访谈录 Interview 2007-03-20&22, 舒舒服服过日子

Comfort is king according to furniture designers Mitchell Gold and Bob Williams, the designers have now put their wisdom that they've gathered over their 20-year career into a new book. It is called "Let’s Get Comfortable."
Mitchell Gold and Bob Williams, good morning.
Good morning
Pleasure.
You know a lot of people wanna their homes to feel that they’ve entered to that front door into their sanctuary 1. But most of us have no idea how to put our sanctuary together. What are some of the biggest mistakes, Mitchell, that people make in choosing what to put into their homes, furniture-wise?
Well, I think one of the biggest mistakes is people don’t buy comfortable furniture, they just buy style and they buy price, they buy, they got something that was a hand-me-down. And people really should think about buying comfort in their living room, or any room. But in living room for example, you have different kinds of people come in, you might want something soft and cushy, but then you want something also that’s more of sit-up straight for somebody has a bad back or an older person. They don’t think about comfort that much.
You’re talking really about mixing then if you say you want something that’s cozy 2 and something that can also work for somebody to sit up straight. So Bob, how do you mix? I mean, come on, I mean it’s very scared. We don’t know how to do this, and you are saying, get out there and mix it. How do you know what to mix?
Well, you know, a lot of this is a little bit trial in air, but a lot of this is common sense. I mean, every day, people get dressed and they mix their clothes, they mix blue jeans with pearls, or a black shirt or whatever, and a posture 3 should be the same way. You know, what goes in your living room.
Ok, what, listen, I’m looking at this living room right now , and I’m thinking I don’t know how you put this together, coz for example, those nesting tables over there, I would probably not have picked that. It's very modern look, little dogs on top. I would not have necessarily picked that to go with this cozy big white cushy couch you have here. So what are the rules?
One of the big things is to make it personal. things that you like , things that you want to collect rather than decorating. It’s really about collecting things that you should go along, so if you see that table, and you like it, you can mix modern with traditional things, we’ve also done picture frames and done them all in white. So this is a very...
Right, exactly on a dark table, sorry for interrupting you, but that’s, that seems unusual.
Well, but it really makes the pictures stand up. Because pictures are what make the room personal. That, when people walk into your home, and they see your pictures, and not, not posed glamour 4 shots. But pictures of vacations, of special people that you were with. That’s what brings your personality into your home.
And that why mirroring the white on the couch really works. You've got brown as another theme here and then you got this oranges-burn, orange kind of, you know really comfortable chair, um, which...
which is soft but merely goes with this chest"
Now that chest, meantime, that is very different from the nesting table. That is antique feeling chest and it's really beautiful. you wanna, this a showpiece in your view. right?
yes ,it is. you know it at least be a family area room, as soon as you found that at an antique flea 5 market, but ,you know, usually these are found in the bedroom, but bringing it down the bedroom and putting it in the living room is a great way to show it off. And let people ,let your guests know a little bit more about you
So don't hide you special pieces (Right!) even if you think they deserve to go to another room.(...no, bring them ..people can enjoy them) OK, and this is another kind of idea. This is also in the same room. it is, what, a cottage dark-side table?
A cottage inspired, vintage , wicker, table.
As for this, I wouldn't have necessarily put with that. So why does it work?
"The color is just torturing your eyes. You know, It's what the colors blend and come together. The other things that we really like are soft serene 6 colors. Coz that's what makes it a sanctuary when you come into it. In your...source we do a lot of solid colors on the pieces, so It's not fighting with your pictures, it's not fight with the photography that you might have.
So the idea that is keeping things simple in terms of fabric 7 choices, is that sort of things you... .You have a variety in terms of you know the side tables and that sort of thing. but you can't pose together. I think it's partly because this is a kind of symmetry, chairs facing each other, nesting tables there, the couch that is anchoring, so how do you achieve balance. It is about shapes and sizes, these things. It is true, isn't it, Bob?
It is. There is a lot of different ways to do balance; you can have the exactly same piece on opposite sides of room which should be in equal balance or doing it by different shapes and color. This chair has a lot of shape to it and a lot of color. So it really brings the eye to that side. But we counterbalanced it with a brown chair, but we also have a brighter table. That's why the metal table over here really helps.

Bob Williams and Mitchell Gold, thank you so much
great to be here
I know, thank you, it's a pleasure to talk to you (Thank you!)and the book in fact is called Let's Get Comfortable and you can find an excerpt 8 on our website at todayshow.com