Sustaining the Future: The Growth of Green Décor

Interior Artist Trio Dress Their Favourite Domestic Spaces

Three top local designers picked two of their favourite rooms and dressed them up with flare and artistic vision.

Dalaun Klaassen, lead designer of Uptown Designs, favours the great room, a combination entrance, living and dining room. Great rooms are modeled on the spacious halls of the traditional castles and manor houses of Europe, where almost everything - partying, entertaining and eating and bathing - takes place.

"I believe a great room should be collected and comfortable, inspiring and intriguing with a touch of whimsy and always a bit of magic," says Klaassen, who studied interior design at the University of California at Los Angeles.

"Each room in your space should be a beautiful reflection of who you are and what you love. Think of every detail and object you bring into your home as an intimate expression of yourself. I have designed every home with that idea in mind. The fabrics and colours I use are ready to mix, match and layer, thus allowing you to call them your own."

By contrast, Carla Fisher and Lauren White of Sticks and Stones Design Group have an affinity for the kitchen.

"The kitchen is the heart of the home and we're seeing more and more of an open concept rather than a closed-off room," they say.

When they design a room, Fisher and White like to remember Winston Churchill's observation: "First we shape our environment, and then our environment shapes us."

And they both believe that it takes more than a good eye to
spice up a room, whether it's a kitchen or a great room. "We listen carefully to our clients and respect their program, tastes and budget. Besides having a good eye, we must have a good ear."

Soften a Great Room with Southern Style

Klaassen's grandmother's summer luggage inspired a South Hampton style great room. All the chairs and sofas are in white cotton canvas with saddle leather piping just like her luggage.

Klaassen envisioned a room with 18-foot ceilings and huge windows looking out on a lake. He had a mental budget of $50,000, but no matter what the budget, the most expensive item would probably be the sofa, although sometimes the chairs cost more.

"I look at the room, the space, the height where the light comes in and the colour of the carpet or hardwood.

"The fabrics and colours I use are ready to mix, match and layer, thus allowing you to call them your own.

"Packaging your room requires features such as photos meant to inspire your design ideas or serve up a little dose of creative confidence.

"Lots of thought goes into the rooms of my homes - ensuring that there is an affordable and meaningful way for anyone to lovingly assemble and personalize their own space. Choose styles that speak to your sensibility, the ideas that will always say, 'I'm home.'"

Once he figures out the flooring, things start to fall into place and then he chooses the sofa, which anchors the room. "I like to use things clients have collected."

"It doesn't take long to spend $50,000 when you're using white canvas upholstery and wool-and-silk carpets from Turkey," says Klaassen, who designed Rosie O'Donnell's master bedroom.

"The average homeowner will spend $20 a square foot to furnish their home while the rest will spend more. My clients will spend $26-$30 a square foot."

With the pace and pressures of modern life, a home needs to be a refuge of tranquility. This is achieved by utilizing a neutral, richly-textured palette, vintage material and well-chosen, well-placed antiques.

"In my great rooms there is no excess and no clutter. A soothing serenity comes from objects having room to breathe."

Klaassen, who was raised in the southern U.S., likes to create a soft version of contemporary, what his friends call a southern touch.

"It's always fun to see how much I can hold back and still make a great room work. It's about having a complete concept for the entire form of the room your working with. Utilizing fabric, accessories and colour that can easily move from one room to another to create formal or relaxed great room spaces."

Cook Up a Complete Culinary Centre

In the recipe that Fisher and White whipped up for a kitchen, the flooring from surrounding areas carries through into the heart of the home whether it's hardwood, cork or laminate.

The designing duo recommend using more than one colour for the cabinetry whether it's two paint colours, a paint-and-stain combination, or two different stain colours:

"Paint the lower cabinets a different colour than the upper cabinets. Typically, the lower cabinets are darker."

They think simple cabinet doors work best and recommend against using raised panels, decorative trims and moldings.

"We're seeing more streamlined, sleeker doors such as a flat panel or Shaker style doors.

"Add unexpected details such as different upper cabinetry heights, deepening the upper cabinets. Plates today are much larger than they used to be and no longer fit into the standard 12-inch deep upper cabinet. Also, consider glass inserts that are opaque instead of clear."

Since people spend a lot of time preparing meals, Fisher and White suggest varying the height of the countertop, with lower sections for baking.

"Treat your kitchen island as a piece of furniture and use those different colours and materials to make it stand out instead of blending it with the surrounding cabinetry."

Since "form follows function" is a basic ingredient of design, Fisher and White suggest incorporating the philosophy to suit your needs - such as pullouts for recycling and waste bins, built-in spice racks or custom built-in wine racks where space is typically unusable. "With all the wineries around, wine coolers and custom, built-in wine racks are becoming a common commodity in Okanagan homes."

Here are more of their suggestions to make your kitchen more functional:

Samsung's Quattro refrigerator features both the Arctic and Fresh Select Zones, in which each drawer compartment offers four temperature functions. With convertibility offered by the Select Zones, you can change both the Arctic Select Zone and the Fresh Select Zone into freezer space or change both to fridge space at the touch of a button.

Follow these instructions and you'll have a wonderful space for sizzling meals, spicy conversations and salty family gatherings.

Ross Freake

Copyright © 2008 Wheat King Publishing and the authors. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be copied or reprinted without the written consent of the publisher. The opinions expressed in Okanagan Home are those of the writers and editors, and do not represent the official position of the Canadian Home Builders' Association, Central Okanagan, or of its members.