The Spring 2009
issue of Su Casa is on stands and online
Here is an excerpt from Linda's latest
column.
Living in
Beauty
elements of surprise
Express your own brand of Southwest style with creative juxtapositions
that complement your home's regional roots.
by Linda Applewhite
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As
a professional in my field, I am continuously exposed to the latest
trends in color, style, and materials in the
design industry, and I am constantly aware of how quickly trends come
and go. But Southwest style is different. I’ve always been drawn to its
enduring quality as a reflection of the region’s strong Western and
Mexican roots—an expression of the history, the rich cultural
heritage, and the creative people who live here. Southwest style lends
itself to the inclusion of other stylistic elements, which allows you
to
establish a timeless eclectic feeling.
perfect harmony
The
key to combining furniture or objects of
different styles lies in simultaneously conveying contrast and
similarity by repeating one or more elements, such as color, texture,
or shape. This
produces harmony no matter how different in style the objects are. In
the photo [below], for example, the furnishings include an antique
French
armoire, a contemporary ground steel sculptural table, new wicker
chairs, an antique iron urn filled with vintage pool balls, and an
industrial
chandelier made from a steel ring with attached exposed wiring. I
achieved a pleasing effect in this eclectic vignette by repeating the
colors gray
and red; by repeating vertical lines in the window treatments, concrete
pilaster, and armoire panels; and by including circular shapes in the
table,
chairs, and light fixture. |
This intimate dining room surprises with its diverse antique, contemporary, country, vintage, and industrial
elements brought together to form a harmonious whole through the repetition of color and shape.
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eclectic
inspiration
In my own Santa Fe home, I combined treasures from New
Mexico and Mexico with pieces from France, Italy, England, Brazil, the Philippines, Spain, China, and Turkey.
As often as I could, I contrasted stylistic elements.
I combined old with new, rustic with elegant, country with contemporary, oversize with small scale, and sacred with whimsical.
I
bought a Dickensian shop counter with ancient red
paint from England, topped it with distressed French zinc, and put it
in the middle of my decidedly New Mexican kitchen to serve as an
island.
Have
fun inventing your own version of Southwest style, which can include
elements from around the world, your mother’s attic, or your own
backyard. As you contrast these diverse pieces, remember to look for
similar
colors, shapes, or materials. Your personal style can allow you to work
with things you love from different aspects of your life while
respecting the
regional Southwestern roots reflected in your home’s walls. ♦
Read the full text of Linda's Living in Beauty column on Su Casa'swebsite.
conversations of the quantum
age
In Linda's Women's Radio
interview with Marlene
Caldes, they talk about everything from
strategies for creating a harmonious sanctuary at home
in challenging economic times to finding
your personal color palette. We've transcribed a
few excerpts from the conversation, but it's much more fun
to hear it in person! Click here to listen to the 30-minute conversation on Marlene's Inner Voice Network website.
MC: You are one of the most generous of artists. I was looking through your first book, Linda Applewhite’s
Architectural Interiors, and you so graciously list your resources so that other people can duplicate those aspects that inspire
them.
LA: I
believe that everyone deserves to live in
beauty, Marlene. That’s what I’m so honored to be able to do - to help
people have more beauty in their lives. That’s why I
started writing books and doing design seminars, because I want to
help people across the country. Writing the book was a way for me
to help more
people as well.
MC: In
this time when our attention
is going towards our personal economies, where we’re spending more time
at home, we’re dining at home, we’re having friends over
more often, I thought we might talk about what some of the best
strategies are for making our homes more harmonious or elegant or
comfortable.
Home is our sanctuary and our place to unwind.
LA: It’s
indeed the stage of the psyche. With everything that’s happening in the
world, it’s vital that home nurtures
the people that live there. To me, one of the first things to do would
be to get rid of the chaos and the clutter, clean up your space, and
get your
space organized with containers or baskets or whatever. Living in an
organized space that’s not chaotic is much more soothing and harmonious
for the soul.
MC: Isn’t there a way not to
give up your mementos, but to organize them in a way that’s harmonious?
LA: My
principle for that would be to
always group like with like. If you have a collection of teapots,
they’re going to make much more of a statement if you group them
together in
some way – put them all on a tray or on a shelf – rather than spread
around throughout your home.
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Above: A
collection of antique ceramic pots creates more drama and interest when
grouped together on the buffet in the dining room, where they
complement the colors in the fabrics and repeat
the curves from the
chairs and chandelier.
MC: What do you think are the
biggest mistakes people make when creating a warm and livable home?
LA: I
think
scale is a difficult thing for people to determine when they buy
furniture - the scale of a sofa or chairs, and how they’re actually
going to
look in a room. That was a tough thing for me to learn, and I think
rugs offer a challenge, too. So many people put small rugs in a room,
and rugs
really define a space. I find if you want a space to look really big,
put big rugs in it. So many times, people put small furniture in small
rooms.
The way to make small rooms look large is to put big pieces of
furniture in small rooms, but not a lot. Use fewer large pieces, and
you won’t
believe how big the room looks.
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Above: A 4' x 8' painted Mexican table and an oversized chandelier bring a
large-scale feeling to a small 10' x 12' cottage dining room.
In the complete interview, Linda and Marlene talk about making rooms glow,
avoiding design trends, Linda's HGTV experiences, combining indoors and outdoors, Linda's altar collection, and much
more.
If you would like information on Linda's next design seminar, please
contact
us.
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Coming in June:
Linda talks about color at Sonoma
Country Antiques
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Look for details in next month's newsletter! |
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