I am going to start by designing the den or the main family room. Right now, I am looking for a beautiful blue sofa but I cannot seem to find any. I love this sofa at Ikea but the quality and the brand kind of scared me away. If you know of a quality blue sofa that will look great in a beach home, PLEASE COMMENT!
Also, I have already found many pieces. I am in love with this one chaise I found. It is quite pricey but in my opinion worth it. It is feminine and pretty beautiful I must say. I will put a picture below this text to give you an idea.
As you know, I am in need of a sofa, but I also found I side chair for the space. I think it is a fun touch of playful and unexpected to the space. This side chair will face diagonally towards the media wall. It's vintage and one of a kind. For me, it's even a "one-of-a-find"!
As it is vintage, it is also expensive. But expensive is all right for a look that will blow your mind. I bought this chair for $3,250! Whoosh! I already spent a lot of cash on just a chaise and a chair, but my husband saw the pieces and he thought they were totally worth it. Yay! My dream room is coming together.
Oddly, the next thing that I found, even though I do not have a sofa yet, is an ottoman. It is oval-shapped and slipcovered. The man at the store described it as tailored. It contiues the slipcovered look from the chaise, but is tailored tight for sophistication. I must be going to all the wrong stores cause this piece, too, was let's say "top dollar".
My room is set up with a nook in the corner, with a spectacular view. This is the shape, where people normally put window seats. I wanted to put a daybed to leave the view "open". We do have guests at this house, so I wanted this room to be able to seat many people. So I also purchased to similar chairs to flank the daybed. Well, back to the daybed. It is, of course, a creamy white and is tufted. Something I really love about it is that it has handles put in on the sides. I have never seen that before. Truely unique.
And the chairs that I was talking about. I needed something special, something unique yet beautiful. Like the daybed, but I did not want more cream or more slipcovers. So I chose these casual chairs made of logs. I was going to get the ones from Anthropologie, but I found equally great ones cheaper! I finally started to save some money. For the pair it was $3,550. Take a look at the chairs in the image below.
They are a fun twist with classic colors.
I am also on the hunt for a credenza or media console to go below, every man's dream, a television. To create more seating, I always do this, but I flanked the "imaginary" credenza with two chairs for conversational purposes. I wanted to bring some color into this room and I got my color inspiration from out my window: the beach. I wanted to add some blues to represent the water, as for why I am looking for a blue sofa. Luckily I found a beachy take on classic chairs. These chairs were re-painted and re-upholstered in a beautiful fabric that has darker creams and dark blues. Again, I bought the chairs in a pair, so they are slightly less expensive. They were $3,600 for the pair and actually one of my favorites pieces in the room.
On the same day, I found these chairs, I found a mirror that I am thinking of hanging over the chaise or sofa. It is very traditional and the only reason why it fits in my beach house is because it has not been painted and is still at the bare wood. I got this one of a kind beauty at Mecox Gardens, an over priced but great store!
Paying $3,600 for a mirror kind of bothered me, but I've payed more, so I let it slide.
Well I gotta run! After writing this entry and seeing all the prices, I've already spent over $26,000 on what I have so far. BYE!
Well... I am going to continue this in one post so it is more organized, as for why I edited this post. I am excited about all the pieces going into this room, but I have some exciting news. The sofa dilemma may be fixed. I was shopping at the Jonathan Adler store looking for some great pottery for the house and I found what I have been so desperately looking for... A SOFA! It's an option. Not perfect, but the color and style I was looking for. Take a look at the image below.
I love how the fabric seems to shimmer in the light! I need to know whether to buy the sofa or not!? I think the price is right, considering I have been looking at some sofas in the ten thousands! This sofa is $3,500 and super comfortable.
Well, anyways, I realized this room is in need of a rug to go under the sofa, chaise, ottoman, and accent chair. I realized this when I saw a black and white cowhide while shopping. (not at Jonathan Adler) I figured that maybe I could place it under the daybed and two log chairs, for a non-formal and casual affect to the nook. This cowhide was a little over $1,100.
While I was in the nook, I thought of flanking each of the log chairs with side tables. And I saw these beautiful antique chinese garden stools. They are a pair for $1,150! Expensive for stools but in the color scheme and totally worth it? Yes!
In every room, I love art! So, I went on a hunt for some art for the space. I still have not found something to hang above the sofa, but I did find an accent piece that could be slightly unexpected. I could have done a surfboard in the room, but I think that has been done tons of times. I still might do a surfboard, but I did find a nine foot vintage, yet thin sculpture in blue and white stripes. It is pretty expensive, at $5,000. I need an opinion so please take a look at tthe sculpture below.
Beautiful! Also, another thing I was inspired by was the surfboard installation at the Waikiki Edition Hotel in the lobby. It looks like a shipwreck of surfboards. Fun and eccentric.
