And Baby Makes Three…..My First Design Gig

To squash any rumors The Partner & I are not adopting a cute baby from some far off land and subjecting them to our odd combination of Asian “Tiger” Mothering and Southern “Tough Love” parenting styles.  However, a college friend and her husband did ask me to assist them with preparing a nursery for their baby who is arriving in less than 3 weeks!  Yuppers, I snagged my first design gig to start building up my portfolio.  I met with Kenton & Seraphina last week to look at the room and discuss how they envisioned the final outcome.  Right off the bat, they insisted that the room be “bright” and “colorful” without being childish or cutesy.  They wanted a room that felt light and airy without relying on “cute” stuff especially in light that they are having a girl.  No piles of stuffed animals, Hello Kitty vignettes and no baby pink.  They wanted cool, child appropriate with a bit of a thrift-chic edge.

The intended nursery is fairly small, about 9ft x 10ft with only one window.  One wall is taken up by the closet and the floor is covered in dark grey carpet which we cannot change since they are currently renting.  In addition, there isn’t much room in the budget for new furniture, so we are breathing new life into their existing bureau, crib, rocking chair, shelves and futon. It’s a design and a DIY challenge, but it’s the perfect opportunity to experiment with all the great projects I have amassed from hours of reading design blogs and magazines.

Taking all of their wants  into consideration, I created three inspiration boards for them to choose from to set the tone for the redesign:

Option 1: Cheery Flower Power: This is the most feminine of the three options and while it didn’t follow their design mandates, it provided all the elements the new-to-be parents requested.  I threw this one in just to confirm that they were dead set again floral patterns and soft colors.  I just wanted to be sure that they were dead set again it…….

Option 2: Rise & Shine: Bold and bright was the name of game when I pulled together this color scheme.  Note the use of a two-tone color treatment for the walls and ceiling as well as the use of a modern floral print as an accent fabric.  Crisp white furniture would have popped against the sunny yellow walls.

Option 3: Turquoise Dream: Bright turquoise walls and graphic black and white woven rug anchor this color scheme.  Pops of yellow, orange and navy appear throughout the room in the form of furniture, accessories and accent trims/fabrics.  It is the most grown-up of the rooms and can easily grown with their baby girl from infant to toddler.  I have some ideas for fun graphic artwork and how to jazz up the ceiling fixture……

In the end, they choose Option 3: Turquoise Dream because they loved the vibrancy of the wall color, the pops of color and how the graphic black and white rug adds a dimension that they weren’t expecting to find in a baby’s room.

So we now have a game plan and a design roadmap.  This week, I go back to the house to confirm measurements because I am pretty positive we can go bigger with the rugs but I want to be 100% sure before ordering.  Fortunately, since we are reusing their existing furniture, I have the luxury of arranging the furniture in the room now to confirm placement which also means I can also map out art for the walls.

This is my first time trying to map out a design vision for someone else and I find it scary but exhilarating.  I am looking forward to seeing how the actual room plays out against the design inspiration board and sharing the process on the blog.  So here is to the start of my first design gig.  May it turn out as awesome as I envision!

Things I “Love” About New York…..

New York is a city that I love to my core.  However, it is also a city I could learn to hate.

Don’t get me wrong…the city is amazing on so many levels and I never feel more alive than when I am here.  However, there are certain things about the city and its surrounding boroughs that after prolonged exposure irk me.  Today, as The Partner and I played tourist in a city we both have called home at various points in our lives, we  noticed things that we love and some that we didn’t “love” so much….

1) Original Ray’s Pizza

In our walk from Wall Street to Soho, we counted close to 6 establishments that touted themselves as “Original Ray’s”.  I find it amazing that there are so many pizza parlors claiming to be heir to Ray’s throne.  While the slice we had in Soho was all the things NY pizza should be (cheesy, greasy, delicious & cheap), it wasn’t earth shattering.  So tell me, what is Original Ray’s, why does everyone claim to be him and what makes Ray’s pizza so damn good that everyone and his Momma wants to be him?

2) Macy’s

Close to the scene we saw at Macy’s today……..

Can someone please tell me when Macy’s in Harold’s Square became Thunderdome 2010?  Honestly, I have been jostled, fondled and  accosted with less cologne at gay bars than I was today in that store.  Holy sweet baby jesus!  I actually saw the following occurrences (in no particular order): (a) a small elderly woman EAT the sample lipstick at a make-up counter, (b) a fabulous young man ask the clerk to wrap a present he got at Victoria’s Secret and (c) a mother wipe her baby’s nose on a cashmere sweater and hang it back up.  Seriously folks?  I know the holidays bring out the worst in folks, but come on now!

However, even with these misdeeds, I was reminded why NYC holds a sweet and special place in my heart…..

3) Subway Musicians

I love those talented (and at times untalented) musicians who are bent on sharing their music with the masses.  It takes guts and more courage than I think I have to get out there and hustle, but then I am not as talented as many of the bands and singers we heard today on our walks through the subway tunnels.  They always bring a smile to my face a dollar out of my pocket.  They remind me that sometimes you do things because you are passionate, not because they are lucrative…..

4) Street Food

I love the sweet smell of the candied nuts you buy on the street in Manhattan.  I love how they are warm, sweet and salty and only a $1.50.  They are my little guilty snack as I walk along the street and take in the city….

