DESIGNER’S NOTEBOOK

Spring! The very sound of the seasons name shouts change as we are resurrected out of winters grasp into Maytimes warm embrace. And although Dallas’ winter never had too cold of a hold on the city’s residents this year, we are still somehow enamored with prima-veras presence, allowing spring fever to force us into ambitious fits of window washing, house cleaning and yard work. But enough of that menial stuff. Spring is surely the perfect time of year to cultivate the homes design attitude both Inside and out-especially with friendlier weather calling us outside to play. A common sight these days is that of homeowners’ delight as design dreams and Ideas take wing in specific areas-especially the home outdoors. And this season has sprouted some peachy design trends, inspiring many to opt for a complete metamorphosis in their homes’ decor.

Some real beauties are lined up in this season’s pageant of color. Sure to win in the congeniality category are the varying shades of apricot -a healthy glow-of-a-color expected only to increase in popularity. The color wears well on everything from fabrics to floor tiles, and its golden warmth complements the spectrum of interior design possibilities from formal French to casual Southwest-at-its-best.

Cooler shades of jades and turquoises are becoming lighter, clearer and more intense than they have been in the past, creating climatic color contrasts that will weather nicely through the years.

Thomas Berry. ASID, of Thomas Berry Associates speaks fondly of this new list of “fresher, clearer, cleaner and simpler colors.” As an interior space planner for a clientele that is both residential and commercial, Berry says most of his work is upper end, contemporary. He puts a great deal of emphasis on creating a comfortable environment that is flattering to its occupants.

“There is no particular magic to it,” Berry admits of his design philosophy. “It’s just that, particularly within your home, you should have total control of the environment. Make it just like you want it to be to make you come across like you want to come across. When clients are not sure what they want, I step in to help interpret that.”

Berry’s interpretation of this spring’s color palette is spoken in terms of muted and more pastel shades that somehow maintain a welcome degree of clarity, as opposed to the deeper, richer jewel tones, Some have referred to these newer arrivals as “jelly bean colors,” and Berry agrees with the terminology, pointing out they’re fun to live with as long as only the accents are candy colored, not the walls.

Berry offers two general rules of thumb when it comes to design accessories: Quality is unquestionably foremost, and less is better. For instance, when accessorizing a table a single object is better than a pair of objects-asymmetrical balance as opposed to symmetrical, or simply informal as opposed to formal.

Terry Crane, ASIC, of Crandale Galleries tells about two of his design projects that are in colorful agreement with Berry’s emphasis on making the environment flattering to the occupant.

One of Crane’s clients recently moved from a ranch in Frisco, Texas to a Highland Park townhouse. “Pink is her color and the house is a very European-style, three-story town house,” Crane describes. “I’ve had a trompe I’oeil ceiling painted in the perfectly round entrance hall, we’re using Chinese wall paper in the dining room and it’s a very classical place. Shades of pink serve as the common denominator running throughout the house, interpreted with different accent colors from room to room. It’s going to be a perfect background for her.”

Crane has also just finished designing the interior of a home situated next door to the David Rockefeller house in Maine. The client is a member of Fort Worth’s Bass family and the very description of the home’s floral theme exudes the fragrance of a spring bouquet. “It’s all flowers.” Crane says of the decor. “It’s just like a bower, so beautiful and in soft, bright colors. All of the rugs were specially designed with flower motifs. It’s a three-story. 35-room house and as you walk from room to room the feeling is continuously that of springtime.”

Crane notes this spring’s showroom color trends are very soft pastels-soft, stained glass colors – if you will. So if you’re looking for those colors today, it should be easy to find what you want. Crane says he doesn’t design for the season, but he does work for the “long pull.” “I like to think that 10 years from now my clients are going to like the project as much as they do the day that I finish the job. I’m still doing what I did 10 years ago, which is basically an eclectic look incorporating contemporary and period pieces. The colors! use are dictated by the client.”

“The perfect look,” Crane claims, “is the combination of very soft and comfortable contemporary sofas and chairs, a few good period pieces as accents with oriental accessories m the form of lamps, ash trays, etc.” That look has done well for about 300 years, so it’s doubtful the record will change. Of course, the English look has superseded the formal French look in the last few years, but there is still the mixing of period pieces.

