Showroom entry featuring Bobine Chairs in Desert Midnight & Oyster Belgium Linen with contrast welt in Woven Tangerine. Pillows: Athena Midnight
Hearst Castle Library Chair in Heirloom Orzo. Pillow: Casa Grande Gold - Hearst Castle Collection
Grant Chair in Canopy Blue Stripe. Pillow: Blue Harbor; Carson Cube in Absolute Snow White Leather
Sussex Sofa in Desert Midnight. Pillows: Harmon Manor Tangerine, Wilde White Basket; Soho Cube in Honey Basket Weave
Somerset Chair in Wilde Ocean, contrast welt in Wilde White. Pillow: White Ocean
Manhattan Sectional in Harbor Blue, Cambridge Ottoman in Stenciled Zebra Hide. Pillows: Citation Tangerine, Woven Tangerine, Margaret White Matelasse, Waikiki Shells, Gretchen White Matelasse
Bobine Chairs in Desert Midnight & Oyster Belgium Linen with contrast welt in Woven Tangerine. Pillows: Athena Midnight
Hearst Castle Library Chair in Heirloom Orzo & Riviera Sofa in Lapis Mohair. Pillows: Casa Grande Gold - Hearst Castle Collection, Wilde Multi, Honey Basket Weave, Midnight Monogram
Jacques Dining Chair in Bauer Chalk
Wyland Wing Chair in Uganda Croc Gold. Pillow: Coral Reef Blue
for the post
Interiors Without Rules: Barclay Butera
Barclay Butera is on a whirlwind, multi-city travel jaunt delivering keynote addresses on behalf of Kravet Collections, for which he has just created substantial carpet and fabric lines, and signing his latest book- “Living in Style” (Assouline, 2008), a retrospective of his residential work featuring 90 photos.
Butera gained exposure to the interior design field early on via his mother’s design firm in Palo Alto. “I was organizing and updating her sample library at the age of eight and was able to learn from the ground up,” he says. “She was an extremely hard worker and demonstrated a high degree of integrity.” In college, Butera pursued a degree in political science and economics and followed his undergrad education with a year of law school before recognizing that his true passion laid in the creative arts and design.
In his public talks he underscores his roots and the qualities he feels made him successful-service, positive energy, and a deep connection to his clients. “Designers are basically therapists for the home,” says Butera. “We’re in their bedrooms and baths and closer than a family therapist would be.”
Butera likens his perspective to that of the luxury automobile companies like BMW who hook younger clients on their simpler cars (300 series) and continue to cater to them with larger, more decked out vehicles (the 500 and 700 series) as they mature and gain resources. He’s given his point of view a concrete manifestation in highly diversified product lines in all the key home categories “that have something for everyone,” he says.
For more price-sensitive consumers buying at retail, the designer has created Barclay Butera Lifestyle offering home fragrance and candles from Archipelago and wall art from Wendover Art Group. The April 2010 High Point market will see the introduction of 100 more skus of wall art and over 200 skus of case goods and upholstery. Butera will also introduce natural jute, sea grass and sisal wall-to-wall floor coverings and area rugs, accessories, lighting and occasional pieces.
In the living room in a very large Laguna Beach home occupied by a single man, Butera focused on making the most of sand and cliff views and creating a casually elegant atmosphere with a touch of formality. To that end, he eschewed heavy drapery treatments and tinted the windows with a UV coating, painted the millwork in an airy high-gloss white and the walls in Dunn Edwards’ Fool’s Fossil-a rich taupe tone.
The home’s breakfast nook struts a round mahogany veneer table from Baker circumscribed by four Ralph Lauren Home chairs sporting striped upholstery. A fan of symmetry, Butera placed small round side tables on each side of the bay window. “Everything is in the details,” he says, pointing out the beading on the shades of the chandelier (a found piece) and the striped upholstery on the inside of the chairs. “A focus on minutiae transforms objects and layers visual richness into the room,” he says.
