DECORATING I New digs often wind up looking like boring old digs, but it doesn’t have to be that way
Susan Semenak
Sun
Clutter (left) is the bane of contemporary design. Photograph by : Marie-France Coallier, CanWest News Service
Reinvent your living space (right) by pairing an antique pine table with a set of modern plastic chairs. Photograph by : Marie-France Coallier, CanWest News Service
Whether you’re changing apartments or buying a house, moving day presents the perfect opportunity for a fresh start.
The trouble is, the new digs often end up looking like the old digs, boring old re-creations of things we’ve been doing for years.
Whether you’re moving or staying put, it’s worth looking at your living space with a fresh eye.
Gone are the days when Granny’s sideboard stood guard over the dining room until it got foisted on the kids, who eventually foisted it on their kids.
Six years into the 21st century, it’s time to modernize the nest.
Ditch the fringe, the delicate little florals and overstuffed cushions.
Ditto for beads, feathers, forest green and gold leaf.
Dried flowers have to go.
So do tchotchkes in all their guises.
Decor magazines and television reno shows feature crisp, contemporary interiors with clean, fluid lines and monochrome colour schemes energized by bold bursts of colour.
Designers are encouraging people to have fun, take risks, treat their stuff with a little irreverence.
Don’t like the finish on that family heirloom? Paint it white. Bored with the antique pine harvest table? Pair it with a set of modern plastic chairs. Change is good: The old axiom isn’t so hard to apply when it comes to what we wear or how we eat. Platforms replace stilettos, brown overtakes black. Sushi’s in, then it’s tapas. But when it comes to where we live, even hipsters get stuck in a time warp, surrounded by sentimental collectibles or shelves brimming with stuff they used to love. It’s the interior design equivalent of a pageboy haircut.
“Everyone gets stuck, even the fashion-conscious, because we find a look we like and immerse ourselves in it. Then we don’t know when it’s time to get out,” says Eros Greatti, the Venezuelan-born interior designer who owns the funky boutique Maison Eros Greatti. Even pack rats and traditionalists crave a little space, a little novelty.
But Montreal interior designer and stylist Beth Gold says people often expect too much from their stuff, and they end up living in outdated, boring interiors.
“If you paid $300 for a piece of Canadiana pine 15 or 20 years ago, you’ve probably gotten your return by now,” said Gold. “It may be time to move on.” Greatti says we tend to cling to our so-called antiques though often they are merely vintage items, rather than important period pieces. Most people welcome a makeover, a freshening-up of their surroundings, Gold says. Too often, though, they allow themselves to be intimidated by the cold, chrome edge that defines modern design in its purest, strictest interpretation. Gold says there’s a new “metro” look in interiors that’s an eclectic and energetic blend of several styles. Like fashion, contemporary interior design is a melting pot of influences. The recent Montreal International Interior Design Show, for instance, was full of furniture, accessories and fixtures from Quebec, Africa, the Netherlands and Italy, in assortment of colour, materials and sensibilities. There were wild bathrooms in lime green and turquoise; 2-D metal and glass illuminated cutouts in the shape of chandeliers, painted orange, black and red; sleek Italian kitchens in austere grey molded plastic; environmentally friendly chairs built from recycled hockey sticks. Seventies-style teak chairs and avocado green shag rugs stood their ground next to white leather and chrome Barcelona recliners. “Nobody says contemporary has to be harsh or perfect,” she said. “In fact, the most exciting new interiors draw from several styles. And they are never devoid of personality.” In Greatti’s shop, for instance, he’s juxtaposed a pair of ornate Venetian crystal wall sconces with bold, sharp modern art. He’ll take a 1950s-era kitchen chair with chrome legs and upholster it in the most sensuous brown and white velvet damask fabric. Ready for a rescue? Designers say the most important step is editing. Most of us have too much stuff — and clutter is the bane of contemporary design. “We live in a society of consumption and we buy too many things. We start collecting and then we don’t stop,” Greatti said. He makes his clients empty the room they want to re-do, right down to the floorboards. Then they need to ask themselves what they really need; what are the sentimental must-haves? If it’s family photos, they can come back — but only with a contemporary update: Reframed in uniform white or black frames, hung together in a grouping. He’ll often suggest that clients get friends or relatives to put the furniture back. “On our own, we tend to go back to the same thing, the same old comfort zones.” Gold’s approach is less cold-turkey: The timid are permitted to begin by culling a few items at a time.
Relegate personal effects to one room, maybe a bedroom, and keep the rest of the house spare, suggests Gold. She’s not afraid to update antiques with a coat of paint or stain to bring them into the new century. She’ll take a three-drawer pine dresser from the bedroom that’s simple and rustic and paint it white. “Once you start adding light to a room, you transform it,” she says. “And white is timeless.” She might add white porcelain knobs or brushed stainless steel handles or pulls. To keep it mod, she leaves the dresser-top clear, graced with nothing more than one dramatic coloured glass vase, a lamp with an interesting gourd-shaped base, or a large round bowl “to soften the edges.”
© The Vancouver Sun 2006
