Home Designs Master | Valentina Expressions

Rocks With Meanings | Valentina Cirasola | Interior Designer

11 Oct 2014 Leave a comment

by Valentina in Home Designs Master Tags: #LandscapeDesign, #LandscapeRocks, #MeaningOfRocks, #RedVoyageIntoColors, DesigningGardenWithRocks

I was walking in the park this morning and suddenly I noticed certain landscape rocks that have been there all along and never paid attention. Today, I looked at them with a different eye and suddenly remembered what one of my Japanese friends told me about landscape rocks.

Vertical Rock, also called soul rock is interspersed randomly in the landscape for harmony.

Body Rock is a tall rock is placed towards the back of the garden, being the tallest stone, it protects the garden and the home. It also represents God or your higher power.

Heart Rock is flat, almost like a stepping-stone and balances all the vertical rocks.

Branching and Reclining Rocks balance all the forms and shapes, whether they are vertical or horizontal.

Rocks To Avoid are the broken ones and the Dead Rock. This last one is a long type and if used horizontally makes a figurative dead person, that’s why it should never be used in landscaping.

Who knew rocks have a meaning and a purpose?
I think these are good suggestions to add harmony into a garden and not only for a zen garden. Create vignettes with various rock sizes, and plant flowers or food around them. Open up windows into walls or fences through which it is easy to see rocks enhancing the features of your yard, and making games of shadow at different hours of the day. Don’t forget to light them properly.
After all, if we create a garden around the home is because we want to feel closer to nature and enjoy all that nature offers. Rocks will make you feel grounded.

Do you want music in the garden? Place strategically among the natural rocks, the man-made rocks hiding speakers, they look beautiful and the music will make the garden one piece of heaven.

Speaker rocks

Let’s listen to the simple whispering beauty of rocks. Now it’s the right time to prepare the garden for the summer/winter. This is a changing season wherever you are.
Do you need a suggestion on colors and style for your garden? I am here to help. Ciao,
Valentina
http://www.valentinadesigns.com

Valentina Cirasola has been in business as a designer since 1990. She has helped people realizing their dreams with homes, offices, interiors and exteriors. She designs landscape as a complement to the residential design concept as a unity. She loves creating gardens spaces that will serve the kitchen as well, other than beautification of exteriors. Check out her four published books, one of which is on color theory, available on:

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

Stories Of A Designer: Totally Out Of Place | Valentina Cirasola | Interior Designer

06 Oct 2014 Leave a comment

by Valentina in Home Designs Master Tags: #BeachHouse, #MountainHouse, #SanJoseCalifornia, #SanJoseDevelopment, #SiliconValleyHomes, #SilverCreekHomes, #ValentinaInteriorsDesigns

Last week I visited a house for the first time, the new person could be a potential client. She lives with her husband six months out of the year in Florida and six months in California, not too shabby!
Her house climbs the mountain of California, it is surrounded by a golf course and a lot of luscious vegetation covers the property almost entirely. All her windows face the mountain and rugged mountain scenery. However, at the door, when I rang the bell, I had the impression of being at the beach. Her door wreath made of seashells, seahorses and sea stars screamed of beach. Flamingoes and seagulls decorated her porch. I entered the house and my impression was confirmed. Blues, aqua, cream and beige colors filled every room, beach home accessories scattered everywhere decorated the house meticulously as if the beach was right outside the windows. The house was nicely decorated, but totally out-of-place.

I also noticed all the cabinets around the house looked like kitchen cabinets with granite countertop, no distinction of room and function, even the master bedroom had wall to wall kitchen cabinets with granite top used for office stuff and medicines. That’s the way builders conceive homes today. They raise walls and stick kitchen cabinets everywhere as fast as they can, without paying attention to details, design or style, but this is another matter. So sad, homes are without charm!

From: San Jose Map

San Jose Real Estate Home

Would you decorate a home set on the rustic, reddish and mystical Grand Canyon with snow scenery of the Swiss Alps, yodeling sounds and cowbells hanging everywhere?
Would you decorate a house set in Hawaii with pictures of rainy days of Paris, just because you like Paris scenery?

