Romo Fabric

I jogged on over to the designer tag sale this morning and scored a yard of this Romo fabric for just $10. I'd say it was a success!

Industrial Revolution

It seems that industrial elements in home furnishings is a design trend that is becoming more and more popular. I think this is due is large part to the Green movement and the emphasis that consumers and especially those in the design community are placing on recycled and/or sustainable design.

Whatever the reason may be, I enjoy a little industrial design every now and then. It can be an unexpected element to a traditional room, or add to the texture and interest of a more contemporary space. While I use to only find industrial type furnishings in specialty warehouse shops in New York or LA, this is no longer the case. The trend has caught on and well-known home furnishing stores and catalogs have caught the industrial fever.

Here are my go to places for industrial home furnishings:

Cleveland Art - Located in Los Angeles, you can view their inventory online. Most items are vintage industrial pieces "repurposed and recycled for functional design for the home". Below are some cool examples of items available at Cleveland Art.



Bobo Intriguing Objects - Located in Atlanta, rustic meets industrial. Below is their Pharmacy Rack, Alexandre Table, and Step Side Table.



Noir - I believe Noir is only available through a designer or design showroom, but they have great industrial pieces, all reasonably priced. Below is a fun little cart that would be great as a side table and a pedestal table with a steel base.



Get Back Inc. - Located in New York, they transform their vintage finds into functional furniture. Really one-of-a-kind items, you name it they have it - all kinds of lighting, shelving, and interesting seating like the theater seats shown below. When I move into a roomier office, I'm seriously going to consider purchasing that drafting table.



The Sundance catalog - I love mail order! Cute stuff, good prices.



Restoration Hardware - Their industrial items are a new addition to the store. Below is their Flat Iron Table and Vintage Chairs.



Anthropologie - Here are some of my favorite pieces Anthropologie has for sale, but visit their website to view more industrial items.

Designer Tag Sale

Another event coming up that I'm looking forward to is the Designer Tag Sale brought to us by Vanessa De Vargas of Turquoise and editor Vanessa Kogevinas together with Domicile Interior Design. I didn't attend their first tag sale in August which took place in Venice Beach, but my friend Megan (writer for design blog BeachBungalow8) said it was definitely worth a visit.

"The Designer Tag Sale is an upscale interior designer yard/tag sale hosted by Keri Shrimpton that will feature over ten of Orange County and Los Angeles' top designers selling items from their personal inventories including small furniture such as side-tables, lamps, rugs, pillows, art, accessories and more at incredibly low prices! At our tag sales nothing is over $200, and prices run as low as $5. Lots of holiday gift potential!!"

For more information visit: http://designertagsale-oc.blogspot.com/
Or read the article in the LA Times here.

Below are some photos from the last Designer Tag Sale in Venice curtesy of http://www.designertagsale.blogspot.com/:

See you there!

Casa California Show House in Shady Canyon

Right now in Irvine's Shady Canyon you can visit the Casa California show house presented by California Homes magazine and the Philharmonic Society of Orange County. The show house is a 10,000 sqft. home by Finton Construction and features rooms designed from floor to ceiling by some of Orange County and Los Angeles' top designers, including Peter Dunham, Timothy Corrigan, Michael Berman, and Ohara Davies-Gaetano. {Ohara is the lead designer for Bliss Linens in Corona Del Mar. I love visiting Bliss Linens and I can't wait to see what she does with an actual residence.}

The show house started on October 13 and will run through November 8 - closed on Monday's and open late on Thursday's until 9 where you can meet the designers. Proceeds benefit Philharmonic Youth Music Education Programs.

For tickets and information call: 714-840-7542 or visit www.philharmonicsociety.org

It should be a great show house right in our own OC backyard, I can't wait to visit!

Kelly Wearstler

I told myself I would never post about Kelly Wearstler. Not because I don't totally respect and admire her, because I do, but because she's everywhere! I try to shy away from talking about the overly talked about or specifying overly used fabric, etc. But this time I can't help it.

When working on more modern or contemporary projects I tend to look at Metropolitan Home for inspiration and good resources. I came across this really interesting beach house and was enthralled by the colors (subdued but not understated or boring) and the depth (many different textures, interesting artwork, interesting proportions of furniture and accessories, and really great architectural details). So I look to see who the designer is and low and behold...it's Kelly Wearstler. Here are some photos from Metropolitan Home of her killer beach house in Malibu.

I also wouldn't mind having her wardrobe.

In the last 2 weeks, I even found myself suggesting this Kelly Wearstler fabric to a client. She seems to have something useful for every interior.

Katana - Mocha/Cream From Groundworks for Lee jofa

Kelly Wearstler has a couple of different fabric lines, rugs and accessory lines, and an interior design firm that has done some of the most talked about hotels and residences in recent years. She'll be the David Hicks and the Dorothy Draper of 2050 where people revisit her style and write books about her after she's gone. But all with good reason; she's pretty much the bee's knees when is comes to style and originality.

Restoration Hardware Paint

I was sick all day today, but around 7 pm I was feeling a little better and needed to go check out some pillows that were on sale at Restoration Hardware. I've been really into gray lately and I noticed they had the perfect color of gray on their walls. I was chatting about it with the sales woman and she said that they had just painted and talking about how it was the color "slate", it took me second, but then I realized that she was talking about Restoration Hardware's own paint. How did I not know they sold paint?

Turns out they have some great colors. Everything is grayed and muted...very soothing and pretty, very Restoration Hardware. And they sell sample pots for just $3.95, which I love. It's always a good idea to paint a small area or piece of poster board before you commit to the whole room.

On To The Dining Room

This week I was excited to start working on the dining room of a current client who I posted about previously here. We're still working with coppers, chocolates and touches of red and we're using a lot of texture and a little bit of glam.

My client requested a built-in banquet on one side of the table. I loved the idea so we ran with it. Here are some quick drawings of what we plan on doing.


We're planning to build storage below the bench cushion for holiday dishes and other items that don't get used very often and then open glass shelving above for more every day glassware and dishes.


With all the espresso wood being installed with the built-in I wanted lighter drapery to add contrast. I fell in love with this silk fabric (below) and it inspired the rest of the fabric selections and color pallet.

For extra texture we're using this gold and chocolate grass cloth on the ceiling.

I'm in love with this dining table. The hammered polished nickel pedestal base is a perfect fit. The metal adds another texture and it's a pretty contrast to the dark rosewood top.

Of course, no dining room is complete without a chandelier.