#HomeStyle | Valentina Expressions

A Talk On Style | Valentina Cirasola | Designer

03 Mar 2021 2 Comments

by Valentina in Friday Fashion Tags: #HomeStyle, #JoyRuffenTalkShow, #PersonalStyle, #StyleandFashion, #StyleTalk

Usually, people don’t think about style, nor colors. They get up in the morning, often with mechanical gestures and not much thinking put on clothes, and go. I was interviewed on the show Leading Ladies Leaving Legacy with host Joy Ruffen to talk about style. We talked about style in general, fashion, interiors, colors. Check this out, we are wearing the same colors and didn’t even plan for it.

Style is hard to describe. Once I wrote style is a subtle perception of the eyes, if we perceive something beautiful, we immediately think that person is stylish. Style shows up in many expressions of life: a piece of music can have a particular style in a certain genre; an author writing in his own voice can show a personal literary style; the same food can look different if presented with style; cutting hair, or curling it in a certain way might show style; a business presentation can be conducted in a stylish way to keep attendees from getting bored.
Style is not about fashion, in fact, style and fashion are not the same things. Style clearly shows that a person is confident and knows who he/she is. Fashion is about following rules dictated by the industry.

The most iconic stylish person of the 20th century was Audrey Hepburn. She knew herself, her body type, her character and dressed only for that with a style that confirmed her confidence.

Style is to dress in something original that creates a visual impact without being too noticeable.
Just remember to be yourself even if you get all the fashion rules wrong. Style will give you that courage and you will still feel good. Ciao,
Valentina
Fashion Services

Valentina Cirasola is an Italian Interior Designer established in 1990. Often people describe her as “the colorist” as she loves to color her clients’ world and loves to create the unusual. Currently, she consults on colors based on clients’ personalities and lifestyles, she creates atmospheres using the proper lighting that is going to add harmony and peace to the homes and she helps clients creating fantasy rooms instead of typical rooms looking like furniture showrooms. She is the author of six published books, two of which are on design subjects. Amazon and Barnes&Noble

Queen’s Hamlet | Valentina Cirasola | Interior Designer

30 Dec 2016 Leave a comment

by Valentina in Home Designs Master Tags: #DecoratingTips, #HameauDeLaReine, #HomePersonalDecorating, #HomePersonalStyle, #HomeStyle, #QueenHamlet, Design

Parties are for having fun, meeting friends, new people, eating, drinking and small talks and better be prepared, they will happen! Actually knowing how to conduct small talks to your advantage is a professional social skill. I was at a Christmas party where I met a woman who knew how to ease in the small talk conversation until she realized I was an interior designer. The natural questions that followed was: “I bet your house is beautiful! What is the style?”

Often people forget to ask what is your personal style, which would define better the answer. Style can be copied from magazines and voila’ it’s done. Does that mean it is your style? Maybe or maybe not. You might feel good in it, if you choose it, you must like it. (Click on each photo to view it larger).

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Photo Source: Wikimedia Commons

I remember when I visited the palace of Versailles in France, I also visited the idyllic Hameau de la Reine (The Queen’s Hamlet), a rustic retreat in the park of the Château de Versailles built in 1783 for Marie Antoinette, who longed to play a farm girl role during her week spent in luxury. The building scheme included a farmhouse to produce milk and eggs for the queen, a dairy, a dovecote, a boudoir, a barn, a mill and a tower in the form of a lighthouse.

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Photo Source: Wikimedia Commons

Each building was decorated with a garden, an orchard or a flower garden. The Hameau served as a private meeting place for the Queen and her closest friends, a place of leisure, the rooms offered an intimate setting than the grand salons at Versailles or at the Petit Trianon. Clearly Marie Antoinette was never a farm girl, only wanted to experience the feeling of living someone else’s life.

That is what I notice when I go to people’s homes, often the furniture and home décor don’t reflect their lifestyle. There are formal rooms never enjoyed because they don’t entertain, there are expensive designed kitchens where nobody cooks, there are immense spaces for a household of only two people, or I go into small homes filled with an overabundance of heirloom objects, garage sales findings, collectibles and travel memories, all contributing to the home clutter.

