March 28, 2012

Lowe's Creative Ideas is Creative Marketing

Wooden Floor Mat

I gotta hand it to Lowe's.  Their marketing / advertising team made a smart call by appealing to woman-centered DIY projects in this pinterest-dominated era.  And in my opinion, this puts them at a different level than the other big box store.

It's springtime, and I'm dreaming about having some time to work on my garden & patio.  But since that's just a dream for now, I thought I'd at least post some of the fun garden & patio themed projects featured on Lowe's Creative Ideas site.

Herb Crate

Vertical Garden Planters & Rack

Freestanding Trellis

Tall Birdhouse Trio

Hanging Globe Lanterns

Dog Bone Window

All of these projects, and more, can be found at Lowe's Creative Ideas website.  And no, I'm not sponsored by Lowe's in any way.  I just think it's a really really smart marketing concept, and I'm impressed.

March 22, 2012

What I'm Working on Right Now


One of my favorite current projects involves removing a wall and soffit (and gigantic light fixture) in order to open up the kitchen, which made this project a great  candidate for practicing on Google SketchUp.  I'm pretty excited about the potential of this project, so I thought I might share it with you all here.

Before:

 And here's the wall that I proposed removing:

Here's what it looks like now, after demolition:

A huge difference already, right?

And here's my SketchUp model depicting what it's going to look like when finished:

Thanks to ReVive Remodeling (the general contractors who are a large part of my design-build team) for the before & after photos.

March 21, 2012

Tile - It's Alive!





I've recently discovered 2 amazing tile products that come to life with motion, touch, or temperature, and I had to share:


1.  Sensitile Scintilla Interactive Panels


"Each Scintilla panel is internally structured to have thousands of light conducting channels. These optical pathways activate the panels giving them a magically interactive surface which responds to the shadows, movements, lights and colors around it - no power needed!"


I saw the Scintilla system featured on Maison21 on the walls in this gorgeous powder room (unfortunately the Scintilla isn't highlighted well in this photo):



2.  Moving Color 

Heat and touch-sensitive tiles that change color:




A few of the colors from their Liquid series:



March 16, 2012

Dimensional Wall Treatments


A while back I heard the phrase "Texture is the new bling", and I've repeated it many many times since.  Monochromatic, neutral interiors can be full of life and energy simply because of texture or pattern.  The dimension that texture can add to a space makes all the difference.

Dining room by Carlos Polo, featured on Design Shuffle

I think the manufacturers of tile and 3-d wall panels are onto this trend, as I'm seeing more and more dimensional tile and panels.

Source:  Walker Zanger facebook page

I love the kitchen above, designed by Michael Berman.  Textured backsplash tile is Walker Zanger's Studio Moderne by Michael Berman Collection, in custom Clover Color.


This headboard above is part of Soelberg Industries new Ready-to-Ship program.  The headboards range from $274 - $520, depending on size.







Dining room by Carlos Polo, featured on Design Shuffle 





March 13, 2012

For Real This Time... The Giveaway Winner



I'm feeling a bit better, so thanks for your patience.  I used the random number generator on random.org to select a number:


And I scrolled to comment #8, which is from Aimee.

(If the screen shot is hard to read, she's chosen the yellow painting)

Congratulations Aimee!  I'll be contacting you directly to make arrangements.

If anyone is crying because they didn't win, I'm sure William would be happy to create a piece for you too.  And I think you'd be surprised how reasonable his prices are.  Feel free to contact me for more information.

March 12, 2012

And The Winner Is....

...To be continued.  I'm sorry everyone - I've been really sick for the past few days so I have to delay the giveaway announcement until tomorrow.  Please bear with me... hopefully I can stop coughing long enough to draw a name and post the winner.

Good night and I'll see you tomorrow.

March 8, 2012

Local Shelves and My Selfish Space


A while back, I received this wonderful little package in the mail... a beautiful custom wood shelf from John Sundberg, owner of Walrus Woodworking.  Walrus Woodworking is a local Utah business, and I'm all about promoting good local businesses.  Full disclaimer here - I didn't pay for the shelf, however, when I spoke with John on the phone we discussed that I was not obligated to blog about it, and if I did, I would be completely honest.  So, here it is:


Install was simple.  The instructions - plus a few basic tools - were all I needed, and I had it hanging and perfectly level in less than 30 minutes.  (No, not all my tools are pink, but my mother and sister discovered a company called Tomboy Tools so over the last few holidays I've built up quite a collection of pink.)



A simple drywall anchor holds the screw firmly in place, and then a cleverly designed nail pokes from the back of the shelf into the drywall to keep the shelf bracket level.  

Once the bracket is secure, the shelf easily slides into place.


I love the hand-made sculptural quality of the shelf, and the beautiful natural grain of the wood.  For other examples of what Walrus Woodworking has done (including better photos of similar shelves), see their listing at localfirst.org

Now to segue into my next topic... where I put the shelf and why... 

Being too small to stand alone anywhere in our home, it took me a while to figure out what I wanted to do with it.  But after my trip to NY for Brizo Fashion Week, I knew exactly where to put it.  

At Brizo Fashion Week, I met a wonderful woman named Jennifer Duchene, who has a book called "Le Chic Cocoon:  7 Steps to Creating your Selfish Space".  While Jennifer might argue that my chic cocoon should not be my office, at this point in my life, my office is where I spend a large part of my waking hours, and my business is my pride & joy because I built it and it's an extension of me, so it's important to me to have a piece of myself in my small office space.  With dreams of my own real chic cocoon sometime in my future, for now, my selfish space is this little office.  

I have these great thrift store milk glass vases, and my husband hates them.  But guess what?  This is MY space, so I can put anything I want in it, including my lovely milk glass vases!  And I realized the shelf would display them perfectly, so they now have a place in my "selfish space", right next to my 2012 vision board and stack of inspirational magazines and chair posters.  During a busy day, when it's so easy to lose my sense of self because of a daunting to-do list, all I have to do is look up at this wall full of my passion and personality and I remember who I am and what's important to me.  And then I can breathe deep and continue with the task at hand, rejuvenated by the reminder of why I do what I do.









March 2, 2012

A Different Point of View - My Home


The other day I was laying on the kitchen floor painting base trim.  I hate painting trim, which is why, after living in the house 2-1/2 years, it's still not done.  Anyway, I happened to look up and loved this view and how well the artwork in the kitchen coordinated with the piece we have in the 2nd floor stairwell.


I've been meaning to post a photo of this print for a while now.  This is actually an infrared photo that a family friend took (and edited) in downtown Baltimore.  I loved it the minute I saw it, and begged him to share the file with me so I could print it.  I was able to print the high-res version as a 12"x36" poster (waited for a half off poster printing sale at Staples and got a killer deal), and then we had a custom frame made.  It's one of my favorite pieces in our home.  I keep telling him he should start an etsy shop with all the great photos he's taken...


The image to the left is this "Saarinen + Poulson" print from Blue Ant Studio.  (If you love mid-century chairs, check out the other prints - I had a hard time picking which one I wanted!)