Decorating a home is very personal and I understand people decorate with things that make them happy, even when they are totally out of contest.
Long time ago, I had to bend to a client’s request, a single man, living in the center of a metropolitan city, who wanted his bedroom to look like a jungle. It was tough to accept his ideas, I developed the project regardless of my disappointment, but I never took photos of that design work.

The exterior environment plays a large role in home décor. In order to bring harmony in our soul, we must feel connected with nature surrounding the home. Colors and texture of the outside should be respected and taken into consideration, that’s when we can say to feel completely at home.

Visibly the woman I visited had a revelation moment when I explained the reasons her interior felt awkward to me. I am sure she liked the décor of her home and I could almost hear her saying: “I like the beach scenes, do I have to change everything now?” Somehow I felt her discomfort with certain elements of her spaces and décor.

People can live the way they want in their spaces, there is no rule saying a beach décor belongs at the beach house. My function as a professional (as all the professionals in any fields) is to stir people in the right direction for optimal results, the rest is up to the client to follow suggestions or not. 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.  She offers design consultations on-line through Skype and the traditional in-house consultations, helping people with their design challenge any where in the world. She is the author of three books, all-available on
Amazon: http://goo.gl/xUZfk0
Barnes&Nobles: http://goo.gl/q7dQ3w

Consider Your Wall A Canvas | Valentina Cirasola | Interior Designer

29 Sep 2014 3 Comments

by Valentina in Home Designs Master Tags: #LargePrintWallpaper, #RedVoyageIntoColors, #WallDécor, #WallDécorSolutions, #WallFauxFinish, #Wallpapers

I am a pensive person, when I think, I lay on the floor and stare at my ceiling or I sit comfortable and stare at the walls. I cannot just have bare or white walls, they must communicate with my thoughts. With so many choices why keep the walls white?

In most homes, it is customary to fill walls with a lot of pictures and photographs, or objects of interest, in some other homes, walls are decorated in the minimalist style, meaning plain and empty. Once I had the urge to paint a picture on one of my interior doors and a painter friend tried to discourage me. Why paint a picture on a door and not on a conventional canvas? She said, but as you know the world turns around people who have different ideas and not around static people.

If you are an artist, would you consider painting your walls with your artwork? In the picture below (courtesy of Grandiroad), you can tell the picture behind the console is a large rug, but with a little imagination, that wall can be painted with any of your artwork and it will become an open gallery for anyone to enjoy it.

(Above: Bergen Console – Grandin Road)

The other solution is to apply large print wallpaper, even digitally reproduced from your own photograph. The process is no more expensive than any wall finish treatments and the result is stunning.

GuestBedrrom-Side1

The large print wallpaper will keep the room clean and interesting, with a lot of details to look at. No need to add accessories, keep it simple and uncluttered.
What is the room you can redo with this idea? Ciao,
Valentina
http://www.valentinadesigns.com

Valentina Cirasola is an Italian Interior and Fashion Designer, working in the USA and Europe. She blends fashion and interior well in any of her design work. She loves to remodel homes and loves to create the unusual. She needs your story to design your dream. Check out her books on
Amazon: http://goo.gl/xUZfk0
Barnes&Nobles: http://goo.gl/q7dQ3w

Out With Bar Cart | Valentina Cirasola | Interior Designer

23 Sep 2014 2 Comments

by Valentina in Home Designs Master Tags: #BarCart, #GlobeLiqueurCart, #HomeBarDesign, #KitchenCounterTrough, #kitchenDesign, #ValentinaInteriorsDesigns, #WinesTrough

Drinking habits and appreciation for less abrasive alcoholic drinks have changed through the last couple of decades, people have turned to wines, European sparkling wines and artisanal crafted boutique beers made in small local brewing establishments. This change of taste from hard alcohol to more delicate social drinks should have affected and changed home décor as well, thus bar carts should have gone away from people’s living rooms, but I am still seeing them as part of the décor when I visit homes for the first time. I am still seeing carts and globes holding a lot of bottles and glasses in plain view.

