Home Designs Master | Valentina Expressions

Wish | Valentina Cirasola | Interior Designer

16 Mar 2017 8 Comments

by Valentina in Home Designs Master Tags: # https://dailypost.wordpress.com/photo-challenges/wish, #PersonalWishes, #ShellHouseDetails, #ShellHouseInterior, #ShellHouseWish, #WordPressWeeklyChallengeWish

A few years ago, I wrote this piece of advertisement and I can proudly say it is true! All my dreams and wishes came true so far. What is a wish without the action and the energy to go out there and get it? It’s only day dreaming.
Being a type A person, meaning hyperactive, I am that kind of person that doesn’t stop, once I have realized one dream, I want to pursuit the next one. (Click on each photo to view it larger).

My long-time wish has been to build my own shell house. Ambitious? Yes!
Most contractors don’t want to invest time in building curves and artistic details. Fluid architecture, artistic buildings, creative homes take time, involve a great thinking and take efforts doing something out of the ordinary. Most of them is happy building a shoebox that is sellable to the mass, makes money quick, move to the next project and repeat it with the eyes closed many more times around.

It takes the same effort to dream big than to dream small. I wish big things. I wish to build a shell shaped home, everything inside made of natural, organic materials, wavy walls emulating the sea movement and in some parts of the interior I envision walls with lacy design through which natural light plays its games on the floor.
I see undulated, cozy, warm, embracing fixtures and furniture. In some areas of the shell house, I envision a thick temperate glass floor with real sea fauna and flora underneath.
Expensive without doubts, but hey, this is my wish.

In my wish I envisioned a décor filled with rugged wood mixed with tumbled stones and interior doors made of coiling glass shaped like a shell. I see wrought iron balcony rails. Greenery and luscious vegetation framing the exterior of the house all around and twirling exterior stairs taking to various levels of my shell shaped house or in other detached areas of the house.

This is not all. My wish turns more pleasurable. The shell house is near the sea and not necessarily outside the door. I would be fine just to know the sea is in a walking distance. Once a week, I envision organizing bon fires on the beach, roasting fresh seafood with friends and telling stories. The back of my shell house is another paradise: my vineyard!!! That’s right. In my wish, I want to grow my own vines and produce specialty wines in a small scale. Among my vines, at least once a week, there will be evenings with Shakespeare plays acted out by students and aspiring actors.

This is my wish and so alive in my mind. For now, I start with drawings, let’s see where it will take me. Ciao,

Valentina

http://www.valentinadesigns.com

Valentina Cirasola transforms and creates spaces realizing people’s dreams in homes, offices, interiors and exteriors. She infuses your everyday living with a certain luxury without taking away a comfortable living. Valentina is well-known for bringing originality on any project and for thinking outside the box. Her interiors are not made with cookie cutters, only follow client’s inspiration, lifestyle and personality. She offers on-line design consultations through Skype and the traditional in-house consultations, helping people with their design challenge anywhere in the world. She is the author of three books, all-available on
Amazon: http://goo.gl/qNxXrB

Barnes&Nobles: http://goo.gl/q7dQ3w

Sky Blue and Green New Vibrations | Valentina Cirasola | Interior Designer

06 Mar 2017 Leave a comment

by Valentina in Home Designs Master Tags: #2017SpringColors, #PurpleAppleGreen, #SkyBlueGreenColorCombo, #WarmColdColorCombination

Warm and cold, extravagant, original, young, modern and fresh, this is how I see a color palette for March. Let’s take March to renew, to get rid of useless winter stuff and regenerate the atmosphere in the house. Aquamarine is the birth color for march and even if it is not your stone, it is an easy color on the eyes. (Click on each photo to view it larger).

