An App For Booklovers

It's no secret that I am a big book hoarder. Of all sorts, topics, ages it doesn't matter. print or digital. I have finally come across the perfect catologing tool!

The Bookcase is a new app that will help you keeop track of books you have, want, borrowed or lent. With the ability to input data using a barcode, it is simple and straightforward enough that even I would use it.

Christmas is around the corner!

Thanksgiving is over and Christmas is just around the corner. So my Christmas tree went up on Sunday and we are getting ready for the blitz! I have to say this is the first year that my ornaments have out numbered the space on the tree, so I have been in the process of trying to trim down the group.

It seems that over the year there have been certain types of ornaments that have taken my fancy. One of those groups is furniture pieces, so i thought I would post a couple that are available now.

The Directors Chair

Adirondack Chair

Felt Club Chair

Wire Frame Chair

Sometimes its just the strangest things that get my attention

I am fascinated by the idea of man made Islands, I guess as a child I always wanted my own private Island, and I thought at the time that all the land was used up, so I would have to make one! I know, I was not the smartest kid on the block.

Well today I wanted to show two man made island projects.

The first is in the Caspian sea off the coast of Azerbaijan, and it's called Neft Dashlari. It may not be the first man made island project , but it caught my interest. It is actually a whole series of olil rigs taht are linked together by roads and platforms. It was built in the 50's by Stalin, and featured in a James Bond film.

The other is a lot more well known, and are the Palm Jumeirah Islands. At first I saw this project with horror, now I am kind of warmed up to it. It's intersting to see how Western the actual streetscape is, it kind of looks like parts of Orange County....go figure!

Post Election Map

It seems only yesterday that we were all poring over maps as the election drew near. Red states, Blue states, it was all a matter of great anxiety.

Well I came across this map that I thought was cool. I think it gives you some perspective about how big this country really is.

This map shows the individual states, but the names are replaced with the names of the countries that have equivalent GDP's.

Take a look, I hope that you find it as interesting as I do :)

My New Obsession

I got an email the other day by Authentic Provence, a great resource from Florida.

The thing that caught my eye was this great sink, made out of a boulder. I think its terribly chic, and cant wait for a contemporary project that this would work for.....What do you think?

Book Review- Charlotte Moss, A visual Life

Let me just start by saying "what a peculiar book". I do not mean this in a bad way either. When I first got this book I was a bit taken aback. I was looking forward to seeing some of the work of Charlotte Moss, someone who I have admired for a very long time. Instead I got a book that had very little text and page after page of what at first glance is visual chaos.

 

Do not let this first impression stop you! I put the book down for more than a week, and then curiosity drew me back and I spent more time with it. What I found was a gateway not to her work, but to the workings of her mind!

As it turns out Ms. Moss has been a collager for years and uses the medium as a visual record of her life and inspirations. When viewed through that lens these images become meaningful tributes to her life and clients. Now, I am not convinced this is the way I would record the world, but that is precisely why I keep coming back to this book. I love to see the world through the eyes of someone who sees it differently from me.



Published by Rizzoli, it is another book that I am pleased to have in my Library. With winter coming up, its the perfect comfy chair by the fire piece.

 

Charlotte Moss, A Visual Life

New Book- HOUSE

One of my biggest criticisms of a lot of new design books is that they are verbose, to the point of distraction. This new book, by Diane Keaton, called HOUSE, brings new meaning to the phrase, "a picture is worth thousand words".

 

 

One of the first things that strikes you in book, is the sheer lack of words, page after page is one glorious photo after another.

 

 

In the interest of full disclosure I actually toured a project of mine with Diane as she was researching this book (we were not selected) but the body of work here is really impressive. 

 

 

 

 

Work from all over the world is featured, I am pleased to see some Australians featured as I think some of the most interesting work is done there, especially in this realm.

 

The striking photo's are credited to Lisa Hardaway, Paul Hester and Paul Warchol. Each is like a work of art, and I will definitely do more research into their work, as they mange to illicit such strong imagery from simple vernacular.

 

While the theme of the book is obviously contemporary it is interesting to see the reinterpretation of traditional shapes and materials into fresh visions.

 

One of my favorites is the work done with humble shipping containers,,,,, and also the simple and elegant use of regular industrial elements.

So check out this great new addition to any library, it is available on Amazon today

Just Finished

 From humble beginnings began our project for one of my favorite clients. They decided to add a Barbecue pavillion to the side of their house. It had a big grill and a Benihana still flat griddle. I wanted to create something that was both relaxed and outdoorsy but still strong enough to stand up to the rest of the house.

 

The Pizza oven we clad in stone and then provided a patterned concrete tile from Granada Tile. It was the perfect mix of pattern, color and texture.

 

 

The finished product is simple and ready to go!

 

I deliberately chose a stainless steel hood over the island so that it created a more open space.

