Furniture Archives - Page 3 of 4 - Kelley Astore Interiors

Scott Antique Markets: A Designer’s Dream

As a designer, a large part of my job is sourcing furniture and decor for my clients’ designs. I’m always striving to find unique and beautiful pieces, and going antiquing seems to be the best way to guarantee this. Scott Antique Markets is one of my absolute favorite places to source home furnishing and decor.

Why Antique?

There are numerous benefits of choosing to invest in antique pieces.

Quality & Durability: Most antique pieces were handcrafted long ago. They were made by skilled craftsmen with care and precision which is often lost in flat-pack furniture and commercial retail. When someone fabricates a single piece, you know it’s been given more attention than something made by machines on an assembly line. The piece has made its way through history which speaks for itself in terms of quality and durability. When you invest in antique pieces you know that they’ll last you life time. Not only are they physically durable, but antique pieces don’t go out of style. So you can have confidence when buying an antique that the piece will last you a lifetime.

Investment: Antique furniture and decor keeps its value. In some cases, it even increases in value the longer it’s around. If you purchase an antique piece today and later decide you want to change it, selling the piece should be no hard task. You may even make some money from it!

Sustainability: Buying an antique is one of the best forms of sustainability. Rather than sending the piece to a landfill, it gets to live on with you. According to the Environmental Protection Agency, about 9.69 million tons of furniture was taken to landfills in 2015 alone. Choosing to buy antique pieces instantly cuts down your personal contribution to this. Antique pieces are the epitome of the “reuse” in “Reduce, reuse, recycle!”

Individuality: Whether it’s a rug, a chair, a vanity, or a vase, if it’s antique, it’s unique! I take pride in the fact that my designs for my clients are always bespoke, personalised and unique. One of the easiest ways to do this is sourcing antique pieces. Because they’re not mass produced, no one will have the exact same piece as you, bringing a lovely individuality into any design.

Scott Antique Markets: All You Need to Know

The Market only opens once a month, so be sure to plan ahead! The Atlanta Market is opening from February 11-14th, so make sure to book a morning or afternoon off to make it there! If not, they’ll be open again next month. They also have a location in Ohio, which is due to reopen in November of this year. For a full timetable, please visit their website. Be aware that admission is $5, to be paid at the door only. But with the variety and amount of beautiful pieces to browse, it’s worth every penny.

The Scott Antique Markets were started by Don Scott who worked for nearly 20 years buying and selling antiques around the country. He was working as an exhibitor when he decided to create his own Antique show with a large focus on Customer Service. The Scott Antique Market in Atlanta was born and shortly afterward they expanded to open a market in Columbus, Ohio. Having been to the market since I was a young teen, I can confirm how wonderful their customer service is!

I usually take a list from a client of pieces that need to be sourced for their design. The home furnishings are sourced from all over Europe. And while they do sell New Home furnishing, their antiques are definitely my favorite to look at!

Here are some of my favorite pieces I saw last time I was at the market!

Favorite Pieces - Part 1

Favorite Pieces - Part 2

Interested in renovating? We’ll go to the market for you! Head to our services page to see how we can help you create the home of your dreams!

Designing your home office: Tips, Ideas, & Inspiration

If you work from home, your home office is one of the most important spaces in your house. So today we’re bringing you more tips, ideas, and inspiration for your home-office. I’ll be taking you through a design I did recently for a gentleman’s home-office renovation, so you can see what the process is like from start to finish!

Choosing a Space

The first step in designing your home office will be choosing where to set it up. Home offices are most effective when you’re able to use an entire room. Having a whole room as a dedicated work space will increase your focus and productivity, by creating a physical separation between work and rest. If possible, choose a room with lots of windows so that you can work in natural light. It’s nice to have some extra space to move around during the day. And if you’re the kind of person who likes to walk around while on the phone, having enough space for that in your office will be a big help!

Starting With the Base

When designing any room, I like to start with the base and work my way from there. Choosing one base element to design the rest of the room around makes it easier to coordinate the design. For this gentlemen’s home office, we decided to keep the layout of the room, which meant the focus was on redesigning what was already there. I started with this beautiful rug full of blues, beige, and mocha colors. Starting with this rug meant that I was able to hold the paint samples and other fabric samples directly against it and see that it would all match. For more tips on choosing the perfect paint color for your home office, check out this article.

For the windows, I chose a beautiful valance with three Roman shades under it. Now that the base of the room is all done, we can start turning it into an office!

Furniture & fixings

The most important part of every home office is of course, the desk. Depending on what type of work you do, it’s best to get a desk that’s large enough for you to work without getting too cluttered. For this client, we opted for a large dark-colored desk with beautiful brass details that match the mocha color of the walls and in the rug. This desk was large enough for him to keep his office essentials on the desktop while still having plenty of space to work. They say working in a clutter-free environment helps increase focus and efficiency. We got a matching cabinet for the corner of the office as well, which provides good storage for any documents and office supplies, as well as a place to keep the phone and other bits.

