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SHOW-HOUSE // FAUX-CLIENT :: PART III
Sourcing goods and materials for our interior fuels our creativity, but drawings take the design to the next level. After all, a room is only as good as it is functional — we aren’t aiming for beauty just for beauty’s sake. Working out our ideas in AutoCAD ensures that we are on target with scale, proportion and spatial relationships. A well-trained designer can evaluate whether a piece will work in a room or not simply by looking at it. Still, transferring its dimensions to paper (or the computer as in our case) ensures down-to-the-1/8” accuracy. Huntley & Co. is a business built on mindfulness and our drawings are the technical backbone of our…
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SHOW-HOUSE // FAUX-CLIENT :: part II
Like the early stages of a romance, the onset of a new design project brings lots of excitement, energy and anticipation. Now that we’ve “gotten to know” our Faux Clients better and have defined a visual narrative for their space, we are ready to start deep-diving the design. It’s time to measure the room, pull our materials and find our gorgeous furnishings — let’s show this showhouse what we’re made of! Prep Work______________________________ Preparation and foresight are the secret weapons behind a good design. We always arrive well-prepped for site visits and measures. Camera? Check. Tape measure? Check. Comfortable shoes? Definitely check. Scouting for Furnishings____________________ Scouting for hidden treasure is one of…
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SHOW-HOUSE // FAUX-CLIENT
A showhouse is unique in that it provides a designer with the freedom to create a space that is bound only by her innovation and talent. With a project that lacks a scope of work and a flesh-and-blood client, we find it important to invent a narrative to guide our design concept. At Huntley & Co. we create a “faux client” to serve as muse during the showhouse process. We have been blessed with some pretty wonderful clients throughout the years, but our Faux Clients 2016 definitely have us crushing hard! dc interior designer Concept Development______________ Washington DC is a city filled with people of varied and interesting backgrounds. Our…
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HARDWARE – THE ESSENTIAL ACCESSORY
Those who won in Rio can be found post-games posing with their hard-earned medals (gold, silver and/or bronze) at news conferences, talk shows and celebrity events. Olympic hardware is pretty delicious — and not just because the athletes like to take a playful chomp during photo-ops — the heft and quality of the medals is obvious. That’s why hardware is one of my favorite elements in design. Well-crafted hardware not only looks good, if feels good. Handling a door knob or drawer pull that’s cast and detailed to perfection is like nothing else. Install beautiful, substantial hardware throughout a residence and the home will have guaranteed gravitas and soul. MAKE…
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The Floors Beneath our Feet
Like a painter preps his canvas, a good designer attends to the bones of a room before honing in on its decorative elements. We make strategic shifts in proportion, tone, and detail, both subtle and grandiose, when thoughtfully designing a space. A beautiful wood floor is one such essential element that has the power to really make our rooms sing. We’re always told to “look up” or “look forward”, as a kind of mantra to mindfulness, happiness and all things good. Well, I say “look down” because there’s beauty and inspiration to be had at your feet! Our design studio becomes a laboratory for deep diving, where…
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The Truth About Romance
Romance for me is all about atmosphere. It’s not necessarily defined by luxury and indulgence (although that works too). It’s more about a warmth that is at once alluring and thoughtful. And it can be found anywhere … Listening to a sexy mix on Pandora; alone on a cold night next to a roaring fire; at a breathtaking art exhibit; overlooking a misty river; in a tiny shop tucked away in a gritty part of London; or, of course, cozied up with your loved one in a hotel suite for the weekend. The misconception about romance is that it’s exclusive to those with a black Amex or a wedding band. It may smack a bit of “personal…
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HAPPY 10-YEAR ANNIVERSARY HUNTLEY & COMPANY!
Behind the scenes, spearheading a design firm is not all glamour and bon-bons. The photos below illustrate how often I shift gears and how drastic those shifts are. In a single day I may be generating spreadsheets, drawing in Autocad, conferencing with colleagues, hauling furnishings to a job site and attending an industry event in the evening. 9-5 and consistent this job is not. But it’s always interesting and always challenging. I exercise both my left brain and right brain on a daily basis (not to mention my biceps, quads and glutes!). Problem-solving, schlepping, creating, collaborating … it’s all in a day’s work and a gift to those who love to hustle! …
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mad for plaid
I was talking with a girlfriend recently about her upcoming wedding. “I’m thinking about incorporating tartan,” she said. “I know that’s probably not your thing as a designer.” Au contraire! I can’t get enough of checks and plaids. Everything about them appeals to me — the geometry, the endless color combinations, the nod to Midwest traditionalism. I have incorporated a check or plaid in nearly every Huntley & Co. project and have plenty of it in my closet as well. The evidence of my ongoing love affair can be seen below. You don’t have to be Scottish, traditional, Midwestern or preppy to love these patterns … fall is upon us, so…
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The Gold Standard
I'm a gold girl. Bronze, silver, not even platinum gives me the rush that gold does. It’s warm and sexy and adds a little magic to any material. I love gold fabric, furniture, lighting and especially jewelry and hardware. I would plate everything in gold if I could. Now for you nay-sayers who think gold is a finish that belongs in the 80s, take a look at the images below and get ready to swoon. A few of my current favorite gold fabrics. A glamorous gold face in Vogue Nippon. At the Washington Design Center's spring 2007 design house I painted the…
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