Today’s home style is urban transitional: cleaner, straighter lines, with less accessorization, lighter woods and minimal layering. Today Style means contemporary, crisp and lean, a design scheme that speaks plainly and doesn’t require translation. Like the desert itself, the word is less, not more, and, at best, it expresses color and texture and affirms life.
“It’s okay to mix looks, but the key is that the looks aren’t jarring. You can mix it up, but everything still needs to feel as if it blends well,” says Alan K. Reinken, founder and president of La Maison Interiors, which opened Sept. 1 in Scottsdale.
“Fashion and interior design trends coincide to a certain degree,” adds Jamie Wilke, a company designer. “Today’s more ‘tailored’ look in fashion translates into home interiors.” Similarly, color trends are warm greys, reds, crisp whites and lots of blues, from sky-blue and ocean-blue to denim, he notes. Greens are “grainy,” but earthy and citrus tones are out.
Many Valleyites know Reinken from 16 years at Robb & Stucky in Scottsdale, where his expertise in custom furniture helped establish that store as one of the country’s distinguished design locations.
Today, his luxe design studio and boutique, La Maison Interiors, 15450 N. Scottsdale Road, offers full design services, with a staff of 10 specialized professionals. Each of the store’s furniture selections, for example, is hand-selected, with details that make each piece a focal piece: hand carving, delicate upholstery fringe, etc. Many items can be customized and personalized according to size, fabric, colors and wood finishes.
Those wood finishes, for example: Keep them in similar tonal colors, she suggests. Furniture is lighter — bleached woods, lacquered lighter woods. For woods and other design aspects: “If you want to go a different route and create a lot of contrast, that’s good, but don’t scream it; intimate it, suggest it with subtlety, elegance and taste.”
La Maison Interiors can modify most furnishings. For instance, if a client sees a showroom dining table but would prefer that it be rectangular rather than round, that the dimensions be slightly larger and that its edges be beveled, La Maison can fulfill that. So, too, if a client likes a sofa but would prefer a different fabric and slightly larger dimensions, that is also easily accommodated.
Accessorizing will never be unstylish, but, again, the Miesian mantra, “less is more,” is in place. Accessories today are organic, natural. Luxurious linens, for instance, create the luxury hotel environment on a daily basis without looking heavy.
“We’re suggesting to our clients to mix collections of items they love with new accessories, to blend in the familiar with the just acquired,” says La Maison designer Kari Jensen. She encourages them, for example, to showcase collections: items purchased while traveling and family photos presented in new ways.
For the holidays, for example, change out accent pillows and transform your familiar sofa, she suggests. Garland is always great indoors; hang LED twinkle lights outside. Be multi-sensuous: Add the scent of cinnamon and apple.
“Today’s interior design style is more cognizant of sustainable, environmentally conscious living,” he notes. Organic fabrics and colors are important, but don’t forget to enjoy your home while you’re improving the world. “‘Pops of color are important,” Reinken says, “so be creative by accessorizing with colorful glass and colorful art. Most importantly: Have fun.”
La Maison in Scottsdale
480.948.1144
