When I was asked to furnish and design two model condominium units at Grand Dunes, I decided it was time I give yellow a chance to shine!  Yellow and Gray (warm gray in this case) look so sophisticated together, and when bright splashes of turquoise and blues are thrown into the mix, the design takes on a more youthful, coastal flair.  The deeper amber hues give a touch of richness reminiscent of dusk.  

I wanted this unit to have a balance of contemporary elements and natural, rustic elements that make it relevant to the coast.  The clean-lined sofa/chaise sectional here in the living area is anchored by a large, yellow, flat woven wool area rug with an off-white geometric design on it.  I took pleasure in mixing mirrored surfaces and reflective chrome, with more rustic galvanized finishes, sun-bleached woods and natural linen fabrics.  I love being able to mix golds and silvers together in a room, as well.

The sofa/chaise sectional is by Century Funiture.  The chairs are by Sam Moore.  The rustic lamp wood lamp table is by DK Living, and the mirrored square cocktail table is by Hooker Furniture.

My photography skills do not show it very well, but I painted the ceiling in this unit a pale yellow that is offset by the warm gray wall color.  The yellow on the ceiling ties together all the yellow hints in the design, and help mimic the large yellow area rug on the floor.

The kitchen bar is dressed up with chrome vases, just waiting for some fresh flowers, and place settings that mix gold, silver and white.  The cow hyde counter stools pick up on the colors of the baltic brown granite, and provide a hip, funky touch to the room.

I also used cow hyde in the form of a large area rug under the dining table.  The darkness of the hyde helps to anchor the dining space, while also differentiating the natural-colored table and chairs from the beige travertine floors.  The kitchen cabinets, which were a generic wood color before, were made more contemporary simply by painting them the same color as the walls, and replacing the wrought iron leaf cabinet pulls with sleek, chrome pulls.  The bar pendants were replaced by some antique mirror pendants by Worlds Away.

I never would have guessed that I would one day be decorating with dried beans and corn, but there I was, navigating the aisles at Wal-Mart, searching for something to make these apothecary jars less transparent.  The corner of this kitchen was a little too large, empty and colorless.  Once the idea for these jars formed, the off-white color was easy to find, but I struck gold (pun intended) when I thought to use corn to achieve the perfect gold color.

In the dining room, I mixed sun-bleached woods with linen upholstery, cow hyde, and some fabulous amber ghost chairs.  The large canvas artwork was perfect in color and style, as it mixed golds and blues, had a coastal subject matter, and was painted in a contemporary fashion.  I used these chrome wall brackets to display white corals, and to create a geometric rhythm.

This Master Bedroom turned out to be my favorite room of the whole design. Because condominium walls tend to be large, empty, wide expanses of windowless walls, I needed a way to break up the planes, and dress it in the correct proportions.  I started by having some small vertical moldings installed on each side of the bed, and then ran some yellow grasscloth inside those molding pieces for vertical panels.  These were made more important by the unique hanging droplet sconces.  This gave the master bed and bed wall more importance in the room, and addressed the problem of a large, boring empty wall.  It also emphasised the height of the room.

I hung a large horizontal mirror on the side wall that was large enough to fit the proportions of the room, and that also served the puropse of reflecting the view of the water from certain stand-points in the room.

In the picture below, you can finally see the impact obtained by painting a subtle color on the ceiling of a room.  In this case, the yellow color reinforces the yellow used in sparing amounts throughout.

In the first guest bedroom, I decided to do a Drexel Heritage tall panel headboard.  I dressed it with some Romo fabrics, and some elegant, natural Pinecone Hill coverlet, bedskirt and euro shams.  In this room, you can see how silvers and grays can be mixed with golds and look more custom and elegant.  The gold bamboo chairs add a touch of glitz and glam to this otherwise strictly contemporary room.

Below is the second Guest Bedroom.  I decided to make this room slightly more masculine and rustic.  I chose this rustic teak platform bed by Four Hands, and coordinating “circles” bedside tables by Arteriors.  The shell tapestry by Design LEgacy that is hanging over the bed was perfect, because it had all the colors I wanted to blend together in this room: coppers, golds, oranges, blues, browns, and even some red.

Below begins the photos I (tried to) take of the elevator vestibule.  I am very proud of the change I was able to make to this room, yet was unable to capture it perfectly with my camera.  I took the plain, boring walls of this private elevator entry and installed wood trim pieces to create waincot wall panels.  I then installed a natural & pale yellow grasscloth to add color, and hung a gold shell light fixture by Currey and Company.

This unit is currently on the market to be sold furnished, and can be toured by contacting me, or the following Real Estate Agent:

Don Williams
Agent Cell Ph   850-259-4111
Office Ph   850-837-6456
don@grand-dunes.com

Thank you so much for following my blog!  Please contact me if you need any design services!

850-837-5563 ph

cara@lovelaceinteriors.com