Photo: Maison 21 on HGTV

Zoffoli, Italy – Classic Renaissance Collection

Home bars versus bar carts might be more acceptable if people are drinking mixed drinks and cocktails that need hard alcohol as one of the ingredients. Home bars hide the sink and bottles under the counter, attractive glasses might be displayed inside glass door cabinets and the entire décor of a home bar creates an interesting corner. One think I really despise is to see a faucet and a sink in plain view in a beautifully decorated living room. The sink in the room gives me the idea of a cheap motel.
Look at the simple and elegant home bar I created in this spacious great room of one of my clients.

Great Room and Bar by ©Valentina Interiors & Designs

An even better alternative solution to the home bars is a trough cut-out on the kitchen counter. Lined with stainless steel pan, the new trough hosts ice, drinks, fruit and spices for cooking, easy to clean, easy to fill and easy for the guests to help themselves. You might want to create a trough in the kitchen and one outdoor for your garden parties.

In case you have a beautiful and valuable, or antique bar cart and do not want to get rid of it, roll it in the dining room to serve a selection of cheeses and desserts as the last courses at the end of a sitting down dinner. That will make a better impression on your guests. Ciao,
Valentina
http://www.valentinadesigns.com

Stories Of A Designer: Butler’s Pantry | Valentina Cirasola | Interior Designer

17 Sep 2014 2 Comments

by Valentina in Home Designs Master Tags: #ButlerPantry, #ButlerPantryIllumination, #DowntonAbbery, #HowToDecorateButlerPantry, #ValentinaInteriorsDesigns

My mind was wandering, thinking of a new design concept when an older project came back in my memory. I have been in my version of Downton Abbey for about six months, I recall saying.

The house was in construction when I was hired as the interior designer who would have added the beautiful touches to the architect’s work. Only the frame of the house was up and completed, no flooring, no sheetrock, and plumbing/electrical work were still exposed. The roof covered the bare walls. Looking around the bare house to get familiar with various rooms, I soon noticed this was a 6,000 square feet home, one could get lost in this house. It was beautifully laid–out, natural light pouring in every room and a lot of modern amenities were put in place like an intercom.

The couple was in the middle age, well to do and conservative in taste, but all the features that provided comfort, convenience and pleasure were very modern. Next to the living room, a billiard room had been planned. Across from the living room, there was a curvy staircase, which later when I dressed it up, became an attractive feature. It led up to the second floor, where an elegant studio and a library set on an open loggia overlooked downstairs into the great room. The upstairs floor plan struck me and the request was to make it into a living quarter, more than a sleeping quarter.

In the master bedroom, I had to plan an area for red wines and a refrigerator for champagne or white wines, a large fireplace and a food lift communicating with the kitchen downstairs to bring up the food in the bedroom at any time wanted, which the cook made in the kitchen. Two master baths for him and her, both with a steam shower, two walk-in closets for him and her, a large gym with T.V. and stock exchange electronic device. Music speakers everywhere filled the master bedroom spaces with their favorite music and an enormous amount of lighting illuminated the areas as if it was perennial daylight. Later, I learned about the habits of the inhabitants of this house and realized the couple lived mostly on the second floor.

The upstairs corridor hosted five bedrooms each with its own bath and an elevator for the convenience of the people using the upstairs spaces. Hmm, with that beautiful staircase I designed, I would have used the stairs every day to enjoy the beauty of the material and to use it as a daily exercise. Downstairs, among all the rooms beautifully laid out, there was a non-defined space between the kitchen and the formal dining room. That was the Butler’s Pantry. I mean a real Butler had been hired to take care of the affairs of the house.

