Doux Nid [du ni] » Design Philosophy

Go Outside and Play

melissa — Wed, 21 Mar 2012 01:29:09 +0000

Love technology but feeling a little disconnected from nature? According to an article in BBC News, some of us especially children might be experiencing “Nature Deficit Disorder”. Because of electronic lifestyles and living in urban or suburban environments, we are not spending enough time outdoors and feeling the sense of balance that contact with nature can bring. We seem to be relating to nature differently too. Conceptually, most of us are very conscious of the state of the planet. We think about the idea of global warming and recycling, but we don’t have a personal relationship with nature like we did in decades past. It doesn’t inform how we feel on a daily basis.

I believe that it is easier than you think to connect or reconnect to nature again. Focusing on home is the first step. Even if you live in the middle of a concrete jungle, think about bringing nature inside. To get the conversation started, here are some suggestions for filling your indoor spaces with natural beauty.

Vineyard Wood: Winemaking can be traced back to the dawn of civilization. It was refined by the Greeks and Romans. Include a little bit of natural history in your home by adding a touch of vineyard wood to your vignettes. Each piece is one of a kind and neutral enough to complement any style from modern to transitional to traditional. Wonderful for adding texture and uniqueness to any kind of tabletop in a dining room, living room, or entry way. Use sandblasted pieces for best look.
Palm Fronds: From rainforests to deserts, palm trees are found all over the world. Their branches or fronds traditionally symbolized victory and peace for many people. Cut some to accent a favorite vase at home. Stunning and sculptural. Their evergreen leaves will add a natural crispness to any design scheme.
Geodes: They are nature’s version of a treasure chest. Once opened, quartz crystals, amethyst crystals, agate, chalcedony, or jasper banding might be waiting inside. Naturally spectacular for any home.

No related posts.

Questioning

melissa — Thu, 01 Mar 2012 14:47:20 +0000

At Doux Nid, our job is to empower you to create your best home, your best nest, and a fab lab for dreaming. We want your rooms to rise up, to greet you, and to serve you. It all starts with questioning. You can never ask too many questions when it comes to home. It is a fun discovery process, a chance to uncover and think about your needs, likes, dislikes, and preferences. Find out what inspires you. Explore to know more. Here are some Doux-Nid questions to get the process started.

What is your family vision?
What inspires your spirit?
What gives you peace?
What gets your creative juices flowing?
What kind of feeling do you want for the space?
Do you like formal or casual rooms?
Do you like rough or smooth textures?
Do you like patterns?
What colors do you live well with?
Do you like light, medium, or dark colors?
What colors do you have in other rooms?
How is the room used?
Who uses the space?
What is staying in the room?
Is the space open to other areas?

No related posts.

Style Lab

melissa — Sun, 05 Feb 2012 20:33:31 +0000

Create your own style lab. Home should be a think tank to dream and experiment with the creative process. It should be a place to gather information, brainstorm about beautiful concepts, hone promising ideas that feel right, and discard ones that no longer serve.

First step, be inspired by others. I love to read how interior designers, artists, graphic artists, and fashion designers feed their creativity and approach their work. Picasso famously worked on a blank canvas for five hours filling it spontaneouly with free-form associations. At the end of the five hours, he declared “now that I begin to see where I’m going with it. I’ll take a new canvas and start again.” Let Picasso inspire you. Make your home a style lab with an ever-evolving canvas powered by your imagination. Experiment. Create. Grow.

Self-Archaeology: Excavating Your Personal Style

Design Resolutions

melissa — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 18:10:01 +0000

Look at houses, workplaces, stores and gyms. Everything is designed. So much creative thought goes into our environments. From Gucci to Apple to Target, the way objects function and look is of critical importance in the 21st century. Good design has become good business. It differentiates companies. Separates them from the competition. Gives them an edge. Workers have job security, because creative capacity cannot be easily copied or outsourced to other countries. How do we develop our design sensibilities in the New Year? Think about visiting a design museum online to see examples of beautiful design. Collections can be accessed digitally. Plenty of inspiration for 2012. Start developing your eye for design today.

No related posts.

Why?

melissa — Wed, 09 Nov 2011 02:01:56 +0000

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qp0HIF3SfI4

At an independtly organized TED event, Simon Sinek, author of “Start with Why“, spoke about how great leaders inspire action. He starts by writing three words on a flip chart: why, how, and what. Mr. Sinek goes on to state that people in leadership positions usually focus on what their organizations do and how they do it, two very important areas. Advertisements for those organizations usually echo the same focus. Here is the rub according to Sinek. What and how usually don’t inspire people to action. Sinek believes that why companies do what they do is really the essence of it all. Why is the larger vision and mission that touches people at their core, makes them jump out of bed and work their tails off, or makes them want to be first in line to buy new products even if it is pouring raining outside.

This video got me thinking. Should we only focus on why at work or when we purchase our favorite things? At Doux Nid, we believe creating a home is a chance to think about why in a very personal way. Why we do things at our core? Home is the perfect place to ask the biggest questions. It is a place to showcase and nurture our largest purpose, encourage our wildest dreams and anchor us to our deepest values. At Doux Nid, we definitely start with why at home.

No related posts.

