Make Your Bed

We’ve just added a new group of custom upholstered beds to our floor. We’ve put them in our “neutrals” room and we’ve brought in three different profiles in fabrics and leathers to try to give a sense of the huge selection available.

And huge it is. You’ll be able to choose from different heights, different shapes, pleated or plain, deeply tufted or intricately patterned. Nail-head trim is available in a selection of finishes.

Add in thousands of leathers and fabrics and the choice is immense. Of course, you don’t need choice… you need the perfect bed for your room. And that is what a huge choice makes possible.

Between you and your designer, you’ll winnow the wheat from the chaff. The huge selection will rapidly narrow down, and you’ll focus in on just one with the design, the execution, the colors and the textures that will become the focal point and foundation of your perfect bedroom.

Norwalk Introduces 20 New Finish and Paint Colors

The wood finish of many upholstered pieces is a vitally important element of the design.  That’s why all of us at by Design are excited about Norwalk Furniture’s introduction of 20 new finishes and paints to be used on their custom upholstered sectionals, sofas, chairs and ottomans.

The richness and beauty of hard maple furniture is enhanced with Norwalk Furniture’s introduction of 20 new wood finishes. No longer just a supporting element, decorative chair frames, legs and bases become as special as the upholstery itself.

Norwalk worked with Sherwin-Williams Global Color & Design Center to create this collection of stains, paints and finishing techniques. These finishes are sure to be popular. They are a natural extension of by Design’s and Norwalk’s customization story.

Stained wood finishes:

Painted wood finishes:

Chicory finish:

My husband, Kevin, went out shortly before Christmas to buy my gift (a really good idea).  He had an idea what he was looking for.  But when it came down to decision time, it was far harder than he imagined.  We’ve all been there: This looks comfy, but I don’t like the color.  Will she love or hate that pattern?  Why am I stressed out over a gift?

Then sales lady asked a few questions about me.  Then she smiled and said, “This one is beautiful.  And, it has this feature that makes it so comfortable.  She’ll love it.”

Wow.  The relief.  Buying presents was fun again.

We so want to help make creating your room fun again.  Sure, a room is more complicated than other decisions.  That’s why we sketch, do floor plans, try hundreds of fabrics and look through catalogs.  We’ll try to understand those crucial questions.  But we’ll also try our hardest to remove the stress and worry… and add back the laughter and fun.

Bonita

I love the Christmas season but am always ready to get everything put away and get new things out for the winter season.

Marlene Warren, our merchandise manager here at by Design, has been working her miracles here at the store.  New merchandise has been arriving all month and she is making everything look so great.

In our black and white room, she painted horizontal black and white stripes.  They look terrific!!!  We are going to update the room and put green in to liven it up!  Black and white is ALWAYS great.  It is somehow both timeless and trendy (sounds impossible, but it’s true).  But wait till you see it with a splash of green.  It will be so much fun!  Just a thought for any of you looking for some freshness — add a new accent color to change the entire feel of a room.  New pillows, artwork, ottoman, a new chair!  This is where we shine at by Design.

We would love to help you!

Bonita

Following Honeysuckle in 2011 (pinker) and Turquoise in 2010 (turquoiser?) Pantone has selected Tangerine Tango as the 2012 color of the year.  You’re going to be seeing a lot of Tangerine this spring and summer in fashions.

From Pantone’s site:

“Sophisticated but at the same time dramatic and seductive, Tangerine Tango is an orange with a lot of depth to it,” said Leatrice Eiseman, executive director of the Pantone Color Institute®. “Reminiscent of the radiant shadings of a sunset, Tangerine Tango marries the vivaciousness and adrenaline rush of red with the friendliness and warmth of yellow, to form a high-visibility, magnetic hue that emanates heat and energy.”

But How Will by Design Use Tangerine in Interior Design?

Cleverly.

With humor & a sense of fun.

To add punch and a dynamic quality to a room.

It does seem unlikely that we’ll see many tangerine sectionals and hopefully no tangerine wall-to-wall carpets. But, this is a perfect accent color. A chair or other accent piece of furniture will work well.  A lamp, botanical blooms and definitely wall art would be great.  And glass accessories in this tangerine will be terrific.

It will probably take a bit of searching to bring this bold new color into your room. But the freshness and fun it will bring will almost certainly be worth it.

Click link to see some images from a Tangerine Tango search.

Pantone’s web post on Tangerine Tango

And here is a great post by Samantha Miller in the Washingtonian on how to use Tangerine Tango.

They’ve been saying it: Grey Is The New Black

Grey has been becoming increasingly popular and powerful in interior design.  Almost all of the new color trends we wrote about after the last market used greys within them.  Probably the greatest came from our Dots & Dashes trend.  You can read about Dots & Dashes here.

Here are some images of some great industrial interior design in greys.  Also take a look at our wonderful Fred and Ginger ottomans done in a grey them.  Really cool.

But, what made me want to post on grey again was these pics from the Style Files blog of some wonderful grey rooms.  These rooms show a wide variety of ways to use grey in creating your perfect room.  More grey bedrooms.

Big Savings Opportunity at by Design Right Now!

But it is for a very limited time. Beginning right now and lasting through January 3rd we’ve got extra savings on our largest custom upholstery collection.  Because of factory sponsored savings, we’re offering 35% off of upholstered furniture retail prices and 40% off of leather furniture retail prices!

• 35% Savings on fabric upholstery
• 35% savings on leather upholstery

Hundreds of styles of sofas, sectionals, loveseats, chairs, recliners and ottomans tailored in your choice of thousands of fabrics and leathers.  Plus, the help, advice and fun of our talented designers.  It really is a terrific combination!

We will be open Saturday, Dec 31st 10a to 4p, closed Sunday, Jan 1st and open Monday, Jan 2nd 10a to 5p.

These discounts are not store-wide, however we do have terrific values on everything in the store.  So check with your designer to today and begin creating the room of your dreams.  We love to work to your plan — and execute it one step at a time.

Here is a PDF version of the article about Norwalk :

If you’re having trouble viewing the article, try this link!

It’s a great story of a community working together.  We’ve seen the results and are proud of all everyone involved.

“With roots in menswear styling and pattern inspiration, this sophisticated combination of geometrics and techno inspired designs, is elegant in its restraint. While retaining a decidedly urban edge with its gunmetal, graphite and slate grey color base it gets its energy from a liberal punch of citron and anjou.”

“An unexpected mix of blues ranging from royal to sapphire and accented with the crispness of snow, positions this look squarely between the comfortably classic and the cutting edge contemporary. Silver metals, pearlized leathers, an energetic mix of patterns, and white wood finishes all contribute to this timeless aesthetic.”