Tricia Guild's New Paint Box Book

No one does color better than interior designer Tricia Guild. Every season I pester my friends at ID Collection to send over images from the latest fabrics and wallpapers from her line, Designers Guild, because I know they'll be sumptuous and dreamy. I think most of us stick with bland palettes at home because we're afraid of using color. Tricia has a new book, Paint Box, that makes it so much easier to pull a color scheme together yourself, with 45 different palettes that include color, texture, and pattern. Every room in her book is accompanied by design tips and a directory of Designers Guild paint colors, fabrics, and wallpapers. I pulled some of Tricia's highly useful tips from the book, below...

Tip #1 Mixing a color with a neutral such as black, white, or gray, reduces the colorfulness. A neutral is the color that underpins your scheme. White is often the default option, but why not consider gray, ecru, chocolate, or a shade of blue or green, or even pale plaster pink. Tricia often uses a shade of slate blue or olive green as a neutral, especially with bright colors.

Tricia Guild

Tip #2   Tricia Guild's Faded Frescoes palette is inspired by Italy's ancient frescoed walls and looks great against a natural linen shade. She suggests keeping your neutral soft to echo fresh paint or wet plaster.

Tip #3   Olive and emerald colors liven up a mid-century palette, with charcoal acting as the perfect neutral. For this look, you'll want to keep the walls white, and mix wood furniture with upholstered pieces in wool and tweeds.

Tip #4   The glamour of 18th-century French royalty is evoked here with fresh blooms in plum and eggplant and bottle greens. Balance the look with a neutral wall, or you could paint the walls in plum or eggplant. This look is magical in rooms with little natural light.

Tip #5   If you love the look of vintage roses, make it more approachable with casual linens. Think about toughening up the look a bit with an off-beat colors such as warm denim blue.

Tip #6   The many shades of white can clash. Decorating an all-white room is one of the most difficult schemes to pull off. First, determine which white are you? Blue-toned white works well in sunny, light-filled rooms. Creamy, yellow-toned white feels more classical and is suited for north-facing spaces. A gray-toned white gives you a clear, crisp architectural finish. Whichever white you pick, make sure they all work together -- drapes, shades, furniture, accessories — and are united in their tones of white.

THRIFT STUDIO 2015

Mary Anne Smiley + Bernadette Schlaeffler Collection

SNEEK PEEK  Dwell with Dignity's Thrift Studio opened on April 24, and it's the most colorful yet. (Photographer Lance Seligo of Unique Exposure shot the designer vignettes.) 

It's for an amazing cause, dear to the heart of many Dallas designers. To read more about Dwell with Dignity's mission, go here. This year's lineup of designers and showrooms is stellar: Mary Anne Smiley Interiors + Bernadette Schlaeffler Collection; Tiffany McKenzie + Jan Showers Collection; Brittany Cobb for the Dallas Flea; Cantoni; Doniphan Moore; Duncan Miller Ullman; Ellie Visconti + Pettigrew; Reagan Nickelson + Carlin & Company + Duralee; Shelly Lloyd Design + Brendan Bass Showroom + Robert Allen. 

Doniphan Moore

Reagan Nickelson + Carlin & Company + Duralee

Tiffany McKenzie + Jan Showers Collection

15 Tips to Get Your Design Project Published!

Sponsored Promotion

All Photography by Stephen Karlisch

POINT, CLICK...  "Good photography changes everything. It gets you noticed by  magazines and attracts potential clients to your website." –Stephen Karlisch

NO. 1  Did you know the number one reason shelter magazines turn down submissions from designers and architects is because of bad photography? No matter how beautiful your work is, bad angles and lighting can undermine all your hard work and talent. If a magazine editor can't visualize it in the pages of her magazine, then your chances of getting published are made that much harder. In today's rapidly changing editorial market—when budgets are constantly being slashed and editors often rely on print-ready images to fill pages or online content—submissions with high-quality photography make editors stop and take notice.

An experienced interiors photographer can be the difference between getting a call back or a rejection. 

Dallas-based photographer Stephen Karlisch has been helping designers and architects across Texas get their work into some of the top magazines in the country for 15 years, including Architectural Digest, Elle Decor, Interior Design and Veranda. Locally, he's the go-to-pro for editors at D Home, FD Luxe, Modern Luxury and PaperCity. 

