HOME

Anything Goes!

Mixing, matching
and making it
personal are topping
the decorating list.

Steve Raphael
Special to the Jewish News

W

hen you're decorating your home these
days, anything goes.

Contemporary and traditional, mixing
and matching, unconventional colors, fur-
niture from different eras and diverse fabrics recalling
the Summer of Love of the 1960s are all the rage.

"Taste is moving toward simplified design," says
Pegeen Vaughan, owner of Dream, Draw, Delegate

in Birmingham. An expert on kitchens and cabinets,
she says people are turning away from ornate to more
classic styles that bridge the gap between contem-

porary and traditional. Vaughan defines herself as a
renovation coach and not a decorator.
Yes, simple is in "but so is eclectic," says Nicholas

Avouris, an interior designer and owner of Nitsa's
Interiors in St. Clair Shores. Design "is becoming more
transitional and simplified as far as flavor goes and not

as heavily traditional anymore. Transitional means not
very contemporary and not very traditional."
Thanks to the woeful Michigan economy, people

are renovating, staying in their homes and enjoying
where they're at, he adds.
The new trend is all about self, about individuals

stamping their personalities on their living space. To
this end, homeowners are creating a da77ling and

even clashing array of designs and styles to express
their artistic inner selves.

And why not? If people can buy customized jeans or
customized flashy car interiors, they might as well bring
the same philosophy to their home, their cocoon, their
most personal and expensive possession.
Furniture is being re-interpreted in a sophisticated
modern style as home owners are mixing contem-

porary and classic pieces. It takes on an even more
stylish look when adorned with fabrics in different pat-
terns and prints, as well as upholstered pillows.
Draperies in solid colors are hung to contrast the
furniture.
One trend is inspired by and called design with-

out borders, a multicultural strategy that mixes and
matches the best in fabric, furniture and art from
China, Russia, Latin America, Morocco and India to

create a global look and feel right in the home
No design trend would be worth its salt if it weren't
eco-friendly. Home owners can buy eco-friendly and
recycled linens, fabrics and draperies.
Michelle Lamb, co-founder and chairman of
Marketing Directions Inc., and senior editor of The

ANYTHING GOES! on page C20

March 19 2009

C19