Simplicity is probably the quality I value most in interiors. I don't mean the cooler-than-thou chastity of minimalism but more a modesty in the relationship between architecture, furnishings, location. light, and the implied insouciance of life.
One of the most impressive decorators alive today is David Mlinaric part of whose pied-a-terre on the Chelsea Embankment is pictured here. If you look carefully you will see that there's an almost unholy amount of curl in these two rooms - everything atwirl like the branches outside the window. Yet these are serene spaces, caused to be so by the space allowed to each object, the warm palette, and the quality of the light reflected off the river.
The red twig table by bed is Garouste and Bonetti, the other bedside table is a 1950s prototype table made by Angus McBean for the long defunct Pavilion Restaurant at the Academy Cinema in London. The sofa is a 19th century velvet covered chesterfield, the Verner Panton Amoeba chairs flanked by 1960s storage tables are from the 1970s, a coffee table, enamel on steel by Roland Mellan, and the glass and steel table in the embrasure is by Grillo Demo of the Argentine.
As subtle and simple as this flat is it must be a pleasure to inhabit even if the light, grey and leaden, lurks in the windows rather than spills all over the place. But, in decorating the sun always shines.
Photos by Derry Moore, copyright Conde Nast Publications Ltd., from Mlinaric on Decoration by Mirable Cecil and David Mlinaric, 2008.
So wise no to have curtains in the drawing room etc, so that the full benefit of the sun is there to shine. In our flat in Edinburgh's New Town we only used the shutters in the drawing room, and the study. All the other (6) rooms had shutters too, but curtains in bedrooms, and as a decorative element in the dining room.
ReplyDeleteOh God, Blue, you continue to educate me. I always took 'insouciance' to mean cheeky and it was therefore one of my favourite words dammit.
ReplyDeleteBut I don't know about these rooms. I reckon they're a touch contrived.
Thank you, by the way, for always enabling us to enlarge your images.
I put back the word "simplicity" to the beginning of the text - you must have thought I was losing it, but I notice you were both too polite to mention it.
ReplyDeleteRose, I agree but I still think it works as a light-hearted flat in town.
Columnist, thank you. My partner was brought up in Collington and then Dean Village. We drove and walked the New Town only last summer, in as much as one could with all the preparations for the Festival and Fringe. Dour yet utterly beautiful - I have a liking of stone buildings. One of my ex-brother-in-laws built dry stone walls in his spare time. Comes of being a Northerner, I suppose.
The table in front of the fireplace reminds me of Egyptian chairs from another of your posts. It looks ready to walk right out of the room. I don't think I'd turn my back on it. How could furniture be more alive than that?
ReplyDeleteI can see this influence in your own well edited—curated—condo. I think there is great peace here. Loved the image of "an almost unholy amount of curl in these two rooms - everything atwirl." While this room is not my cup of tea—I fear, kind sir, my brain is too much twirl—I can appreciate its beauty. So like the use of whatever element dominates, and here is the river of light. So glad you decided to come back to blogging. You have so much to teach. We have so much to learn. And you don't have to grade our papers! Please do know we appreciate what you are doing. And by the by, I a 60 year southern by birth, and by sass, build my own drystack walls in Kansas! Just to mess with that northern stereotype thing a bit, but with great humor!
ReplyDeleteColumnist, PS that should have been "brothers-in-law."
ReplyDeleteHome before dark - thank you for your always-kind comments. I must say that anyone taking time to build dry-stack walls impresses the hell out of me! As impressive as gilding a room! And, as far as 60 is concerned, as a Southern woman you should be just getting into your stride - independent, sassy (as you say) and graceful. There's a lot to be done!
Terry - the coffee table has a bulldog bandy-legged quality to it: I see exactly what you mean. Bulldogs like coffee tables are completely trustworthy, but a rottweiler console is another matter altogether.
ReplyDeleteJust lovely...had not seen that first image so thanks for sharing. I must buy myself a copy of that book!
ReplyDeleteEdinburgh is pretty, and the architecture in the New Town worthy of its World Heritage Site status. But the people are dull and very introspective. There are exceptions, and I'm sure your partner is one of those!
ReplyDeleteColumnist - Bright eyed and bushy-tailed from the second his feet hit the floor and completely outgoing and warm-hearted. We are polar opposites.
ReplyDeleteI've been crazy about Mlinaric's work since his brick manor house hit House & Garden some 25 years ago. Really perfect. It's what I strive for, but.....those shiny objects always trip me up.
ReplyDeleteThanks also, Blue for including me on your blog list. I'm flattered, as Blue Remembered Hills has been one of my absolute favorites from the moment I discovered it.