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HIGH END INTERIOR DESIGNER GETS IN A SPAT

It’s not everyday that a member of the high end interior design profession gets featured in TMZ, so when it happens I definitely have to comment on it.

You may know high end interior designer Martyn Lawrence Bullard from Bravo’s “Million Dollar Decorators.” He’s well known for doing the interior decoration of the homes of celebrities like Christina Aguilera, Eva Mendes, Aaron Sorkin, and Cher.

Apparently, Jimmy Choo founder Tamara Mellon is not impressed. She recently sued him…and won…for $2 million, claiming shoddy, low quality work.

The resulting feud made the pages of everyone’s favorite Internet tabloid.

I admit I don’t know Martyn Lawrence Bullard’s work very well, and there are (sometimes) two sides to every story. That said, this latest beef does remind me why I’ve always adhered to my philosophy that when high end interior designers do a great job the first time around, it usually ends up being a lot less trouble.

EDGAR ALLEN POE: HIGH END INTERIOR DESIGN CRITIC?

Edgar Allen Poe was a lot of things — inventor of the modern short story, poet, alcoholic, horror writer, madman. But did you know he was also a prominent critic of high end interior design?

Poe had very strong opinions about what made for quality interior design versus design that fell on its face. He wrote about his ideas regularly in pieces like “The Philosophy of Furniture” in Burton’s Gentleman’s Magazine. Smithsonian Magazine recently published an article about this little known aspect of Poe’s life.

According to Poe, the most high end interior design came from England and the worst….from America.

We’ve come along way since those days. Considering that the U.S. was a rugged frontier and Miami was nothing more than a swamp, who could’ve blamed him for failing to predict that we’d eventually be leading the high end interior design world?

HOW IMPORTANT ARE PATTERNS IN HIGH END INTERIOR DESIGN?

If you’ve been reading us for a while, you should know by now how important I feel the smallest details are in creating a successful an interior design result. You might have the grandest vision in the world for your home, but it’s the focus on the minutia that distinguishes the high end from the run-of-the-mill.

That’s why when I come across information about a certain dying or weaving technique (for example), I feel it’s my duty to bring it to you. That’s the kind of stuff you’re not gonna get schooled on when you buy your furniture at Ikea.

Enter Ikat.

Ikat is a dye technique used to make textile patterns that happens before the weaving and even the primary dyeing process.

Using Ikat patterns can give just that extra touch you need to help your interior design cross over into true high end luxury.

HIGH END INTERIOR DESIGN WITH ALEX PAPACHRISTIDIS

Woo-hoo! The latest episode of my favorite web video show is here…At Home with Susanna Salk.

This time Susanna visits the home of Alex Papachristidis, a fantastic designer and host, if what we see here is any indication.

His home definitely has a true Hamptons feel, but you’ll pick up some interior decoration tips you can apply to your own high end home whether you’re in New York, Miami, Moscow, Sao Paolo, or anywhere in between.

MIAMI INTERIOR DESIGN MEETS MODERN ART

There’s nothing I love more than discovering a beautiful home with a beautiful, high end interior design…especially when it’s in my hometown of Miami. And when you through some fantastic modern art into the mix…then I’m really in Heaven.

Lourdes Fernandez-Grattan’s ranch-style home was built in the ’50’s, which gave it the perfect bones to be a canvas for beauty. In addition to transforming into a truly lovely space, Lourdes turned it into a showcase for her avant-garde art collection (much of it South American in character).

At its best, high end interior design should be a reflection of a homeowner’s great taste. This home is the perfect example of that.

WHY HIGH END INTERIOR DESIGN NEEDS ODD COMBINATIONS

The best interior designs combine unusual things that you’d never expect. This is true whether you’re talking high end interior design or Do-It-Yourself.

The more time I spend online, the more I see examples of great design thinkers shrugging off tradition for this mindset.

That’s why you need to check out 8 examples of interior deign ideas based on combining high, low, and everything in between.

HIGH END INTERIOR DESIGN IS IN THE DETAILS

Everyone loves to talk about the big picture…the glitz and glamour of high end interior design. Really, though, it’s all about the details. If you don’t break down a house…a condo…a room into its separate elements and treat everything like a major project in its own right, you won’t achieve true greatness.

That’s why I love the recent article on the HGTV website that’s all about decorating bookshelves and shelves. HGTV might not be what comes to mind when you think of the high end of interior design, but there are lessons in here that we all need to know immediately.

THE ZEN OF INTERIOR DESIGN RETURNS

Long time readers might remember one of our earliest, most popular posts… “The Zen of High End Interior Design.” It was basically about how following some of the basic principles of Zen could help you calmly make the sort of interior decoration decisions that will give you the sort of home environment that will make you feel at peace.

The blog Home Designing recently released the perfect companion post to our earlier piece. It’s about how to borrow actual Zen looks from East Asian styles to add to the calm interior of your home.

Whether you’re in Toyko, Miami, New York, or Kalamazoo, these tips will help you achieve the kind of home interior you’ll be thrilled to enter at the end of each day.

MIAMI’S BEST INTERIOR DESIGN STORES

Unless one of your talents is hand-crafting furniture, having great taste and a great eye aren’t enough to end up with the home interior of your dreams.

You’ve also got to know where to shop.

That’s why I wanted to refer you to a list of some of the best places in Miami for interior designers and their clients to buy everything they need.

HIGH END INTERIOR DESIGN’S NORTHERN LIGHTS

In most people’s minds there’s not much that’s farther apart than the Miami and Scandinavian styles of interior design.

That’s exactly why I love it so much.

Like anything else creative, if you only pay attention to your immediate surroundings, it becomes tough to do anything truly different.

So for anyone in Miami (or anywhere in the U.S., really) trying to break out of an interior decoration rut, I seriously recommend looking to our brothers and sisters way up north.

Here’s a good place to start getting inspiration.

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