When Hubby and I visited the Louvre in 2010, Hubby spent the whole time pointing out importantly historic paintings and thousand year old artifacts saying, “hey, that’s kinda neat,” and “hey, that’d be nice in the living room”. I have teased him relentlessly about this (and tell anyone who will listen the story), but I did the same thing at IDS12.
Although I am somewhat aware of who’s who and what’s happening in the world of design, I am the first to admit I don’t know a lot. I leave pursuit of that knowledge to the many talented designers, interior decorators and bloggers in the industry.
What I pay attention to is what design ideas can be comfortably incorporated into a modest home, namely: mine. And, I’m not going to lie, I look for inspiration for DIY projects, no matter how tacky that is. So, camera poised, I wandered about the interior design show with my mom, looking for design ideas that might look good in the townhouse. I accidentally picked up on some trends, but I was pretty selfish in my tour of the show. Hopefully you’ll like the photos I took anyway. I’ve grouped them into themes of things I like (see? so selfish):
A DOSE OF COLOUR
I spotted this pretty vignette and really loved the pop of blue amidst the natural pieces of wood furniture. That the blue was cheery, bright and referenced the artwork was icing.
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| Heidi Ernshaw Design |
Of course, I mooned over this bright yellow painting. With our white walls, we need more zesty pops of colour.
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| “Sulfur and Snow” by Louis Helbig |
UNPAINTED WOOD
All the men out there (my Hubby can’t be the only one) who hate painted wood can breath a collective sigh of relief. Everywhere I looked there were gorgeous works or art, stunning pieces of furniture – even light fixtures – all showcasing the natural beauty of wood.
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| Kino Guerin |
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| Woodlight |
Brooke Batchelor’s designs are a perfect pairing of edgy and chic. I meandered over to her website and am now obsessed with her bullet trays.
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| Brooke Batchelor Design |
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| Anazao |
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| Anazao |
I would HATE dusting this twig mirror, but the texture is so gorgeous and such a nice contrast with modern furnishings or bathroom fittings that I might, might be persuaded to take the leap and introduce more textural, natural elements into the townhouse.
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| Spotted at the Caml Tomlin booth |
FELT
If you’ve seen my felted wool Billy Buttons or felted wool abstracts, you’ll know why I went a bit wild for the felt booth. Although the staff manning the booth were a bit unfriendly to me, I might still order felt for a DIY project, like the fell-wrapped vases I spotted at the Gresham House booth.
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| Gresham House |
VINTAGE & ANTIQUE REFERENCES
If you’ve been reading along, you know I hate carpet and rugs with every fiber of my being. Like most nerds, I have nerdy allergies and rugs do not help me keep the dust at bay. But this 100 line wool and silk rug, hand woven in Nepal, really tugged at my heart with its gorgeous typewriter key pattern. A typewriter was also used for the cover art of the first issue of Pure Green Magazine (see yesterday’s post) – I’m thinking typewriters are experiencing a moment of fame.
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| “Qwerty” Modallion Collaboration with Glen Peloso (glenpelosointeriors.com): $50-150 /square foot |
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| Elte |
The silhouettes caught my eye, as they always do.
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| Elte |
GLASS
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| David Thai |
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| Gregor Herman Glass |
Of course, there was lots more to see but these were some of my favorite things.
Did you go? If you intend to go next year, I highly recommend Trade Day (if you can) because the show wasn’t as busy as it was during general admission. There was actually space to walk around and see things at leisure, instead of everyone jostling for a good vantage point:
I'm such a sucker for neutrals. I loved Gresham House – so pretty!
I know – their booth was gorgeous! Shame it is only open to designers, though.
Love the twig mirror! When I saw that and some wooden block art in Studio North, I was thinking of the difficulty of dusting as well!
We had our IDS in October and I noticed a ton of natural wood as well. Mostly combined with metals as accent pieces but the trend seems to exist. Nice recap!!
FELT! Oh the colors! Great tour of some really beautiful lovelies! I loved the bent wood chalkboards.
Definitely inspirational! All these great ideas should keep you busy for a while! 🙂
wow, I think I would have gone into stimulation overload, so much wonderful stuff to look at! Love that yellow painting and the anazao table, the white tone in the wood is amazing!
That driftwood mirror is fabuloso. LOVE it.
Hi Tanya. My name is Andrew Metrick and I'm from Elte. Actually, Elte was started by my great grandfather, making my brother and I the fourth generation in the family business. Anyway, I just wanted to leave a comment to thank you for featuring us in your IDS wrap up. It means a lot to me. Earlier this week we uploaded photos of our booth on our Facebook page so be sure to check that out (www.facebook.com/elte). Thanks once again and I hope to see you at Elte sometime soon!
Thanks Andrew. I appreciate you taking the time to leave a comment. I don't think my photography did the Elte booth justice . . .
Great summary of the show Tonya!! Love the photos. I have totally poured over your blog today.. your place is gorgeous! Let's definitely get together soon and collaborate on something fun. Coffee soon?
Awww, thanks! Yes – I'd love to. Checking out your blog again, maybe we can do something crafty together in the future . . .
I love the felt-covered vases! I'm curious to know more about the unfriendly people manning the felt booth…
Well, I don't want to spread any negative publicity . . . but I think my cloak of invisibility worked at the Felt Store booth. As soon as I walked up, the guy manning it made a call to someone in his office/store and the woman he worked with wandered off. No one made eye contact and I was ignored. The booth was not busy – I was the only one there for awhile. Maybe they had just had a long day and were tired of curious peeps like me? Oh well, that's what the internet is for, lol. I can find the answers to all my felt-y questions there.
The wood veneer pendants are to die for. Great photos!
It's so funny how different people see different things at IDS – I was totally enamored by the pink & gold ottoman in the Gresham House booth, but totally missed the felt vases sitting on top of it! I also missed the artwork and typewriter carpet. Loved the Elto booth, especially the chandeliers and sari rugs.
Amazing recap, Tanya! Similarly to you, while I was wandering around the show it was more about "how do you take design elements that are currently at ten thousand feet, and bring them down to bungalow level at two thousand feet"? There were tons of magical moments at the show, but applying them to everyday living is often a challenge. You were spot-on in your pics (and I must have missed the Elte exhibit 'cuz I would have been all over those silhouettes!).PS – I've added myself to your list of followers as well: your blog is fab!
I love that twig mirror! I wonder if it could become a DIY project? I am hosting a giveaway on my blog this week! A beautiful handmade bezel necklace from an Etsy shop is up for grabs! Check it out:http://www.sarahleeweaver.com/2012/01/giveaway-daniel-m.htmlHave an awesome weekend!!Sarah Lee Weaverwww.sarahleeweaver.com