Saturday, March 28, 2020

Do Designers Get A Pass?

Mile Redd - Architectural Digest

This post covers a slightly different topic. I have read so many articles from home magazines on what is dated, what you should not have in your home anymore, and the like. I was on Miles Redd's Facebook page and he has this photo above of a room he had designed as his page banner.

I swear that if any magazine saw this room and it belonged to you or me they would go crazy over how bad it is by their standards of what is no longer in style.

I have put together a list of decorating faux pas in this room according to several shelter mags -

1. Floral couch and chair
2. Persian rug
3. A blanket folded on the sofa
4. Too many pairs - pairs of table lamps, brass floor lamps, 2 pairs of pillows, Chinese garden stools, Chinese porcelain - I count 8 pairs and we can't even see the whole room
5. Skirted chairs
6. Antiques
7. Fussy curtains
8. A blanket draped over the back of the couch

BTW, the stag head, although ugly, is thankfully made out of wood and is not real. Dead animas are NEVER in good taste.

I am not suggesting that you should not have in your home what you love. This is a different point entirely. How can magazines justify having articles about what you should get rid of in your home and then feature rooms that break all their own rules?

I must admit that I pretty much dislike this room - does he get a pass and have it featured in AD because he is Miles Redd? Apparently so.

PS - I just found another photo and it just got worse. Lots and lots more pairs - I count 5 more and a built in bar with a window awning. Haven't built in bars been out of fashion since the sixties? My aunt and uncle had one in their basement with an aquarium behind it. Their sons were named Ronald and Donald. I wonder if they know alcohol bottles should not be in direct sunlight? OK, I do actually hate this room.... Thoughts????


34 comments:

  1. Beth-- I totally agree with you. I would add too much confusion, clutter, and absolutely no focal point to either room. Don't know if I would keep any of these pieces. I enjoy your Chinoiserie decor; love it myself. I will keep watching for your next posts.

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    1. I love all the points you have made. I feel badly for the Chinoiserie trapped there.

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  2. The blankets on the sofa, brass floor lamps and over sized stags head should go!The "old lady" look is starting to gain traction, probably due to the mid-century modern that's been poured down our throats for the past decade. I love the bar! It's fun! I don't think this is supposed to be a formal room.

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    1. Agreed. I love both mid century modern and "old lady," but the key is the mix and balance, that IMO this fails miserably to achieve. It is the living room - I find it without redeeming features.

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  3. IMHO Miles Redd has lost his way ... I hope that he streamlines his style in the future. I also don't like the influence he has had on architect Gil Shafer.

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    1. I agree completely. I find his style of late dated, overdecorated, without vision. I think he needs to reboot.

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  4. The room is fun. I like layers and variety. Give me fabrics and antique collections and Persian rugs!!!!! Personally I'm over the minimalist,monochromatic, I freaking love this room.

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    1. To each his own, but my point was really about shelter magazines talking out of both sides of their mouths.

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  6. Miles Redd has NOT lost his way. That being said, much of this is not my taste. Perhaps we can look at it as perhaps getting away from "trendy." Mid-Century was or should have been "out" before it started. I was a baby during the mid-century time and have always thanked my mother for never having gone that route as she used a mixture of antiques as well as new both English and French in design.We all have individual taste and should be allowed to use it rather than told what is "in" and "out". I lived in England for several years and appreciate their style. Minimalist, which has been touted for far too long, is so cold and doesn't say much about the owner other than perhaps they are OCD. I would never put together rooms like these depicted (cringe worthy) here but the rooms are definitely English and have a story to tell. There should be no right or wrong...but what is pleasing to the owner.

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    1. Interesting - my parents' home was gorgeous but not my taste - very mid century modern - teak, rosewood, leather, Rya rugs, modern art. I am the opposite of minimalist and love a mix including mid century modern which I really like. The point of this post was really that we are told by shelter mags what is out of fashion in our homes, then they rave abut the same things when someone like Miles Redd uses them.

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  7. I didn't know pairs were considered a bad thing. Uh-oh I'm probably doing it all wrong then!
    The first image actually caught my eye from my feed - I like the blue red colour scheme. The fussy peach curtains and dead animal are the stand out most unpleasant things to me. The table also gives me a bland 90s vibe. I'm not massively keen on the lamps but they do echo the colour nicely, I wouldn't personally choose the floral pattern - wouldve probably colour blocked in velvet, although I thought it was quite clever in this context, and I 100% agree theres no need for skirted chairs! But overall I liked enough if it to give it a second look. From the other angle though, DEAR LORD. The bar! The bar canopy!!! The second ugly seating area that fights with the first on the other side of the room! Yeah, maybe not so much...

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    1. I love pairs, but not a dozen + in one room. Too much. You have a good eye - I agree with all your points. A lot of ugly to me.

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  8. What is the dominant color in this room? Peach? Red? Teal? Brown? Without a dominant color, everything is a chaotic mess.