In the house where the party was, all the pictures frames were brown to match the brown furniture. Just to continue the small talk conversation, I pointed the picture frames to the woman speaking to me and I said it is OK for some people to match one thing to the other, just as they match the earrings to the necklace, the handbag to the shoes. To them it feels comfortable, to me is mortally boring (my favorite phrase) and banal. If you want to be unique, break these rules, I told her.

(Above: Evening atmosphere in my office)

In my house, I broke all the rules on purpose. All my picture frames are different and still communicate with the décor. She said: “I hope you use this phrase in your marketing material, as it explains all your thoughts in a few words”. I felt I opened a door for her to new ways of arranging furniture and “thoughts”.

(Above: Evening atmosphere in my kitchen)

Antique pieces can be paired with modern furniture, warm colors with cool colors are beautiful, various metals finishes can be arranged together; glass live well with wood finishes or stones and rugs or pillows must not match the artwork at all.

(Above: Evening atmosphere in my kitchen)

I feel comfortable in a house that is not the scheme of someone else, I live in the colors that make me feel good and in the atmospheres I create for my well-being. I live in my Queen’s Hamlet. How about you? 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 colors
©RED-A Voyage Into Colors,
available on
Amazon: http://goo.gl/qNxXrB
Barnes&Nobles: http://goo.gl/q7dQ3w

Dancing With Fish | Valentina Cirasola | Interior Designer

09 Jul 2013 6 Comments

by Valentina in Home Designs Master Tags: #BedroomStyle, #EmeraldColor, #HomeStyle, #HowToDecorateTips, #Pantone2013FallColors, #RedVoyageIntoColors

“The sea is as near as we come to another world” said Ann Stevenson, American-British poet and writer.
The visit to the Monterey Aquarium gave me such a good inspiration for the colors of the fall coming up. The names Pantone gave each new color are suggestive of precious stones, underwater world, seaweed, Mediterranean islands, expensive wines, sexy dances and turbulent times. How can I not like the freedom the fall palette gives me?

(Photo: Pantone)

I can swirl in a bedroom that reflects the yellow-green seaweed (Linden Green) with the blue of a Greek Island (Mykonos Green) and a strong steaming coffee color (Carafe).
I can move around in a living room and dance to the sound of hot (Samba), drinking a sparkling ice-cold (Acai) berry drink.

The fall 2013 palette allows for experimentation, anything is possible. We can express many moods with this versatile palette and allow the shorter days in the colder months to evolve vivaciously without rules.

Take a look at the coral reefs in my short video, they enclose the secret of how to mix all those colors together. I can almost see them doing pirouettes to the beat of a Waltz. If those colors look good in nature, they will look good in your home and tell me you wouldn’t feel happy with all those colors together!!! 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. 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

Can You Be Bold? | Valentina Cirasola | Interior Designer

11 Dec 2010 2 Comments

by Valentina in Home Designs Master Tags: #DecoratingTips, #FurnitureLayOut, #HomeDecorating, #HomeStyle, #HomeTrends, #InteriorColors, #UrbanStyle, Furniture

November and December are two fabulous months for me to get inspirations from stores and their displays. Being the curious person that I am and always with a camera in my hands, I shoot at anything that attracts my eyes. The other night, after I had taken a few pictures, I started to notice a pattern in my photos. Everything in my camera view was big, bold, large, oversize and not for any particular reason. Ok, nothing wrong with that, I guess my eyes needed to sweep in wide spaces, but how do we fit oversize items in small spaces, you might ask? Let’s start by saying that one does not need to have tall ceilings and ballroom type of space to host large objects.

Two bulky bookshelves (as in the photo) will look massive in a small room, but adding a large picture, print, or canvas in between will break the bulkiness, the monotony and will fill the wall nicely. The horizontal lines must be kept on the same level for the eyes to rest peacefully and send a message of harmony to the brain. The same two bulky bookshelves placed side by side in the middle of the wall in a large room will not look so massive any more and it will allow floor space perhaps for a pair of chairs, or a pair of floor lamps on each side of the bookshelves.

