#MyPersonalAToZChallenge | Valentina Expressions

Buffet À La Française | Valentina Cirasola | Interior Designer

06 Dec 2013 Leave a comment

by Valentina in Home Designs Master Tags: #BuffetÀLaFrançaise, #ChristmasDinner, #DecoratingWithAntiques, #MyPersonalAToZChallenge, #RedVoyageIntoColors, #ServiceÀLaRusse

Welcome to my personal A to Z Challenge on the subject of Home. The goal, in a year time, is to elaborate and dissect topics regarding the Home not as containers of stuff, but as a cocoon for the soul, mind, and heart. I will touch on decorations, style, trends, history of the home and sometimes technical information.
Now I have two months left to complete my challenge. The beat is on.

Just in time for the holidays to converse on the choice of a buffet-style dinner party or sitting down formal dinner. Both need a pleasing design, menu planning, and serving strategy. As a designer, I can tell you that formal dining rooms are disappearing from homes. The dining space is now used to make a great room, which includes living and family room in an open space attached to the kitchen. The buffet serving style is more congenial to today’s living. Servants are not necessary, we only need good food and to spend quality time with our guests.

Service à la Française

McKenzieChild

After dinner treat – Service à la Russe in the living

Buffet style food or self-serve style is an invention of less than 100 years. Food was always consumed sitting down at a table with many servants around attending guests and always ready to fill the wine glass, take away empty plates, or light candles that had blown off. Service à la Française (French style) of the middle 1800s in the Victorian era is the closest way to buffet style of today, food came out of the kitchen all together in an impressive, but often impractical display and placed on large pieces of furniture that now we call Buffet.

Often food arrived covered with silver domes, but due to the distant location of the kitchen in respect to the dining area, they arrived cold. Guests could admire the beautiful display of food on the table and helped themselves to dishes close by, but had to rely on servants to bring other food or wines and to change plates and cutlery. The table for service à la Française was beautifully made up, generally with a minimum of a three-course meals in addition to desserts. Soup and various terrines were on one side of the table, meat and fish on the opposite side, many other specialties in the middle of the table and all sizes and shapes cutleries around the edges of the table. Almost just like we arrange a buffet today.

The host’s duty to carve meats at the buffet table with all that production of food was very challenging. Today, at a buffet-style party we would have a cutting station for meats and fish separate from other food.

In the early 19th century Russian Ambassador Alexander Kurakin brought to France the Service à la Russe (service in the Russian style), which is the style of dining that involves courses being brought to the table sequentially up to dessert. Before serving desserts the table was cleared out even of breadcrumbs. After desserts, guests left the dining table and moved to the living room or sitting room to sip coffee, tea, liqueurs and smoking cigars.

Restaurants have adopted the service à la Russe style as well as people in their home for sitting down dinner parties in those few rare occasions when families get together on important holidays and get to enjoy the formal dining room. Various cultures in history have used some form of a buffet as furniture to serve food from. Usually, the bottom part stores tableware and linens and the top part is for displaying appetizers, bottles of wines, desserts, extra flatware, and glassware.

Italians like simple lines buffets as in all their home décor. Food is always the main protagonist of our dinner parties and as long as there is food on display, the rest of the décor will disappear in its stylish silence. Ciao,
Valentina

http://www.valentinadesigns.com

It’s my hope that through my writing I am enriching your aesthetic sensibility towards design, style and inspire you to live in beauty. I have loved my profession as an interior designer since 1990. I am here ready to offer consultations on-line if you need it. Check out my latest book on colors ©RED-A Voyage Into Colors, available on
Amazon: http://goo.gl/xUZfk0
Barnes&Nobles: http://goo.gl/q7dQ3w

The Eye Of Your Home | Valentina Cirasola | Interior Designer

02 Dec 2013 2 Comments

by Valentina in Home Designs Master Tags: #ArchitecturalDetails, #BrunelleschiDome, #BullEyeWindow, #MyPersonalAToZChallenge, #OculiWindow, #OeilDeBoeufWindow, #RedVoyageIntoColors, Palladio, Pantheon

What is an oculus (plural oculi)? It’s an eye-like opening or ornament found in many Neoclassical, Baroque and Byzantine buildings of Italy and Europe. It is often a round window and less often a circular opening at the apex of a dome. The Pantheon in Rome is the finest example, its oculus measures 27 ft in diameter. The purpose of the oculus was to collect rainwater, which was channeled into drains for later usage. The water functioned as an early example of air conditioning as it kept the building cool during summer months. The other necessary function was to allow the sunlight in for natural light in the building.

