Tommy Smythe- HGTV star, Sarah's House co-host and Toronto has made over his historic home into a residence with glitz and glamour.  Hollywood Regency has been known to combine the high end elements such as polished marble, glossed walls, classic panelled cabinets, crown moulding and tufted furniture gussied up with  accents of brass silver and [...]]]>

Orange Leather on leather on Klismos Chairs

Tommy Smythe- HGTV star, Sarah's House co-host and Toronto has made over his historic home into a residence with glitz and glamour.  Hollywood Regency has been known to combine the high end elements such as polished marble, glossed walls, classic panelled cabinets, crown moulding and tufted furniture gussied up with  accents of brass silver and gold.  Geometrical patterns are very popular in this style, and commonly implemented with stone floors, patterned rugs, painted or stone walls, tile and art work.

Borrow a Few Ideas From Smythe:

1 -In the few pictures of his home, you can see the house is not cluttered, which is a key to any design.  You can see he only features the very best in his house, which means he donated the rest of his junk that doesn't pertain to his style, and so should we.

2 -Incorporate a great geometrical pattern in your room.  Having a good rug with a strong pattern can go a long way.  Zebra rugs are very popular and add a graphic print to the room in a very glamorous way.

-3 Hang a handmade over-sized graphic oil painting with lots of color on the wall, and spend your money on great furniture.  Color isn't necessary, but having a pop of color can go a long way with this style.  You don't even have to spend lots of money doing this.

Shop around for a over-sized frame from your local thrift store, or second hand store.  If you have the money find a high quality frame and make the artwork yourself.  Once you have the room together, over time, you can exchange out the graphic print with another print online at a later date.

If the frame has a canvas print inside already you can paint over the existing picture.  If not, take a piece of thin wood purchased at your local hardware store, and cover it with canvas and staple it into the frame.  Home Depot allows you to buy sample paint sold for a couple dollars each, which you can paint your own geometrical pattern on to.  Pick out your favorite colors or leave the paintings to the end of the project and choose colors that will tie your design together.  All you need is tape, paint, and a good looking gilt wood frame.

4 - Spend your money on high end furniture.  Look at  Smythe's home.  You can carefully tell he really put a lot of thought into his furnishings.  Ebay is the perfect place to buy Klismos chairs, and other high end Regency pieces.  They are so hard to find, but such a great investment.  Good looking furniture captures the attention, and KEEPS the attention over the years.

5 -Keep your eyes open for a dining room set of chairs in the Hollywood Regency style.  A set of chairs can be broken up in a living room, and lined against the wall or accenting a sofa.   A room that has common elements which group together nicely presents better than a bunch of miss-matched furniture.

6 - Brass always adds a high end look.  Consider a coffee table with polished brass.  Adding brass hardware to your furniture to dress it up will go a long way in your home.

7 - Gloss walls are a signature style of Hollywood Regency.  You can see Smythe painted one of his rooms in a high gloss black.  Black or any dark color for that matter can bring a very very dark appearance to a room.  One time, we painted our living room in a really dark navy.  The room had two windows, and it felt like a dungeon.  When working with dark paint colors, consider if you have enough light coming into the room naturally to pull it off, otherwise count on a high electricity bill from all the lighting you have to install.  One way to get around this is to purchase a set of over-sized matching mirrors that you can hang on the walls.  Adding a number of WHITE hand drawn prints on a light yellow or white background will produce a layered effect.  Painting your walls a dark color can be very RICH and captivating.  To pull it off you need to bring in the light by layering the walls in lighter frames, mirrors, or art work.

8 - Don't skip on quality.  Look at Smythe's dining room, and you will understand that less is MORE, and Quality is MORE!  His cabinetry is painted in white, and the walls are tiled in a white subway tile.  The window frames are painted white, giving attention to the amazing tiled floor.  Again here we see a geometrical pattern, and it is well done!

For additional Flooring inspiration see these posts:

Eva Jeanbart-Lorenzotti's Empire Decorated Home

Empire Decorating: Geometric Painted Flooring

9 - My last tip is to not forget about natural wood finishes.  They ground the outrageous looks of the Hollywood Regency style.  Sometimes the flamboyant nature of the glamorous style of Hollywood Regency needs a foot in reality.  Natural wood chairs, with earthy leather really ground this style well.  You can see this element in action in one of Smythe's rooms.  Amongst black walls, wild zebra patterns, gold and lots of pattern, the wood furniture provides a breath of fresh air and balance to the room.

