Lighten up home decor with Lucite

Wrenda Goodwyn • special to the Fort Myers News-Press• June 8, 2013

Kate Spade lucite heel.

It never fails. What you see on the runway is eventually going to make its way into home decor.

And just as Lucite heels and jewelryare the rage in fashion magazines, pieces are again making an appearance in home furnishings and accessories. 

And just as the sparkle of Lucite in a heel has a modern, fresh look, you would not want an entire shoe made of it. The same goes for the home. Less is definitely more.  Use sparingly and you have a look.  Use too much and it can look cheap.

Ozzie Pancaro, owner of the Casa Italia showroom at Miromar Design Center in Estero, says the trend has been "gaining steam for the past two years and that it was seen prominently at the Milan furniture in April."

The Italian, contemporary design, he says, was used sparingly as accents such as "night tables, floating bases, with lighting, sideboards, panels and floating legs."

Most dramatic:  Casa Italia offers a 100% eco- friendly produced bed that is available in 32 colors of matte lacquer or it can be upholstered. It sits on a On Methacrylate base with LED lighting and gives the effect of floating.

Photo: Casa Italia, Miromar Design Center, Estero. 

And don't forget the 2002 classic Ghost Chair, designed by Philippe Starck. It now comes in colors, giving it a little less ghost and a little more pizzazz. It has an elegant, timeless look. Using a single piece of translucent injection-molded polycarbonate, Starkcreated the one of the most recognizable chairs of the 21st century. Versatile enough for almost any space, it is often seen at events such as weddingsbecause of its comfort and durability indoors or outdoors. Fabric chair covers can be added for comfort and color.

What is Lucite?

Lucite is the brand name for a clear, acrylic resin material that has been around since the early twentieth century.  It was firstused for commercial purposes but became a popular material for jewelry and interior decoratingin the 1950's.  Today itappears in wall sconces, chairs, benches, tables, lamp bases and other home accessories.

Using Lucite in your home

Not a serious line of furniture, Lucite takes on a modern, almost whimsical feel. In other words, have some fun with it!

It is great for small spaces and does not take up a lot of visual space. For a small room it can be a good solution as it basically disappears and lightens up the space.

Lucite furniture is perfect for spaces where pattern, texture or paint color, are the focal point. The transparency creates a balanced look to the room and does not add unnecessary visual clutter.

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Ghost Chair, designed by Philippe Starck. Photo: Casa Italia.

Kohl's lucite bistro set.

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 Photos: Casa Italia

Like the look but afraid of committing? Try a magazine rack, barstool or tray for a table.  Kohl's, Target and other big box stores feature accent tables, bar stools, bistro sets and a wide range of accessories.

Lucite combined with brass or other materials and designs can serve as a point of interest. And furniture manufacturers are also making Lucite legs as an alternative to wood to make a piece a focal point in a room.

It's eco-friendly!

Perhaps the best reason of all to consider Lucite in your decorating plan: it requires no cutting down of trees, no toxic glues are used and it can be recycled. It is also durable, making it usable indoor and outdoors.

Wrenda Goodwyn is a Southwest Florida interior decorator. Visit her website at spectacularspaces.com. Call her at 949-1808 or e-mail wrenda@spectacularspaces.com. For more decorating tips and photos, visit spectacularspaces.com/blog

Sources:

Casa Italia
Miromar Design Center
10800 Corkscrew Road
Suite 250
Estero, FL 33928
239-390-0643
www.casaitalia.com

Kohl's
www.kohls.com

Tips for creating tablescapes: dazzling works of art for your home

Wrenda Goodwyn • special to the Fort Myers News-Press• June 1, 2013

Accessories are the most important part of any interior decorating project. They are the finishing touch. They make your home. They are personal and reflect your lifestyle. But often it is a bit of a challenge as to exactly what to do with your accessories. Where to put them and how to arrange them. 

Pottery Barn's sawhorse console table is perfect for creating a themed tablescape with candles, mirror, flowers and treasured beach objects. Photo: Pottery Barn.

Tablescapes and vignettes to the rescue. They are the most creative, fun and cost effective way to add that perfect design element to your home.  You have seen them in magazines and in catalogues. And with a little planning and a few tips, you can create one of your own or have your decorator help you design one.  As a southwest Florida interior decorator, they are one of my favorite design elements to create. 

