Designer Spotlight

New traditionalist Erin Sander digs modern design with a twist

Dallas interior designer Erin Sander of Erin Sander Design.
Photo courtesy of Erin Sander Design
Sander creates airy, elegant and clean spaces, like this master bedroom from arecent project.
Photo courtesy of Erin Sander Design
Sander likes to use dynamic tiles as a focal point in a bathroom or kitchen —like these mosaic tiles from New Ravenna, which have the graphic and ethnicqualities of ikat.
Photo courtesy of New Ravenna
A kitchen from a recent home project from Erin Sander Design. Sander takestraditional shapes and architectural elements and adds a modern twist.
photo courtesy of Erin Sander Design
Sander likes to hang interesting mirrors along tile walls in her bathroomprojects for a contemporary edge.
photo courtesy of Erin Sander Design

Dallas interior designer Erin Sander learned the power of great design at a very young age. Her family moved quite a bit, but they had a knack for creating beautiful and comfortable spaces everywhere they went.

“My mother took great pride in making each new home we settled in unique and all our own,” Sander says. “I was able to see firsthand what potential there was within each new space and fell in love with what beautiful design can add to a family’s life.”

Sander opened her business, Erin Sander Design three years ago in Dallas. She appreciates the city’s willingness to embrace trends despite its traditional tendencies.

“Dallas is constantly experimenting with new design trends all the while managing to stay firmly planted in its traditional roots,” Sander says.

“Dallas design stands out because it is constantly experimenting with new design trends all the while managing to stay firmly planted in its traditional roots,” Sander says. “The blend of the old and the new creates an identity that is uniquely Dallas.”

She describes her style as simple and tailored, with a focus on integrating the interior architecture of a space with balanced and well-appointed furnishings. “I love adding a freshness and energy to my designs through a modern interpretation of traditional forms and unexpected accents,” she says.

Sander’s designs weave together clean, modern and traditional elements — often with pops of color and surprising shapes or patterns. In fact, one of her favorite trends at the moment is using dynamic tiles to create a focal point in a bath or kitchen.

“New Ravenna has a gorgeous new ikat mosaic that blends the graphic and ethnic qualities of ikat into a tile design,” she says.

Sander admits her favorite room to design is the kitchen, which she believes can be the style hub of the house. “When designed well, [kitchens] can be a place for the family to relax, entertain and enjoy life together,” she says. “It can also be a space that defines the style of the home through the materials used, architectural elements incorporated and colors selected.”

“Inspiration for my projects is most often found during the collaborations with my clients,” Sander says.

As for inspiration, Sander looks to interior designers Barbara Barry, for the simplicity and restraint of her designs; Kelly Wearstler, for her ability to transform raw materials into dynamic parts of her interiors; and Bobby McAlpine, for his vision and commitment to creating the inheritable house. But she is also influenced by a much closer source.

“Inspiration for my projects is most often found during the collaborations with my clients,” she says. “Truly learning about their needs and what moves them inspires me to create a home that will perfectly complement their lives.”

With the holidays upon us, Sander has a few ideas about how to ready your home for the season.

“Choose a holiday style and color palette that complements your interior, stick with it and build upon your look each year,” Sander says. “In a pinch: fresh white flowers, natural winter elements, mercury glass, and candlelight can create a festive and current holiday table.”

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House of style

How to dress up your home for the holidays, Texas-style

Arctic animal ornaments at Pottery Barn holiday 2012
Photo courtesy of Pottery Barn
Vintage ornaments on a tree stump in a feed-store bucket
Photo courtesy of D'Ette Cole
Newsprint star, holiday decorations
Photo courtesy of D'Ette Cole
West Elm mercury glass vases holiday 2012
Photo courtesy of West Elm

The holidays can be as stressful — or stress-free — as you make them. We know the routine too well: shopping, waiting in line, sitting in traffic, eating, drinking, watching the shipping charges load onto your bill, cleaning, entertaining, cooking, making a Starbucks run, more shopping.

The one place that should feel relaxing is your home. But before you deck your halls with the same tired tannenbaum, tinsel and twinkle lights, we urge you to breathe deeply, set your inner grinch free and take a fresh approach to decorating this season. Honestly, must we always put out mother’s miniature crystal Christmas tree?

To find out how to dress the house for the season, we asked a few Texas experts to share their thoughts on the latest trends. Here’s to simplicity, comfort, style, a little sparkle and good cheer.

D’Ette Cole, designer, Red

Mix organic materials with simple yet elegant accents
Sophisticated holidays emerge from just a few simple touches in elemental, organic materials. Black ink and ecru, repeated in elegant paper ornaments, create a crisp and timeless color palette. Glittering garlands perfectly trim a tabletop, and well-appointed lighting brings luxury, warmth and radiance.

Play with the written word
Celebrate the modern with graphic, amply scaled holiday decor, sparsely appointed and grouped for effect. Newsprint stars and gift wrap create a smart, savvy graphic edge, while vintage letters, even initials, provide shapely symbols. Set with tinsel trees, which beget holiday cheer and light the way through the season with minimal hassle and maximum effect.

Add bursts of color spots
Bring spunk to a winter wonderland with colorful, one-of-a-kind, vintage ornaments. A white-washed stump or a glittered tree branch set in a feed-store bucket create an inspired twist on a holiday favorite.

Jeff Moss, Buyer, Breed &Co.

Let there be light
Battery-powered lights are big. A set of batteries can last as much as a week or more on LED lights, because they hardly use any power at all. Plus they are very bright.

Use skinny trees in all the right places
Put them on tables, stick them on mantels, place them on your dresser. Some look like something that Dr. Seuss would have, others are more traditional, and some are wrapped in burlap and covered in kind of a sugared frost. Any place that you’ve got space needs a tiny, skinny tree.

Wrap it up right
You can go anyplace and find cheap ribbon for Christmas but not the real stuff — the wired stuff that is made of velvet. Do deep-red velvet and gold. A nice ribbon holds it shape. Try and find one that is shiny red on one side and gold on the other side, so it is reversible.

Annie Downing, interior designer and owner, perusehome.com

Add glamour, glitter and shine
Anything that sparkles is a must for holiday decor this season. Glittery ornaments, mercury glass candlesticks, pine cones covered in glitter, glittery houses — they convey that feeling of a winter wonderland.

Go retro and vintage
Mix felt garlands and wreaths with your current holiday pieces. It’s fun to jumble the old with the new.

Get back to nature
Bring the outdoors in. Evergreen, twigs, branches, mushrooms and animal ornaments (bears, deer, owls) are inspired by the season. Bottle brush trees are fantastic as well. Magnolia wreaths and garlands never go out of style.

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