Philip Johnson Glass House Contemporary Interior, New Canaan, CT
Please note the clean, contemporary, organized space in the Philip Johnson Glass House.
All images are from Victoria Lyon Interiors www.victorianlyoninteriors.com.
This week’s blog is about space, order and design and has nothing to do with taste. Taste is ambiguous and personal. You can apply your taste to any of the basic concepts discussed.
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The images above are vignettes of traditional design.
Old world elegance mixes with modern colors and textures to create the master bath/dressing area for the lady with very discriminating tastes. Designer Victoria Lyon says her space “evokes the casual elegance of an English country house,” but also brings in modern touches that “let us know that the lady of this manor definitely belongs to the 21st century“.
The dressing area features sweeping curtains, a feminine skirted dressing table and a plush chaise. Old world fixtures, a free standing burnished metal tub and a sparkling marble shower create a bathroom with character and class.
The image below “Traditional Country” is an uncluttered, well-organized, well-designed space. The soft, warm color on the vertical planes (walls) is comforting and pleasing. Warm deep colors have vibrations, move forward into the room and take up visual space.
Traditional Country www.victorialyoninteriors.com
Crowding can cause conflict in a life, in a mate, in a child. All this talk about beauty, function, good design, what does it mean? If you like lots of stuff around you, okay. But how is it arranged? Is there order? Is there negative space, meaning quiet space? A place of peace?
Function … what in the world? Clocks have a function, cars have a function, computers have a function. So what has function got to do with space? Space has to provide a place for you to stand up, lie down, sleep, wake. And all the activities in-between. Where do you write your checks, where do you write your stories, where do you play? If you have any, where are the kids, where do they snack, where do they do homework, where do they play?
Here are a few examples of functional items. Clocks, clocks tell time, what would we do without time? Cars are constructed to take you from point a to point b, computers output and input information. If we take a look at the world around us, everything we need is organized in some way.
You may like contemporary, you may like traditional, you may like the American style (mixture of both), it doesn’t matter. The images above are well-designed, well-organized, functional spaces.
Nineteenth century Victoriana had no specific order. The more stuff squeezed into a space, the more it supposedly displayed great wealth.
Order is important for our well-being.
Thank you to Victoria Lyon interiors for her gracious participation in this blog. www.victorialyoninteriors.com.
Come back next week for more Victoriana surprises. Remember to post your comments. I especially enjoy your inquiries and challenges.
What about you, your home, your office, your play space? You love clutter. OK! But is it organized?
I love free space and quiet space and lack of clutter. I try to achieve it but I’m not sure I always get there. It does provide peace. And in those clutter free and peaceful spaces function is important, I agree. Wonderful post with great pictures. Thanks Gail.
Deb
Thank you Debralee. Isn’t it amazing how negative space rests the mind?
Gail, love the photos. They both look like rooms I would happily spend time in. I hate clutter, yet my house is plagued with it. I have this fantasy that once the house is back to my hubby and I – I will gut it and remove all clutter. We’ll see how that goes in a few years (not too soon, though. I’m not ready for my babies to move away quite yet!).
Hi Casey, Thanks for the gracious comments. I know what you mean. When my kids were home i made a rule. “You can do what you want in your room, but in the public spaces of our home, get your stuff out.” It worked. Don’t ask about their rooms though. Yuk! One of my kids was unlike others. He was organized from the get-go. It was tough on him, he threw his younger brother out who he called “piglet.” it was fun to watch, and now that it is over for me, they have their own kids to teach about uncluttered. I all but burned the place down when they all left.
Jamie, keep on reading maybe you will be able to do it yourself with my posts. I taught it and architecture for 20 years. I am not sure where all this will take me, but I sure love writing/talking about interior design, architecture and the history. The idea of doing the blog was to improve my writing. I picked a subject I love, taught and worked in for 40 years. So if you have suggestions about my writing i am open for comments and suggestions.
Hi Gail,
Sorry I didn’t get a chance to pop over yesterday. But I love the pictures. I am one of those unfortunate people had no eye for design and am hoping one day I can afford to hire a designer to make my space pretty.
Paula, I am happy to hear from you, and to know you are a walking miracle.Isn’t it wonderful knowing about the past? Sounds like your kitchen was the great room of its day. Some early homes have kitchens meant for kitchen staff only, others may even have a fireplace where everyone gathered. Today, our kitchens have taken a back-step into history and are the gathering places of our homes. Thank you for your comment. I would love to see pictures of your house. 1843 is early, the Greek Revival period, before Victoriana. Do you have any ghosts in your kitchen? They like to gather too!
Thanks for the provocative post. You’ve got me studying my home for negative space. I dislike clutter and am generally very organized, but it’s easy to let things pile up when it’s just the hubby and me.
Considering the fact that I live in a house that was built in 1843 and is always in the midst of some type of renovation, functional space is at a premium. My husband being an engineer and a lover of cooking, the kitchen is our most used and most functional space. I love that it has a warm, cozy, and comfortable feel as well as being spacious and well suited for function. I’ll keep in mind your tips when it comes time to decorate the master bed and bath my hubby is designing and building.
Thanks so much Gail for including my project photos on your blog. You are wise to point out to your readers the important function of space. In this day, as opposed to Victorian times, space itself has become a big luxury. And many of us have more than we realize as, in this age of hyper consumerism and over abundant information, we often need to take stock of everything that we allow to pile up and overcrowd our own spaces – home or work. It brings such a breath of fresh air when you can clear out the clutter! In fact, I’m looking forward to the rainy weekend as I plan to do just that … clear out some old things I no longer need that may be more useful to others. Ebay and Goodwill, here I come!
I appreciate the comments. It was a pleasure to include your images on the blog. The spaces are indicative the way to live, work, play …
Thank you.