27 Jan 7 Luxury Design Tips Inspired by Christopher Guy and Julia Buckingham in Vegas!

Remember last week I said it was Tradeshow Season with Color and Texture On Trend?  Well, Las Vegas Market is wrapping up, and since I’m not there, and had no time to share all my wonderful photos from that AMAZING whirlwind trip last year, this week’s Texture Tuesday is dedicated to:

• artist and interior designer Jackie Von Tobel of Soft Design Lab who made the Las Vegas Red Carpet Tour possible for me,
• interior designer Julia Buckingham who debuted her new collection for Global Views, and
• one of the top luxury home furnishings brand in the world, Christopher Guy.

Christopher Guy is a design icon with a sophisticated elegance in his luxury brand with showrooms worldwide.  Curves, details, craftsmanship, Art Deco, Art Nouveau, lush textiles, and a very distinct style are what draw me to Christopher’s designs. I was particularly impressed by his Las Vegas Showroom. Truthfully, I was blown away!!

When you walk into the Christopher Guy Vegas showroom (above) you enter an entirely different world, a long marble-floored hallway in tailored black and white with utterly elegant bedrooms, dining rooms and sophisticated vignettes on either side.

The Christopher Guy Las Vegas showroom is NOT your typical tradeshow showroom, and I love it for that. You are transported to a world that is so refined, gorgeous, opulent and magical that I could have stayed there forever, it is that beautiful!  

And to have the wonderful opportunity to meet Christopher in person, well….I never dreamed of it.  Okay, maybe when I saw his showroom in NYC I DID dream of it, but I never knew it would ever come true!! I mean, really!?!? (Photo below wasn’t that clear so I made it into sort of a painting).

Yup, you got it….I’m totally star struck with Christopher Guy. He’s the nicest gentleman and of course creates the most gorgeous designs inspired by his life and everything he loves which to me harkens back to the 1940’s Golden Age of Hollywood Glamour that I absolutely adore. My dream would be to create one-of-a-kind luxury pillows for his brand. You know the old saying, if you don’t put it out to the universe you might never realize your dream. So there, I said it!

Last February you briefly saw my GIANT BURST of excitement in this blog post HERE, after I returned from the 2016 Las Vega Market.  I had so much to share, but 2016 quickly turned out to be THE most jam-packed year I’ve ever had from Vegas Red Carpet Tour, to showing at High Point, NYC, Dallas AND then also launching my brand NEW new website, Deborah Main Designs. So you see, there was absolutely no time to share my thoughts, photos, all the interior designers I met, showrooms filled trend-setting design, and the sheer thrill of it all – It was a lifetime experience I’ll never forget!

Below I feature highlights from that FANTASTIC Las Vegas Red Carpet Tour, sharing with you designs from Julia Buckingham and Christopher Guy, two top talents with totally unique luxury design aesthetics.

I had never been to Las Vegas before, so to be at the Las Vegas market was incredibly inspiring!  Here’s the wonderful group (below) I was with last year.  And our fearless leader, Jackie Von Tobel.

Be sure to check out Jackie’s website, because she is an incredible artist and designer and rockin it with her new rug designs for Feizy rugs and all the gorgeous textiles, pillows, and dinnerware she designs. Jackie is a one-person power house of gorgeous art and design products right HERE!

I can’t even begin to share all I learned. But hopefully these images I culled from hundreds of photos I took will inspire you this spring, just like they continue to inspire me.

If you EVER get the opportunity and want a behind-the-scenes look at the latest trends in the home design industry, be sure to hitch a ride with Jackie VonTobel on any of her tours to Vegas or Highpoint market.

As a textile pillow artist, details and textiles are really important to me and both Julia and Christopher had many to admire. With such an awesome experience and so much inspiration at the 2016 Vegas market, here are

My 7 Tips to add touches of luxury to your home:

1. Texture and color
2. Dramatic lighting
3. Variety of scale
4. Powerful artwork
5. Fur, faux fur or vintage fur
6. Unique mirrors & headboards
7. Gold accents

• Texture and color are on trend for 2017, but for me both are two key design elements that are on trend EVERY year! Julia Buckingham created a signature collection of magnificent pieces for Global Views in 2016. It was incredibly exciting to meet Julia for the first time and see her new collection in person at their Vegas showroom below. I also really enjoyed meeting the owners of Global Views and seeing their showroom for the first time. I had a delightful discussion about vintage brooches with Frederick, who is also an avid collector.

