DesignTies welcomes “The King of Colour”, Jamie Drake

“I love what I do. I love style in every form. There is nothing more exciting than incorporating bold, vibrant colours with a striking mix of genres and periods to create lively, magical spaces that inhabit memories and enrich lives.” ~ Jamie Drake

This week (and every other week!!), I’m totally hooked on the bold and colourful interior design work of Jamie Drake. If you’re a regular visitor to interior design and decorating blogs, you’ve no doubt seen Jamie Drake’s work. Pictures of rooms that Jamie has designed have been appearing in posts all around the blogosphere. His diverse clientele includes Madonna and the mayor of New York City, Michael Bloomberg. His rooms have been featured on HGTV’s Top 10 and graced the covers of many leading interior design magazines…

And this week, it’s our turn to add some Jamie Drake colour to DesignTies!! Here’s just a small sampling of Jamie’s rooms to get started…

Are you hooked now?! Then keep reading to learn more about Jamie — read what he has to say about being an interior designer, pick up some of his design tips, and see lots more of his fabulous rooms :-)

About Jamie…

Jamie’s design career began when he was “always put in charge of ‘decorating and antiques’ when we built forts as kids”. (Although it may have started even earlier — more on that a bit later!) During his high school years, Jamie interned at the Connecticut firm Lubin Business Interiors. He later worked with Angelo Donghia during vacations while he attended New York’s Parsons School of Design.

Jamie opened his own design firm Drake Design Associates in New York City immediately after he graduated from Parsons School of Design in 1978 with a BA in Environmental Design.

Some of Jamie’s awards and accolades include the 2000 D & D Designers of Distinction Award and being inducted into the Interior Design Hall of Fame in 2003. While he was the Vice President of the American Society of Interior Designers' New York chapter in the mid-1990s, Jamie received the organization's Presidential Citation and Platinum Award.

All that being said… you can probably imagine my excitement when Jamie agreed to do an interview with me for DesignTies!!

Please say Hello to “The King of Colour”, Jamie Drake…

When you start a new design project, how do you decide what colours to use? Do the homeowners tell you what colours they like/want, or are you inspired to select a colour scheme based on the homeowner's personality and the home or room that you’re designing?

My point of departure when selecting a palette is usually a compilation of what the clients’ preferences are, and what I intuitively hear the space saying.

There’s a saying “blue and green must never be seen”. Is there a colour combination that you would never use? And do you have a favourite colour combination?

I don’t feel there is any colour combo that is verboten. It all depends on how the colours are combined, the overall balance, and the weighting of colours in a space. I don’t have a favourite combination, what I love are the endless possibilities the rainbow presents.

You often use many colours in one room. Can there ever be too many colours in a room?

I usually prefer one dominant colour, one secondary colour, and often a third colour thrown in for spice. There could be too many colours in a room, if not applied with a painterly hand.

What inspired you to create the completely pink bedroom for the 2007 Kips Bay project?

My 2007 Kips Bay room was inspired by my then just launched fabric collection for Schumacher, as well as my furniture line with Lewis Mittman. I designed the room for an imagined strong, feminine woman, one who might (or might not) invite her lover to share her boudoir. Shades of orchid, and magenta were accented by sharp dashes of purple, clear doses of white, and a calming underlay of lavender tinged pigeon grey.

The colour scheme in the boathouse in Connecticut is quite subdued compared to most of your designs. Why did you choose this subtler colour scheme?

With sweeping views of the rocky Connecticut shoreline, I chose a more subdued palette for this client’s retreat.

The “boathouse” as its been dubbed, was built as an entertaining and retreat outbuilding on a client’s coastal compound. The colours of moss, lichen, and sky are used against a neutral background and a mottled ochre toned polished concrete floor.

Have you seen any all-white rooms that you like?

I’ve seen so many all white rooms that I have loved over the years, from the work of Michael Gabellini to Lee Mindel, Syrie Maugham to Frances Elkins. I would love to do an all-white house for a client, but alas, they come to me for colour!

