I'm super excited and honored to be asked to do a seminar on Interior Design and Color!!! I have sooooooo much great information to share with you! Please come join me Sunday, May 5th! It's a great show to make contact with all our local home professionals and get inspiration for your own home improvement projects!
Happy New Years!
Happy New Year Everyone! As the year winds down we like to stay home on New Years Eve and celebrate with close friends and family. I came across this clever idea via Pinterest. This idea comes from Fabianna of Ciao! Newport Beach. I loved her dining setting for New Years, especially how she photocopied clocks and placed them under clear plates. Such a simple and cute idea. You can check out all her other lovely ideas for New Years here. May you all have a safe holiday and let's all have a Fantastic 2013! Cheers!
Check Out Studio Ten 25's Weekend Window!
It's always a Happy Friday when someone you admire and respect gives you a Shout Out on their blog! Especially when it's another designer who's work you really admire. I've been so fortunate to meet the stunning, Abbe Fenimore, proprietress of Shop Ten 25 and blog, Studio Ten 25, via the Blogsphere. From the day she asked me to create a few watercolor paintings for her new on-line shop I knew this would be a great friendship. Her excitement and love of design is contagious and I'm so grateful to be part of it. I'm super happy to say you can now find my product in her lovely shop! If you enjoy design like we do, I know you will appreciate her thoughtfully curated collection of home decor items. You can read our feature in her Weekend Window here. Have a terrific weekend everyone!!!
Introducing Glam Damask!
I've had a lot of fun this summer making over my daughter's bedroom. We changed the baby pink walls to a deep, rich coral. I painted New Art for above their beds, New Fabric for their window treatments, and New Pillows to accent it all. This is actually how I started designing textiles. About three years ago, I noticed in my Interior Design business, I couldn't find certain art peices or fabrics so I decided to create them myself. In this case my girls love the Kiss Me Collection so I moved forward with adding pieces to it that would compliment and make the collection strong. If you take a close look at my New Glam Damask design you'll notice some familiar shapes, well that is if you love make-up and perfume! My Mod Medallion fabric has a mix of a glam and retro feel and I added in a bold black and white stripe to make it all pop. You can check out all my new designs in my shop!
Fantastic Front Door Make-Over!
I feel very fortunate to live and work in California. Being an Interior Designer on the Central Coast has allowed me to work on a multitude of projects. From nurseries to restaurants, each project has been interesting and fulfilling. Being immersed in design I spend a lot of my time researching the latest products, trends and design styles. Much of the architecture in California has a Spanish or Tuscan flavor. I have to say that is predominantly the design style most people prefer here. So today I’m sharing with you one of my favorite little tricks. I have found a great product that has a huge impact when used correctly and it’s a lot less expensive than wrought iron. I just love this product. It’s called Tableaux. If you are local and you would like to see the product in person, check out Rosa’s Restaurant in Pismo Beach. When I designed their remodeled I used it in the bar and even on the ceiling! Tableaux is light weight but has the look and feel of custom wrought iron. It comes in many finishes, designs and is easy to install. You can see how I was able to transform my client’s front door with this product. So if you are looking to give your home an instant make over, this would be one of my recommendations. Bonus tip: Stain the Oak Doors in Sherwin William’s Bistro Walnut. Second Bonus Tip: Don't just visit Rosa's for the decor, make sure to dine there too. The food is heavenly!
Congratulations Shop Ten25!
Most of you know that I'm an Interior Designer by day and Watercolor, Textile, Home Decor, Graphic Artist, what am I leaving out??, Chef, Seamstress, Crafter...basically, my life IS Art in any form I can get my hands on. At the beginning of this year I started a new thing on my blog...(which I think I'll finally be able to get back too- what a crazy summer!), of doing My Monday Mood Boards, which are simple watercolor illustrations of home decor items and other pretties that make me smile. Well....I found many of these beautiful items from Shop Ten25! As it goes in the blogging world, the owner, fabulous Interior Designer, Abbe Fenimore and I became friends. I admire Abbe's fresh take on design. Her style is modern and colorful and we both share a passion for making our surroundings beautiful. Soooooo, you can only imagine how THRILLED I was when she asked me to do the illustrations on her new website!! Her new site launched TODAY and it's loaded with treasures! I'm happy to say you'll be able to see some of my collections there very soon too!!! Congratulations Shop Ten25!!!
Our First Ever Catalog Is LIVE!