This room already had built-in bookcases, so we left those, but I added a grass cloth behind the bookcase to add color and texture into the room. We also added a window seat cushion upholstered in a textured mocha linen, as well as two throw cushions in a leopard print cut velvet. This added more texture and provided additional seating in the office. We added in a couple of lamps, for those days when work spills over into the evening. All that’s left is the decor!

A Personal Touch

The decor in your home office should motivate you to work, bring you comfort when it gets stressful, and provide an appropriate background for any video-calls, all without becoming too distracting. It’s a delicate balance. We recommend keeping the decor minimal. For this gentlemen’s office, we kept the wall behind his desk simple, with this gorgeous American flag painting. It provides a lovely splash of color and is appropriate to appear in any video calls he may attend.

The bookshelves are filled with books, pictures, certificates, some sporting decor. The baseball bat, balls, and golf clubs are that extra personal touch to inspire my client throughout his workday!

Interested in renovating? Head to our services page to see how we can help you create and design the home office of your dreams!

Cozy Design Ideas For Winter

Whether you’re a fan of winter or not, the colder months mean spending more time inside. You want your home to be a comforting place to welcome in snowy mornings and long nights. Here are four easy design ideas and tips to transform your home into a winter haven!

Lamps & Alternative Light

Ceiling lights are very bright and great for getting those last few hours of work done after the sun has gone down. But after work when you want to wind-down, they’re usually a bit too harsh. Having alternative sources of light is the easiest way to create a cozy atmosphere. Get a few lamps for different corners of the room. Compliment the lamps with different sized candles placed on tables and mantles. Another easy way to achieve softer, cozier lighting is by switching to dimmable light bulbs in your overhead lights. Many of them can be controlled on your phone or with a remote control, so transitioning from work into evening can be as easy as a swipe on your phone!

If you already have some lamps and are looking to change a room up, consider getting some new lamp shades! One of my favorite places to get lamp shades is from a British company called Vaughan Designs. The owner, Lucy Vaughan, is a wonderful and inspiring British woman. I have purchased lighting, chandeliers, lamps, and lamp shades from Vaughan for over 25 years. I couldn’t recommend her products enough! They are sold in the DC area exclusively at Hines Showroom at the Washington DC Design Center.

Tip: When setting up your lighting, be sure to purchase all light bulbs in the same hue: fluorescent lights offer a different experience than warm lights. I would always recommend warm lights for a cozy, winter atmosphere.

Create a Reading Nook

With more time to spend inside, the winter is always a fantastic time to catch up on some reading! Setting up a corner of your home dedicated to reading will make it easier to focus when you do sit down to read. If you have an armchair or even some comfortable cushions, find a corner in your house to set up a reading nook! Dress the armchair with a throw blanket or a cushion to curl up with while reading. Bonus points if you’re able to find a corner by a bookshelf!

Tip: When visiting your reading nook, leave your phone in the other room, switch on a lamp, and enjoy a break from the screens!

Chintz is In!

If you’ve been following me for a while, you’ll know that I love Chintz! This timeless, floral pattern has a certain British charm to it that can brighten up a room and bring a lovely nostalgia into a design, perfect for winter. There are endless ways to incorporate Chintz into your home. Whether you opt for Chintz curtains as seen here, a more subtle look with chintz pillows, or full-out chintz wallpaper, there’s an option for everyone. These curtains here are lined with Bump Cloth, a heavy flannel material from England to add extra insulation and warmth. These curtains are definitely one of my favorite parts of my master bedroom and always brighten up my day! The chintz pictured here is from Lee Jofa.

Tip: Layering or juxtaposing different patterns, like this flannel pattern to outline the chintz, provides texture and depth to the design, and makes the chintz pop.

Kilims & Rugs

Kilims are a type of flat-woven rug traditional to the Persian empire. They typically have beautiful geometric designs, and are an easy way to add some color into a room. Having good rugs is most important in winter to provide additional warmth to the space. Walking on cold hard floors is hardly the cozy feeling we’re trying to achieve. Rugs are also a great way to separate a space into different sections. A rug or kilim is often the first place I’ll start when designing a room, because of the variety of colors they offer. I can choose different items in the room to coordinate with each of the separate colors.

Tip: Place a smaller kilim underneath your arm chair to section off the corner as your reading nook!

The Possibilities are Endless!

These are just a few ways that you can create coziness in your home. As always, the best place to start is with yourself. When you close your eyes and think about feeling warm, comfortable, and safe, what comes to mind? Allow that to be your starting point and make sure each element you incorporate will help you achieve that feeling!

For help in designing your winter home, visit our services page to find out how we can help you!

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