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West Elm Tribal Diamond Carpet
Patricia Gray Interior Design
Myra Hoefer
Southern Accents
Mary Macdonald
Bilhuber & Assoc
Nathan Egan Interiors
D Home Magazine via Cote de Texas
Patricia Gray Interior Design
Patricia Gray writes about Interior Design inspirations, emerging trends, and the world of Design.
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banquette (n.) A long upholstered bench placed against or built into a wall
There is nothing more luxurious than banquette seating at your dining room table. It evokes images of dining in a fancy French Restaurant. Lingering at the table, good conversations, the family gathered together, taking the time to dine rather than snatch a quick meal at the counter, comfortable. It also serves as double duty seating in a dining room adjoining a living room. It makes the most of a small space and makes for a cozy seating area. Round tables, square tables, rectangular tables - all work. Seating for 2, 4, 6, or 8. Toss cushions or not. Curved banquettes, straight banquettes, L shaped banquettes, or U shaped - all are possible. There are so many possibilities. A suitable option for almost any room. Have fun and pick you favorite.
This banquette is particularly attractive in a corner bay window.
Celerie Kemble House Beautiful Nov 07
Chad Eisner House Beautiful June 07
In a high traffic kitchen area a cleanable, durable outdoor fabric could be used for upholstery.
Christopher Maya Inc
This kitchen has my favorite Kartel Ghost Chairs (I have nicknamed them the Cinderella Chair). They are so versatile and also very comfortable. They are particularly good in a small space as they visually don't take up a lot of space. They mix well in a contemporary or traditional setting. Elle Decor Nov 06
Notice the straight wings on the one side of this banquette. Frank Roop Design
image via Absolutely Beautiful Things
I like how Mariette Himes Gomez has used a tufted curved banquette in her NYC dining room. (picture above and below)
I particularly like the thick slab for the top of this table and the trumpet base. Kemble Interiors Inc
Harriett Maxwell Macdonald
House Beautiful
A sofa doubles as a banquette for dining in this room by Michael S Smith from his book Elements of Style.
Posh Design
Robyn Karp Interiors
Vicente Wolf
I have used both of these designs for banquette seating. You can vary the length and the fabrics. You can do a tight seat bed like the one below, or have a down filled seat cushion as above. You can make it with arms or armless.
Patricia Gray writes about 'WHAT'S HOT 'in the world of Interior Design, new and emerging trends, modern design, architecture,
and travel, as well as how your surroundings can influence the world around you.
© Patricia Gray Interior Design Blog, 2009
Michael Devine has just launched his new 2008 fabric collection at the prestigious Maison & Objet Editeurs, which is held in Paris twice a year (in January and September). Michael has been getting quite allot of press in Domino, Elle Decor, Architectural Digest, House Beautiful & Veranda to name just few for his striking hand screened fabrics. This master bedroom of Aerin Lauder's in her Long Island master bedroom featured in House and Garden 2007 features
Michael's fabric.
Domino
House Beautiful
Patricia Gray writes about Interior Design inspirations, emerging trends, and the world of Design.
While you're here, subscribe to this feed so you don't miss out.
© 2007-2009 Patricia Gray Interior Design Blog
I have lately had a renewed interest in skirted tables. They add a nice touch to a room where an open table with legs just won't do. Two of my favorite Design Icons, Albert Hadley and David Hicks were quite fond of using this treatment. The examples I have shown here are tailored and use plain fabrics with pleated corners and/or a center pleat. I always line my skirts and have them just barely touching the floor. The 5th and 6th pictures have an interesting grommet detail on the corners. Glass can be put on the top of these tables to protect the surface or as Vicente Wolf has done for the design for a dining room table, he has used a piece of granite or marble for the top. Cote de Texas has done an interesting post on skirted tables that is worth checking out.
Westbrook Interiors
Note that here is a substantial fringe on this table.
Eric Piasecki Photography
Robert Burke Todd Romano
Interesting Grommet detail above and below.