Starting from sky blue, I worked my way into the greens and what a combination it is. It’s almost a retro color palette.
In the ‘50s, sky blue with apple green was a beautiful combination seen from tableware, kitchen appliances to fashion. The characteristic of the era was plastic and shiny chrome. Today, we pair these two colors in a new way and it is still beautiful. Chrome on furniture is gone, we are into natural, eco-friendly materials, breathable fabrics, wood and distressed metals to emulate nature in home décor.

In my room composition, I added blue purple and magenta as accent colors. Now, imagine a living room with a purple accent wall and a purple sofa against that same wall. Being a bulky item in the room and of the same color of the wall, the sofa disappears in the wall. Imagine the other three walls in the room being of a golden beige and the room filled with colorful chairs from magenta, sky blue and apple green. Illuminate this vignette with funky lamps, add wood end tables of different shapes and voila’ les jeux sont faits (the games are done, or the chips are down).

Above sources:
Reclining Purple Sofa https://www.templeandwebster.com.au
Copper Lamps http://www.lonestarwesterndecor.com/turquoise-glass-floor-lamps.html
End Table – Mercury Thaddeus Twist – Wayfair
◇

Now that you have seen how good these colors look together will you wear them too? I just both a sky blue pants and an apple green short sweater buttoned up in the front. I will add a scarp with abstract design in bluish purple and green and that’s the reason I wrote this post. These are comfortable colors to wear and to live in.
Ciao,
Valentina
http://www.valentinadesigns.com

As an Italian designer and true to my origins, I am well-known to bring originality to people’s homes, but that’s not where I stop and any situation is a perfect opportunity to design something out of the ordinary. Check out my three books on
Amazon: http://goo.gl/qNxXrB
Barnes&Nobles: http://goo.gl/q7dQ3w

Playing In Green | Valentina Cirasola | Interior Designer

09 Feb 2017 Leave a comment

by Valentina in Home Designs Master Tags: #2017ColorOfTheYear, #2017PantoneGreen, #GreenColorPalette, #PantoneColors, #PantoneGreenery

Pantone says Green is 2017 color of the year. How many things does green represent?
Green: color of some currencies.
Green: color of grass.
Green: color of leaves.
Green: color of stones such as emerald, or granite.
Green: color of tea.

Green represents peace and relaxation.
The green street light tells us to go, but a green light in the bedroom induces sleep and the green color in the bath chromotherapy let us relax.
In the ocean, a green water patch indicates that below there are live algae feeding from the sea nutrients.

Green is not one of the colors people wear well.
In the home, green walls at night look muddy, at times even greyish and depressing.
Green furniture look outdated, unless we give some strong power to the green.

I have composed a living room with colors which will boost the power of green.
(Click on each photo to view it larger).

Source of items in my board
Orange Sofa: http://www.devineleathercare.com.au/?attachment_id=327
Caramel Pillows: https://www.zazzle.com/caramel+square+pillows
Yellow Rose Pillow: Valentina Interiors & Designs

Of course, any room can be dressed with these vibrant and full of life colors, even office spaces. The idea is to play with the green and to make it come alive. I don’t see live plants in homes anymore. Live plants clean up the air, add oxygen in the home and decorate very well.

I am not afraid to combine green with colors others ignore, they look dynamic and I love them. Any questions on green? I am here at your service. Ciao,
Valentina
http://www.valentinadesigns.com

Valentina Cirasola is an Italian Interior Designer working in the USA and Europe since 1990, specializing in interior and exterior color analysis, kitchen, bath, wine cellar, and outdoor kitchen designs. Often people describe her as “the colorist” as she loves to color her clients’ world and loves to create the unusual. “Vogue” magazine and many prominent publications in California featured Valentina’s work. She also has made four appearances on T.V. Comcast Channel 15 and on RAI – Italian National TV. Author of three published books, the latest ©RED – A Voyage Into Colors is on the subject of colors.
Amazon: http://goo.gl/qNxXrB
Barnes&Nobles: http://goo.gl/q7dQ3w

Knowing How To Do It | Valentina Cirasola | Interior Designer

07 Feb 2017 Leave a comment

by Valentina in Home Designs Master Tags: #BuiltInsDesign, #DesigningOnline, #FamilyRoomColors, #FamilyRoomDesign, #FamilyRoomLayout, #FurnitureDesign

We are all online, we read each other, we share content of people we like, we make friends, being online has become a new home for most us and the world is in our pocket. Years ago, I decided to make my time spent online a profitable time by offering consultations, design concepts, drawings and color solutions, all online services without moving one inch from my office.

