Home Accents are Bringing in Brown

If there was any one color that takes a neutral stance in interior design, brown fulfills the role. Contemporary, modern, traditional, classic- inevitably all decor styles make great use of this color in some way shape or form. Just take a look around your house. Wood floors, paneling, cabinetry, a coffee table or the drapes - from the lightest tan to the deepest mahogany there's bound to be something with a brownish hue that plays a part in your home. That includes the lighter tones too. Yes even taupe and beige are hiding a little brown pigment in the formula. So it's no surprise that it marries well with a wide spectrum of colors to create stylish and inviting color schemes. I love the freedom and warmth that a dose of brown brings to design and enjoy exploring new color combinations from our jewel tone palette.                                                                                                            

Drapery hardware includes Birdie Finial with matching support bracket in ruby red and agate brown.

Siena Sara accent lamp has a Dupioni silk shade in pecan that throws off a rich reddish brown glow when illuminated.

Eel Iris Left Drawer pull has Swarovski smoke topaz and mocha brown crystal.
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All Things Purple in Home Decor

Mauve, violet, and lavender- It's a strange thing about the color purple.  Aside from a few fleeting moments like a sunrise or sunset, or a perennial garden, it's appearance is fairly rare in our daily lives. Oh yes there are a few fruits and veggies, hence the favorite shades of plum, grape and aubergine (eggplant). And then there's the gem  amethyst, which of course we only see in small doses.  Unlike the omnipresent blue or green of planet earth, it's probably most familiar in a box of crayolas and easy to see how it becomes a child favorite or an artist's passion. But my point here is how we use it in home decor. I love the way the color is so easily associated with decorative genres by just how we mix it up with other colors. So here's my interpretation on purple-ish motifs and how they affect interior design.

Take for example the lighter hues like mauve and lilac. Put them together with silver and white and you instantly get a modern motif. Go a step further and throw in some cinnamon brown to create something even more modern. If you substitute the white with black you're approaching Art Deco territory. On the flip side, antiquity reigns when we delve into saturated sorts like red or blue violet paired with golden hues (purple's color wheel complement). Here it captures the feeling of something classic, baroque or majestic. Intricate tapestries, brocades and luxurious fabrics like velvet and silk all come to mind. Think pageantry and Mardi Gras (yes, purple loves a parade).

Just about any shade of purple with a mix of soft pastels offers a French impressionist flavor, a taste of country decor for rural abodes. Plaid, floral and paisley prints sprinkled with shades of lilac and touches of sage or mossy green conjure up a spring time mood.

And finally there are the vibrant purples that take a spot with feisty shades of turquoise, red or lime green. These color palettes follow the fashion trends of the clothing industry that eventually spill into home furnishings. Young, hot and stylish, they are the color schemes that dominate contemporary decor and sure to pop up in tiles, fabrics and wall coverings.

The New Place

Greetings -- Welcome to our new home!
For those customers who have visited susangoldstick.com before, I just want to assure you that yes, your search has taken you to the right place. This is our new residence and I urge you come in and look around.

Launching a new web site is very similar to moving to a new home. Quite literally the process is the same. First you have to take a real hard look around the old place and assess what you want to keep and those treasures you want to take with you. Then you have to find the proper place to put everything, all the while mindful of  keeping things modern and uncluttered. Decorating the new space is a lot of work but it definitely has it's rewards. I love the new look for old favorites. Much like a fresh coat of paint, everything looks lively and more vibrant.

                                         Eel sunflower pull posed in a seashell on our old site.

Eel Sunflower pull is a  radiant beauty on our new site.

Search Box and Tags
I'm hoping my returning customers will appreciate some of the new features on our site, particularly the Search box and Tags - two ways to search that makes shopping easy. There's the search box where you  put in your words. And then there is the less familiar "find similar products by tag" which gives you our words to do your search. Either way if you can't find what you're looking for, you can always give us a ring or email us.  We have a new site and our goal is to provide the same conscientious service that our customers have always appreciated.

The times, they are a-changing

2014 is going to be a very interesting and exciting year for us. Before the end of January we'll be launching our new modern mobile friendly web site. Typical of on line stores you see today, products are brillant against white backgrounds with large images, multi-views and maginfier tools. 

