This girl {moi} fashions herself as a bit of foodie and I do enjoy all that tasty delights that Los Angeles has to offer. I recently grabbed a few bites at Stark Bar before touring around LACMA on a lovely Sunday afternoon. The bone marrow was beyond deliciousness and the goat meat and goat cheese flatbread was smokey and just great. I look forward to going back….
I’d definitely be up for more camping if these were my digs. I really do enjoy the concept of “roughing it” in the great outdoors, but I also like to be comfortable and warm. Perhaps I’m just more of the glamping type?
Heading off to beautiful Bass Lake to boat on the lake, make s’mores, and enjoy time with nine friends; great end to the summer.
My latest new obsession and favorite pastime is pinning photos to my virtual tackboard online with Pinterest. Do you Pin? Well, I highly recommend it. Here’s a roundup of a few of my pins…hard to pick my favorites, that would be like picking a favorite child or pet, so instead, here are a few that I have curated to share here. I love seeing what others find pin worthy too.
Endless hours of discovering and visual enjoyment!
I’ve always loved the color blue and I have noticed that my projects often reflect that; it may just be my go-to color and I really enjoy working with blues of all shades. While selecting paints for the interior of a current project, I realized just how much I really love dark teal. Could this be my favorite color? At the moment it certainly is. A deep dark shade of what I like to call Peacock!
Just painted the back of some bookcases in a Victorian home in Dunn Edwards’ Encore Teal; really loving it!
And how about these glossy walls below – so groovy….
{Images via Pinterest & Decorpad (glossy painted walls interior)}
This bathroom is calling my name. I would love to come home after a long day to decompress in this space; very serene and just the right mix of minimalist and glam…. love the tub faucet detail, nice touch. I’ll take one of these please, yep.
Be sure to hop on over to Apartment Therapy’s House Tour that posted today. It features the residence of my client and his very crisp and stylish remodeled condo. He’s a good sport – posing for the photo.
{image via Bethany Nauert}
Check out yours trulys’ bedroom in the article Home on the Grain on page 50 of this new online magazine. The article is a feature on Chad Petersen and Dakota Witzenburg of todosomething, but it just so happens to feature the bedroom of my warehouse residence that Chad and I share and the lovely kitchen belonging to Dakota and his family.
Krista & Jessica of Collected have curated a great first issue – hats off to you ladies for all your hard work! I love the aesthetic that they’ve created.
{photo via Destined to Design}I am working on a beach house project and would LOVE to use this first Knotty Bubbles fixture in white by Lindsey Adelman Studio over the dining table. So unique….
I find myself tempted time and again to rewrite my website bio and create a more authentic blurb that expresses how I feel about the experience and process of working with my clients. Often this happens when I read the “about” page of a fellow designer and I realize, “wow, that is exactly what I think too”.
So until the day that the just-so-perfect words find me and I revise my bio, here are the thoughts and comments from two interior designers about their processes that I really did enjoy reading. I hope you do too.
I am very collaborative designer. My goal is to help my clients create the house of their dreams. It isn’t my dream, it’s theirs. But my approach to decorating for myself and for others is similar. I ask a lot of questions and collect as much inspirational imagery as possible. Then I write what I love about each image on a post-it. All the pictures help me build the room in my head. I also spend time thinking about how the space is going to be used
Brooke Giannetti – via Rue Magazine
*******************************************************
My car is filled with fabric samples, old coffee cups and crumbled up paint chips. My office is not the beautiful neat organized office you may see on the pages of a magazine. The glossy white walls and perfectly p-touched folders are an illusion. I am proud of the homes I have decorated. I think they look wonderful on my website. But people live in them and there are stains on the ottoman and the peonies only make it to the mantel for the photo shoots and parties. I feel my success comes from something one can not photograph. The most fun I have aside designing sassy bars and cute powder rooms, is creating livable rooms and becoming part of someone’s family. I watch their purse carefully and in return I gain trust. And a great house is the outcome.
So . . . I am just a decorator. Big staff, great store or small garage office.. I have not changed. I have realized that my goal is not do so many things in this industry that I forget to decorate. I still schlep lampshades in my car and the highlight of my day is going downtown to check on carpentry in a old warehouse. Glamorous this job is not. However, I live and breathe to have a relationship with a home and the people that live in it. My goal is not have people remark at parties that Ruthie designed the most amazing aubergine lacquered room. But it is to hear that they were treated carefully, honestly and creatively. And that . . . is all I need.
