Simply Beacham

What seems to be lacking in 21st century design is the soul of the space and this can not be fabricated. It must come with the person attached to the space and that was my inspiration when decorating Blayne Beacham's house. We combined her style and innate personality with Simple. Sophistication.™ to infuse color and balance throughout her home.  The bones of her bungalow were perfect to layer with art and dramatic contrast in color, so let's take look at the finished product! 

The dark anthracite tones in her Guest Bedroom are paired with classic white frames and panels, this allows the space to breath and collect visual impact with the delicate balance of the objects.  The Ceiling was painted the same color to bring the eye upward and diminish the low ceiling height. 

Style Secret: You should try this in your own home, if you have low ceilings paint them the same color as the walls to elongate the sight lines and bring the detail to life. 

In the Living Room and Studio Space we layered objects of art and pieces that have sentimental value to Blayne as decoration.  All too often I find that decoration for it's own sake is tacky and lacking personality.  What draws us each to one another and to spaces is the persona and emotion that goes into it.  If you can capture that by finding objects that have meaning you will allow the room to take on its own life and increase the ambiance significantly. 

My favorite piece is the blue boards on the wall in the Living Room which were thrown in at the last minute while we felt it was too contrived before they added a bit of spontenaity and attitude to the clean space. 

The bookcases were of course my favorite thing to do as we spent hours putting the house back together again we realized that they were of course lacking!!!  We added piece by piece editing as we went the final favorite is the pair of heels Blayne wore to her first art opening, used as art and balance they brightened the space.

Striking a balance between dark and light is very hard to achieve, but in this space we evened out the visual weight of her home by adding bright statement pieces.

A floral arrangement, alluding to her carefree style, using a plastic polka dot wine glass to house a nested group of open white roses is an example of one of the light objects we used to brighten up her house!

Back in the day, Blayne's counter tops would have been called pea green, but the newly refurbished 'peridot green' counter tops gave us some color to work with in her kitchen. Pairing her 'old school' laminate counter tops with a beautiful picture and some bright flowers gave her kitchen a whole new personality.

Style Secret: Lamps don't always have to be ugly. In her master bedroom, we found lamps that were not only functional, but also were pieces of art. It is a great way to save money and add personality at the same time!

Then, we translated her space into a three dimensional environment as we incorporated objects of art and of personal interest to ‘decorate’ her home. For instance, on the coffee table we layered a adorable little birds nest over a Vanity Fair Book filling it with vintage flashbulbs she collected at a market—hence decorating as it is meant to be authentically expressing emotion as objects.

It is not some cheesy object bought for its form from some tacky store where you paid a fortune for something imported from China, it actually means something which gives emotional balance to the space.

In your home, try infusing the things you are drawn to into your space, if you like to wear fuschia throw a few pieces of art with fuschia in and feel like your home represents your personal style. Stop trying to copy everyone else!!

Blayne Beacham's house turned out to be the perfect mix of personal touch and sophistication. We had an absolute blast decorating her bungalow and I hope you have learned from this project that it isn't always about filling your house with expensive things. A home is a lot more welcoming than a house, so don't be afraid to live in it!

XXLGTVisit Blayne's blog at http://www.thisphotographerslife.com.