Designing a Palos Verdes Dream Home - 10 Elements That Set Luxury Homes Apart
10 Elements That Set Luxury Homes Apart
Designing a Palos Verdes Dream Home
#1 They feel completely finished. When you tackle a design project on your own, it’s easy to lose steam trying to figure out how to handle all of the final details beyond the main furniture.
#2 They have a proper feeling of scale and proportion. Quite often people shopping for furniture on their own buy sofas that are too big, and everything else that is too small, such as rugs, side tables, lamps and light fixtures. Finding the right balance of pieces in various sizes and heights is crucial.
#3 They include some bold choices, and don’t always play it safe. The size and quantity of photos here really make the room.
#4 They have art in the right sizes, placed in the right locations, and hung at the right heights.
#5 They have custom finishes, such as wallpaper or venetian plaster.
#6 They have custom window treatments. Whether a room needs woven shades, fabric shades, curtains or a combination of those, it’s important for them to be made well and installed well since they’re so visible.
#7 They have custom upholstery pieces. There are so many beautiful ways of doing this that can make your house feel unique to your own style, and different from what you see in retail locations and in other people’s houses.
#8 They utilize interesting and high-end fabrics and patterns. Again, making a bold statement can set a room apart from all the rest. There are thousands of gorgeous fabrics available. Even just using them on toss pillows on a solid colored sofa can make a big difference. If a client isn’t comfortable with using colors or patterns that make a big statement, there are also many high-end fabrics with luxurious textures that can add character to a simple piece of furniture.
#9 They have the right amount of layered accessories. It’s a fine balance of having just enough of the right kinds of items for a room to feel pulled together, yet not so many that it feels cluttered.
#10 They include pieces that are more timeless than trendy. So many people come to us for help and seem to feel that they need to have things that are “current” even if they don’t necessarily align with their own personal taste. It’s best to invest in classic pieces, regardless of what style you prefer, so they will last you a long time without becoming dated.
Photographer credits:
Photos 1,2,3,7,9,10
Photo 4
Photos 5,6, 8 A
If you need help with your luxury interior design project we’d love to discuss it with you. Please visit www.artsandhomes.com to set up your complimentary 15 minute discovery phone call. Or you can reach us at 310.283.2558, anna@artsandhomes.com.
Anna Hackathorn
An award-winning Los Angeles Interior Designer, Anna Hackathorn specializes in creating luxury interiors that are both elegant and comfortable. With over 20 years of experience, Anna is one of the most prominent interior designers in the South Bay, and is the only designer in the area who has been named one of “America’s Top Young Designers” by House Beautiful magazine. Anna focuses on full-service interior design for busy clients with a discerning taste for high-end service. She manages all of the complicated design decisions that can affect project costs and timelines, and guides clients through what could otherwise be an emotionally draining process for them.
Anna’s expertise is designing customized rooms with soul and character that are timeless yet fresh, and feel as if they’ve been curated over time. Taking her design direction from a client’s personal taste and the intrinsic architecture of each particular space, Anna enjoys working in both traditional and contemporary settings, primarily in the coastal towns of Palos Verdes, Rolling Hills, Redondo Beach, Hermosa Beach and Manhattan Beach, and travelling afar for clients as needed.
Anna launched her interior design career in New York with Calvin Klein and Giorgio Armani where she assisted in the design of retail stores in America, Europe and Asia. She then worked with industry veteran Robin Kramer at Kramer Design Group where she managed the design of major flagship stores and smaller boutiques worldwide for clients Ralph Lauren, Donna Karan, Tommy Hilfiger, Narcisco Rodriquez, Isaac Mizrahi, and Barneys New York. Upon moving back to Los Angeles, she switched from commercial to residential design working with legendary celebrity decorator Michael S. Smith where she managed high-end residential projects across the country. (Smith was since hired by President Obama to design at the White House). She has had a private interior design business since 2003, and her vintage art collection evolved throughout the years.
Anna’s interior design work has been featured in Elle Décor, W Magazine, Departures, C Magazine, In Style, California Home + Design, California Homes, Lucky, Los Angeles Confidential, Rue Magazine, South Bay Magazine, Voyage LA, The Martha Stewart Show, The Megan Mullally Show and the Los Angeles Times. She was honored to be listed as one of House Beautiful ‘s “America’s Top Young Designers” and was included in the Mansion section of The Wall Street Journal as an interior design expert. In 2017, 2018 and 2019 she received a “Best of Houzz” award for customer service in the interior design field.
Anna has a B.A. in Communication from Tulane University in New Orleans, a Certificate of Interior Design from Parsons School of Design in New York, and studied art history and photography through Parsons School of Design and American University in Paris with classes held at The Louvre, The Musee d’Orsay and Centre Georges Pompidou.
Now a mom of two amazing kids, Anna grew up on the gorgeous Palos Verdes Peninsula in Los Angeles, and after living in New Orleans, Paris, Telluride, Vermont, NYC, Santa Monica, and Redondo Beach, she is now settled about a mile from her childhood home because she can’t think of a better spot to raise a family.