In our inaugural Design Challenge on the Sheffield Forum, we asked for a perfect autumnal color palette to inspire the decor of a room or an event space. We had some great submissions, but ultimately the most intriguing and well-conceived idea came from our winner Marinella Berthoud.

Marinella is a student in the Interior Design program. She created a wonderful palette that evolves from the lighter shades of summer to the richer colors of fall, and she chose an impressive set of furniture and accessories to illustrate how she would use the palette to inform a room design.

We are so pleased to have Marinella in our community, and were really impressed with her submission and positive attitude.  You can check out her design, along with all of the other submissions, right here.

Is all this color inspiring you? You ought to throw your own hat in the ring - we are taking entries for our November Design Challenge now!

One of the companies to fall under the wheels of the economic collapse last year was Shabby Chic, the company that pioneered the look of homey femininity with an elegant touch that reached its popularity in the late 1980s and early 1990s.

But the company has sprung back to life, thanks to a new investor, and possibly thanks to the very economic blow-out that forced it to shut down. The look—infinitely comforting without sacrificing sophistication—was most popular when the economy of the 1980s was in serious trouble. So it may be perfect timing to bring out those distressed white dressers and faux-crystal chandeliers.

As it happens, the Room of the Month on Designer Monthly takes a look at a room done in this style; you can see photos and read about it here:
http://www.sheffield.edu/designermonthly/rooms/room-of-the-month1009.html

We found the article on the New York Times today—the photo below is from the article, and is taken by Art Streiber of Shabby Chic. You can read the article here:

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/15/garden/15shabby.html

When a good friend asked me for advice on her October wedding color scheme a few weeks ago, the answer in my mind was obvious - her endearment of choice, honey! It struck me as the perfect shade for everything from her  golden jewelry to the flowers to the natural beeswax candles on her altar.

Rich golden hues are perfect for a Fall event, as they rule nature’s color palette for the season - the harvest moon, freshly baled hay, ripe squash and pumpkins, apple cider, maple syrup and honey, and, of course, the changing of the leaves from green to gold, red, and brown.

Its no surprise that Pantone predicted the “warm, subdued”

would be an important color for fashion and design in their prescient 2009 Fall Color Report.

Martha Stewart Weddings also paid a gorgeous homage to the “Perfect Palette” of Honey & Wheat in the Fall 2009 issue. You can check out the rest of the images in that story by clicking on the photo below.

Trendsetter Grace of Design*Sponge also warmed up to this palette in a recent “Under $100″ round-up. Click on the image to visit the original listing and find the source of all these items.

Traditional and cosy, these golden shades are never-fail options for Fall, and we cannot help but gravitate to them as the temperature cools and the sunlight fades.

That said, it’s nice to veer from the expected. Do you think you have a better idea for a perfect Fall palette? You should enter the October Design Challenge - the winner gets a fabulous decorating book, a t-shirt, and the glory of sharing their good taste in a community of taste-makers.

Everybody loves a contest, including the team over at the Sheffield School.  That is why we have set up our first ever Design Contest, running throughout the month of October.

This month’s contest, appropriately titled “Autumn Hues”, ask entrants to create and submit fall color palettes for the design of a space or seasonal wedding or event.  Special consideration will be given to those entries that include a short explanation of how you would use the colors chosen.

Palettes must include a minimum of 3 colors.  And remember, creativity is key.

One lucky winner will receive an official Sheffield School t-shirt, as well as The Domino Book of Decorating, a fabulous guide to creating a home that makes you happy.  Enter by November 1st for your chance to win.

To read more about the contest and submission rules, check out the contest thread over on the Sheffield Forum.

How do we measure the passage of time? Digital numbers changing, hands on a clock turning, shadow on a sundial?

How about ink spilling forth from a bottle?

Get a load of this “Ink Calendar” by Oscar Diaz. He is really one of the most inventive, interesting designer/artists we’ve encountered lately. He’s in London.

Here is his own explanation of it, from his website:

“The ink is absorbed slowly, and the numbers in the calendar are “printed” daily. One a day, they are filled with ink until the end of the month. A calendar self-updated, which enhances the perception of time passing and not only signaling it.

The ink colors are based on a spectrum, which relate to a “color temperature scale”, each month having a color related to our perception of the weather on that month. The colors range from dark blue in December to, three shades of green in spring or oranges, red in the summer.

The scale for measuring the “color temperature” that I have used is a standard called ‘D65’ and corresponds roughly to a midday sun in Western / Northern Europe.

The “Ink Calendar” was developed for “Gradual “, an exhibition featuring works, which were evolving during the exhibition time at the London Design Festival 2007.”

See more of his very cool work here: http://www.oscar-diaz.net/

One of the students at the Sheffield School of Interior Design found this very cool, very useful-looking organizer for design projects, in which you can keep paint chips, fabric samples, and work your way through a design project. Could be a really useful assistant to the Sheffield Complete Course in Interior Design!

Your faithful Stylehound just came across this great wedding blog, Style Me Pretty. Really crisp photos, interesting posts on all kinds of wedding designs. Check it out here:

http://www.stylemepretty.com/

…and scroll down for a post on a wedding with a bird motif—adorable and innovative.

The current post is on the party the author created for her daughter’s first birthday, with really terrific details, like the rose-petal frosting on the cupcakes. That is going to be one well-designed kid.

Have you been stuck at home, wondering what’s going on in design in the world beyond your little corner? Or maybe you’ve just come back from your summer holidays, and your appetite for new ideas is whetted. Either way, you should check out the new Designer Monthly that just went up today, with features on how color is used in a handful of countries, the history and basics of using Feng Shui for interior design, objets d’art from around the world, and a whole lot more.
Check it out at http://www.sheffield.edu/designermonthly/

Wow, thanks for all the votes on the pretty glass drawer pulls. It appears red is the winner, with green coming in a close second. I’m going to order the reds and then I’ll re-photograph and let you know how it looks.

I found the drawer pulls! Online, at a place called House of Antique Hardware, which, by the way, also has all kinds of old-fashioned door knobs and door hardware, those little things that people used to make so they’d be pretty as well as practical.

So, I may be able to Save the Cabinet after all. (And save, really, 1500 bucks by not buying the gorgeous thing from Urban Oasis.)

They’re lovely, old-fashioned glass, and come in pretty colors, and they’re like $3 or $4 bucks a piece. I think one of the blues, the green or maybe the red. I think any of these would look great with the wall paper from Stroheim & Romann.

I would love to hear readers’ opinions. Here’s the cabinet again, and here are the pulls I’m thinking of.

What do you think, readers? A pretty, pale green? A brilliant, shiny blue? An eye-catching red? Let me know your vote in the Comments.

http://houseofantiquehardware.com/