Atomic Ranch is back from a week in the California desert, and we were lucky enough to tour two homes with design elements showcasing the spectrum of Palm Springs Style. Watch this video to see how a couple of our favorite designers use FLOR modern carpet tiles to complete every room and the role the rugs play in each of these Mid Mod aesthetics.
TRANSCRIPT
Jickie Torres: From vibrant and pattern filled to Retro and vintage, Palm Springs style can include a range of design elements, and why not it’s the world’s Mecca of mid-century modern design history with a dash of Hollywood glamor. Let’s take a tour of two homes which encompass this range, talk to the interior designers who created them, and learn about one surprising design element that has the ability to bring the whole look together.
Built in 1963 by the Alexander Company and designed by architect Charles Du Bois, this home in the Vista Las Palmas neighborhood of Palm Springs belongs to Howard Hawks and Kevin Kemper of H3K Home and Design. Filled with rich tones and a touch of Hawaiian flair, the couple called the home “Hi-Sun”.
Howard Hawkes: A lot of the inspiration came from the location of the house. The way it’s situated the sun rises behind me and it lights up the mountains that are kind of behind us here and the cast of color is sort of everything from an orange to a rust and we see that every morning and it’s kind of like, “Hi Sun” you see it come up. A lot of the colors are reflective of the area we’re in. The greens and things you see the oranges and even some of like the fuchsia you see in some of the rooms here are all kind of inspired by this location.
Kevin Kemper: Also, the architecture of the house. I mean you can’t really have a mid-century house and ignore that fact. This was more of the Hawaiiana element of the mid-century world and so having the shake roof and kind of pulling in some of those elements into the house was important. We wanted each room to have its own personality yet tie in through the whole house. I think each room does kind of set itself off and I do think the FLOR really helps in terms of kind of pulling that room together and making everything work – from the furniture to the wallpapers to the tile.
Howard: Exactly, FLOR had options that were more vibrant, more subdued there were patterns, there was a lot to choose from. Each room really does have its own personality. But this FLOR is what makes the statement, and we just absolutely love it it’s so fun to have these big bold colors in these stripes.
Kevin: It really is great when you can work with a product that has such a range. I think that’s important because as a designer you’re not necessarily limited to “I’m doing mid-century modern; I’m doing Colonial classical” you know you really want to have different options and being able to kind of incorporate that into whatever design you’re doing. I do think one of the other interesting factors of using FLOR is when you walk through our house every room has a different color, different scheme but there’s even certain rooms like the living room or dining room where you actually have two completely different FLOR products yet they kind of really tie in together and they work. Just because the tones and the textures and the look and the vibe kind of tie it all together into one which really just makes it all work together.
Howard: It really does. We have a lot of clients that are very intimidated by carpet, especially here in the desert, and there’s another benefit to it that we always recommend – is the Acoustics of it. It’s nice to have it to make the room feel a little bit more grounded.
Kevin: It adds a lot of warmth too, which is which is key.
Howard: And the FLOR is so easy to maintain that’s why we tell our clients yeah this is like having a tile floor it’s just as easy to maintain.
Aly Brooks (FLOR): I think Kevin and Howard did an amazing job defining spaces by the use of color and pattern and texture. Within an open floor plan you really create these unique little moments within the home that each have their own personality. I think they’ve done a really amazing job tying that all together.
All FLOR rugs meet three pillars: beautiful, smart, and responsible. I think our most compelling feature is our flexibility and modularity – really creating custom rugs not only through design, but also size to make it fit your home beautifully. With over 170 different styles there’s something for everybody and we’re always creating new looks.
We come out with about 60 to 70 new products every year to keep up with the trends and kind of really continue to elevate our brand portfolio. So there’s a look for you and if there isn’t you can design your own custom rug either through our dedicated customer success team or through our design tool on our website FLOR.com. You can create your own look if we don’t have a modular rug for you – with cuts patterns and colorways to really create your own personal look.
Jickie Torres: Sitting like a stylish Beacon here in the Indian Canyon’s neighborhood of Palm Springs, sits a house called Yoasis. Outside it’s got all the stately characteristics you’d find of a custom home built by the likes of Stan Sackley and William Krisel. Inside Michael Ostrow of Grace Home Furnishings has created a Hollywood glamor meets exotic Bohemian haven that’s at once dramatic and nostalgic. Fun vibrant wallpaper mixes with bright bold color in every room. Pattern and a touch of sparkle combine for a modern updated take on Silver Screen chic.
Michael Ostrow (Grace Home Furnishings): The clients who own this house – I’d worked with them before in a few rooms in the house and then when we decided it was going to be a featured home, we began to rethink how we wanted to do the whole house as opposed to little pieces and parts. So we had to think about the whole picture of how we wanted it to look. Thouse was built in 1965 and the architecture of the house has a kind of Regency but still kind of like a 60s kind of feel to it. It’s not very strict Regency. So it kind of flows and kind of meanders and has some wonderful kind of architectural details to it so we wanted to enhance those but also kind of play with it a little bit. Not have it be just pure Regency.
We kind of started to play with the little kind of desert kind of thing with it a little bit. There’s kind of camels and different things that make it feel kind of exotic so that was kind of the theme that we kind of ran through the house with. I would say the key pieces for the rooms basically was the wallpaper and the FLOR product. That was the two things that kind of balanced together. If the wallpaper was going to be kind of wild and patterned then I would choose a more subtle FLOR product. If the wallpaper was going to be more subtle then I could choose something for the floor that was going to be more impactful.
We used the FLOR product in two different ways. We basically used it wall to wall, so that rather than using carpet we could just run it wall to wall which worked out great. Then in the area rugs that was where we were able to play a little bit and what’s wonderful about it is you know most rugs if you buy a rug it comes eight by ten, eight by eleven or it comes you know nine by twelve. The wonderful thing about the FLOR product is you know if I needed it to be 10 by 13 I could make it that way. If I needed it to be six by eight I could make that way. It didn’t it didn’t really matter, so that was wonderful about how we could apply it.
The dining room is an odd space it’s an octagon and the wonderful thing about the product was we could cut it so that the corners cut off and basically fit in the room and it doesn’t it doesn’t feel odd at all it feels as much as an octagon can be it feels organic. It worked really well
Aly: I really love how Michael integrated FLOR in the Yoasis by truly using it as a piece of art integrated within the space. He was able to use a lot of our more neutral patterns highlighted with metallics and textures and patterns to really layer in the moment of the room.
I also love how Michael used pops of color to provide special moments as you move through the space. With FLOR we have over 700 different styles and colors and different shapes plus our custom cut options to really make the unique look for you. Every year we release over 50 new Styles really capturing the trends of the moment as well as our timeless classic looks we’ve grown to love.