This is a family room with a seating arrangement in a stairs void. Client told me that people feel as if they fall into the stairs void when sitting there. The void brings a cold draft in the room, thus nobody ever sits there. A small digital piano takes a space on that cold, naked wall and it needs something to embrace it. (Click on each photo to view it larger).

(Above and below: Seating into the void of stairs)

My solution is to close the wall up to a certain point leaving a large circular opening with a decorative iron design, which would allow light to spill in the stairway, would get rid of the draft and would allow people to feel more protected when sitting in that area. For the small piano, I planned a shelving unit enclosed between two flat fluted pilasters faux painted in silver-gold mix and a beautiful new lighting effect.

(Above: Concept for the wall with seating, digital piano and open shelving)

The other wall hosts a lonely, dark, outdated fireplace stuck in the middle of the wall with a fake window on the right side covered with a curtain.

With my design concept, I created a built-in unit made of dark and light wood, incorporating TV, fireplace, music and storage space. Woodworkers in the city where client lives will fabricate it. The unit will be the focal point of the room, whether the fire is on or not and will be visible from any angle of the downstairs open space lay-out.

(Above and below: Concept drawings for wall with built-in unit, fireplace, TV and storage)

Furniture of the family room will remain as it is. My involvement in the remaking of the room with a new concept was limited to designing two walls and producing a couple color palettes, both of which will create a great new atmosphere for the space. Hopefully, when the two walls will be completed, client will feel encouraged to change the rest of the room décor.

It didn’t take me long to create the new concept. It’s all about knowing how to do it through experience, love for the work and understanding client’s desires. The photos of the existing conditions and a few Skype conversations with the client told me the story. I hope to receive photos of the completed work.

Anything is possible these days when working online, from designing kitchens and baths to create color palettes. The world is smaller and work doesn’t have to be hard.
It’s all about knowing how to do it and I have the solution for any of your design challenges. Ciao,
Valentina
http://www.valentinadesigns.com
Copyright © 2017 Valentina Cirasola, All Rights Reserved

Valentina Cirasola has been a lifetime designer in fashion and interiors. Her extensive knowledge of colors and materials led her in both directions successfully. She is well-know for designing custom furniture. She cares to make spacious and functional pieces, but she doesn’t forget to introduce the element of surprise, sinuous lines, attractive shapes and colors in the style fit for each of her special clients. She is the author of ©RED – A Voyage Into Colors. Check out her books on

Amazon: http://goo.gl/xUZfk0
Barnes&Nobles: http://goo.gl/q7dQ3w

Repurpose | Valentina Cirasola | Interior Designer

02 Feb 2017 4 Comments

by Valentina in Home Designs Master Tags: #Recycling, #Repurpose, #Reuse, #WordPressPhotoChallengeRepurpose

“Those who know how to make things with hands will survive” ~ often said my grandmother, who lived through two great wars and economic depressions. She embedded in us kids her way to save everything and made it a concept for a life.
To reuse and repurpose is a daily practice for me, in fact, my neighbors thinks I come from Mars for being so extremely diligent in saving the environment.

Other than papers and a few bottles, my garbage bins are always almost empty. I dry my laundry in the wind and repurpose as trash bags those plastic bags for fruit-vegetables from grocery shops. Leftover food become a new specialty. Consumed towels get repurposed into dust rags. Papers written on one side are reused as scrap paper. I repurpose clothes as new creations, save buttons from old clothes and incorporate them in something else new. Scarves and shawls become covers for side tables, the list goes on and on.
I am a true repurpose and recycle Queen, perhaps I should start teaching classes.

