Hi, Gabrielle from Savvy Home here again!  Personally, I have always found dining rooms to be tricky. First, because the way furniture is displayed in a dining room often feels a bit weird: everything grouped around in the center, all the pieces around the same height, often empty walls. Second, well who  has enough space and entertains often enough to justify a dining room?

This is why I love the idea of a library dining room: elegant enough to host lively dinner parties, but multifunctional enough to be used for other purposes: children’s homework, meetings at home or even an occasional home office if you have a lap top you can easily put away. I feel as though Nate Berkus really achieved this dual-purpose room beautifully in his Manhattan duplex, don’t you?

1. Bookcases are not only useful if you own a lot of books, they also add some height to the room.

2. Whoever says bookcases also says art lamps. They just add so much flair and sophistication.

3. Choose a bookcase that has doors on the lower part and drawers to store away cutlery and fine china.

4. A table with drawers is also extremely efficient: each guest’s place setting in its place, ready to be pulled out.

5.Display books, fresh flowers and other artifacts when the table is not used for entertaining but make sure they all have a place to be put away quickly.

6. The chairs don’t need to be neatly stowed underneath the table. Display them around the room as needed.

7. Art, especially when oversized or stacked one above the other is great to balance the room’s high bookcases.

8. Doors can be useful to block out noise coming from the rest of the house when you need to concentrate on work.

9. Try a textured wallpaper, such as grasscloth, to further soundproof the room and make it feel more intimate.

10. With all the books and the grasscloth, you don’t even need a rug. The room is busy enough as it is!

Have you tried this double-purpose room at home? Do you like it?

See you next week!

Gabrielle | Savvy Home

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Hi, Gabrielle from Savvy Home here again! John Robshaw is a man after my own heart (not literally, I’ll leave that to his future girlfriend). But he is one of my favorite textile designer from bedding to pillows and headboard; basically anything that can (and should) be upholstered.

Robshaw has an art background and is incredibly well-travelled. You can see it right away from his textiles and his home. I just adore that layered look of Indian and South-East Asian influences combined with a more traditional lines. I wanted to get a better understanding of how to get that worldly-layered look, so I put a few tips together below for y’all. And if you’re looking for more inspiration, check out his home in Matchbook.

1. I dare you to upholster a classic sofa in a printed fabric. And then send me a photo. I have a small loveseat with similar lines that I’m now dying to re-upholster in a JR fabric.

2. Choose an oversized flatweave rug that’s in the same tones as the rest of the room, and has a pattern solid enough to anchor the room.

3. Throw out your coffee table (not literally – give it to charity maybe) and try an ottoman instead.

4. Keep things tidy on your new ottoman with trays made out of textured materials like bone inlay and rattan.

5. Use large decorative bowls as planters.

6. Mix and match more patterns on top of your patterned sofa. Balance them out by playing with scale but keep them in the same color scheme.

7. Speaking of color schemes, stick to one. This one is mainly muddy pink and taupe. I just LOVE that paint color. I bet it’s fancy paint like Farrow & Ball or Fine Paints of Europe. Sometimes it’s worth splurging on paint.

8. Make a gallery wall using mismatched art, masks, baskets or other items you’ve gathered in your travels.

9. Use furniture pieces that have worldly shapes and intricate details like an octogonal bone-inlaid Moroccan side table (one word: eBay).

10. Guess what: more pattern! Patterned curtains won’t make the room look overcrowded if you stick to the general color scheme.

I’m curious to know what worldly items have you added to your décor?

See you next week!

Gabrielle | Savvy Home

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Le vert émeraude et le rose, lorsque combinés, produisent l’un de deux résultat: soit un décor über-preppy, digne d’un country club, soit un décor féminin et élégant comme celui-ci. Je vote pour le second… et vous?

source: Elle Espana

Hi, Gabrielle from Savvy Home here again! Have you ever noticed how fashion designers always seem to have the best offices? Whether it’s because they infuse their fashion sense into their decor or because we just associate working in fashion as something inherently glamorous (or maybe because they hire the best interior designers) – whatever it is – it’s always a great starting point for inspiration when decorating a home office.

Following that logic, it seems only natural that the best place to start is in the home of one of fashion’s most iconic woman, Diane Von Furstenberg’s Paris apartment. Sure you may say she had quite the budget and the help of a legendary decorator (in this case François Catroux) – all true – but wherever there is good design, there is inspiration.

1. If you don’t love your desk but can’t afford a new one, make a full-length table skirt out of quality linen.

2. Never hesitate to place your desk in front on a window. Who likes to stare at a wall when working?

3. Keeping textiles and walls a warm shade of neutral will give the room coherence and elegance.

4. Unless you work in your home office full-time, an upholstered antique chair is perfectly fine. Just make sure that the chair is the right height (6-7 inches between the bottom of the desk and the top of the chair).

5. If you’re going to be moving (or rolling) your chair around a lot, choose a flatweave or cowhide rug.

6. A sofa, big or small, fills even the narrowest of spaces, and it’s great to have when you need a break.

7. Use a throw that’s comfortable yet stylish, like a suzani, to add color.

8. Don’t forget to add one or two side tables around the space on which to prop books or paperwork.

9. Try a gallery wall of black and white photography for a sense of glamour and intimacy.

10. Fresh flowers are always a nice accent. Buy fresh bunches of classic flowers (like peonies) at the market.

How have you glammed up your office?

See you next week!

Gabrielle | Savvy Home

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