Ruthie Sommers via her website
What a great surprise to find that Marcia Prentice from Apartment Therapy included me in her recent article that featured seven interior designers to watch. It was great to be recognized in such great company. You may see one of my projects showcased on AT’s House Tour in the coming months; I’ll be sure to update when that happens. Read the article here…enjoy!
I have been very fortunate to work with really great clients who make my job enjoyable; it’s usually those great relationships that result in the best finished project. This new year is off to a refreshing start with design projects for repeat clients and interesting spaces for few new connections I’ve made too. I may be less active here on my blog, but it is definitely for good reason.
I’ve got to get cracking so I can share photographs of finished work….that is of course, when said rooms are actually photo ready and finished enough to share!
Wishing you a bright and shiny holiday season and brilliant 2011!
The second installment of my favorite things is dedicated to my love of paper goods; stationery and letterpress. I often have to restrain myself from buying every card, gift tag and stationary set I come across, I want them all. I really should beef up my collection and frame them as artwork – great idea!
…and a handwritten note is such a pleasure to give & receive….
Can you believe it? It’s is December and nearly Christmas. Yep, already; the finale of 2010 is upon us. There are three birthdays in my family in the month of December so you would think that I’d be prepared and have my gift giving planned and taken care of long before the season arrives, but I never do! So it is always a busy, busy time.
One thing that I love regardless of the season is wrapping a beautiful package; whether it is simple and understated in brown paper with twine or an over the top gift box with baubles galore. In the sprirt of the holidays I decided to share a few of my favorite things this week as we lead up to Christmas day……here is the first!
Over the last few weeks I pulled off the styling task of creating a booth at Unique LA for Kindred Stones. I shopped at the Rosebowl Flea Market for mirrors, thrift shopped for a few more, got a local furniture vendor to generously loan chairs, and then went to work designing a concept for a show space worthy of featuring Kindred Stones’ gemstone jewelry. The palette I worked off of was combination of subtle and soft neutrals {grey, cream, brown} that resemble the Kindred Stones brand and coordinate with the aesthetic of their soon-to-launch website.
I arrived last Friday armed with a 40 yard roll of Muslin and my sewing machine, and came ready to transform the simple acylic walled booth into something beautiful. It was a fun project and a rare treat too; it’s not very often that I get the satisfaction of producing a project in such a short turnaround time.
Shown above is co-creator Dr. Trish Flynn of Kindred Stones looking stylish in the booth.
Special thanks to Cisco Home in Pasadena for their willingness to loan their chairs; they were much needed and put to good use. Trish customized jewelry for Unique LA shoppers and the center table and velvet Art chairs from Cisco were ground central for all that creating. Thank you again to Laura Kate & Trish for the opportunity to collaborate; this was a lot of fun!
Unique LA comes again in the spring!
See you there….
In honor of Thanksgiving I share with you the most delicious meal I had this fall; Pumpkin Stuffed with Everything Good – so, so amazingly great! You might need to hang on to this tasty recipe until next season when you have the perfect pumpkin (hint: it also works with squash, such as Butternut), but it will be well worth the wait. I modified the recipe a bit, omitted the heavy cream, swapping it for a bit of goat milk (lactose allergy) and chicken stock, plus I added sauted onion. Used two smallish pumpkins that were the perfect servings for our dinner date party of four and served with greens and Framboise raspberry beer. It was a giant success and I plan to make it again, the ingredient options are endless.
Here is the recipe from Epicurious….Bon Appetite!
Just had to share my latest purchase to be added to my inventory of Craft supplies and goodies; Brass Fabric Shears from Spartan in Austin TX. I was smitten when I found these beauties and decided that I must have a set. They’ll be a great compliment to my Singer sewing machine that I received for my 30th birthday nearly two years ago {where did the time go?}. I have many sewing projects that I aspire to start and this could be just the tool that kick-starts it all into gear….plus the wet fall weather we’ve had in Los Angeles lately really has me in the mood for all things domestic & nesting-ish. Stay tuned for my adventures into Canning too!
