Rita Konig's Website

Did you know she had a website?  It was by chance I stumbled on it after posting last Wednesday about Domino's comeback.

I love her style and approach to designing.  See a sampling here and here.  And, if you were to ask me to choose one designer to be my mentor (or to work with) it would be her.

So, while perusing through her website, I found these new (to me) images of a NYC apartment she decorated.  It has to be her apartment because they contain so many of her personal belongings!  Let's take a look....

If you don't mind, I'm going to bore you with my observations while I deconstruct her living room.

1. The color palette.  In classic Rita style, it's a light palette with pops of jewel toned colors.  The walls are painted a cool gray.  It could be her signature paint color called 'Rita Says', that she used in her east village apartment, I'm not sure.  But if you look around her room, you'll see pops of amethyst, pink, sapphire blue, and emerald green all against a light pale backdrop.

2. Patterns.  She typically uses one dominating pattern.  Here she uses Kelly Wearstler Groundworks Bengal Baazar fabric on her sofa.  I've noticed she either uses a piece of furniture or the walls to introduce a pattern (on a large scale).

3. Flowers.  Her flower of choice when it comes to styling, I've noticed, is tulips.  If you take a look at her other apartments she had decorated, there are always tulips.

4. Lamp shades and pillows.  In my opinion, she introduces more patterns in this apartment than she has in her other decorated apartments.  It appears that she might have stepped out of her comfort zone of English style sensibilities when decorating this apartment, but even so, it works and she is able to remain true to her understated elegant yet comfortable approach to decorating.  Once again, she uses pillows and lampshades to introduce more patterns.  

5. Tablescape styling.  She is a pro at this and I love looking at all her details.  Her coffee table is styled to perfection.  Here, we see her pink mercury glass match striker and three candy dishes.  I'm surprised we don't see her signature pink ashtray, but I think the candy dishes serve the same purpose.  She likes stacks of books in a pyramid style and the emerald green vase adds another dimension so it doesn't become a horizontal bookcase.

So, what do you think?  Are you a fan of Rita's?  I always get so excited when I see a favorite designer add new images to her/his portfolio.  If you haven't seen her website, go take a look - you won't be disappointed.