Friday, November 29, 2013

Tips on Showing Off

Vidicom CEO Christy Ferer provides a few tips on showing off your displays:

  • Contract color, texture, or size when displaying objects. Learn from nature. Things in the natural world never match. Some things tower over others. Colors don't follow rules about where they should or shouldn't go. Rough lies down next to smooth, Shiny and dull live side by side.
  • Relax when arranging objects on a tabletop. The more precisely placed things are, the more touchable they look. Collections should be shared. Guests will feel intimidated by a perfectly arranged display. See the beauty in unusual juxtapositions. Try for a sense of luxe minus fuss.
  • Be playful, not predictable. Try something quirky. A porcelain or silver plated piece of fruit mixed in with the real thing, a priceless Faberge egg in a real bird's nest, old perfume bottle tops on a fine silver bowl, glass balls lining the perimeter of the room.
  • Go casual . . . learn artwork against walls and stack books on tables and chairs, or even on the floor.
  • Use maps, line drawings, and black-and-white prints to give a sense of calm. Manipulate overscale lithographs, posters and oil paintings in vibrant colors to create a focal point.
  • Put anything silver on top of a mirrored surface.
  • Hang one of anything beautiful or interesting inside an empty, ornate picture frame or a bunch of them over a window or door.

Wednesday, November 27, 2013

More Display Rules to Break


"Match the size of the artwork to the size of the wall. In other words, small wall equals small art, large wall equals large art."

Vidicom CEO Christy Ferer says Bananas... don't be afraid to aim for the unexpected. An outsize framed vintage poster filling up a silver of a wall becomes important "wallpaper," as does an entire wall covered top to bottom with framed mirrors or black-and-white photos. Or go the opposite way. Try leaving a large wall clean and uncluttered to exaggerate its size or hang one small mirror smack in the center of it or act as a pinpoint of light.

Monday, November 25, 2013

Display Rules to Break By Christy Ferer

"Art should be showcased on a plain unpatterned wall."

Vidicom CEO Christy Ferer says layering patterns gives a room depth. If in doubt, extra-wide mats surrounding a picture supply a little breathing space between the pattern on the wall and the subject matter of the art. White plates or collectibles pop against a wallpapered wall. Pictures or paintings displayed on bookcases add perspective to a room.

"Match the size of the artwork to the size of the wall. In other words, small wall equals small art, large wall equals large art."

Bananas... don't be afraid to aim for the unexpected. An outside framed vintage poster filing up a silver of a wall becomes important "wallpaper," as does an entire wall covered top to bottom with framed mirrors or back-and-white photos. Or go the opposite way. Try leaving wall clean and uncluttered to exaggerate its size. Or hang one small mirror smack in the center of it to act as a pinpoint of light.

Wednesday, November 20, 2013

Christy Ferer Shares Her Suggestions on Displays


Stuff--we all have it. We can group it or pare it down. Highlight it. Create themes. Link colors and shapes. Mix the functional with the ultra luxurious.

Christy Ferer, Vidicom CEO, says live with your favorite things where you can see them every day. Arrange them until you find a configuration that speaks to you. You'll know it when it happens.

A Few Rules to Break:

"Objects of value create the most impressive display."

Christy Ferer says not true. Even the most mundane objects can be elevated to importance, whether isolated against a great white surface or grouped in multiples. Good things are worth repeating, even dried weeds in simple ceramic flasks.

Build a great wall of china with mismatched tag sales plates, tureen or sugar bowl covers, or ironstone platters. Or isolate one of something you like in a corner or in a fireplace. Stones, shells, driftwood... everything and anything you like.

Friday, November 15, 2013

Christy Ferer Gives Her Take on Accessories

Christy Ferer says artists surround themselves with objects that inspire and feed their creative side, and so should you. You probably have a collection already without realizing it. Walk around your house and find one. Gather all your vases. She says the plates that are too good to eat off. Those beautifully colorful foreign banknotes that you will never spend. Things made from the same material, or off the same shape, color, subject, or texture. Stuck away in a drawer, it's just clutter-displayed, it's a collection.