Well things have gotten very interesting around here lately! Ever since out feature on Bobbies Buzz on The TODAY Show all kinds of wonderful things have been happening. Some things I can't talk about just yet and other fun collaborations I'll be posting about this week. In the middle of it all, we are so happy to share with you our first ever Home Decor Catalog! Please take a look and let me know what you think! This little company is spreading it's wings and I appreciate all the wonderful support!!!!
Mid-Week Mini Mood Board - What To Do With A Hallway?
Some days are just really fun and today was one of them. I met with some of my favorite clients today as we have started the discussion on the interior details of their new home. The architecture is Mediterranean which brings to mind a treasure trove of details. Warm colors, dark wood doors, floors and cabinets just to name a few. Today we were having the discussion on what to put at the end of the hallway. All, yes all, of my design clients know that I'm not a fan of hallways, but if you have one, best dress it up the best you can. In this case the walk down this hall will have gorgeous floor length windows and french doors to the left, a cozy reading nook (I sense an upcoming blog post) to the right and a deep set window at the end of the hall to draw you in. Dark beams above, dark wood floors below and creamy walls....now that's a hallway I can live with! My client wanted a sketch of what that would possibly looked like so before our meeting today I painted this quick, like super quick, sketch. Happy Mid-Week Moodboard!
1 Marrakesh Pendant from Ballard Design 2 Suzani Pillow from One Kings Lane 3 Reynolds Bench from Ballard Designs
Monday Mood Board - Pink Love!
This week’s Monday Mood Board is inspired by Valentine’s Day and my favorite color of all time…PINK ! The inspiration started with this fabulous headboard from Posh Tots. I paired it up with some new goodies from my shop, my Peacock Pillow and my Hot Pink Chaz Pillows. I’ve also been experimenting with Poufs! I posted on my FB Page if anyone thought it was a good idea and judging from the response I had I believe I will pursue creating them!
Of course I get all kinds of inspiration from Pinterest and this is where I found these great Vintage Lamps from ETSY. (Always trying to support those small businesses) The fantastic side table is from Shop Ten25. This watermelon rug is divine from Madeline Weinrib and what I really love is this frame from John Murphy. You must check out his photography in his shop. So fresh!
You can always find my picks for my Mood Board Illustrations and where to get these items (plus a few more that didn’t make it to my final illustration) by following me on Pinterest.
I hope you like some of these ideas. Happy Valentine’s Day!
1 Hot Pink Chaz Pillow in my Shop 2 Peacock Pillow in my Shop 3 Vintage Hollywood Regency Lamps from ETSY 4 Hot Pink Frame from John Murphy 5 Peacock Pouf Coming Soon to my Shop 6 Watermelon Rug from Madeline Weinrib 7 White Lacquer Oriental Chest from Shop Ten25 and 8 Hot Pink Headboard from Posh Tots
Mid Week Mini Mood Board!
It’s Wednesday, so how about a Mid-Week, Mini Mood Board? (That’s just fun to say!) Continuing on with this week’s theme colors, blue and yellow, it makes me think of beautiful blue and white vases. I found this one at Amazon of all places. I also have on my “someday wish list” Red Macau Chairs. Although I didn’t quite find a red one yet, Ballard Designs has these in black and white. I would cover the seat cushion with a blue and white Ikat fabric to keep with my color palette and then finish the vignette with a sweet, little side table from Shop Ten25…a wonderful place to find designer goodies! Hope this little pop of color brightens your week. Check back every week for more of my Mood Board Inspirations, Resources, and Paintings!
1 Macau Chair From Ballard Designs 2 Blue & White Vase at Amazon 3 Side Table from Shop Ten25 4 Ikat Fabric
My 2012 Calendar & Mod Moroccan Wrapping Paper Is Here!
For the second year in a row I've been fortunate enough to be asked by Central Coast Printing to create a holiday wrapping paper! They do a beautiful job printing this paper on two sides and the paper is so thick and luscious!
I am also introducing my 2012 Calendar to my shop! A great hostess, or teacher gift!!! hint, hint. :-) I have a whole lot of new product in production as we speak. It all would have been out much sooner, but... (personal update here)
As life goes, just as you're moving full steam ahead, you sometimes have to make a detour to pay attention to what's really important. That's what's been up lately, a series of some sad events, one right after the other. I'm not saying my work isn't important, it's my passion and I love it, in fact these days I'm finding it also helps me to keep moving along when my heart is so sad. So as my family and I move forward quietly processing recent events, work and life go on. I want to thank all my amazing friends who have dropped everything to help us out and for all the delicious dinners. Thank you, thank you, we are so blessed...xoxoxo
Pinning Love!