The world admires Filippo Brunelleschi’s Dome and Santa Maria Del Fiore Cathedral in Florence, Palladian villas in the Veneto area of Italy and Syrian Byzantine buildings all carrying oculi, but I really wonder if the mass tourism cares to know about these architectural inventions that stood the taste of time and are still loved today.

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Photo: Florence – Eleonora Altomare – Unsplash

1600px-Opéra_municipal_de_Clermont-Ferrand,_œil_de_bœuf
Opéra municipal de Clermont-Ferrand, œil de bœuf – Photo: Stockholm -Wikimedia Commons

fernando-tapia-oN4h_07E0KQ-unsplash

Photo: Fernando Tapia -unsplash

During the Byzantine Empire the oculi were common details to see on buildings from 5th to 10th century in Constantinople, however during the Italian Renaissance the open oculi on cupolas were substituted with round windows and skylights and in the Baroque era, round windows with an eyebrow on top or ornate stone carvings around an oculus took a more elongate form than circular. The French called them œil de boeuf (bull’s eye).

In my early design career, one of the projects I designed with oculi gave me a lot more satisfaction. It was a remodeling of a kitchen for a gentleman who had devoted his life to sea navigation. For him, I choose naval style cabinetry with ship porthole on each door, decorative brass details, and hardware (see photos of my model). After the kitchen was completed we went on to remodeling the rest of the house, all in the naval style.

In modern décor, round windows and openings are not very common due to the high manufacturing cost, but when there is one, it is usually a very good-looking style. I love the Brooklyn Clock loft round window I found on Pinterest.

Looking at a view through a round shape is very natural. It’s like your own eye projecting subtle illumination in the interior spaces. My suggestion is to spend money on solid architectural details that will add value to the home and leave out the meaningless details. Solutions are limitless, ask me if you need ideas. Ciao,
Valentina
http://www.valentinadesigns.com

Jardinière | Valentina Cirasola | Interior Designer

14 Nov 2013 Leave a comment

by Valentina in Home Designs Master Tags: #EuropeanAntiques, #EuropeanJardinière, #MyPersonalAToZChallenge, #RedVoyageIntoColors, #TableJardinière, #ValentinaInteriorsDesigns, Jardinière

Welcome to my personal A to Z Challenge on the subject of Home. The goal, in a year time, is to elaborate and dissect topics regarding the Home not as containers of stuff, but as a cocoon for the soul, mind, and heart.
I will touch on decorations, style, trends, history of home and sometimes technical information.

**********

Jardinière is a common French word for a woman gardener. The interesting thing is that flower boxes and containers for plants are also called jardinières, as often words have more than one meaning. I am thinking the origin of the name could have come possibly from the full body curvilinear women of the past, when being round was a guarantee for a good marriage and proliferation in great abundance. In fact, all the examples of jardinières I have seen are squatted, very round with a belly and feet or propped on high pedestal. Their purpose is to keep the plant and dripping water inside the pot to avoid staining elegant floors, or expensive rugs.

French Napoleon III Boule Jardinière

Stone Garden Jardinière

Antique Victorian Silver Plated Louis XVI Jardinière

Jardinière for an entry

Jardinière for chili peppers

Table Jardinière -BHandG

Jardinière for a bath

Decorative Jardinière

La Belle Jardinière painted by Raphael

Jardinières are highly decorative and very valuable if they are antiques. Auctions are best places to find some good pieces from dismantled buildings that once belonged to counts now without the account, or you might find some simpler pieces at garage sales.
Tall jardinières decorate entries, gardens and important event tables or they might be a good solution to store firewood near the fireplace. The low types, beautify table settings and furniture.