The object in the photo below was a candle holder with glass beads. A little knowledge of Arduino technology turned it into a LED light for the garden. The night is no longer dark in that area of the garden.

lamp
(Click on each photo to view it larger).

This was in response to WordPress weekly photo challenge: Repurpose

Ciao,
Valentina
http://www.valentinadesigns.com

It’s my hope that through my writing and my stories I am enriching your aesthetic sensibility towards design, style and inspiring you to live in beauty. I have loved my profession as an interior-fashion designer since 1990. I am here ready to offer consultations on-line if you need. Check out my latest book on the subject colors.
Amazon: http://goo.gl/qNxXrB
Barnes&Nobles: http://goo.gl/q7dQ3w

Ambience | Valentina Cirasola | Interior Designer

19 Jan 2017 Leave a comment

by Valentina in Home Designs Master Tags: #Ambience, #arhaus, #BohemianStyle, #VenetianBlownGlass, #VenetianDécor, #VenetianHomeDecor, #WarmColors, #WordPressPhotoChallengeAmbience, https://dailypost.wordpress.com/photo-challenges/ambience/

Can we define “Ambience” as the character and atmosphere of a place? We certainly can. It all starts with the front door, your business card. People visiting your home will know what’s inside by the way the front door greets them. Is the front door landing clean, are plants manicured, is the landing well-lit, is there a functioning doorbell or door knocker, is there a welcoming bench outside the door, is the pathway leading to the front door curvy or straight, is the landscape matching the exterior colors of the home? These are some of the questions we should answer to give a good first impression and to create a positive aura around the home. Inside the home, your spirit should be noticeable as soon as one steps in. (Click on each photo to view it larger).

This is what to do if you are creating your ambience, or need inspiration. The first thing is to compose a visual board (photo above) with pictures of images that strike your fancy. Once you have them all together, you can edit the composition by subtracting or adding the way you like. The board will help visualizing colors, textures, natural material, finishes, line, shapes and where the light should hit to create feelings, backdrop, or set the tone for a dreamy ambience.

My inspiration for my living room ambiance came from a hand-made golden Venetian wine set I bought centuries ago in Venice, Italy. That wine set, in my imagination, called for capricious living room items, not too modern and not too traditional either, with a bit of fantasy, showing opulence and warmth. In Venetian interiors is common to find some mixed items from Asian and European countries, as wealthy Venice of the 1700s (The Serenissima) traded with the Orient and the Middle East.

Music is big part of my life. I wanted a miniature musical instrument on my entry door that played music every time I opened the door. I found a small harp made in Scotland. Now, a sweet sound welcomes people when they come in my house.

Continuing with music, Venice and Bohème theme, I wanted a lyre side table for the sofa in the style of Biedermeier. I found something similar and contemporary, which I keep illuminated from the bottom and from the top. The slipper chair next to it is a real treasure, it’s a Jacobean style. It came from an antique store in the Gold Country in California, the owner didn’t know its value. I re-upholstered with mystical fabric, I thought music and constellation play the same tune.

To find a Venetian chair was a challenge, but not for long. I found a chair with the right shape and price, but beauty wasn’t there. A skillful painter, using only Chartreuse and gold paint, turned the chair into a Venetian style. Re-upholstered in double face: Chartreuse color fabric with Venetian shoes printed on, paired with a purple-chartreuse polka dots fabric, made this chair an original, whimsical Venetian idea. It is now in my reading, breakfast corner.

(Above: reading-breakfast corner)

From these few items, creating the ambience I was looking for, was easy. The aubergine wall is dark and sexy. A colorful lamp découpaged with Florentine fabric details sits on a glass top with an Italian amphora underneath, which I keep illuminated inside and now fills an empty corner. This colorful lamp adds mystery to the wall, which at night picks up different tones according to the lights I turn on and what I want to illuminate.