I can honestly say that I have never been this busy in my entire life. This is a good thing, I think...I just finished designing a new restaurant in Morro Bay, several home remodels going on, licensing deals with my lovely partner in New York (so exciting! but can't talk about yet), and of course, my three beautiful daughters who keep me endlessly driving to and fro... so finding time to blog lately, is kind of like finding time to read a good novel...I miss it! My latest distraction has been Pinterest. If you don't know what it is, it's a great place to create pin boards of all the fabulous things you find on the internet. Being an Interior Designer, I'm constantly researching and looking for inspiration and now I have one place where I can keep it all organized. The fun part of it is you can follow those with like interest...it just opens up a whole new world of friendships! Follow me! :-)
Simple & Sweet...Who Ever You Are, May You Have a Beautiful Life Together!
Why am I doing this? Procrastination!!! I have a huge deadline and so far today I watched the Women's World Cup, made french toast for the family, went to farmer's market and now I just had to post this... On our way back from farmers market we kept passing these adorable, hand made wedding signs. I just thought it was so clever..this one was at the end of our street...I wonder if they would sell it to us since my husband's name is Bill??
My Day Job & Latest Article For HomeWorkshop.com!
I feel so blessed to wake up every day and do what I love for a living. I thought I'd share a little glimpse of the design process. This is for a client of mine who recently bought a new home and had no idea where to start. They have some beautiful pieces from their travels around the world but needed a few appointments to finish off the space. On this board I make suggestions for furniture, space layout, and color. I chose the color palette of camels, browns, blacks and pops of red for accents. Just thought I'd share for fun.
This project was a little more involved but if you want to start with decorating something small in your own home, check out my latest article for HomeWorkshop.com. There I give you helpful tips on how to set up your dining room as well as some fun accessories to bring a pop of color into your home. Happy Designing!
Guilty Pleasures!
It’s true…I have taken quite some time off. I literally have been going non-stop for over a month now, designing new product lines….so excited to share about this soon…and working on some large Interior Design projects. Couple that, with the fact that my two younger daughters have had soccer tournaments every weekend…they are in the top 4 finals for State Cup!!!…which means I haven’t even had one day to catch up on laundry or cleaning and my poor gardens are all over grown! Did I mention that I also started to teach a new Dance Class that I'm in love with…Dance Boot Camp! Oh Ya! At least, I’m still working out!
In the tiny moments in between…in moments of procrastination…I have, however, indulged in some guilty pleasures. It’s these beautiful on-line magazines that are popping up left and right. (These images are from High Gloss Magazine) My latest guilty pleasure is High Gloss Magazine….purrrrrrrrr! Of course I love Lonny Magazine, Nesting Newbies, and I just stumbled upon Matchbook Magazine. A lovely way to enjoy a cup of coffee and some design inspiration!
HomeWorkshop Inspiration & Exciting News!
I recently had the pleasure of speaking with a wonderful woman, Kathy Barlow, Chief Design Junkie and owner of one of the best design blogs out there, HomeWorkshop.com! I have followed the site since it began. It's loaded with valuable design advice, contests, and overall design inspiration. So how cool was it when she asked if I'd be interested in being a contributor? Ummmm....Yes!!! So I'm busy putting my thoughts on paper to share with HomeWorkshop very soon. Until then, I highly recommend you pouring yourself a cup of coffee and checking out this terrific site!
A Little Before & A Little After...More To Come...
I've been cleaning and organizing and working and...i, yi, yi! Not much time to post these days because of this huge transition I've been making with my business as well as multiple design projects...and those 3...4...5...8...holy cow how many kids are spending the night? and why is my grocery bill so crazy? Welcome summer....it's just nutty!
But as I'm organizing my new studio space, I'm finding all kind of goodies. I found a purse that I thought I lost that I just loved, some money, a few gift certificates, lots of pictures and art projects....fun stuff! Just as I'm organizing my physical space, I'm also organizing my information for my new website. I'm so bad at taking pictures of the jobs I've done, but happily I've found a few before and afters. Here are just two...I'll be updating my flickr folder if you're interested in seeing more.
Kitchen Before:
Kitchen After:
This was a fun project. My client is an Ambassador and traveled all over the world. They had an unused room and tons of books, so I suggested a library. I was inspired by a mask from one of their travels and built the room around it.
Before:
After:
It only takes one small piece that you love to use as a jumping off pad to design.
More to come... :-)
My Bedroom Makeover! Finally....
