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
Sorry for being MIA but I had a blast at the beach with the fam! It was actually one of those trips that felt like a week's long vacation, which was wonderful! I won't bore you with with all the details but there was lots of beach, biking, bocce, football, paddleball, building sandcastles, ladderball, riding waves, board games, and lots and lots of eating and drinking. We also took a sunset cruise. I created so many cherished memories with my precious nephews...
One day Finn (age 9) and I biked down to the marina and he said "I love spending time with you Sid!"...I could hardly see through the tears to peddle home. We had fun bonding while talking about music (Taylor Swift and Katie Perry), racing bikes (he likes to go fast) and talking fishing (he was teaching me, he is the smartest kid I know!). However, I didn't like that he thought it was hysterical to call me "old lady."
Garrett (age 8) is very active so we played lots of games on the beach (he smoked me at all of them and I fancy myself as being quite athletic!). And we spent lots of time building sand castles with expert precision! I was trying to explain to him what I do for a living and how that translated to sandcastle building and he said "I love architecting too" Adorable! He was quite inventive using sticks for bridges and he by far sculpted the best turrets. I was impressed.
Tyler (age 5) said "I hope we come to Fripp forever...when I am a teenager and an adult and when I am a old man but then I will probably need a walking stick. Think they sell those at the golf cart rental place?" He is literally one of the funniest people I know! I thought it was cute that he showed general concern for me when I got upset when Will died while we watched Pirates of the Caribbean. He assured me things would work out ok without ruining the ending because I always have to ask my nephews NOT to ruin the ending of movies for me! ha! At dinner he ate about 80% of my crab legs so the next night we ordered him crab legs, he didn't want them so he ate most of my friend shrimp. I think he knows that he has me wrapped around his finger!
Sorry to bore you...but I wanted to get some of those memories in writing. So I came home exhausted and needing to stay out of the sun. I caught up with my dvr and design blogs while simultaneously pinning stuff on Pinterest. For those of you that follow me, I apologize for the large amounts of pins but I had to make up for a week of missed creative stimulation! So back to my dvr...I had about 12 backed logged Design, Inc.'s to watch! I am really impressed with the current programming on HGTV. I stopped watching it for a while as it was all real estate and cheap decorating shows but now it seems there are some quality designers that have programs.
Home by Novogratz HGTV picked up the Design by Sixx show formerly on Bravo. This couple is truly innovative! I don't know how they do it with all those kids. I always complain about not having enough time and I am single. (My dvr will be recording this one as well!)
Design, Inc. I have always been a big fan of Sara Richardson and love her show Design, Inc. I especially like how all the designers show up for an install, even if it isn't there project. That is awesome! If I ever have a larger design firm I am totally doing that. Installs can be fun and you can always use the extra help but it also instill's teamwork. You go Sara!
Secrets of a Stylist Stylist and blogger (former blogger?) Emily Henderson is just plain adorable! I like that her background isn't typical and neither is the concept of the show. I think it is interesting in that it often shows people what they THINK they want then it shows how she would interpret what they think they want (which is usually correct). Which always proves my point of trusting your designer :)
Candice Tells All I know she has been a staple on HGTV for years but she really is super talented (especially her renderings!) and just so likable! I have always appreciated that her show illustrates the actual design process from beginning to end (or at least as much as you can in half an hour).
Dear Genevive What I like most about her is how real and genuine and personable she is with her clients. She takes of her shoes (literally) and talks to them on their level and really gets to know their likes/dislikes and needs/wants to create a home that is right for them.
Design Star I admit...I watch it. This is my confession.
I have a young couple as clients right now that are HUGE wine connoisseurs. They moved into a new house and we are trying to come up with a smart and practical solution for storing their massive wine collection. [P.S. Living in the Lowcountry (named "low" because of its elevation) we don't have basements or cellars so this is not an option.] So I have been studying up on my wine knowledge because although I appreciate a good bottle, I am a $15 from The Piggly Wiggly kind of girl.
The key to storing wine is controlling some factors that could potentially ruin a good bottle like air, temperature, light, vibration and humidity. There are many possible ways to store wine in your home but it is best to pre-plan for this if you are building or remodeling. You can often find hidden storage in dead space in kitchens and pantries as shown in some of the images above. For more tips on building a custom wine cellar read here.
It might not be the most appropriate storage solution but my favorite is using antique French champagne riddling racks hung on the wall as designer Celerie Kemble did below. Beautiful! And I think it would make my Two Buck Chuck look mighty fancy! You can find many on ebay but they are $200 plus and shipping would be a bear. Best to keep an eye out for them in local antique shops. Happy Hunting!
If you have any good storage solutions for wine or products that work well for wine storage, please let me know!
~Images: 1) Cottage Living Sept 2007 2) Designer Sara Richardson at sararichardsondesign.com 3) Family Circle Aug 2009 4) Elle Decor 5) Cottage Living Oct 2008 6) Celerie Kemble's book To Your Taste
I have always liked the concept of letters (or numbers) in a nursery, I mean why not have art that is functional! Designer Sara Richardson did it right (above) by taking letters of different fonts, sizes and painting them all different colors and hanging them above a rail at the top of the ceiling. Bravo! And I don't mind seeing the child's name written on the wall but let's face it, this concept has been WAY over done (thanks Pottery Barn!). But I am really digging the concept of doing something outside the box with a name or the alphabet. Like the designers of formbaby.com did in their son's nursery below where she used stencils to paint the name on the wall in a glossy finish against the matt wall (or perhaps they are decals?) either way she nailed it!
I think stainless letters/numbers would be cool and give the nursery a modern edge.
Via purmodern.com
This custom made artwork is cute too!
Via Form-Baby.com
I have always wanted to find vintage blocks and hang them on a wall, maybe in a large grid?
Anyone have any other "outside the box" types of ideas they have done or seen? Not creative?No worries. I did an etsy.com search and found some cute stuff out there and all you have to do is buy in and hang it on your wall!
