Ladies & Gentlemen

Check out this rug! It's made from knotted rope and looks like a giant doily. This could be granny chic or hipster funk depending on where you put it, kinda cool huh?


The same company, Ladies and Gentlemen, also sells vintage items and some other really cool stuff, including these side tables made from repurposed and reconfigured brass table lamps.

Frame Anything

I've been getting more and more excited and interested in artwork lately. I'll admit when I first started designing, artwork sort of terrified me. I was always a little nervous that what I selected was going to be too bold, or too boring, or too generic and kill my beautifully designed room. I'm a lot more comfortable with it now and am a firm believer that you can pretty much frame anything interesting and turn it into art.

We're nearing the ending of the dining room design for my client in Huntington Beach, so naturally, that brought us to artwork. She showed me these simple, but cool, wine box tops and asked if there was anything we could do with them. I knew they would instantly become classy and interesting pieces of art once we had them matted and framed! We both were really happy with how they turned out and especially how they helped finish off the room.

{Before}

{After}

The room is almost finished, we're just waiting on the espresso hexagon wainscoting for the walls. Normally I wouldn't have hung the artwork up so high, but the wainscoting will start just a couple inches below the bottom of the frames, so it won't look so awkward once it's all completed. I can't wait!

Lawson-Fenning

On a normal day, my clients rely on me and my professional experience to recommend really good and unique home furnishing vendors that fit their style and design aesthetic. But I will admit that sometimes the reverse happens and my clients introduce me to cool new resources that I've never before heard of. Although I feel in some ways that they're sort of doing my job for me (which is not really a good thing...), I still love it when it when they bring new resources to my attention.

Someone very wise once said, "A designer is only as good as their resources" (Nathan was that you?), and it's so true! So a big thanks goes out to Dan and Cynthia for introducing me to Los Angeles based furniture company Lawson-Fenning. It's modern furniture, but each piece has it's own unique characteristics. It's not the same old modern we've seen before. It's a little bit mid century, a little bit danish, with a contemporary twist. My client purchased the Dillon chair (shown above), and here are a few other cool pieces from their collection. Lawson-Fenning also sells vintage pieces in their showroom, also featured on 1st Dibs, here.

V Day B Day

My older brother, Garrett, was born on Valentine's day. I think it's kind of a fun holiday to share your birthday with. I've made several happy birthday/Valentine's day cards for him over the years, but this year's was one of my favorites. I found instructions online for super easy, super cute paper roses (see below). I made the roses with red, slightly metallic, card stock, and then glued them onto a folded gray and white floral wallpaper sample. I added stems and leaves made from the same wallpaper and... voila! Happy birthday/Valentine's day big brother!

Paper flower instructions found on the Dozi Design blog::

Studio Bon @ F. Schumacher

I was at the F. Schumacher showroom today and ran into a new little display full of fabrics from their Studio Bon collection. It felt like spring and made me happy (I've never been much of a cold weather person). Here's a sampling from the collection, or check out the whole line here.

Molly Wood Garden Design

A little while ago I was reading through a design magazine (can't remember exactly which one) and I came across a beautiful residential landscape designed by Molly Wood Garden Design. The article especially caught my attention because I live right around the corner from Molly Wood's showroom, and everytime I drive by I think about how cool their location is. It's an old house that has been turned into a workspace and showroom, and the landscape is modern and unique. The whole space is just really beautiful. I recently snooped around her website and found some really amazing landscapes. Take a look below...






In addition to beautiful landscape design, the Molly Wood showroom sells unique, new and vintage items to enhance your patio or garden. Next time I have a client ask for a landscaping reference, I think I know who to recommend!

Molly Wood Garden Design
1660 Orange Ave.
Costa Mesa, CA
www.mollywoodgardendesign.com

Craft Time

I've recently had some extra time on my hands and kind of wanted to fill it with something creative, (other than interior design). While searching around online for workshops and classes in Orange County I found The Craft Kitchen. It's a little company run by Nicole Stevenson of Random Nicole <--- (fun website, check it out). The Craft Kitchen offers one day classes in a variety of crafting techniques such as jewelry & accessory making, sewing, and photography. So fun!

{Photography class on Feb. 25 with Michelle Cunningham}


{Sewing classes with Nicole, learn to make purses & pillows}

Blissful Furnishings

Bliss Home & Design, formerly Bliss Linens, in Corona del Mar has just launched it's own line of home furnishings and accessories. I really like Bliss' modern-antique style, so it's exciting that their head of design, Ohara Davies-Gaetano, has developed a unique line for Bliss that encompasses their beautiful aesthetic. Here is a sampling of some of their new pieces that I received in an email, I anticipate that the entire line will be available to view online shortly, here.

Modern Rugs by Laura Kirar

Laura Kirar has a hip line of hand made modern rugs at Tufenkian. All 9 rugs in the collection are pretty stellar, here are a few of my favorites... they have a little bit of an 80's vibe, which I really kind of love right now.

{Abstract}


{Fragment}


{Chant}

Madonna Inn

Confession...I watch the Bachelor, and I'm not even that embarrassed to admit it. But yes, this is a design blog, so I promise to not get too off topic and write about all of the crazy girls and awkward moments. During last week's episode our sweet, but a little on the boring side Bachelor, Jake, took the girls on a "group date" to the Madonna Inn in San Louis Obispo. The decor of this place was so insane that I was having a difficult time playing attention to the show because I was too focused on the interior. How have I never heard of this place before?

The Madonna Inn has been around since 1958 and has since grown to 109 suites and each room has its own individual, eccentric decor. I'm not saying I'm head over heels with the style, but I definitely appreciate this kind of unique creativity and extravagant attention to detail. Rooms average about $350/night.





These were the best photos of the Madonna Inn that I could find. Someone seriously needs to go in and take some great photographs of this place because I have a feeling that the ones floating around on the internet just aren't doing it justice. Photos were taken from the Madonna Inn website and Kim and Joojanta's flikr photos.

10% off Quadrille

For the month of February Quadrille's LA showroom is offering 10% off of fabrics and wallcoverings. You need to order through a designer, just mention the promotion and you'll receive 10% off your order. Pretty sweet deal. I love Quadrille's different collections. It's the perfect mix of funky sophistication. Here's a sampling of Quadrille's popular fabrics...

{I should add this image to my Pink & Blue post}

Succulent Update

These are much better photos of Bethany's wedding and the succulent bouquets that I made, taken by their photographer John Klewer. I didn't expect to see the professional photos so soon...isn't facebook grand?!

Above is Bethany's bouquet, below is a group photo. Nice looking bunch, eh? And the girls don't look so bad either. I'm kidding. Although I love the succulent bouquets, they pale in comparison to the beautiful bridal party.



I loved this picture of Taylor and Bethany...



Happy marriage T & B!