#CoastalColors | Valentina Expressions

The Story Of Your Home |Valentina Cirasola | Interior Designer

04 Sep 2018 Leave a comment

by Valentina in Home Designs Master Tags: #CoastalColors, #DecoratingIdeas, #HomeColors, #MediterraneanColors, #TheStoryOfYourHome, #TransitioningInNewStyle

Last week, I participated in a Challenge on Facebook Live. It’s all about the benefits a business can draw from doing live videos from that platform. I decided to dedicate my fifth-day video to the story of your home. Does a home have a story? Yes, absolutely. In Italy, my native country, we believe that the first person walking by when the foundation of a home is laid out is the person that leaves his/her spirit in the house. Chinese people believe the entry door must be set toward the East, where the sun rises, to give a positive and lucky feeling to the house. These might be superstitions, but I can tell you that every time I went into a house I was buying, a sensation in my stomach and on my skin told me if I was welcomed there or not. If the feeling was positive and I felt good about the house, I started the process of buying and thinking of the décor.

Yesterday, someone made a comment after she saw this video below, on how to transition from Mediterranean style into a coastal style when she will move to a different house and was kind of worried all her expensive Mediterranean style furniture was not going to fit in the coastal style.
My first approach to that would be to think of colors first. Second, even furniture in good condition, beautiful and expensive go out of style and need to be updated.

Coastal colors are not only made of light blue, white and light green. Looking at the colors of my shell collection and my underwater flora/fauna photo, it comes apparent the Sea colors come from algae, coral reef, fish, rocks and sand. In coastal colors is easy to find yellow, orange, red, purple, greens in all shades, beiges, muted colors, greys, and even black.

My shell collection

Underwater life and colors

In the ’90s it was the rage the have at least a kitchen, if not the entire home in Tuscan/Mediterranean style. Everybody went with beiges, browns and dark burgundy as if there wasn’t anything else in the market. I had the impression people had lost fantasy and couldn’t imagine anything else. Mediterranean colors and style are beautiful and very colorful, the interpretation was wrong. The Mediterranean basin is a sunny, very warm area of the world, it is colorful and cheerful, reflecting the weather.

I am not sure why in the US, the Mediterranean style was interpreted with beiges, dark burgundy and browns, so very gloomy! I am glad that the fad is gone.
In my gallery, I am showing the correct colors of the Mediterranean style for those who want to do it right. It is still a good style for a home.

Mediterranean Floor

Mediterranean Kitchen

Mediterranean Table Top

Mediterranean Accessories

Mediterranean Kitchen Wall Detail

Mediterranean Tiles

Mediterranean Floor

Photo Source: Romeo Cuomo FB – https://www.facebook.com/romeo.cuomo

Now, go on, find your color palette and start your story.

In my video, I tell just about all, however, I am here ready and prompt to help. It is easy to rock the boat together.

thanks for watching. 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 was seen on RAI – Italian National TV and 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/qNxXrB
Barnes&Nobles: http://goo.gl/q7dQ3w

Why Not In Blue? | Valentina Cirasola | Interior Designer

23 Mar 2017 2 Comments

by Valentina in Home Designs Master Tags: #BlueHardwoodFloor, #CoastalColors, #FloridaColors, #HardwoodFloorSolutions, #HomeDecorating, #LifeOnTheCoast

Last week an email arrived in my inbox. The title was a question: Why Not In Blue?
This is a typical example of how an intriguing title will make you open an email.
Reading the email, I realized it came from a person I didn’t know, who was asking me for a color consultation on the hardwood floor of his house in Florida.
(Click on each photo to view it larger).

In the process of re-styling the main livable areas of the home, client realized the common floor to all those areas needed attention. The previous “butcher-block” hardwood floor was going to be stripped and revamped with a new color or stain. The house is on the coast of Florida, my client caressed the idea of a blue floor to reflect the coastal atmosphere, but was hesitant to try it, the new color or stain was a challenge to them. After a few Skype calls, after seen the spaces in the screen and through photographs, the choice of blueberry color for the hardwood floor was the best, which urged to redo a lot of the colors in those spaces. Hardwood floor usually covers a large space, often items in the areas defined by the hardwood floor need to be taken in consideration as well, such as tiles, hardware, furniture and lighting. Repainting or re-staining the hardwood floor cannot be a lonely act, one must be prepared to change a few things, to make everything flow together.

That is exactly what happened with this virtual client, who asked for help through my online consultations. They listened to my suggestions and were willing to take on the challenge to renew certain other things. The new color composition was born based on a bowl of shells I own, which met my client’s favor.

The kitchen top cabinet doors will change to glass fronts. All the golden beige colors will go on walls, some crucial walls where light hits differently will be accented with aqua, jade and basil colors. The browns will be some of the rustic furniture client wants to get. Gray colors are the existing ceiling beams and will remain as they are. Black and white represent existing interior doors, wrought iron door hardware, some new black lamp shades and some white pillows to mix with various green and bluish pillows. Decorative items will be in blue, aqua and decorative glass.

I am so happy to have found someone excited about a blue floor, one in a million. Most people think of resale value and don’t live in the environment they have always dreamt.
A few hours of colors consultations will bring you a new energy, a renewed life force, a new face to the home and I haven’t moved one inch from my studio.
Are you tired of your butcher-block hardwood floor yet? I am here to help you. 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

Christmas On The Sea | Valentina Cirasola | Interior Designer

14 Dec 2015 2 Comments

by Valentina in Home Designs Master Tags: #BlueChristmas, #ChristmasDecorations, #ChristmasOnTheSea, #CoastalChristmas, #CoastalColors, #RedVoyageIntoColors

Every year I have a new challenge for beauty, style and originality: how to decorate my Christmas at home. Stores propose the same old thing, red, gold and green.
At times I see gold and silver with white. Rarely I see other colors. Christmas is a traditional holiday I like to respect the traditional celebrations, but being a non-traditional designer, I like to bring innovations in this yearly event and make it really special.

