Saint Patrick’s Day

Mar9

Saint Patrick’s Day is celebrated on 17th of March by the catholic Irish. This habit is about the patron saint of the island who, according to the legend, has cast out all the snakes from the Emerald Island. Nowadays it became popular in the USA also thanks to the Irish who emigrated in the 1880s. There it is a real celebration which indicates the beginning of spring also. On this day, people traditionally wear green dresses. The three-leaf clover, green-clothed elf and the caldron full of gold are among its main symbols. Sending postcards with best wishes is typical to this holiday also.
Although this has no tradition in Hungary, if we would like to make an extra opportunity for a party or dinner with our friends, we can adapt these decoration ideas.
Since green and gold are the colors of the feast, we can easily refer to the special occasion with these. The buffet and the dinner table also can be decorated thus. Let’s cover the table with plain green tablecloth. Clover stickers can be put on seating cards and glasses. Let’s bake a clover-shaped cake covered with green marzipan. Full parsley-leaves can be put on the sandwiches but we can make cloves from cucumber also. The tops of the muffins and smaller cakes can be decorated with edible green glitter. Green napkins and straws can be purchased anywhere.
Take care of decorating the rooms also: green tulle or organza bows can be put on chairs and cushions. Let’s make garlands from green-white patterned wrapping papers or leftover fabrics and place them on the stair-rail, mantelpiece or curtain rods. Put greenish flowers in glass vases, for example half bloomed hydrangea, tulip or bamboo. Put ground into a white bowl and plant cloves in it. This will be a great table centerpiece. Place white candles in glass candle holders half-filled with green decor pebbles. The mood light gives coziness for the dining table. Green or green-white door wreath should be hung on the entrance door, it can be a simple round wreath or a clove-shaped ornament. Ask our guests to wear green clothes also.
If you would lie a special party, ask for help of a style-adviser for the perfect St. Patrick’s Day decoration.

Restaurants

Feb27

Restaurants in classic style

Tartan

Feb23

Tartan is associated with the Scottish heritage.
The pattern itself consists of stripes with different widths and colors which cross each other in 90° angle, this way they create a grid pattern in both directions which has a checked pattern effect. There are same stripes in width and color on both sides of the main stripe in vertically and horizontally also, so the pattern is completely symmetrical. This differentiates tartan from other similar checked patterns. The order of the threads is reversed mixing the two colors with this and „creating” a third one.
On the contrary to the popular belief, in old times rather institutes, regions and families had the same clothes, not the clans. The pattern was connected later to the Scottish nationality and costume. First it was only used on textiles for clothing, these were made of almost only wool and were colored with natural dyes. Artificial dyes became widespread in the Victorian era allowing new color variations to be used.
Nowadays tartan isn’t limited only to clothes, or to the fabrics at all. It appears on objects made of any material, be it paper, porcelain or plastic. Because of this fact, there are many possibilities for using the pattern in interior design: not only on upholsteries but on wallpaper, lampshade, dinner set, carpet etc. The variations of it with red-green color combinations are associated with Christmas mood.
If you also like it and want to make tartan the part of your home, ask for help of an interior designer.

Old objects

Feb17

Loving old objects is still important in our running world. These are not necessarily hundreds-years old pieces for a fortune, but anything which was already used, served two or three generations, first of all, it has its own story.
This kind of object is beautiful, contains memories but naturally is not perfect since it was already used. The time left marks on it, unless it is newly restored. The paint is a bit more matted, the lacquering is scraped, the handle is discolored, fabric is a bit faded. The inherited objects symbolize also the family itself. Its size, material or real value doesn’t matter. Old objects have the specialty to move our imagination even if we get them from a stranger. When for example a chest of drawers is purchased on a flea market or on the internet, it is unlikely that we will know its history, but the furniture tells stories about itself. Just because of its age, we try to imagine, how many places it stood already, who used it, probably how it survived the World Wars. This remains the same, even it is repainted, its handles are changed or glass is put in its doors. Those who enters in our home, will feel the age of the furniture.
The love of old objects is independent from the fact that who likes which style. They give life to all interiors and turn the flat to a home. For example, an old painting fits well for a minimalist interior also. A trade sign from the beginning of the century or antique saws can be placed on the wall instead of pictures in a loft furnished in the latest trend. This is much more evident in the case of classic styles. A lot of copy and re-manufactured household objects can be purchased in shops nowadays. Anyhow, the mood can be rally spiced with placing at least one piece of real antiques in the space. Notice our guests’ reactions: everybody will watch this one first.
If you look after a special and unique antique piece for your home, take an expert along to the purchasing trip for excluding forgeries. Do you want to design the furniture around a given piece? Would you like your flat being vivified by a fitting antique? Ask for help of an interior designer for planning.