It’s October and Halloween is upon us. What better room of the modern home to highlight than the Foyer, where all great Trick-or-Treating happens! Welcome those darling Cats, Spidermen, Ghosts, Fairy Princesses & Pumpkins and fill their candy pails with something sweet…. and meanwhile dazzle-up your entry, doorsteps and lawns with all things gool-ish and frightful!
Now, please enjoy the fall mood and architectural delights on these three spaces….
TV’s can be tough to when balancing form and function in interior design. You want a space that serves it’s required purpose, but perhaps you don’t want said television to be such a huge dominating focal point. Here is a very clever and well executed design by Jim & Phoebe Howard the husband and wife design team that custom crafted this etegere bookcase that effortlessly appears to house the TV as if the television just-so-happened-to-magically-fit-the-cavity…oh whoops, what a welcome accident!
Browse the rest of their design in this Manhattan abode in the pages of House Beautiful for the Designer Visions Showhouse. I love that they based this apartment {on the film} Something’s Gotta Give’s main characters Erica & Harry…. this is the silver screen couple’s “city living” house imagined by the Howard’s that marrys their two different, but harmonius design aesthetics. Bravo!
These are so fun. Pinatas and confetti are all grown-up and glam’d-up too.
These sparkled wonders are available through Bergdorf’s and Urban Outfitters and I want one! I am really digging the entire concept that the design duo team at CONFETTISYSTEMS has made into a full service creative installation service. Metallic streamer garlands – sign me up!
It’s been all over the blogosphere. This isn’t terribly “hot-off-the-press” news, but you must take a peak at the newest of the online shelter publications to hit the market: Rue!
Watch out Lonny, there is competition at your heals! It will be interesting to see how the online magazine biz grows over the next year and who is the next hot thing on the block. One thing is for sure, the team at Rue is packed with talented ladies making their mark on the industry – I love it! Check out the inaugural issue and some highlight pics below…. and check out the mag here.…..
Occassionaly, without any question of doubt, I stumble across an interior {or in this case a antique piece of furniture}, and I absolutely fall in love. Something speaks to me so strongly about it that I either want it for myself or I start scanning my mental list of potential projects that could use such a gem.
These chairs sang to me! I love to contrast of the organic textural {silk? No, linen} fabric and distressed wood finish, with the lovely punch of color in the Ikat pillows have. Take a tour of Eric Cohler’s pad over at the NY Social Diary and see what other gems he has packed in his visual treat of a home. I especially love that he used them in such a contrasting environment….
Also…below is a very telling quote by Cohler about the design biz, when asked to comment about Interior Design being a demanding profession:
People do not realize how demanding it is. They think you just go out to lunch and then you go look at some pretty fabrics. Not at all. If we eat lunch it’s in a cab or in an elevator. And the rest of the time we’re in the workroom or with a client or on the road. And we work until ten o’clock at night
Come check out this great event that I am participating in taking place in Brentwood this weekend. Visit the event’s blog for the address, map and list of participating designers and vendors. Go to the blog here!
Don’t miss this high-end yard sale featuring LA Designer’s overstock! I am personally selling rolls of wallpaper, pillows, lamps, vases – many great deals. The entire sale is cash only, with items priced $2 – $200 max.
10am – 2pm, $10 Cash entrance fee – silent auction, raffle and goodie bags for the first 30 attendees!
I had the pleasure of a late afternoon nap this past weekend. It was a rare treat and if you are anything like me, nothing beats a comfortable bed and fresh crisp sheets, especially when stealing moments of needed rest. When I think about great bedrooms from past issues of my favorite magazines I can’t help fondly recall a bedroom that was sharply designed, while still being somewhat un-fussy. It is this first room, shot for LA Times, which was also featured in my former flame’s {Domino Mag} Sept 2007 issue. I love the styling of the shot with the slightly unmade bed belonging to Libertine’s Johnson Hartig. His room is so mysteriusly dark but also equally comfortable and inviting; a room that I could definitely see myself escaping to enjoy a good book and a chilled drink on a hot day.
What could be more appropriate for summer bedroom than a row boat hanging over the bed? Love this layered interior in the home of Jeffrey Alan Marks. When I came across this spread in the June ELLE DECOR I was reminded of how great the fabric pattern used on the upholstered bench is. It is Carnival from Cloth by Christopher Farr; this inspired me to use this fun and bold floral in current project. Excited!
