Island Withdrawals. . .

Well, I'm back from vacation (and being sick before that), but I'd rather still be on Kauai.   While we were there, my husband and I started talking about moving there!  So for the past couple weeks, I've been day (and night) dreaming about a home on Kauai.  Dreaming of whites, windows, bright yellows, brilliant blues and greens, wood, wood, coral and comfort :)

Found some furniture and accessories that would be fun in an island home and thought I'd share!

Have you designed for a home in Hawaii?  What did you end up using?

I love Khrome Studios' coral mirror even before I went to Kauai.  The natural curves and fluidity of coral adds to the easy going feel to the islands.

These are magnets, but I love the color and design.  I think these would work as art work, or plates, pillows, etc.

Almost everything from Palecek would work obviously, but I really liked what they did with these shells and starfish.  Love the wood frame and how they're attached.

Pillowwwss!

Wood, Bamboo, Rattan, yes!

The last Palecek item, but definitely needed.

Innovations' wall covering

A chandelier that would be above my wooden, maybe natural slab dining table.

The coral decoration in a Hawaiian home might by 'kitchy' to some, but I would greatly disagree!  I'd want my home to feel like I was on the beach constantly.

I like the light colors from this Safavieh rug and the 'waves' on here.  This would look great on my dark wood floors :D

And buying things on the island is always helpful to the local economy!  While we were there, we saw a few furniture stores and one store that was just full of bamboo furniture, bamboo decorations, etc.  The sidewalk smelled like bamboo walking by!

Indigo throw rugs by By The Sea (www.kathrynletson.com).  She has beautiful, natural dresses, accessories, and stuff for a home, even a very inviting hammock!

Hopefully getting these items out of my head and sharing with you will let me concentrate on other things and get my brain back on the mainland.

Please share your thoughts and designs!

Inspiration. . .

What inspires designers to create?  Whether it's the the color scheme, the design of a rug, art work, the layout of the room, it all started somewhere.

I constantly find myself looking around, looking at color combinations that are just happening.  Not necessarily in what someone is wearing, but more like accidental combinations.  I've literally stopped my husband and pointed at these 2 dogs walking next to each other that were a rich chocolate brown and a deep blueish gray that I thought was a gorgeous color combo.

Lines and designs you see all around you or in magazines can give you the inspiration for a design on the side of a cabinet or the shape of a headboard.  Where the client lives, the geography, where they love to travel to, can create an inspiration for a theme, color scheme, designs all from one thing!!

It really is endless to what you can be inspired from and what the inspiration draws out of you to do.

These are some pictures that I've taken or found that really get my mind flowing about color schemes.  There's much more to a room, than color, but for a student who doesn't have a client to design a room for, it's pretty much where I have to start.  I've drawn out some colors from each image that I liked together, but obviously, there are many more colors to choose from!

The ocean has so many different blues, greens, browns



Cliffs, the ocean, the grass, boulders



These are similar to the dogs I've seen who's colors I really liked together

Right before sunset



Another accidental color combo.  My husbands sweatshirt with the greens of the moss and the browns and dark blues on the cloudy day in Monterey

I liked this painted piece of glass that I would love to put on a table, but after looking at it more, the brighter colors (yes, even the post-it note!) I think would look great in a light filled room

Not too many hidden colors here, but the colors of the corals are so vibrant (and I might be a little excited about a trip to Hawaii I'm taking in Jan)



This is an old photo of my father and aunts in the 70s or 80s.  I like the 'vintage' coloring on everything.





What inspires you?  Please share!!

Ever Imagine Living in a Shipping Container?

We are doing a Senior Showcase for my graduating class and are required to do an informational poster about a current trend, or sustainability, having to do with the Consumer and Family Sciences department (the department that the Interior Design program is based out of at SFSU).

My partner (Sarah Rodebaugh) and I have decided to do out poster on shipping container homes and reuses!  Really liked some of the ideas and what people have done to reuse these masses of steel so I thought I'd share.

Seems as though more people are using shipping containers for single family homes as well as condos and apartment buildings more now.  It seemed like before it was just an idea that wasn't really being used.

Shipping containers are sold by shipping lines after about 10 years and it seems like they sell pretty cheap (as low as $1,200!) used and new (upwards of $6k).  One homeowner used shipping containers that were refigerated so insulation was already included.  Using shipping containers for buildings is easy since they are made to stack on top of and next to each other.

These homes are by Cargotecture.  They had the last one at PCBC and we were able to walk through it.  It was fascinating that all your amenities could be contained in such a small space.  Obviously if you went from a regular home to this, you would have to have another storage for miscellaneous things and purge your life of everything.  Sometimes that sounds like a dream when I'm trying to organize my office!

A different approach - converting a warehouse space into work space!  They put in these shipping containers to create different rooms and offices.  Looks like they have a few in there!  With some slight modifications liek a side door and a window, you've got yourself the most desired office of them all!  What a fun environment to work in!

This 3 bedroom house is made of 3 shipping containers (refigerated) that Leger Wanaselja Architecture designed above the San Francisco Bay.  A truly gorgeous, eco friendly home!  The inside is gorgeous and you would never geuss you were in a shipping container!

These beautiful grounds are student housing in Paris France that were recently built.  Shipping containers are usually about 8 feet wide (which could be bigger than a regular dorm, right?) and usually 20' or 40' long.  They reused over 100 shipping containers!

I definitely have too many things I can't part with to be able to live in a container home, but I would love to experience it sometime in my life.  They should start making shipping container hotels!  They have one that Travelodge made in London, and there's another one in Amsterdam!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Thanksgiving is the time of the year where it's cold, possibly rainy, the leaves are on the ground and beautiful colors, a time to give thanks for all that you and loved ones have, but it's also one of those holidays where you serve a feast at your table!

