Dragonfly Designs: Mountain Design

Showing posts with label Mountain Design. Show all posts

Dancing Bears

In Tahoe we love our bears. Here are a couple of ways to incorporate bears into your interiors...

High End:

Isn't this cabinet from Ty Loyola charming?

Hand-carved and hand-painted Ty Lyola Dancing Bears Cabinet (for more information, click here)

Not everyone can afford this adorable hand-carved hand-painted custom-made cabinet, but if you can...this is the one to splurge on. I call this a room-maker! 48" wide x 36" high. $7950

"Low" End:

I spotted this piece of artwork by Cathy McClelland on a recent artists' tour in Tahoe. It's called Acceptance of Transitions.

Acceptance of Transitions by Cathy McClelland

The original painting was $3200 but you can order giclee's for as little as $150 (click here).

This charming painting reminds me so much of autumn on my favorite Blackwood Canyon hike when the Aspens are dropping their leaves. It looks just like this and the air and forest floor is filled with dreamy floating yellow polka dots as the leaves float to the ground. It always makes me feel like throwing up my arms and dancing, too.

Did you know there are many actual photos of bears raising their arms to the skies like this. It's true! I wonder if they are actually dancing, too...

Not Your Average Chainsaw Bear

In Tahoe we love our bears. I see a lot of bears in local interiors. The problem with bears, however, is that they can get pretty kitchy if you're not careful. It's a trap to beware of.

I do like bears when they are used judiciously and if they are well designed or charming.

I'm mad for this beautiful bear wallpaper mural from Iksel. Best of all, it can be sized up to suit your wall.

Why not throw it into a room that needs a little impact? It's a natural, of course, for a young boys cabin bedroom. But, it's classy enough to put into an entry. I can see it surrounded by walls covered in a beautiful textured grass-cloth (one of my favorite tricks for adding an element of quality and interest to rooms that don't have enough architectural detail).

Every entry needs a place to toss keys so let's just add a gorgeous chest of drawers like this one from Mill Creek (drawers are so practical in the mountains---one for gloves, sunglasses in another, dog leashes, ski goggles, hiking gear, boating gear, etc.):

Toss in a couple of these beautiful Leopard Silviera Lamps from Arteriors:

And let's finish it off with a handsome and practical leaf patterned area rug that won't show the trail dirt:

Now, that's how I like to do bears!

All fabrics and wallpapers are available from Dragonfly Designs. To order, request free samples or enlist mountain design help, call 530 583-6076.

Rustic Interiors--A Little Look at History

I've been working on a fabulous old Tahoe house for several years now. The house, located on Tahoe's west shore, was built around 1880 and because there was no other available mode of transportation at the time, all the materials needed to build it were put on a barge in Tahoe City and floated down the lake to the site's location.

My client is working to restore the house back to it's original English Arts and Crafts roots. The house has a fascinating history and over the years has hosted presidents, governors and even Mark Twain.

Anyway, working on this house has me thinking about how rustic design has changed over the years.

This is an interior photo from Tahoe's Ehrman Mansion. Also built in the late 19th century, the Ehrman mansion was a large luxury mansion with huge porches, outbuildings, and impressively large sloping lawns down to the lake. As you can see in the photo, its surface finishes are refined and elaborate with carved Victorian wood trim details.

Above, is a photo of the main lobby of the Awahnee hotel in Yosemite, built in 1927. I think that the Awahnee is truly the most beautiful rustic interior ever created. Native American references are elegantly mixed with Arts and Crafts and Moorish patterns throughout. In this room, the ceiling is coffered, the beams painted with Indian motifs. The windows are stunning with Arts and Crafts inspired stained glass and leaded panes. The scale and proportions at this hotel are monumental and elegant, and yet rusticity and casual comfort are important elements, too.

Just look at this jaw-dropping ceiling treatment, full-height windows and stone walls in the Awahnee's dining room. Beautiful.

And one of my absolute favorite details at the Awahnee is this amazing floor from the check-in area. This was made entirely out of colored linoleum!!

During the 30's and 40's, cabins were kitted out with pine interiors...knotty pine on the walls and ceilings, pine beams and even pine flooring. It was a lot of wood but the best examples were treated with coat after coat of orange shellac which created a beautiful candle-light glow at night. They are cozy and warm in the winter and cool and dark on warm summer days.

