The Sky’s The Limit….

Next time you are in a room, look up.

Go ahead, I will wait…….

Notice anything?  Probably you are looking at a white ceiling with no interest or defining details.  Getting a client to agree to a ceiling treatment is typically pretty difficult.  I liken it to being 16 and trying to get your parents to allow you to stay out past curfew.  You may have a logical and completely legit argument, but they aren’t budging in their final decision.

However, you get those occasional clients who trust your vision and allow you to try something out in their home.  This was the case of my clients at the Calvert Court project.  As a quick recap, they have an amazing mid-century home which we are slowly working on.  At the moment, we are putting the finishing touches on the living room which leads into their dining room.  The living room has very much a “Mad Men” vibe to it with brass fixtures, faux-silk wall coverings, a curved couch….you get the idea.  However, the clients wanted to reuse the dining furniture from their past residence which was not quite mid-century.  Actually, it all was quite modern – white leather chairs, acorn ceiling fixture, mirrored bureau……and it was lacking.   We had furniture that didn’t feel grounded in the space.  We knew the space would feel slightly disjointed from the living room and we were okay with that but the space felt adrift, which was not what you want.

Initially, I suggested we swap rugs but the clients wanted to use their existing rug.  Knowing that we had spent a majority of the budget for the room on new captain’s chairs, I had to figure out a way to anchor the space.

Thus enter the ceiling.

Rather than paint an accent wall, which would have competed with the floor-to-ceiling windows in the space, we opted a large square centered on the ceiling.  After a few testers, we decided on Benjamin Moore Caribbean Sea – it is a hue of the peacock-blue we used throughout the house and it looks equally great  in bright and low light……

Painting the ceiling instantly grounded the room and directed your focus to the amazing windows.  It brought a sense of mood to the space and dulled the modern feel of the furnishings.  The rooms feel connected rather than competing now……

Best of all, the client called me and said “Thank you for suggesting this.  It looks amazing.”  Ummm, how awesome is that?  It totally made my day and put a notch in my “design belt”.  A few finishing touches and we should be ready to call the dining room done!

So tell me, do you like color on your ceiling or do you prefer crisp white?  Speaking of painting, I am back at the Hawthorne project as the painters are back finishing up the bathroom in shades of grey (no relation to the book).

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A Home For Cocktails…..

I love a good mixed cocktail.  There is a magic to all the shaking, muddling, stirring and garnishing that goes into creating these delicious concoctions.  They are meant to be placed on a pedestal to be admired, sipped and lounged over.  Yet repeatedly, I find myself throwing them back simply because I have no place to put them at parties or social functions.

Enter ……

These perfect little tables are meant, as the name implies, to provide sanctuary to your libations.  For myself, I love using them because of their diminutive size, they are the perfect accessory to squeeze into a tight corner.  More so, some of the tables on the market are literally works of art that could easily substitute for sculpture.  However, rather than go down that path for the post, I stumbled up a cocktail table that I think is stylish, modern and perfectly priced……

The Stockholm table from Ikea is something that is new to me but I am instantly smitten with.  A quick inspection of it in the store revealed that it is of substantial weight (a good thing for cocktail tables) and it has a hinged top that allows for a small amount of hidden storage.  At $US99, I think it is the perfect piece in a modern space or a traditional home looking shake things up.   If you are extra handy, you could buy two and cut the second down by 6-8″ to have a fantastic looking two-tiered side table for less than $200.

Today I off to the Design Center to hear a speaker and hopefully pull some fabric for the Douglass Street project…..I am thinking yellow velvet, cognac leather and grey linen for some reason.  We will see how it all pans out.  So tell me, do you have a tiny piece of furniture in your home that you love?

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Weekend In Pictures……

This weekend was a wonderful whirlwind of friends, exploring the city and celebration mixed in with a few tears……..

Friday I traveled up to The Culinary Institute of America in St. Helena, CA to attend their graduation.  Many of the friends I made during my stay at the CIA were graduating and I wanted to say congratulations and goodbye to a few of them as they head to amazing futures in the culinary world…….

I sped home after graduation and tore through some work before The Partner came back from New York and our weekend house guest arrived…….

And being the good boyfriend I am, I greeted the love of my life with the most seductive and romantic welcome dinner I could imagine……

Saturday morning found my on a job site overseeing a closet install for a client, welcoming my friend from DC for the weekend and drinking at least two of these to unwind……

Sunday, The Partner and I proudly showed off our “home town” of Oakland to our house guest……

Then headed into San Francisco for a bit of fun in the sun……

This week looks to be jammed pack of more of the same….which I am secretly so excited about that it isn’t even funny!  So what did you do this weekend?

And if you haven’t noticed, I have added Instagram to my social media mix, just in case you can’t get enough of me from Facebook and Pinterest as well as Twitter.

Milo Baughman….I Think I Love You……

I am in search of the “perfect chair” for a client’s living room.  They hired me to redo the living room of their Victorian in San Francisco.   I love these clients –  sophisticated European couple with great taste but a small budget, so to get the look they desire, I am going the vintage route.  So far, many of the items for the room have been easy to source but the room is in need of a statement piece and I think a Milo Baughman type of chair would be phenomenal.

Actually, having a Milo Baughman chair for the room would be my client’s wet dream.  And let’s be honest, who wouldn’t want one for their own home?  They are classic, sexy and work so well in transitional spaces.

And they cost more than adopting a small child from Africa……..

However, I think that the “design gods” are smiling on me because I spotted this pair of beauties online for a crazy price…..like Octomom crazy good prices….

