Styleture

Out with the old, in with the new. With each New Year comes a new opportunity to refresh, recharge…and redecorate! But before the countdown to midnight and the Auld Lang Syne serenade begins, we wanted to share some of our favorite design trends sure to carry over into 2013.

Need help getting the look? No problem! We’ve included some tips to help you get a fresh start.

Less Is More

We’re not shy about our love for minimalism. Simple and sophisticated, this modern aesthetic showcases bold design that’s anything but boring. We love LAUFEN’s deceptively simple and organic forms that showcase stripped down style—and we’re not the only ones! This year designer Roberto Palomba’s freestanding Palomba bathtub won an Interior Design Best of Year award and it’s easy to see why. Inspired by the elemental force of nature, this tub is a minimalist beauty and modern delight.

Get the Look: Clean out the clutter! Gather items you no longer need and take a trip to your local Goodwill. Give your items left a proper home—no junk drawers or overstuffed closets! Relocate anything that doesn’t belong and hide others out of sight. And resolve to keep it that way in the new year.

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If you’re a designer looking to showcase your talents, here’s some exciting news:

Larger Than Light’s popular “Let It Shine” contest is back! From now until December 15th, Larger than Light is inviting designers to submit their best interior design project featuring a Littman Brands’ lighting fixture for a chance to win a $1000 cash prize. Two runner-ups will receive a Littman Brands’ lighting fixture of their choice from Troy Lighting, Corbett Lighting or Hudson Valley Lighting (valued at $500 or less). And all three winners will have their work published in the Winter 2013 Larger Than Light magazine.

Do you think you have the lighting and interior design skills to win?  Then visit Larger Than Light’s Facebook page to enter.

Check out these past winners for some design inspiration!

Crosby by Troy Lighting
Residential Project for HGTV’s new series “Showhouse Showdown,” Pittsburgh, PA.

Designer: Joseph A. Berkowitz of JAB Interiors, Inc.
Inspiration: “We chose to hang this enormous fixture close to the cocktail table, thus making it one of the accessories in the room. The fixture’s massive scale and masculine lines are a great contrast to the soft Flocati rug and white slip covered sofa.”
Contact: www.jabinteriors.com

Embrace by Corbett Lighting
Luxury Residential Project, McKinney, Texas

Designer: Allan Moore and Amy Adams of AMA Interiors
Inspiration: “Clean transitional feel with a touch of 1920s Hollywood glam.”
Contact: www.amainteriors.com

Crab Creek House designed by Robert Gurney

Near an eye-catching estuary in Annapolis, Maryland, known as Crab Creek, which feeds the Chesapeake Bay, is a modern stone, stucco and slatted wood house from the vivid imagination of Robert Gurney Architect. Known as Crab Creek House, it is innovatively built on the foundation of a post and beam house from the 1960’s. Perhaps most impressively, its construction adheres to strict environmental regulations of the region, and does so with amazing style and grace.

Crab Creek House interior

The central spine of Crab Creek House is a linear bar clad in white stucco around which the rest of the home’s design elements are organized. Additional spaces arise independently and are sided in wood or metal. With a desire to create a strong relationship between the interior of the house and the exterior environment, floor to ceiling windows allow abundant natural light to flood in. Crab Creek House’s main living area offers its occupants expansive water views and features high ceilings and soft neutral tones. An open floor plan creates a space that appears much bigger than it actually is, and utilizes materials such as white oak, black slate, white marble, rusted steel and glass for a visceral and elegant look. The variation in color contrasts and materials makes a bold statement and clearly defines the house’s visual personality. Minimal furnishings and indirect recessed lighting further puts emphasis on thoughtful and balanced living. Occupants may step outside to a private swimming pool, or venture further out into the untouched Maryland woods. Crab Creek House is the ideal home for those who value gorgeous views and a deep connection to nature. Read the rest of this entry »

The National Assembly Building of Bangladesh (Jatiyo Sangshad Bhaban) designed by Louis Kahn

When speaking of the foremost modern architects of the 20th century, it’s impossible not to mention Louis Kahn. Born in Estonia in 1901, Kahn immigrated to the United States and forged an architectural career and body of work that is nothing short of grand and enviable.

Kahn is most notable for his simple, yet highly intimate architectural and design compositions. He was a man who had a genuine sympathy for the site on which he was building and went to great lengths to honor it. Kahn was extremely interested in the look and feel of building materials – brick and concrete were among his favorites – and he would strive to use them in new and innovative ways. He was known for his somewhat obsessive dedication to the use of sunlight and the way it entered a building through windows and other openings. Kahn was also influenced heavily by his travels, which included countries as diverse as Italy, Greece and Egypt. Perhaps more than any other discernable characteristics of his buildings, geometric shapes are featured prominently and with love. Among Kahn’s most notable buildings are the Kimbell Art Museum in Fort Worth, Texas, interesting for its dynamic and curved vaulted ceilings; the Yale Art Gallery in New Haven, Connecticut, beautifully designed in brick and limestone; and the Salk Institute, a research center in La Jolla, California, striking in its starkness and reception of light.

Kimbell Art Museum, Fort Worth, Texas (1966-72)

Of the aforementioned Kimbell Art Museum, Kahn was once quoted as saying, “The building feels…that I had nothing to do with it… that some other hand did it.” While we at Styleture are impressed with Kahn’s modesty, we have no doubt who was at the helm when we are eying his works of architectural genius.