Podcast, Ep. 234: designer Travis London

Today’s guest is fabulous celebrity chef turned interior designer, Travis London of Studio London Co. Travis has a unique style that fuses American design sensibilities with European glamor. His distinctive point of view on color and interiors has been recognized by media outlets including Architectural Digest, Domino, and more. This colorful episode is chock-full of quotes and wisdom from Travis about his love of dogs, how his different locales have influenced his design, why he believes in different glassware for every occasion, why he and his home always smell so good, and more. Travis is lifestyle!

What You’ll Hear on This Episode:

• How Travis likes to mix colors.
• Travis’s background from high school dropout to celebrity chef to interior designer and beyond!
• How has living in Europe influenced Travis’s style?
• Tips for how to make a room look BIG.
• How has Miami influenced his color choices?
• How does Travis recommend taking risks in design?
• What are a few of Travis’s favorite kitchen designing tips?
• Why is Travis passionate about glassware?
• Travis designed the dining room in AD’s The Iconic Home.
• How often does Travis redo a room or house?
• Designing with dogs in mind.
• How does Travis eat healthy with a busy lifestyle?
• What is Travis’s next step for his brand?
• Does Travis have any pet peeves in dealing with clients?

Decorating Dilemma

Hi ladies and fabulous guest!

I’m going to get straight to the point as my past attempts at this email have exceeded the max size allowed 😉 I recently bought a house in the country and the previous owner turned the garage into a primary bedroom/bathroom. The ceiling in this room is very low and has two different areas with a tray ceiling — I think this was done to create as much height in the areas that allowed a higher ceiling, but still the tallest part of the ceiling is 7.5 feet. I’m told there isn’t an easy option to raise this ceiling, so I think I’ll be living with it for the foreseeable future. There is currently a ceiling fan that needs to go due to aesthetics but also the ceiling feels way too low to have a fan flying above your head. My plan is to replace the carpet with a wall-to-wall seagrass carpet and layer with a rug, replace the baseboards/trim/doors, replace the blinds with other blinds or drapery, replace the sliding glass door with French doors, paint, and get new furniture.

My questions for you are:

• What color should I paint this room and what do I do with the ceiling? Should the entire ceiling be the same color as the walls to make the trays fade away? Or should the molding be painted a different color than the ceiling to accentuate it? There’s actually 3 layers to the ceiling – the main ceiling, the tray molding, and the ceiling within the trays. I have no clue.
• Is a flush mount light my only option in place of the ceiling fan?
• Should I put some type of blinds on the two windows or drapes that cover them both, and should the drapes go all the way to the floor? This would only be for decorative and light blockage purposes, privacy is not an issue. And what window treatment would be best over French doors?
• Suggestions for furniture options/arrangement and décor? The room is ~19 feel long, the area between the arched doorway and sliding glass door is ~15 feet wide and the area from the end of the bed all the way to the wall with the closed door is ~11.5 feet wide.

I have attached various photos for your reference. Any thoughts/ideas you have are greatly appreciated. Especially with regards to that ceiling — help!! 😉

Thank you so much,

Stacey

Hi Stacey,

First of all, I’m going to say no to the seagrass. If it’s already a small space you’ll need a wood or tile floor and you can put a rug over that if you’d like. In terms of painting, paint it all the same color floor-to-ceiling except the border trim that’s on the inset tray that you talked about; that will accentuate it. When you choose the colors, think about how you want your guests to feel. Where the ceiling fan is, you can do a wide flush mount light or even better a flush mount chandelier like one from Kelly Wearstler. I would do wood blinds for window coverings. They are more decorative and allow for more light. They come in a wide range of colors as well.

The space is actually very nice and you would never know it was a garage! I would make this feel like a hotel suite. So I would also add two chairs in front of the bed, a small thin dresser on the wall and also a TV there, on the wall where you have that glass-like dresser I would add a mirror, and then, of course, two nightstands.

It could be so cozy in here! Travis is coming over!!!

Mentioned in This Episode:

• Studio London Co.
• Studio London Co on Instagram
• Travis London on Instagram
• AD‘s The Iconic Home Virtual Tour

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Happy Decorating!

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