However, they are not always meant for flower arrangements or to plant chili pepper trees and vegetables. If you have decorative balls fill them up, they will look good all year round. In the bathroom, they can be used to store some handy products for everyday use and in the office, they will be a nice place to rest incoming mail until you decide to read it.

This is one French word without an equivalent translation in English. The other meaning of jardinière refers to a type of winter food served with vegetables cut all the same size, mixed with legumes.

Last but not least “La Belle Jardinière” painted by Italian painter and architect of the High Renaissance, Raffaello Sanzio da Urbino, commonly known as Raphael. A noble from Siena commissioned Raphael to paint the Madonna and Child with young John the Baptist, currently in an exposition at the Louvre, in Paris. My hat off to you Raphael!
Find some original piece from the past and include it in your décor, I know it will fit. Ciao,
Valentina
http://www.valentinadesigns.com

Valentina Cirasola is an Italian interior designer in business since 1990. She is passionate about colors and all expressive arts. She is a “colorist”. To her, selecting art means to bring out the best energy of her clients and nourish their soul. She is the author of her book on Colors: ©Red-A Voyage Into Colors available on
Amazon: http://goo.gl/xUZfk0
Barnes&Nobles: http://goo.gl/q7dQ3w

Décor and Comfort | Valentina Cirasola | Interior Designer

04 Nov 2013 4 Comments

by Valentina in Home Designs Master Tags: #BelleÉpoqueStyle, #BuiltInFurniture, #HomeComfort, #HomeDecor, #LibraryRoom, #MyPersonalAToZChallenge, #RedVoyageIntoColors, #SmokingRoom

Welcome to my personal A to Z Challenge on the subject of Home. The goal, in a year time, is to elaborate and dissect topics regarding the Home not as containers of stuff, but as a cocoon for the soul, mind, and heart.
I will touch on decorations, style, trends, history of home and sometimes technical information.

**********

One of the fundamental human needs that must be satisfied is feeling good at home. History gave us plenty of examples of how people found domestic well-being through comfortable, multifunctional furniture and decorations, but comfort and décor are not the same things. Décor is the result of what fashion dictates from one year to another or from decade to decade. We are still using Queen Ann style chairs with cabriolet legs because this style chair falls into the classic style, but when fashion dictated to leave the straight legs behind for the curvy and more feminine chairs, it was a fashion fad that was well received and though to last for only a few years, in reality, it has lasted more than a century.

Titanic Reproduction Smoking Room – Courtesy Blue Star Line

Horchow Tub Chair Ottoman

Trône de Pauline, Claude Lalanne -1990

1920-Dining Set

Valentina’s Original Suede and Cow Skin

A smoking room is no longer in fashion because it’s not a good custom to smoke in people’s face or fill the rooms with smoke smell, therefore there are no smoking rooms in today’s homes. The same is for library rooms, people still read today but they read on-line and mostly with reading devices, thus there is no more need to keep shelves full of books, or design a reading room around books, magical lights, and comfortable seats. I really miss designing library rooms!
Smoking room and library rooms represented the comfort of behavior in a particular era, the content of these rooms, colors, and style of a décor followed the fashion of the time.

In architecture or in-home décor, often we see the return of a style that we call revival, such as Tudor revival, Neo Classic revival or Gothic revival, just to name a few. Revival style is pretentious and artificial. It is only limited to the style of architectural details or the style of furniture. It has nothing to do with the behavior that characterized those historic periods. Every era has seen modern improvement in domesticity comfort with the technology available at any given moment.
We went from candlelight to electric light, from sleeping the entire family in one room with no privacy and often sleeping in one large bed, to kids’ rooms and parents’ rooms each with its own bathroom. Once the comfort of a home has been improved with modern technologies it is no possible to go back in time to sit on hard chairs without padding, washing clothes by hand or sleeping all in one room.

The reason for reviving a style perhaps is the lack of traditions and the desire to experience a nostalgic time. I like the Belle Époque style, but I would not like to live in that time when women swept the streets with their long dresses and horse & carriage was the only transportation for those who could afford it, the rest of the people went on foot. We cannot copy the past and transfer it to our life of today, we can only appreciate it by surrounding ourselves with a few traditional ornaments as an acceptable alternative.