NO. 2  Use a photographer with influence and you have an advantage. "My contacts and key relationships in the editorial world will at least get your projects viewed and considered," says Karlisch. "If your end goal is to be in Elle Decor, it needs to be photographed like it’s already in there. Editors want to see something that’s finished. Often, they'll use them in a mock layout and see if it’ll work."

NO. 3 Be proactive. "Don't wait for magazines to come to you," adds Karlisch. "Go ahead and shoot your work and have it ready to go. When I first started in the editorial business, magazines would shoot a lot of projects and shelve them. Metropolitan Home, and Architectural Digest would always overshoot. Things would often get scrapped and never run. These days, budgets are next to nothing, they are looking for content to run."

NO. 4 Style your shoot. Even though you might have designed an amazing space, it takes a stylist to make an impact for print consideration. "I've aligned myself with great stylists and we've done a lot of editorial work together as a team," says Karlisch. "We know what it takes to make the photos appeal to editors. It also takes the pressure off designers. A stylist provides input on whether a shot is too cluttered or needs to have something added—you can get emotionally involved with an item in a room that's not necessary for the shoot."

NO. 5  Flowers have power. "A lot of the time, flowers can make or break a shoot," says Karlisch, who often teams up with floral designers who have years of experience in editorial design work. Magazines expect to have sophisticated floral in the projects they publish that are styled correctly for the look and feel of the project—and for the look of the magazine,  he adds. The right flowers add dimension that magazines appreciate.  A experienced floral stylist can give your design work a bit of an edge, while maintaining a timeless quality.

Says Karlisch: "A lot of images I’ve shot for design clients like Jan Showers, Emily Summers or Laura Lee Clark, the floral is important, but you don’t want it to look dated in a few years. You want to get a lot of use out of your photos, so the right flowers are critical. Several designers still feature my photos on their websites—some taken 10 years ago—and they still look fresh, as though they were taken recently."

NO. 6  Build your website with beautiful, professionally shot images. If a magazine isn't familiar with your work, they'll pull up your website and take a look at your portfolio. If it's filled with iPhone shots that you took yourself, you might have missed your one shot at getting that editor's attention. "I’ll meet a new designer who needs to get started, and they need content to build a website," says Karlisch. "Unless you're established, it's hard to get it going, or understand how to make it work. That's where having a team work with you on shoots is really helpful, so that we can help you present the strongest visuals you have. You don't need a lot of photos on your site, but if you've only got a few, they need to be really good." 

NO. 7  Be ready when book publishers call. "I’m in 6 books where the designer has been contacted to supply an image for an upcoming book. You need to have these images ready when publishers contact you," says Karlisch, whose photos appear in books by Rizzoli and Taschen, among others. Book publishers and authors know the game—books simply don't have the budget to hire photographers to shoot for them, so they'll contact designers directly and get images from them. Those with the best, print-ready images have a good chance of getting into the book.

NO. 8  Shoot your project as soon as it's finished. "Designers need to put photo shoots into their design budgets so they can get it shot for their website and portfolio—successful ones do this," says Karlisch. "They are well aware that as soon as a project is almost done, they are scheduling a photo shoot. This is your legacy, don’t rush around years later hoping to get something shot."

NO. 9  Have at least one good portrait of yourself for your website and ready to go for magazines. "I got into shooting interiors because of my portrait work, says Karlisch. "I'm still known as a portraitist. I'm in tune with making people look comfortable and casual, in a professional way. A lot of it is within an environment, so we're showing your work as well."

NO. 10  Bring extra pieces for the shoot. Don't miss out on an opportunity to shoot a room or a whole house just because they lack a complete design vision. "I know designers who bring in extra furniture or accessories to fill in the holes in a room for a shoot. Sometimes the clients love it and end up buying it. It also helps complete your vision as a designer, so document your legacy."

NO. 11  Study the magazines you want to be in. "I hear from designers all the time, 'I want to be in Elle Decor or Architectural Digest,' and I always tell them, 'don’t wait for them to come to you, let’s shoot it now,' " says Karlisch. "Study what it is about the publication that makes them unique, what images do they use? If you want to be in one magazine over the other, it changes the way I approach the shoot. Some magazines want a soft look with only natural light, others like images that are crisp and heavily lit." The same is true for how rooms are styled—some magazines prefer uncluttered rooms while others like lots of collections and color. "It could be as simple as turning all the lights off," he adds. "Some publications don't want to see table lamps or chandeliers on. If you send your images to Veranda, you'd better not have a light on."