See more of his Smythe's home see  House & Home Magazine

Hollywood Regency Style- Geometrical Floors, Ornate Tiled Wall

Tommy Smythe's Hollywood Regecy Home- Jet Black Gloss Walls From Benjamin Moore.

Tommy Smythe's Hollywood Regecy Home- Dark Painted Walls and Drapes To Match

Buscot Park is a glorious example of the Regency style. The estate was built by Edward Loveden Loveden between 1779 and 1783 for Edward Loveden Loveden. The house was inspired by the architecture of the great Renaissance architect, Andrea Palladio.  Most of [...]]]>

Buscot Park Hall- Pair of Ebonised Gilt chairs From The Thomas Hope Suite

Buscot Park is a glorious example of the Regency style. The estate was built by Edward Loveden Loveden between 1779 and 1783 for Edward Loveden Loveden. The house was inspired by the architecture of the great Renaissance architect, Andrea Palladio.  Most of the furniture here is of the Regency period, and reflects the revival of interest in that style in the inter-war years.

The entrance hall's gilt-metal chandelier from Barnsley Park

The large ebonised and gilt couch, and the pair of chairs standing in front of the scagliola pillars, are in the Egyptian taste that became fashionable after the battle of the Nile (1798).  They, together with the ebonised and gilt torchères, were made for Thomas Hope, the pioneer of Regency furniture design, and are illustrated in his Household Furniture and Interior Decoration (1807) as part of the furnishing of the ‘Egyptian Room’ at Duchess Street, his London residence off Portland Place.

The tripod-stand behind the couch, ebonised and gilt, with lion monopodia supports, is in the manner of George Smith, the cabinet-maker whose pattern book of 1808 (A Collection of Designs for Household Furniture and Interior Decoration) did much to popularise the Regency style.

At the far end of the Hall is a pair of ormolu-mounted French Empire side-tables in mahogany with marble tops.  The tables carry Empire figures of kneeling cupids in ormolu, and Sèvres bleu celeste shell-shaped dishes of 1756, which were originally simply painted with flowers, but when mounted in ormolu,
the turquoise grounds and bird paintings were added (perhaps by Edward Holmes-Buldock c.1830).

The pair of amboyna and giltwood tables, with pineapple motif stems,supporting seventeenth-century panels of Genoese marquetry, reflect the antiquarian taste that became fashionable under the Prince Regent's influence, and were bought at the Hartwell House sale in the 1930s.   The ormolu candelabra on the mantelpiece, their four-branched lights supported by winged figures, are
French of the Empire period, in the manner of Thomire.  Either side of the chimney-piece are two eighteenth-century gout stools.

A cut glass chandelier in George III style In The Dutch Room

The Dutch Room was created out of two smaller rooms in the 1930s, during the 2nd Lord Faringdon’s extensive alterations to the house.  The Dutch Room has a plasterwork ceiling and frieze made at that date in the Adam style.  In this room exist a set of six single chairs, two stools and settee, is of the Chippendale
period.  relief.  Two satinwood commodes with concave fronts, inlaid with paterae, are closely related to Chippendale’s work in the neo-classical style of about 1775.

Between the windows is an unusual pair of side-tables of the Sheraton period, completely veneered with tortoiseshell, stained green and red.  The oval mirrors above are giltwood frames with festoons of husks, paterae and ribbons which are supreme examples of the Adam style. At the far end of the room are a pair of fine inlaid cabinets.   The highly elaborate tops of the cabinets,decorated with red-stained tortoiseshell and engraved bone, date from the mid-seventeenth century.

Regency Style Decorating -Buscot Park Sitting Room

The Sitting Room date from the 1930s, when the 2nd Lord Faringdon made extensive alterations to Buscot, intending to return the house to its original eighteenth-century appearance.

Regency Style Decorating -Buscot Park Sitting Room

Regency Style Decorating -Buscot Park Sitting Room

As in the Hall beyond, most of the furniture here is of the Regency period. This style can be seen in the rosewood sofa table at the western end of the room, and the pair of rosewood card tables, with elegant lyre-shaped supports, made by the leading cabinet-makers of the day, Gillows of Lancaster.  In the room eight single chairs with sabre legs, grained to simulate rosewood, exemplify a type of painted decoration characteristic of the period.  The pair of Regency mahogany bergere chairs are a recent acquisition.  The chandelier is a good example of a Regency glass ‘lustre’, and the gilt pelmet boards, with elaborate scrolls are of the same period, moved here from the Drawing Room at Barnsley Park, when Nash carried out his alterations there between 1807 and 1809.

