When our clients moved into a town home, they wanted to refresh the space with a new design. As two well traveled individuals, their passion for people and places is evident in their collection of art and objects from their journeys, which we used as the creative direction for the design.
First Look: New Arrivals for November
Designer Spotlight: NE Portland
Our client in NE Portland moved into a newly built contemporary home. We focused on design for the open floor plan living and dining rooms, home office, and master bedroom.
Due to the high ceilings, fresh white paint and spaciousness of the home, the objective was to create intimacy, ethereal and serene palettes, and texture to make it feel cozy and still modern. The soft grays, taupes and mineral blues in the living room, offset by the beautiful artwork and fireplace, completed the look. The ergonomics, the actual feel of upholstery, and comfort of the seating were important.
For example, we choose a sofa that could accommodate higher neck support with a higher-than-normal seat density to strike a very comfortable sofa sectional, perfect for watching television or curling up to a good book and enjoying a fire. Similarly, the laser-cut leather armchairs for the dining table offer a molded generous seat for a dinner that could last into the early hours.
As a painter and highly creative person who values ritual, our client lives a life of wonder, wisdom, and whimsy. Our collaborative goal was to incorporate her ideas and preferences which, according to her son, resulted in a “modern monastery!”
First Look: New Arrivals for October
Designer Spotlight: Interior Design Spotlight: Modern Home in West Linn
Our clients in West Linn needed space planning and furniture selection for the living and dining rooms in their open floor plan, newly built contemporary home.
They are a fun, young family with two toddlers and refined design taste, so it was important to find a realistic solution for their lifestyle. The goal was to incorporate their preferences of European-style furniture with a bold and monochromatic palette.
The home is open, airy and spacious so our designers chose furniture to anchor the space and make it feel inviting and intimate. They used the expertly selected finishes as inspiration for the upholstery - marrying the walnut detailing on the fireplace with the dining table, and coordinating with the bold black trim featured throughout the home. The eco- leather on the dining chairs makes it easy to clean up after young children.
The final touches included a selection of original artwork and handmade accessories that added pops of color and a layer of organic texture.
First Look: New Arrivals for September
First Thursday with Emily Bates & Tricia French
THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 5
6 - 9 PM
Emily Bates and Tricia French’s love and passion for the natural world synced up in this first ever collaboration. Each artist brought her unique approach of painting and world view to the canvas, and a harmonious dialogue began.
The Pacific Northwest inspired with its vast, expansive and ever-changing landscape, and the creatures and moments shared with it.
Blanket skies, the nurturing life-giving elements of water — coexisting in a diverse and life sustaining planet. Each piece creates its own resonance and message unique to the viewer.
Both artists will also be exhibiting select independent works, congruent with the series.
First Look: New Arrivals for August
First Thursday with Arielle Zamora
THURSDAY, AUGUST 1
6 - 9 PM
Arielle Zamora is an artist who focuses in oil painting and printmaking. She currently resides in Portland, Oregon, where she received her BFA in Drawing and Painting from the Oregon College of Art and Craft in 2013. She is intensely drawn to relationships between line, form, and color, and she draws inspiration from architecture to help assign structure, repetition, and function to the two dimensional plane. Her work exhibits fine lines and marks carved into joint compound, and she enjoys exploring the unique qualities of her chosen materials as well as giving in to mistakes and the natural slip of the hand.
In her printmaking practice, she repeats monolithic shapes that call to mind the simple figure, and which are given aperture and environment in a 2D realm by using line to build a space, or home, for the forms. These monolithic forms, rocky and often visceral, are an homage to the large craggy rocks that wade like hooded figures just off the Oregon Coast line. They also draw up ideas of the basic human form, amorphized and stripped down to the simple space they inhabit.
First Look: New Arrivals for July
Designer Spotlight: North Vancouver
Our clients in Vancouver, WA were ready for the finishes touches for their home. They needed a modern, complete look for the open floor plan living area; to convert their casual home office to a cozy den; and, most importantly, new lighting to set the mood at any time of day.
EWF Modern designers incorporated the client’s existing favorites, including an Italian white leather sofa purchased here, a deep blue bespoke rug, and a Scandinavian hardwood sideboard and cabinet. Some rearranging of their existing artwork made room for two new pieces - an original abstract by a local artist, and a felted, graphic piece that added texture and warmth.
The project wrapped up in Spring 2019 and we are thrilled with the results! The lighting concept created drama during the day and intimate, accent lighting in the evening. The designers matched the weight and scale of their existing pieces with oversized, European inspired pendant lights and a mid-century flush mount in the entryway. Additional layering of accessories and texture created a polished, sophisticated space that still maintains a playful feel with color and depth.
First Thursday with Painter Mia Farrington
THURSDAY, JUNE 6
6 - 9 PM
Join us for a reception with painter Mia Farrington, celebrating a selection of new pieces on view!
Farrington’s paintings are about relationships and perception - how colors influence each other. Like many perceptions in life, from far away they edges look flawless, yet when experienced up close, reveal all the intimate imperfections.