Coquillages

melissa — Tue, 01 Nov 2011 01:49:41 +0000

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2atw_XM-SKg

I love to use nailheads in all kinds of shapes and sizes small and big alike. They have been around forever in design circles tracing their origin back to the reign of Louis XIII. In modern times, nailheads can be used in a variety of ways from outlining upholstery to giving decorative distinction to walls. They come in all looks and finishes ultra modern to very traditional.

I recently decided to use them in a foyer to make a grand entrance. First, I outlined the walls using nailheads that come on a roll. Outlining unifies a space. Then, I created decorative panels on the wall using more of the nailheads. Since creating the panels. I have been brainstorming about what to put in the panels. Maybe a hand-painted motif using a stencil for the design and outlining the silhouette in coordinating nailheads? Maybe a design created with shells? I love shells. Shells have a long history of being used as decorative material from 18th century grottoes to garden pots to Victorian Valentines.

Over the summer, I visited Newcastle, Maine and picked up vintage corks that were used in the fishing industry. The floaters have a patina colored dark taupe to light brown that is just beautiful. In a moment of inspiration, I decided to use the cork and shells together. The corks would serve as medallions on the walls and the shells would be placed in a design around the cork.

The combination turned out to be smashing. Each decorative panel took about an hour to create. The install was easy. I did run into a few snags. One was the glue. I tried several different types from silicone adhesive to Elmer’s to a glue that claims to bond anything. I found that Crazy Glue worked the best. Take a look at the video to see the process. Enjoy!

No related posts.

Home

melissa — Mon, 31 Oct 2011 18:46:51 +0000

In a recent article featured in the New York Times, I noticed a quote from Stephen Drucker, the former editor of House Beautiful. He stated that ” decorating always has two goals: comfort and display.” It got me thinking. Comfort and display are important, but at Doux Nid, we think that hearth and home can serve a much larger purpose too. If we take a thoughtful approach, home can promote healthy living, nurture creative and innovative thinking, remind us of our larger missions and visions, and celebrate ideas from around the globe. Truly inspired living starts at home.

Why?

Raw in Reykjavik

melissa — Thu, 08 Sep 2011 12:15:17 +0000

There is a boom with the number of online design publications that are available for readers. Some of my favorites are Lonny, High Gloss, Matchbook, and Rue. Recently, I was perusing an issue of Rue magazine, a San Francisco-based publication, and an article, on page 79, caught my eye. It features a home owned by the founders of the fashion label, Farmers Market. Farmers Market is known for celebrating the purity of raw materials and utilizing neutral colors echoing the shades of Iceland in winter. Their home embodies the same pure and unprocessed philosophy while also emphasizing family history by framing stories through hearth and home.

In the photos shown with the article, you really notice their love of raw textures like sheepskin, real antlers, seashells, and sisal. I love the jars filled with foodstuffs and the upholstery finished in linen, cotten, and silk. The unembellished beauty of the materials speaks for itself and provides a striking backdrop for family souvenirs. Even though their home is on the other side of the world from Doux Nid in Houston, the philosophy of celebrating raw textures and framing stories through home has a universal quality.

No related posts.

Setting the Mood

melissa — Wed, 24 Aug 2011 02:18:02 +0000

In the July/August issue of Lonny Magazine, designer, Adam Strauss, explains how he created ambiance in his Los Angeles apartment. He likes to unify interiors through color, mix modern and mid-century pieces with traditional pieces, and accessorize in out-of-the-box ways. His helpful advice dovetails nicely with the Doux-Nid philosophy.

Unifying Through Color

Color is the easiest way to create mood in a room. Dark colors like the deep browns, charcoals, blues and black are backdrop colors that are neutral but dramatic. Think about blending your fabric tones, wood, and metal finishes too for a really unified look. One of my favorite fabrics to use to set the mood is mohair, fabric made from one of the oldest textile fibers. It is luxurious and durable. When it wears, it gives you the shabby chic of an English-country house.

Mixing Modern and Mid-Century Pieces with Traditional Pieces

Doux Nid loves to use juxtaposition. Mixing high-end with low-end, formal with informal, or rustic with sleek. It is all about keeping balance between elaborate pieces and those that have simple lines and tying the whole look together with color.

Accessorizing in Out-of-the-Box Ways

Once you know the design elements and principles, you can start breaking the rules. I love how Adam Strauss propped paintings on sofas and headboards instead of hanging them on walls. He also mounted a series of small charcoal drawings on antique mirrors. Very out-of-the-box. The charcoal drawings have more presence, and the mirrors bring light and sparkle to rich-colored walls.

No related posts.

Visual Journals

melissa — Fri, 05 Aug 2011 18:13:21 +0000

Leonardo da Vinci, one of the greatest minds in history, left a prodigious legacy in science, architecture, sculpture, painting, engineering, music, and mathematics. During his lifetime he filled up 13,000 journal pages with designs for wings to shoes for walking on water. Let Leonardo inspire you. Turn up your creativity by keeping a visual journal. Record beautiful things, ideas, and inspirations that you see in your everyday life. Write, sketch or doodle. Glue photos from magazines. Whatever works for you. Start with loose-leaf paper secured with a fancy clip or invest in a bound journal made of buttery leather. Discover how keeping a visual journal refines and elevates your design sensibilities making them deeper and more complex.

No related posts.