Variations for a theme: astronomy
Variations 8.
Archives
Georgian style
The English Georgian style lasted from 1714 to 1830, named after the four reigning kings George. Its two periods are early and late Georgan, the latter is also known as Regency. Light colors (e.g. powder blue, sage, cream), open spaces and rich ornamentation are its main features. The influences of Classicism, Palladianism and Industrial Revolution are strong.
Trellis pattern
Trellis patterns are perfect classic decorating elements, both on fabrics and wallpapers. Their scale is middle or big. The pattern itself can be made using only straight lines or only curved lines but also the combinations of these. It can be applied in any room of the house; the effect is guaranteed.
It is a quite daring pattern, which can be moderated by choosing a tone-on-tone or pastel variations. However, true bold colors give a special character to the room. Who is really daring, can put the wallpaper also on the ceiling.
This pattern brings the nature inside, but in a less direct way. The trellis was used by gardeners for supporting creepers, making arbors and as eye catching element also. It could be made of wood, metal and bamboo. It looked good both in natural color and painted (firstly white, green and black).
The pattern can be combined well with animal and floral motifs, toile pattern or even another trellis pattern. Harmony of colors should be well considered. The best is if the pairing patterns are from the same collection. Using the same wallpaper and fabric in one room is a very traditional and elegant solution.
Trellis pattern is perfect for example for colonial style, chinoiserie and moroccan style. The variation when the trellis pattern is formed by a small leafed, flowered bines fits well to country styles. Metallic types are good for glamour style. In a proper color, it can be a perfect accessory to seaside style also.
Ask for help of an interior designer for proper usage of such daring patterns.
Home office
Creating a home office requires great care. Several facts have to be considered for that our health and private sphere don’t get injured.
If we need a place only for a short time of surfing on the internet, writing letters or reviewing bills – which takes about 1-2 hours per day from our free time – then a working corner is perfectly enough for that. This can be created as a part of another room (living room, kitchen, corridor etc.) or hiding for example in a wardrobe.
A home office is needed for those who work at home, so would spend most of the day (or every weekends) there. In this case, it is reasonable to create an individual room – of course, only if there is enough space and possibility for it.
If we have a job which requires receiving clients, it’s worth to place the office near the entrance door, with a small lavatory not far from it. This way, clients won’t go through the private rooms. In an ideal case, the office can be created in an outbuilding (garage, shed etc.) but this is possible only for few people.
Desk is one of the most important furniture. Its size has to be chosen to get enough space on its top even if all the needed equipments are set out. The ideal height is 70-73 cm, its depth has to be at least 60 cm (in the case of types with superstructure, this grows with the size of the superstructure). Don’t sit back to the window because the light reflects in the screen and we drop shadow to the working area from the natural light before ourselves.
The ergonomics of the office chair is very important for our health. Anyhow, it has to be comfortable, possibly with adjustable height, adjustable backrest, arms and rolls. It’s worth to pay more for these. Take care for choosing the one that properly rolls on the cover, so a sagging carpet is probably not the best choice. Never use a spare dinner chair for this purpose!
The computer is an average working tool. A different space is required by a laptop and by a PC with monitor. Think it over which kind of accessories will be needed for it: keyboard, mouse, printer, scanner etc. These all need space, so this has to be considered when planning the furniture, not only for the amounts of files and papers have to be stored. Keep the storage areas within reach of frequently used items.
The proper lighting is essential for efficient work. It is good to have natural light, this means a window. A desk light is also required beside the central, diffused lighting. These have to be chosen that way the light doesn’t hurt our eyes, don’t be reflected in the monitor and there has to be a proper lighting in every seasons/time of the day. For those who write/draw a lot by hand, it is important to get the light from the opposite side of the dominant hand.
Outlets are never enough. Count it how many devices need electrical power and don’t forget those which has to be connected in the socket only occasionally (charging mobile tools). If there will be a landline phone or TV, their connections have to be built also.
The job defines the needed fixtures and stationeries for working, since there are different requirements of an accountant, a programmer or a sewer. Ask for help of an interior designer for planning your home office.
The European Grand Tour
Grand Tour was a part of the education of noble youth in the 17th and 18th century. This meant a couple of months, even 1-2 years European round tour to the cradle of western culture, Italy. Firstly it was important to the English and Scandinavian nobility to directly meet the ancient culture. This was almost compulsory for those who learnt arts (architecture, painter, sculptor etc.) in those days.
They visited several other countries during the tour where they spent weeks or months and studied the ancient monuments and artifacts there. Commonly Paris was the first stop, from there they went further through Switzerland to Italy. Naturally Rome was the final goal, after Florence, Pisa, Torino, Padua, Bologna, Venice and Genova. On the way back, these was followed by the universities of Germany, then cultural heritage of Flanders and Holland, they went home only after these. It is important fact that these tours weren’t led by religion, so this didn’t affect on destinations.
Commonly departure took place in reaching adult age, so when they became about 21 years old. Although servants didn’t go with them (commonly a valet and a cook), the young nobles were escorted by a male family member or a male friend (e.g. their teacher or doctor). At first the tour was taken by a kittereen, then the railway came to the fore after its appearance. Many of them visited also Greece, Austria or even Turkey.