Classic penthouse

Feb15

Modern penthouse – classic elegance

Valentine’s Day

Feb14

14th of February is Valentine day and celebrated worldwide. This is the day of love. Its origin is not clear. The mating period of birds starts at the middle of Februery, maybe this observation led to the emergence of this feast. Traditionally love is assigned to this day, but we can give surprises not only our love, but our family and friends as well.
Its traditional decoration motives are rose, heart, Amor, arrow and pigeon. Customized colors are red and all shades of pink. Celebrate this day with a complete home decoration, not only a romantic dinner. Hang a heart shaped decoration on the front door made of red roses or pink paper flowers. Place colourful candles, garlands made of hearts and small puttos on the mantle. In the bedroom, we can change the blankets and the cushions to red, the lampshades can be decorated by boas, cushions can be scattered with flower petals and a heart can be formed by candles on the floor. In the bathroom, place candles to the bathtub and shelves. Hang out red or red edged towels. Pour rose scented bubble bath into the bath water. Dinner table should be decorated by candles and red plates, which can be part of the everyday, other coloured dinner set. Red glasses and damask nepkins are also decorative. A bucket of rose looks good everywhere. If you feel red color too dominant, combine it with lot of white, thus only the important motifs will strike your eyes. For a less formal, youthful mood let’s apply the hues of pink instead of red.
If you would like to surprise your loved ones with a special Valentine’s Day mood, ask help from an interior designer for decoration.

Carnival

Feb8

The carnival season starts at Epiphany and lasts to Ash Wednesday, its end is also a winter farewell. This is the traditional period of carnivals and masquerades. In Hungary, it’s used to be celebrated mostly in schools and kindergartens, but costume parties are more and more popular at the adults also. Let’s organize a light and funny evening for our friends in carnival spirit.
We can use many of the New Years scenery: caps, masks, serpentines. As the carnival is also about the cavalcade of colors, we can be quite daring in this topic. Let’s choose three powerful color hues and use it as a base of decoration. They can be e.g. deep purple, turquoise and lime green. The best if we purchase decorations made of shimmering material. Their concentrated effect can be compensated using white, black and silver colors. When having a masquerade party, we can ask our guests to wear the same, ambient colors in clothing (e.g.: white, black, gray), but their masks should reflect the above main colors. If the party will be a costume event, the complete costume should be designed with the given three colors regardless to the theme.
For this occasion, Swedish buffet fits the best. Sweet and salty snacks can be eaten while standing, they also can be decorated fitting the color scheme. Cookies can be colored by frosting or marzipan decorations. Sandwiches can be topped by lime slices, or butter crème roses tinted by food coloring. Napkins, straws and cocktail sticks are easy to be purchased in lots of different colors.
To plan and select the colors for a real elegant style of serving, ask for help from a style expert before sending out the invitations.

Ceiling

Feb2

The ceiling is the sixth side of the room which we often forget. In old times, the ceiling was rarely left white, it was mostly richly decorated or colored. Why cannot we evoke this practice?
The style of the room can be highlighted with the color or decoration of the ceiling, it can complement the sight of furnishing or even can be an additional twist for the mood. For these, the first and most important question is: what is the room height? The dark painted ceiling visually gets lower, while the light colored raises the eye. It can be for example coffee brown with 250cm room height also if a cozier mood is required – let’s say in the case of a library – and it can be painted in light blue with 360 cm room height if an airy effect is desired – for example in a bedroom. Note, that the color of the walls is reflected to the ceiling and vice versa. Besides colors, decoration elements can help in emphasizing the ceiling: stuccos, mouldings, rosettes. These can be made of gypsum, polystyrene or wood. Their basic color is commonly white but can be painted to any desired color. Rosettes usually placed to the fixing of chandeliers and pendants. Its diameter should be a bit smaller than the chandelier’s. But this rule can be broken if the oversized decorating element is designed for attracting the guest’s eye upward as entering. Crown mouldings hide the joint of the wall and the ceiling, this way they visually make the room higher. The mouldings are placed on the wall right below the ceiling. If these are painted to the color of the ceiling, the room seems to be lower. Stuccos can be placed in the corners or even around the rosette. The desired decoration is up to the taste. Their effect can be buffered with painting the whole ceiling to a plain, neutral shade.
A similar effect can be reached with hand-painted decoration of the ceiling instead of decorating elements (stencil, pictures, stripes etc.). This is a much cheaper solution but requires great handcraft. Even faux-beams can be placed if the style of the flat/house allows it. They don’t have to be necessarily painted to a different color as the ceiling to be highlighted. Metal tile is a showy solution also.
Get inspiration from visiting old historical buildings, it can be a castle, museum or a public institution in such a building, then ask for help of an interior designer for implementing these in your home also.