Airy Girls Bedroom

Photo credit to come…thanks Al

This used to be my 23 year old son’s room before I staged it as an airy girly room for staging our house…I had the opportunity to make a girls room after all…lol.… if only for a few months. All for under 300 bucks including mouldings', paint, lighting, new electrical…and furniture with bedding. It can be done…Brian didn’t believe me. Thanks IKEA :)

Hence, my absence from blogging lately. Wish us luck…a few steps closer to that loft space in the city :)

Best, Michelle

A Valentine Wish

Happy Valentines Day

Interior Design and a Deep Sleep

 

I like to walk in and see the bed when I enter a room. It’s a security thing, I guess…plus I don’t like having my head on the same wall as the door…and I have to be able to see out the window and the door. Pretty picky…but without this vantage point, I can’t sleep. Do you have any design/sleep habits?

Design and rendering by Michelle Morelan

e-design available through Michelle Morelan Design; did you know that every e-design project includes a rendering like this?

 

Best, Michelle

How to Get Your Client to Sign-Off

 

Sometimes, a picture is worth a thousand words. A client who wants to go a bit more modern without giving up her classic pieces couldn’t picture what I meant by “mixing it up a bit”, so I took a few hours to do these couple of drawings for her…sure enough, we are going ahead with the custom pair of nightstands and TV credenza for the MBR.  Talking with your hands can only take you so far.

Also, the toilet has been moved to create a symmetrical hallway to the bathroom, and a bathroom vanity area. The client thought it would make the room feel to small (still trying to convince her on that one). I would go for room that works before size in a minute. But, like I always say, I don’t have to live there.

Interior Design, Furniture Design and Renderings by Michelle Morelan, 2010

 

Best, Michelle

Olive and Dark Blue…an Unlikely but Sophisticated Bedroom Palette

Design and Rendering by Michelle Morelan

A recent e-design project where the client choose a rendering as part of her package has me excited…her Aubusson rug was the inspiration for the space, which features a pair of Barcelona stools in ivory leather and a tub chair re-upholstered in a dark blue linen by Threads/Lee Jofa. The rug has grey/putty tones with hints of blue and sage. Robert Allen’s Vesoul fabric is used with complementing silk to create a heavenly canopy bed…a dream of mine as well.

I propose Saladino lamps for scale, symmetry and transparency. The night tables from Restoration Hardware are meaty enough for the large space. Grey linens from Kravet will be used to create a bed cover, box spring cover and headboard which is also drawn from the carpet and merge the olive and blue by being common ground...a daring move, but the panelling will be painted in an mustard/olive tone to keep the palette muddy. A home of this scale (12 ft. clgs on the first floor) can take some great panelling, and the elevations show how the trim should be laid out. It’s a grand space, deserving of a grand look.

Cost of e-design project (including rendering)- $1475 US plus tax

includes: scaled floor plan and elevations, perspective, shopping list, and art/accessory direction

MMID e-design project…a room for two little girls

This project is for two young ladies..its a vacation house, and receives southern light through two windows on the bunk wall. A mix of blues reflect the nautical feel of the home and site, and yellow adds the cheer. On the other wall, worry dolls from their collection are framed in unified black shadow frames with double mattes. I’ve rendered in the existing dark floor, but a white floor would be appropriate for this setting as well.

Lucky girls.

e-design and Rendering by Michelle Morelan Design, 2010

Colouring Book (Blue Bedroom) and Materials List for MMID Videos

 

While we finish up the first video, I thought it would be fun to get limbered up doing a practice rendering…I’ll call these drawings the “Colouring Book”.  Print out the first drawing (doesn’t have to be more than 5x7), tape a piece of trace or rag paper on top, use a fine liner (.05 or .03) to sketch the drawing, apply gray shadows, then colour, darker shadows, finish with fine liner texture and remember some lighting effects. You can use mine for reference if you like, but try using your own colours and design elements like the nail heads, art, rug, etc. This will be our first drawing, so give it a go, keep it as your “before” and date it, because it’s rewarding to look at your progress. I’d love to see some of them, so please…email me your finished rendering! (I would never post them without permission)

             

Colouring Book (Blue Bedroom)

Original art, Interior Design and Rendering by Michelle Morelan Design, 2010

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Materials List:

You can order these online, but a visit to the art store is great to get the juices flowing; go to a type which has a  large selection of canvases, as it will most likely have these supplies; not Michaels…they only carry Prismacolour markers.