When you see an all-white room, do you get the urge to hang colourful artwork on the walls and toss bright cushions on the sofa and slap a coat of orange paint on the walls?

Only if it is painfully uninspired. If its filled with beautiful textures, thoughtful details and the like I can be entranced as the next minimalist.

About being an interior designer

Jamie’s New York City apartment

When did you first know that you wanted to be a designer?

I’ve been told it was at birth in the hospital. I am rumoured to have cried in horror at the dreadful décor and unflattering lighting.

What is the first room you designed? How did you feel about it at the time, and how do you feel looking back on it now?

It was my own bedroom as a young fop. It was OK, at least it was mine and I could endless rearrange my treasures, posters and what little furniture could be shoved around. It took flight when I got to totally redecorate it as an 11 year old. With black patent walls and crisp white trim, I was in chic heaven.

Your style combines traditional with modern touches. What’s the one thing that appeals to you most about the two different styles?

I love the warmth, history, uniqueness and grandeur that traditional design and antiques can bring, yet feel compelled to juxtapose with a minimal approach that injects structure, rigor, and contemporary mores.

Have you ever finished putting together a room and not been happy with the result?

Only happens when the client doesn’t listen – LOL! But, sadly true.

Are friends and family always asking you for decorating advice?

Hmmmm, they are mostly afraid of my advice. Only my BF asks constantly.

Do you ever walk into someone’s house and start moving things around?

With my eyes, not my hands or mouth :-) Unless asked.

Whose home would you most like to design?

Beyonce, Mariah, Diana…I love a great diva!

What’s your favourite thing about being an interior designer?

Being able to constantly do new things, play with fresh colour combos, source and discover the latest and greatest, the best and bravest.

What accomplishment, design-related or otherwise, makes you proudest?

Still being here, in business after 31 years, and having the opportunity to work on new, challenging and exciting projects.

About Jamie’s work

You describe the library in the Merrywoods Showhouse as “Natural, waxed walnut panelling with bright blue lacquered inset shelving illustrates something traditional juxtaposed with something contemporary.” What appeals most to you about juxtaposing elements and styles?

Creating a provocative sense of visual surprise.

Do you look at furniture and accessories and colours and instinctively know they’ll work together, or do you keep trying different combinations until you’re happy with how they look together?

I do rely on, and have learned to trust my instincts. If it’s right it’s right, if it’s off, try again.

Back to the 2007 Kips Bay project — although pink is typically considered a feminine colour, many of the furniture pieces have simple lines and a more masculine look & feel. Is that something you like to do, combine feminine and masculine elements in a space?

I like the juxtaposition and contrast of colours, styles, eras and epochs. So the contrast of gender typecasting would naturally intrigue me too.

Did you design the Kips Bay bed?

Yes, the bed is my design, and was especially intended to show off my Not Square cut velvet fabric for Schumacher. (Colourway 54270 - Lady Slipper. View Jamie’s full line for Schumacher).

Your bedroom has a zebra print upholstered bed, as well as a zebra print carpet and cheetah print carpets. How do you make bold prints work together and keep them from overwhelming a room?

Sometimes the more prints the better. In my bedroom, it is the sharp and bold patterning against the strong yellow walls that makes it work.

Are there patterns that you would never put together?

Nope…success depends on the scale mix and types of patterns.

Compared to the other rooms in your apartment, the dining room is rather subdued. Tell us a bit about it.

The dining room in my apartment is a more serene juncture between the deep-toned foyer and the intensely accented living room. The general tone is warm beige, yet a light orchid accent wall defines a niche where a Chuck Close self-portrait pops with a huge array of colours. A patinated steel table is surrounded by subtle jade upholstered chairs. The chairs hue echoes the emerald green teardrops hanging from the Venetian glass chandelier.

You incorporate a lot of seating into your rooms. The chairs are often different styles and colours, and they aren’t always positioned symmetrically. Is this for aesthetics or function or both?

Not always symmetrically, I often place single chairs angled towards a group, or odd pairs split up and placed diagonally across from each other. But yes, I generally like a lot of seating, that way any room is always ready for a party!

