Best interior decorating: The Ultimate Guide To Defining Decorating

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Going Gold

Hayward Photography

“Gold is back forever. We will, hopefully, never see brushed nickel again. This parallels the overarching trend of warm tones over cool tones.” — Susan Hayward, Founder, Susan Hayward Interiors

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High-Gloss Wood Finishes

Adam Kane Macchia

“Instead of matte wood finishes, there will be more high-gloss wood that brings a polished look and feel to the home.” — Dan Mazzarini, Principal and Creative Director, BHDM Design

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Plaid

Sarah Szwajkos

“Forget subtle tartans and pleasing neutrals. Right now, bold-toned plaid patterning lets people have it both ways: Tons of color tamed by a traditional look. It’s great for throws, pillows and even floor coverings.” – Sarah Fischer, Principal Designer, Sarah & Sons Interiors

Monique Valeris

Senior Home Editor

Monique Valeris is the senior home editor for Good Housekeeping, where she oversees the brand’s home decorating coverage across print and digital. Prior to joining GH in 2020, she was the digital editor at Elle Decor. In her current role, she explores everything from design trends and home tours to lifestyle product recommendations, including writing her monthly column, “What’s in My Cart.”

Stanislav Govorukhin: “Books are the best interior decoration”

The invariable pipe, the gray “famous” mustache, a look that is both sharp and sad. Almost never smiles. Politician, director, writer and actor. Author of films loved by people in all post-Soviet expanses. Stanislav Govorukhin. Now he is shooting another film – “Artist”. At the studio where the shooting is going on, among the scenery depicting the heroes’ apartment, Stanislav Sergeevich received journalists. And our correspondent as well.

