The Ace Hotel in Portland, Oregon, is on something. With resort rates on the rise and an increase in popularity of home-stay sites, the Ace staff is intent on creating rooms that resemble a buddy’s comfy guest room instead of designing an area that feels and looks like a staid resort. If you would like to master the craft of mixing design styles and creating a signature look that is based more on character, have a look at these pictures in the Ace Hotel at Portland. You might just learn a thing or 2 in their visionary design group.
Reconsider the bed placement. Gone is the conventional resort room format, with a bed and also a traditional headboard holding court and looming large at the middle of the room. Instead, the Ace design group, spearheaded by Jeremy Pelley and Philip Iosca, has generated”softboard beds” coated in vintage olive green canvas culled from recycled military ponchos. Beds are positioned at the corner of a room or directly beneath a window, and barely any of the furnishings are a perfect match.
Dare to blend this up. Thanks to countless articles on the artful mix of pillows, many people have mastered how to casually throw pillows together. But the Ace design group pushes the envelope further by mixing in the texture and pattern of a Moroccan souk with kilim rugs and poufs, in colours that you’re more likely to discover in an army-navy shop. The end result is an eclectic game made in style heaven.
Go local for art. Sometimes the best work is right round the corner. Case in point: The Ace team appeared right in its own backyard when deciding on accessories and decor. Murals and large and small accent pieces had been sourced from local artists, providers and craftspeople for a mix of modern and vintage elements.
Curious about the cat mural? It’s by artist Brent Wick, who is on a mission to create his cat, Larry (shown here) famous.
Go local for light fixtures. Radiate design with magnificent overhead lighting and up the ante by sourcing from local providers. The Ace resort looked to the 150-year-old Oregon firm Schoolhouse Electric to create the anchoring piece for this lobby sitting area — a three-tiered chandelier that was custom made for the resort.
Don’t be reluctant to exhibit the TV. Flat-screen TVs come in all shapes and sizes, and in this room, the rectangular shape and scale of the appliance is not incredibly offensive or overly imposing. It’s really quite an honest placement and acknowledges how many men and women watch morning news stories over a bowl of cereal and a mug of hot coffee.
Bunk beds are for grown-ups, too. The resort cleverly maximizes space (and enhances room rates) together with the addition of bunk beds, or”band rooms,” as it calls them. The neutral colour motif of whites that are crisp, birch wood and gray wool, and the picture art prints on the wall maintain the distance from teetering into tween territory, giving it an adult, barracks feel.
The wool blankets in this picture are a vintage resurrection from Pendleton Woolen Mills, a Portland firm that specializes in premier wool products. Pendleton utilized to create wool blankets for several resorts until the resort sector chosen for the more modern alternative of comforters.
Retain, refurbish and rethink. Still utilizing your vintage crates only as replicas or retro apple bins just for crap storage? Place them in the bathroom as stepping stools or towel receptacles.
This photograph shows many salvaged decor details, like the deep cast iron rolltop bathtubs and sinks, which the design team refurbished and kept. The modern update comes in the bathroom draperies — luxury and velvety charcoal drapes that add drama and an excess layer of privacy.
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