Warm colors, candlelight, posh pillows, glass accessories and mirrors reflecting light, all make the perfect Venetian-Bohemian style space for me. Does this style exist? Who cares, it exists in my fantasy. ❤️ ❤️❤️

As I said earlier, light has an important role when creating ambience. In spaces where no task is required, I like to create suffuse lighting effects coming from any corner even from inconspicuous places such as behind furniture.

The home is your cocoon, create the ambience that makes your soul sing. Ciao,
Valentina
http://www.valentinadesigns.com

Valentina Cirasola is an Italian designer in business since 1990, interested in helping people designing their interior and exterior spaces with an overall feeling of peace, relaxation and harmony that will draw them home eagerly. She is always looking to add that special touch with original findings to the spaces she designs. Colors are the focus of her business today, changing people’s energy and life force just by introducing them to colors they would have never imagined. Vogue Italia magazine, Gentry and many prominent magazines in California featured her work. She appeared on RAI, National Italian T.V., nonetheless her story continues. Find copies of her book on colors ©RED – A Voyage Into Colors and all her books on
Amazon: http://goo.gl/qNxXrB
Barnes&Nobles: http://goo.gl/q7dQ3w

Arts of Puglia: Stringing A Chair | Valentina Cirasola | Interior Designer

11 Jan 2017 Leave a comment

by Valentina in Home Designs Master Tags: #HowToStringStrawChairs, #PugliaArtsandCraft, #PugliaStyleDecor, #PugliaStyleInterior, #StrawChairs, #ThonetChair14

Who has not owned a Thonet chair and not knowing it? Michel Thonet was born in Vienna in 1796 and became a well-known master ébénist under the rich Austro-Hungarian Empire. Thonet experimented a technical way to bend wood and succeeded by using warm steam to bend it to his liking, then placed the shapes created in steel molds to dry. Following the excellent results and high demand, in 1860 Thonet deposited his trademark and the Nᴼ14 chair, the most famous of his collection was born.
(Click on each photo to view it larger).

(Thonet chairs Nᴼ 14)

Every home, café, bistro and restaurant in Europe filled their rooms with Thonet chairs. The flexibility and resistance of this chair Nᴼ 14 became so popular through the Belle Époque and every era from then up to now.

Change country, travel down to Italy, same era, in the then poor agricultural region of Puglia. Thonet chairs were popular in well-to-do Italian households, I remember them in my family, but in the countryside and farmer’s families the straw chairs, practical, sturdy and durable, were the second-best choice. People who learn the art of stringing chairs made a good living. Necessity is the mother of invention. (Prices of most straw chairs here: http://www.lasediasrl.it/it/search/1/Paglia.html)

Many centuries later, while advanced countries push innovative recycle programs, down in Puglia, no longer a poor region, recycling is nothing new and doesn’t need to be created. Many crafts considered “ancient” are still in use in Puglia, a few people continue the art of stringing and weaving chairs, as we have mastered the art of reuse (I say we, because I am from there and I am one who reuse everything). We learn at a young age to fix broken items and not to throw them away in the land.

Poli Gaetano from the town of Rutigliano strings chairs since he was a boy. In the video, he speaks Italian, but watch his gestures, they are strong, decisive and precise to make sure each chair he fixes will live for long time. In 20-25 minutes a damaged straw chair returns brand new. His father was in that line of work and fed a family of seven. Gaetano is now over 70 years old passed the trade to his son.

Straw and cane chairs are suitable for a country décor, especially in the rustic Puglia style, as well as in Tuscan and French style décor. Straw or cane chairs are perfect in covered patios, tea rooms, breakfast nooks, conservatories, bedrooms, or anywhere extra chairs are needed.

(Photo above: Interior of Trullo Sovrano – Wikimedia Commons)