To all my friends out there in the Blogosphere, I do apologize that has been so long since I posted anything. Time got away from me with the many changes that the spring and Summer brought, among them 2 new jobs and a wedding. Mid-summer found me accepting a “design “position with a well-known furniture store, a job that I soon HATED! Luckily a month into the job I got a call from a small independent kitchen design company in Mamaroneck NY, offering me a position as their designer/production manager, which I accepted a week before my daughter’s wedding.

 

A week After walking my daughter down the aisle in August  , I started working for Dreamwork Kitchens and have spent the last few months settling in. during this time ,

I also agreed to be in charge of designing and making decorations for a Victorian Masquerade Halloween ball at the House Museum that I volunteer at.  This was on Oct 27^th –it was wonderful and those of you that are FaceBook friends, you saw the pictures.

 

 

Soooo back to my Ramblings on design and other things, 

 

Among the groups that I belong to on FaceBook is a group called “Mansions of the Gilded age” in the last several days there has been quite a bit of discussion over a room from an apartment carved out of a decommissioned church in New York City. The discussion has centered around nor so much the décor of the rooms shell, but on the furniture and placement. I enclose a few pictures below.

 

 

As you can see it is a wonderful space, BUT the flow is horrible.  If you look closely

At the particular pieces, some including the club chairs about have decent lines. However it really appears that either this room was assembled from “stock” pieces bought from a department store, or that the furniture was brought from a previous residence. Looking at the first picture you can see the wonderful fireplace, which is completely ignored in this arrangement. Generally and in particular with a historic space such as this, if there is a fireplace or a major architectural feature to the room, that becomes the main focal point.

 

Not even getting into fabrics, the furniture placement fails on many levels. The clubs chairs floating in the middle of the room between the loveseat and the sofa do not relate to either piece. There is also no place to set down a book or a drink if you are sitting in these chairs. Generally it is a kindness to your guests as well as yourself to have such small conveniences nearby. Another failure is the distance between the upholstered pieces. A person sitting on either these chairs or the sofa or loveseat is a considerable distance from the person in the next piece of furniture, making conversation all but impossible.

 

A simple first step salvage of this room is to first shift the carpet parallel to the fireplace.

Next flank the fireplace with the club chairs and place the large ottoman perpendicular to it. The sofa and the loveseat will then be placed parallel to the newly positioned ottoman.

The sofa table can remain behind the sofa with the pair of lamps but the 2 large round tables will need to be re-used elsewhere. The mahogany table to the right can be placed in front of the window directly opposite the fireplace, flanked with the shield-back chair

(You may want to raid other rooms for its mate) Finally the two tiny tables either side of the love seat become side tables for the club chairs.

 

 

This will work for the immediate future – the sofa and the loveseat will need to be either replaced or recovered, as the print does not compliment either the rooms nor the carpet, both of which work very well together.

 

 

The next step would be to bring in a pair of classic wing chairs to use in place of the club chairs, perhaps in a muted flamestich if the sofa and loveseat were recovered in a solid fabric of a color “pulled” from the rug – perhaps a copper or terra cotta. The club chairs could then be used behind the sofa placed in front of the console table at an angle facing each other.

 

The dining room end is not that bad, but the chairs kind of dated. For a small investment a set of antique Chippendale or Shield-Back chairs and a mahogany table would give much more character to this majestic space.

 

And final thought on this room, even thought there is a lot going on visually with the walls, the space directly above the chair rail could use some artwork. Such a space would be a wonderful opportunity to display a collection of portraits or Lush Victorian landscapes. Just be certain not to be stingy with the frames! Thick and gilded is called for here. 

 

 

Well my dear friends, that’s all for now – I will try to post more soon.

In the mean time remember … the only bad room is a room that is boring and lacking in comfort.

 

 

David