Y’all. This month’s Tastemaker is a doozy… An interior designer whose spaces make a profound statement. When you see a room of his, you know the designer behind it – even if you can’t explain how that’s possible. He has a Rolodex of celebrity clients and is a phenomenal TV personality to boot. You may have even seen him hosting some of our favorite HGTV specials. This month’s Tastemaker for the blog for steve mckenzie’s is Brian Patrick Flynn!
Check out this fantastic video all about “Who is Brian Patrick Flynn.” Not only will you gain great insight into who Brian is, but he offers a bit about what makes him tick and all that goes into his business and designs:
Steve first became aware of Brian and his immense talent (and equally large personality) back during his tenure with Larson-Juhl, when the company worked with Brian to provide art and custom framing for some of his makeovers for TBS’ “Movie & A Makeover.” Now, being active members of Atlanta’s design industry, Steve and Jill have the pleasure of visiting with Brian Patrick Flynn at many local industry events and always find his projects so inspiring!
We invite you to read on and learn a even more about this exciting Tastemaker – and if you don’t love him already, we know you will at the close of this Tastemaker post…
Brian Patrick Flynn
1. Three words that describe your aesthetic?
American, Collected, Comfortable
Brian’s living room in HGTV’s Dream Home 2016
2. Would you please share a little about your favorite space/project to date?
My favorite project to date is the 2016 HGTV Dream Home. It’s a 3,600 square foot home located on the water in Florida, where I’m from. We went against traditional Florida waterfront style and took an un-cliche approach. Kind of Hamptons meets Florida. I’m really proud of all that was achieved with this house and this new style I’ve been playing with.
3. What’s the source(s) of your inspiration?
Anything Thomas O’Brien has ever done and all of his products.
I’m also inspired by anything out of Scandinavia, Norwegian design, the palette of Iceland – it makes me rethink neutral.
World travel with an American spin also plays a role.
I love thinking of new ways to use the red, white and blue color palette.
Finally, mid-century modern design with industrial, rustic touches.
4. Name three people (alive or dead) you’d invite to your dream dinner party…
Tina Fey, Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Mark Zuckerberg
5. A piece of/type of furniture you couldn’t live without?
I always love to include on beat up, worn wooden chair in every space – even a bathroom. There’s something about an old chair stacked with books or towels. A vintage country, wooden, Americana chair is it.
6. Do you follow a particular set of rules when mixing textures, finishes, etc. – how do they work for you?
Yes, for every smooth surface brought in to a space, I add a combination of super warped, nubby textures to tone the shiny down with the dull. I do this even in glamorously styled spaces. This helps make it more livable.
7. Trending… What is something you are currently “into” and something you are “over?”
Into = using blush tones for interiors. It’s fun and hasn’t been so popular to be worn out.
Over = I’m toning down the use of chevron and zigzag until that trend dies down.
8. How does artwork fit into your designs?
Artwork is the most important aspect of of any space. It’s always the one thing I’ll splurge on. The element of something completely original on the walls elevates everything else up in the space. A close second, in terms of importance in a space, are window treatments; they’re a great way to bring together colors in a room.
9. What would be the one thing you would have if you were stranded on a deserted island?
WiFi. I can’t live without any connection – without it I’d go berserk. Next on the list would be a super comfy down stuffed pillow. We literally have like eight amazingly fluffy down bed pillows.
10. Please share a piece of advice you’d offer to someone looking to break into the interior design industry.
Never ever, ever compare yourself or your work to another designer. Some designers have bigger budgets, some cater to one aesthetic – there’s a place for every single one of is. The same person that hires me wouldn’t have hired someone else. No one’s vision and no one’s work is alike. We all have different design philosophies.
Jill, Brian and Steve in the steve mckenzie’s showroom.
We appreciate Brian’s advice for sure – and it’s something that can be a real challenge in our industry. It’s so easy to compare your work to other designers, but if we can all appreciate each designer’s unique voice, there will be a place for all.
