Kathryn Ireland : Decorating : Home & Garden Television

Layers of fabric, splashes of color, furniture you can sink into and a relaxed yet glamorous look describe celebrated interior designer Kathryn Ireland's style. She shares the secret to her unique design sense and explains how achieving a beautiful space doesn't have to be difficult.

Have you ever walked into a room that was beautifully designed but didn't look decorated? It's a feeling many of us would love to achieve in our homes and it's not as hard as you might think. Ireland has mastered the art of creating interiors that are both luxurious and livable:

When California casual is mixed with English elegance along with a dash of French style, it's a recipe for a relaxing Kathryn Ireland space. She thinks the most important thing for the way we live today is comfort and her expertise in the art of living has earned her a thriving fabric business and a star-studded clientele that includes Steve Martin and Fran Drescher.
While her interiors are glamorous enough to charm the city of angels' elite, they always remain down to earth. Ireland's designs combine luxurious fabrics with accents of color for rooms that are the epitome of casual elegance. Just off the California coast in the resort town of Santa Barbara is one of her most enchanting works--the popular beach spot Hotel Oceana.
When looking for ideas to furnish your own home, you might not think to begin in a hotel but Hotel Oceana is no ordinary experience because it offers the atmosphere of a private beach house. Ireland achieved this "California casual" feel with her knack for nuance. In keeping with the area's Spanish tradition, she chose terra cotta tile floors--they look great and are easy to clean when sand is tracked in.

Figure A

Furniture is upholstered in a mix of fabrics just like in a home and seating is extra deep for extra comfort. To Ireland, a room without color is like a day without sunshine (dull) so she chose sunny hues of red, blue, yellow and green for the hotel's guest rooms. Each one is decorated with the same combination of toile and checks to give the hotel a unified look and European flair (figure A).

Figure B

When you're ready to turn in for the night, a Kathryn Ireland bed is the ultimate place to sleep. Each one is appointed with luxurious bedding and is practical for life on the West Coast. Since there is a chance of earthquakes, paintings aren't hung over the beds--she either uses very high headboards or a canopy because it's a nice way to give the walls some color and add romance (figure B).

Ireland says to never be afraid to mix fabrics and patterns. If you stay in the same color palette, you can do anything.

Another design trick she used at the hotel was wicker furniture, which adds a fun, coastal flair to a room. Try it in your home by bringing outdoor furniture inside to instantly warm any space.

Kathryn Ireland's unique interiors have won over some of Hollywood's rich and famous because she manages to make rooms that are elegant without being fancy or overdone. Some great examples are in Hotel Oceana, but how do her designs apply to today's busy households? With three sons and two dogs under one roof in her own California home, Ireland proves that heavy wear and tear and elegant living can go hand in hand.

Her 1920's Spanish-style house in the beachside community of Santa Monica is a warm and welcoming home inspired by her English upbringing and West Coast lifestyle. She believes a home should be a patchwork of one's life and that people put too much pressure on themselves to get it all right. Her home doesn't look decorated but always looks dynamite by using furnishings that are meaningful to her including fabrics she loves, friend's paintings and family photos.

Figure C

Color is a way to keep a room in balance so instead of having a bit of red in a corner, carry it through to lampshades, pillows, the carpet, etc. (figure C). Although inexpensive tricks are central to Ireland's style, she also believes that having one costly item can give a space additional texture. For her living room, an early 18th-century Italian marquetry commode--a wedding present from her mother--fits the bill.

She painted worn wood floors with white ship deck paint, which is very wearable and also washable, to keep up with the amount of children and animals that come through the house on a daily basis.

Figure D

Ireland's relaxed approach is what makes rooms like her family room so comfortable. Here, instead of a coffee table, she chose a pouf--an idea she had after visiting Morocco (figure D).

Figure E

A touch of red in every room is a Kathryn Ireland trademark. For her master suite she went all out crimson--on the couch, the curtains and the canopy bed--and broke it up by using some yellow (figure E). For a finishing detail, fringed trim on the canopy is reminiscent of grand English country houses.

Finally, Ireland often uses books as accessories in every room so don't ban them to shelves. Reference books are great everywhere and will keep you and guests entertained for hours.

Guests
Kathryn Ireland
Designer. Kathryn M. Ireland Inc.
1619 Stanford St.
Santa Monica, CA 90404
Phone: 310-315-4351
Website: www.kathrynirelandfabrics.com

Resources
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