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    1. An excellent point - and I am not a fan of teal or peach. To me, none of it works together at all.

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  9. Please check your references! I believe this to be the work of Bailey McCarthy!!!! She is a gifted designer in Houston. This is her country home. She deserves credit!!!

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    1. Sorry, you are incorrect, not me, Check your own references. It is her home, but Miles Redd was the interior designer. She started as an interior designer, but now owns Biscuit in Houston selling luxury linens and such. But it is her country home, so you got something right.

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  10. Au Contraire, margif, I absolutely think Miles has lost his way! I used to really love some of his early work (like the red and pink in his own apartment) but this is horrendous. The only decent things in the room are the two lamp bases, the garden stool, and the leopard pillows...IF they were all in some other room. The carpet rises to the level of a war crime. In fact, what has Miles done lately that anyone really loves? I haven't seen anything. Of course chacque a son gout and whatever floats someone's boat,etc....but we are talking about interior designers, who are supposed to create beauty, and this is so far from that it's scary. Maybe it's an April Fool's joke? I do happen to like mid century as some designers such as Jonathan Adler (his Mrs. Godfrey chair is fabulous imo) and others envision it, but this is not mid century....it's more like a MID LIFE CRISIS!

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    1. Your comment is so spot on and beautifully written. Thanks for starting my day with a smile.

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  11. It reminds me of my mother's home, so it is with some nostalgia that I see it. I like some of the elements: like a blanket implies warmth to me, or a patterned rug implies an intellectual life, red or a shade of it with chinoiserie is always pleasing but overall I would not choose to live in it. Fake or real deer heads are awful. Clean lines with an emphasis on form seem to please me the most, but I live in a place more along these lines.

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    1. An interesting comment until I made the horrible mistake of looking at that terrible person's apartment with dead bodies all over it and got so upset I started to hyperventilate. It's the most ghastly home I have seen in my entire life. Wow. Having beautiful innocent creatures stuffed in your home is really charming. This is not about taste - it's about being a barbarian. Don't say you warned me. Horrific to promote such a thing - that's not "interesting" sorry.

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  13. I agree with you completely. Great post.

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    1. Thanks - a bit of a departure for me, but I like that it sparked debate. A nice diversion I hope.

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  14. This room is for a woman who knew what she wanted and the person to choose to help create her vision. I see nothing wrong with that. What I do find oft-putting, and I always have, is that some people/magazines can declare from their lofty perches what is in and what is out. I personally detest mid-century modern. I think is totally void of charm. Several of my friends think it is the perfect way to break with tradition. I say do whatever puts joy in your heart and stop listening to those would be stylemakers. Make your own style. Tell your own story.

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    1. I agree - you got the point which to me is the hypocrisy and double standard of the shelter magazines. Don't laud big name interior designers for doing all the things you tell us we should't do.

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  15. I usually enjoy Miles Redd's work. This looks like a terribly watered down version. Do you think he had a bad client who wouldn't let him execute his ideas? I do like the stag's head but I think it is better suited to a gentleman's den or a dining room. Probably too obvious. The framed prints around the stag's head are just too wimpy, they don't add anything. I love the pendant light fixtures with the Chinese court scenes-divine. The barstools with spidery black legs look out of place. And who are the too low floral print chairs meant for? All I would do is trip over one of them. And finally the carpet. It doesn't define the space and the color scheme is too pale for the rest of the room. I still like you Miles but this wasn't your best day.

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    1. Beautifully said - I completely agree. Thank you.

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  16. While this is not my favorite room,and I am not a big fan of Miles Red. Have you read the blog glampad 20 things that point out grand millennial style which I believe is the next movement in interior design. It calls to many things you find distasteful. Antiques floral fabric,color, not for me but skirting is coming back,ruffles yikes. That said I think the younger generation has not done this yet. I love pairs of things, I'm counting 10 already,oh no.mostly your posts are.always great keep sharing.

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    1. Grandmillennial uses these traditional elements in a fresh way, otherwise it is granny. My own home is grandmillennial. This room completely misses the mark in my opinion. And my list was from shelter magazines of what they consider to be out of fashion. Glad you enjoy my blog - thank you.

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  17. Somehow the combination of teal and blue rubs me the wrong way, and the drapes are so wimpy for even grandmotherly style, AND I'm glad to get away from beige, white, grey. That was before I saw the canopy - THAT is not good.

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    1. I dislike teal to begin with and how do those peach drapes work here or anywhere? But you are right, that canopy is the worst. Yikes.

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  18. This is not my favorite but I do follow the design client's blog and this room is totally her personality- trad with some kitch, some fun and a little bit Texas. The client is a designer too.
    I feel like he nailed her style.

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    1. I knew all of this, but it does not change the fact that IMHO she paid a whole lot of money for a whole lot of ugly.

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