• What’s so striking and unique about Julia’s collection is how she mixes color and texture! The unexpected patterns and raindrop shape with bursts of color are remarkably modern and vintage at the same time. I love that she created pieces, like the chair and rug, that we’ve never seen before. To me they are so distinctively different that I can’t wait to see what she comes up with for 2017!

• Julia also created beautiful accessories and probably didn’t know that when it comes to texture and color, I snap photos of everything. The velvet heels of Julia’s shoes matched the purple velvet in the rug and the lovely “Strands of Pearls” pillow. The green metallic textile is a detail photo of the material of Julia’s fabulous dress, which reminded me of one of my fave vintage fabrics in my collection.

• Dramatic lighting can transform any room or entry way into magnificent luxury, especially show-stopping chandeliers. This shimmering gold one below from Julia Buckingham for Global Views is incredible!!! I wish I had a dramatic foyer to my home just so I can hang this fabulous chandelier!
• 

  Julia Buckingham also designed for Global Views this spectacular “Tea Light” gold chandelier. Now THAT is a luxurious statement piece in a foyer in any home!

  In the photo below, the Christopher Guy chandelier is a real luxurious statement piece as well. It not only makes a lighting statement, but the oblong discs are mirrored, so you have two luxury features in one. Also, tucked in the corner there is one of Christopher Guy’s signature chair, the Le Jardin. Christopher Guy is very well known for his unique chairs with curved and crossed legs. They are not your usual chairs, you can see a wide selection HERE.

• Variety of scale in lighting, mirrors, sofas, or even a side chair, is important to create unique luxury visuals at different heights in each room of your home. The above photo in the Christopher Guy showroom is a great example of that from the pillows on the sofa and side chair to the art on the wall, very tall lamp, and massive chandelier. There’s something luxurious at every eye level!

• Powerful Artwork is so important to not only add character to your home but to bring in a textural luxurious feel. Especially with Christopher Guy’s incredible mosaic pieces like the above silver-toned one to the striking two below with flowers, fur and midnight blue colors. Each of the art pieces is massive in person and made of tiny chips of colored glass.  Incredibly inspiring to me!

• Fur, faux fur or vintage fur can go a long way to add luxury to your home, particularly in the bedroom. As evidenced above in the Christopher Guy showroom and below in a luxurious throw on a bench. Even our fabulous guide, Tracey Lin, brought luxury to her stylish outfit with a fur scarf below.

• Unique Mirrors & Headboards of a variety of shapes and sizes really add a striking sense of luxury appeal to a room. Mirrors can serve a function by helping to make a smaller room appear larger. They also can be art unto themselves with gold, silver, bronze finishes and starburst shapes like the Christopher Guy one below. Please see his entire mirror selection HERE.

• In addition, a unique headboard, particularly ones as dramatic as Christopher Guys, can quickly make a luxurious statement in choice of textile, finish, height, width and shape. I love this explosive gold Cosmopolitan one below that is bursting with texture and the spectacular Pebble Beach headboard that features padded circular shapes like you’d find along the coastline.

• Gold Accents can instantly make a home luxurious whether you choose a powerful statement piece like the above Christopher Guy Cosmopolitan headboard, or a cabinet and simple accessories like in the Global Views showroom below. I absolutely love the textured gold handles against the textured wood cabinet below.

I love too how Julia Buckingham’s Wiggle chair is trimmed in gold. It makes it so regal! They would look very striking around a dining room table, don’t you think?

Please enjoy additional images from Las Vegas market of our 2016 Red Carpet Tour group at the showrooms of Phillips Collection, Worlds Away, Codarus, Zuo, as well as book signings by Julianne Taylor Burke and Christopher Kennedy and a luxe presentation by Brandon Smith of D Coop Media.

And lastly, the final evening right in front of the gorgeous fountain and Eiffel Tower replica. That alone made me understand why Las Vegas is surely a magnificent destination. I hope you are inspired as much as I am with the gorgeous designs at Las Vegas Market of Christopher Guy, Julia Buckingham, and Red Carpet Tour Mama, Jackie Von Tobel.  Till next time, take a break from politics and enjoy all the color and texture.  XO PG

(Note: This is not a sponsored post. All photos are mine except where noted. Thank you for following my blog.)