I love this part of the blog where we get to see the places our goods and wares get to call home. Below you will drool over a Provo, Utah residence under the design direction of Holli Forrest. Photographed are a few finishing touches from Alice Lane!

Among my favorites are the porcelain nesting bowls with gold beaded edges and the Sidney Snow marble and brass table lamp.

The texture on the set of white pebbled ceramic vases is enough to make you run your hand over the. You can’t be satisfied just looking at them! Turquoise sculptural glass vases capture the light so beautifully, they don’t ever need to be filled with flowers – filling them with light is satisfying enough.

The Christine round table by Oly Studio in chalk finish with silver details has an antique mirrored top and is perfection nestled between the Isabella tufted slipper chairs. Coral lamp, butterfly sculpture, bedroom chairs upholstered in a robin egg blue honeycomb graphic – feels like a dream!

The home is so ethereal it feels like it has wings – This must be what heaven is like! Yes, the morpho butterflies are also from our little shop!

Thanks for sharing!

If you have photos you want to share, we’d love to see where your precious finds end up in your own little heaven on earth!

Photos by Ashlee Raubach

[Photo by Gemma Comas]

Having fresh flowers is a luxury!

[Room Scene from Oly Studio]

[Photo from CR Style Magazine]

[Photo from CR Style Magazine]

[Photo from Lonny Magazine]

[Photos from Carrier & Company]

[Photo from Tobi Fairley]

[Photo from House Beautiful]

Take it one step beyond and try live branches. Get a tall vase fill it with water, arrange the branches and wait… you’ll see green tips emerge, and then buds and finally… blossoms. The transformation is gradual which for me was more fun than just getting flowers and watching them die. The volume the branches add to your space reaches beyond any flower arrangement too! It’s airy, simple, and organic in shape. A client of ours was able to pick up a bunch of branches at her local Costco in Las Vegas. You might also try calling your local greenhouses and request them.

[Photo by Nicole Hill Gerulat]

Or if you want to cheat a little we have some good fakes in store right now. Lots of variety! It is one of our favorite finishing touches. Great on mantles, entry consoles, end tables, kitchen tables… It adds life to any room.

Our fresh cut pussy willows just arrived – and things are feeling greener, fresher, brighter, lighter already!

We feel it from all who enter our doors! They’re ready for a fresh change! Some have gone for new linens on their beds, others have started with a fresh coat of white paint to their kitchen cabinets.

Photo by Nicole Hill Gerulat

We have sent them home with a bouquet of our new knobs to try for a more inspired look in the hardest working room in the house. Who says it can’t be an enchanted place?

Wherever you are felling the blues – stop by for a little pick me up! Or we can haul over the whole home if you can’t stand it another day. Walking into a well designed space is like getting flowers everyday of your life. It will make you smile just entering the room. Spring is out there, open the shutters, lift the blinds… and let it in!

Thanks for all of your inspiring comments!

Growing up my mother taught me that you can have the most beautiful furniture, but if you use cheap lamps, the room is going to lose it’s savvy. I’ve known it my whole life.

It would be like putting on a beautiful dress and wearing plastic jewelry. It would kill the whole outfit. Recently, the brilliant Charlotte Moss, was asked in an interview, “What is the most essential element of a room?” She said, “Atmosphere. It’s the one thing you can’t buy. It’s not about an object; It’s about the end result.”

We create atmosphere with the right lighting, specifically lamp light.

The entire mood of a room can be altered by the addition of the right lamp, the right light, and the right amount of it.

Re-evaluate the lamps in your home.
- Are they interesting?
- What do they give to the room?
- Remember, your lamps are turned off MOST of the time. So make sure they are inspiring even when they’re not on. They’re more than just a light source. Lighting is one of the MOST dynamic ingredients in a room.

FUNCTION:
We have moved a long way from the idea of having one central fixture in a room. Successful lighting is created when we use various light sources, which creates pools of light exactly where you want them. Lamp light can be used for so much more besides to light up the area where you are reading in the evening. We use lamps to accent objects or artwork, to throw a shadow effect on a dark wooden surface, or to highlight a piece of furniture. The possibilities are endless.

HOW MANY?
A good test would be turn off the overhead light tonight in whichever room(s) you want to focus on. Turn on your lamps. Does your room look inviting and comfortable? Do you have enough light to perform the tasks you need to? Are the special things in the room highlighted? Almost every seat should have a lamp nearby. Whether it’s a floor lamp or a table lamp, your lighting will dictate what happens in a room and how it will make you feel.

My husband and I like to sit down and watch T.V. at night. He likes to have all the lights off in the room for optimal viewing of his T.V. If he’s watching something that I’m not interested in, I sit on the edge of the sofa, where I have a lamp, and flip through catalogs. Then I don’t have to turn on the overhead light, but we can still be in the same room together, performing two different tasks.

MOOD:
Lighting has a direct influence on the mood of a room. Nobody feels at their best when sitting in a flat light. It isn’t flattering, it’s a real downer. Try keeping the overhead lighting off tonight and see if your room looks attractive with the amount of lamp light available. If it’s too dark, it’s time to add more lamps.

STYLE AND SCALE:
Some things you need to carefully consider when choosing a lamp are scale, shape, and the material the lamp is made from. It is a subtle but important element of a well-put-together room.