The number artwork in the London townhouse is colourful and fun and light-hearted. The primary colours in the room (red and pink) are fun too, but the furniture and chandelier and ceiling treatment are much more formal. How do you manage to make such different elements in one room work so well together?

The drawing room in the London townhouse works because everything, whether 18th, 19th, or 20th century, is superb quality, from the Italian rock crystal chandelier, to the the French seat furniture, to the Jasper Johns 0-9 Series on the wall.

Design tips

You used mirrored walls in the HC&G Showhouse to create the illusion of a larger room. What other techniques do you use to make small rooms feel bigger?

Paint them dark and shiny. And install dimmers, or only use a single candle.

In the Country Home in East Hampton, you carried the wall colour onto the ceiling in the bedrooms to neutralize problematic ceiling angles. What other techniques do you use to downplay structural problems?

Slather a space with a small print, or toile. A classic technique to mask the oddities.

What three things do you think every room needs to have?

Cocktails, laughter, and a candle.

What’s the biggest mistake people make when it comes to using colour?

Being timid and wimpy.

What’s the most important piece of decorating advice that applies to everyone, regardless of style or budget or size of house?

Embrace what you love. If you love bland food and overcooked oatmeal, so be it.

Just for fun…

Cats or dogs? Dogs

Pizza or sushi? Pizza

City or country? City

Ocean or mountains? Woods

Daytime or nighttime? Night

2009 or 1979? 2009

You look like a very refined gentleman in the pictures I’ve seen of you. Are you a refined gentleman through and through, or are you a bit of juxtaposition like your rooms… do you ever wear purple socks and a zebra print tie?

I’m way wacky at times, and often very louche!

Thank you, Jamie!!

And I also have to send out a big THANK YOU to Tom Erdman at Thinking Inside The Box. It was this post on Tom’s blog that inspired me to write to Jamie and request an interview. As Tom says…

…think in terms of the possible, reach, never ignore your instincts. You never know when it might happen. Opportunities happen at all times…

And now here’s an opportunity for you… to win our giveaway!! We’re giving away a copy of Jamie’s book Jamie Drake’s New American Glamour. And Jamie will sign and personalize the book before it’s sent to the winner!!

All you have to do is leave a comment on this post and all our posts over the next week. We’ll pick a winner randomly from all the comments, and announce the lucky winner in next week’s Hooked on Fridays post. Make sure you give us a way to reach you if you don’t have a blog. And everyone can enter no matter what part of the world you live in :-)

If you weren’t hooked on Jamie Drake before, I hope you are now!! To see what everyone else is hooked on this week, head back to Hooked on Houses and make the rounds of Julia’s weekly blog party.

Happy weekend!!

Unless otherwise noted, all photos used with permission from Drake Design Associates

Newel post dilemma

Last year, we had a staircase to our loft installed and the basement stairs refaced.

We also had the hardwood floors on the main floor refinished. We pulled out all the existing railings at that time, with the plan to install new railings all the way around — on the staircases and along this opening in the floor (there’s a similar opening in the loft floor as well):

Well, it’s been almost a year, and these gaping holes and both staircases are still railing-less. Hubby insists that he’s going to build and install the railings, but at this point, I’m on the brink of writing to Bryan Baeumler at Disaster DIY and begging him to help before we have a real disaster!!

Here’s the style of the railing that hubby is going to build (pardon my snicker, I just don’t see him being able to build this!!)

And here’s a drawing with the newel post that I designed and hubby created in some fancy-schmancy CAD-like program that lets you create cool 3-D drawings that you can spin around and do all sorts of spiffy things with. Too bad it won’t actually build the design for you!! ;-)

I’m going for a sort of Craftsman look. The spindles will be metal and the posts will be wood (the handrail isn’t in this drawing, but will be wood too). The little squares at the tops of the newel posts are inserts of little glass & metal tiles. The post on the left has raised detailing in metal, the post on the right has the same raised detailing in wood — I can’t decide which way to go.

According to hubby, he can’t build anything until I make a decision on the final newel post design. Grrrr!!!