This last bedroom by Kara Mann has me wishing I was on vacation. I’d gladly accept this room as my oasis while traveling… especially if it had an ocean view. The metal armchair by Casamidy is lovely, I happen to be using one of their similarly styled armchairs for a desk in a Library, upholstered in a great stripe by Raoul Textiles. Can’t wait to receive it!
Here’s to wishing you a weekend of fun and sun. I hope your 4th looks a little bit like this….
Come check out this great event being held next month, July 31st, in Brentwood. Many good finds at great prices to be found – everything is only $5 to $200. Previews of furniture and a list of participating vendors and designers can be found on the event’s blog here and below! See you there!
Interior Designers
Alie Waldman of Alie Waldman Home Couture
Bridgid Coulter of Bridgid Coulter Design
Brittany Stiles of Brittany Stiles Interior Design
Christopher Gaona of Christopher Gaona Design
Cozette Coffman of Cozette Coffman Design
Hillary Thomas of Hillary Thomas Designs
Jolene Ballard and Amanda Malson of Domicile Interior Design
Kelly Van Patter of Van Patter Designs
Kristen Hutchins of Kristen Hutchins Design
Marcia Zia and Paul Priven of Zia-Priven
Meredith Miller of Sunday Land
Sabina Vavra of Madison West Interiors
Sasha Emerson of Sasha Emerson Design
Suzan Fellman of Suzan Fellman Showroom
Stores/Vendors
Fyndes (accessories, furniture, art)
27 Ground (rugs, pillows)
Agnes & Hoss (pillows, handbags, scarves, gifts)
Alex K. Mason (fine art)
Carrie Burckle (hand screen-printed table linens)
D. L. Rhein (pillows, frames, rugs)
Ferrick Mason (textiles, pillows)
Inheritance (home goods, accessories)
Jardins En Fleur (accessories)
Jiti Bedding (bedding)
Jordan Cappella (candles)
Krislyn Design (decorative objects)
Nomad Style (rugs, fabrics and accessories)
Pennyroyal Planters (planters)
Rock Scissor Paper (home accessories)
Kitchens. They are the heart of the home. So it it seems very appropriate to start a new monthly feature highlighting this central room of our daily lives. At my house, we are in the home stretch of a bit of crafty renovation on our warehouse; the beau has tirelessly built out a new bedroom for us closer to the kitchen and living rooms, including a fabulously well executed closet {thank you!} ….all 18 feet of it.
So I am now itching to continue revamping our space and the kitchen would ideally be next. Until that dream becomes a reality, I will happily collect these inspirational images of industrial-esque kitchens that are perfectly well suited for our unconventional urban space. One thing that all these photos have that we don’t: lovely windows of daylight flowing into the kitchen {I suppose that is the difference between Loft living and Warehouse living}. We’ll have to settle for what we’ve got with 15ft ceilings and a skylight; which is definitely charming on rainy days!
This Kitchen above is a bit too refined, but I loved the causal straw pendants and the striped rugs!
This last image below is from the latest issue of Lonny Magazine…I love the combo of colors and materials. LOVE the painted base cabinets and the fact that they opted to forgo upper cabinets. With such great bones architecturally and a Hamptons view outside, who can blame them! I’ll save this gem for my future home when it’s time to move on from the warehouse.
I would likely select a different barstool for my own twist, but the rest is fab!
Hot off the press…literally. I am beyond excited to get my hands on a copy and see it live. The book launch party is Tuesday June 15th 6:30 to 8:30pm in Santa Monica at Weego Home and the Urban Craft Center {which looks like such a cool place – can’t wait!}. Everyone is welcome to attend – click here to RSVP!
It will be a great night and I look forward to mingling with my fellow CRAVE LA ladies, many of whom I suggested be in the book; thrilled that they are included!
I’ve been working with a stylish young bachelor designing two outdoor living rooms for his balcony style patios. What better way to extend your liveable space into the outdoors than to create a functional and relaxing room outside! Feast on these inspirational images of outdoor lounging and dining spaces that are perfect for sunbathing, relaxing with an icy beverage, or entertaining friends… time to get your outdoor cushions prepped and your bar cart fully stocked.
Summer. Bring it on!
this Thom Filica deck above makes my heart swoon!
Had to share this excellently unique stone fireplace. Featured on Martha Stewart’s site from a modern lake house in her House Tours section….this is very inviting.