Beach Dwelling
Beach Dwelling
Katrin has used an interesting bead trim on the scalloped edge for this table skirt. Katrin Cargill
Image via Cote de Texas
I was going through the drawers in my office recently and happened across an old sketch book of mine. I used to do a lot of sketching of ideas, working things out by drawing the details before they actually became a reality. I would always carry a sketch book with me where ever I went so I could quickly capture my inspiration as it occurred. I haven't been doing enough of that lately with the advent of Auto Cad, a program where drawings are computer generated, and with my small digital camera in my purse at all times. I don't know whether it is laziness or the advent of technology, but I must say that looking back on these quick hand done sketches they have a certain charm that the computer or the digital camera just can't achieve. There is something to be said for hand drawing. When I went to Design School we were taught to hand draw and I filled copious sketch pads. When I studied Architecture in Paris and we would sit for hours in front of an important building or monument while the professor talked about the merits of the architecture and we would be fastidiously sketching away. I remember my first art class where there were nude models. I was very young and very naive and must say that it was very embarrassing for me to learn to draw the human body anatomically correct. Hand drawing is a very good way eye to train the eye to see details, and details are the stuff that design is made of. There is something magical about capturing the essence of something with a few lines.
Interior Design Sketches Drapery & Trim
Interior Design Sketches Fabric & Trim
A sketch for a doorway into a Master Bedroom closet. I played around with different fringes to edge the drapery. One side was striped and the other side was a coordinating floral in linen.
Interior Design Sketches Drapery Tie Back Detail
This was an alternate detail for the drapery to cover the doorway into the Master Closet. Instead of being held back with a piece of curved metal it gathered back on itself with a series of loops sewn onto the back of the fabric, much like a roman blind. The top of the drapery was hung over the curtain rod with tabs that folded over and were pointed on the ends. There is even a design for coordinated lampshades trimmed with cord and tassel.
Interior Design Sketches Cushion Details
These were sketches for toss cushions with notations for the size,fabric, trims and even the colors.
A sketch for the drapery workroom for a "balloon" valance treatment with a decorative French mirror between. The windows bothered me as they were not even, so I added full length side panels to each window, as noted in the bottom notation, to have 10" hems/headers and I wanted them to puddle on the floor so I added an extra 40" to the over all length. I would not have been able to make this decision to frame the windows with full length draperies as easily if I had not done a sketch first.
Interior Design Sketches Cushion Details
A sketch for the arrangement of toss cushions and bedding, that were made of 3 fabrics: Cream Silk Taffeta, Anjelica - a beautiful cream and navy linen toile, and a charcoal pin strip Egyptian cotton. Funny I even added a little quotation: "Each Day Dawns But Once".
Interior Design Sketches London Chair Details
A sketch I did of a chair in a Hotel Lobby in London, that intrigued me. I was sitting down waiting for the check-in to happen. The British do wonderful detailing on their upholstery and drapery treatments. I remember being so totally charmed with the fabric and color selection of this chair that I had to note exactly how it was done. I even drew the skirt in detail with a section through it. People must have thought I was crazy, as I lifted up the skirt several times to see exactly how they had sewn it. I carry a travel palette of watercolors and use whatever liquid I could find, this one might have been painted with tea?? After all it was London.
PATRICIA GRAY INC is an award winning interior design firm writing about lifestyle and
WHAT'S HOT in the world of interior design, architecture, art and travel.
2011 © Patricia Gray | Interior Design Blog™
I love the roll up garage style door. I want a project to design that I can incorporate a door like this.As a follow-up to the post I did yesterday, this is a picture of my desk with my inspiration samples for a design scheme I am putting together for a Living Room, Dining Room and Powder Room. The Fornasetti (Riflesso) wallpaper bottom right and bottom left Fornasetti (Tema) are the starting points for my inspiration. Adjoing walls to the Tema will be papered Phillip Jefferies Manila Hemp color Elephant.