NO. 12  You get what you pay for. "If you want to get published, get someone who knows how to make your work shine. Think of it this way—as a designer, everyone knows clients can go to Restoration Hardware and Crate & Barrel and hire their in-house design services to do their house. Or they can try to do it themselves. But clients hire you because you're highly skilled and talented. The same is true in photography," says Karlisch. "There are those out there you can hire who are cheaper, but you run the risk of settling on what they can give you. You get what you pay for." 

Karlisch Photography's fees are more reasonable than you may think—he can shoot a vignette, a room or a whole project for you, so it's easy to get started. Reach out to him via his website, here.

NO. 13  Emphasize the Wow Factor. "I do this a lot for my showroom clients. They'll need an image to have a wow factor for an advertorial, or ad, so I'll shoot two to three vignettes at the showroom. You can do that, too, if you're a designer who wants to advertise. Pick one or more signature shots you want for your ads, promo pieces, website, or even the dream cover of your book."

NO. 14  Get to know editors. "Designers need to establish relationships at magazines to get their work seen. You need need a solid, polished approach, almost as if selling yourself to a big client. Treat editoral magazines the same way," says Karlisch. "Go to see editors when you're in New York. Get to know your editors in Dallas."

NO. 15  Make a plan, then edit down. "When I work with a stylist and floral designer, we take the time to look at the house to come up with a plan as a team, to feel what can be shot. The designer has their input as well, but an experienced team brings more to the table and increases your chances of getting noticed by magazines," says Karlisch. "We walk  through the project ahead of time, make a shot list and study the light in each room. You don't always need floral in every shot. You don't want to overwork it, and you don't always need to shoot everything. Just like when you design a room, be sure to edit what images you use. It's just as important what gets left out as what gets put in."

Make 2014 your year for getting published! 

Email Stephen Karlisch for a quote at studio@stephenkarlisch.com or call the studio at 214.224.9995

Lee Cullum's Chic Townhouse

Photo by Steve Wrubell

Perfection . . . Lee Cullum is one of the most talented and respected journalists around. I've always been in awe of her interviewing skills and her ability to elicit fascinating stories from her subjects—Now I'm in awe of her Turtle Creek townhouse (SmithArc in Dallas recently renovated it). I'm only showing enough photos here to get to you excited enough to read my full story in this month's issue of Modern Luxury Dallas. You can read it online here (turn to page 54). Steve Wrubel shot all of the perfectly composed photos for the story. Thank you, Steve, for letting me post a few here...

Photo by Steve Wrubell

The need for an elevator prompted Cullum to begin renovating her townhouse, a process that went room by room over many years. In order to put in an elevator, the entry had to be expanded and opened up... 

Photo by Steve Wrubell

Adding an elevator shaft provided a lot more wall space to hang Cullum's striking collection of art. Also, take a look at the glass ceiling. It's also the second floor walkway—Cullum told me that when she first stepped out of the elevator onto that glass floor she gasped and called the architect, telling him she didn't think she could ever get used to it. He persuaded her to live with it for a couple of weeks. Now she loves it...

Photo by Steve Wrubell

Cullum's second favorite color is green, so she had SmithArc paint the inside of the elevator this high gloss hue. She loved it so much, she painted her laundry room the same color. Can you guess which color is her very favorite? It's a color that Jason Smith says he noticed that Cullum wears a lot (read the story to find out!).

Jane Waggoner's Stunning Rug Designs

Sunny, lounging on a Voodood rug from Jane's Island collection.

Photo by Sean Gallagher.

Loom-inary . . . Dallas interior designer Jane Waggoner's stunning new rug designs are inspired by some of the world's greatest artists, including Picasso and Warhol. "Art inspires me at my deepest level," says Jane, who has dual masters degrees from SMU in art history and business. Her background is all about art, having worked at both the Museum of Modern Art in NYC and the Dallas Museum of Art, before starting her own interior design business. A passion for creating rugs was sparked two years ago, and her newest designs, Feng and Shui, can be seen in the windows this month at Forty Five Ten, which is selling the designs exclusively.

Feng and Shui, from the Chinoiserie collection. Photo by Sean Gallagher.

Stylemaker Dana Card introduced me to Jane late last year, while we were having lunch at Forty Five Ten. Jane arrived with her rug samples in tow, and her beautiful daughter Madeline, who was home for the holidays from UT. Madeline, who obviously has a natural eye for design, set up the shot above with the root table and green rug. Brilliant!