Love the mid-century style, especially the fish themed side table!
You must go. Really. Rolling Greens in Culver City has always been a delightful store to visit, I really love their original location, not to mention the great blooms, plants and friendly service. Now they have expanded to include a home store on Beverly that is beautiful and welcoming; I could have read every book and smelled every candle if I had the time. Check it out. You won’t be dissapointed. Great place to get a orchid arrangement, fresh flowers or the best faux flowers available at their arrangement bar.
It’s an oasis….
Had a great morning attending panels and mingling at the Legends of La Cienega Design Quarter events. Great insights heard at the panel held at George Smith with bloggers from Apartment Therapy, Coco & Kelley (met Cassandra, she is so nice!), Oh Joy!, and Remodelista.
Now back to work preparing a fun presentation for Monday al la’ Anthropologie-meets-John Robshaw in a Cape Cod abode! Have a great weekend….
Got a small kitchen? Under 150 sqft? Submit your space to thekitchn.com’s blog and get featured…
Small Cool Homes 2010 is in its final stages at Apartment Therapy, but Small Cool Kitchens is just beginning! Today we kick off our celebration of small(ish) kitchens and the smart ways that people use their real-life spaces to create nourishing, delicious food.
Do you have a small, cool kitchen? Have you improved it in ways large or small? Do you love to cook there? If so, we want to see it. The top three reader favorites will get great packages of kitchen goodies, too — but the real point is to share good ideas and inspiring pictures, and learn how to get our kitchens in even better shape. Are you ready??
I am attending the April gathering of the DNG this Thursday evening – you going? Checking out the new tile showroom Fillmore Clark - curious to see all that they have!…. and to mingle too.
Check out the DNG blog here for more info on the group. The monthly networking events are held the last Thursday of every month at various showrooms, galleries and stores throughout Los Angeles and are organized by Vanessa DeVargas of Turquoise LA.
If you find yourself in Dallas, you have to check out The Bishop Arts District; an area full of unique boutiques in a very charming neighborhood. There you will find Bolsa Market & Wine Bar – their food was delicious, fresh and well presented and the decor was very comfortable and inviting. Just the type of joint you could relax and linger at for a good long while…. I love food….
Happy Earth Day folks. I attended an interesting lecture yesterday at the PDC given by Timothy Corrigan. I thought I would pose a question that he posed to the group of attendees:
“what is your decorating footprint?”
I have to admit that “green” design hasn’t always been a philosophy that I’ve applied to my projects, but I was reminded that I don’t have to revolutionize my methods of design, but just make smarter choices. A true difference can be made at the start of a project when the construction planning begins; select FSC certified lumber or recycled steel and use Blue Jean insulation! How fabulous is that?
Let us all in the design industry, as Timothy stated, “design responsibly and make home-health a priority”. Corrigan has line of home cleaning products and he even has an Eco cleaner for fine silver – good to know!
White kitchens, designers covet them. They are crisp and calming; the perfect supporting feature for creating tasty fare (or in my case a huge mess…I am trying to learn to clean as I cook!…I digress). How about jazzing up your white kitchen with a fun and simple paint accent?
These three kitchens did just that, perfect for spring; bright & happy pops of color inside the upper cabinets!
photo credits: (1) photographer Matthew Hranek, (2) designer Gill Schafer, (3) unkown – all sourced from HouseBeautiful.com
Join us Saturday May 1st for a day of shopping & mimosas!
I am hosting this event in the home of one of my clients (a very generous client – thank you!). Come check out my work first-hand while browsing the gemstone pieces from Trish Flynn & Laura Kate Jones’ jewelry line, Kindred Stones. Sip on samples of Naja Tea and meet Naja to learn about her gourmet loose leaf tea blends. Need a Mothers Day gift? Look no further!!!
Hope to see you there…
11am to 2pm May 1st in Santa Monica
I’ll give away a complimentary Interior Color Consult – need one? Come win it!
I Delivered these fun pillows to a client today.
A cheery & playful mix of fabrics that two sisters share in their playroom. The daybed & cover are from West Elm and everything else was hand picked and custom fabricated. I especially love the yellow cotton-chintzed pattern; which was used on both the round & the rectangular accent pillows {center detail shot}. Click on each photo in the gallery below to view a larger image!