Blues, whites and natural elements are the theme of this tablescape from Williams and Sonoma Home. Photo: Williams and Sonoma Home.

What are tablescapes?

Creatively designed table arrangements that showcase a specific object or collection. In addition to tabletops, items such as bookshelves, coffee tables and mantles can be transformed into a unique tablescape. In addition, tablescaping can include the placement of tables to create an appealing focal point within a given area, which is a great way to add interest to a room.

They can be themed, dazzling, all one color scheme or varied colors, subtle or nature-oriented. They should reflect your personality and decorating style. You can do one for every holiday and change them for each season. The sky is the limit in terms of creativity. They are a work of art. Your art.

Tablescaping emphasizes your personal touch through the use of favorite collections or themes. Finding the perfect theme for your tablescape depends on personal preference as well as the current style of your décor.  Objects in tablescapes do not have to match perfectly but they should complement each other to achieve balance.

Where to create a tablescape or vignette ?

You may have a dining room table that is just sitting vacant now that all of the major holiday are over. Perfect for a tablescape. Or a coffee table or end table thathas been gathering odds and ends. Or a buffet that is waiting for its next party. A fireplace mantle or a bookcase that needs a little pizzazz. Perfect for a bit of rearranging into a vignette.  And don‘t forget the nightstands in your bedrooms...each one should be styled with the objects that you love. A few books and a couple of your favorite (small) things. Voila! It makes all the difference.

Coffee table bench from Pottery Barn is tablescaped with collections on a tray. Photo: Pottery Barn.

Tips for creating a tablescape or vignette

• Pick a location and measure the space that you will be designing.

• The location might be a table top that combines a piece of art on the wall with the elements on the table.

• Need ideas? Go through magazines and online catalogues. My favorites: Williams and Sonoma Home, RalphLauren Home, Ballard Designs.

• Gather elements that you already have and arrange them. Take a photo.

• Come up with a theme based on objects that you love.

• Select different objects of varying heights. These can include:  lamp, mirror, piece of art, books, collections, photos, vase of flowers, a beautiful tray.

• Leave some space on the surface.  Don’t let it become too cluttered.

• Less is more. Like jewelry, take off the last piece that you put on.

• Decide what you need and go shopping (with your photo and measurements).

• Finalize your arrangement.  Take a photo and send it to me. I will select a few and post them on my blog! 

Wrenda Goodwyn is a Southwest Florida interior decorator. Her column, Home Inspirations appears the first Saturday of each month. Visit her website at spectacularspaces.com. Call her at 949-1808 or e-mail wrenda@spectacularspaces.com. For more decorating tips and photos, visit spectacularspaces.com/blog

Mirror, mirror on the wall: Tips for a makeover!

If the mirrors in your bathroom have seen better days, it's time for a makeover and this one is very easy! And will have the most impact on the room for a few dollars.

And if your bathroom itself is lookinga little outdated and tired but you are on a budget,  replacing or redoing the mirror will make a huge impact in the entire room.

Face it, if your mirror is huge and goes from counter to ceiling it is time to update the look. Especially if it has watermarks along the bottom and sides.

Or maybe you have a medicine cabinet with a mirror that is looking worn, it is time to replace with a new one that has a more contemporary mirror.

And if you have a vintage-style bathroom, think about reframing your mirror with some of the easy and inexpensive frame kits that you can do yourself.

A few tips for small changes that make a big impact:

• Purchase a kit from www.mirrormate.com. Select from more than 60 styles, frame any mirror, in any decor. This method is easy and affordable.  Perfect for the do-it-yourselfer! Produces immediate results. This is especially good if your house is on the market and you want to make a few changes that will make the room shine for prospective buyers.

 Mirror before         

Mirror after

• Replace a large mirror with two smaller mirrors. Favorites include reasonably priced framed mirrors from HomeGoods, Lowes or Pier 1 Imports.  You can find a fresh look for any decor. Also check out the metropolitan mirror with a shelf from www.potterybarn.com

• A favorite is the contemporary pivotal mirror that gives a bathroom a fresh, designer look. One over each sink or just one over a smaller vanity with one sink.