I love clocks on the walls, whether they are antiques, contemporaries or reproductions, they are timeless objects of décor. A Grand Central Station wall clock, a Parisian country clock, or a Grand Father’s clock, they all need to be surrounded with the right accessories. An oversize clock hanging on the wall needs a large base, a console, or a credenza under its own weight to eliminate the feeling of “hanging” in space, then the wall feels balanced. Of course to match the right kind of style of chandelier and lighting to the style of the clock would be ideal, but today’s décor permits to go outside the rules and allows personal expression to make a statement and to define the character of the home.

Mirrors: consider them as another kind of windows opened in the walls. They reflect the light and they reflect the beauty, so place them where you can see the beauty elevated to higher power. Mirrors must not be all the same style and look, nobody said that, as matter of fact, more they are different in sizes, shapes and style, higher the interest they will bring to the décor of a room. And if one of the mirror is so large that would be even too heavy to hung, lay it casually against the wall, it will actually give a perception of height and everything reflected in it will look slightly taller. A mirror combination will fill a large wall graciously and a large mirror in a small room will change the status of the room from contained to grand.

(All photos taken in the store by ©Valentina Cirasola with permission)

Lighting finishes the room like jewelry on a woman’s dress. This is one item of furnishing where we can all go to town due to a wide variety of choices, but remember that the eyes find repose when they meet shadows. It is very nice to have bright light and light beams when we need to see clear, but in some special moments a light glow coming from various planes is so much more refined.

Large items have one advantage: they fill any space magically, clutter is eliminated instantly and so is the desire to accumulate more items.

As seen on Affluent Living:

Go out there and find the boldest, largest items for your decor and then set them in the most unusual way. Ask yourself what this item makes you feel, what is the emotion that it exudes in the room and how it dictates its presence. If you like to send me pictures, I shall be here to help with any challenges. Ciao,
Valentina

http://www.valentinadesigns.com

Valentina Cirasola is a trained Italian Interior Designer in business since 1990. Being Italian born and raised, Valentina’s design work has been influenced by Classicism and stylish, timeless designs. She will create your everyday living with a certain luxury without taking away your comfort. She loves to restore old homes, historic dwellings and she focuses on remodeling.
Check out her books on
Amazon: http://goo.gl/xUZfk0
Barnes&Nobles: http://goo.gl/q7dQ3w

Elegance | Valentina Cirasola | Interior Designer

24 Jul 2010 2 Comments

by Valentina in Home Designs Master Tags: #Elegance, #HomeDecor, #HomeFashion, #HomePersonalStyle, #HomeStyle, Avaliving

In a world of an exulted cult of the appearances, people tend to live in vanity, exaggerations and in the desire to impress others at all costs. Often people’s aim is to overdo and to over say, not only in fashion but in every expression of life.

Elegance is not showy. Elegance is style, awareness, and moderation.
Elegance is a balanced mix of good taste and precise choices. It translates in the right search for substance and attention to details. Elegance is sober and sobriety is elegant. Both are pleasing and comfortable, functional and beautiful.
Sobriety is not a sacrifice. I would describe it as the ability to choose only what is needed, especially when it comes to fashion as an interpretation of self, other than home fashion.

Some people think elegance is a gift and others think it is an innate talent. It could be somewhat true. There are people who know how to express and communicate with their look better than others. On the other hand, nobody is condemned to be vulgar, bulky and annoying, or just trust his/her own instinct. Elegance, sobriety, and simplicity are all things we can learn and cultivate and once we learn them, they can simplify our lives.

Einstein said: “To be simple, is to be brilliant” e someone else said: “Simplicity is the key of elegance”. Totally agree, in fact, I am the queen of simplicity.

