Is There a Surprise in Your Decor?

Kelly Wearstler's  book  Modern Glamour is like eye candy that you can taste.  Her bold use of color and graphic pattern, for which she is internationally known, infuses every sense.  It can't help itself.  You feel the color  in every work of hers.  I won't recycle the images you've seen over and over.  In fact, just Google images of her and you'll see what I'm talking about...

The Viceroy Hotel in Santa Monica

But of the many things in this book that inspire me to push my limits and think beyond my Traditional/French/English parameters in my own personal decorating, is her remark, "I love to be caught unaware by a stunning surprise."  Now, you know from my post on Decorating with Plates, that I love the traditional use of them on a wall, in a bookcase, etc.  But Wearstler goes completely out of the box with them in this outdoor space at the Viceroy...

photo: Grey Crawford

Hello...this is an outdoor patio, with wing chairs upholstered in weather-resistant vinyl (unexpected, too).   Who else would have thought of such a dramatic and unexpected collection of plates as art outside??

photo: Grey Crawford

 Isn't that just brilliant?  Love it!  I think every decorator, designer, stylist knows the importance of injecting the unexpected, but Wearstler is a master at the "stunning surprise", indeed.

Talk to you soon,
Carol