Domestic comfort is found in the feeling of privacy, intimacy, an atmosphere of coziness and accommodating furniture. What we have adopted from the past is the concept of privacy when rooms were small, appropriately sized windows, built-in-furniture, and natural material. In early 1900 with the advent of industrialization, the incorporation of home appliances and modern devices made life more convenient without sacrificing a beautiful décor. This practice goes on today with more advanced sophisticated electronics hidden in strategic places. Most homes of today don’t look industrialized at all and we feel very comfortable using a remote control to lower curtains, turn lights off and get the movie started all with one click.

However, the comfort and coziness of a home don’t come from today’s fashion of making oversize spaces, open floor plans, and super high ceilings. The human soul gets lost in these impersonal spaces. To coordinate all the activities of a family to work in harmony in large spaces is a real challenge and it takes a lot more energy to keep large spaces warm. Kitchen and bath counters should be made in different heights to accommodate the average height of people living in the house and laundry machines should not be placed in the bathroom.
Cooking is intense and tiring work, kitchens should have a minimal walking space between the stove and the rest of the appliances with comfortable flooring.
Bathrooms are rooms for relaxation through experiencing a soothing bath with music, suffused lights, scents, and books without seen dirty clothes and clutter in plain view. Undressing room, once called boudoir serves the purpose of taking off clothes, eliminating the need for a large bathroom floor plan and while one person is bathing, the other person can do small ablutions in the undressing room without waiting.
These are some examples that will provide personal comfort.

Comfort is a very subjective thought. It really involves human physiology and how we perceive our comfort. Ergonomic chairs, versus artistic chairs, bright light versus ambient light, natural material versus man-made inexpensive and easy to care material, oversize furniture versus human-size furniture, the list can go on forever. Comfort doesn’t mean the same thing for all the people. Once we have abolished the feeling of discomfort, then we have achieved Comfort and only a person who knows his/her needs will know how to produce real comfort, not following the style of today that dictates to decorate our home in a certain way.

Should you need a technical eye to pull together a comfortable décor, I am here to help. Ciao.
Valentina
http://www.valentinadesigns.com

Valentina Cirasola is a trained Italian Interior Designer in business since 1990. Being Italian born and raised, Classicism, stylish and timeless designs have influenced Valentina’s design work. 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. Author of three books, all available on
Amazon: http://goo.gl/xUZfk0
Barnes&Nobles: http://goo.gl/q7dQ3w

Autumn Leaves Inspiration | Valentina Cirasola | Interior Designer

21 Oct 2013 2 Comments

by Valentina in Home Designs Master Tags: #AutumnColors, #ColorTheory, #LivingRoomColors, #MyPersonalAToZChallenge, #NatureInspiration, #OnLineDesignServices, #RedVoyageIntoColors, #ValentinaInteriorsDesigns

Welcome to my personal A to Z Challenge on the subject of Home. The goal, in a year time, is to elaborate and dissect topics regarding the Home not as containers of stuff, but as a cocoon for the soul, mind, and heart.
I will touch on decorations, style, trends, history of home and sometimes technical information.

**********

A new on-line client from France hired me to compose a warm color scheme complete with furniture suggestions that is in tune with her Autumn archetype. I went to my nearby park to get inspiration. The leaves are yellowish, brown, burgundy and if I stand in the right light I can see undertone colors like lavender, grey or chocolate. The jewel tones of the Autumn are amazing and really suit me. Fortunately, this new client likes them too.
I took many pictures of the leaves fallen on the ground and studied them in-depth. The yellow color in the Autumn leaves, although beautiful, indicates that the chlorophyll and oxygen are gone, therefore the leaves are lifeless and fall to the ground. The yellow has many undertones, from sandy color to golden beige and brown. Some grayish leaves with lilac tones spotted with burgundy really intrigued me. Amazing how something lifeless as these leaves still retains an attractive beauty!

The palettes for my French client contains all the colors I saw in dead leaves transferred in the furnishing and accessories suggestion. I gave her two solutions, one with walls in Grey and the other with walls in Chocolate Brown as shown in my video. Each background color sets a different mood.