I think that instalation is fun and funky. Oh wait! I actually just had an idea. Right here and right now. What if I got an installation like this on the ceiling in my two story foyer. That would be perfect. And we could hang a beautiful chandelier off of it. Thats genius! I am going to contact my contracter and see if this can be done and when it can be put in.
Now I am excited. But, if I was going to do a surfboard in the family room or den, I found a vintage special edition board for a rediculous price. But if you consider the board as a piece of art, the price tag might not be too much.
Don't worry. I am not buying it now or maybe ever, but this "piece of art" is $16,500!
Now to talk about pillows! Some designers go crazy with pillows, covering the whole sofa. But I think that is just for show and as for designing for my own house, a whole sofa of pillows seems un-necessary. While getting these pillows, I found my single most favorite pillow of all time. It is from Oomph! and the fabric is from Quadrille Fabrics. This is a suzani pillow and is super expensive ($385)!
The first pillow is also from Oomph! and is less at $255. The fabric is also from Quadrille Fabrics. The second pillow is from Tamara Magel and is $325. It is silk and backed with a navy fabric. The third pillow is the Avalon pillow from Hermes for $455. It is cashmere and wool. I got this while I was checking out and shopping at the Hermes store the other day. In case you do not know Hermes is a super expensive, high quality, fashion company that is most known for their leather. Hermes is the brand that made the Birkin, a starting at $9,000 bag that all the stars had. I own a bag, belt, and blanket from Hermes and I like to check in on the store every once in a while. And that is where I found this pillow, which I happened to already know about. Also, I bought a giant Avalon blanket for a guest room or my master bedroom. It was very expensive, but it was something I always wanted and sometimes you buy things that you cannot resist. The blanket, which happens to be giant, was about $2,600 and I will post I picture below this text.
Well, I gotta run, again! Bye.
Back Again! Hopefully, I am going to finish off this room right here.
The next thing I have to talk about is the artwork. I found an absolutely gorgeous piece of art to hang above the sofa. Try and emagine it. It is very literal when you think of a beach house. It is a photo of Praia Geriba, one of the world's best beaches in Brazil, and has folded up umbrellas leading a pathway into the ocean. The actual photograph is about 40 inches height and 5 feet length. It was $6,000 and my second favorite piece in the room.
OMG! Everytime I see it, it just gets more and more gorgeous. And by the way, the hefty price tag was $12,000! But how could I deny this one of a kind piece?
So that ends this room, but I have one more thing in store for you. Before I buy the pieces I always take a picture on my phone and save them to my computer in a folder. It is like my "database of design"! I like to make little boards of all the pieces in the room and I call them "put togethers". Take a look at the put together for the beautiful and faboulous family room in my Aquinnah beach house.
This "put together" looks great and I cannot wait to see what the room looks like when it is all done. Right now, a lot of pieces are going in and it looks fantastic, but the final result will be even better.
Thanks for watching or reading while I planned the family room to go in my beach house on the island of Martha's Vineyard. Did I mention the Reese Witherspoon was just on the island? Pretty cool.
Just becuase I have more time right now I am going to keep putting the new rooms onto this same post. But first! I want to say a little something about fashion.
I just bought this two bags one from Yves Saint Laurent and the other, Chloe. (The e is supposed to have an accent mark). They are two of my favorite bags and in my opinion, MUST HAVES! So go out and buy, if you can afford them. The Chloe Sally Leather Textured Bag is about $1,500 and the Yves Saint Laurent Muse Two Medium Leather Tote in plum is $1,250.
The Yves Saint Laurent bag is perfect for fall and the Chloe bag is almost perfect for summer in a city! Gorgeous.
Now, onto the next room! The family room, kitchen, and breakfast area are all open to eachother so I will design the kitchen next. I want something cheery and of the same color pallet of the family room. So, I ordered custom dark blue cabinetry for the kitchen. You might think that is too dark but we have a lot of light in this house (natural and from fixtures).
I do not have a picture of them because custom cabinetry takes many weeks and I do not feel like waiting that long just to blog. The next thing I instantly wanted in my room was marble so I went to this great warehouse. Since this kitchen is GI-NORMOUS, (btw its 14 feet long), I have counterspace and an island. I was thinking I could do blue marble on the counterspace and a classic carrara on the island to lighten the look. So, I went on the hunt for beautiful blue marble and I found Azul Macauba. But of course there is a major downer to this beautiful marble. IT IS $81.94/square foot! That is a ton of money for marble, but the carrara that I found for the island was only $10.38/square foot. At least I can save on the island.
These are two beautiful slabs of the marble!
Now, for the backsplash, I want to do a carrara backsplash to match the island marble and to lighten the look of the Azul Macauba. So, I ordered this beautiful marble from the trustworthy Saltillo Tiles.
I know I still need a light fixture for the kitchen, but I also forget all about a rug for the family room. If anyone knows of a beautiful rug in my general color scheme that I could use in that room, I would be very thankful.
And anyways, I have to go!
Love,
Bromaxco
