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!

hooray for huppé! (a visit to 220 elm at high point market)

where has the time gone this year? i swear i just stepped off the plane yesterday from my bi-annual visit to the fabulous high point market, but here it is, 6 weeks later and i'm just now posting about my sponsor! and i haven't even sorted through all my photos of the rest of my favorite market finds. crazy. i have a feeling i will blink my eyes and wake up in 2013 (if, of course, the planet survives 12/21/2012). time needs to slow down for a second and let a fella catch his breath!

love how these modular storage units by huppé combine natural black walnut with bright, saturated color.

at high point market in october, as usual, one of my "must" stops was to see my friends in the 220 elm building. if you haven't been, 220 elm is probably the best place to get a concentrated dose of modern design while at market, especially if you are a furniture retailer- lots of retail friendly price points and manufacturers who can deliver in volume. i know personally as a designer, i draw lots of inspiration from the modern international designs showcased in the 220 elm building, and it seems there is always a new showroom to visit that i didn't know about before...

these bunching tables epitomize the sleek, minimalist lines of huppé's designs

this market, i was introduced to huppé furniture, a brand out of quebec that fittingly combines sophisticated & modern french styling with canadian practicality (ie- european style without the import price tag). huppé manufactures in canada, using a lot of american black walnut, making it a truly regional north american product, so ya gotta love that!  their designs are perfect for urban living, as they deliver deliver lots of sleek style at a budget friendly price point. their more up-market "up" collection really caught my eye, with beautiful natural finishes, and every piece has a finished back- so important for open-plan living!

a stand out huppé piece is this modern take on a bachelor's chest. love the graining!

and voila! it opens to reveal clever storage.

i wish every furniture company would finish the backs of things- sometimes you just gotta float stuff in the middle of a room!

i really loved huppé's natural finishes- you just want to run your hands over them.

perfectly proportioned.

digging the vertical lines of this media wall storage. most rooms in modern construction need vertical, not horizontal lines and the black and white graphicness of it all doesn't hurt, either! ;-)

a big thank you to 220 elm and huppé for a lovely market visit, and i hope you enjoyed my virtual recap. the huppé website has a much more complete view of their line, so i encourage you to visit!

ps- i titled this post "hooray for huppé" because hooray is the closest thing i could think of to rhyme with their name- "huppé" is pronounced something like "who-pay", not "hup-pee", as this ignorant american first thought- don't want you to make the same mistake! ;-)


**thanks to jill seidner of material girls, my #hpmkt partner in crime, for taking the opening picture for this post- she captured my "high point high" just perfectly!

i love these guys.

ted just woke up, and wasn't particularly happy to find richard snuggling with him, but couldn't actually be bothered to snarl at him to go away, so he just resignedly sighed, and went back to sleep.  i love these guys- they always keep me smiling.

hope this helps your monday start with a smile too.

2 things for the weekend (a post in grainy instagrams!)

yay! me in print!

1) you should run, not walk to the newstand to pick up the november/december issue of california home + design magazine. not only are my bath (above) and the rest of the glam spaces from teh small space big style showhouse featured, they've showcased some amazing homes from around the state with the theme of small space big style to round things out. it's a good one, so go buy it!  on newstands NOW!

again from the pages of the mag: moiself, with the dashing ron woodson of woodson-rummerfield, and the glamorous erin feher, editor of CA home + design, at the opening party for the showhouse. the local design community (like ron and erin) were all so overwhelmingly supportive of the showhouse, i get misty just thinking about it-  too many people to list here, but i appreciate the kindness shown by each and every one of you!

my talented showhouse co-conspirators, christopher kennedy & molly luetkemeyer, mingling at the magazine issue launch party. christopher is a new friend made through the showhouse, but i've been lucky enough to bask in molly's fabulousity for for years, ever since her since her sister julie bought a tchotchke from me on ebay a bazillion years ago. that random purchase lead to our eventual introduction and bonding over our mutual love of design and witty repartee (not only is molly talented, she is also wicked funny).

2) and for you los angeles residents, this is your LAST chance to visit the showhouse- it is open saturday and sunday from 10-3 but closes forever on sunday.  *sniff, sniff*.  it's been such an awesome experience, i am loathe to let it go (no more cramming peeps into my shower for a mirror photo op or glamorous parties in teh showhouse space) but all good things must come to an end, and i'm left with many fond memories. seriously, if you are in LA, do go catch it before it closes- it's worth your while, i guarantee!

here's my last hot shower threesome with annie crowninshield, owner of one of my favorite stores, empiric, on beverly blvd, and ginna christensen the marketing and business development genius behind marc phillips rugs, soon to open on la cienega.

thanks for putting up with my endless posts about the showhouse bath,  kids. it was a major highlight of this past year for me(one of many), so you'll have to understand why i wanted to promote it as much as possible. but we are ready to move on, and it's time to share more of the goodness of the past few months- we still have more posts about blogtour london, high point market and assorted other design goodness to cram in before the the world ends on 12/21! i better get cracking!