Gilles Clement's Roomscapes

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This particular home already had a living room, a family room and a study, therefore this room, (which being a small room with a lot of passage represents a typical issue to a lot of home owners) opened by a standard size doorway on the living-room, a double French door on the garden and a smaller doorway on the foyer needed to find a purpose.
This is a small room and in small rooms, function often determines design. They are numerous in nineteen Century dwellings as perfect refuges for solitary rest, places of concentration and work, and rooms of reserved intimacy.   Since the home owner already owned a baby-grand piano, the room was created around it. It is always good when you have such room to start with a theme based on one of your main interest or passion, it means you will use the room and it gives you the foundation to build upon it.
Naturally it is primordial to keep a visual balance within the space; it comforts the eye and discreetly prevents an immediate perception of the individual elements, offering a more distinguished visual perception of the room.
A stunning eighteen Century style French writing desk, purposively oversized to balance the weight of the piano offers as well a great working surface for reading large books or writing.  The piano and the writing desk were placed in parallel angles to leave the walkways between the doors available for passage.
A very elegant black velvet daybed with gold contrasting welt was designed to create a perpendicular balance for the weight of the piano and the desk as well as to give a great functional piece to listen to music or read.
A rare antiqued mirror screen, reminiscent of David Hicks’ designs, and a black lacquer etagere with gold accents, were chosen to lighten the furniture mass by their height.   The screen placed behind the daybed, opens the room with its reflection and completes with its distressed gold finish the welting of the daybed, while the etagere, with its open spaces offers a great structure to display antiques and collectibles.
The gorgeous draperies made by hand of fine crushed black velvet stripes on an ivory linen, and lined with an exquisite two-toned trim, are very highly hung, to better accentuate the height of the ceiling;  though they must slightly break on the floor (at least one and a half inch) to create the illusion of heightening the room.
Two very fine hand-made Persian rugs with vegetable dyes, orchestrated by gold and blacks complete the color palette of the room, while defining the seating areas, through the warmth of the New Zealand wools and the delicacy of the silk.
Lighting is certainly a primordial design element that defines the comfort of a room and that implements its use. In this case we have four different sources of light, each carefully designed to serve its functionality but also to make the room look cozier and more inviting.
When accessorizing, using antiques or pieces that tell one of your stories, brought back from your trips or adventures, is a great way to make a room more individualistic. Naturally, dress your walls with real Fine Arts if possible, or like in this case, with exceptional lithographs on aged paper signed by the artist.
This room certainly proves that elegance and comfort can work together and as the Italian design icon, Renzo Mongiardino says it so well: “The Goal, the miracle of beauty in art, lies in the rules, but goes beyond the rules…”

For resources visit lecirquedesigns.com