Interior Designer Michelle Meredith
Syle Maker . . . Dallas interior designer Michelle Meredith just finished a glamorous small apartment in New York (pictured here) and she's busy working on the interior design for several projects including a contemporary house in Preston Hollow, a 6,500 square foot new construction in Cedar Hill, and two upscale senior living facilities. And check out her new website here.
I've written a lot about Michelle during the past two years (check out her gorgeous room at the Dallas Symphony City Living Tour and her chic design studio), so I know you're familiar with her work already. Here's what's new with her:
New York apartment by Michelle Meredith & Associates
Michelle Meredith & Associates does a lot of hospitality design around the world, and recently finished two wedding halls in Japan in conjunction with Dallas-based Three Architecture, which if you are getting married in Japan, is a big deal.
"Wedding halls are like country clubs in Japan," explains Meredith. "When a daughter is born, the family joins a wedding hall and pays dues. When she is of age, the family has built up enough money to have their daughter's wedding there." A Japanese wedding hall is much more than a bridal boutique, she points out. It's a whole universe built around the bride, housing stores that sell traditional wedding kimonos and Western gowns, china, crystal, dining rooms, wedding chapels, a florists, and individual rooms for the family and bride.
She took inspiration for the wedding halls' designs from the Carolina Herrera boutique in Highland Park Village, she says, hanging crystal Barovier chandeliers from Italy and lacquering the furniture and casegoods in white.
New York apartment by Michelle Meredith & Associates
New York apartment by Michelle Meredith & Associates
Not many people know that Michelle Meredith worked at Walt Disney's Buena Vista International in Los Angeles before landing her career as an interior designer. Mainly, she designed box wraps for videos, but it was her peripatetic childhood as a military brat that got her the job with Disney's international marketing department. Born in London, Meredith moved every two years. Eventually she ended up at Baylor studying social work and psychology, then followed her now ex-husband to California where he pursued film work.
"Disney sent me to UCLA at night to study graphic design," she says. "Taking the classes I realized I wanted to study interior design and ended up at UNT getting my design degree." After a few years working for hospitality design firms, including ForrestPerkins, she opened her own firm, Michelle Meredith & Associates, specializing in high-end hospitality and residential design in 2000.
New York apartment by Michelle Meredith & Associates
After years of working in hospitality, Michelle Meredith has an arsenal of design tricks of the trade that she uses in residential work.
Want your rooms to feel more like a spa? Here are some of her Tips for Soothing Interiors:
* Use of color is important for creating soothing environments. In smaller areas, you can do more of an impact of color, such as pale champagne accented with a dark mahogany, open grain wood. It's more modern to contrast the light walls with a dark wood.
*Use marble that has some organic movement to it, with beautiful grain. I love some of the new granites and stones that have recently come out. I used White Eagle travertine on a project recently -- it's creamy white with taupes, pale blues, and lavender tones.
*I love the pale colorations in succulents. I use natural succulents a lot, and I usually find beautiful ones from Grange Hall and Avant Garden. I love flowers, but everyone should have succulents. It could be an air plant in a beautiful bowl. At work, we all have a tiny succulent on our desks. It gives you the feeling of life and serenity.
*For a more spa-like feeling, my favorite colors to use are champagne mixed with pale aqua and celadon. We accent them with shades of lavender.
*Combinations of pale silver blues are classic and appeal to a wide variety of people. It's a personal favorite of mine. We accent silver blues with more modern touches, like a big graphic on a chair.
*On the City Living Tour, I used lots of rock crystal votives from Madison. The colors were clear to pale gray tones. With a candle, they put off the most beautiful light. Without a candle, they're the perfect natural accent, very sculptural and textural.
*I use a lot of polished, creamy white lacquer.
* The flow of a space makes it soothing. Flow can be created by using similar finishes throughout rooms, including the hardware on doors and windows. Keep the architectural finishes simple but beautiful. Polished nickel looks like silver and is one of my favorites to use.
Lamp by Meredith Miller Collections
Cake plate and server by Meredith Miller Collections
Dallas-based master glassblower Aaron Tate carries out the lighting and accessories designed by Michelle Meredith and Catherine Miller. See him at work, here.
New hand-blown kitchen glass pendants by Meredith Miller Collections
Michelle Meredith's design studio"Luxury can be affordable. You can create a very resort like feeling with your own space," says Michelle Meredith. "Your home is your haven away from the world, which is why I created my design studio the way I did with the courtyard and gardens, to make it a respite from work." See more of her design studio here.
Michelle Meredith's design studio