5) Friends

I had forgotten what a dynamic, amazing, inspiring and simply awesome band of compatriots I had left behind in NYC.  It has been so awesome hearing from everyone and catching up with a few when our schedules permitted.  Tonight having sushi with Katie and her husband Jase, I was reminded that many  of these people have known me since junior or senior high school.  They knew my aspirations then and know them know……they are the sounding boards I miss while out West.  I love them and cherish them.

I have found that whether you have been to NYC or not…..the city means something to everyone.  So tell me, what does New York City mean to you?

BFF’s Aren’t Always Forever……

In 7th grade, I moved to Detroit from my little town of Greenville, OH to live with my biological father. My Mother was going through a rough patch with her current marriage and thought that sending me to live with me Father would be the best solution for everyone involved. However, I never received the memo or got to readily voice my opinion in the matter. For the record, I had a full schedule that required all my attention. Mornings were occupied with being bullied by two guys (I am positive they are raging queers today — they knew a little too much about Judy Garland to be straight farm boys). My lunches were booked with hiding in the teacher’s lounge from said bullies and discussing the finer points of Falcon Crest with the floating substitutes. As for my afternoons, I had my chance to shine as the stage manager for the Greenville Junior High production of Music Man which consisted of mainly hiding from the bullies backstage as I cataloged costumes. As you can see, the Fall of 1987 was a banner year for me and the world was my oyster in Greenville, OH…..

Flash forward to February 1988, I found myself in a strange new environment called Detroit. First and foremost, I was surrounded by black people. Just like the ones we studied in Greenville from our History books under Chapter 13, The Civil Rights Movement. Well not quite like the ones I had read about…….these black people were not peace-loving “We Shall Overcome” folks…these were straight up peeps that I had seen in the movie Colors. I mention all of this because Greenville was a population of 28,000 with approximately three black families and the last one didn’t count because they were just Italians with a dark tan. My former town was not the hotbed of racial diversity, but my Mother fell in love, got married and dragged my little dark tail to what could have been the whitest enclave in Ohio. So I basically spent much of my formative years learning how to grow and tease my bangs (no easy task when you have an afro), going to 4H meetings and developing an appreciation for Hee Haw. Effectively, I was the whitest person of African-American descent you could know……I WAS Carlton from The Fresh Prince. No joke.

God bless my Father for realizing that his painfully thin, slightly effeminate, racially confused son would not cut it in public schools. So off I went to Catholic middle school. Mind you, I am not Catholic….no one in my family is Catholic. But off I went to Christ the King Catholic School down the road from my house. There I learned many things including that history books continued after 1965, the South did NOT win the Civil War, Broadway productions were not appropriate lunch conversation….ever and most importantly, Black men should never wear bangs if they didn’t want to get their butts kicked. So in many ways, Detroit soon felt like Greenville, which made me feel at home.

I soon fell into a familiar cycle of dodging bullies albeit they were now large girls with glandular problems and an over-abundance of upper lip hair, hanging out with the nuns at lunch which they too had an over-abundance of facial hair and finding an after-school activity that would allow me to go home well after the school yard had cleared. Sadly, Christ the King was not known for its drama department….in fact the drama department consisted of our music teacher fulfilling her dream of writing a musical. The musical from what I could remember was a Christmas musical based on the score of Jesus Christ Superstar. Hey, if it kept me after school and away from the “Ladies Who Punch” I was down for it.

Fortunately, in all this chaos, I found a friend. I actually found my first girl crush who would eventually morph into my best friend. Katie S. was beautiful (and still is) in my eyes….she was like a young Julia Roberts. I mostly loved Katie because she had red hair and could sing. But I loved that she liked musicals. Her whole family did. They owned a piano. Her Mom sewed and cooked. This was the family I wanted. Short of adoption, I spent every waking moment with Katie and her family during those first few months in Detroit. They made the transition smoother and a lot less lonely. For their kindness and hospitality, I am eternally grateful and thankful. The S. Family was my extended family — they were my familiar in a sea of strange.

Drawing via: microcosmpublishing.com

I say all of this because I was posed with question “Who is your best friend?” When I replied, another name other than Katie’s came from my mouth. It wasn’t that big of a shock to my system, but it did make have this strong sense of loss. See as many childhood friends do, Katie and I lost track of each other after college. She went to Boston and I went to Palo Alto. Opposite sides of the country. Freshman year was full of cards and calls, telling the other about new crushes and adventures. However, as time passed, our conversations became less frequent and for a reason I don’t know, they just stopped. She left school. I moved. And moved. And moved. Our parents moved from our childhood homes and finally silence. As with any void, the tendency is to fill it and we both did. She found a set of wonderful people as I did. But that still doesn’t mean that I don’t miss her and reminiscence about the randomness of our teen years.

Thanks to Facebook, I have reconnected with Katie, had the opportunity to see her again in person as well as meet her fiancé. However, part of me wonders what it would have been like to have Katie in my life consistently. She knew me better than anyone. How could (or would it have) shaped or informed the decisions I made? I don’t know but I am grateful to have her once again. So I don’t want to dwell on what could have been as opposed to what I have…….. which is her email address, Facebook account, cell phone, and mailing address. I also took down her fiance’s cell phone, email and Facebook account. In other words, this chick is stuck hearing from me for life now. And that is exactly the way I think we both want it….