Autumn Leaves

Autumn Leaves Color Chips

Autumn Inspiration with Brown Walls

Autumn Inspiration with Gray Walls

Burgundy Inspiration with Sky Blue Walls

Of course, I can go with a hotter color scheme in burgundy, light brown, beige and Sky Blue on the walls. With this third color scheme, I will substitute the silver console with a piece of furniture in brown or sand color.

While I am waiting for the client’s response, I would like to know which of these color schemes is your preference?
Designing on-line is not any difficult than designing in loco. The challenges and the energy are the same, except that I am not physically on the project and a lot of things I do, become the client’s work, like overseeing the project development and managing contractors.

Sharing is caring. Ciao,
Valentina
http://www.valentinadesigns.com

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

Sitting On Pediments For Centuries | Valentina Cirasola | Interior Designer

09 Oct 2013 6 Comments

by Valentina in Home Designs Master Tags: #ArchitecturalDetails, #ClasssicArchitecturalStyle, #GableRoofs, #InteriorDoorsPediment, #MyPersonalAToZChallenge, #PedimentDesign, #RedVoyageIntoColors

Welcome to my personal A to Z Challenge on the subject of Home.
The goal, in a year time, is to elaborate and dissect topics regarding the Home not as containers of stuff, but as a cocoon for the soul, mind and heart. I will touch on decorations, style, trends, history of home and sometimes technical information.

*****

Oh, come to mama! I opened the window of my hotel in Venice and saw the naked statues of the building right across the street. Every morning the scene of naked statues sitting on top of pediments was more interesting than the action in the street down below. The male statues carved in marble stood on the pediment in all their male beauty oblivious to the passage of time.

Aegina, reconstruction

Vicenza, Italy – Rotonda broken pediment by Andrea Palladio

Various pediment style

Pediment with dentelle work

If we look at any Greek temples, a Pediment is the triangle gable built above a colonnade filled with sculptures representing humans and sometimes animals in some type of action. Pediment decorated each entrance, front or back, of any temple and each pediment told a different story. Sculptures were not made all together, marble is a hard material and much time passed between one chisel and the other. Due to different time of fabrication, we can see now the evolution of the species through the art of sculptures. The gable being a triangle with two slender corners, limited the placement of standing statues in all their height, thus reclining figures, kneeling figures and figures with bent knees were the only positions for depicting statues.

We are accustomed to see statues in the pristine white of the marble and never gave a second thought that Greeks took inspiration from the Egyptians and used very bright, contrasting colors, at times even garish for the background of pediments and for the statues. Temples were the houses of Gods and places of worship, thus always built high up on hills, perhaps the reason for coloring sculptures and the background of pediments was to be seen from afar when ships approached the islands.

Romans copied the pediment idea from the Greeks and placed it on top of their temples built all over the Empire. Since then, the shape of a pediment continued through various periods and various architectural styles evolving in pointed, curved and broken pediment, the latter became the most used pediment in the very ornate Baroque period. Today we still build homes with pediments and we have extended its application to furniture, mirrors, fireplaces, entry doors and interior doors, windows and roofs. We still call it the “classical” style as the Roman did when referring to Greek architecture. Certain details never go out of vogue!

If you like the classical style, ask me how to add value to your home with timeless features. Ciao,
Valentina
http://www.valentinadesigns.com

It’s my hope through my writing to enrich your aesthetic sensibility towards design, style and inspire you to live in beauty. I have loved my profession as an interior designer since 1990 and seen many happy people after I leave a project. I am here ready to offer consultations on-line via Skype if you need.
Check out my latest book on colors ©RED-A Voyage Into Colors, available on
Amazon: http://goo.gl/xUZfk0
Barnes&Nobles: http://goo.gl/q7dQ3w

Golden Inspiration| Valentina Cirasola | Interior Designer

13 Sep 2013 2 Comments

by Valentina in Home Designs Master Tags: #2013FallColors, #DesigningWithColors, #FlowerArrangement, #HowToDecorateTips, #MyPersonalAToZChallenge, #RedVoyageIntoColors, #ValentinaInteriorsDesigns

