By Design, May 6
Marrakesh By Design: Decorating With All the Colors, Patterns and Magic of Morocco.
By Maryam Montague.
Artisan. $29.95.
This book is a primer on the classic Marrakesh-style of design, a style that incorporates North African, Middle Eastern and European flavors.
Montague drew on design tips she has posted on her blog, mymarrakesh.com, which detailed her family’s efforts to build a guest house in Marrakesh.
The book is full of interesting details and points out many features or design flourishes that seem ubiquitous today, but which did in fact originate in Morocco. One is the banquette, the long, cushioned bench-style seating that usually hugs a wall. This form of seating is popular in American modern ranch houses and was employed in certain Prairie School house designs. Montague explains that the banquette developed along with the typical Moroccan salon in the typical Moroccan house, which has long, narrow living spaces.
The banquette, with two or three benches forming a u- or l-shape, encourage lounging and long discussions over cups of mint tea.
Other distinctive features include Majorelle blue, a warm, violet-blue color created by French painter Jacques Majorelle in the 1920s, the most common highlight color in Marrakesh houses (see the website below for links to images), and concrete floors stenciled in intricate geometric patterns.
Some of these ideas take longer to incorporate. For a quick Marrakesh look, Montague suggests using a few authentic rugs as furniture dressing.
Montague has several do-it-yourself projects, including a homemade furniture polish using olive oil and lemon, and a step-by-step guide to turning a salvaged window into a coffee table.
ON TV
“The White Room Challenge” on HGTV
This new reality show has four designers who have to transform a 10-foot-by10-foot pure white room into something wild and colorful. The prize is $10,000. Each week, the challengers must use only the medium they are given.
New episodes air at 8 p.m. Tuesdays.
This week, in an episode called, “A Trip to the Candy Store,” designers must transform their rooms using only pieces of candy.
ON THE WEB
gardenvisit.com/garden/majorelle_garden
This site has information on and several images of the public garden in Marrakesh where the French painter Jacques Majorelle used the signature blue paint that is identified with Morocco.
– Mary-Liz Shaw
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