The rest of the rooms, laundry with a full bath, wrapping packages room, large kitchen, family room, breakfast nook, guest room with a bath, billiard room, living room, great room, and a large foyer completed the downstairs. To put in place all the nice details in that house it took about six months and when we completed the construction phase, the décor started to emerge. The butler’s pantry started to take an incredible shape. The space did not contain food, there was a large pantry nearby the kitchen dedicated to food. The butler’s pantry was an elegant space for an elegant service. For a soft illumination, I placed a beautiful chandelier in the center of the ceiling and various sconces attached to the wood pilasters of the cabinetry. The only appliances needed in that space was a commercial type espresso maker, a microwave and a beautiful hammered copper sink with a natural stone counter.

1896-butlers-pantry-mckim-mead-white-staatsburg-house

19th Century Butler’s ball

The Mahogany cabinets were furniture, not kitchen cabinets. Glass doors illuminated from the inside showed in plain view all the riches of the house, a lot of illuminated rollout shelves for conveniently taking items from the back of the shelves, stunning architectural details and an elegant butler’s desk completed the décor.

The butler’s pantry separated the kitchen from the formal dining room for a reason. It’s not elegant to let the guests in the dining room hearing kitchen noises and smelling cooking odors. I wanted a rarity item in this special room that only a man in livery and white gloves was going to use: a butler’s ball, which I found at an antique store. It alerts the servants or the butler that the guests sitting at the dinner table need assistance without staring at them or standing behind their back.

Opening up boxes and filling up the cabinets with items serving the dining area, I delighted myself looking at with some refined tablecloths, fine wine glasses, some were even reproductions of Renaissance era, silver trays, ornate buckets and candle holders, interesting modern and antique dishes, and a plethora of table accessories, such as asparagus tongs, egg topper and a serious collection of teapots. I had never seen such items in an American home and I was very pleased. Modern Americans are mobile, they move often and when they move also sell part of their possessions. I really thought these objects were not just dust collectors and a way to keep the butler busy polishing. If they have them is because they use them.

The lifestyle of the inhabitants of the house was not like everybody else’s life, I know that, and this butler’s pantry was not an ordinary functional room off the kitchen where to store food, as most people would do. There was a house full of people working there, thus the butler was the manager of all and the Maître d’hôtel of entertainments. I never thought in these modern days I would have seen anything like this, but I did and I was part of the “downstairs and upstairs” lifestyle. I was part of the “Downton Abbey” type of play for about six months and I am dreaming every day to have a Mr.Carson around.
Even though I did not have permission to photograph the house for privacy reasons, I will cherish the good experience and the good memories of that house. Which is the exciting room in your home? Ciao,
Valentina

http://www.valentinadesigns.com

Valentina Cirasola has been in business as a designer since 1990. She has helped a variegated group of fun people realizing their dreams with homes, offices, interiors, and exteriors. Her life is a continuous evolvement of colorful events. Being Italian born and raised, classicism and stylish, timeless designs influenced her design work. She will create your everyday living with a certain luxury without taking away a comfortable living. Get a copy of one of her books here:
Amazon: http://goo.gl/xUZfk0
Barnes&Nobles: http://goo.gl/q7dQ3w

In Tune With Fall | Valentina Cirasola | Interior Designer

25 Aug 2014 4 Comments

by Valentina in Home Designs Master Tags: #2014FallColors, #2014FallPantoneColors, #DecoratingTips, #HowToMixColors, #HowToUseInteriorColors, #InteriorColors, #RedVoyageIntoColors

I get excited every season when I see the new Pantone color palette released. You might say: “colors are colors and you see them all the time, especially in your work. What’s there to be so excited?” Well, I must say I don’t get to see that many colors in my clients’ home. I get to see the usual neutrals in all the tints and tones. It is just the same music season after season, if you know what I mean.
I have converted people to colorful homes, but it has been a hard process. On the hand, I do see colors in the clothes they wear and make me wonder why often their homes are totally the opposite, colorless. The answer might lay in the fact that everyone leads a frenetic life, but once home, they want to feel calm and relaxed. I go with that, after all, we have different needs. In my home I want to feel happy and get up to cheerful colors. To add colors in some of your spaces it doesn’t have to be risky or difficult and colors do not have to be in your face either. My way is to illuminate the rooms with colors.