Don’t we all wish that we could all be 7 years old with a stylish daybed of Donghia Ikat & Amy Lau fabrics…. It’s fun living vicariously through my projects!
Can’t get enough of the feature outfit from Dolce & Gabbana’s recent spring fashion week show. Lonny Magazine featured it in their Feb/ March issue and I immediately fell in love. Could I please wear this everyday?
the ballroom at Baccarat’s headquarters, by Philippe Starck….
LOVE Starck’s marriage of the extremes….crystal & gold opulence, paired with down-home ranch simplicity…with super flat and simple silk seat cushions, of course!
The following images are interiors that Alie and I recently used as inspiration for a fun Venice Beach Bungalow makeover. The concept was relaxed and chic, with a monochromatic palette, + pops of black. All of these rooms are so inviting, slightly casual and relaxed, and just yummy. I love the combo of white & camel!
The Bungalow is a work in progress, one that the client is going to complete in phases. No photos to share yet….
Top photo: Nate Berkus, 2 following photos: designer unknown, bottom photo: Chris Kraig for Suite NY
Completely head-over-heels obsessed with this saffron trim from Kelly Wearstler’s collection for Lee Jofa.
Love, love, love…..would be great as trimming on a sofa skirt, window treatments or a fabulously plump throw pillow!
I had just fallen smitten with matte-black Penny Round tiles for my own bathroom; perfect for the warehouse, (think industrial warehouse / loft living in downtown LA) and I happen to be on a black kick at the moment too. I discovered a tile sample from Modwalls in the depths of my box of resources and then came across this photo. LOVE it!
How lovely and simple does this space look? It is a bathroom suite at the The Hotel Saint Ceilia resort in Austin. Remodelista posted the hotel recently and it looks like a niffty getaway. I’d like to go induldge!
Excited to finally have the website ready. Glad you are here to check it out; check in often for regular updates and blog posts.
Cheers!
The “after” photos are finally shot and move-in day for the families is getting closer as the construction crew wraps up the final touches on the exterior of the building! The opening event was a success with the local residents of Culver City and members of the media who attended, really having no shortage of positive “oohs” and “ahhs”, as they toured the completed spaces. It was great to see such a good turnout to celebrate the end of several fast and crazy weeks.
Photographer Laure Joilet, was very generous, and donated an entire day to shooting all the designer’s spaces; thank you Laure!
Check out the following blogs that featured various designers from the Upward Bound House project, including moi! The first photo in the post by blogger Haily Zaki from Inhabitat is of my space.
The GOODS design blog also featured the Upward Bound Project! Thanks Alissa for mentioning my work. The blue wall paint Alissa inquired about (which was very generously donated by Benjamin Moore) is #717 Paradiso from the Classic Collection mixed in their eco formula Natura. Several other people also commented that they also liked the color; just a cheery, pleasant color to live with! She also called the bedding stunning! Since the budget was so extremely tight, I did a ton of budget shopping and got the bedding from Ikea & Bed Bath & Beyond; found some really great and unique shams that didn’t scream out “retail”!
Check out the post from the Grace Hilton blog here.
Gone are the days that I can enjoy desserts of the dairy variety, without fear that I’ll be rushed to the emergency room (thank goodness for Vegan bakeries). But,….fun news!
the originator of the cupcake craze, Magnolia Bakery of NYC, is coming to 3rd street in West Hollywood; and possibly just to tempt me!
As a unofficial connoisseur of baked goods, I have rarely met a cupcake I didn’t like. Since Vegan bakeries are popping up all over and often tasty, I feel less and less left out. Lark in Silverlake serves up very tasty Vegan Banana & Orange Chocolate varities and even has a 2 for 1 special on Wednesdays.
When in need of a chocolate fix, I often daydream about the Vegan hostess cupcakes at Real Food Daily or the chocolate cake from Urth Caffe!
You’re Invited! The opening event for Upward Bound House is this Friday, January 29th @ 1pm; I hope to see you there. The Mayor of Culver City is slated to speak and all the hardworking designers, contractors and volunteers will be recognized for their countless hours and efforts in making this project a reality.
It has often times been exhausting, especially now, as the last few days are upon us, but the end result will be well worth it! It has been very rewarding to be a part of the difference that this project is making and a giant round of applause to all the participating vendors who assisted me in getting all the materials & labor I needed donated; I couldn’t have done this without your contributions!
