While starting a new residential project, I sometimes get my inspiration from hotels and restaurants. I have always had a fondness for hospitality design. I like the themes, the flow, and the connection they usually seem to poses. I have studied both first hand. They usually never fail to get me excited.
As a flight attendant, I stayed in many hotels. Sometimes longer than others. Sometimes just to close my eyes for a few and go right back to the airport. However long, I never failed to intensely study the people, the decor, the comfort, the smells, the textures, the lighting. It was somewhat of an adrenaline rush.
I also designed national restaurants while living in Philadelphia. There is nothing like a hidden theme to get this girl into an artistic frenzy. I am one determined girl when I get vision. The creative direction for restaurants is thrilling and allows me to get ideas of where the project will go.
With that said, while some of these inspirations I admire are over the top, I still see the simplicity in the details. Come on, lets face it. All you really need, aside from some creature necessities, is a comfy bed, a cozy chair, and maybe a little place to eat a bite. Given this, those elements should be the best, most comfortable and ergonomic, like the basics of a great wardrobe. The rest is the icing on the cake.
I believe it is this thinking of functionality that allows me to take the inspirations from the places I study and from the basics, transpire the rooms into elegant, yet comfortable places for my clients. Not boring, but inviting. Not dull, but reveling. From simplicity to sensuous. Here is some inspiration.
London
Sheraton In Toronto
The Peabody in Memphis
The Alluvian in Greenwood, MS
Washington DC
Butter, NY City
Not sure where this is, but I love the romantic appeal of it.
Maldives Undersea Restaurant. Must go.
Hotel in Hong Kong. I really like these colors and how they combine with the reflection of the light.
And The Alluvian again.
