Monograms

Somewhere along the line my husband switched from wearing t-shirts with logos advertising our alma mater and his favorite restaurants, to custom made dress shirts with his initials embroidered on the cuff. Something about that is so quietly sophisticated, not to mention a major step up in the fashion department. Nice job babe. I've also grown quite fond of a monogram used on bath and bed linens. I especially like the smaller scale and simplified style of the one shown above.

image source 

Holiday Table Giveaway!

Even though it was just one little table, this was one of the funnest projects that I've worked on this year. I had a great budget and a lot of creative freedom, that's what we call a designer's dream come true.

Caesarstone and the Interior Collective asked me to design a holiday table for their Design & Dine giveaway (enter here). I pulled metallic papers with animal-esque prints and crazy florals when I first starting gathering ideas and inspiration for the table, but then I happened upon this image (below) and I instantly knew this was the direction I wanted to go. As much as I try to go fun and funky with design, I almost always come back to something simple, sophisticated, and classic. I'm learning that it's ok to admire the fun and funky in others' designs, while still staying true to myself and what I do best. Even something as temporary as a holiday table setting still doesn't feel right to me if it's too trendy, even though it won't be around long enough to matter. It's a part of my natural aesthetic that I'm learning to just embrace.

As much as I would have loved to use real velvety foliage, it wouldn't exact preserve long enough to last the life of the giveaway and then be packed up and shipped to the winner, so the next best thing was a textured runner made out of grasscloth wallcovering in the same soft sage color.

I didn't want the table to be an in your face, plaid tablecloth, red and green type of scheme. I wanted it to be more subtle and elegant than that, but still be very obviously a "holiday" table. I achieved this by mixing a classic winter woodsy vibe (with the deer antlers, birch candles, and wood chargers) with the shimmer of the holiday season (with gold water goblets and gold star and bell ornaments).

Flowers are the staple of every event design. You can have nothing else but amazing florals and all is well. Likewise, you can have everything but florals and I am always left wanting. Even though the flowers, for reasons mentioned above, are not part of the giveaway, I refused to do a table without them, and fake floiage just isn't an option. The table is subtle and versatile enough to accommodate any number of flower combinations. I worked with Moon Canyon Design to create these asymmetrical, wild bouquets. I love the mix of white and black anemone with the red peonies and eucalyptus berries. This was the first time I hired out the floral design for any of my projects and I have to say that I loved how the collaboration turned out. Two heads are definitely better, and more interesting, than one.

The giveaway is going on for one more day and here is what you'll win:

1. Roll of grasscloth table runner in sage – Seabrook (1) and Linen table cloth – Pottery Barn (1)
2. Wood dinner plates/chargers – Crate & Barrel (6)
3. Salad plates – Royal Doulton (6)
4. Crystal wine goblets – Bohemia Royal Crystal (6)
5. Gold stemless goblets/candle holders (6)
6. Cotton napkins – Crate & Barrel (6)
7. Bleached deer antlers – Tin Can Boutique (6)
8. Birch wood tea light candle holders – Northwoods Wood Creations (6)
9. Medium stone flower container – Moon Canyon Designs (1) and Small stone flower containers – Moon Canyon Designs (2)
10. Gold porcelain star and bell ornaments, handmade – Jo Heckett (6)

The giveaway ends tonight at midnight and due to my major lack of a social media following, there have only been 12 entries so far so your chances are pretty good! Here is another link to enter: http://interiorcollective.com/giveaway/design-and-dine

Tina Turk Holiday Windows

I was asked by Trina Turk to design their holiday windows for nine retails stores across the country. When I began designing and submitted the first mock ups I was only given one day to completed them and I was told it should be based on an artist theme reminiscent of Trina's current look book and there wasn't any mention of holiday decor. Below are a copy of images from the look book that I love and used as inspiration for my first round of mock ups.

Here are my first mock ups of the project, followed by the "holiday" changes made for each store.

A mix of easels and ladders. Dripping paint cans stacks on risers around the mannequins to extend the art theme.

A mix of easels and ladders. Incorporating one large piece of modern art as a backdrop in the center. Paint cans stacked up around mannequins to extend the theme and bring the window together.

Artist ladders splattered in paint and hung by chains as an open backdrop.

Paint cans dripping in paint and hung by rope at varying heights.

In the end they decided that they did in fact want the window to have a holiday feel so my bright and bold "Trina" color palette was changed to red, gold, and silver. There were a lot of different departments and people weighing in on the window designs, so things got changed quite a bit from my original vision, but it was still a really cool project to part of.

Below is their final selection for the window design and the holiday color changes.

It was the first time I had designed window displays based solely on dimensions and images without ever visiting the windows in person to gage exact perspective and proportion. Originally I was only in charge of designing and sourcing the materials, but in the end I was doing all of the painting, cutting, pasting, tying, and drilling. It was strange not being able to create inside the windows themselves or to be the one to place everything and style it all as it was meant to be. Instead, everything that I designed and created was shipped off to their respective stores to be installed by someone else. Fingers crossed that the windows turned out ok!

One Year (day one)

It feels like our first year of marriage has flown by and at the same time I can hardly remember what it was like to not be married to Kyle. Planning and executing my own wedding in less than three months was a lot of fun, but also something I wouldn't ever do again. It made for a crazy fall, but it turns out I love being my own client. Although there are a lot of things I would have done differently (i.e. asked for more help along the way and hired a day of coordinator) I'm really happy with how it all turned out and am excited to share it with you. 

Our wedding took place on two different days and this post highlights day one. Kyle and I were married on November 9, 2012 in the Mormon temple in Los Angeles. I  love that building for so many reasons and I was so happy to be married there. Next up was lunch with our closest friends and family at the nearby restaurant Fundamental L.A. It was the perfect size to rent out the whole place for 30 people and the food was pretty amazing. We rented it out based solely on its minimalist modern interior and had never eaten there before that day. They were so easy to work with and the food was perfect. Stay tuned for post #2 featuring the reception, which is where all of the fun design and styling took place. 

Marriage Ceremony Location: Los Angeles Temple for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints

Lunch: fundamental L.A.

Dress: Encore by Watters

Veil: Shawnie Sherie 

Suit: J Crew