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Influence of the Week – Denice Bizot’s Creative Reimagining

As featured on mymodernnet , this weeks’ influence is Denice Bizot and her creative reimagining of a long-trusted garden tool – the shovel. Along with Denice, we believe that hidden beauty can be found in the unlikeliest of places. Our recent ‘Secret Music Collection’ was inspired by intricate disused parts of an abandoned musical organ and similarly, Denice has found hidden potential in another neglected object.

She explains that “the idea of reclaiming, deconstructing and transforming ‘so-called junk’ into works of sculpture is fascinating”. Carving detailed designs and silhouettes into discarded shovel heads, the artist manages to breathe new life into objects that would have originally been discarded by many.

 

Denice Bizot: Website | Facebook

Image sources

mymodernnet 

 

 

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Dazzling Luxury Christmas decorations

Now we’re in December, everyone is starting to get in on the Christmas decoration action. From luxury hotels to department stores, the desire to put up the most imaginative festive displays continues to grow year after year.

Read on for three Christmas displays to inspire you.

Four Seasons Hotel George V Paris

Jeff Leatham, artistic director at the hotel has gone all polar with this year’s arctic-themed display in the hotel lobby. Known for his floral installations, his Christmas displays at the hotel definitely do not go unnoticed. We really like his ingenuity.

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Roosevelt New Orleans Hotel

You can’t go wrong with lots of sparkle at Christmas. This Waldorf Astoria hotel gives guests an unmistakably festive winter wonderland welcome with this festival of lights in the hallway.

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Galeries La Fayette, Paris

As they imply, enjoy Christmas from another planet with this extravagant cosmic display. The stunning creation combines the paradoxical nature of the cosmos with familiar Christmas colours and elements.

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Inspiring Designers, Part I : Fifi Fimandjaja

A few weeks ago, our designer and founder, Eliza Kesuma returned from a nice holiday in Indonesia, her home country. It made us think – why not introduce all our lovely readers to the world of interior design in beautiful Indonesia.

This week’s spotlight is on Fifi Fimandjaja, one of Indonesia’s leading interior designers catering to high-end residential and hospitality clients.

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Photo: ©Adeline Krisanti 2015  via  Idea Online

We particularly like how her stylish mix of modern style with cultural elements provides non-ostentatious luxury and glamour. Her spaces have a knack for matching the right use of colours with interior styles.

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Photo: © Vivianne Faye 2015

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Photo: © Vivianne Faye 2015

For more on her work, visit http://www.viviannefaye.com

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Cosy Living Room Ideas

The living room is usually the hub of family activity and interaction in the home. Most of us are constantly looking for ways to make ours cosy and inviting. Today, we share with you some of our favourite cosy living room ideas.

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The luxurious velvet used on the armchair and ottomans naturally add a luxurious and cosy feel to this contemporary living room.

Source: Luxury Living Group

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Soft greys and blacks create a polished and sophisticated look in this monochromatic scheme. The rug is a perfect anchor for creating a clearly defined living room space.

Source: Home Designing

blog3_cosy living room_homifyArea rugs like this give a room that instant cosy update. They are perfect for sinking one’s feet in on those cold nights. The grey fluffy look makes it stand out from the brown furniture adding texture to the room’s look.

Source: Homify

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More a home theatre than a living room, we love the striking red colour scheme. Red and brown work harmoniously well.

Source: Zillow

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Nothing screams cosy as much as a lovely fireplace. This extra long fireplace makes a big statement in this living room. Teamed with dark hues and wooden logs as additional furniture, it is safe to say this will be a well-used family room.

Source: Dwell

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The vibrant blue colour scheme naturally creates a calm and serene atmosphere in this lounge. The contrasting armchair certainly adds a welcome unexpected touch of glam.

Source: House to Home

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We think you can never have too many scatter cushions. This simple living room has an inviting sofa against a neutral and minimalist backdrop making it perfect for those long hours of family fun and conversation.