Royal Blue-Aluminum-Radiant Orchid

Misted Yellow-Aluminum-Sangria

(Photo credits for each piece of furniture and fashion items are given to the respective owners)

Just for the sake of color argument, I put together a few boards to show how easy it is to decorate and to get dressed with the same colors of Fall 2014. I find the colors of this season being very appealing for any kind of skin, warm tones, wearable and livable.

Pablo Neruda once said: “Slowly dies the person who doesn’t risk, doesn’t change colors of dresses, doesn’t speak to stranger……”

Changing the colors of your environment will change the energy of your life. Ciao,

Valentina
http://www.valentinadesigns.com

Copyright © 2014 Valentina Cirasola, All Rights Reserved

Valentina Cirasola is an Italian Interior Designer working in the USA and Europe since 1990, specializing in 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.
Author of three published books, the latest ©RED – A Voyage Into Colors is on the subject of colors.

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

Swimming Pool or Lagoon? | Valentina Cirasola | Interior Designer

22 Jul 2014 2 Comments

by Valentina in Home Designs Master Tags: #BackyardDesign, #GardenLighting, #LagoonDesign, #SwinmmingPoolDesign, #ValentinaCirasolaOnPinterest, #ValentinaInteriorsDesigns, http://dailypost.wordpress.com/dp_photo_challenge/containers

At this time of the year, with the summer heat in full bloom, the only container I can think of is a pool in the garden containing a large body of cool, blue-green water where I can refresh my brain with a simple dip.

A “Swimming Pool” is a structure, basin, or tank which is intended for swimming, diving, or recreational bathing which contains water more than 24 inches deep at any point. This is roughly the description given in the book of building codes. Before December 14, 2006 building a swimming pool was fun and free of constrictions, until one-day things changed to complicate our lives.

Now every swimming pool installed, built or substantially modified after that date, must be equipped with one or more approved pool alarm which are capable of detecting a person entering the water at any point on the surface of the pool. The alarm must be audible at the poolside and other locations on the premises where the swimming pool is located, unless the swimming pool is equipped with an automatic power safety cover, then the alarm is not required.

A barrier of at least 4 feet high completely surrounding the swimming pool and obstructing access to the swimming pool is the next most important rule to know when building a swimming pool. Rules don’t stop here, we have been gifted with many more, but these are the two most important rules that will protect the homeowner if a group of strangers decides to jump the fence, take a dip in the pool while the homeowner is gone, act stupid and one of then drowns. Raising fences around the pool gives a sense of double seclusion more than the first fence built around the perimeter of the house and if you ask me is an unattractive feature. However, since the only thing we can do is to respect the rules, matter as well create something attractive and easy on the eye.

Just remember, if you are adding a swimming pool to increase value of your property, stop right there. The next buyers might not share your same interest in the pool and perhaps are looking to get a huge backyard for growing food instead. You never know. If you are building for your own pleasure, do it.

New Swimming Pool Concept

View of Pool Gate From Kitchen

Exterior Façade Concept Drawings

Nick Rickert – unsplash

A few years ago I created a set of drawings for remodeling the exterior of my client’s home. The remodeling was mostly aimed to have an attractive swimming pool for entertainment right outside the kitchen. In my concept drawings there was just about everything the client wanted. My list might help someone reading me in this moment in building their own pool space.

1. Next-door neighbors was curious about the affairs of others and looked in my clients’ back yard to find his own amusement. Tall trees would block the curious neighbors and at night the in-ground lights would not make the trees a dark presence.
2. During the day a livable stoned terrace area would provide a secluded area for sunbathing, reading, relaxing. At night, warm LED light would highlight the terrace area creating a cozy ambient where friends would sit comfortably on cushions, converse and sip a cool drink while the illuminated pool would be the centerpiece.
3. I planned for solar panel to warm up the pool water when needed.
4. Marine sails over the lounge area offer a good amount of shade.
5. The space was large enough for plenty lounge chairs aligned all around the pool.
6. Planning an illuminated swimming pool complements the house and adds safety. I even planned an island of flowers protruding on the water and stairs to help kids get in the pool.
7. Of course I planned an attractive tall fence all the way around the pool.

