Inspired By Mario Buatta

Inspired By Mario Buatta



     What do you get when you take a life time of collecting art and furniture,  mix it with layers of pattern and texture,  and add a little element of surprise?  The answer:  a Mario Buatta inspired room.  Mario Buatta is considered one of America's most popular interior designers.  Many of you may have heard about the Prince of Chintz.
     Buatta has created his own recognizable style which he refers to "The Undecorated Look".  He believes that a room should look like it has evolved over time.  According to Buatta, it should never look "Matchy-Matchy".  In other words, just like in life nothing is truly complete,  it evolves.  Mixing pattern and texture is another trade mark of this truly amazing designer.  Fabrics should compliment each other,  not jump out at you.  Buatta also believes that "you want a little sense of surprise when you walk into any room".  Now that you understand Mario Buatta's design philosophy you can see why we choose him as our inspiration for this room.
     When we first met with our client it was obvious to us that this room had the makings of a Mario Buatta style room.  This particular client had been collecting art and furniture her entire life.  Her daughter told us that this room stayed empty for several years and that she and her siblings would roller skate in this particular room while it was empty.  Those days came to an end when the furniture started  to arrive.  If you take a look at this room you will notice that there is nothing "Matchy-Matchy" in this space.  There is a true mixture of color, texture, and lots of pattern.  Take a good look at the French arm chairs.  We used two  fabrics on both of  them but they look different.  Our upholsterer,  Danny Anderson of Robinson's Upholstery, used a different center point on our fabric to make these chairs look the same but different.  This is one of our elements of surprise.  He also skirted our piano bench to the floor and our client painstakingly stitched the bullion fringe to make it look like a looped fringe.    To  freshen up our space we chose two new paint colors, rearranged the furniture, and rehung her art.    We added two floor lamps and a preserved floral arrangement on the mantle to complete our Mario Buatta inspired room.