I recently spent a very happy, champagney afternoon at Tory Burch's flagship store on Madison Avenue in NYC.
I liked it there.
A lot.
Mostly because it is three stories of gorgeousness and full of shoes and bags and pants that could potentially fit a five year-old but - and here's the good part - there were NO five year-olds there!
So while I was sipping away, ogling the stilettos I realized that while Tory is big on style she's tight on space. Still I felt so good there - and it wasn't just the champagne. It was the finishings. And maybe a little of the champagne.
The key to designing a small space is to be fearless. Use bold color. Use big pattern. Use high gloss paint. Use texture and lighting and surfaces that bounce light from floor to ceiling. Use your imagination. Tory Burch's front door is a shiny, vibrant orange with a fabulous handle.
The carpet is her signature geometric pattern in black and ivory. The top floor is painted in eggplant and accented with lots of gold trim and custom cut mirrors tucked into the window casings. It's heaven.
And we all deserve our own little piece of heaven. Small spaces are actually the perfect place to add shine and sparkle and big, brazen color. Why? Well, it's a small commitment with a big wow factor.
And everyone already knows that a bathroom or closet or laundry room is small, so why not celebrate it? Why paint a bathroom beige when you can paint it anything-not-beige?