Welcome to my personal A to Z Challenge on the subject of Home. The goal, in a year time, until Jan. 13, 2014, is to elaborate and dissect topics regarding the Home not as containers of stuff, but as a cocoon for the soul, mind, and heart. I will touch on decorations, style, trends, history of the home and sometimes technical information

Let’s get prepared for the autumn, shall we? As the leaves change, we should change our décor too. Without changing the entire furnishing of the house and with only a few strategies, it’s easy to get a fresh new look more suitable with the changing of seasons and with our personal look changing through the seasons.

Last week, I put together a flower arrangement for one of my public events. The colors in the arrangement inspired me to create my color trend for the coming fall. I called it “Golden Inspiration”. It’s elegant, warm and inviting.

Except for people with a pinkish skin tone, this palette is suitable for all golden skin tones, ivory skin tones, black, red-haired people and people who are in the summer/fall season category.
Changes are good, we must keep up with the change of seasons, changes of life events and embrace changes age brings. Every age has its beauty, the important thing is to be aware and know how to play it to our advantage.

Next week, I will bring another exciting color scheme that exudes energy and that will inspire you to play with fantasy.

A week ago, I reached 1000 likes from all of you, creative and interesting friends. I want to take this opportunity to thank all my readers and followers for this beautiful number. Each one of you brought me news, ideas, encouragement, support, and knowledge. From the bottom of my heart, THANK YOU.

Let me be your designer of choice for any of your decorating and remodeling needs. I offer design consultation on-line via Skype. Ask me for details. Ciao,
Valentina
http://www.valentinadesigns.com

Valentina Cirasola is an Italian Interior Designer working in the USA and Europe since 1990, specializing in Mediterranean 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. Get your copies through

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

I For Illuminate Your Space | Valentina Cirasola | Interior Designer

07 Aug 2013 10 Comments

by Valentina in Home Designs Master Tags: #CurbAppeal, #DesigningWithLights, #GardenIllumination, #GardenSolutions, #LandscapeDesign, #LandscapeLighting, #LEDLight, #MyPersonalAToZChallenge, #ValentinaInteriorsDesigns

I have the opportunity to design the exterior lighting of the house featured in my video. The house is located in an upscale area, but the landscape is not really upscale. it is utilitarian greenery. Most of the plants in this landscape are evergreen, a lot of foliage and very few flowers. This kind of landscape is congenial for public streets, as it requires little maintenance and little water. Basically, it’s a xeriscape planning, which is OK for today’s need to conserve water.

If I were the owner of this house, I would have had the guest areas, the main entry, and the front yard made up with seasonal flowers. I would plant vegetation synchronized with the regeneration of each season, where one group of flowers goes dormant, while the other group comes alive and together swing out colors and scents all year round. Then I would make up a xeriscape for the hidden, utilitarian and not so pretty areas, like the service areas and driveway. This is my first time designing only the exterior lighting without redesigning the landscape, that’s the owner’s wish.

All that green foliage doesn’t reflect the moonlight and makes the house very dark at night, while during the daytime makes it very heavy. The front door is not easy to find as it is completely covered with heavy vegetation, making it not inviting either. There is no curb appeal and no focal point. The backyard, with the exception of a few rose plants and Agapanthus bushes, has no interest. Being the house positioned in an upscale area, it needs an elegant landscape with character and “manners” and not vegetation for highways.

I will eliminate outdated fixtures and will create layers of LED lights that will cast silhouettes on the walls and shadow on the ground. Some fixtures will have colored filter lenses to give some depth in the darkest areas, as the bamboo area and some trees will be illuminated with a soft string of lighting. I will highlight the balcony wood rail with bullet lights. The backyard needs the ambiance of an outdoor living room. My games of lights will enhance the heavy foliage and will change the feel of the existing landscape into a garden that is comfortable for the people of the house and their guests, livable, energy-efficient and easy on the eyes.