This is what the client wanted and received. This project in the Tuscan style was developed on-line and I never got to see the finished project. I am always happy to follow the client’s desire and dreams, that is what a designer should do, but if I ought to make a swimming pool for myself I would opt for a lagoon, with large rocks, water fall, tall trees and illuminated lush vegetation, much like the photo of a lagoon I posted here, without being open to the sea. Ah, let’s not forget the music! Good food, cool drinks and fun friends will follow. Ciao,
Valentina
http://www.valentinadesigns.com

Valentina Cirasola has been in business as a designer since 1990. She has helped a variegated group of fun people realizing their dreams with homes, offices, interiors and exteriors. She is a designer well-known to bring originality to people’s homes. As an Italian designer and true to her origins, she provides only the best workmanship and design solutions. Author of three books all-available on
Amazon: http://goo.gl/xUZfk0
Barnes&Nobles: http://goo.gl/q7dQ3w

Hold On To The Light | Valentina Cirasola | Interior Designer

11 Jul 2014 6 Comments

by Valentina in Home Designs Master Tags: #DoorDesign, #illuminatedDoorKnobs, #LEDDoorKnobs, #ValentinaCirasolaOnPinterest, #ValentinaInteriorsDesigns, #WaveCrystalDoorKnobSet, HomeAccessories

Creativity is a beautiful thing especially when the result is spectacular!
Krystal Touch of New York introduces the Wave Crystal Door Knob Set. A superior quality crystal makes this fantastic doorknob set, which illuminates with the touch, stays illuminated for one minute and then goes off, until touched again. If in your home there is a dark corridor, or a dark closet, this doorknob will keep you in the light. LED light illuminates one side or both sides of the knob and fits standard doors thickness of 1-3/8″ to 1-3/4″. Guarantee for a life, the price is very affordable, these knobs make great solutions for a home with character.

Wave

Basket Ball

Golf Ball – Brand Name: JHK

Glow in the dark-Found on: thegreenhead.com

Emtek Levers

Find some more fun door knob here https://www.trendhunter.com/slideshow/innovative-doorknobs

Emtek combines functionality, design, and fun all in one with its collection of Brighthandle, made of acrylic levers and stainless steel. Perfect for public restrooms and hotels, when the room is occupied the levers illuminates with LED lighting powered by a single AA battery. No need to put the Do Not Disturb sign against the door anymore. These levers are more expansive than the illuminated doorknobs, about $250 per door set. It is fairly a new product and like all the new products, the price will come down with a larger market demand.

One small suggestion: if you have arthritis, problems with joints or difficulties in doing turning motion, it is best to use the wrist blade door handles and faucets levers. 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.  She offers design consultations on-line through Skype and the traditional in-house consultations, helping people with their design challenge any where in the world. She is the author of three books, all-available on
Amazon: http://goo.gl/xUZfk0
Barnes&Nobles: http://goo.gl/q7dQ3w

Room | Valentina Cirasola | Interior Designer

11 Jun 2014 4 Comments

by Valentina in Home Designs Master Tags: #DecoratingTips, #ValentinaInteriorsDesigns, #WordPressPhotChallengeRoom, https://dailypost.wordpress.com/dp_photo_challenge/room, Room

This week the photo challenge is about the word ROOM – https://dailypost.wordpress.com/dp_photo_challenge/room

Rooms used to be grand and heavily decorated. Often we had to traverse many rooms before we could get to the right room, the destination for a specific activity, sleeping, eating, bathing, reading or gathering. In today’s world, rooms are built as small as possible to save on ground space, to fit more homes or apartments in one same borough.

Often people consider rooms as containers of stuff, without giving much thought to decorating. Once a room is filled with their possessions, it will serve their lives and that will be it.

