Our guests today are a husband-and-wife team, Britt and Damian Zunino, of the Manhattan based architecture and interiors firm Studio DB. Their work has been featured in Luxe Magazine, Architectural Digest, The New York Times, ELLE Decor, and many others. We talk about their love of creative spaces, how New York has influenced their style, and how they aim to create a space that is beautiful but also livable, their collaboration process, and more. Their work exudes a swankiness that we really love, so be sure to check out their portfolio!
What You’ll Hear on This Episode:
- How Britt would describe their style.
- Discussing the curvilinear elements, features, materials, color palette and other customization they chose for The Symon project.
- More about Britt and Damian’s unique country home outside of the city.
- Britt’s tips for making bold choices start with choosing a color palette.
- Designing around the unique pipes in the TriBeCa Franklin Street Loft.
- How to design when you have very high ceilings.
- Why you should invest more in lighting, especially with kids at home.
- What is Britt and Damian’s collaboration process?
- Where does the color palette in their projects come from?
- How they design custom cabinetry with creative detailing.
- Tips & Tricks for designing kid’s rooms and small spaces.
Decorating Dilemma
Hi ladies!
I love love your podcast and have been listening for years!! Tuesday is my favorite day of the week and I have listened to so many episodes a second and third time because they are full of such good information!!
So here is my dilemma. We live in a 1940s cottage style house that we renovated a couple years ago. I would say most of my rooms have a good first layer, but now it’s time to go through and make a few tweaks and updates.
This is our family room and is right off the front “entry” of our house. We had the sectional custom made to fit the space which we love, but I’m having a hard time with the rug and other chairs. The white chair swivels and my girls refuse to sit in any other chair to watch tv, but it’s taken a serious beating and is so dingy, so I would love advice on what color/fabric you would recover it in. I’ve been leaning towards something in the pink family, but would love input!
Also, the rug. I can’t believe I’m showing you pics, but it’s disgusting. It’s just a thick carpet that’s been cut to fit the large space, buts it’s gotta go and I need opinions on what should go in its place. We need something big-at least 9×12. I’ve looked at vintage rugs with lots of color, but I worry it might be too much color? My other thoughts are something more neutral like your antelope rug or something with a stripe? Help!
Also, what do you think about that blue chair? It seems kind of heavy in the space?
Thanks so much for your help and if you have any other ideas please send my way!!
Malorie
Hi Malorie,
We love the idea of bringing in the pink, but with the color palette that you have we need to bring something to tie it in. The first option would be to incorporate a fun wallpaper on the ceiling that had some of these colors to bring it all together. Maybe something in pink with a micropattern. We thought maybe it would be nice to add one more swivel chairs that had a pretty back so you can see that right when you walk in but also be able to turn them around to watch television. We have even done something where we have upholstered the back of the chair in a different fabric that is a little more playful and the seat is more durable. Rather than having all of the furniture on the outside of the room, the swivel chairs will help pull it in and engage that space. Another option if you didn’t want to go the wallpaper route is to paint the ceiling a little bit of a softer green than what’s on the walls so it feels like a more uniform envelope of color. We love the idea of a stripe on the rug. Also something in a pretty neutral, like a seagrass rug, would be nice. Then you could even layer on top of it with a more colorful or patterned rug to anchor the seating space. That one can be much smaller and cozier, and the bottom rug would stretch more towards the walls. To touch on the blue chair, the shape is really interesting but since you have so many lighter colors in the room you could reupholster this one to fit better with the room. It would be nice to even add a little footstool or side table.
We also want to say that you’ve done a really good job! We love the custom sofa, the sofa table, the lamps, the sconces, the bench seat. It’s a great space and you’re really onto something that you just need something to tie it together. Good luck and send us the after photos!
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Happy Decorating!
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