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Forget Wallpaper: Simple Shelves Show Off a See-Worthy Collectio
(by Rose Bennet Gilbert - January 22, 2010)
Q: We're spending the winter renovating the little beach house we bought (a foreclosure) last fall, and I'm stockpiling ideas about colors and furniture. This is a shoestring rehab. We're keeping the kitchen appliances, sisal bedroom rugs and the old plumbing -- and I mean old: we have a claw-foot bathtub! Ideas appreciated.
A: Lucky you, a claw-foot tub is a real keeper. These tubs are in such demand that they are being reproduced at a price you'd expect to pay for other "antiques."
Not only that, but you are wise to hang onto whatever basic furnishings will make the place livable between now and the time when the economy picks up. By then, of course, you may be too in love with the place to make any radical changes, such is the insouciant charm of, shall we say, "rustic" houses.
Look how simply -- and how attractively -- designer Kerry Joyce turned a small seaside bath into a paean to the ocean and its inhabitants. By painting the walls a pale aqua (from the Donald Kaufman Color palette) and lining them with shallow shelving, he created display space for a California family's collection of starfish and shells.
It's more interesting than two-dimensional wallpaper. And also makes an apt background for the simple fixtures, including a claw-foot tub, in this old cottage bath -- a real charmer that deserves its space in the book, "Style and Substance" (Filipacchi Publishing) by Margaret Russell and the editors of Elle Decor magazine.
A couple more ideas worth adding to your "shoestring rehab" list: the added-on brass shower ring, as showy as it is essential, and the waterproof window treatment: nothing more than a square of almost-opaque Plexiglas cut to fit within the frame.
Q: When we set up our first home together, gray was the popular color for everything. So here we are, two years later, with a gray leather sectional, light gray walls and a gray area rug that's flecked with other colors (yellow, green, red, turquoise). We both agree that it's pretty boring. We need an update, but we can't buy new stuff. What do you recommend?
A: First, you take a paintbrush. No, I take that back. First, you decide what your favorite color is (obviously, it's no longer gray). Think in terms of bright colors like those flecking your rug: red, clear yellow, spring green -- any color that will leap to the eye in contrast with gray.
Any of the above options will update your gray outlook and bring it bouncing into the 21st century. The one you choose depends on your taste and tolerance for visual excitement. Also, decide how important it is for you to be on-trend in decorating.
I submit that following trends got you into gray areas in the first place, but trends can still be great fun while they last. The trick lies in not taking trends too seriously and remembering that a paintbrush is about all it takes to make a change when you're ready.
That said, you may be interested to learn that Pantone, the color expert, cites turquoise as the 2010 "Color of the Year." That's the news from Paula Berberian of Brewster Home Fashions, who goes on to hedge her bets, suggesting that you paint just one wall turquoise as accent to the other, more conservative three walls. Toss on a few turquoise pillows as accent to your gray upholstery, and bingo! You'll be in vogue but not in perpetuity.
(set image) rgi011810-vis.jpg (end image) (set caption) An idea whose time has come again, a claw-foot tub highlights a playful bath wrapped in beach souvenirs. Photo by Dominique Vorillon, courtesy of Filipacchi Publishing. (end caption)
Rose Bennett Gilbert is the co-author of "Manhattan Style," "Hampton Style," and five other books on interior design. To find out more about Rose Bennett Gilbert and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website at www.creators.com.
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