MISS MOOX: Interior Design

I kinda feel bad for all of the homeless armoires out there since the invention of the flat screen TV. But I am happy to have more design freedom than revolving a room around a large TV cabinet. And it has been interesting to witness the design world adapt to the change in technology. As you might guess, I am more interested in the creative and customized solutions than the standard issue stock variety but each has its place in society so here goes...

Me Likey!

I really like the idea of using architectural pieces like this.

I don't know if the owners hid a TV behind those old doors or not but it would be a lot cooler if they did!

And these smart folks used the space under the stairs to do some built-in cabinets that when closed, gives the illusion of a flat wall with amazing architectural detail. Kudos!

Ok, these are the standard stock issue variety I was referring to earlier...still smart, just more obvious. There is a frame surrounding the flat screen and the art actually rolls down to conceal the television. You can choose from their art or submit your own artwork. Additionally, there is a mirror option where you can see the TV picture when it is on but you just see the mirror when it is off.

via homeimprovementsdepot.com

Eh. A little to Star Trek-ish for me.

via homeimprovementsdepot.com

Check out this craziness...it lifts out from under the bed!
I am thinking the person that buys this also has a recliner with a built-in cooler.

via homeimprovementsdepot.com

Y'all have any other ideas? Leave me a comment!

Thank God for the ocean. It is my happy place.

Elle Decor

Coastal Living

Coastal Living

Coastal Living

Coastal Living

I had my maiden voyage to the beach this weekend. And as expected I now have a crazyass tan. Well, not so much tan as red in some areas and still pasty white in others. I look something like this...

Yep, it's hot.

Unknown

Designer Suzanne Kasler

Southern Accents

Elle Decor

Coastal Living

I haven't seen my living room all week. I miss it. I am hoping to get some quality time in with my long lost friend over the weekend. If fact, if you can't find me, I will probably be in "sofa city sweetheart." Hope you have a nice relaxing weekend yourself!

Designer Molly Luetkemeyer

Domino

Country Home

Designer Ashley McAleer
(Is that right?)

Designer Ann Nicholson

Designer Steven Gambrel

Designed by Margaret Ann McEver

These bookcases have a lot going on. But the designers deserve mad props for styling them in a way that looks lived-in yet pulled together and un-staged (not easy to do). Speaking of having a lot going on (like that segue?), my week is nutzo. I am living on a lot of these two things...

I know what you are thinking...I am the epitome of healthy living.
Why can't I get a week off for spring break?

I like 'em.

via chic coles

Designer Scott Laslie

Coastal Living

Unknown

Metropolitan Home

House Beautiful

I wonder where my circle obsession comes from...thoughts?

Domino

via decorinspiration

via HighHeeledFootInTheDoor

Designer Toby Fairley

Designer Mary McDonald

This last room is from a past Charleston Symphony Orchestra Designer Showhouse designed by a good friend of mine, Lauren Muzekari Lennon, with Morris Muzekari Interior Design. She is crazy talented, go check out her website and see for yourself! The 2010 Showhouse opens this week and runs March 18th-April 18 and you can get tickets here.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Suzanne Kasler...

I want to be you when I grow up. What's that? I am a grown up. Dangit, I need to get busy.

These are images of a house she designed using only Ballard products. I think she nailed it. Nailed it! Ok, so she has designed four collections for the company so it was probably easy for her to find items she wanted to use BUT despite that, I still think she has managed to put her own design aesthetic into each of these rooms. AND it proves that you don't have to have a lot of money to have good design. Just good taste. Can I get an amen?

I dig this quote of hers:
"If you bring in a few contemporary pieces and put them next to your antiques, it makes the things that are crusty and old look even more special."

For more of her House Beautiful interview look here.

So it seems I have a slight obsession with design books. So much so in fact, that I decided I needed to purge! Hence the mass amount of posts over at Objects offering these great books to you for a steal. Some are priced as a set but most are priced individually however if you purchase more than one, you get 25% off of your pre-shipping total so start shopping!

Actually, I prefer two. And matching.

HGTV Dream Home

Unknown

Unknown

Unknown

Unknown

I adore these open nightstands. But warning, they are not for you dirty folks! Yeah, you. The one that only read this post because of the title.

Any of you designers have the source for these tables? If so, please let me know. I have the hardest time finding ones I like for clients.