Dana lent us her lovely home in Greenway Parks so we could shoot the rugs for this story. Her two standard poodles, Sunny and Louie, loved the camera and ended up in several shots. They're born hams, but I love how they look on Jane's rugs.

Jane Waggoner. Photo by Peter Chollick (Jane's talented brother).

Feng and Shui, from the Chinoiserie collection. Photo by Sean Gallagher.

The rugs, which are mainly wool and wool and silk blends, are hand-woven in Tibet at 100 knots per square inch, which according to Jane, is about as good as it gets in rug-making. They take about five months to make. I asked her how this is possible in a world that demands instant gratification, even on things that are supposed to be bespoke. "Some things are worth waiting for. Quality is worth waiting for. These are rugs that get passed down to your grandchildren, and my customer is the kind who values that," she says.

The carpets also appeal to customers with a conscience. They're GoodWeave certified, which ensures that no child labor was used, and Jane donates 10% of the profits to children’s charities.

But because it takes almost a half a year to get a rug, Jane's come up with ways to keep customers from going stir crazy. Midway through, they're sent a photo of their rug in progress along with a photo of the artisan working on it, “sort of like a sonogram,” she says. Special software, available at Interior Resources (the wholesale showroom that carries Jane Waggoner Rugs), allows you to upload a photo of your room and see what any of her rug designs will look like.

Orani, from the Tribal collection. Photo by Sean Gallagher.

Jane's designs are inspired by years of looking at art in museums, and travel. "I may not have the "it" handbag, but I always have a passport ready and a suitcase packed," she says. "Every 18 months I go to Europe for the architecture and the museums. One rug design came directly from the detail of a frame in a museum in Spain. It starts out as one thing, then morphs into another." She particularly admires Picasso's Spain-influenced works, which galvanized her Barcelona collection. "Picasso's work, especially his ceramics, inspire something in me that's ageless and timeless. The litmus test for good art is that it can be used anywhere. That's the same test I use for my rugs. They can go into a variety of different places."

Me, shooting photographer Sean Gallagher, shooting Jane's portrait

Here's a snapshot I took of photographer Sean Gallagher on the floor, taking Jane's portrait with one of her rugs. I love how the trees outside cast decorative shadows on the wall behind her, and how Dana's living room has the kind of spare, washed out elegance of an Ingmar Bergman film.

Louie, posing on a chartreuse Feng and Shui rug. Photo by Sean Gallagher.

Eventually, Jane's rug designs will turn into designs for wallpapers and textiles, and she's working on some designs for iron and wood furniture with Shoshannah Frank. But for now, rugs satisfy the itch to create. "They satisfy a visual and tactile sense for me," she says. "I love the deliciousness of them, and the pile and feel of them."

Inside Kevin and Cheryl Vogel's Art-Filled House in Dallas

At home with the Vogels' collection of great art and classic furniture

Living Among Art . . . in 1953, artist Donald Vogel and his wife Peggy purchased six acres of undeveloped land off Spring Valley Rd, in what was then far north Dallas. They built a contemporary glass and brick house, which was initially a combination artist studio, gallery, home, and frame shop. Dubbed the Valley House, the Vogel's home became an enclave for artists, musicians, and writers, who gathered over meals and drinks to exchange ideas and inspiration. The sculpture gardens which I wrote about on this blog a few years ago, are spectacular.

Fort Worth architect John W. Jones and artist

Donald Vogel designed this mid-century masterpiece.

Donald's son Kevin Vogel and his wife Cheryl inherited the 3,5000 square foot house and the operation of the art gallery in 2004 after Donald died. Having grown up in the house and worked in the family art business since he was in high school, the ensuing renovations were a labor of love. "I almost lived in the creek down in the back," says Kevin. "We had heat, but no air conditioning, and the fans were going 24/7, with the windows open all the time. The house was weird to my friends, because no body else had ceilings that were almost 14 feet or big open rooms like this." Kevin and Cheryl met in 1978 when she was at grad school at SMU and Donald hired her as the gallery's secretary.

The Vogel's backyard is actually a sculpture garden,

which they allow the public to visit.