Thanks to Brian for being our latest Tastemaker, and inspiring us with each new space he creates!!
We’re just getting back into a regular routine post Design Bloggers Conference 2014 (DBC) – and after this whirlwind conference, regular may never be again. It was a motivating and an inspiring few days, for sure! Filled with fun, fabulous advice, and friends new and old. Attending this exciting conference cemented our commitment to the blog for steve mckenzie’s and we’re thrilled to begin implementing some of what we’ve learned and what’s inspired us here with you!
We’re sharing all about our DBC 2014 experience with you in a two-part blog series so even if you weren’t able to attend, maybe you’ll feel as if you were there, even if it was just for a bit. Or, if you were lucky enough to go, hopefully you’ll enjoy hearing about it from our perspective…
For the steve mckenzie’s team, our DBC 2014 experience begun Sunday afternoon, at the party celebrating Dwell with Dignity’s first Atlanta makeover, featuring our friends Kerry Howard (yes, the same “Tastemaker” we shared recently!) and Brian Patrick Flynn, who worked on the design of the space, and a fantastic group of DIY experts and volunteers. We were thrilled to help this great cause, and look forward to doing more in the future! On our way out, we did have a little fun at the photo booth:
After the party, we were ready to get the DBC 2014 party started… literally, with the conference’s opening event at Atlantic Station hosted by Sunbrella and Traditional Home. It was a great time, and we met many new faces. The loft space Sunbrella had designed was just fantastic, and had us dreaming of in-town living!
DBC 2014 officially kicked off in a big way Monday morning with a Keynote address by Bravo TV’s “Million Dollar Designer,” Jeffery Alan Marks! We loved learning how he adds one thing in every space that’s an accident. What a smart way to keep things interesting!
In addition to Jeffery’s keynote address, we, like the rest of the DBC 2014 attendees, were greatly inspired by the floral on stage, including two of these amazing Ranunculus and Rose arrangements…
After ogling the floral, and absorbing all Jeffery Alan Marks had to share, we were ready to get to the “Business of Blogging,” an amazingly informative talk, which featured one of our all-time favorite bloggers, Palamoa Contreras of La Dolce Vita (celebrity moment!). We also met blogger, and landscaper extrodinaire, Jan Bills, of Two Women and a Hoe. Jan is a laugh and a half, not to mention brilliant. We have another blogger crush!
The lovely Paloma, educating the DBC audience.Paloma Contreras and Jill McKenzie after day one of DBC 2014.
After another informative session on “Digital Content Marketing,” the 2014 Design Blogger Hall of Fame awards were announced. And, the big winner for “Best Overall Design Blog” went to none other than La Dolce Vita! Congrats to our friend Paloma on this much-deserved win!
The next session on “Building your Brand” was uuber popular. Our friend, and editor, Amy Flurry was one of the speakers and shared some secrets from her fabulous book, “Recipe for Press.” This was a session not to miss!
Celebrity designer, Timothy Corrigan offered up the next Keynote Address, and spoke to an enthralled audience on “Designing your Brand.” He spoke from such a unique perspective, sharing how he took his experiences from working in advertising to build his brand as a designer. He also doesn’t believe a room is well designed if it’s not comfortable – right on!
Day one of DBC 2014 ended with a wine tasting – yes, a wine tasting! And a fantastic talk on how to turn any topic into a lively and shareable story by Jeremy Parzen, who authors the wildly popular blog Do Bianchi, where he talks about wine and so much more!
Each of the three wines we tasted represented a different time in Jeremy’s life, the story he told us, and how he made it shareable. Not only were the wines wonderful, so was his speech!
Phew! That was quite a day… And to think, that was only day one. Day two was just as fantastic, if not more so. Like we shared earlier, DBC 2014 was quite an experience! We hope you’ll join us for our re-cap of day two, which we’ll be sharing here very soon!
If you attended DBC 2014, please let us know what you thought about the conference and who your favorite speakers were…
