A sweet suite

I love home decor. And I love chocolate. So, when I heard Hershey was pairing the two in their Designer Challenge, I just couldn't resist going to check it out!

Designers Karen Sealy and Arren Williams were tasked with making over a suite at the Delta Chelsea hotel, basing their designs on Hershey's new milk chocolate blend.

The new chocolate was formulated to be smoother, creamier and more chocolatey in order to suit Canadian tastebuds. And, I must say, it's darn tasty!

And the suite was fantastic. The theme was evident in the fudgy tones, creamy leather sectional (in chocolate brown, of course) and the pops of blue, which matched the bar's label.

Filled with lovely products from Ikea, Elte, inVU drapery, HomeSense and a few vintage goodies thrown in for good measure, it was really a stunning transformation from hotel bland to cozy, comfortable and stylish.

Sealy designed the lovely living room. I loved the grid of Hershey-related photos on the wall, lined up in the same numbers of rectangles of the chocolate bars, of course.

The design looked very slick, and really quite achievable for the rest of us. I always struggle with the spacing between frames, never getting it quite right, but this design takes the guesswork out of it and makes the whole thing quite simple and stylish, as long as it's level!

Sealy said when decorating a bookcase, it's important to consider balance and scale. Try stepping back after arranging your shelf to look at the whole picture, then move things around until it feels right.

She said that grouping things is a great way to create a collection, as evidenced by a collection of classic Canadian plates hanging on the wall (you can see one example to the right), which received an update with a coat of blue paint.

Try groupings with an odd number of items for the most impact.

She also suggested if you have games with old or worn boxes, you can pretty them up for open storage by wrapping them in pretty paper and putting labels on them.

Williams (follow him on twitter @ArrenWilliams) took the sumptuous bedroom, putting up a fab textured wallpaper (from Graham and Brown) and painting it a dark brown. He said he was going for the creamy feeling of melting chocolate.

A retro chocolate brown rotary phone was a fun touch, as was the delightful art chosen for the walls, including an fun take on the popular Keep Calm and Carry On poster by Paul Dotey. 

While Williams and Sealy had only a few days to put these rooms together, Williams says it's important to build on styles over time, pulling pieces together from favourite shops and vintage finds rather than taking home an entire showroom display. He says that will help ensure that the room, much like a great outfit, will reflect the personality of the person.

 (Photos by Larry Arnal at Arnal Photography)

Comments

[Patte Rosebank]

Whether you call it "chocolate" or "mud", brown is brown. While I love brown when it's in the form of quality, solid wood panelling with plenty of woodgrain texture, I detest it when it's in the form of painted walls or fabrics. It's ugly & depressing, and calling it "chocolate" just makes it mutton dressed as lamb.

[Karen Quinton]

I am so very tired of neutrals.. just plain boring and bland colour palettes. The reader who said calling brown 'chocolate' was 'mutton dressed as lamb', is completely right. I walked into an open house last year, and was greeted by trendy brown walls. My heart and spirits sank ten feet.

I think such colours are not good for people - and wonder when these years and years of pale monochromatic decors are going to stop. Remember Mrs. Cowpland and the poodle she had to dye bright pink so she would not step on it in her all white house? That was a LONG time ago! Decorators are still thinking the same way as they did then.

[Fa]

paint in neutrals, decorate in colour. that way you can change the colours all the time, inexpensively. painting bright colours will make you hate the roon after a while.