The first phase of renovations shored up the home's crumbling infrastructure. Built on a flood plain, the house survived a major flood in 1964. "We had 54 inches of water in the house, it was above my head," he says. A second phase of renovations included updating the kitchen and bathrooms, with the help of Arthur Johnson and Scott Hill of Square One Furniture.They replastered the walls, but kept the original wire-cut antique brick floors (originally sourced from a building in Colorado by interior designer Earl Hart Miller) and dark-stained ceiling beams in the living room. "We tried to do things that Donald would have liked," says Cheryl.

They're still making changes, but most of the new furniture was moved into the house a little over a year ago.

A pair of iconic Vladamir Kagan sofas are as sculptural

as any of the artworks in the house, and create an intimate space

for the Vogel's gatherings, which often include artists, writers, and musicians.

"The house is like living in sculpture," Cheryl says. "It's beautiful without one stick of furniture." When it came to choosing furniture, though, decisions weren't made entirely on looks. "I like a bold piece of furniture that makes a statement, but the conversations in the room need to be more important. We didn't buy anything just because it was pretty, it needs to be comfortable too." Her first purchase started with a collection of black leather Matteo Grazzi chairs from Scott + Cooner for the dining table.

"I love the way four people can sit on one of these sofas

and have their own private space," says Cheryl.

People can seat themselves on the hearth if they like,

and the room spills out onto the terrace." The tripod table is from Brant Laird.

After spotting this antique wing chair at Nick Brock Antiques,

Cheryl decided to leave it in its unfinished state. "It looks so skeletal

without its upholstered arms," she says.

The house has no hallways, and virtually all of the rooms are utilized all of the time, says Cheryl. "Everything happens off the main room, kitchen, and living areas. It's a place for us to show large scale paintings and to have a comfortable conversation and watch movies.

"We have five or ten events for charity a year here, and parties for artists or friends," she says. "The piano, an old Steinway built in the late 1800s, drives the party," says Cheryl, who had the piano reconditioned to concert-level status so that musicians could give performances at the house. The Vogels also host many charitables events in their house each year, and Cheryl, who loves to cook, gives dinner parties for artists and friends almost every weekend, such as one she gave for Tary Arterburn, founder of Studio Outside, who is the consulting landscape architect for the gardens now. "It's a wonderful kitchen for everyone to be cooking together," because it opens onto the main room.

After mounting a show by SMU professor

Barnaby Fitzgerald, the Vogels were enchanted

with this painting so they bought it for their house.

The Vogels have a large collection of 19-c. watercolors and drawings, but because of all the potentially damaging sunlight that floods through the house, they keep them stored away. "We bring them out one at a time and display them. It's very Japanese to do that, I think."

They fell in love with the Barnaby Fitzgerald painting, above, after an exhibit of his works several years ago at the gallery. Says Cheryl: "It didn't sell, and so of course we didn't hesitate in buying it. We just brought it in and put it on the backs of chairs until we knew where to hang it. It was one of the first things we bought that made me feel like I was at home."

Plaster hand remnant is from a sculpture by Frederick William Sieveres.

The white sculpture in foreground is actually a naturally occurring

mineral formation, which was excavated from the

Fountainbleau area of France. "I bought it because it reminded

me of sculpture by Jean Arp," says Cheryl. The terra cotta goat is

by Charles Umlauf, and the painting is by Donald Vogel.

Donald Vogel's former art studiois now a conversation area

and repository for the Vogel's personal collection of canvases.

It still includes many of the artist's original furniture and art.

The paper lantern is Noguchi; the tall wood sculpture is by Phil Evett.

Despite the home's mid-century design, "I'm not a modernist person in the real sense," says Cheryl. "I grew up in Florida with lots of color and pattern. I do like to shop for modern furniture though. There's a great store on the Rue du Seine in Paris that has great modern furniture that inspires me. And I'm always looking at magazines. In the construction phase, I got some good advice from Paul Draper, a friend and designer who urged restraint. He said 'You can't just fill up your house with all your favorite bold furniture.'" She also credits photographer David Gibson and architect Bill Booziotis, also friends, for informally helping them redesign the house.

Artist Donald Vogel's original desk includes his old paint brushes.

In the top photo, the figurative wood sculptures are by Phil Evett.

"I'm very influenced by the homes of artists I visit," says Cheryl. "It's about people being together in a space, rather than fussy objects. It should be a space that is amiable for conversation, and there should be books everywhere. I'm always running out of book space. But this house is very demanding. the more we live here, the more we take out and the better it looks." Like a temperamental artist, "The volume of the rooms has a special quality that demands to have its own way," she says.

A version of this story first appeared in Modern Luxury magazine, here.