“Quality is really the only thing that has lasting value,” Crane stresses. For those just beginning to furnish a home, he warns against going with “drop-dead interiors” or what’s new this year “just because it’s new.” That can be an expensive habit,

Crane’s first word on buying furniture is to buy the best sofa you can, with the best down-filled construction. It’s something you’ll have for the rest of your life. You can slip cover it, re-upholster it. rework the arms and update it and you’ll always have a wonderfully basic, comfortable piece of furniture to work with.

If you’re looking for a one-of-a-kind furnishing, Dallas has its share of young, innovative designers who are receiving more and more recognition as is Dallas as an international design center.

Spring design trends in the kitchen echo the resounding theme of Eurostyle with its clean, contemporary lines and cold surfaces. Crane often recommends the use of parquet floors in conjunction with the kitchen’s utilitarian demeanor. Not only does the wood surface add warmth to the room’s ambiance, it also can serve as a continuation of what might already exist flooring-wise in an adjoining dining room, butler’s pantry or entry hall. A good, serviceable rug at the sink area, protects the wooden floor from the heaviest abuse while adding to the warm feeling. Also, kitchen cabinetry is lighter, with more of the bleached woods and more painted surfaces.

Bathrooms are still the big luxury they’ve been for a while now. A rather novel idea is Crane’s fondness for mirroring the inside walls of skylights in master bedroom and bath areas. “It’s amazing what mirroring does to the amount of light let into a room,” he says of the concept. “And if you have a tree over the skylight, you get this continuous motion from the branches all the time and shadows move in the room freely. It’s a very handsome effect.”

Mirrored walls keep getting better and better. The effect achieved is that of a more open appearance, plus the benefit of never having to do it again. The application is most successful when used on unbroken wall space as opposed to a wall that has a lot of doors and windows.

Also, Crane finds that he is using less and less drapery treatments in major seating areas like living rooms, dining rooms and kitchens. When treating windows, he suggests doing it very simply with soft, cotton fabrics or perhaps with lots of shutters, such as the popular California louver.

When windows shed their shroud-like draperies, an exhilarating effect takes place. New life is breathed into the room, and what’s outside can be enjoyed inside as well. Unfortunately, the view outside some windows would not be so readily invited in. But not taking the home outdoors into consideration is becoming less and less an option for homeowners who take seriously their homes’ overall design.

Design continuity from the inside out has increased in importance as more homeowners are opting to pour themselves into one, longlasting homestead rather than moving from house to house. Crane observes landscaping is not as formal and rigid as it has been in years past.

And Berry agrees that most people are more comfortable in an informal setting. An admitted sun worshipper, he speaks from personal experience when encouraging clients to also consider their homes’ outdoor “rooms” when planning for design continuity.

Incorporating form and function into patios, porches, courtyards and gardens can turn what was once perhaps an ordinary slab of concrete or plot of grass into one of the most aesthetically pleasing aspects of the home. And with the going rate of real estate in Dallas, it’s a shame to not make the most of every square foot on the premises.

“Everybody should consider their yard another room of their home,” Berry exhorts. He is partial to the Spanish or Italian courtyard concept, whereby the front yard is enclosed, becoming something useful for the owner rather than just something to be maintained for onlooking street traffic. When it comes to colors and textures in surfaces and materials used outdoors, he prefers wood or ceramic tile for a cool surface, with light-colored tiles proving cooler than the darker alternatives.

Landscape architect Naud Burnett of Naud Burnett and Partners, has high standards when it comes to designing the outdoor garden environment for a client. Burnett feels that the garden should be in keeping with the style and decor of the house so that a certain level of coordination is achieved.

A good example of this concept is a particular French-style house in Highland Park for which Burnett did the landscape design. In an effort to maintain the feel of the stucco exterior, Burnett created an ivy-covered balustrade in front of the house, incorporating stucco columns into the fence. Presto! -the repeated use of the stucco material throughout the property creates a thematic illusion of having always been there. Another theme material used was that of an existing limestone terrace in the front. New terraces and walks constructed in the back of the property were also done in limestone. The options seem endtess when it comes to coordinating outside decking materials with existing colors and textures in your home’s construction, with patterns and prices to suit everyone.

Blooming color schemes! Color accents are used automatically to create certain feels indoors, but what about outdoors where many colors seem most at home. An outdoor design trend sweeping the nation is that of planting lots of color in the garden area. As always, homeowners are still asking for low-maintenance landscapes, but they’re not considering that flowers are something they can do without. And in Texas, options in color-filled plantings are available year-round in the form of pansies and bulbs in winter and early spring; begonias and impatiens in spring and summer; and caladiums and chrysanthemums in the fall – each carefully orchestrated into a beautifully natural, outdoor color scheme.

