Home > Decorating & Design > Article Archives: Two Seasons, One Room 
Mitchell Gold (left) and Bob Williams (right) design American casual furnishings and accessories.
Light-color slipcovers offer a quick seasonal change. 
FALL AND WINTER: Darker colors create a sense of warmth and richness for a cooler season change. 
Since 1989, the talented team of Mitchell
Gold and Bob Williams have had their
furnishings featured in virtually every
national home magazine, plus the sets of
television shows such as Sex & the City,
Friends and The Apprentice.Let’s Get Comfortable, by Mitchell Gold and Bob Williams, shows you the secrets of furnishing and decorating a comfortable and welcoming home.
GET YOUR COPY!
Let’s Get Comfortable is available at bookstores and online. Solutions At Hand readers will enjoy a 34 percent savings off retail price.
It’s a two-for-one! Live all summer in subtle, soft sunlight colors, then change your room to reflect the deepening shades of autumn. Two seasons: one room—same furniture. What a concept! Mitchell Gold and Bob Williams, authors of a new book about decorating called Let’s Get Comfortable (Meredith Books), share their secrets of modern American design.
NEXT STEP
SPRING AND SUMMER For a fresh look that takes you right through summer in style, try dressing your upholstery in a light-color cotton ticking stripe. Khaki on the ottoman is a nice bridge between the seating and darker rattan tables. Other options? Slipcovers in crisp white denim or chalky-blue linen would have an equally invigorating effect.
Compare & Contrast Choose slipcovers in the same fabric for your sofa and chair, as shown here, for a unifying effect. Or select slipcovers in two different fabrics to expand the seasonal color palette of your room.
Comfort Factors As the Victorians knew, outfitting furniture in light-color, lightweight slipcovers helps an entire room seem cooler. The bench ottoman wears another warmweather favorite, prewashed khaki, which has the added benefit of a wonderfully soft feel.
FALL INTO WINTER Changing slipcover material as well as color makes this cold-day conversion a tactile and visual pleasure. Red chenille on the sofa, gold chenille on the chair and chocolate velvet on the ottoman feel warm and look rich. Signal summer’s end and reestablish the back-to-school mood with a slipcover switch-out. Or at holiday time, make your decorating even more memorable with seasonally appropriate slipcovers that truly transform a room.
Pillow Power The right pillows can do so much. The striped one on the chair in the photo above contains all the colors in the setting, enhancing the room’s pulled-together look. The relaxed yet tailored style of the slipcovers also unifies; rather than “onesize- fits-all,” they’re designed for their pieces.
Best for Guests Slipcovers help guests feel more relaxed, because they don’t need to worry as much about spills. And then there’s the ultimate insurance: a second set for emergencies. Red and brown are particularly practical choices for party people because the dark colors don’t show stains or wear.
Accessories are the final details that make a room yours. Mitchell Gold and Bob Williams talk with Solutions At Hand about how the little extras can change the personality of a room.
SAH: What are your favorite accessories that say “summer”?
MG: I love white picture frames. We use them in our house hanging up over a green console and they really make the place look fresh and summery. Also pillows. I add butter yellow or shocking blue to make a room feel softer.
SAH: What is your theory about three—and odd numbers?
BW: When I group accessory items, such as vases or candlesticks, I use three of the same thing and make sure they are all different heights. If they’re all the same, I cheat by setting one on a book to make them uneven. Three objects of different sizes create a circle and a sense of continuous flow. Odd numbers are more natural, more of what you find in nature.
SAH: What do you look for when you choose accessories for your own home?
BW: I collect what I like. I have a really large snow globe collection. Actually, I have a million collections. What makes them special is how they’re displayed. I’ve been collecting little touristy knickknacks of things like the Eiffel Tower and the Statue of Liberty. Individually they are kind of dull, but grouping them together makes them interesting. I’ve also been collecting McCoy pottery, and now I’m looking for McCoy figurines. When I like something, I collect it. It’s like a contest.
SAH: What are your favorite autumn and winter add-ins?
MG: Color and texture make the seasonal difference. I replace the sunny summer colors with warmer, earthy tones of reds and browns. Wood tones always warm up a room. I like medium to dark wood tones because they add a sense of warmth. Pecan and cherry really show off their grain. I also change the rug to a darker color. And, of course, the pillows. I use flowers in autumn colors. I like pepperberries and hydrangeas.