Wednesday, November 13, 2013

Christy Ferer Shares Her Views on Accessories

Vidicom CEO Christy Ferer says a house isn't a home until it's filled with your favorite things. An old crock here. A teapot there. Your mom's Vaseline glass. Magnifying glasses picked up from your travels. Textile print blocks. A fistful of shells. Anything and everything that you enjoy looking at. Artists surround themselves with objects and inspire and feed their creative side, and so should you. You probably have a collection already without realizing it. Those beautifully colorful foreign banknotes that you will never spend. Things made from the same material, or of the same shape, color, subject, or texture. Stuck away in a drawer, it's just clutter-displayed, it's a collection. 


Monday, November 11, 2013

More Furniture Rules to Break

Vidicom's CEO, Christy Ferer, says  "Upholster within the character of the furniture." Be contrary. The Contrast of fancy and plain makes the form and beauty of antique furniture come alive! Think of using gingham and muslin, blue denim, white canvas , simple calico, even a cut-up woolen blanket or old linen tablecloths on antique furniture. Gerald Schmorn, a designer for Christian Lacroix housewares, used a colorful Pucci print on his couch.


Friday, November 8, 2013

Furniture Rules to Break

https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihcMSXdbawYjbvXld_GWvCPS4IXQ7w8EBZRlLLNQrNQCTTGg6yXVEtXqJ1X1m0azP3tA9kdZjVuB8hhSzd-_9RA2kc_9ZMVctxEjG7Y74BLZ06tl24AmrF_i9pzW0cQ6mL43RFLisdKnnG/s400/dining-room-furniture-sets.jpg

Christy Ferer, Vidicom CEO, says to "Think in sets." Safety in pairs is boring. Aim for asymmetry. End tables don't have to match. Use an oval table on one side and a square one on the other. Or don't use tables at all. And you don't have to face sofas and love seats in sets. Go with a love seat and two chairs or a chaise lounge Or use four or five very cushy, comfortable armchairs arranged in a circle.


Wednesday, November 6, 2013

Christy Shares Furniture Ideas

Christy Ferer says that traditional furniture can be anything but. Upholster a precious museum-quality antique in plain four-dollar-a yard muslin, calico, or a Navajo blanket. Or use dress fabrics like silks, organza, or cashmere to dress up a couch. Paper a chest of drawers with sheet music or old love letters. Applique flames on a traditional sofa, as Josie Natori does in her Paris apartment.

The way we use furniture has evolved in much the same way that our use of rooms has. Flexibility and practicality are our prime concern now, and looking pretty is not enough. Furniture has to feel as good as it looks and it should be multifunctional. A headboard should slide open for storage. Tables and chairs should roll to where they are required.


Monday, November 4, 2013

Christy Ferer Shares Tips on Mirrors

Christy Ferer, Vidicom CEO, says that mirrors attract light like a magnet. They play with it, bounce it around, and make it dance. One source of light becomes two, becomes three, and on and on.

To explore the effects of mirrors:
  • Create a mosaic of tiny mirrored tiles on a chimney wall.
  • Think big. Lean an oversize mirror against the wall in the living room or dining room. Or create a wall of mirrors by leaning mirrors of approximately the same size against a wall.
  • Mirror in the insides and top of a window frame or the step risers on a staircase.
  • A large mirror on a wall opposite a window will reflect the outdoors, bringing it inside.
  • Convex mirrors create points of light within a room.
Stay tuned for more tips from Christy's book.


Friday, November 1, 2013

Lighting Rules to Break

http://yuemobar.com/wp-content/uploads/lighting-ideas-for-living-room-apartment.jpg

"Lamps on either side of the couch or bed should match," says Christy Ferer, Vidicom CEO.

If you want a motel-room look, stick to this rule. Otherwise, use lamps that you love, whether they match or not. They don't have to be the same height, same style, or same period,  and the shades can be entirely different, too.

A lamp or light source is where you find one. Make a lamp from an alabaster urn, a large conch shell, an earthenware jug, old pillars, vases, a perfume bottle, an old teapot, or a sugar bowl. A large glass funnel turned upside down makes a great hanging fixture.