Pottery Barn's pivot mirror.

If you are planning to redo your bath, remember, the mirror is the focal point and you look at it every day! So, for a few dollars and some creativity you can enhance the room.

Want a home that makes you happy?

Call me. I can help!

When paint color is just not enough: wall coverings make bold design statement

Wrenda Goodwyn • special to the Fort Myers News-Press• April 27, 2013

Photo: Cole and Son and Lee Jofa.

If you are like most homeowners, when you hear the term "wallpaper,"  you immediately think about scraping sheets of flowery pastels of the wall and then repairing the wall. Or you remember your grandmother's kitchen.  In other words, a thing of the past.

They began centuries ago as a way to protect walls and only the aristocracy could afford them. Wall papers meant that you had made it. Then for the past few years the allure faded.

Today the term is "wall coverings" and many are not paper at all.  They have come a long way, have been totally reinventedand done correctly, wall coverings can be a powerful design element in a home.  Murals that take you away, metals, crystals, grass cloths, hand painted papers, silver threads and anything you can imagine. There are even companies that allow you to design your own paper.

We now see them in design magazines and in model homes. Wall coverings are no longer backdrops. They are focal points and should be treated as such.  Pair the right combination of color and wall covering design and turn a blah room into a spectacular space.

Photo: Pixercise.

With Pixers City Never Sleeps collection of mural (pixersize.com/wallmurals/city-never-sleeps) we see atribute to the great metropolises that for ages have inspired not only artists, but also most importantly, ordinary people. Pixers says: "The cities that are a continuous dazzle of lights and cacophony of noises, but still attract like a magnet."

You can have a view of Paris from your living room or have your office in a cafe. A jazz band in your TV room or wake up in Paris.   And best of all, you canspecify the size of the mural to fit your space.

You may want to give wall coverings another look if bold paint colors just aren't enough. If you want to do something that reflects your decorating style and personality in a big way.

Wall covering tips:

                           Photo: Cole and Son and Lee Jofa•

• Make an entrance.  Select a bold color for the front foyer and add a paper that accentuates the color.

• Powder room.  Designers love wall coverings in powder rooms. We/you can do something totally outrageous in this room.  Bling it up and make a statement.

•  Laundry room.  Use your imagination and try a whimsical pattern.

• For the kiddies. Forget pastels. Select a wall covering that will grow with the child. Neutral backgrounds with playful patterns.

• Complement your furnishings. A modern print works well in a space with a natural and casual style. With neutralssofas and wood accent pieces, try a graphic pattern in a combination of colors.

• Maximum impact.  Select a wall with no windows and doors for wallpaper and paint the rest of the room background color of the paper.

• Nursery. Cover one wall with a modern animal print and paint the remaining walls in a gender neutral shade.

• Love the look but concerned about budget? Select the room's focal point to highlight with an eye-catching print. Then paint the walls in the background color of the paper. The best of both decorating elements!

• Afraid of wall covering commitment?  Pick a design that speaks to you and cover an accent wall.  Minimal investment until you decide how much you love it!                                                                                          

According to Shauna Dennison, creative director of Cole & Son, (available to the trade  through the Kravet showroom in Estero)  popular designs continue to include traditional and classic patterns.  However she is seeing a move towards "larger scale, bolder wallpapers."

"This rise in murals and panel designs has in part been driven by huge advances in digital printing technology.

"We are seeing the rise of creativity in wall coverings... wallpaper has become a feature to build interior schemes around, rather than a background element. Large scale, whimsical designs are the conversational piece within a design scheme. The new Fornasetti II collection leads this trend with a series of striking theatrical designs that have been produced on wide widths giving the pattern repeats far greater space, creating a mural like quality."

At Ralph Lauren Home, the Textures Collection is filled with embroidery, damask and woven designs, natural seagrass, cork and scroll. These blend well against the blue-green shades that are the backdrop for southwest Florida homes. For details, visit the showroom in Miromar Design Center. 

Wrenda Goodwyn is a Southwest Florida interior decorator. Visit her website at spectacularspaces.com. Call her at 949-1808 or e-mail wrenda@spectacularspaces.com. For more decorating tips and photos, visit spectacularspaces.com/blog