Many thanks to:
Comfort Design, todosomething, DBS Drawers, Kern’s Woodworking, EB Bradley Hardware, Frank’s Designs, Benjamin Moore, Valspar, Eclectics, and artist Shannon Chapman and painter Pablo Robles!
Here is another round of before & after shots, this time of the kitchen. I really love designing kitchens, especially the initial planning of a space when all the ideas are flowing out on paper as loose sketches, before the true hard-lined plans are set and decided; it feels like a very hopeful and optimistic moment of the process.
I enjoy exploring the functionality of kitchen layouts and attempting to get inside the head of each my client’s to determine how they will use their dream kitchen. Perhaps that is partly because I personally love food so much and enjoy cooking and baking, so I assume that everyone else does too! Always a fascinating exercise.
Some specifics on this kitchen: cabinets are cherry wood, both solid & veneer, with a custom dark walnut stain. Countertops are Caeserstone with a handmade terracotta tile backsplash in persian blue, (I included the a tile closeup detail photo; one of my favorite elements of this project and favorite pics from Josh) with porcelain travertine floors. The orange walls are Yolo paint, which is a Eco product; they have really wonderful colors. I fought for the pop of color on the wall and it really made a statement, and the snappy brightness is completely complementary to all the subtle neutrals and blues throughout the rest of the interior.
It was an exciting day today. Had my CRAVE photo shoot with the very talented Kate Romero for the upcoming guidebook. CRAVE is a brand based out of Seattle that informatively connects urban gals to all there is to know about their city. How? Through Soirees, gatherings, online networking and their unique guidebooks, which are “an Urban girl’s guide to all that you CRAVE”.
I am thrilled to be a part of the project. Other businesswomen and entreprenesses featured include, Pop Physique & Lake in Silverlake, Pussy & Pooch, Kate Somerville, Fiore Beauty, + many more! The release date is likely late spring and I can’t wait for it to hit shelves*!
What do you CRAVE?
*CRAVE LA books can be purchased directly through Cozette Coffman Design. Contact me to get your copy!
For your viewing pleasure! Check out the gallery of amazing before and after shots of the Santa Monica residence, taken by the very talented Josh Perrin. It was fantastic that Josh was able to document the interior before the renovation, definitely capturing angles that really tell a good story with the after shots, which were also shot by Josh. The house really had great bones and was in good shape for it’s age, or perhaps it just had details that only a designer could love, but it was a great clean slate to work with.
A few cosmetic changes and voila! Enjoy….
The Iron work on the stair railing is one of my favorite details, it turned out great! The same pattern of ironwork was also used in the partition panels that separate the dining and living rooms. There had been very wide opening with the header running across that we demo’d out to open up the rooms; made a huge difference!
Vanessa De Vargas of Turqouise and Erica Islas of EMI Inteirors, are spearheading a great project, securing 18 LA interior designers to each “adopt” an apartment at the newest location of Upward Bound in Culver City. Upward Bound House is a social service agency and family shelter that assists homeless families with children, with emergency housing for 90 days and each one of these newly renovated and decorated units will house 4 families over the course of one year. I have just signed on to be a part of this exciting undertaking!
Vanos Architects, as well as the Construction crew, are all hard at work and underway revamping a former Budget Motel on Washington Blvd into the 18 room shelter with a completion date of January 29th quickly approaching.
Here is the list of participating designers:
Vanessa De Vargas, Erica Islas, Rhonda Konowalow Angell, Christie Biberich, Elizabeth Bomberger, Jessica Brende, Melissa Capehart, Cozette Coffman, Brigid Coulter, Nadia Geller, Linda Graveline, Kelly LaPlante, Cory Pernicano, Typhanie Peterson, Carlos Rios, Nicole Sassaman, Lynea Schwieters, & Rachel Winokur.
Can you make a tax deductible donation to the project? Contact me!
I have to admit that I wasn’t too quick to join the blogosphere bandwagon, but I’ve been reading and following blogs more seriously over the last year or so, mostly on the subject of design or cooking. So it seems as though the time has come now for me to take the plunge, join the masses, and embark on the blogging platform too.
My posts will highlight the latest happenings with my business, design inspirations and interesting musings, as well as the occasional food fascination and entries of my latest craft obsessions.
Enjoy and cheers to 2010!
