Life & Style | Home & Interiors
Pastiche: The Best of Many Worlds
To kick off our bedroom special this year we revisit some of the most inspired yet also liveable bedrooms we've featured in past issues.
- By Nyree Barrett, Copy Editor/Writer
- Published: 23:36 October 27, 2008
- Image Credit: Cees Roelofs, Freelance Photographer
- House of Jan des Bouverie, Holland.
To kick off our bedroom special this year we revisit some of the most inspired yet also liveable bedrooms we've featured in past issues.
These rooms are distinct pieces of design, but they all have in common one thing: they blend styles, are brave enough to step out of design moulds, throw together different themes and are also, most importantly, nice spaces to be in. The end result? Refreshing.
Malleable Minimalism
Key Dutch designer Jan des Bouvrie is credited with introducing white to the Dutch home (which was traditionally dominated by heavy and dated woods). His home is a testament to this.
White works as his canvas for splashes of bold and striking colour, which come in the form of artwork and clever, changeable lighting. His bedroom (right), uses stark angles, clean lines and a white palette to showcase stunning peach, pink or clear lighting.
Another example of bedrooms with innovative lighting is Stockholm's Nordic Light Hotel (below), where grey, black and white furnishings are cheered up through the use of playful illumination.
Colours and light can bring joy to any space, and in Scandinavia, where winters are harsh and dark, and S.A.D is rife, a sense of brightness in interiors is a need, not a want.
What we love so much about both of these spaces is their fluid, unfixed nature. Start with a clean, minimalist palette, and introduce lighting so that you can jazz up the space when and if you want to.
Some mornings you may wake up and want to lounge in a stark white room, reading the paper. Then, some evenings you may just need a strip of pink neon light across the wall or a flurry of lovehearts above your bed in order to bring a smile to your dial.
This is minimalism with dynamism – or malleable minimalism as we've taken it upon ourselves to dub it.
Industrial Warmth
Industrial-chic needn't be the head-bangingly isolating and cold décor that the trendsetters in the nineties brought upon us.
Yes, a nod to the industrial does mean raw and uncompromising materials (velours and textured wallpapers needn't apply), but that doesn't mean that these spaces need to be uncomfortable. Rather, they should retain a sense of the inhabitable, particularly in the most intimate of spaces – the bedroom.
A perfect example of this is the décor at Indigo Pearl, which drew its inspiration, and in fact some of the building materials, from the mining traditions of its host island, Phuket.
The eco-friendly design re-uses local hardwoods and existing steel structures, the warmth of polished wood offsetting the industrial metals.
Here is a space that acknowledges its site's industrial past, and has an edgy feel, but one that is also welcoming and relaxing. We dub this the ultimate mix between form and function, between edge and comfort.
A Moroccan Loft
It seems that most interior designers these days are seeking their inspiration from the heady world of Morocco.
It is undeniable that Morocco is one of the most scintillating countries for the senses, but that doesn't mean that every home in the world can be appropriately and tastefully transformed into a riad in Tangier. An acknowledgement of one's actual natural surroundings is always important.
This Hamptons home by wanderlust South African designer Mark Zeff has struck a perfect balance between his passion for the eclectic and ethnic, and the house's American seaside setting.
The design of the space has a sense of how much is too much, and blends a cage-like dark wood bed (custom designed by Zeff), rustic carpets and wall hangings with an otherwise light and clean interior. Think of it as Ralph Lauren meets Marrakech mayhem.
Old, But Not Stuffy
When renovating a historical space, (although not something you have a chance to do much of here in Dubai), you must try and reinterpret the time that you are representing.
You want to maintain elements of the past, but also keep one design foot firmly planted in the 21st century. If you're renovating a rickety old Victorian house, then yes, introduce a sense of the delightful clutter that that era so revered, but don't let your house become an impractical dust trap.
Keep the lightness and sense of space that is the privilege of the modern interior. Either way, definitely stop before you find yourself entertaining guests in the parlour and serving cucumber sandwiches in your crinoline.
Anyway, where were we? Yes, keeping historical spaces fresh. In our mind, few places do this with more panache than Villa San Carlo Borromeo in Milan.
Here, in its Prince's Room, genuine antique furnishings complement a fresh and daring palette. High ceilings and frescoes bring grandeur, and yet the design's constraint and the fact that it is not overdone, make the space breathable, and indeed, inhabitable.
Rich Yet Light
Yes, warm, luxurious interiors are inviting, but they can also be suffocating. Style in the UAE has a tendency to err on the side of the rich and extravagant, but the best designs keep an element of lightness as balance.
Above, Japanese designer Tadashi Shoji brings a touch of Japanese simplicity to his American home's guest bedroom, with white and silver linen and flowers offsetting rich curtains and dark woods.
In fact, we liked this one so much we thought we'd pop it on the cover this month. To the right is a home right here in Dubai, (on The Palm no less), put together by Jadis interiors.
This room makes bold colour choices, but keeps linen stark white in order to tone down and make more dramatic the dark burgundy and black features. So go for the dramatic, but don't go too far. See our section Bold and Beautiful on page 112 for further tips on this balance.
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