining room project highlighted above, I purchased them online at House of Antique Hardware. This retailer offers a selection of picture rail moldings, picture rail hooks (available in various design s and finishes), and twisted cord with wire in the center (available in 11 colors).
If you are interested in a very modern, barely visible picture hanging system, check out the systems being offered by STAS. This company was founded by the Stas brothers in 1995 after one of the brothers, who was working as an independent handyman, became dissatisfied with the existing picture hanging systems that were available to consumers at the time.
In summary, don't let your fear of permanent nail holes keep you from displaying your beautiful pictures. Simply install a picture rail system and hanging a new picture is as easy as attaching a hook and cord to the railing.
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For additional information:
Christine Fuchs, President
Tassels Inc.
Phone: 617.504.8400
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My business depends on referrals.
If you refer my services to someone who hires Tassels Inc. and mentions your name, you will receive a $250 credit that you can use for your next project with Tassels Inc. | |
Offer Expires: December 31, 2014
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