Source: Dwell

 

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Summer Inspiration from IN-SPACES

Changes in season provide a natural rhythm for refreshing interior décor. With summer still with us, it’s not too late to pick up a few new items to breathe some new life into your living space. Whether you’re going for your usual must-haves or exploring new ways to step out of your decorating comfort zone, change can be very worthwhile.

We found some great eye-catching items on In-Spaces, one of our stockists here at Moody Monday. Our relationship with them began after a chance meeting at 100% Design in London and it continues to be a good collaboration. We are proud to work with a brand that is dedicated to great design and progressive in nature. This love for good design is evident in the products we’re swooning over today.

Vases: Starting off are these vases designed by the Edge Company. We love the interesting textures they both have. Definitely statement pieces for any home!

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Lighting: Given we were all over lighting last month, it was perfectly natural to add this hanging lamp to our favourites list. This will undoubtedly add that touch of sophistication and a unique look to the lighting scheme of any room.

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Mirrors: Adding vanity mirrors create dimension and interest, instantly lifting the look of an interior especially a hallway or living room.

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Cushions: Their extensive range of wall paper and soft furnishings are also worth a look. Be sure to add a fresh splash of colour to your sofa with gorgeous contemporary cushions from Moody Monday’s Secret Music collection. 
blog5-cushionsFrom home décor, fashion to art and prints, In-Spaces’ mission is to offer quality products from talented emerging and developing designers. They explain their ethos clearly: “We pride ourselves on a passion for design, a true eye for talent and a genuine joy for the work we do”.

With a little creativity and time spent looking in the right place, this summer could bring with it much more than you expected – a better loved home. Visit www.in-spaces.com for more inspiration.

All images sourced from www.in-spaces.com

 

 

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Creating Textured Walls

We’ve already seen that adding tactile or visual texture to wallcoverings can add a striking and luxurious look to your interior. But when it comes to using this technique, a few things are worth mentioning.

One of the most common methods is the use of textured paint, which creates the look and feel of a canvas, which can then be enhanced by using additional materials like sponges, wood, ribbon, lace, sand, leather, birch and many more. Special tools are used to create texture walls, such as putty knives, brushes, towels, sponges, rollers and combs. Perhaps one of the easiest ways to create a simple and impactful texture in your wall paint is to use a dry brush with hard bristle or even a broom:

Creating textured walls

Although textured walls do require for extra time and patience, they are very charming and luxurious, guaranteed to get your guests talking. And on the up side you don’t need to make all the walls in your interior textured, as these walls tend to be the high point of attraction in an interior, so you can keep the rest in a complementary, plain design, to make the textured wall the highlight of the room:

Textured walls in interior design

If you ask us, textured walls are an effort well rewarded: they add authenticity and personality to the room, allowing you to express your own creativity.

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Visual Texture for Interior Walls

We hope you’ve enjoyed the previous post on tactile texture for interior walls and today we’d like to offer a few inspiring ideas for using visual texture, in creating outstanding feature walls.

Using visual texture, the wall mimics a 3D appearance by creating a visual effect of spatiality and depth. The first two examples presented below use strong colours that add a dash of dramatism to the space, while the patterns in the wallcovering design create the illusion of a texture:

Visual textured walls

The textured faux-painting technique (left) creates a rich wall that mimics the patters of natural stone, and is nicely contrasted by using furniture and accessories in neutral colours. Paint can be used to mimic natural stone, leather, wood and even pitted metal.

In more toned down hues, the following implementations also create a nice visual effect; the right one makes us think of a dreamy sunset on a cloudy summer sky, while the image on the left mirrors the flooring pattern, creating a surreal, interesting effect for the living space:

Visual textured wall covering

And yet another use of visual texture is present in these two interiors that use neutral colours, to mimic the appearance of unfinished room or naked tile walls and ceiling:

Textured wall coverings

While we like both equally, we have to admit the concrete wall on the left would look best in a non-domestic interior, while the unfinished naked tile walls can work wonders both in the home and other office or public spaces.

