Are you in need of some romance before Valentine’s Day?  Turn on Casablanca and be swept away by intrigue, glamour and heartbreak.  When you’re done, turn your eye on these images with Moroccan flair for both the hopeless romantics among us and for those just interested in great design!

Granada Tile’s Fez design at the Biscuit Filmworks headquarters designed by Shubin + Donaldson

Glazed Moroccan tiles (known as zellige) in a London kitchen by Stiff + Trevillion

We often think of vivid patterns and colors for Moroccan kitchen tiles which can make a terrific design statement, but if you’re looking for something more subdued, don’t forget about Moroccan tiles in quieter colors for their beautiful textures.

A vintage Moroccan wedding blanket, also known as Handira, handwoven and decorated with sequins is used as a headboard.

Madeline Weinrib Moroccan Wedding Blanket Pillow

Moroccan wedding blanket used in Kate Hudson’s bedroom design

Whether used in a traditional manner or more uniquely as a pillow or a headboard, Moroccan wedding blankets bring an air of history, romance and elegance to a room.

Moroccan tiles by Fired Earth

A guest bathroom with moroccan tiles featuring metal and glass inset tiles

Bathrooms provide the perfect location for a tile style statement.  Use for just a pop of color or cover an entire wall for a bold, rich look.

Check out more ideas to incorporate the romance of Morocco in your home on our Moroccan Style Pinterest Board.

The right lighting can help add a twinkle to any room.

What better way to add sparkle than to emulate the stars?

Murano Glass Bead Wallpaper might be just the thing you need to add a little glamour to a precious space.

Anthropologie offers these seemingly sedate ikat pillows that have a glittery surprise.

Diamond Head Upholstery Tack lets you branch out from standard brass tacks into a world of sparkle and shine.

Just remember that with sparkle and shine, sometimes it’s easy to cross the line!

A giant star made of twigs and twinkle lights can be just what is needed to make an otherwise blank wall embrace the holiday spirit!

Who needs to cut down a tree when driftwood sticks, wire and a few lights can make such an appealing image?

 

Speaking of trees, why not make your advent calendar an interactive piece of art?

Applying vinyl decals of your favorite holiday images (angels, trees, ornaments, menorahs, dreidels, seasonal sayings, etc.) can add a touch of whimsy to any room.

 
Not since kindergarten have craft sticks and glue created such a memorable moment.

Channel your middle school art teacher and practice drawing a grid to enlarge any image that you want to use to make a holiday statement.

Please share with us your innovative ways to make affordable, holiday décor statements!

The first step: consider the options.  Near the south-facing window: too much sun. Near the entry of the room: too overwhelming. Near the exterior doors: flow interrupted. In front of the windows? Goodbye view.

We finally settled on a space that will ultimately make the room come together as both a functional music room and a comfortable salon where  our clients, Jill and Brent, can relax with friends and family. We’ll have photos of this space when all of the pieces arrive on site, but thought we’d share a few other creative solutions for solving this grand dilemma in the interim. Have your own creative solution? Do share!

Make the piano a seemless part of the composition rather than the elephant in the room. Select furnishings that uphold the scale in the other areas of the room to ultimately balance the furniture in relation to the piano and sightline around the room.

A bay windows is probably our numero uno favorite place for a piano this size. Just be sure it is not in direct light and can be protected from seasonal swings in temperature. photo: houzz.com

Flow to the outdoors, along with an incredible view are non-negotiable in this room. The piano, while tucked nicely in the background, is still an important part of this space. The color palate of this room creatively integrates the piano into the design. photo: houzz.com

When you have dominant pieces competing for attention (in this case a piano and a fireplace) creating a focal point can be tricky. Instead of forcing it, recognize that the architecture of the space is the anchor and that the piano will play off of it's cues and become integrated into the design.

(BEFORE)

(AFTER)

Comfortable, plentiful, family-friendly seating invites guests to sit fireside while taking in the views. Furnishings and accents were selected at our client’s preferred retailers including Crate&Barrel, Thomasville and Macy’s Home.

Custom lumbar pillows with subtle patterns and a chunky shag area rug for bare feet bring just the right balance of texture and pattern that our client desired.

Photos: Misty Images

{above} Assorted, colorful votives from local artisan, Glassybaby.

{above} Chunky Handknit Throws for cool fall nights; Lovely Felted Wool Mittens made from recycled sweaters (shown in blue/grey)

{above} Curl up fireside in the supercozy Axis sofa, or relax on the cozy Barker Charcoal rug.

{above} We love this Crocheted Silk and Stones Necklace that can also be worn as a gorgeous cuff bracelet.
It was hard to choose which hand-knit cowl to feature, so click and pick one for yourself!

{above} The perfectly pretty, simply snuggly felted slipper, handcrafted in so many beautiful styles you’ll want them all!

 Hanging art “Salon Style” enables you to mix and match many of your pieces in an artful way. No need to worry if your frames don’t match, a  salon-style gallery is the perfect way to create a home for single pieces of art that don’t seem to fit in a specific space or work well standing on their own.

Get it together
Inventory your framed art.  Sort by size, frame color or image.  Don’t be afraid to mix your frame colors, finishes and materials – variety is what makes Salon Style work. Just be sure to keep your mix balanced – too much variety can easily overwhelm.  

Plan It Out
If you’re new at hanging art or have a small collection, start using only 5-7 pieces in a composition. Measure your wall space and recreate the same size area on your floor. Lay the frames down within these dimensions and move your pieces around until you find an arrangement that works. It’s perfectly ok to mix up horizontal and vertical pieces. An easy way to get started is to line up one edge of the first two pieces and use the resulting horizontal and vertical lines as an axis for the next pictures (see below).

We occasionally borrow a trick from  art galleries and trace each frame on kraft paper, cut out the shapes and temporarily attach them to the wall using painter’s tape or Sticky Tac. If you’re highly visual, this is often the best way to get it right. Surround bigger art pieces with a few smaller ones (leaving approx two inches between each). If you have lots of pieces that are similar in size, hang them as a grouping with less space in between.

Hang It Up
Start with a level, some Sticky Tac (to keep art from shifting) and plenty of appropriately sized picture hanging hooks on hand. We like to start by creating a focal point using (for example, a central piece of furniture) and designing from there. We often start with the largest piece of art or an artisticly frame mirror and begin building out from there.

Buck Convention
The greatest thing about hanging your pieces Salon Style is that you can display them artisticly without having to follow a lot of rules. Unlike traditional art hanging “rules of thumb” that advise us to keep things at eye level, this approach bucks conventional ideas about hanging art; pieces can be positioned well above and below eye-level. It’s a creative free-for-all where anything goes. Have fun!