Stancil's Antiques Unlimited has been in the antiques business for over ten years specializing in antique furniture, glass, jewelry, silver, porcelain and lighting. They also have a reproduction shop, selling high quality reproductions and lighting. They carry such names as Wildwood, Chapman,Chelsea House, Frederick Cooper.  Accessorize with Stancils [...]]]>

ANTIQUE SCHOFIELD STERLING SILVER REPOUSSE FOOTED BOWL

Stancil's Antiques Unlimited has been in the antiques business for over ten years specializing in antique furniture, glass, jewelry, silver, porcelain and lighting. They also have a reproduction shop, selling high quality reproductions and lighting. They carry such names as Wildwood, Chapman,Chelsea House, Frederick Cooper.  Accessorize with Stancils unique reproductions and antique

Albert Hadley creates a classic design in a small 1820s Colonial home in New Jersey featured in Home Beautiful  Your front door can speak volumes from the street.  Albert Hadley posts an American eagle on the Colonial homes brightly painted finish.

Legendary interior designer Albert Hadley is well known in the interior [...]]]>

Albert Hadley's Brass Eagle Door

Albert Hadley creates a classic design in a small 1820s Colonial home in New Jersey featured in Home Beautiful  Your front door can speak volumes from the street.  Albert Hadley posts an American eagle on the Colonial homes brightly painted finish.

Legendary interior designer Albert Hadley is well known in the interior design community, and has designed for former Vice President Albert Gore, Diane Sawyer, Babe Paley, Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, and the Astor and Getty families.  Hadley is known for his Georgian decorating, bringing in elements of neoclassicism, and all areas of design which are historic.  He says without a basic knowledge of the history, design often fails.  "If we cannot have connoisseurship in the young decorators, I would settle for a few history lessons. There is so little awareness of classical Greece, the neoclassical period, the eighteenth century, and the first half of the twentieth century. Without a foundation the house will crumble. What I am saying is not to be taken for nostalgia. Nothing is more exciting than the new. While you can build on the past, you can never really return to it".  Hadley has some strong words for the up and coming designers, “They’re all doing beige rooms,” he groans. Hadley wishes that young designers would take more time to educate themselves about Versailles and the twenties and “ancient history.” “It’s all about acquiring a richer vocabulary,” he tells New York Magazine

Whitehall Products Wall Eagle Antique Brass

White Hall sells an American Brass Eagle, that fits into the Regency style quite nicely.  The brass colored eagle will dress up any front door with class.  The eagle is one of Americas national symbols, and hanging it on your front door will make you feel proud to be an American

The Eagle is hand made, and made when ordered.  The measurements are 29''L x 9''H.  Whitehall Products have over 60 years of experience, and has earned an excellent reputation as a provider of quality home and garden products with a broad range of unique and innovative items.

Albert Hadley creates a classic design in a small 1820s Colonial home

First, always choose color [...]]]> People are often connected with colors, but they are afraid something bolder on their walls. The people who have a harder time are those people who are contemporary, and usually after sophisticated looks, but long for that color in their rooms.  Here are some quick steps to adding color into your life..........

First, always choose color you are drawn to. Second, utilize the color wheel for professional results. For example if my favorite color is green, then I could have the options of working with darker shades of green and lighter colors of green as one choice.   Again, another option is I could work with green and the neighbouring colors of the color wheel such as lime and blue.  Lastly, you can also work from the opposite side of the color wheel, such as orange or purple.

Many people do not consider multiple colors in their home, because they do not want their home looking like a rainbow, which is perfectly understandable.   You can create pops of color in your home though the use of accessories, and still have the contemporary neutrals on your walls.  On the other hand, if you want to go after the bold colors on your wall, be sure choose more neutral furniture, and limit the objects of intense color.  Try to find a balance that will flow evenly unifying one room to another. Consider floor rugs in the same tones, as well as pictures that are alike that run from one room to the next.

Hollywood Regency Vivacious French Settee

Burnt Orange Silk Seller Modern One

Great rooms don't happen over night. For me, sometimes it takes multiple sketches of room possibities before coming across a winning idea.  If you do not have a color you are drawn to, pick a favorite item and work around it. Limiting your palette to two or three colors throughout the house, is always recommended. In the upholstery, rugs, and accessories, however, the color schemes can be limitless.  Have Fun!

Ian Schraeger’s Gramercy Park Hotel

Cameroon Feathered Hat Seller Liza Sherman Antiques

Pair Pink Silk Slipper Chairs Seller Collection Los Angeles

Italian Brass and Glass Table Seller Orange

Lacquered Sideboard By Henredon Seller Lawson Fenning