 

Why I am a Designer- Connie McCreight

Today i am thrilled to feature not only someone who I regard as a close personal friend and Mentor, but also an inspiring individual in her own right. While she would scoff at the title of a "Strong Woman" she in my book embodies just such a title. The Designer is Connie McCreight and I hope you enjoy what she has to say.

I found my beloved profession by a circuitous route, although there were “signs” at many points along the way. 

My first bed as an infant was a drawer pulled out of an antique chest in the Deep South.  My father was playing professional baseball, and I arrived on the scene quite early.   I slept soundly in various drawers in various states for the first few years of my life.  So you see, I had an affinity for furniture very early on.

After his baseball career, my father made a career of the Marine Corps.  He would come home from work every year or year and a half and announce that we were to be transferred a few thousand miles and we were leaving the next week.  This was invariably in the middle of a school year.  We dragged around all of our furniture and belongings (antiques and artwork picked up from all parts of the country) from place to place.  Mother’s unbreakable rule was “No one goes to bed the first night in the new place until the pictures are hung”.  I know this was her way of creating a stable, comfortable, nurturing and recognizable environment for our family no matter where we happened to be.  This also meant that I could do an amazingly fast “install” from the age of 6. 

As life continued through college and my first apartments, I was the only one of my friends who would use my extra money on new accent pillows for my hand-me-down sofa instead of a new pair of shoes.  My personal environment was always important to me.  I was challenged in helping friends spend their budget of $50 on thrift shop purchases to “personalize” a dorm room or tiny apartment.  Thankfully, over the years, those budgets increased.  I’ve always viewed each new opportunity as a jigsaw puzzle, using what is handed to me, bringing in additional parts of the existing puzzle and incorporating outside influences to create a new “whole”. 

After a BFA degree in Fine Arts, Education & Painting, a stint in a law firm, and a year teaching high school, I settled on the business of “Interior Design”, and went back to school completing UCLA’s comprehensive Interior Design program.   My passion was ignited; I had finally found a way to combine my love of art, decorative objects, interiors, teaching and business.  I thrive on the ever-changing landscape of art and design.  I am reaffirmed in my career choice daily when I view a beautiful new painting, an inventive piece of furniture or an amazing decorative object.  I delight in every meeting, when my clients have inspired me to create an environment just for them.  The artisans I work with continue to raise the bar on my ideas.  Every day is a new one, every client is different, each new locale presents excitement.  I am constantly being challenged, as well as renewed and regenerated both in work and in life.

Why I am a Designer- Darrell Schmitt

Well, guilt can sometimes be a great thing. i was at an event last night and I ran into Darrell Schmitt, who I have been hounding for months to do a column for me. He was a man of his word and did it, and it has sat in my in box now for weeks. I felt very guilty seeing him last night, because when you get to know Darrell, there are several things you quickly learn. He is a gentleman who stands by his word, so if he makes a promise you know that he will move heaven and earth to make it happen. He is also one of the busiest and talented designers I know. His work on the Montage Beverly Hills is inspiring, and he has managed to create in a new building a sense of tradition and age that seems perfect. Anyway, I hope that you all enjoy reading his well crafted piece and now I am off to feel guilty about other things!

It wasn’t as though you could stop me from being a designer---I was re-arranging the furniture in my parents’ house from childhood.  I had very early interests in art, architecture, and all things relating to design.  On summer afternoons my mother would pack me down to the local park, where I would eschew the other organized children’s activities to ask the other kids what they’d want their dream houses to be (even young children already have ideas as to how they might want to live), then I’d draw up their dreams and sell the sketches for a penny a story---ten cents got you an elaborate fantasy tower or a cathedral.  My parents provided for me a subscription to Architectural Digest when it was published in black and white, twice a year (this was truly a long time ago).  Being raised in a small town in Kansas, my imagined world of palaces and mansions remained for me fascinating but elusive, as experienced only in books and magazines.   But I found the siren song of beautiful architectural settings ever seductive, and I sought out the images of refined buildings and interiors in every source I could find.  As I progressed up the educational ladder, my interest in the built environment became more sophisticated through my studies of architecture and historic design.   As I began to travel in my later youth, great architectural sites were always my destinations of choice, places where I could hone my eye for detail and experience three dimensionally the spaces I had so long admired only from the pages of books.  A study trip to Europe upon finishing high school was a life-changer for me, opening up my world ever further to the possibilities of art and design.