Unknown

Elle Decor

via Handmade Charlotte

via flikr

via architectdesigns.blogspot.com

House Beautiful

Home Magazine

You can tell when I am tired...my posts are about beds in some way shape or form. Today I am dreaming of hiding out in one of these bad boys. Don't they look cozy? I would like to say I would curl up with a good book but honestly, here is The Situation, I just want to sleep. Or perhaps have a fully loaded DVR filled with all my favorite mindless trash television (like Jersey Shore perhaps). Kinda reminds me of my freshman year dorm room when I had that loft built so I could put a futon in underneath. Nice. Makes you want to fist pump doesn't it?

Hmmm...

See, everyone's doing it!

Even this A-Hole.

Designer Sara Gilbane

If you are a fellow blogger/design enthusiast then you have undoubtedly read the current issue of Lonny. If you are not, go read it now. [Well, after you finish reading my blog please.] Featured is the home of NY Designer, Sara Gilbane. I have been reading about Sara for a while now and I am glad that she is finally getting some great press because she was one of the many set to be featured in Domino just before it folded (wawawa). In December, House Beautiful named her one of the "20 New Designers to Watch" and her phone hasn't stopped ringing since. [A problem I would be happy to have.] Looking for my phone number? You can find it here.

After years of studying under famed designer, Celerie Kemble, Sara finally decided to leave and start her own firm, Sara Gilbane Interiors. Like most designers these days, she mixes traditional style with modern and youthful pieces but in my opinion Sara's signatures are her use of color and her attention to detail. Sara stresses the importance of layering which allows her interiors to look lived in and as if they were accumulated over time versus staged for a photoshoot. That is something I totally agree with...rock on.

In her Lonny article, Sara is quoted as "having a crush on fabrics." If you saw my fabric closet (yes, I said fabric closet) then you would understand why I too have a crush on fabrics. Here are some of her designs and if you would like to hear more about Sara go read this interview by Marisa over at Stylebeat.

When I was a kid I remember being at dinner on a family vacation and saying that when I grow up I want to own a restaurant called "Mother Shuckers." My brother almost spit out his she crab soup laughing, my dad beamed with pride while my mom rolled her eyes in embarrassment. Sorry mom! Oyster roasts are common events in Charleston and as much as I love eating them, I also like using them in decor (cleaned up of course). I am all about the R, R, R!

House Beautiful

Cottage Living

Oly Sconce

Wisteria Candleholder $49

Wisteria Mirror $399

Currey Mirror

Then the oyster sticks started popping up all over market. These are the pieces of wood in which oyster shells have once been attached. What do you think? I kinda like it but I am biased as I like anything coastal.

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Wisteria Oyster Stick Lamp $399

Wisteria Oyster Stick Mirror $249

BoBo Intriguing Objects Chandelier

BoBo Intriguing Objects Lamp

In celebration of SEWE (Southeastern Wildlife Expo), which was this past weekend in Charleston, I wanted to show some sophisticated uses of wildlife-ish items in interiors. My father collects decoys (they are a large part of my dowry) and I really tried to find some chic images of decoys in decor and surprisingly couldn't find any. I know, right?

Designer Tom Scheerer

Elle Decor

House Beautiful

Steven Gambrel

Just promise me you won't do this...

Or this...

Or this...

Or this...

Please.

Such crazy weather lately. We got snow in Charleston! First time in 20 years. Here is a picture I took outside of my house of snow on a palm tree, not something you see every day!

Domino

Domino

via Blue Hydrangea

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via Blue Hydrangea

Unknown

via rearrangedesign

Remember magazines? They were these amazing things that came in the mail once a month. They were filled with beautiful and colorful images that made your pulse quicken with excitement. They made you want to stop whatever it was you were doing and re-do your entire home. Or jump in the car and go shopping for an entirely new wardrobe. Yeah, I miss them too. And can't seem to throw them out like I use to. I fear I will hold on to magazines like my dad likes to hold on to empty boxes. Seriously, he has an entire closet full of empty boxes. WTF? Hopefully, you won't see me on an episode of Hoarders for my obscene magazine collection. Anyhoo, here are some stylish ways to incorporate these oh-so valuable gems into your decor.

Southern Accents

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(My apologies for mislabeling this as Angie Hranowsky! I meant to upload the image below under her label. Now go marvel in her genius...below...)

Designer Angie Hranowsky

via MFAMB

Designer Phoebe Howard

Designer Phoebe Howard

Designer Miguel Flores-Vianna

I have been working with a client who really wanted a bed canopy and I am wishing we did something this simple! She desperatly wanted her bed on an angle in the corner (despite my insistence on straightening it up between the windows) so we had that and the window treatments/hardware to contend with in the design. I'm not gonna lie, I lost a lot of sleep over this one! But she is a wonderful client, a joy to work with and I commend her for constantly pushing me out of my comfort zone. We installed the bed canopy last week and I am very pleased with how it turned out. [Photos to come.]

