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Home & Garden

8 Things You Can Learn from Allen Kirsch

Allen Kirsch, on why he hates lamp cords.
By Roger Brooks |
photography by Dan Sellers

While other kids were outside scrambling in the grass with a football, 8-year-old Allen Kirsch was closeted inside his room sketching floor plans. Flirtations with architecture (“too formulaic”) and advertising (“just a way to make money”) while studying at the University of Texas at Austin eventually gave way to an interest in interior decoration. He opened an eponymous linens and drapery store in 1979 in Preston Center with a small army of designers at his disposal. Disappointed by their efforts, he instructed them to pass the next request directly to him. A designer was born.

 
HIDE THOSE WIRES!
Am I obsessive? Maybe, but wires bring a room down. I drill holes in the tops and legs of my tables to run lamp cords inside and then underneath the rugs below. It removes the visual pollution. You’d get rid of dirt on a sculpture, wouldn’t you?

KEEP IT NEUTRAL
My favorite paint combination is light beige and dark beige. I like to keep my cocoon neutral and let the art and the people be the focal points.

BEWARE, THE SPEC HOME
Some spec builders decorate with building materials. There’s no room for great art or design.

BUY BIG, SPEND SMALL
I go to Oriental Treasures on Slocum Street. You can get a lot of look and texture for less money. They have these daybeds that I love. I turn them into cocktail tables.

NO FAUX MEDITERRANEAN
Dropping goop on walls just to make it look old isn’t design; it’s phony. Any style done well can be appealing, but Mediterranean has been abused and cheapened.

EMBRACE SPACE
Good design is knowing the balance between positive and negative spaces. What you leave out is just as important as what you leave in. It’s a gut instinct. 

EDIT RUTHLESSLY
Design is not about picking out your favorite things (if it were, you wouldn’t need a designer). It’s about putting them together in a way that supports the whole. And if your favorite lamp doesn’t fit that, it may have to go.

LOWER THAT CEILING
People think the higher the ceiling, the higher the drama. But if the ceiling is higher than the length of the room, the room is going to look smaller—the Greeks taught us that.

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