Liberty Living is excited to continue their series featuring top local designers and their design ideas. Please welcome this issue's guest designer, Erik Lauzon of Vancouver’s Konstruk Design.
At Konstruk Design, we strive to improve the relationship between the individual and his or her surrounding environment. But whether you like a traditional or a more contemporary space, there is always a way to create a balance between different styles. But how do you add warmth and personality to a contemporary Philippe Starck -esque space? Well, this is where Liberty comes into our designs.
At Konstruk Design most of our creations are influenced by a contemporary, borderline industrial look complemented with a neutral palette, high contrast materials and crisp lines, then brought to life and personalized with elegant accessories. It may be the use of a crystal chandelier or a beautiful rustic piece of furniture, that one special piece that brings warmth and visual interest to an otherwise cool, ‘stark’ space.
Liberty’s recent launch of their new ‘green’ line Jayden with reclaimed wood is just another reason on top of many others why Konstruk Design chooses Liberty as their final destination for finishing touches to give each and every space a little bit of glitz and glamour.
Erik’s Summer Favourites
Elegance Tealight Holders
These make a wonderful hostess gift for summer gatherings, or take one home for yourself and let the silver leaf motif illuminate your space
Ribbon Carved Glass Collection
This is a beautiful hand-carved layered glass, almost paper-like collection of bowls, hurricanes and votive holders and makes a great addition to any room in your house. New to Liberty this season.
Jayden Collection Furniture Line
The perfect way to give a contemporary space a rustic character detail and a hint of added warmth. Made from one hundred year old reclaimed timber, these beautiful pieces are just another way to go green this summer.
Glam Mirror
Instantly brings light and opens up any room. This works exceptionally well in small poorly lit spaces such a foyers or living spaces with limited lighting. Hang this over your fireplace and finish by accessorizing with staggered height candles and a porcelain dove.
The Carling Line
This year lighter wood tones are becoming the trend. Take home any of the many exquisite pieces from this line exclusive to Liberty and available in a variety of stain colours. They offer a complement to traditional or contemporary spaces. We love that these solid maple pieces feature graceful lines and slightly tapered legs and are locally made right here in Vancouver. This furniture line is completely customizable, but we recommend the walnut stain finish for a more streamline look, or go crazy with a high gloss white lacquer finish.
Upholstered Bed
One great way to add some classy chic to a master bedroom is to have a beautiful upholstered bed as the centrepiece, such as Regency, available at Liberty. A great thing about this collection is the fact that there are hundreds of upholstery fabrics to choose from which allows you to personalize your space.
Chandelier
The reason we love to use this kind of piece is because it is a great way to bring soul into a room, and by bringing in these raw materials another dimension is added to the space.
Jared Sofa
Not only is this exclusive to Liberty and is their best selling sofa, it is enticing to curl up on and comes with an endless number of fabric options.
Erik’s Summer Dinner Parties
The keyword here is fun!!! Erik’s parties are sometimes a little time-consuming in preparation, but once all is prepped, all there is to do for the most part is sit down, sip on a glass of wine, and entertain your guests with delicious food, engaging music, and most of all, an inviting room with a beautiful table setting. I always like to use white dishes as it displays the food better, and I have to say that I also prefer the use of white, fresh, crisp linen serviettes. In addition to using a lot of white, I also prefer using silver serving trays and chargers, not to mention my love of crystal for some special touches on the table. It really adds that extra spark and glitz to a table filled with a fantastic looking feast. For the final touch, dress the table with fresh cut flowers, and when it gets dark outside, light up the candles and dim your lights to create some warm ambiance that I really believe helps most people relax and enjoy their evening.
When I think of dressing a room for a great party, I like to think of Liberty as my one-stop shopping choice as they really have a great selection of accessories for your home. If you didn’t know where to use your Elegance Tea light holders, well, they really are a nice way to add some sparkle to your table. Also, in order to achieve colour more dramatically and effectively, why not use a couple of vases from The Ribbon Carved glass collection as a soft and neutral place to put your bright and colourful fresh cut flowers. When all of this is ready, it is time to welcome your guests, enjoy their company, and bon appétit!!!
Erik’s Summer Feast
Figs with goat cheese and prosciutto
Baby arugula and cherry tomato salad
Spring peas & fresh mint soup
Dungeness crab and sea scallops cakes
Grilled asparagus with sun-dried tomato vinaigrette
Open faced scallop & apple lasagna
Grilled Halibut with cherry tomato coriander vinaigrette
Drunken chicken
Vanilla bean panacotta with fresh berries
Take It Outside
Summer is finally here and we have to appreciate every single minute of it. As a conclusion to this Summer Feature, I wanted to address the fact that if you have an outdoor space of any kind – a yard, a deck or a patio – don’t be afraid to take your accessories outside to create a comfy outdoor space. Some of my The clients have covered outdoor spaces that we literally designed in such a way that it becomes the extension of their indoor living space, yet outside in the fresh air. We are blessed to live in a city where we can spend time outside almost all year round, of course sometimes with the help of an outdoor fireplace or outdoor heaters. But overall, and specially if your outdoor space is covered or partly covered, there are ways to expand your living space to the outside. As an example, you could use The Branchelier for your outdoor lighting if you would like to make it more interesting, as opposed to using regular outdoor lighting currently on the market. The sky is the limit when it comes to personalizing your space. Just make sure that you make use of the right tools that this city has to offer when it comes to designing it. You have access to design experts and beautiful stores to choose from, so start now and have fun with it – it doesn’t have to be stressful!
-Erik Lauzon