I was born on the beautiful blue-green water of the Adriatic Sea, the East side coast of Italy, I thought this year my Christmas will have a coastal flair with driftwood and succulent plants.
I want to create a very organic atmosphere that I might keep even after the holidays. With glass baubles I want to create light and reflections and that will be the shimmering I am looking for instead of using gold specks everywhere and fake ornaments.

I will use mini trees decorated with sea shells and ocean blue glass ornaments. I will scatter beach lights everywhere, fill vases with blue crystals and wrap gift packages with nautical maps.
The table will be dressed with bluish plates with a mixture of gold and blue drinking glasses.

Source: San & Spiral

Blue Crystals – ©Valentina Cirasola

©Valentina Cirasola – Photo taken in ZGallery

The focus of my table is always food, wine and conversation with interesting people for which I reserve a large space. Decorations take a second place, inconspicuous and elegant in their simplicity. This year I want my decorations fresh looking with cool colors. I want to remember the aroma of the sea, imagining all the fresh seafood just caught and brought alive to the table in wicker baskets, the fresh oysters, shellfish and the happy faces of my family, all fish eaters, around the bounty from the Adriatic Sea.
What are your Christmas decorations this year? Would you like to tell me about it?

While we wait for the new light to come into our life and celebrate it, I will wish all of you a very Happy Christmas and if you don’t celebrate it, please take some rest time and celebrate your life. 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 in any of her design work. She loves to remodel homes and loves to create the unusual, as much as she loves to restyle people’s images. She needs your story to design your dream. Check out her books on
Amazon: http://goo.gl/xUZfk0
Barnes&Nobles: http://goo.gl/q7dQ3w

Coastal Atmosphere In Your Home | Valentina Cirasola | Interior Designer

09 Apr 2015 Leave a comment

by Valentina in Home Designs Master Tags: #CoastalColors, #Corals, #HowToDecorateWithShells, #LifeOnTheCoast, #RedVoyageIntoColors, #SeaColors, #ValentinaInteriorsDesigns

Coastal decorating to me is ephemeral. Picture for one moment the colors of the water reflected on the walls and the next moment sun rays reverberating on the water and then again on the walls of your home. Coastal decoration is breezy, it must recreate the soft wind that carries the music of a wind chime and the echo of the sea in a large conch shell. Coastal decoration is also rustic, sandy and weathered as the seawater creates a patina on anything it touches. These are the feelings and atmospheres we want to create when decorating in the coastal style.

Coastal Colors my way

Sea Cockles-Photo found on http://www.pescherialoscoglio.it/frutti-di-mare.html

My shells collection

https://www.etsy.com/listing/75945106/sea-foam-green-whelk-seashell-air-plant

This style requires texturing, that means eliminating slipperiness and glossiness. The essence of a coastal effect is to keep everything as natural as possible. It is a celebration of tactile qualities where one can imagine telling a story of mariners and navigations. It is important to use opaque material, salvaged or rustic, weathered-beaten materials that are warm and cozy like driftwood, burlap fabrics and cord or rope materials often used as trims.
To perceive a soft lulling sense of the sea waves, window covers must be light, soft, easily to drape and often very sheer.

Colors are interesting, because most people would decorate using a lot of white, blues and aqua colors, but if we look at the underwater world, we will find an array of beautiful colors. In the underwater world there are coral banks ranging from beautiful orange color to purplish, white, cream and even greenish. The seabed has vegetation and algae ranging from all the grey tones, all the blue tones, all the green tones, to sage, pale yellow, and purple and even rose colors. Let’s not forget the colors of all the fish, some of which are multicolored and then all the variegated shells varying from beige and white tones to even brown tones, black, grey, blues and on and on.

To give a finishing touch, succulent plants tucked away in shells and glass topiary full of sand and driftwood would be perfect.

Nautical Theme – Model Kitchen

Colors and Material – Kitchen

Colors and Material Story Board – Living Room

A few years ago, one of my clients in Italy decided to decorate most of his home in coastal style. I called that project: “Stories of Navigations” because the client had been a life time long-distance navigator on merchant ships. Using his memories and his tales to decorate his home, my goal was to let him re-live his sea affairs. To reminding him of his distant voyages in exotic lands, I reproduced the original ancient maps he collected and pasted them on the walls of his living room. I used nautical ropes as curtain tiebacks, I placed lot of brass metals here and there as we see them on old ships, galleons and even modern yachts. The fabrics of upholstery were rough canvas, jute fabrics, striped cotton and burlap fabrics. The kitchen was huge fun to design. I found a company that specializes on nautical kitchen and other furniture. On the kitchen cabinets, the details were ship’s portholes and a lot of brass hardware. The floor was spectacular. I found a bluish-green marble that really echoed the swaying of seawater. The choice was between blue-green marble or blue painted hardwood floor. The choice was hard, as both floor solutions were very attractive. At the end marble won.

If you live on the water, refresh your home with “cool” ideas and if you need me, I am here to help. Ciao,
Valentina
http://www.valentinadesigns.com

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 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