“People are wanting more of this homegrown color inside as well,” Burnett adds. “So they’re using the garden for cut flowers to bring indoors. People have had lots of green, tropical plants in their homes and now they want some color.”

The outdoor color trend’s strength in Dallas might be largely attributed to the example set by such garden showcases as the Dallas Arboretum where visitors are enlightened by what can be done with quality plantings and the right design. Once people witness this beauty firsthand, then “the seed is planted” and it’s just a matter of time before neighborhoods throughout the Met-roplex are seen blooming profusely with homeowners’ personalized garden showcases.

Burnett’s company is involved in the execution of a master plan for the Dallas Garden Center, which is redoing seven acres of gardens at Fair Park. At the Dallas Aboretum, Burnett is also doing two large gardens, the Rainbow Color Garden and Ferndell, which will serve as a focal point for the arboretum, exemplifying how Dallas residents can have color 12 months a year.

Howard Garrett, of Howard Garrett and Associates, is a widely read author and landscape architect whose first book, Plants of the Metroplex, is considered a valuable reference on plant materials even beyond the area for which it was written. In his newly released book, Landscape Design. – . Texas Style. Garrett addresses landscape design, plant selection, installation and maintenance for the entire state.

Garrett is pleased to see more people doing things in the home outdoors with a little bit more sensitivity, catching on to recommendations toward using darker, more subtle colors and staying away from white plastic and shiny silver guard rails and fences.

Garrett’s design philosophy is that trees are the most important design element by far. “Trees are what really create the space.” he reasons. “That’s also where the most money is usually invested, which I think is good.” Garrett makes reference to a recently published report that states landscape improvements to a residential property may be the only home improvements to return up to 200 percent of one’s original investment. And of course, a larger portion of that 200 percent is the trees as they are really the only things that appreciate in value by becoming larger, shading the house and creating the overall space.

“One trend in our office that we really are pushing for is the use of more deciduous plants, trees and flowering shrubs,” Garrett says. “We like deciduous trees because you can use more varieties, you get fall color and you get the sun shining through in the winter, which we think is a benefit.”

Garrett’s group also enjoys using a lot of plants that some folks may consider old-fashioned, a factor that only adds to the plants’ charm. The plants include flowering shrubs such as spirea “Bridal Wreath.” for-sythia “Golden Bell.” flowering quince and hydrangea, and perennials such as wood fern, daylily, ins and aster.

Nandina. an evergreen that provides brilliant red, winter color, is a fabulous plant, Garrett adds. There’s a new one out now that’s called Gulf Stream. Its an extremely low-growing, compact nandina that grows ! in sun or shade, making a great staple plant to use in large masses and its red color in the fall is excellent.

Garrett points out that a critical aspect to keep in mind in landscape design is that of proper drainage, especially where trees are concerned. “Many people have killed many trees by planting them in areas where they don’t drain,” he warns. “We’ve found that by installing drainage systems, even in areas that drained well already, we made the trees grow better because we added aeration as well as drainage.” An informational video cassette, entitled The Art of Landscaping Design, was nationally released last month. The tape is a full-color, 52 minute presentation, featuring Garrett as he takes you step-by-step through the process of designing, budgeting, constructing and maintaining your landscape profitably and artistically. The tape can be purchased at local garden centers and video stores throughout the Metroplex.

Literally shedding light on design trends for the home outdoors, is John Watson of John Watson Landscape Illumination. It was Watson who, as a Texas A&M graduate student back in the 1940’s, did the first thesis ever to address the subject of outdoor lighting. Today, he has 17 fully staffed offices across the country and is recognized internationally as the leading authority and pioneer in the field of landscape illumination – a term coined by Watson.

As important as proper lighting is indoors, it’s perhaps even more critically important outside the walls that surround us. Not only does the warmly focused light provide a continuous means of enjoying a beautiful landscape, it also serves as the most effective deterrent to potential burglars who might otherwise find shelter in the dark shadows of a poorly lit home.

“Landscape illumination means more than simply hanging lights in trees,” Watson notes. “It goes further than that. You only see what you light, and when you light badly you see badly. Therefore, it’s terribly important for people to recognize design of lights as the most important aspect of our field.”

