The Cozy World of Jeffrey Alan Marks
A hot Hollywood designer shares his secrets for creating an intimate, inviting home.
By Kathy McCleary
Orange auto body paint spices up this vintage 1940s kitchen.
|
| |
Marks lives in Hollywood in a 1938 home built by architect and set designer Leland Fuller. (Fuller was the production designer responsible for the iconic sets of many classic 1950s Hollywood films, including How to Marry a Millionaire and Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter?) He studied architecture at Arizona State University, and studied design in London, Paris and Milan. He was recently named one of House Beautiful magazine’s "America’s Top 100 Interior Designers." Here, Marks explains the five factors that go into creating a uniquely livable home:
1. COZINESS
I notice when I entertain that regardless of who it is coming to my house–whether it’s 25-year-old friends or my parents’ friends–they all gravitate toward cozy spaces. They want to be in my game room or kitchen because it feels comforting. I just don’t think people want to be in these vast rooms any more.I like to plan little quirky areas within areas, rooms within rooms, more intimate spaces. My living room is big so I created cozy places in that room with several intimate seating arrangements, including a table with two comfortable chairs and a chess set that always sits out ready for play.
2. SASS
I love taking traditional pieces and making them not only comfortable, but sassy. In one home I put powder blue linen on two wingback chairs, and I took an old French banding that I found and used it for welting on those chairs, which was very crazy and no one really understood what I was doing. The blue linen had nothing to do with the colors in the room; it was sort of a surprise. But the welting worked quite well with the blue linen, and the combination made the chairs very comfortable. I just made them funky wingbacks.
![PHOTO](javascript:popup("http://img.hgtv.com/HGTV/2006/11/07/nov06decnews_marks_orange_e.jpg",350,450))