Small homeland – the Volga-Kama-Don basin

– Stanislav Sergeevich, what does HOME mean to you?
– Home is a place where you can relax, rest, breathe, finally. This is the place where you go to the set absolutely ready, well-rested, well-fed. This is a place where you are loved, inspired to creative exploits. That’s all – the House.
– How do you remember your childhood home?
– Love of relatives – grandmothers and mothers. Unsettled life – permanent barracks, a small room in which we lived five of us. There is only one toilet for nine (!) barracks on the street, not even like in Vysotsky’s song: “There is only one toilet for 38 rooms.” Childhood is poor. Terrible time. But there were two happy years in my childhood when we lived in the small town of Tetyushi between Kazan and Ulyanovsk, on the high bank of the Volga. There were the hungriest years, but I remember them as the happiest… It’s all thanks to the Volga: the most beautiful places, steamboats, fishing. A cinema that looks like a barn. I kept trying to look behind the screen to see the artists who are playing on this screen. It was there that I saw the best films.
– Now this barn has been turned into a real cinema and named after you… How did your relations develop with your neighbors?
– Relations were kinder than today, oddly enough. Although, of course, they swore and fought. But the relationship was built on love. Today, many talk about the banditry of that time. But the crime rate was not comparable to ours! Home burglaries were extremely rare. Houses were not locked, as a rule.
– Did you participate in fights?
– We fought all the time. The first cigarette was at school. I’ve been smoking for fifty-three years. I received a certificate, took out a pack of Belomor and lit a cigarette. And from that day on, I officially smoke, without giving up this occupation for one hour.
– What did the boys play?
– Like everyone else. In the war, in football, rounders, catch-up. They liked to go somewhere in the woods. Parents went crazy, but we were unaware.
– Was it in the Urals?
– First it was the Urals, then the Volga. My mother’s relatives are from the Volga, and my father is from the Don. I myself was born on the Kama, in its very upper reaches. There, in Berezniki, in the 1930s, a huge chemical plant was being built, where the need threw my mother, Praskovya Afanasyevna. So my small homeland is the whole huge Volga-Kama-Don basin, no less international than the hot Caucasus.
Great-grandfather was a blacksmith, grandfather was a village teacher. Mother made a living by sewing. And I went through the 8th grade in military uniform – my uncle was a military man, and I got it from his rags.
I don’t remember my father. I only know that I was a Don Cossack. When I grew up and learned to ask questions, my grandmother explained, “Mother divorced him before you were born. He was a drunkard. Don’t ask any questions, she doesn’t like it.” When I became an adult, when I learned something from national history and, in particular, about the history of the liquidation of the Cossacks, it dawned on me – how is it? No photos saved! All the characters are there – there is no father. And one more thing… Grandmother, when she was angry with me, grumbled: “Oh, prisoner! The spitting father.” No, no, something is wrong here.
– And you sent requests to different places?
– Sent. The first answer came from the Rostov KGB: “Govorukhin Sergei Georgievich, born in 1908, was sentenced by a special meeting of the NKVD to 3 years in concentration camps for firing a shot and throwing a stone at the window of the house where a meeting of the village poor was held.” 1928 He was 20 years old. Then the rope untwisted itself. He served his three years in the city of Solikamsk, was released, met my mother, gave birth to a sister and me, and then they rowed a second time. For being a Don Cossack. According to the well-known decree of Sverdlov, the Cossacks were to be liquidated as a class. Sergei Georgievich Govorukhin died in Siberia in 1938 at the age of 30.
– Why did your mother hide the fate of your father from you and even burned the photographs?
– Because the times were cruel. A difficult fate awaited the children of repressed parents – there could be trouble with the Komsomol and with admission to the institute. But managed to deceive the competent authorities. And so my mother, a dressmaker, alone fed and educated both her children – my sister and I graduated from Kazan University – one of the oldest universities in the country.
– You graduated from the Faculty of Geology. Did you have to work in your specialty?
– No, I didn’t. Friends called to master a completely new business – television. At that time, the first TV studios were opening all over the country. They opened one in Kazan. Those two years that I worked there, I can call the most creative in my biography. I was a Swiss, and a reaper, and a player on the pipe: both an editor, and a cameraman, and a presenter, and an author. Well, from television – a direct road to the cinema! In 1961 he entered the directing department of VGIK. I was sure that I would work in Odessa. I had never been there, but I knew this city from literature – Pushkin, Babel, Paustovsky, Bunin. In addition, in those days, films were shot at the Odessa Film Studio that were distinguished by some . .. freshness. “Spring on Zarechnaya Street”, “Come Tomorrow”, “Thirst” are my favorite films. And so my classmate Boris Durov and I arrived there. And luckily – just one picture “burned”. We were offered a script, very weak, about climbers. We grabbed it anyway – when do we get the chance to make a feature film? And they decided to make a poem about mountains, about mountaineering. They invited Volodya Vysotsky to shoot and took the wonderful composer Sonya Gubaidullina. She presented the audience wonderfully, arranged Vysotsky’s simple and pure melodies. It was my first film “Vertical”. A flexible disc with songs from the film came out – and Vysotsky became known throughout the country.

Designers versus readers

– The heroes of your films lived at different times, in different cities, in different interiors. But it is interesting, can the change in the self-consciousness of the nation be traced through the interior?
– Absolutely. I recently visited my friend’s son in Monte Carlo. Decided to read something for the night. I began to look for at least one book in the house: in Russian, German or French. Didn’t find one. The magazines are glossy and that’s it.
– And what style do you prefer in the design of your home?
– I am a traditionalist. I love to read very much. I think that the best interior decoration is books, paintings, photographs. I do not recognize modernity or hi-tech at all. I think that every thing should be functional. If there is a vase on the table, then flowers should periodically appear in it. If the table is unusual, then it should also be comfortable.
– Components of your comfort?
– Difference in modern interior design solutions – from an apartment to a hotel room – is dim lighting. It is impossible to read, because there is never a lamp or floor lamp at the head. Designers don’t think about it at all. They seem to think it wild that there are still some hotel guests who go to bed and read a book. It is important for me that the house has good overhead light and a large number of small lamps in different parts of the room.
Recently, the light in restaurants has become disgusting. Designers keep people in the twilight, as if creating comfort. But the table on which the food stands should be well lit. A good chef not only cooks tasty, but also serves the dish beautifully.