The theory behind Watson’s method of security and aesthetic lighting is to be able to see the effect but not the actual light source. And during the design stage of an outdoor lighting system, care is taken so as not to create “light pollution” that, for instance, might be a glare problem with neighbors. Thus, special light-shielding devices are used on the fixtures which are preferably placed in trees or discreetly and strategically mounted from the eaves of the house.

It’s amazing what design feats can be accomplished with the proper application of outdoor lighting, and contrary to what is often seen, security lighting does not have to be ugly, Watson says. His concept of outdoor lighting was originally intended for aesthetic purposes only, he says. It wasn’t until more recent years that the lights were recognized as a security bonus.

“The aesthetics are still the primary thing today,” Watson stresses. “But in our philosophy of designing the system, all it’s costing to meet security needs in many cases, is an additional wire in the ground to control specific lights that are used all night long for security measures, but are also part of the aesthetic lighting system.”

Watson also warns people not to set patterns with their lighting design. A simple yet sophisticated outdoor lighting system can work “nightwatch” for you by varying the amount of light in specific locations from time to time. This way, you will not be signaling a potential burglar whenever you are out of town or when your family goes to sleep each night.

“Many contemporary homes don’t want to have draped windows so as not to feel closed in at night,” Watson points out. “With that in mind, we create something past that glass to keep that glass from being dark. I think the most foreboding thing in the world is to have a dark glass staring at me at night. I either want to pull the drapes or I want to be able to see out there. I don’t want to be in a showcase. If you’re not careful, that’s what will happen.”

Watson advises planning for outside lighting past those windows, while keeping in mind a relative balance between the outside and inside lights. Otherwise, you won’t be able to see outside because of the glare factor on the window being too bright from the inside. The solution to that? Dimmers.

“I’ve often said, that if I couldn’t afford outside lighting or any other lighting in the house, the first thing that I would do is put the lights that I’ve got on a dimmer,” Watson states. “The balancing is just so important.” Watson also advises starting with lighting that’s up close and will mean something right outside the windows, rather than placing one light way back on the property.

Whether viewed in spring’s warm sunlight or softly highlighted by an artistically designed landscape illumination, some of the most refreshing design statements are being made with garden furnishings and accessories.

Sue Wetsel buys everything from antiques to modern day accessories for Lambert’s garden shop and she admits the fun is in the search for the hard-to-find. Her goal is to innovatively bring together a collection of things solely for a garden. Many of the pieces, which she brings back from Europe and America’s east and west coasts, are not only functional but actual sculpture-like objects of art to be admired in the garden or garden-room setting.

“The old pieces are really what I’m most interested in,” Wetsel admits. “But they’re very difficult to find, very pricey and they’re hard to bring in. So, it’s not an easy job.”

Wetsel says it’s worth the effort and she believes in collecting the pieces, even though the market tor them is fairly small. “Someday, whoever ends up having them will be glad they have them at all,” she reasons. “Unlike a lot of other antiques, gardens and garden furniture are ages old, but garden furniture found these days was mostly produced in the 19th century and was never done in the same kind of abundance as interior furnishings. That aspect really makes it all the more interesting.”

Wetsel tells of a couple of favorites among her furniture finds. One is a pair of American chairs done by a famous founder in Ohio. Made of cast iron and so heavy they can hardly be lifted, the chairs are romantically fashioned with the illusion of twigs, and the braces on the legs are entwined with serpents. The pieces are very English in feeling and, of course, can be used to sit in but they could also be used as pieces of sculpture in the garden.

“Another pair that are probably my most favorite are of directoire style, 19th century iron,” Wetsel describes. “They’re more like park benches, but their lines are very simple, strong and smooth. The pieces are beautiful on a front porch on either side of the door or perhaps at a back drive as you drive in. It’s a totally different look.”

Garden design can be just as eclectic as the mixing of period pieces on the interior, so don’t be afraid to combine the old with the new. An antique piece can serve as an accent in a variety of garden furniture settings. Also, there are some beautiful ornamental urns to be found and used with plantings or simply displayed, perhaps on a pedestal.

Spring is calling you out of doors. Listen to what she has to say. If you haven’t given much thought to design in the home out doors, you’re not taking advantage of what could turn out to be a favorite “room.” its decor can be as much a reflection of your personality and lifestyle as what you may already be working to achieve on the inside. Let that personal style spill out into the | garden, then stand back and watch it flourish!