merry christmas!

 

 

santa's little helper wishes everyone a healthy and happy holiday!

style snapshots of a work in progress...

i've been working on a lil project with matt armendariz and adam pearson, helping them to turn their first house into sumpthin' special. matt and adam are a dynamic duo of food photographer & food stylist, and even if you don't read matt's blog to know their names, trust me, you know their work- they are everywhere in the food and advertising worlds- and i mean, everywhere!   when matt & adam approached me about helping, i was thrilled because not only are they nice guys, but tatented creatives as well, and i really love collaborating with cool and creative peeps- the end results are always better than the sum of any of our individual inputs. being practically internet royalty, adam and matt also put together a pinterest board before we ever even had our first meeting, so i knew they were willing to trust in the process, and just go for it-  always the best kind of project!

we're not done decorating yet, but key pieces are starting to arrive, and i'm getting very excited. we've sourced cool fabrics plus ready made etsy finds, as well as custom made pieces and thrift store picks, for a mash-up of modern meets traditional meets ethnic meets color meets fun. the resulting mix is just awesome (imho), and since i've been instragramming our progress, i thought i'd collect them here, all on one page, to share a visual mood board of the project in progress.

a pair of custom green chesterfields on white cowhides will anchor the living room. i put the sofas on chrome legs to feel a little lighter and more modern, and the nice peeps at gina berschneider furniture turned my idea into reality.

this fabulously bold jim thompson fabric is being made into simple, tailored, curtains.

adding this 1960's chinoiserie piece for storage

in the dining room, this big capiz globe hangs over a white marble saarinen table.

another vintage find in the dining room.  like many older homes, there is no storage space to speak of, so by necessity, every room gets a big storage piece.

this funky kravet linen will again be simple tailored curtain panels in the dining room

classique tortoise shades will be layered under the printed linen- pattern on pattern and i love it!

for matt and adam's built-in breakfast nook, we are using duralee ikat for roman shades, and for cushions, perennials blue and natural basketweave with a contrast welt in topaz. finally, we'll add in throw pillows made from a combo of all three fabrics to keep it all mixed up.

since the perennials fabric is indoor/outdoor, these three gorgeous litle girls will get a matching dog cushion of their very own! (sorry matt, i know i lifted this picture of the girls on moving day totally without your permission, but they are too insanely cute not to be included!)

we picked flor tiles in a slightly crazy and colorful pattern for some punch in the media room. also those adorable little girls will be in there watching TV too, and just in case they have an accident (or three) we wanted something that would never show the damage. ps- adam and a friend laid this down themselves just yesterday.  it was really easy to install... or so they say! i'll have to take their word ;-)

last, we ordered a random assortment of ethnic pillows for the same room from an etsy seller- they are going to dress up a plain gray sectional ordered from room & board. as you can tell, all three of us all like color and pattern!

stay tuned- we still need a few more key pieces, then we'll layer in art and accessories (i like to work in stages for an evolved, organic look), and when we are finally finished, matt is going to take some gorgeous photos. hopefully, you'll see this one in print- it is going to be pretty freaking cool!

what's in a name? (a semi-precious post)

emerald:

jade:

just sayin'.

thought i needed to add a postscript here: this post isn't meant to be critical of pantone's color choice (it's a perfectly pretty color) as it is meant to point out how subjective color really is, and especially its nomenclature- one person's emerald is another person's jade is another person's spruce, and on and on...  the end result is it really doesn't matter *what* a color is called if it doesn't appeal to you!

white xmas (?) + to & from gift guide

oy. it's december 4th and i'm still on the fence about holiday decorating. i had decided not to do it this year as i'm just too busy (and also not planning on entertaining this season), but then my tree randomly popped up in someone else's facebook feed, and i began to have doubts. it is pretty, but those hundreds and hundreds of ornaments are a DRAG to hang and unhang. what to do, what to do...

in the meantime, you can sample my "winter white" gift guide in "to & from" magazine (p. 51), while i decide if i'm going to make it a white xmas here at the atelier as well!

lovely lapicida (a showroom visit with modenus blogtour london 2012)

i admit it- i am a jaded interior designer, and not easily impressed so when see something that blows my socks off, i am always tremendously excited; such were my feelings after taking a tour of the stunning lapicida showroom during blogtour london. i was seriously impressed by the level of skill and craftsmanship of what i saw, and the tour made me incredibly excited about the possibilities of using stone in new and luxurious ways. now all i need is a client with the deep pockets and keen desire for the best to allow me to work some stone cold magic. so inspired, still, 3 months later!

interior of lapicida's entry vestibule

and exterior- clever for a stone company, i thought.

i have NO idea how they accomplish this magic, but this is metal plated stone- i got VERY excited over the possibilities here.

etched and plated, inspired by 1950's italian designs. the chic side of retro.

this deco inspired design shows lapacida's CNC carving abilities- if you can imagine it, they can carve it. very cool technology.

more CNC carving- this is NOT cast plaster, but solid stone panels. chic. chic. chic.

i want this detail in the doorway to my living room from my entrance hall. grand, traditional and modern, all in one.

the lighting in the showroom by uk lighting designer, john cullen, was almost as impressive as the stone, and again, very inspiring.

polished marble and inlaid metal banding- i can haz in my bathroom, plz?

more bathroom goodness.

hope you enjoyed out showroom tour- visit the lapicida website to learn more!

and visit the modenus website to learn more about our other amazing blogtour sponosrs!