I work for the old audience

– Stanislav Sergeevich, what attracted you to the plot of your new film “Artistka”, which you are currently shooting?
– This is a very funny and witty story. The heroes of the new film will be a talented scientist and an actress who cannot manage to arrange her personal life. The main female role will be played by Evgenia Dobrovolskaya. Dmitry Pevtsov, Alexander Abdulov, Irina Skobtseva, Fyodor Bondarchuk, Maria Aronova also star in the film … And my task is always the same – not to awaken animal instincts in the audience, which many are guided by today.
However, I’m not sure that today’s audience will smile at least one joke in this comedy. Now, after all, there is a completely different humor – it is necessary that someone’s pants fall down, so that someone falls out the window. I do not understand this humor, just as they do not understand the humor of our generation. Those people who managed to “grab” the Soviet school were brought up on books, on good films, on full-fledged cinema. I shoot for this old audience – there are many of them, tens of millions.
– What worries you today as an artist, deputy, citizen?
– Well, like everyone else… Where are we going, where will we end up, in what country will our children and grandchildren live.
– And how do you feel?
– In recent years, there have been changes for the better, but, unfortunately, microscopic ones. But in all areas.
– Are you not embarrassed by the fact that you, the director, have gone into politics?
– And who should go into politics? We do not have such a profession – a politician. Or do you think that only economists and lawyers go into politics all over the world?
– I meant that parliamentary activity pulls you out of creativity. How do you manage to make films at all?
– I’m taking pictures during the parliamentary recess. I have two months.
– Will there ever come a time when our audience will “overeat” blockbusters?
– According to my assumptions, the situation will only get worse. The director shoots what the viewer wants to see. And the level of spectator consumption is falling from year to year, the level of intelligence of the audience is falling. Movies will get dumber and dumber. Of course, there is such a direction as auteur cinema. But such a movie is designed for a narrow audience, initially focused on showing at festivals. But, apparently, this will have to be done.
Elena Bulova

World map wallpaper for a child’s room: the best interior decoration

June 23, 2023

The correct design of a child’s room is an extremely important factor for the full development of a child. After all, it is there that he spends most of his time playing, doing homework or relaxing after school. The nursery can be safely called a small world, the first personal space of the baby. So, when choosing wallpaper, adults should take a responsible approach to the procedure for choosing a color palette, the theme of finishing materials and other nuances.

The modern market offers children’s wallpapers in a wide variety of designs. At the same time, they differ not only in color, but also in their characteristics, composition, and finishing methods. First of all, when choosing such finishing materials, you should think about the safety of your child and his health – the wallpaper should be harmless, non-allergenic, not containing synthetic additives and “chemistry”. You should not choose cheap materials – it is better to purchase quality products from a well-known brand once, which will last a long time and will not harm the health of the baby.

Another important factor when choosing wallpaper is the theme of the finishing materials. Standard “classic” wallpapers are by no means suitable for a nursery, because in such an environment the child will be bored. The most optimal solution is children’s wallpapers with a world map – they simultaneously perform an educational and entertaining function, help in learning and “dilute” the interior, filling it with bright colors and exclusive moments.

Wallpaper with a map of the world painted on its surface is not only a beautiful element of the interior, but also carrying an educational load. In the modern era of the dominance of the Internet and computer technology, when children do not bother too much with memorizing information, such wallpapers with a map will always be in front of their eyes, and will help to put in memory the location of the main geographical objects of the world. In addition, cards can have a variety of designs – from classic to the most childish, decorated with interesting and funny drawings of animals, famous characters, all kinds of technology.