After red, white and blue for Memorial Day and the 4th of July, mix it up for Labor Day with a nod to Rosie the Riveter with polka dots, blue denim and yellow. “We Can Do It!” was her slogan and that is certainly true today. We can do whatever we put our minds to. Either way pull together some random gears and have a festive weekend! I used to entertain a lot more but I have fun putting the table together with or without guests!
Zen
T
his beautiful fabric with embroidered detailing would be perfect for upholstered walls in a quiet yoga space or meditation room. The carpet completes the look. You don’t have enough room for a dedicated space? Your office or bedroom may have a corner for your peaceful endeavors while adding the calming feeling for work and/or sleep. Namaste!
From Sedona to saltillo tile we are bonded with terra cotta colors
Recent “Colors of the year” by major paint companies were terracotta-based and so suited to the Southwest. This beautiful tile represents the inspiration one looks for to begin the process of pulling together enough samples of floor coverings, fabrics, tiles and accessories for an entire area or home to have continuity. The search for inspiration is the most critical step in the design process. Neutral floors will give the continuity needed and the adjoining spaces may have the darker color tones, the lighter, blue added or not. We don’t change our homes yearly so color preferences usually emerge as we age. With this consistency of choice you can surround yourself with your collection, change it up with smaller accents, seasonal and holiday additions and move with your favorites making it home!
Black and white just gets better and better!
These gorgeous black and white marble slabs can be used for flooring, stairs, counter-tops and back-splash to give the WOW! factor everyone wants. And unlike other colors black is black so combining other fabrics is simple. The additional tiles can be added to the mix or used to continue the look in an adjoining area. Seasonal accents? Not a problem with this versatile backdrop. A neutral has never been more exciting!
Correct Ceiling Height for Bathrooms
It happens all the time! The ceilings are high in the main part of the home and the bathroom ceilings are left at the same height! This is a design flaw that reflects on your architect!! Ceilings in smaller spaces need to be lower to maintain proportion. Either with a new build or a remodel, corrections can be made. The ceiling can be framed out, drywall added and the scale of the room is back to a more comfortable height. In the two baths pictured, we elected to add details to avoid the feeling of too much overhead space. Often air conditioning ducts need to be considered. Lighting fixtures can extend down and fill the space.
In the bath with the arches, we welded together pre-made squares to fit the space and the lighting is above, creating interesting designs within the powder room.
The other bath had an atypical flow as the homeowner added a urinal after the fact. To fill the space, medallions that are typically at the ceiling around the top of a chandelier were extended with custom poles enclosing a LED lamp. The design adds interest, corrects the space issue and creates a path to give the bath flow.
Developing Your Space
The client owned this custom rug so we made it the focal point of the living area. It definitely has the WOW! factor! We ordered custom Marge Carson chairs to coordinate, painted the adjoining dining room wall (right side of photo), purchased the metal art sculpture (left side of photo) custom designed metal reversed C’s to fill a big space over the windows and hand painted squares to finish the repetition of color (right side of photo). Of course, we threw a few pillows as well!
Fabric Inspirations
Now that we have been home for a while perhaps we are looking around and realizing we need to upgrade or improve some areas. These beautiful fabrics and carpets inspire innovation! Shown here with two different carpet samples, these fabrics could become draperies, a coverlet or big accent pillows. With wood floors, either of the carpets could become an area rug or wall to wall carpeting. Let one of them inspire you to enjoy your space more with an update!
Just the Right Tile Pattern
After many searches for a client’s remodeling project, I finally saw this tile with a color combination I liked more than anything else I had seen. It could be used indoors or out and was inexpensive! Felix, my tile contractor, fabricated a top for my outdoor table eliminating the glass top that was labor intensive to maintain. Six months later it was also perfect for a client’s laundry and certainty added interest to an otherwise plain space and hall.