Style and elegance are not easy to define. Style refers to forms, appearances, and character. Everyone has a style that can be beautiful or not pleasing at all, according to what our eyes project.
Let’s talk about home style, just to take an example. Baroque style is an elegant style, but ancient and not practical for the times we live in. If we mix Baroque style in the simplicity of contemporary furnishing, it can result in a dynamic décor and it will describe a person with a variegated and polyhedral character. But not everybody can make combinations of this sort, well thought out that looks good too.
(Photo Baroque chair below: http://foter.com/explore/baroque-living-room-furniture)

Elegance never goes out of style, that is if we don’t follow trends to the letter.
Another example can be the European fascination with the color black as a screaming trend in kitchen design. Come on! How would you like to eat tasty mussels (black shells) in a pasta specialty served on black plates, with a black drinking glass set, surrounded by black kitchen cabinetry?

As a designer, my goal is to accentuate the personality of the people living in the house I am contracted to design, making sure their spaces serve their needs and have an originality too. My spaces are not made with a cookie cutter. My spaces are timeless, they cannot be recognized as made in 2008 or 1998 and yet I am a person very much projected in the future, but I don’t feel I must follow trends dictated by any industry.
I take only the best part of the trends, the rest I invent it myself and that is “my trend”.

How can you, in a few simple words, explain this concept? Any home can be simply elegant and stylish, I am here just for that. My help is simply available to style your home in a livable elegance.
Please forward this article to someone you think might be interested in reading it, or in receiving the same tips. Comments are welcomed. Thank you.
Valentina

http://www.valentinadesigns.com

As seen on Affluent Living:

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Valentina Cirasola is an Italian Interior Designer since 1990 and a former Fashion Designer, working in the USA and Europe. She blends well fashion and interior in any of her design work. She loves to remodel homes and loves to turn unattractive spaces into castles. Fashion designing has been the first career choice that made her happy in her own fashion company for fifteen years before settling in the interior designing business. Find her books on
Amazon: http://goo.gl/xUZfk0
Barnes&Nobles: http://goo.gl/q7dQ3w

Color Pink On Stage For Valentine’s Day | Valentina Cirasola | Interior Designer

06 Feb 2010 Leave a comment

by Valentina in Home Designs Master Tags: #DecoratingWithPink, #EuropeanFashion, #HomeDecorating, #HomeStyle, #HowToDecorateTips, #InteriorDesign, #PinkColor

The color Pink is a color that I am not particularly fond of, but I have learned to appreciate it in some situations. Pink is sweeter than red. It reminds me of the cotton candy and bubble gum I never ate, they just looked too sweet; it reminds me of strawberry ice cream I delighted myself during many Italian summers. Girls between the ages of 10 and 15 years old absolutely adore pink.

We generally associate pink with the femininity and everything delicate. In the mind of some people, pink indicates the weaker sex. Go figure! From time to time, Pink is also seen in men’s fashion, but it is short-lived and it goes in and out of style. I love to see men with some interesting pink garment on!

Both red and pink denote love, but while red stirs up hot passion, pink is romantic. The pink gentle and delicate vibrations have a proven soothing effect on one’s behavior. You could almost say that pink literally fills the heart with love! However, we must be careful, when too much pink is used in an interior space, it can create a floating effect and the illusion of living in a padded and protected environment.

If using Feng Shui theory the best use for pink (Fire color) is in the Earth Element area of one’s space, as it is connected to Love and Marriage. Earth is a productive cycle of the Feng Shui’s five elements.

In designing a room, the Fire energy can be simulated by painting an accent wall in a delicate pink, or by adding some pink in the accessories. The “hot version” of pink is Magenta Pink, which we are seeing more and more often, as it brings a fiery energy, especially when coupled with orange, also a Fire Element color. A beautiful way to bring pink color into one’s personal or business space is to place a bowl of rose quartz crystals, as these rock crystals carry strong natural and healing love vibrations.

Powder room, or creative offices are the perfect spaces to decorate in pink. Use it sparingly in a girl’s bedroom. Combining pink with extravagant colors will show we are not afraid of colors and criticism, but we must know how to do it right.

Besides the marvelous pink and orange combination, pink and green, or pink and black are the best vibrant combinations. In Feng Shui, a sharp-looking pink and green from medium to dark is an active color combination. It brings together the energy of Fire Element (Pink) and Wood (Green). This combination will sooth and strengthen our human energy.