I studied architecture and interior design in Chicago, and at age 24 opened my first independent design studio in New Orleans.  Both of these cities were immensely influential in broadening and shaping my appreciation of architecture and design.  Based now in Los Angeles for twenty-five years, my career has afforded me many, many opportunities to turn those childhood yearnings for beauty into very three dimensional  hotels and resorts, spas, country clubs, grand residences and yes, even palaces, in far flung destinations around the world.  I have never tired of the quest to create beautiful places---the impulse and the challenge remain as fresh for me today as they were in the dreams of my youth.  What has changed for me, though, is my attitude toward the significance of the role of architects and designers.  I have come to more fully understand the enormous psychological and cultural impact the built environment has on all of society, for better or for worse, in benefitting or deterring the progress of civilization and its effects on the inhabitants of all environments.  For me the practice of design is far more than the conscious arrangement of spaces, furnishings, objects, and light, though it is all of that; it is, most importantly, the exercise of bringing order, harmony, and well-being to the lives of my clients, to make their dreams come alive in a way that enhances how they move through life by creating environments for them that set the stage for their life passages.  I find this a huge but very gratifying responsibility, one that has lent vitality and purpose to all of the work I have done.  As I have come to understand that the built environment is responsible, by far, for the consumption of energy and resources in this country and elsewhere, through the construction and operation of buildings, in a manner of ever escalating consumption of resources over the past century, I have tried to apply my work to the larger goal of working within sustainable practices and design possessing longevity of purpose and quality.  The need for beautiful, uplifting, and responsible design is great in our rapidly evolving world, a challenge I find even more stimulating today than when I started down the path of design

Antler-Inspired Decor

I have a thing for antlers right now. Not the ones on taxidermied deer heads mounted above the fireplace in a lodge or rustic cabin.  I’m liking the ones that you find in the most unexpected spaces, such as an antler chandelier in a modern dining room or a skull and antlers above a bed in a romantic bedroom.

With many faux versions available, they won’t tug at your heartstrings or stir a guilty conscience. For those that like the real deal, you’ll find those as well. Whichever you choose, they are quite versatile much like cowhide rugs which seem to find their home in a number of stylish rooms.

I’ve collected a number of interior design images featuring these little beauties in a number of different decors. Be sure to comment below and tell me what you think about using them in your own home.

A table of curiosities is looked over by a pair of real antlers. This isn’t the only naturally occurring element in the space, looks as if those are two tortoise shells adorning the table.

A rustic bathroom boasts a widespread set of authentic antlers hanging above the tub. They are beautiful from this vantage point, but not sure how I would feel about them looming over me while I soak in the tub.

This European home features a skull with antlers in a low key way. You really can hang them most anywhere and they look good.

Loving this antler mirror frame! It provides a stunning focal point for the room and coordinates with the other animal skins in the space.

A red antler chandelier and wall sconce? It’s funky, especially with the lavender walls, but I kind of dig it.

Ok, so I’m ignoring the deer mounted on the wall and concentrating on the white antler chandelier which is quite beautiful in this modern dining room.

 A gallery of deer and moose antlers is mounted in an interesting fashion. The zebra rug introduces an additional natural element.

A transitional living room makes a focal point of differing size and types of antlers set in a gallery style.

8 Ways to Create an Inviting Guest Room

Hello! I’m Beth, a guest blogger for Timeless Wrought Iron, an online source for wonderful wrought iron furnishings. I spend my days searching the web for beautiful interior design images and ideas then share them with blog readers like you. Today, I bring you tips for creating a stylish and cozy guest room. I hope you enjoy!

When designing a guest room, you’ll want to focus on beauty and function. Think of how you like to be treated when you are a guest in someone’s home. Creating a welcoming space doesn’t have to be difficult, however, it is all in the details. Below you’ll find some ideas for bringing an inviting guest room together and insuring your guest’s stay will be enjoyable and memorable.  

Create the most inviting atmosphere possible, while anticipating your guest’s needs. This bedroom is the ultimate guest room.

Provide guests with a selection of beverages, glassware and snacks. Bottled water, their favorite libation and fruit and nuts are a nice touch. 

Make the bed as comfortable as possible, so they’ll sink into luxury. Down comforters, plump pillows, and Egyptian cotton sheets will have them sleeping peacefully. Don’t forget to turn the bed linens down ahead of time. A mint on the pillow or a little nosegay is always a nice touch.

Place a luggage rack or bench at the foot of the bed so they have a place to leave their bags where they’re easily accessible. Benches can double as a place for guests to slip on shoes. A wrought iron bench with upholstered cushion would work well in this space.

Give guests plenty of light sources for activities such as reading. Also, make sure you provide sufficient window coverings to block natural light for sleeping late in the mornings.

Furnishing the guest room with a desk gives your guests a place to work or set up their computer.

Provide a comfy robe for each guest to give them a luxurious hotel feel. White robes such as the one pictured here are particularly nice.

Fill the bathroom with loads of fluffy towels, bath oil, soaps, shampoo, conditioner, tissue and other grooming supplies. A fragrant candle is always a welcome gift.

What are your favorite ways to make your guests feel at home?

Leave a comment and let me know then be sure click here to visit Timeless Wrought Iron for wrought iron furniture and accessories.

Images: deptoftheinteriordc.blogspot.com; thetrendyhome.com; www.shelterness.com;hamptons-magazine.com; hotels.about.com