Setting a dining table is something I look forward to when I have a home and cook my first Thanksgiving meal. But how do you set the table to not have clutter on the table if you're trying to put food on the table too!??  A lot of the settings I've seen on websites and in magazines seem to have the food kept elsewhere so not take away from their design and setup.

You can set up your table with leaves, Thanksgiving themed decor, branches, nature themed items, or just go with the colors of Thanksgiving and fall.  Oranges, browns, dark greens are all beautiful together.  Even if you just focus on the colors, you'll still be able to bring the Thanksgiving feel to your table!

You can take these colors as your inspiration for a brighter table!

Pumpkins aren't just for Halloween!  The small pumpkins could be used to decoration, to put on top of the plates, or make a slit in the top of them for name cards!

I liked the idea of having pictures of loved ones as the centerpiece, and the fresh pair with the pin in it for the name card holder.

Creative name card holders can really bring your table together and as you can see, the possibilities are endless!!

The name card holders at a table are what your guests see when they first sit down so they are vital to coordinating with your table.  When they first come in, they will look at your table, but when they're sitting at the table for the big feast, they'll have more time for look at every detail!!

ENJOY AND GIVE THANKS!

Dining By Design 2011

These white, glossy, 'toned' chairs at the Room Service table greeted guests!

This year I got a ticket to the Table Hop at DIFFA's Dining By Design 2011.  Yes.  It's true.  Last year was the first year I'd been, well I volunteered so I didn't get to see much.  This post will be long, but you'll love it!

From 6-10pm, the San Francisco Design Center is full of amazing dining rooms, unique table settings, delicious food, drinks, a silent auction, a DJ, and a ton of designers, architects, students, interns, clients, design teams, etc.

I showed up by myself at first, caught up with some old classmates, checked out the tables and talked to a couple designers to find out their inspiration and how they accomplished their design.  When my boss came, we went around again, spoke with some designers and checked out the tables.

While on the 3rd floor, we crossed paths with Claudia Juestel and I talked to her about her blog and mentioned my design blog.  Last semester she spoke to our class at Mavelous and told us what to expect, which really woke me up!  After her advice, I got magazine subscriptions, read blogs and got a (GREAT!) internship. I loved talking to everyone and I can't wait for the next event!

Enjoy these one of a kind works of art!

Claudia took me over to this table later in the night and told me that the designer (AA Silverstein) designed every thing in this dining room setup with the exception of the abalone shells.  Absolutely amazing.

Gary Hutton, a crystal inspired table.  The outer structure is shaped like the crystals on the table.

Gensler's table.  Breathtaking as with anything they do.  My friend Michelle Heinemann was on the design team for this project.  They came on Wednesday and wrapped all the colored ribbon you see themselves!  It turned out amazing and probably the most eye popping table!

Applegate Tran Interiors.  LOVED the yellow popping against the black and white.  The dining table is made of Corian and they filled the middle with water and duckies :)  A playful twist in the white and black dining room.

School of Interior Architecture and Design (hosted by Academy of Art).  Those white lines aren't a glare coming from my camera, those are strings that the students put up!  Each string comes out of the hole in the back, goes against the back wall and continues until it reaches the edge.  Not a flaw at all!  I saw this being set up and they did less than half of the strings in about 8hrs.  That's dedication!

J. Hettinger Interiors.  Another friend of mine is the design assistant here, Stephanie Yeraka, said they made this chandelier!  I thought it was amazing BEFORE I learned that!

Bashford and Dale Interiors.  During the event, a guy in a lab coat would come out and make the dry ice effect over the table.  It was a great addition.

I took more pictures the day after and the wonderful rising sun (about 1030am) gave me these beautiful shadows.  I love the place settings with the squares from the Periodic Table.  Dedicated to those searching for a cure!

Drinks By Design Communal Tables.  They did three tables, each with a different element theme.  This one was Earth with the flooring all different types of ground covering.  There were plants, these wooden chairs (below), cocoons hanging from above and dragonfly light strings.

Anu Paul Designs.  This table had peacocks on either side (below), themed as a romantic fantasy dream.  In the background you can see the painting on the wall up a hill to a castle.  I loved the peacocks because they have so much rich, beautiful colors that could make any designer weak in the knees.

Pourna USA.  I loved the plate settings at their table.  I'm not sure what you would call them, but I love the decoration on the left of the plates!

Design Collaboration.  They did three tables as well with different themes.  This table was the celebration of Elizabeth Taylor's wedding the in the 1950s.  Below is the teacups that were on this table.

I wish I had this to add to my teacup collection!  So elegant and beautiful.

Hartmann Studios.  I saw the walls being brought in, covered in a red fabric.  A gorgeous, beautiful, luscious red can stop a girl in her tracks!  Especially THIS girl!  Not only did the red flow through to the pomegranate, but they opened up the fruit to show the color of the seeds.  The mellow plant green was the accent, not the vibrant red!  The green was in the stems, the chairs at the end and the napkins.  I think a lot of people were drawn to this table because it was so bold and bright.

The end of a night that I didn't want to end.  Taken from the third floor at the end of the night.

I hope you enjoyed seeing photos as much as I enjoyed being there!  The first 10 minutes were kind of a blur because I was in awe of the view when you walk in.  Anytime I hear about DBD,  I think about those first tables I saw last year, completely byside myself that what I was seeing was real!   It's still sort of unreal to me that I was there, but I'm so grateful to my boss and everyone I came across.  You truly made my night and I can not wait for the next event!