Accessories Make the Woman…and the Room Part 1

When our daughter Anna was a toddler, she adhered to the ‘more is better’ school of fashion.  She literlally piled on any accessory that could fit onto her arm, wrist, head or foot.  Now, I’m big accessory fan too, though I am very big on editing.  I happen to have a weakness for great bags.  So how could I resist sharing with you  2011 Worlds Most Expensive Handbag pictured here.   Created by a company known as Mouwad, the bag is made of 18 carat gold and diamonds.  (To be specific, the handbag contains white, canary yellow and pink dimands, with a total weight of 385.92 carats.  And it only took 10 artists to create the bag…. and in only 8,800 hours. )

So, whether you are an avid ebay woman,  or you are a die-hard Mouwad girl, I think we can all agree that accessories not update any outfit, but they literally MAKE any outfit.

(show photo of Harfenist Kitchen with the demi slipcovers & show the Benchner Family Room long shot that shows the large circular chandileir)

So too in interior design.  In redesigning this kitchen, my clients reached a point of “disagreement in their marital ranks” over the age of their kitchen dining table and chairs. To keep the peace and perserve their wonderful furnishigns, I suggested letting me design a demi-slip cover for the two lead chairs.  The results speak for themselves…even Caroyln Eberly, editor of a major design publication in Denver commented on how wonderfully fresh and innovative they are when I had the chance to sit with her a while back.

In this Upper Makefield family room, the room’s interior is inteionally quiet with a controlled color palette.  The chandelier moves to center stage  – literally, as the star of the room, reinforced by the subltle dance of related accessories and art placed elsehwere in the room.

This is when accessories are at their best.  Accesssories in interior design – as with fashion – must do something or say something important – so much so that without them in the room (or on the outfit), there would be a long loud silence or a deep large hole.