For all you designers (or wanna be's) out there...Marisa over at Stylebeat has a FANTASTIC contest going on where you can win one of 5 AMAZING design books! Go enter now!!! I cannot wait to see who she picks!

Well sometimes, that is a good idea...depending on your issue. I mean if you have something ugly to cover like a CPU/computer cords, recycling bins or stacks of magazines then a skirt is a good idea. Heck, you might even want to cover up the table itself! Much like I did in my dining room. Grandma's hand me down wasn't much to look at but it was the perfect size so I had my seamstress make a custom burlap tablecloth with a smocking detail at the top.

Voila!

Designer Tom Scheerer

Domino

Designer Palmer Weiss

Designer Palmer Weiss

Oh Martha, so daring with your mini-skirt!

Martha Stewart

Love.

Have a great weekend!!!

~Image: Domino

Not a bad way to start the day, huh? If you are building or remodeling try getting super creative with your bathroom elements. I have a brilliant friend who used a large piece of driftwood (stretched wall to wall) to house a clear, vessel sink in their powder room. A-ma-zing!

Lighting
Try using sconces instead of vanity lights.

Countertops
Add them to a piece of furniture instead of using a pre-fab vanity.

Tile
Why stop at the floors?

Cabinets
Add color or architectural details to make them interesting!

Mirrors
No glued on builder basic allowed!

Storage
Try adding baskets instead of closed cabinets to store all your bathroom essentials.

Sinks & Pluming
Mix styles-who says modern has to go with modern?

~Images: 1) Southern Accents by Suzanne Kasler 2) Designer Sara Richardson 3) House Beautiful May 2008 4) Designer Sara Richardson 5) House Beautiful 6) Elle Decor Oct 2007 7) Domino July/Aug 2006

Love these headboards!

Love this painted bed (esp the color)!

Love everything-sunburst mirror, white and green color scheme, symmetry...

Love the simple yet elegant styling!

Love the art arrangement in the molding (or painted molding?)!

Love the mirrored insets on the cabinets!

I had to show this one again because it just makes me so happy! Anyone notice how the mirrors reflected in the coffee table look like eye lashses? Love that!

I don't know where I have been but I recently discovered designer Tobi Fairley's website and I was blown away! According to her biography, she is based in Arkansas but works on projects along the south from Charleston to Los Angeles (how fun!). Once I started searching her portfolio, I recognized many of her projects that I have tagged from shelter magazines. It also says she has been working on several product lines set to debut in 2010. Can't wait! You can follow her career, appearances and projects via her blog, go check it out!

As I was decorating my house for supper club last night, I got to thinking about my love for the color orange. I grew up a Georgia Bulldog and therefore was forbade to wear the color orange because it represented all of our SEC rivals-Florida, Tennessee, Auburn, Clemson, etc. And personally, I am a cool colored type of gal but I really do love to color orange! It reminds me of some happy times-carving pumpkins with my brother as a kid, picking oranges off the trees at my grandparents place in Florida, sunsets on the beach, watching Real Housewives of Orange County...

Need help picking out a good shade of orange to paint your walls? Check out this article from House Beautiful's October issue in which top designers gab about their favorite orange paint colors. Have a go-to orange paint color that you have used before? Let me know!

~Images: 1) Designer Tobi Fairley 2) Designer Mary McDonald 3) Designer Palmer Weiss 4) Designer Celerie Kemble 5) Designer Ashley Whittaker 6) Designer Sara Story

I have always collected old glass bottles which I usually select based on the age, color or even area in which it was produced. Over the last few years, I have started to collect old wine jugs mainly because I love their larger size and shape but also because of their history. Wine was originally stored in stoneware but the taste of the wine was often altered by the container. The invention of glass by the Roman Empire opened up new options for wine storage, allowing it to age and be stored for decades which enabled wine drinkers to enjoy a larger selection of wine. Most of the bottles available today are French originating around the 1930's and sell for $95 and up.

They can even be turned into lamps!

~Images: wine history via http://www.wineintro.com/history/glassware/ 1) via shelter blog 2) Southern Accents July/Aug 2007 3) Unknown 4 and 5) Coastal Living Nov 2007 6) Unknown 7) Unknown 8) sixx design 9) House Beautiful Jan 2009 10 and 11) Tom Scheerer