• Light table set up (glass and lamp will do). If you don’t have piece of glass, consider the “as is” bin at Ikea for a glass door or small table top for one of their cheap end tables; just make sure it’s big enough to hold a legal size paper, with some space around. Always use tempered glass with a finished edge!
• Paper: both plain paper and archival rag paper. Use larger than letter size if you can, but you are limited to the size of your scanner- You can work as small or large as you like. I have a scanner that scans up to ledger size (11x17), so I use larger paper. I use Bienfang Graphics 360- 100% rag translucent marker paper (this is like tracing paper, but it doesn’t bleed, is thicker and is able to handle the marker manipulation). Just ask the clerk for marker paper- archival.
• Drafting tape; it’s less sticky than regular masking tape, but that will do too…just put it on your pants or skin first to get most of the stickiness off.
• Black fine liner pens: Copic Multiliner SP .03, and .05, Staedtler pigment liner .1 (an assorted pack of thicknesses is a better deal)
• Artist pen by Faber-Castell in the B thickness; this is a paint brush type tip- a multipack of greys and a multipack of colour is a better deal, 199 (dark gray), 272 (light gray),174 (green), and 247 (blue) are some I use often. A thicker 180 (raw umber) is also useful.
• Graphic pen 3000 duo tip by Staedtler Mars in 55 (green). These are some of my favourite paint pens, because they pool.
• Tombo ABt paint pen 491 (glass coloured blue); its duo tipped
• Copic Markers in W5 (Warm Gray #5), E49 (Dark Brown), 110 (Special Black), E43 (Dull Ivory)
• Touch Markers CG5 (Cool Gray)
• Prismacolour 96 (Blondwood)
• Letraset Tria Marker in 120T (Medium Yellow)
• primary red, primary yellow markers in any brand listed (if you are on a budget, use a red pen and a highlighter here instead).
• Gold and silver roller ball gel type pens
• A dual tipped black Sharpie
• Signo pigment ink pen in UM-153 White
• white artist chalk (the powdery stick type)

A tip on markers…a good range of grays (warms and cools) and an architectural pack is a great way to start your collection. Purchase what you think you need and use in your designs…like red, yellow (fireplace flames), greens and browns for landscape and colours of wood furniture. Don’t go to crazy buying vibrant colours at first, as they are used sparingly.

Investment in initial materials? About $200 gets you a nice supply. Markers are about 5 bucks each.

Leah's Room

Over at Decorno, Leah has asked for help in designing a room at her parents that she has to move into for a while. You can get the whole story on Decorno's blog, and read the solutions of many talented designer/bloggers.

This is my solution, where she keeps the wall colour, and plays with one pattern, a few textured neutrals, and pieces that allow for lotsa storage, and she can bring with her later.

This solution is sans programming, floorplans etc...so be open :)

MBR makeover

My new MBR plan- Rendering by Michelle Morelan

My bedroom now
The pillow covers as inspiration

I love these pillow covers I purchased at an Amsterdam Flea Market. They are my inspiration for a new bedroom makeover.

It will include some architectural prints I bought in Paris, a paint patterned roller from Amsterdam's DOM shop, and a pop of blue in the nightstands; something in high gloss.

The new look includes tone on tone walls in white and cream, like the cushions. I'm keeping my mirrored lamps and auction nightstands, and my PAX wardrobe that I just could never live without!

A 6' linen headboard (or maybe to the ceiling) with equal vertical seams will bring your eye up, and direct interest to the framed prints on or above the nightstands. I'll find the blue throw first, then match the table paint to it. I may get a box style cushion made for the bed like the one on the chair.

This Merlena chair from Mitchell Gold would be great with a low end table like this one from Oly. The Robert Allen Linen is a good price point, and is a heavier weight to use as upholstery for the headboard.

I can't wait for a new look. As a mother, my bedroom has been my sanctuary for a long time, but this is the first time the objects have meaning. Out with Home Sense, and in with pieces that mean the world to me :)

the seaside room

The seaside room at a client's is ready...almost...we still need a white wicker chair, and a woven large rug, but it is stunning, and feels airy, like a summer day.


This is a guest room in a large home, with a view of the sea. The client loves the small village of Hale'eva in Kauai (sorry about the spelling), and wanted the room to reference that favorite place.

There is a fine line between "theme" and "concept". The best way to explain this is to picture the Rainforest Cafe at Disneyworld vs. the building of room elements based on a common element like the Blue Fin in Times Square which references the sea, only realizing this, after you experience the space. I find many decorate in a thematic way, rather than consider the gestalt and space as a whole. A concept is less tangible, but is something to base your decisions on space planning, finishes, etc...

The prints over the Asian chair are the only other colour in the room; they depict local scenes of the Hawaiian village.

The coral is framed in old fence boards, and is actually local! White bedding contrasts nicely against the black bed, and Carrington Beige by BM is used on the walls.

This is what you see when you walk in the room. The black bamboo bed is Ralph Lauren, and was a bitch to put together requiring wooden pegs and a rubber mallet.

The transoms let in light, and when lit from behind are a work of art. Andre Sperling of Barclay Glass created over a dozen for the home.