(Photo credits given to the respective owners of the images in this board)

Pink and black together are a very elegant and beautiful “retro” combination, very much used in the style of the ‘20s and ‘30s. In Feng Shui these colors brings out the energies of Fire (Pink) and Deep Water (Black). Black alone represents a Yin feminine energy; it stands for stability and protection, thus it is needed to ground other colors and to dilute the energy of pink. All shades of pink turn from playful, girlish colors into sophisticated colors when combined with black or gray, or shades of blue from medium to dark.

As a career woman and since I passed the age of 15, I would never wear pink shoes, not at work, not for walking at leisure, not at an elegant affair, not for fun either, but that’s just me! A touch of pink in the wardrobe is welcome, but only a touch. I am here to help you getting in touch with any color in your fashion and in your home. My design services include architectural colors analysis and colors for home fashion. For the benefits of my Clients, my color and design services are also available on-line. Please tell others about it and feel free to forward this article to someone you think will enjoy receiving the same tips. Comments are welcomed. Just leave your name in the box below. Ciao,
Valentina

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 turn unattractive spaces into castles. Valentina is knows as a colorist. Her life is a continuous evolvement of colorful events. Author of the forthcoming book on the subject of Colors. Stay tuned! Author of the book: ©Come Mia Nonna–A Return to Simplicity
Amazon: http://goo.gl/xUZfk0
Barnes&Nobles: http://goo.gl/q7dQ3w

Dress With Art | Valentina Cirasola | Interior Designer

13 Jan 2010 Leave a comment

by Valentina in Home Designs Master Tags: #DressWithArt, #EuropeanFashion, #FashionTrends, #HomeStyle, #HomeTrend, #HowToDecorateTips, #InteriorDesign

“Dress With Art” is the password of this year unfriendly economy.
Luxury is not a thing of the past yet, but people are spending less. We are all rediscovering quality and we are buying items that are going to last longer, thus we will be throwing away less.
Looking at magazines of the ’40 my mother left in her attic, I am discovering one pattern common to all. The world was at war then, women could not afford many dresses and outfits. To make themselves look rich, abundant, elegant and to give the impression the war did not affect them, a lot of lipstick and make-up was used, in fact, cosmetics houses were booming. Women closets were not filled with an overabundance of dresses and outfits. Dresses were the same all year round, just worn differently. To keep a fresh look on the one and only dress women-owned, they would sew it in many ways, they turned it inside out a few times during the year, or they added details, like belts and collars one time and sparkles the next time.

Studying the trends of the end of 2009 and the trends of 2010, it seems we are returning to the ’40 again. Many people I know are returning to sewing and to customize their own clothes (it is so refreshing to see creativity walking in the streets again, versus the same look everywhere) and many people are encouraged to economize on many fronts. Old values are coming back, it boils down to what matters the most.
While people are thinking of creative ways to spend their money, fashion designers are having fun bringing back old comfort. Gloves and hats are reappearing on the scene, just like Donna Karen’s padded shoulders and red lipstick presented last year in Paris and New York (thank you for femininity again). Laura Biagiotti invented a collection named LaurArt in the year 2007, to tribute her collections of futurist’s art paintings. Greek fashion creator Mary Katrantzou focused on vintage fatisse bottles of perfumes of big houses (Jean-Paul Gaultier, Givenchy, Guerlain …). She adopted the distinctive shapes of these famous bottles to outline women’s bodies.

(DesignBoom – Mary Katrantzou dresses – women in perfume bottles)