At the beginning of this year I gave myself a project...to Thoughtfully Design my "own" home. I started in my garden, which hopefully we'll be able to tackle again this weekend, with soccer tournaments and a lot of California rain, my garden project has been slow going. So I turned my efforts inside...to my bedroom. It's challenging being a designer because there are so many choices. What is so simple for me to see for others, can sometimes be the opposite for myself. I'll tell you what though, when you get an email from the editor of a fantastic magazine and they say they'd like to see some room shots with your product in it...well, you figure it out real quick!
I literally had about 2 weeks to re-design my bedroom, which meant I had to work with what I had. There was no time to order new furniture etc. but much to my liking, I'm pretty happy with how I reinvented what I already had. To start with was this dresser. Yikes! A throw back to college days. But when looking at it, I really still liked the shape of it, so a new coat of paint to match the coral in my Mod Morrocan fabric and, well, I'm pretty happy with the results!
Some of you may remember an old screen I had found at an antique shop. I actually had it in my boutique window for a little while. At first I was going to paint the dresser white and the wall behind my bed coral but decided to switch that at the last minute and paint the wall black... You know I tell my husband, "Honey, I'm painting the wall black." and he doesn't say a word, he just comes in and paints it for me. Then we added the white trim from good ole' Home Desperate, I'm mean Home Depo...one of my clients told me that. :-)
The really fun thing was that weekend my niece, Shaunah, was visiting and we collaborated on what to put on the black wall, the wings or the screen from my window??? You can see what won below.
So last week the amazingly talented Jenny Mallot of Live Artfully Productions took some fantastic photos of 3 of the rooms that I've designed with my new fabric (not even in my shop yet!) and we sent the pictures off to the editor...fingers crossed, hopefully they'll want to use a few of them. Until then it was a fun project that I'm happy to cross off my list for 2010!
Also, I have to give a big Thank You to Nina Taylor, who sewed a tons of pillows and these drapes for me just in time for the shoot! More to come on the fantastic Sewing Atelier soon!!!!
Before
After
Viola'!
Well Hello Rain! And Wind! And Thunder!
I don’t know about you but I’m fascinated by rain…probably because we don’t see it very often, certainly not the way it hit these past few days. On Sunday it was pretty nutty standing in the down pour for hours watching my youngest daughter play soccer…fortunately, or not, the team kept advancing in the tournament which meant more games throughout the day. By the 3rd game on Sunday everyone was soaked to the bone. I told Chyna she played in it so well because she’s a Pices! There’s nothing like getting home to a hot shower and a fire after a day like that.
Yesterday the storm continued. Having a day off with my family was heavenly…then the power went out. From noon until late into the night…no cell phones, mine died, no computers, no tv, no video games, even no music….instead…. hot chocolate, home made chicken soup, candle light, a glowing fire, charades, reading, talking and sharing most embarrassing moments, jammies, sleeping bags…and to top it off Bill figured out that you can make brownies in a frying pan…hence, Brownie Pancakes! I know they don’t look great but they sure tasted great, especially with a little whip cream.
This morning, grateful that the power is back on, my daughter said, “That was the best weekend I think I’ve ever had.”
Hmmm…that says a lot about unplugging every once in a while doesn’t it?
Thoughtful Design: The Garden - Part 2...could be lots of parts with this! :-)
All week I worked, went grocery shopping, did laundry, drove kids to soccer practices, paid bills, talked with friends, and tried to even get a little work out in here and there… the days go by so fast. They are so full of stuff to check off the list. It’s no wonder I couldn’t wait to get back to the garden on Sunday. I really had to think about that, especially as I trimmed back an overgrown potato bush by my fountain. I was so proud of myself as I swept up the clippings, sweat dripping under my baseball cap. This is hard work I thought…why do I enjoy it so much?
As I took in a deep breath of crisp clean air, I knew why. I heard my daughters laughing as they approached me with a new little friend that took quite a liking to Chyna. The neighbor’s dogs must have heard us and they all came down to be part of the action. Soon Bill and I went over to Tom’s house who let us borrow his mule to bring down some dirt. I’m so thankful for those men. That’s the kind of stuff I’m not sure I could physically do.
As we, well Bill, shoveled away, everyone visited and talked about what’s the best thing to plant right now. I think we’ll try some squash and beans, maybe lettuce too.
What I learned is that nature has many stories to tell if we are quiet enough to listen. Gazing upon my roses sparks a part of some inner joy I appreciate. So simple, so perfectly designed. I guess it’s that connection with nature that I’m drawn to at the end of a busy week.
This is Hanna, my neighbors rescue dog, with her pretty painted nails she couldn’t wait to show off.