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Tactile Texture for Interior Walls

Walls don’t have to be flat or covered in paint to be attractive. So continuing the theme of using texture in interior design, in this blog post we have looked specifically at textured wall coverings. As with all unusual interior choices it’s best to keep the textured wall surface to a limited area, as not to over crowd the space by having all walls covered with the textured pattern.

As we mentioned in a previous post, texture can be either tactile or visual, creating the illusion of tactile texture. Naturally, wallcoverings follows these two styles as well. In this post we’re looking at tactile texture, and we start with a very exquisite example used on interior walls:

3D wall covering

This is a creative use of ceramic tiles by David Pergier. We particularly like this wall as it conveys the power of 3D textures and the nice glossy surface of ceramic tiles. Also notice how the wall texture is broken into sections by the use of smooth vertical stripes. This further emphasizes the intricate areas, by creating a playful contrast and breaking the monotony of the wall.

One other way of using tactile textured walls is by creating feature walls in an interior space – be it at home or in a shared space. Here are two interpretations, both created using clean, plain white materials:

Textured wall covering

While adding texture to the walls may be enough to create a highlight in the room without needing to add colour variations (as in the examples we’ve given so far), sometimes colour can help go the extra mile, and create a truly unique mysterious or playful atmosphere:

Tactile textured interior walls

These two examples add an extra dramatic effect to the spaces by using dark colours (left) and high contrast, bright colours (right). While both these examples create a powerful look for the interior, they need to be surrounded by contrasting surfaces, to help highlight them. As such, notice the plain green hue used in the example to the right, which naturally draws your eyes to the textured stripe in the middle.

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Autumn Colour Trends

We’re still quite a long way from autumn, but the season of nostalgia has its very special place in our hearts so in this blog post we’ve decided to share our views on autumn colour trends in interior design, with a Moody Monday spin.

Trying to move away slightly from the cliché red-yellow-orange, we think the blue-green-purple palette to a modern interpretation of the fall season. Just think of half-ripe grapes in the vineyard, or the Northern lights, and you get the picture on what colours we envision:

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We think the mix of colours is a perfect match for the season: a mystical and wondrous representation of the autumn. In our view, interior designs incorporating these colours look brilliantly modern, exquisite and luxurious. But if you’re thinking dark colours are not as easy to fit into an interior, you’re not alone. However, if used creatively, we believe these tones can create a mysterious, contemporary and cosy atmosphere in any interior – be it a living room, bedroom or a café. Here are some of our favourite examples:

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What’s more, darker colours can also be used to add spatiality to small spaces – one more reason to love them! We believe these particular hues of blue-green-purple are a perfect match for the shadowy and mysterious autumn season and we highly recommend using them in modern interiors.

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Texture Variations in Interior Design

Texture in interior design is often used to add highlights to specific areas of the space. We also perceive texture in relation to the adjacent surfaces, the viewing distance and lightning of the area. For example, to highlight a rough surface, this is best placed next to a smooth surface. The roughness is emphasized when the surface is viewed up close and grazed with light (lit from the side), which highlights the texture through shadows and light spots. Moreover, changing the angle from which light hits the textured surface, and the view angle, creates a different visual effect. Here is an exemplification:

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Textures in design can be of two different kinds, either tactile or visual. Tactile texture refers to the actual feeling of a surface – smooth, rough, soft, hard, etc., whereas visual texture appeals to our perception, what a texture might feel like. Oftentimes, through the use of visual texture, a surface can create the illusion of a specific tactile texture or an added depth. Here’s one great example, of how lighting is used to create a different visual effect when looking from a short or longer distance:

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In practice, all these textures can be used in interior design to add distinctiveness to the room, and visual textures in particular can create a stunning effect. Some of our favourites (exemplified below) include the use of patterns (left) and tactile textures (right):

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Adding textures to an interior is a sure fire way of creating a visually interesting space, but we also recommend using caution, as too much texture can create a cluttered and over stimulating appearance to the space.