What, When, Where: Finders Keepers

By Debbie Hagan

In the upcoming May/June 2012 issue of New England Home, our editors asked designers and architects what’s new in home design–inside and out. Ideas poured in, from grand philosophical approaches in architecture to the smallest and most subtle changes, such as the supple hand on new leathers (and their faux counterparts). I took the category of furniture, fixtures and accessories, and designers led me to so many fantastic new pieces, I couldn’t squeeze them into two pages.

What to do with so many great leftovers? I’m sharing them here with you.

Rachel Reider of Rachel Reider Interiors loves the way manufacturers are rethinking Lucite. They’re mixing the invisible with the solid as in these Three-Way nesting tables from Ted Boerner. Here you see them in burma red lacquer, but you can customize them to fit your room.

Photo courtesy of Ted Boerner

This Lucite Bella bench from Grace & Blake caught the eye of designer Ken Dietz, who runs Market 27. It’s shimmery smooth, ghostly clear, yet grounded by the rope handles.

Photo courtesy of Grace & Blake

Everyone is looking for special finishes and details, particularly the unusual, glitzy and eye-catching. Designers keep telling us that homeowners want “finds” that they think no one else has seen (or owns) yet. Real discoveries.

Take this dresser from Kristin Paton, owner of the new Kristin Paton Home retail shop in Cambridge. It’s made of reclaimed wood–richly aged, worn silky smooth. If this doesn’t convince you to pack it up and take it home, look at the handles: antlers. So striking, and I’m betting your neighbors haven’t seen this yet.

Photo by Debbie Hagan

For a little more fun, add Paton’s stag tables.

Photo by Debbie Hagan

Reider likes this Ichibad square side table with its antiqued gold base and top made of dark shell, from Oly Studio.

Photo courtesy of Oly Studio

Of late, everyone is using beautifully embossed leathers–some rather exotic. Take this black shagreen three-drawer chest from Jonathan Charles‘s Metropolitan Collection. It’s sleek and modern–easily pictured in a cool, sophisticated Manhattan loft. Surprise, it’s surface is faux stingray skin. I so want to touch it.

Photo courtesy of Jonathan Charles.

When I talked with Robin Bergland, owner of Trillium on Nantucket, she had just returned from the New York International Gift Fair and was disappointed in not seeing any new trends. A few minutes later, though, she remembered that everything this year seemed to be in lavender or purple. She fell head-over-heels for Kim Seybert‘s Rock Candy Placemats in Hydrangea

Photo courtesy of Kim Seybert

And these purple “Japatch†pillows from the Swedish company Adam & Viktoria: Robin loves the way they blend fabrics and applications. In this case it’s Libeco linen with velvet and embroidery.

Photo courtesy of Adam & Viktoria