You'll be able to jump right into the shopping mode with easy product quick peek and site search by tags and key words. Plus our new site is loaded with all kinds of enhancements that allow for easy sales promotions, gift certificates, wish lists, and more to be discovered.

Making our furniture available for on line purchase is a big leap for us. I can remember 10 years ago when it seemed ridiculous to me to put a $7500 bed in a shopping cart, but hey – not so unusual anymore. Yes all of our furniture will be shopping cart ready, complete with all the information that addresses FAQs, pictures from all angles and detailed descriptions.

Reflecting back on our old site for a moment I'm reminded that it was deliberately developed to mirror our catalogs that had an eclectic way of showcasing our decorative hardware. Designing the cover was my biggest challenge and I never knew which knob or finial would be the star. But honors go to the Merlin, my first knob design inspired from a Circque du Soleil costume. Now retired, Merlin made it onto just about every cover shot.



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I'm always surprised at how often we get calls from people who have kept our catalogs over the years, particularly when we're told they've been saving it for just the right project or venue to pop up. I know printed material is becoming a dying breed and maybe that's why I'm hesitant to tell anyone to toss them. I can see a new catalog project on the horizon. But until there's a formal announcement, I encourage our customers to visit our new site.

Annual Holiday Sale 2013

This Sunday the San Francisco Chronicle will feature Sally Socolich's popular Bargain Hunter column that highlights all the year end sales events that are happening around the San Francisco bay area. She focuses on manufacturers in the home decor industry and we're alway happy to be among her picks. This year we will be holding our sale 2 weeks earlier than usual.

We will  have a fantastic selection of knobs and pulls in our sale inventory as well as switch covers and table lamp floor samples. It's a great opportunity for our local customers to stop by our studio and nab a bargain!

Here are the details:
Saturday October 19th 10am - 5pm
463 Coloma, Sausalito, California

Spotting Trends at the Las Vegas Furniture Market

I had a chance to visit the World Furniture market summer event in Las Vegas a couple weeks ago. Especially focused on the trends, I couldn't help but notice a few recurring themes that were also big at the Kitchen and Bath Industry (KBIS) show. Whether it be faucets, light pendants or furniture frames, metal surfaces are gleaming with sheen. Lots of high polished gold, platinum and chrome were an obvious hit in the most vibrant showrooms.

In terms of style, the mid century modern look still prevails. Some of the popular color combos of the time are the hot choices of today. I'm referring to orange with avocado and olive greens and the turquoise, aqua teal family. These colors schemes are everywhere in fabrics, wall coverings,  area rugs and table top accessories.

But I was definitely drawn to the new color on the block that had a major presence at the show. A new shade of yellow is having it's heyday. It's not a sunshine variety but the more earthy raw umber or dijon mustard hue. I like the way it mixes with it's complement, a purplish plum that speaks old European charm or a combat green that gives it a modern twist.

When I got back to my studio I immediately rifled through our product lines and spotted some excellent examples that fit the 2013 color ways.

Cherry Wood

It's probably the most popular wood choice for kitchen cabinetry and also the most diverse when it comes to color tones. I'm never quite sure if I'm interpreting the term cherry correctly so I googled "what is cherry wood, and found this explanation in finishwiz.com.

Cherry wood natural finish

"Cherry is a beautiful wood! It has an impressive look of depth where the subtle shades and hues of color seem to originate from deep within. Although the heartwood is a "salmon" pink with streaks of multiple colors running in it when freshly planed, cherry ages to dark color with reddish brown tones and strong orange/yellow undertones. The sapwood is almost white when fresh and ages to a "toasted" brown color."

Cherry wood stains

Whoa - pink, red, brown, orange, yellow, toast -there's a lot of color territory covered here!  I guess this is where I get stumped when asked which knobs and pulls go best with cherry wood. That's of course, assuming that there is a clear lacquer varnish that accentuates the natural color. There's a whole other world of cherry wood stains that opens up another completely different conversation.

Knobs and pulls and cherry...
The first thing to address beside the cabinetry are the other large blocks or fields of color that are in the room.  Starting with the floor, then the walls, the back splash and finally the appliances. It's always interesting to see how people are quick to add their comments on their favorite hue in their design scheme and will be just as quick to mention the colors that they do or do not want to accentuate.  It's all part of the design process that eventually narrows down the choices.