Yes I know they need a little love but honestly, did you really expect a mint condition Milo Baughman chair to fall from the sky?  For this client, I am going to lobby harder than the tobacco industry does in DC to have the chairs recovered in yellow velvet.  Seriously could you stand these in yellow velvet?  Good grief, those chair in yellow velvet would make the room sing and me do a happy dance….

The only thing standing between me and design success?  About 1000 miles since the chairs are in Atlanta and I am in Oakland.  I have contacted the seller to see if they would ship if I organized it on my side.  Fingers crossed this all works.

So do you have a dream item for your home?  What is it?  Today is all about deliveries for me ….I have three today for one client!

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Loving Out Loud: CB2 Galvanized Metal Planters…..

I have received numerous emails and comments about where you can find the galvanized metal planters I used on my patio last year……

They were sale purchases from last year’s CB2 outdoor line and until recently, I couldn’t find anything similar to share with y’all.  Fortunately, CB2 saw it fit to bring them albeit in slightly different shapes…..

The square planter comes in three different sizes and are a great price.  However, this style does not come with a liner which is highly important to prevent corrosion.  The Titan planter is the closet to what I currently have and does come with a liner.  At $90, it isn’t cheap but still less expensive than some of the other alternatives on the market for a rectilinear metal planter.

Today I am planting bulbs to see if I can soften a rather barren corner of the patio.  I am not sure if it too late in the season for planting, but I figure it’s worth a shot.  So do you have any gardening goals this Summer?

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Weekend Recap . . .

This weekend was quiet and a tad reflective.  Earlier in the week, The Partner learned that his Grandfather had taken gravely ill.  He flew out to NYC and within a day his arrival, his Grandfather passed away.  It was a bit of a shock to everyone’s system but it was not entirely unexpected being the Grandfather was in his 90s.  The Grandmother wanted a very small and intimate funeral with only immediate family, so the “spouses” all decided to give them their space and we stayed home.

To take my mind off the loss, I spent my days doing busy work including……

….picking up a pair of chairs for a project.  The best way I can describe them is as “upscale futon chairs” since they are not really padded or upholstered.  They have a canvas sling suspended on a metal under frame.  They are in need of some TLC, so I am going to (1) stain them a deep walnut and (2) see if my upholstery guy can create a leather sling for them.  Once done, I think they will be mondo chic.

….. purchasing inserts for the Hawthorne Street pillows.  The sectional sofa arrived this weekend and it is a beauty.  Covered in Joseph Noble fabric, it is a bit shiny, a bit tufted and a lot of awesome going on in the room.  The pillows we had made are the perfect accent to the space and just sing when placed aside the wall stencil……

….. going to brunch with my good friend and is boyfriend at one of my favorite spots, Somerset, in Oakland.  It was a beautiful day to sit under the vines, chat and try to forget about the week’s events.

….. being comforted a great dog.  They say animals know when something is wrong and I believe that.  Scruffy has been nothing but a cuddle bum these last few days and quite low-key.  I think he knows I am a bit sad and in his own way, doing what he can to lighten the mood.  I will say it again, I have the best dog in the world….but then I am bias.

Today is going to be quite – some more sketches of shelving designs and some quite errands on behalf of The Partner.  And maybe a long walk for Scruffy (and secretly for me too but don’t tell him that).  So how was your weekend?

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99 Problems & Shelving IS One of Them……

I recently started a new project for a great couple in the Castro area of San Francisco.  They live in a converted Victorian row house, occupying the top floor. They hired me to work on their entry, foyer and living space which I am excited to tackle.  However, being that they are a young couple who just purchased the home, design funds are limited to say the least.  As with many new homeowners, they have a big want list which I am slowly weeding down based on the budget.

When I took on this project, the first thing I asked them was if this was their “forever home,” starter home or an investment property because it changes how I will allocate the budget.   Based on their response, I thought it best to invest the largest portion of the budget to address some structural changes to the space including the demo of an odd pony wall, addition of a window seat and built-in shelving in the living room.

Opting to spend a chunk of my budget on these items are two-fold: (1) these changes, while not only beautiful will add resale value and (2) since space is tight, I need to use every nook and cranny to maximum utility.  At the moment, I am fixated on figuring out the layout of the shelving trying to take into consideration the couple’s “large” flat screen TV (I think the technical term is “freaking huge”), the request not to change the existing fireplace or mantel and their mandate for sleek and comfortable with a European feel.  So here are some options I have come up with so far…..

Traditional with a combination of open and closed storage.  Since solid wood isn’t  an option, we would do it in a medium tone veneer.

A tad more rustic, this option uses reclaimed wood (a splurge) but the tension between the Victorian elements of the house and the aged nature of the wood could be fantastic……or really really bad.

This is our least expensive option, which uses Ikea floating shelves in a high white lacquer.  Paint the back walls a dramatic color and with the right accessories, it could be quite dramatic and dynamic……

The last option would what I am calling “encased” because  we would build an open case to hold the shelves but the back would remain open.  I love the “x” design at the base that can hold wood for the fireplace or books.  It’s a nice bit of geometric interest in a pretty straight-forward built-in.  I want to do a grey wash to the shelving which I think would give the built-ins more interest.

I have a few more ideas percolating but they all are dependent on pricing of materials.  I am meeting with the contractor today to discuss options and get his take since in the end, I can create it but his team needs to do the hard part and build it!

Okay, I am off to meetings and to handle a family emergency that has cropped up.  Hope everyone has a safe and enjoyable weekend!  Remember, life is too short not to live it up……

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