The studied knowledge and artistic learning were taken home not only in their heads. It was a general custom to shop during the tour. Original ancient artifacts, marble statues, coin collections, frequently books for a whole library, paintings etc. were collected there. Naturally they didn’t take them all at once but from time to time they sent them (mail service) home. Commonly a whole room was furnished for the collection in a noble man’s home who did the Grand Tour, but some of them were placed in the representative rooms of the house. It was very fashionable to be painted with a famous ancient ruin or a renaissance building in the background. This wasn’t for flaunting their wealth but spreading this knowledge at home and giving proper reports for those who couldn’t go there (women, less wealthy etc.). But they focused not only on the arts of men but the beauty of the nature and wildlife also. Science went for an elite thing, so it was the aim to acquire proper skills in every discipline of it, so they could minimum talk about it. The more talented of them even wrote a book of their own tours.
Collections of nowadays can be arranged also to give the effect of the Grand Tour. Ask for help of an interior designer for this.
Apple crates
Decorative and useful storages made of apple crates
Castle Hotel Parádsasvár
Castle Hotel Parádsasvár through the eyes of the guest (2015)
Blinds
It might happen during furnishing a room that there is no space for big, hanging curtains with rods. Frequently it is not practical to use a large amount of fabrics to cover the windows because of the type of the room (e.g. kitchen, bathroom). In this case, let’s choose some kind of blinds. These are easy to handle, need less space and can be made of any kind of curtain fabrics.
Roman blind: The fabric tenses at the front of the window when it is lowered. While pulling up, the fabric stratifies horizontally by layers. It requires special mechanism. The struts are sewn in the fabric. It can be fixed both on the window frame and the side wall.
Austrian blind: This type needs much more fabrics than the others. The ruffle at the bottom remains even when it is lowered. It can be pulled up by the sewn cords and the fabric gathers in waves at the holding rod.
London blind: It is similar to Austrian blind but in this case there are only two pull-up cords in the fabric. When pulled up, the fabric swells between the two cords and slightly swags at its ends. Its appearance is more playful and less formal.
Roll-up blind: It can be sprung, bead chain and electric as to its moving. The fabric laps to the holding device when it is rolled up. It can be made of any fabric from voile to black-out. The fabric is completely plain when lowered, so it gives clear-out contour to the window.
Zebra blind: Its gist is the alternation of voile and darkening parts which results a striped effect. The amount of the incoming light can be controlled by the setting of the covering. Although, it is a quite modern solution, this type can be utilized in a classic interior also.
Ask for help of an interior designer for choosing the proper type of shading.
Real leather
Real leather is present in homes since the prehistoric ages. First, it was used only as clothes and blankets, but later, when the quality of finish became finer, it was used for many other purposes. Nowadays leather is used as upholstery and carpet in interior design, although there are several other usages of it which make the interior more interesting. If the aim is creating a masculine home, this is more accentual.
Several factories sell handles made of or covered with leather. Seam made by contrasting stiches conjures the required piece to a decorating motif. It is a fine detail on a kitchen cabinet, for example.
Sound-proofing was resolved in libraries of old houses by thick leather-covered padding on the inner side of the door, because frequently it was the home office too. Leather covered doors were often decorated with quilting or buttoning. This elegant solution is applied in modern times also, for example in managers’ offices. Even if there is no need for sound-proofing, let’s evoke this tradition, because it gives unique mood for our home office too.
Anno top of the desks were covered by leather as well. Paper couldn’t slip while writing viz. high-gloss lacquer and varnish resulted a quite slippery surface and leather was more comfortable for the elbow also. These kinds of desks can be bought in firms producing classic furniture.
We can still find household and decoration objects in variations covered by leather. It is not only natural and elegant material but long-lasting too. Some examples without limitation: storage boxes, letter-opener knife, handle of magnifier, artisan pictures, coaster.
Nowadays faux-leather wall panels are more and more fashionable in homes, as an eye candy first of all. It is applicable behind TVs for hiding wires but holds on as hallway peg-wall and bedside wall covering because of its easy-clean feature. If somebody doesn’t like plastic at home, can order them made of real leather because these are always produced in unique sizes.
Ask for help of an interior designer for furnishing your home, even if you cling to a certain material.
Curtaining of attic window
Shading is a frequent problem in attic rooms. Of course, it can be easily solved with a roll-up blind, a window film or a venetian blind, but if a classic style curtain is desired in this room also, the case is not easy at all.
The solution in the case of windows on sloped roof is putting on two curtain rods. The upper one has the same function as on a normal window. The lower has the role of holding the fabric of the curtain. The lower has to be placed under the window. Both of them should overhang the two sides of the window, just like in other rooms. In the case of a floor length curtain, the fabric simply should be put behind the lower rod. When it is pushed, the rod will hold the fabric on the sloped roof anyhow. However, in the case of a short curtain, the lower rod has to be put in the fabric, just like the upper one. One or two sided curtains can be made in both cases. Of course, the curtain can be attached to the rod in any ordinary way (rings, fabric flaps, keeper etc.).
In the case of a full width window on a vertical wall, the problem might be the lack of space above the window for the curtain rod, because of the joint of the sloped roof. It is harder if the window itself is not rectangular but follows the line of the roof. It is worth to ask for help of a professional curtain company for a beautiful work. The length of the curtain has to follow the line of the window. Two rods will be needed in this case also, but the fixing is not a free choice because of the skew, since the rings would slip off by the gravitation, for example.
If the window on the vertical part is too small, or not symmetrical in its place, a more spectacular curtain solution can improve the sight. The feeling of a bigger window can be reached by a fabric complementing the furnishing of the room and covering the whole wall, this way the detrimental wall-part can be turned to a focal point. Curtain tassels and wall hooks will be useful.
Ask for help of an interior designer for solving the curtaining of attics.