What do you think?? Does it look OK?? Do you have any suggestions for improving the design?? Remember, the longer it takes me to decide on the final newel post design, the longer we have huge holes in our floors that could swallow up all the inhabitants of our house!!

If you have pictures of newel posts or know of web sites with good newel post designs, please leave a comment with the info and/or send me pictures at jaxdecoranddesign@gmail.com

Thanks!!

 

I’ve had thE two railing pictures in my inspiration folder for years and can’t remember where they came from.

Happy Birthday, Squirt!!

Today is Squirt’s turn to be the birthday girl :-) We adopted her from the Humane Society on April 2, 2002 when she was 10 months old (more or less). She came with the name Winnie, but it just didn’t suit her at all. We almost called her Sushi, but then we remembered meeting a dog named Squirt and thought that would be a good name for her.

I know, junk food is bad for dogs — but Kylie and Jackson had burgers for their birthdays, so Squirt had to have a birthday burger too :-)

If you’re celebrating a birthday today, have a good one!! :-)

From 1939 Sad to 2009 FAB ~ My Kitchen!

Phew! I’ve just spent the weekend re-painting our kitchen – it went from a pale sickly yellow to a warm yellow called Powell Bluff (Benjamin Moore)… and I think it looks fantastic! A great big thank you to Maria Killam from Colour Me Happy for her help in choosing this lovely colour!

In the great big scheme of things though, changing the wall colour of our kitchen is small potatoes compared to it’s original transformation a little over a year ago! And since this is Monday – the very day that Susan from Between Naps on the Porch hosts her fun and popular weekly blog party Metamorphosis Mondays – I thought I’d share the complete and dramatic before and after of our kitchen!

In the beginning (2008) there was a little bungalow built in 1939 with an original and pretty damned ugly kitchen!

Here’s the evidence… photo taken on move-in day:

The same view this evening…

I’m CRAZY about my farm sink!!!!!!!

How about this…

HaHa! Move-in day again. And my old pup, Simon… he likes to hang his head in my photos!! :-)

Again… same view…

 

Hey… I’m not done sharing yet! Here’s another angle of the room, transformed!

If you’ve read my “Project Overload? Never!” post you’ll know that we’ll be installing a window in that far wall sometime this summer and I’m so looking forward to being able to look out to the backyard while sitting at the little bistro table! Once the window is installed we’ll complete the paneled wainscoting on that wall (if you look closely you can see that there’s nothing there except the originally sickly yellow wall paint).

So… Do you like what you’re seeing so far?

How about some pics of mayhem??!! LOL!

And some photos of us putting it back together…

 

 

This is a fantastic photo of my brother Brad and his partner Shelley… the were so unbelievably helpful during the drywall phase of our remodel, sanding until they were almost unrecognizable! Ha! Love you guys!!

 

Below… photos of me happily tiling and my handsome Brian installing the stair railing.

 

 

 

Enough of that boring tear-out and rebuild stuff… you’ve come to see and read about a metamorphosis!

 

See… there’s my Simon, hanging his head again! HaHaHa!!

While I’ve got you looking down… like my tiling handiwork?

Again… same view:

And this is the view of the kitchen from the dining room…

I’m a little sad… the transformer in one of our beautiful stained glass pendant lights has been damaged and has to be replaced. Until that’s done, only one of the lights works… so I can’t show you how pretty they are when they’re all lit up. :-( Well… I can show you the one light!

I love our back door and I’m soooo looking forward to the day when it accesses a fan-tabulous back deck! I still have to paint the exterior side, but I haven’t decided on a colour yet! Maybe a dark red like the front door??

My granite – Crema San Marco. Love the colour and veining!

My backsplash is a combination of taupe subways and glass listellos (not loving my backsplash) :-(

And a last look at the breakfast area…

So.. now you’ve seen one of the largest transformations in our little house to date. The space was so much fun to design and remodel… and equally fun to share with you! It’s time for you to head back to Between Naps on the Porch so you can visit the other metamorphoses found in this week’s blog party… that is, after you’ve said “hello” to me in a comment of course!

Thanks for dropping by!!

Victoria from Edin Interiors