Sharing is caring. Share me as often as you like. Through Skype line, I offer design consultation on-line, other than the traditional “in house” consultations. I design for people all over the world without moving an inch away from my desk. I am here to help. Ciao,
Valentina
http://www.valentinadesigns.com

Valentina is an Italian Interior Designer since 1990 designing for the USA and Europe’s markets. She loves to remodel homes and gardens. With her many years of experience, she is able to cover a wide range of design solutions. Often clients ask her to designs the landscape concept complete with lighting as a complement to the interior design.
Valentina is the author of three books available on
Amazon: http://goo.gl/xUZfk0
Barnes&Nobles: http://goo.gl/q7dQ3w

M for Mantel | Valentina Cirasola | Interior Designer

01 May 2013 13 Comments

by Valentina in Home Designs Master Tags: #ArchitecturalDetails, #DecoratingTips, #HowToDecorateAMantel, #MyPersonalAToZChallenge, #RedVoyageIntoColors, #SalvageFireplaceMantel, #VictorianFireplaceMantel

Mantel, mantel-shelf or mantelpiece are the names used for a type of construction framing the opening of a fireplace and usually covering part of the chimney breast in a more or less decorative way. It is the focal point of a home and the stage that tells a story.
To display only photographs on a mantel is a bit diminishing for the fireplace itself since it is an opportunity to make a dreamy display vignette of antique objects found in flea markets, or during traveling. It is a place where colors can have a voice when a monochromatic color dominates the room or a way to display arts and crafts that perhaps you create. Then comes Christmas with endless possibilities and decorating a mantel becomes almost obligatory. In any case, a mantel is something to cover, envelope and conceal the black hole of the hearth.

(Clicl on each photo to view it larger).

Italian Carrara Marble

Red Iron Stone-Jerusalem Split Face Stone-Wood Mantle

Italian Carrara Marble and Rosso Verona Marble

Niche over hearth

BHG Outdoor room

Salvage Mantel – BH&G

Travertine Mantel

Travertine stone fireplace and wood mantel

(Photos other than Valentina Interiors & Designs are the property of the BH&G)

Mantels follow the architectural style of the house. I have seen many examples in Gothic, Renaissance, Louis XIV, XV and XVI, Empire, Marie Antoinette, and so many more styles, but I think the most popular and pleasing is the Colonial mantel, both in the old and modern style. The Victorian mantel refers to the style created during the long reign of Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom, a period stretching from 1837-1901. In Victorian times women sat by the fireplace to read, sipping tea or embroider with women, while men stood by the mantel to talk about important issues with men and various odd objects found their place on the mantel.

Victorian mantels today are standard designs with many modern furniture companies and are popular with builders, as this style is linear, not too ornate, but elegant enough to mix with any mélange of décor. In today’s homes, often a huge black plasma T.V. is propped on top of the mantel, disturbing perhaps a beautiful room setting. Not always I win this battle with the youngest clients who like to stick the black monster plasma T.V. over the mantel. Most people don’t know that when the T.V. is not on, the front black screen is easy concealable with a picture of your liking, remotely controlled to disappear into the T.V. casing made for this purpose. However, I rather see a huge mirror on top of the mantel to reflect the beauty in the room and enjoy the sound of a crackling fire with a book.

If there is no fireplace in the house and you like to create the feeling of it, find an inexpensive mantel at the architectural salvage yard and nail it to the wall, as shown in one of my garden photos. Of course, any salvage piece can have a second life as something else and not what was originally intended for. In the bathroom photo, in fact, a mantel has been turned into an ornate towel holder, just by adding metal hooks.
Mantels over outdoor fireplaces often will be used to rest your guest’s drinking glasses.

Get creative with your own mantel vignette, this is an art form. Anything goes grouped in odd numbers. I am here if you need help, my Skype line is always open. Ciao.
Valentina

http://www.valentinadesigns.com

Valentina Cirasola is an Italian interior designer in business since 1990. She is passionate about colors and all expressive arts. She is a “colorist”. To her, selecting art means to bring out the best energy of her clients and nourish their soul.
She is the author of her book on Colors: Red-A Voyage Into Colors available on
Amazon: http://goo.gl/xUZfk0
Barnes&Nobles: http://goo.gl/q7dQ3w