Client's kitchen looking into dining ©Valentina Interiors & Designs

Client’s dining looking into living

Mural outside my studio

Living-Dining rooms

My ideal room must have plenty natural light from windows and skylights, if possible, must be spacious with a beautiful floor, must have some wall details such as niches and when I lay on the floor, I want to look up and see exposed beams, a mansard ceiling, or a stylish ceiling that will help me fantasize. After these architectural features important to me, the next thing I like is to have a balanced décor.

I like to open a door of a room and find a view on the opposite wall of the next room, a pleasant something to look at instead of staring a blank wall; a pleasant something that will accompany me when going from one room to the other; a pleasant something that will turn every wall in a gallery show. A room that overlooks another view is no longer a four-wall room. Ciao,
Valentina
http://www.valentinadesigns.com

Courtyard Of Courtship | Valentina Cirasola | Interior Designer

30 Apr 2014 4 Comments

by Valentina in Home Designs Master Tags: #EnclosedGardens, #ItalianCourtyard, #ItalianLifeStyle, #RedVoyageIntoColors, Courtyard, Peristilio

Walking along the small alleyways of Polignano a Mare in my beloved Puglia, a good aroma of home cooked food filled my nose. The salty air of the Mediterranean mixed with the food aroma coming from people’s houses permeated the air and created an aura of antiquity, that midday feeling when works stops to give way to daily meal with family and nothing else matters.

I was visiting my country at that time and I was walking the streets of Polignano with all my childhood friends who are ready to pick up our friendship where we left off, as if no years have passed by and no oceans divide us.
I pushed open the large green metal patina door of the house where the food aroma was coming out and a beautiful courtyard revealed in front of my eyes. Tall and short plants concealed colorful seating areas, cherubs in the fountains looked happy to play with the water, flowers everywhere, distressed walls, consumed floor and clean laundry were in all in one space open to the sky.

On the second floor, the mama was leaning on the balcony, visibly curious to see what a group of strangers were doing in her courtyard. To relieve her inconvenience of having strangers in her court, I soon asked her what she was cooking and why it smelled so good. She replied that the aroma I thought was so fantastic was nothing more than simple pasta and beans with pork bones. She invited all 10 of us to eat with her family and after a few minutes of reluctance, we were delighted to accept the invitation. The lunch lasted a good 3 hours, during which time she took out her best home-made wines and the best food preserved for the winter. It was a feast with people with had not known before that moment and became our best friend.

California courtyard – Photo taken with permission

California courtyard

A courtyard is not a backyard, nor a front porch, it is a private open spaces surrounded by walls used in residential architecture for as long as people have lived in constructed dwellings. In Roman villas the Peristilio was a courtyard used to give more light and aeration to the dwelling, often enclosing a swimming pool, or fountains to give out a pleasant atmosphere with games of water. In the Middle Eastern countries and as far as 3000 B.C., courtyards have been used for many purposes including cooking, sleeping, working, playing, gardening, and even places to keep animals.

In the Renaissance Italy the courts with portico and colonnades returned in all the classic elements, even monasteries and public buildings adopted the style. In Italy there are beautiful examples of public buildings with a court: Brunelleschi’s Palazzo Busini-Bardi (1430), Palazzo Strozzi and Palazzo Pitti (late 1500) in Florence, Palazzo Venezia (1470) and Palazzo Farnese in Rome and Palazzo Ducale (1470) in Urbino.

Courtship often took place in the courtyard of private homes under the watchful eye of the family, but mostly courtyards filled the universal desires of human beings to have air, light, privacy, security and tranquility.
If I will ever build my house, I will have a spectacle of courtyard and reproduce that moment in Polignano with all the friends who will want to court my food. Ciao,
Valentina
http://www.valentinadesigns.com

This is my 24th years in design business and I am not showing signs of wanting to quit. I will be evolving in different directions, while still helping people realizing their dream spaces in homes, offices, interiors, exteriors and improving restaurants or cafes. Check out my books on
Amazon: http://goo.gl/xUZfk0
Barnes&Nobles: http://goo.gl/q7dQ3w