Interiors

Design Insights: Colors, Patterns and Life

Laura Medicus Interiors

I’ve worked my whole career in interior design and, as I get older, it’s eye opening for me to realize how much it’s shaped what I think about, what I do in my free time and my outlook on life. Why on earth am I surprised by something so obvious? It’s probably something to do with how much time I devote to thinking about color, pattern and floor plans and how much I’m 100% positive that’s not increasing my intellect. It would be interesting to line up different people who’ve worked for over 25 or 30 years in different fields and hear their takeaways and tips on life. I recently had a medical professional client tell me, try not to go to the hospital in June, that’s when all the residents start. Eye-opening! I wonder what hot tips other professionals would share. Feel free to share with me in the comments. I have a lot of thoughts from my almost 30 years in interiors and most of them relate to homes, spending and money. I will share that with you some day.

Here are a few site photos from my South Dakota job. As a designer who pretty much does work primarily in the Denver area, I can’t tell you how fancy that sentence makes me feel.

We are running out of room for a sconce here but if you can wedge one in I say wedge that sconce in! Also, when people decide to be a contractor, I wonder if they calculate in all the hours they will spend holding a light fixture aloft for a homeowner or designer.
The pretty mudroom and laundry room cabinetry is going in on top of our checkerboard tile. This color is Cabbage Patch from Benjamin Moore and might be my new favorite color. I really like the name of the color which naturally factors into my favoritism.
The Laundry Room side with MORE CABBAGE PATCH!
We added the wood herringbone ceiling to an otherwise very nice vaulted ceiling to give it a woodsy, 70’s family home vibe. The swallow wallpaper was added for some quirky fun.
More of the wallpaper. I’m a fan of bird wallpaper on ceilings. And look at the view out the front door: trees and sky.
This is Bedrosian’s Zagora zellige tile in a beautiful dark, mossy green. I LOVE a glossy tile.

The South Dakota home has been so much fun to see come together. My client is up there now and we facetime and I get frequent videos from her. We have a really fun “secret” tunnel under the stairs in between her daughter’s room and her son’s and I got to see the family dog learning how to use it recently. As far as I’m concerned, the area under a stairs should always be the domain of children.

Books I’ve Loved Recently:

Whistler by Ann Patchett. No notes for Ann except it’s too short. Ha! Give me more!!

Listening to:

Famesick by Lena Dunham, narrated by Lena Dunham. It’s a tough listen in places and I appreciate and struggle with the fact that she seems to have zero filter.

Watching:

Widow’s Bay on AppleTV. I love the two leads. I love the comedy/horror. My only criticism is the pacing is a little slow at times.

“I was just about to show Arthur the witch trial, yeah. Great source of pride. We caught ’em, we burned ’em…” Gerrie in Widow’s Bay.

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Published by Laura Medicus Interiors

Laura is a Denver Interior Designer who runs an Interior Design Studio based in sunny Colorado with a strong commitment to livable and interesting interiors. She also runs The Colorado Nest, a Denver blog about Design, Art and Life in the Mountain West and co-hosts the book podcast "The Inside Flap" on iTunes, Stitcher and Google Play.

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