On the other end of the luxury scale we have the affordable A-frame cabin which surged in popularity just after World War II.

Then came the period that haunts me today...the orange shag carpeting, matching formica kitchen counters and black stained beams popular in the 60's and 70's! I can't tell you how

many times I've been asked how to get rid of black stain on beams.

And today? We still love lots of natural wood, rock and stone, soaring heights, huge fireplaces and wood floors. Many of today's rustic interiors are still greatly influenced by the Awahnee's grandly elegant but rustic American Indian-influenced style, above.

Or are they? No one knows where the future is going, but the influences of green design and natural materials are pulling us in new directions. Is this just a trend that will someday be compareable to the orange shag and black beams of the 60's? We shall see.

Have You Been Curious to see What's Going on at Martis Camp?

Old Fashioned Family "Camp Style" at Martis Camp in the Sierras!

Even though I have been working on a project at Martis Camp, I have been dying to get a look at the Family Barn club house. I'd heard it was wonderful. (There is also a beautiful, more formal golf club house.)

Martis Camp Family Barn

A few months ago I attended a birthday party in the Martis Camp Family Barn. You may know that Martis Camp, in the process of being built, is probably Tahoe's most exclusive community. Houses are placed on 4 acre parcels, there is a beautiful golf course and club, a private ski lift to North Star, a library, art studio, and my favorite, the Family Barn.

The Family Barn is really a modern day version of the great old family "Camps" of the Adirondacks. Created around the turn of the 19th century by some of America's wealthiest families, these outrageously designed and decorated retreats, were "rustic" in style but with every possible comfort imaginable.

Great Camp Sagamore built by the Vanderbuilts in the Adirondacks in 1895-97

The Martis Camp Family Barn is really a casual club house that is dedicated to play. It is comfortable, welcoming and delightfully whimsical. Amazing attention to user comfort and enjoyment is evident everywhere, from dress-up trunks filled with Fairy Princess costumes, to a real old-fashioned soda fountain, games, books, swimming, bowling, basketball, concert facilities, you name it, if it's fun to do in the mountains, it can be found at the Martis Camp Family Barn.

Best of all is the staff. During weekends and summers the barn is fully staffed with camp counselors, sports counselors, lifeguards, art counselors. You name it, if your kids want to do it, there's someone there to make it happen for them.

I was knocked out by the way the whole place is decorated. Virtually everywhere you look there is something charming to see. It's clever, mountain rustic and understatedly elegant all at the same time. My favorite design style! I had such a wonderful evening roaming around and poking into eveything. There was one delightful surprise after another. Kudos to the design team!

Martis Camp Family Barn--notice the outdoor amphitheater.

The beautiful exterior--it really is modeled after a barn.

The fireplace area, below, is comfortable and welcoming but the details are personal and whimsical. It feels much more like a wonderfully decorated family house than a public space.

Books, needlepoint pillows, local art, mushroom figures on the mantle! Where better to spend a winter evening?

This is the upstairs art studio, below, which takes up the entire second floor. It's huge! The studio is stocked with virtually every sort of art supply you can imagine and is staffed by artists and counselors on the weekends and in summer. Artwork by Martis Camp residents has been framed and displayed throughout.

This is a close-up photo of the stair risers on the flight from the main floor up to the art studio. Clever, aren't they?

Below, the bowling alley. Isn't that a wonderful painting of Tahoe in the 1920's.

A clock made from tennis shoes. Just one of the dozens of clever little details that makes it so fun to wander around the barn.

The indoor theatre is used for movies and kid productions. The night I was there we used it for a personal slide show for our birthday girl.

There are mountain collections everywhere like this charming grouping of butterflies and dragonflies in round and oval frames.

Above, a close-up photo of the fabulous green-painted floor.

And what about the soda fountain? Of course there's one!

The pool area, above.

There are games galore including a full gym and all the balls, bats, nets etc to meet any young athlete's fantasies. Here's a photo of the pool table, below.

There are also tucked away spaces for meeting with friends and family. This is the yellow room, below.

You can't talk about the Family Barn without mentioning the events. From Easter Egg hunts to fireworks, outdoor movies, there is a regular schedule of fun on hand at the Family Barn.