When Iconic Creatures become Design Inspiration

A couple of years ago an interior designer contacted us to design some custom cabinet pulls for her client's kitchen. Typically a designer will fill us in all the details about the room including cabinets, floors, tiles, wall coverings, appliances, etc,  This helps us figure out the best way to approach the design of the handle.

 

But instead of enumerating all the elements in the decor, she told me that her inspiration was the peacock and sent me several pictures, including photos, paintings and drawings of this fabulous bird of all birds.

Then to add a little excitement to the project she wanted a variety among the 50 pulls and posed that we create several design and color combinations.

So I went to town on this one putting together a palette of turquoise, lapis,emerald and periwinkle with gold paint finishes and gold metal details.

Swarovski crystals in olivine, amethyst and topaz were the finishing touch.

Too bad I never saw the finished kitchen with pulls installed. But I took some photos before we shipped them and well-- I couldn't help creating a Ziegfield-esque formation of the peacock out of our pulls. It was fun. And the best part- a customer just recently saw my photo on houzz.com and requested the same custom pulls for living room built-ins..Hope to see a photo of her finished project!

My Favorite Shades of Gray

An awesome pairing with our moonstone gray paint finishes,

the pewter gray silk lamp shade adds a soft and quiet glow.

A Broad Spectrum for Every Taste

Gray is a color with diverse personalities; masculine (prominent in the male wardrobe), modern (shiny metallic) and neutral (halfway between black and white). It can feel the concrete and steel of urban culture or the subtle charm of weathered wood.

The dictionary defines it as dull or non descript without interest or character; colorless or unremarkable.  Wow! That's hardly the way we can describe this color in the decorating realm where it plays a key role in many a design scheme.

   Is gray the new white?  A new direction in kitchen cabinets with finishes that 

   vary from metallic to distressed is a hot trend with staying power.

Unlike black and white that offer high contrast and definition - gray tends to mute or quiet the color scheme while allowing us to focus on the more lively accents and neighboring colors.
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I noticed that gray definitely had a huge presence in both the 2015 Kitchen and Bath Industry show and the World Furniture Market.  Cabinetry, metallic finishes, tiles, textiles, as well as case goods and upholstered furnishings all made great use of the many shades of gray.

Call it charcoal, gunmetal, smokey. the prominent shade of gray in our line is a jewel tone hue that we call moonstone. It pops up a lot in our decorative cabinet and drapery hardware because I especially like the way it works with silver metal details and diamond like crystals. The look is sharp, contemporary and easily incorporated into kitchen and bath decor with nickel and chrome fixtures.

    Mini Duo  knob 2" diameter and Nu Duo knob 1.5" diameter in

    deep lapis and moonstone. Silver metal and brilliant crystal details 

    offer a contemporary and modern flair.

Nu Carnival Knob in light gold has

scrolly artwork in  moonstone.

 Duchess Orbit pull and Nu Duchess knob in turquoise and moonstone.

show an emphasis on silver metal and silver paint finishes 

  Grand Tiki knob in ruby and moonstone is used as the finial end 
   piece on a drapery rod with silver paint finish  1 3/4" diameter.

      

          Tut Window Decor Set in ruby, moonstone.and silver paint 

          treatment makes a strong color statement with vibrant red and 

          shades of gray.