interior design

We’re all at least a little familiar with Frank Lloyd Wright’s architecture, but have you ever considered how his architecture has influenced interior design? Just as interior designers can influence architects, the reverse is also true. A home’s architecture must influence its interior design as well. While this is not an exhaustive summary of Wright’s work, we touch on three of his most famous buildings.

Fallingwater

Fallingwater is probably the most famous of Frank Lloyd Wright’s homes and showcases his emphasis on the union of nature and art. It has been designated a Unesco World Heritage Site. Like his architecture, Wright believed that a home’s interior design should reflect the natural world. A home’s furnishings should incorporate its natural setting and blend seamlessly with its environment. Fallingwater embodies the open floor plan with the Arts and Crafts furniture that is still prized today. Mission and Arts and Crafts furniture is timeless and blends in well with a variety of different interior design styles.

Wright designed both the freestanding and built-in furniture of Fallingwater himself. He designed the furniture from plywood with North Carolina black walnut veneer. The palette for Falling consisted of only two colors–a light ochre for the concrete and his signature Cherokee Red for the steel. Not only are the colors in keeping with Fallingwater’s environment, but the paint was designed to be ecofriendly! PPG Pittsburgh Paints worked to develop the colors specifically for Fallingwater. How many modern interior designers would go to such great lengths?

Design Lesson: Keep the color palette simple.

The Robie House

The Robie House embodies Wright’s Prairie Style of architecture. It is considered one of the most important buildings in architectural history, and once you’ve seen it you can understand why. It was inspired by the expansive prairie of the Illinois area. The Robie House sits on the ancestral grounds of the Potawatomi, Ojibwe, and Odawa Nations peoples.

The Arts and Crafts movement began in England in the 1880s, and influenced architects and interior designers worldwide. The Arts and Crafts movement emphasized original, innovative designs. As the historian H. Allen Brooks, succinctly states: “Arts and crafts was a movement and not a style. It was an attitude, an approach to a problem that advocated no specific vocabulary of forms. It pleaded for simplicity, elimination, and respect for materials. Its most salutary effect, in retrospect, was the purification of public taste.” Wright’s focus on the Arts and Crafts movement became the impetus for much of his architecture.

Design Lesson: Put an emphasis on original and innovative designs.

Taliesin

Taliesin is the home in Wisconsin where Frank Lloyd Wright lived for fifty years. Taliesin’s 37,000 square feet encompass the home itself plus a studio, school, in addition to the 800-acre estate. And it was at this house that Wright designed one of his most famous pieces of furniture: The Origami Chair, which could be fabricated from a single sheet of plywood (although some say that more than one sheet of plywood is needed). Its iconic design incorporates a Japanese aesthetic. The design makes getting up from the chair easier. Is this a lesson that modern interior designers (and chair manufacturers) could learn from? We think so. By the way, we’ve written about how to use the Japandi interior design style, which you might like.

Although every room in Taliesin is stunning, many people credit the living room as the most iconic, with its views of the fields visible through the large windows, described as a pair of Japanese screens. Coincidentally, Wright had a collection of Japanese screens, some of which are still on display at Taliesin. Throughout the house the ceiling heights vary, which gives the design even more interest. Wright believed that art should be used and on display, and if the art “dies along the way, it’s lived a noble life.”

Taliesin is composed of limestone which turns red when exposed to fire, and part of Taliesen went through two fires. Wright rebuilt after both fires.

Wright not only designed these houses, he also created the furniture, leaded glass windows, floors, furniture, and even tableware. When he built a home, he also often filled it with artwork that he loved, such as Japanese wood block prints.

Design Lesson: Let art be used and on display.

Let your design be your signature

When installed correctly, window film is invisible and lets your windows showcase your views. Give us a call and we can help you choose what’s best for your home or office. We work all over the greater San Francisco Bay Area, from San Jose to the East Bay to the San Mateo Peninsula and Marin–and have expanded into southern California, too! Give us a call at 415.623.8700.

Have you ever considered window film as part of your interior design? If you’re in the San Francisco Bay Area, we can help you redirect sunlight, change privacy, as well as protect your skin from UV rays. There are so many design options with window film. You might be surprised when you see them all!

Fasara Window Film

One of our more popular window films, 3M Fasara, comes in a variety of designs. There are patterns, dots, and stripes. And if you’re indecisive about which type to choose, the good news is you don’t have to choose–you can have it all! For instance, you could have a combination of Fasara thin and thick stripes. Or choose a pattern along with a dotted Fasara window film. Here are some previous posts which might interest you:

Window Film Controls Light

Christopher Lowell, designer extraordinaire, talks about seven layers of design. One of the seven layers that you need to be concerned with in interior design is lighting. Lowell says: “Sculpting with light can make cheap things look like museum finds and turn not so great stuff into dynamic silhouettes and shapes that can be poetic.” And what better way to control lighting than with window film? Did you know that there’s a window film that can redirect light? If you’re in a dark home or office, you can take a little bit of light and redirect it into the interior of a building.

Create Privacy

Privacy is critical, especially since so many of us are living in smaller and smaller spaces. Here in the San Francisco Bay Area, even a tiny apartment can cost a lot. People would rather maximize the space they do have than move into a larger space. But you don’t have to drive out to Death Valley to find privacy! With window film, you have the flexibility to add privacy without adding thick drapery or wooden slats, which are both heavy and bulky. And window film does not add bulky curtains to your windows, but allows subtlety. Every inch counts in a tiny space!

Change the Energy of a Space

Sometimes you walk into a space and immediately feel a sense of zen. Other times, a space can energize you. Window film can do both, which is important in interior design. For instance, adding polka dots in a space can energize it and give it a happy, upbeat feeling–so important if you’re trying to work. Adding a rice paper window film look creates a sense of calm, which is important if you’re trying to relax in a space. For a restaurant, you might want guests to linger and relax. A fast food restaurant might want diners to eat more quickly, so an energized space might be just the ticket.

Give Us a Call!

We’d love to hear what your window film decorating needs are. We’re all over the San Francisco Bay Area, from the South Bay to San Francisco to Marin to the East Bay.

Interior Design Lessons from Frank Lloyd Wright’s Most Famous Homes