Child's Play

After another one of my wanders through Paris the other day, I looked through my pictures and noticed that the vast majority of them were silly, witty and fun.  A virtual time travel to a child’s playroom.  If Paris is one of the design capitals of the world, does that mean that back home we take interior design too seriously?  Things can be so stiff and perfect in North American design, maybe we should go back to basics.  Just a thought.  Here are a few ideas to do just that.

These STARCK stools remind me of building blocks.  Amazing, crazy coloured building blocks mind you but still in the realm of a child’s play thing.  I think I’m drawn to the versatility of them.  They can be single, stacked, can be the base for a table, an ottoman etc etc etc.  All while adding something wild, colourful and different to a space. 

 

 

These hollow boxes with playing children cut out of them threw me for a double take.  Are they for a child’s room, are they not?   And then I started thinking there’s not too many people who would shell out for LIGNE ROSET as an addition to their child’s play space.  What I love about them is they can be built up to create a shelf/storage area.  They would definitely add some juvenile fun to a room.  

 

When I found these at DOM (by Christian Koban), I literally started jumping up and down.  The idea of building your own furniture out of LEGO was a bit too much awesome for me to handle.

The pieces come just like the LEGO sets you had as a kid – bright colours, different shapes and sizes – yet lifesize!  Pink LEGO chair anyone?

 I think what is striking me the most in Paris is that people are so OPEN to fun, crazy, and different interiors.  They WANT that element of loco to add to their space.  It is a necessity.  J’adore.

Les Coussins

When you are searching for accessories, what do you look for?  Something that will just go with your sofa or wall colour?  Or maybe also something that is exciting, new and a great design?   When I look for an accessory such as cushions, I don’t just look for something that is functional or that’s just the ‘right colour’.  Accessories FINISH a room.  They are not just something you throw into it.  Accessories give the room life and personality.  They make a room lived in.  Accessories are where you can add the fun be it through a great texture, crazy print, or beautiful bright accent colour.  Here are a few ideas I have come across while in Paris.

This Jean Paul Gaultier for Roche Bobois creation might just be my favourite.  It is a corset on a cushion!  Quintessential french burlesque style.  It is SO much fun and to me just screams Paris. 

A little Moulin Rouge anyone?

These two are my own designs, made for our apartment in Paris to give it some life and colour.  I just popped in a fabric store and picked out some great fabrics that could work together and made some patchwork cushions!  Then on a visit home, I scrounged through my mothers sewing box searching for old bits of ribbon and a massive box of those extra buttons from clothes that no one ever ends up using.  To me they are fun and chic, and different to anything I have ever seen in a store.

Texture, Texture, Texture.  One of the number one design theory rules is to avoid a flat design, you must use different textures within a space.  You will never have depth, or character in your room without it.  With this cushion, (found at FLEUX) I don’t think you could add more texture if you tried!  (It’s quite comfy too!)

And now for a little bit of wild – this print just grabbed me right away (Also at FLEUX).  I think it’s because I am very into random objects, prints and colours being thrown together right now.  There’s just something very…………perfect about it.  It adds interest, fun and DIFFERENCE!  I have to say I am very sick of seeing the same room being designed over and over again.  You know the one I’m talking about.  The one in the magazine with the beige couches, and a cushion in either dark blue, or aubergine with a silver lamp and cream walls……ring any bells??

I’m not preaching that we should all have crazy fabrics with skulls and nutso prints on them - Because that is definitely not for everyone.  I’m saying that to give your room life, to make it look different from all those rooms in the most recent magazine – you need to maybe step towards the unknown.  Not something you’re uncomfortable with, but maybe that item that grabs your eye in your local design store every time you walk in, but you leave without it because you think maybe it’s not you.  Why not bring it home next time and try it on for size?  You may be surprised!