Like Apartment Therapy, Jonathan Adler's manifesto begins with the belief that your home should make you happy. Within this idea lies Jonathan's colorful, sculptural and whimsical designs that will make you smile. We recently came across a 15 fun and fearless tips by Jonathan that will inspire your own home design. Check them out after the jump....
15 Fabulous Design Tips From Jonathan Adler
[We love these wallpaper options that mix-n-match.]
1. Mix and match with panache. Don’t be tentative with patterns. If you keep your color scheme restrained, you can approach patterns with wild abandon.
2. When in doubt, repeat, repeat, repeat your patterns.
3. Don’t fit in. Scale is the most under-considered piece of the decorating puzzle. Put a Gothic throne in a studio apartment.
4. Paint your floors white. You’ll feel carefree.
[Brown and blue colored vases make a fun decor accent!]
5. Chocolate brown and baby blue are perfect together. They’re uptown, they’re downtown, they’re classic and fashion forward.
6. Layer, layer, layer. Unexpected touches are the soul of the MAXIMALIST HOME: A painting hung on a bookcase, a chandelier in a closet, a brass lion’s-head door knocker in a modern apartment.
7. If you’re a clean modernist, try white grass-cloth for a little warmth.
8. Orange is the poppiest color and the answer to most decorating conundrums. Lacquer your front door orange. Pique your neighbor’s curiosity.
9. Replace white walls with unexpected neutrals like camel, olive, or baby blue.
10. Put regal furniture in your bathroom.
11. When in doubt, add mirrors for extra glamour, put a piece of mirror on top of a cabinet to make it sparkle or in a niche to create the illusion of depth.
12. Primary colors are happy colors – use them abundantly.
[Sunshine yellow and kelly green are bright and cheery and work!]
13. Let go of coordinating colors. Colors can’t clash. However, when in doubt - brown is your foundation. Brown with red is innately chic.
14. Go for grandeur with a giant chandelier.
15. Make your own – Personal style means having a space that’s comfy but filled with stuff that has meaning to you. It should hold things created and inspired by passionate people. Personal style should make you happy and happiness is chic.
[Jonathan Adler's 15 Fabulous Design Tips article via PointClickHome]
[All images via Jonathan Adler]
Here are more design tips to help make your home comfortable:
Comments (23)
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Jonathan Adler is my hero.
view bepsf's profile
fun tips. not for me, but pretty interesting nonetheless.
what kind of dog is that? it rules.
view amt230's profile
while i like his design ideas, I find jonathan adler to be insanely freakish and weird. he sorta reminds me of a pedaphile.
view LittleRock's profile
I knew Adler made his initial splash with his pottery but I never actually pictured him making something on a wheel. Seeing him get his hands dirty is a pleasant surprise.
view MiklakMiklak's profile
It's Adler's Norfolk terrier Liberace.
LittleRock--
How many pedophiles do you know?
view patrick (the other one)'s profile
I love Jonny!!! And number 15 is the absolute key, and something I think most people forget.
view Limonata's profile
"what kind of dog is that? it rules"
Liberace is a Norwich Terrier.
view bepsf's profile
The dog's name is Liberace. He's a Norwich terrier. He lives with Adler and Simon Doonan.
view Limonata's profile
#8 is so very true. My high gloss deep orange door gets tons of compliments, as does the michael healy crab door knocker.
Jonathan and Simon are one of the coolest couples around!
view Seaside's profile
#8 is so true. My high gloss deep orange front door gets lots of compliments, as does my Michael Healy crab door knocker.
Jonathan and Simon are one of the coolest couples around!
view Seaside's profile
Yeah, I am also surprised to see Adler behind the wheel. Very cool, though. I don't know why it is so unusual to picture him getting his hands dirty. Oh, wait...yes I do. ;)
view Kimber's profile
I really like his tips!
view danze's profile
"Yeah, I am also surprised to see Adler behind the wheel."
Why? That's how he got his start - He started throwing pots back in his teens, and from 1994-1997 he fulfilled all of his orders by making every pot himself.
view bepsf's profile
I'm a fan of the orange and brown blue comments, however, NO ONE in their right mind should dress up to throw pottery. Unless of course you want to stain everything you hold dear.
view ChristopherB's profile
When you read about him on his site and elsewhere, Jonathan Adler seems like one of the most down - to - earth successful creative people out there. and I think it's cuz he worked his ass off to get where he is, and he does it with a cheerful spirit and optimistic attitude.
Littlerock, if you find him "insanely freakish and weird" you clearly don't know many creative souls...
view teeze's profile
I think jeans and a plaid button down is Adler's version of "dressed down".
view kitties!'s profile
I was a potter, and nothing ever stained. Dust either washed out or got beaten out... guess I was lucky. Stuff didn't stay "clean" while potting, but never stained.
view ljbmonkey's profile
I'm not sure about #13. I get that he wants people to be less afraid to use color, but there are definitely colors that clash.
view harlie's profile
isn't this guy on the new "top design" show? I may have him mixed up with someone else. anyways, love his stuff and his tips are great, good to see i'm doing a few things right.
yes, Liberace is so adorable! I want to steal his dog bed for my pups.
view Stephvixen's profile
Mix and match patterns or repeat patterns? Make up your mind.
Find your own personal style or follow these 11 color guidelines?
Not to be a hater, but am I the only one who finds this list a little thin, and maybe a little dumb?
I've just purchased 26 mirrors and I feel glamorous already.
view greyny's profile
nothing new there.
view quiltmaster's profile
panache is tricky. courage and abandon are not always justified and can get one into a whole lot of trouble (in life and in decorating). not that being tentative or timid is any better.
all these rules about color combinations will just look tired or cliched in ten years; they always do. why do you think there are so many pink tiled bathrooms, avocado and turquoise appliances, and dusty rose sofas from ages past?
like his thoughts on scale and the unexpected.
i think it is really about knowing yourself (what you like/hate, what makes you calm/happy, what are your needs) and then going from there. HIS RULE 15.
view healthyhome's profile
I don't think that's a Norwich. Norwich ears are pointed. Like "wich" hats.
Norfolk terriers have floppy ears.
view patrick (the other one)'s profile