What Inspires us...

  Post By:

Carol
Freedman

Inspiration for room design can come from just about anywhere....a work of art, a piece of clothing, a special season of the year, a favorite tote bag, a sunset...Just for fun, let's take a peek at a few sources of inspiration that have influenced our very own DCIDA designers' recent projects....


In a recent condominium project designed by Marika Meyer, her jumping off point of inspiration was a beautiful striped shirt worn by the husband at their first meeting. The simple stripes displayed mauve, pale blues, taupes and green... Marika pulled out the separate colors for each of the condo's rooms, including blue in the sunroom and lavendar in the dining room. Then, she tied the rooms together effectively with multi-color fabric accents throughout... And of course, she discovered a refined striped fabric similar to the inspiring shirt, which she proposed for living room drapes...

Cindy Griffin focused on a large colorful piece of art as the design inspiration  for the living room in this college student's first apartment. Harsh white walls were softened with a warm beige color, and accessories added bright touches of color to complement the neutral upholstery, chrome and dark wood touches.  For visual accent, various textures were added in the pillows and porcelain art work installed above the fireplace...

For Lena Kroupnik, inspiration for her clients' serene and airy living room sprang from a framed watercolor purchased during the homeowners' honeymoon. The image's depiction of the coastline with a blissful water view included light greens, mauve, pinks and blues, which were carried into the room's fabrics, wall colors and accents....

One of Lana Barth's clients had amassed a magnificent collection of Fornasetti plates, which were displayed over the dining table in the multi-purpose room of her condo. The room needed to function as a living room, dining room, tv area, and home office. With so many areas competing for attention, the plates were vastly under appreciated in their current location....

Lana decided to "divide and conquer" the spaces in the room, using the Fornasetti pieces for her inspiration... She selected the "eyes only" image to anchor the office space....

Another grouping of the Fornasetti plates, which she arranged in the living room corner of the room, inspired this stunning sectional seating area for entertaining and watching tv. What a great touch in the floor lamp repeating the Fornasetti design!

In one of my own recent projects at Carol Freedman Design, the Bethesda homeowners adored a vintage French poster in their collection, which was the colorful jumping off point for the family room and living room...

This poster's vivid reds, blues, golds and greens played out in the family upholstery with lively checks and geometric designs, and in an accent wall of the vibrant red....

In the adjacent living room, I employed the same colors, emphasizing the sumptuous golden yellow....

Lorna Gross of Savant Design used a classic pair of boat deck chairs that her clients had found as the main inspiration for a club room to be enjoyed by the new empty nesters....

The rich lustrous wood of the deck chairs is echoed in the other wood details that she used in the room.  The curvilinear shapes of the chaise and side chairs are reminiscent of the luxurious epoch in which those deck chairs were originally enjoyed...

We welcome our readers to share some of their sources of design inspiration with us as well!