“Dress With Art” as a concept has entered the home too. People are buying affordable luxury items making sure it will provide the same comfort and ambiance with one added thing: durability. Many people are considering authentic vintage and old pieces of furniture to be re-faced with an artistic flair. I see much Classicism mixed with some contemporary pieces, competing with strong classic elements in the architecture.
Kitchens are more and more the heart of the house, in fact, people are cooking more at home than eating out and grocery stores are booming.
Bathrooms continue to represent the cocooning and the spa at home for relaxation with every possible gadget and novelty: chromotherapy, aromatherapy, music, entertainment, fireplace and fridge for champagne.
With digital art on wallpaper, walls don’t have to be painted anymore, they can be covered with unique digital art, which is waterproof, mold proof, no glue, or water needed. Do you fancy the look of a Roman bath? Find a scenery that suits you, the experts will transfer it digitally on paper. Do you paint art as a hobby, or as a profession? You can have your own art transferred digitally on paper for your own enjoyment. Until you get tired of that scene, the walls don’t have to be painted ever again.
The 2010 trends continue to carry colors on the walls that are emulating the metal finishes, with an aged, hammered or burnished texture, perfect with a neutral palette. Beautiful artistic walls can be created. The new concept of a functional home is not to overstuff it with lot of nonsense dust collectors, but to have only what matters the most.
Valentina

Fashion Services

https://valentinadesigns.com/services#fashion-services

Valentina Interiors & Designs is an Interior and Fashion design firm.
Valentina, the principal designer, and owner is a trained designer and has been in business since 1990. She works on consultation and produces design concepts for remodeling, upgrading, new homes, décor restyling and home fashion. Valentina has been featured in Italy on: “Vogue” magazine and many prominent publications in California. She also has made two appearances on T.V. Comcast Channel 15.

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

Author of the forthcoming book on the subject of Colors

Hello World! | Valentina Cirasola | Interior Designer

11 Jan 2010 Leave a comment

by Valentina in Home Designs Master Tags: #DecoratingTips, #HomeStyle, #HomeTrend, #HowToUseColors, #InteriorDesign, #ValentinaFashionDesigner, #ValentinaInteriorsDesigns

Hello World, Happy New Year and Happy New You!
The festivities are over, guests are gone, the Christmas decorations are gone and left a hollow space, outside is kind of cold and grey. How do we pick a cheerful mood again? Redecorate and make any space, or the entire home ready for the Spring. Now, is the perfect time to get rid of all those items that have occupied a space in your home for a long time and donate them.
Redefine conversation areas with a new throw rug and colorful pillows on the seating. Reupholster a sofa, or chairs in a new fabric and give them a new life. Rearrange and rotate all of your art work on the walls. When you take out art work that has been in the closet for a while, it looks new and interesting again, but if you really don’t like it anymore, refresh, free your closets from clutter and donate.

Refresh the walls by painting them with vivid and cheerful colors welcoming the Spring. Rotate your furniture too and pick up chairs and accessories from other rooms to mix and match as you like. Rooms don’t have to look the same year after year. By doing this, you create a flow of positive energy in your home.

Add fresh flowers in each room and plant cooking spices that you can keep in pots inside the kitchen window and use them for a new fresh cooking style.
Clean all your windows inside and out and wash the curtains.
Decorate your front door landing with a variety of new pots for new plants and garden ornaments.
Reclaim dead spaces. If you need more storage space in your home, there are many areas people don’t think of using.
For example, the part underneath a stair case can be filled with shelves and drawers, add decorative doors in the front and you have an attractive storage room that now has become an integral part of the room.

Bookshelf spaces of 6″ to 8″ can be created all around doors. I love to see books in every corner of the house, I place them everywhere, not just in the library room.
The space under a window can be used to create a built-in banquette seat with storage capacity inside for blankets, toys and sport gears. Fill the top of the banquette with decorative pillows and nobody will ever know what’s inside.
Clean and polish all your shoes, why? They look good and it is a new year!
What I am saying is, celebrate every day of your life, not just December with all the Christmas lights, glitters and decorations. Every day is equally precious.

Please forward this article to anyone you think might be interested in reading it and let me know what you think by leaving a comment below. Thank you.

Valentina
Interior Designer
Website: www.Valentinadesigns.com

Valentina Cirasola is an Italian Interior and Fashion Designer, working in the USA and Europe. She combines well fashion and interior in any of her design work. She loves to remodel homes and loves to turn unattractive spaces into castles.
Fashion designing has been her first career choice that made her happy in her own company for fifteen years.
Author of the book: ©Come Mia Nonna–A Return to Simplicity
Booksite: outskirtspress.com/ComeMiaNonna
Author of the forthcoming book on the subject of Colors

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