In a family vacation house nestled in the mountainous terrain of Park City, Utah, Butera assembled a mix of relaxed and more formal pieces in an earthy palette of browns, rusts and reds. For him, a room is about laying the groundwork with the bigger pieces and then having fun with the smaller objects that flesh it out.
In this neutral-toned bedroom looking out over the desert landscape outside Zion National Park in Utah, Butera flanked a custom bleached oak platform bed with large zinc containers filled with branches gathered on the property. “These are simple dramatic features that make the room pop,” he explains. “The occupants are retired and this is their third residence so the goal was to provide a walk-in/walk-out, maintenance-free lifestyle. Minimal accessories and no live plants.”
Butera shaped an entertainment room with multiple seating areas for a married couple with no children residing near the beach. “The palette is quite unexpected for a waterside home,” he says. “We went for taupe, brown and ebony to fuel a sense of laid-back elegance.” Here, custom-designed pieces-the coffee table and the round side table-join forces with a Barclay Butera Home zebra-covered ottoman and neutral sofa and a pair of found British colonial-style rattan chairs.
Using a pair of canopy chaises from Janus et Cie, two found bamboo chairs and a Ralph Lauren Home coffee table, Butera created a year-round gathering space for a penthouse with 1600 square feet of terrace offering up views of the Coronado Bridge. Barclay Butera Home pillows spice up the neutral setting and a seagrass-like indoor-outdoor carpet anchors it.
“There are no rules in interiors,” says Butera. “Blue and white works just as well in the desert as it does at the beach.” Proving his point: this Palm Springs home’s irreverent mix of pillows, glassware and lamp bases in a blue-and-white palette with Zen touches, a rustic wooden table and ceiling insert, and a whimsical chandelier. “By fusing different sensibilities or merging your tastes with those of your clients, you teach them a different taste level,” he says.
Thursday, December 3
Barclay Butera is known for his signature blue looks. Clean,classic, traditional and timeless, Barclay’s blue rooms often layer florals, geometrics and stripes in the perfect combination.
And though I love Barclay’s new blues, there is so much more to the collection. In fact, Barclay’s approach to his fabric line is not unlike his book or even his interiors. Like the chapters in his book Living in Style, Barclay uses the categories of Beach, Town and Country, Mountain, Desert, and City to distinguish between colorways of his collection.
So the cool blues and rich navy’s are representative of the beach.
Chic and sophisticated neutrals are the hallmark of the Town and Country category.
To enter to win an autographed copy of Living in Style, send an email to tobifairley@gmail.com with the subject line “Barclay Butera Book Giveaway”. Only one entry per person please.
for her post "Barclay Butera & The Design Process." 
I am often asked by people who are thinking about decorating, how to begin. I always recommend looking at design magazines to become inspired and create a wish list. By adding your favorite images to a design folder it will be easier for you to stay on track.
Designer, Barclay Butera has simplified it even more. Recently, he designed four lifestyle collections of fabrics (many are 100% linen) and new zealand wool rugs for Kravet based on, Beach; Town & Country; Mountain; Desert & City. His book, Barclay Butera Living In Style attests to his winning formula while highlighting his beautiful work.
It was a real treat to meet Butera at DCOTA last week. And I was really pleased to learn that all of his custom furnishings are hand crafted, hand finished and hand upholstered in the United States. And all waste is returned to his providers for recycling.
When it comes to decorating in these economic times, he recommends, and I totally agree, investing in timeless furniture and pieces that you will have for a lifetime. Here you can see how accessorizing then can make all the difference and transform a space with designer lamp shades, throw pillows and coordinating porcelain objects.....
While he uses tropical elements like sisal, rattan and plants in his Beach vignette, his designs are more sophisticated than beachy or theme-like and can really work in most situations. He describes this linen sofa as the little black dress of the room from which he can then accessorize. Love that!
