I’d love to tell you about this apartment John and I are working on in Munich, Germany! It is overlooking the city’s fabulous big park, the Englischer Garten with lots of trees outside their windows. I recently pulled together a story board for all their rooms. Just look at these materials for their living room!

Today, let’s start by talking just about their living room. We’ve decided to put in a vent free fireplace to add a cozy feeling. There’s room for a chaise style long sofa and two lounge chairs. The building has wonderful floor to ceiling windows that open almost like french doors. We selected a dark brown walnut stain for the oak floors, that run throughout the apartment. It provides a great backdrop to this compact space with its treetop views.

Here’s John’s sketch of what the living/dining room can look like. He’s such a good sketch artist! Love it!

The materials selected for the living room:   

So what will pull it together and give us a jumping off place? A fabulous contemporary area rug, in wool and silk. Based upon nature, this one is called “Marbleous” and thus imitates the veining in slabs of marble. Luscious, I think, in a soft beige with gold and copper colors in the veins.

The sofa will be in a fabulous texture that brings beige and gold together.

Carefree toss pillows in chartreuse green will enliven the space.

The lounge chairs are in a soft chenille with a soft brown background and beige  dots. Feels great against the skin!

To soften the space and frame the magnificent views, we selected simple pleated drapery panels on small iron rods. The fabric is a soft white with a large repeating tree design woven in. It will be elegant without drawing too much attention to itself.

Paint colors selected for this space are by Benjamin Moore, and are “Royal Flax” on 3 walls, with the one wall behind the sofa accented with “Quietude”, a darker brown.

We envision this space filled with stimulating conversation at times, along with quiet reflective reading of books as snow falls softly outside on their terrace. Next week I’ll tell you about the intriguing study/home office! Until then ….

The images in Robert Stern’s book, Houses, have been a source of inspiration, thought and study this past week as I begin digging in to one of our new projects. The play of light and shadow caught my eye in this photo.

Beautiful tall modern foyer style space. Love the cut outs above the doors on the right – how they are used for display. I especially like how Stern treated the framed opening into the room beyond and the “light box” above.

Here we are 180 degrees the other way looking at one of his traditional/classical foyers. Still very aware of the volume. I feel the chandelier, sconces, horizontal line created by the crown molding and wainscot make this a much friendlier/approachable space. I also like how the black hand rail on the stair reach across to the chairs by the door (and the chandelier).

One of the things I’ve been studying in Stern’s book is how he manages the perceived height of a room. This room is very tall with a vaulted ceiling. I like how the crown molding has been used to create a “ceiling line”. The balcony opening carved out of the ceiling is brilliant!

Have a great week!

Cheers,

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