I love finding off-the-wall furnishings! They are crazy but creative and usually fun.  While they are the wild ideas of today, they may be standard for tomorrow, so get a head start and check them out!

Cocoon Chair -seating or scultpure?

This chair is crazy but I love it.  It is so fresh and wonderful. What a great conversation piece. The organic, arching form is made of reclaimed hardwood cradling an upholstered seat.  The Cocoon Chair is a striking piece of sculpture which maintains its principal function: seating. This chair is 28”h x 36”w x 25”d. www.andrejoyau.com

Aswoon’s™Spring Screen Lounge Chair 

Artist and furniture designer Susan Woods from Aswoon in New York, has created a gorgeous line called Spring Screen. This is one of the Lounge Chairs from her collection. It is hand made of intertwined, coiled and flattened bedsprings welded onto a curvy steel frame. Love it!

Bobo by Dauphin

Bobo seating always makes you look twice. It has graceful lines and arched beechwood backrest supporting a triangular wedge seat cushion. Support is provided in the front by polished aluminum feet and in the rear by the backrest. 

Bobo for Babies!

How can you not love this adorable chair  with its Duck Feet! Again by Bobo but this one is for the little ones. So cute!

Tennis Anyone?

FUNature is a collection by Hugh Hayden consisting of chairs, piles, poufs, stools, and tables in a range of sizes for both kids and grownups. Environmentally conscious, each piece is hand constructed in a patent-pending tensioned matrix of safe non-toxic repurposed low density polyethylene. All pieces are available in both prescribed or custom colors and ball patterns. www.hughhayden.com/ 

Aswoon Again

New Wave Line Ribbon Float lounge chair

This poplar bent plywood lounge chair with a steel underpinning is part of Susan Wood’s New Wave line.  Undulating panels of molded poplar plywood turn into elegant chairs.  They also have room dividers, tables, etc.

 Optical Illusion

This great piece, called the Marquis Bench by Chad Jensen, is made of beautiful cypress wood and with deceptive leather seating on top. It measures 19″H x 48″L x 18″W. Photo by Avant Gallery.

 Rococo Incongruity

Talk about a split personality. Ilcapo’s glossy modern table transforms into a rococo incongruity. The piece measures 80½ inches long by 41 1/3 wide by 30 1/3 tall. It comes in shiny dove grey or shiny white on the smooth side and gold leaf or silver rubbed with steel wool for the carved end.

WHAT DO YOU DO ALL DAY?

I recently met with an intelligent reporter who focuses on architecture and engineering in the media.  We had a good conversation that eventually came around to the subject of interior designers.  

Turns out that this well-meaning woman had almost no idea what interior designers actually do.  She knew about furniture and fabrics, which is great, but little else.

As interior designers, we live and breathe our work, so it is always a surprise to us when people assume we spend every day picking paint colors and sofa fabrics.

Most of our projects go on for more than a year. The important ‘furnishings and fabrics’ part takes place in the last 3-6 months of job. So what could we possibly be doing the rest of the time?  Here is a glimpse into a ‘day in the life’!

1. The first stop for any project is a review of the architect’s Floor Plan.  (more…)

Sometimes chic, sometimes cheap, Lucite is back in style.  Thanks to the recession, value-driven Lucite is having a revival in both fashion and furnishings being seen in jewelry, shoes, chairs, tables, bedframes….  Invented in 1931 Lucite, also known as Plexiglas, is a kind of molded thermoplastic resin. It has come and gone through the decades and we are glad to see it is back again.  Fresh, light and versatile, Lucite pieces can go into literally any interior space.  Word to wise though – as with all trends a little goes a long way. Blend the pieces in and don’t overdo it!. Have fun!

Here are a few examples of beautiful Lucite! (more…)

The ART of ART

Key to successful interior design, Artwork is one of Beasley & Henley’s FIVE FOUNDATIONS of Good Design.  

Artwork serves both an emotional and practical function in a space, tying the space together and bringing unity to sometimes disparate elements.  The color, subject matter, theme, even the framing, are critical to the completion of the design and to creating a focal point where a room’s colors and elements coalesce.

Artwork can do this subtly by carefully coordinating colors and styles with the environment or it can be done in a very bold fashion with artwork that seems in contrast with the environment. (more…)

We love this living room at a Naples, Florida condo we recently completed.  

The entire condo design won lots of awards, but most importantly, it won Beasley & Henley Interior Design a very happy client!  Here are some of our  ‘trade secrets’ for interior design, interior detailing and interior architecture!

There is a new Trend! The hottest things in interior design and furnishings right now swirl around the 3 R’s - Rustic, Reclaimed and Repurposed.

Old wine barrels are now chandeliers.

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