The Overscale Floor Lamp -
It really pumps up the volume and acts as both a sculpture and a source of light. It also adds some drama.

The Organic Natural Lamp -
This is such a big heavy lamp it is great as an anchor on a table with leather and wood picture frames surrounding it. I love that they took it one step further than the fallen log look and dressed this one up with a coat of silver paint and a brown silk shade. I can’t think of a home this wouldn’t work in – modern, rustic, traditional, eclectic, artsy… a great choice, at at 3 feet tall, it makes and impact.

The Articulating Lamp -
This is one of my favorite task lights. It’s modern form and function is such a statement. It adjusts at all the hinges for ease of use. It’s architectural, and an icon of design. Great in contemporary and transitional homes. I have a pair of them in my guest bedroom.

The Knight Lamp -
This is for the stylemaker – It’s not going to go unnoticed. I would use this on an entry hall table, in a living room or a library. It’s a smart, strong statement. It’s regal, like an oversized Chess piece.

The Trophy Lamp -
This will add a sense of character and history to your living room, study or family room. In the far corner of this living room sits the trophy lamp. The silver cup! Regal! I have a friend that found and antique trophy like this one and had it wired as a lamp and paired it with a black shade… Genius!

DESIGNER TRICKS:
Lamps in pairs create symmetry and balance. use a pair on a sofa table as illustrated in the following room scenes. One trick we love to play is to place mirrors on the wall behind the bedside lamp. You get 2x the light… and the mirror adds glamour to any space.

It’s that time again!

We have another $100 gift certificate to our store to give away! Thanks to everyone for participating in our giveaways and supporting our blog! We love to read all of your beautiful and inspirational comments.

Enter to win by following these rules:

• - Follow this blog and leave us a comment.
• - For an extra entry, post this giveaway on your blog, Facebook, Twitter, etc. Just copy the link into your comment on this post so that we can see it and your name will be entered twice.

The giveaway ends Tuesday, March 30th, the winner will be chosen at random and announced on Wednesday, March 31st. Please leave your email address so that we can contact you! Good luck!

Big and tall, or tall and lean… These are the rules of accessorizing a mantle.

Too many little things will get knick knacky. To avoid a cluttered mantel, you’re going to want to make a few bold gestures. Large vases allow you to dress the mantle seasonally with live branches, holiday boughs, pussy willows, etc.

Tall candlesticks add a romantic and traditional tone to the room. Be careful not to go too small or you’ll miss it all together!

Ornamental/sculptural objects that speak of the travels you’ve experienced are the most prized for any mantle. Picture frames are also appropriate.

Large art or a large framed mirror is most commonly centered above a mantle. In Feng Shui it is believed that the mirror will bring the energy back to the room, since the fireplace is a hole in the house where energy can escape. It is true that mirrors bring energy and light to a room. One of the great designers, I believe Suzanne Kasler says, “A mirror is like adding water in any room.”

One of our must-haves for any household. It is the story of who lives here. It’s something to study while you are passing down the halls, standing in an entry, or waiting in a home office. The artifacts, photographs, certificates, fine art or prints of the inhabitants speak volumes! It’s proof of a life well lived. It gives a home conviction. It tells your story. It layers the room with history. I’ll be so bold to say, it makes a house a home!

When considering how and where to put your gallery, here are a few things to consider: If the contents are personal, you may want to avoid the entry, so you are not sharing those deeply personal pieces with just everyone. Save those for the more intimate gathering spots. You will be asked about the framed documents and photos by almost everyone who sees them so make sure you are comfortable with sharing those thoughts and memories.

You may opt to do a gallery of art in the entry. Less personal, but no less impressing.

The bigger the documents the better (especially if its a large wall). I’d try not to use anything smaller than an 8×10, even then, I’d use matting to enlarge the area.

I like it if there is something in common in the gallery. It may just be that you’ve used similar matting, all wood tones frames, or all black and white photography… The eye likes some form of commonality. Other than that… Go for it!

Tell your story!

We’ve had many inquiries about our design services available at Alice Lane. We wanted to share with you what a presentation would include.

We were hired by a couple out of the Long Beach, California area. Among many spaces, we put together a bedroom for their adult, 20-something daughter. She’s a stylish girl with loads of light and energy. The home has a level of detail that made us want to flex a little design muscle. So we did just that.

The queen poster bed and mother of pearl mirrors are by Oly Studio. Lamps and nightstands are by Shine. The lamps become multiplied when placed in front of the wall-mounted mirrors above the nightstands. Mirrors are a great addition to any room when you are trying to create glamour and expand a space. The crown jewel in this room is that little branch and crystal ball chandelier by Currey and Company that centers over the bed and peeks through the ring atop the bed. For a feminine bedroom chair we used the rope chair by Annie Selke and the hand knotted rug layered under the bed gives the room an organic feel and a sense of movement while anchoring it at the same time.

The plan view is drawn to scale to show how the pieces will fit in the room and how they will relate to each other. The items are numbered and tear-sheets are presented with priced items in the fabrics we have selected. Fabrics are laid out during the presentation for the client to touch, consider the content, and see the color story.

We create renderings to show a front elevation as well as a perspective drawing of what the final room will look like. Lastly, spreadsheets are provided where the furniture costs are laid out and calculated for the client so review.

We wish we had final photos for you to see… but the room is still in progress.