Today my client Rita treated me to the most delicious salad at one of her favorite tapas places.  Rita’s house, in the Land Park district of Sacramento, is a wonderful late 1930’s relic with those great architectural details of that era.  We’ve been working on it since February.

The sofa, in a mint green and cream leopard print upholstery fabric, came out of North Carolina.  It has the most comfortable seat cushion imaginable: a solid core with a down wrap.  The style is very Cole Porter and seems so appropriate for the home’s era.

The lamp and table above were already part of the design scheme when I came on board.  I just moved them to a different spot and added the little pillow which matches the new curtains below.  Pieces like this are exactly why I love working with the client’s own furniture whenever possible.  I can create so much character working with furnishings from multiple eras.

 

I always emphasize that using furniture and accessories of a variety of styles and eras allows the scheme to evolve gracefully.  The result is interiors that age extremely well.  I call this Integrative Design.

I explained to Rita that since this sofa is going into a formal living room (Rita has a den where she and husband John watch television) it would be okay to have one with a straight back, sans arms.  Further, we ordered the cushion upgrade and feather throw pillows.  Straight back furniture requires us to sit up straight and when we sit straight, we naturally look better.

A corner of the hand tufted wool area rug we ordered can be seen above.  In it are many of the room’s color’s  I can’t remember it’s exact origin but it is from somewhere in India. 

The old baby grand piano has pride of place near the front entry.  On it Rita has hung a lovely piano scarf.  Oh, and the beautiful pair of tufted wing back chairs were the starting point for our design process.

BEFORE…

 

The dining room is still a work in progress.  It has been painted a lovely light mint green since this shot was taken.  Today the chairs are being fitted with their newly covered cushions.  New dining room curtains and sheers are in the works as well.  More on this room later.  Below is a sweet little settee Rita had.  We’re ordering a new custom pillow in fabric to match the dining room chairs.

Using the existing curtain rod, we designed a window treatment of sheers and stationery panels in this great Kravet geometric print linen called Joshua.  It has a cream background with a brick or “faded red” design.  It looks incredibly soft next to the sofa and pale, butter colored walls.

The beautiful carved screen  in the shot above was in Rita’s husband John’s family.