Chaise Lounge, Chaise Longue.

- "And what do we put in this corner?"

I have yet to find a room where a chaise "longue" (French for long chair) couldn’t successfully answer that question (well…there might be a few exceptions). They are perfect for master bathrooms; provided that the size of the room allows it: What better place to lounge with a magazine and a drink after a bubble bath? Bedrooms? Yes. Libraries? Yes. So you’ve made your poor husband move the furniture until his back went out and “still” you end up with some empty corner in the room! Worry no more: Madame chaise lounge can rescue you from your dilemma. These versatile and decorative pieces of upholstery come in all shapes and sizes; they don’t always have to perfectly “match’ the rest of the furnishings in a room because they are an accent piece and often a focal point. This doesn’t mean you don’t have to harmonize its fabrics with those of the rest of the room or that you can put a Victorian one next to a Corbusier sofa. For those of you who follow "Mad Men", Betty Draper made a huge faux pas on the third season by landing an over-scaled fainting couch ( a close cousin of the chaise lounge) in front of the fireplace in her "fifties" living room . All I am saying is that you can have a little bit more latitude to work with and that you can be a bit more whimsical with the selection.

P/S Don’t forget that "indispensable" accessory called a throw .

Ernesto Garcia, ASID

Mosaics: A European Delicacy

Mosaics, mosaics, and mosaics…they come in glass, stone, porcelain, metal, wood and some exciting new materials. You can use them on floors, walls and ceilings; they’ve been around as far back as the 4th century BC and they are experiencing a revival as vibrant as their most daring colors! I am currently designing numerous kitchen and bathroom projects and it seems that every one of my clients wants to see these beautiful little squares used in one place or another. I have always been a big fan of mosaics, for aesthetical as well as practical reasons; I think they are timeless and I use them in contemporary as well as traditional projects. Their versatility allows them to wrap around the smallest radiuses, furthermore some suppliers will customize my designs for a specific backsplash or border so I can be as creative as I want! Fields of pale colors give uniformity and serenity to a room; vibrant combinations of assorted colors can make you want to dance the Rumba. Formal or casual, traditional or contemporary the rediscovery of mosaics has brought new blood to design, to the spaces where we live, work and enjoy ourselves. On this blog you can see a bathroom I recently designed, the central feature in the space is a “rug” made out of intricately cut marble pieces that create the flowers, volutes, borders and medallions; the motif is carried to the tub surrounds as well as shower walls.