My Happy Place ( well, one of them...)

Paso Robles is my happy place. Well, maybe number one on my short list. There are so many reasons I love to spend time there; from the amazing wineries and restaurants to the scenery. Every view looks like a California landscape painting. I just spent a few days there and wanted to share a few snapshots.

I came across ( and completely fell in love with) this house at the end of a long country road. After standing there for a few minutes and fantasizing about leaving the hustle and bustle of LA and moving into it, I mapped out what I would use the sun rooms for. A girl can dream.

I enjoy collecting artwork from local Paso artists, and my favorite is Sue Johnson.(http://data.fineartstudioonline.com/dataviewer.asp?keyvalue=7356&page=Works) Her paintings remind me of the rolling hills studded with grape vines, and the charming red barns that you see around every turn.

Above are two recent acquisitions. Looking at them makes me happy as it reminds me of Paso Robles.

More beautiful views....

                      Booker Vineyard                

    http://www.bookerwines.com/

Jack Creek Cellars

http://www.jackcreekcellars.com/

I visit as often as I can. It takes less than three hours to get there so until I can make it permanent, I will happily sit back and enjoy the ride.



Start To Finish

For a year, I have been working on a private residence in Becket, Mass. It has been a treat to head East and spend time in the beautiful Berkshires, even if during my first trip I experienced the first snow of the season and had inappropriate footwear. My clients were so willing to allow me to take the reins and lead them.

The home is a Timberpeg (http://timberpeg.com/about) design, which means most of the walls are exposed tongue and groove, as well as many of the ceilings. All of these details make the homes very warm and rustic.

During my first visit, the framing was underway however many of the design decisions had to be made. First stop was a kitchen showroom.I knew exactly what I wanted and the clients loved the idea. Below are some progression photos, from conception to completion:

 


materials



progress

completion

I was involved with every aspect of the design, from the hardwood flooring to the selection of the interior and exterior stacked stone. Below are some progress pictures of the construction:



 Last week, I flew back East to install the furniture, below are a few snapshots of several of the pieces used:





 I love the challenge of designing something unlike anything I have done before. There are still some finishing touches we are working on; accessories, rugs etc. but I am so pleased with the outcome.

Confessions of a Wallpaper Nerd.....

I love wallpaper.

I love that wallpaper can make a room so unique. I love that wallpaper can make such a statement, and often be the only art the wall needs. I love that using wallpaper can give a client such a personalized look; it is unlikely that they will walk into someone else's home and see a powder room with the same design.

While working on a renovation recently, a client was open to the idea of wallpapering her Powder Room. She said she would leave it up to me, and that she was open to something fabulous and unexpected. That was like giving me the keys to a candy store and telling me to grab anything I wanted! I started the process of shopping for her Powder Room, and came across not only some amazing papers for her, but other drool-worthy designs as well.

Above is "Albery" from the Albermarle collection from Cole & Son (http://www.cole-and-son.com/home.asp ). It is designed to look like panels of antiqued mirror. This gets my heart racing. I could imagine using this is a Dining Room, or even in my client's Powder Room (she liked this one).
Below is another beauty from Cole & Son, called "Baudelaire". I love the enlarged damask in the color of the moment , which makes it more modern and glamorous.

When I received a sample of "Porcelain" (below) also from Cole & Sons in the mail, I pinned it up on my office wall because I couldn't take my eyes off of it. It is completely opposite from the above designs. It is traditional, and so classic. This is being filed in my sample library in the hopes that I will be able to use it on a future project. Breakfast room anyone?

I could go on and on giving examples of the wallpapers I love. Just one more......

I came across "Chenonceau"  from  Schumacher (http://www.fschumacher.com/) while working on a project a few years ago and was lucky enough to be working with clients that had vision, and were trusting enough to let me talk them into using this is their powder room. Their home was architecturally traditionally however I was hired to make their traditional interiors more transitional. I thought this would be a great wallpaper for them; it had the elements of a traditional print (botanicals, birds,etc) yet the stark color contrast and dark charcoal made it modern. Below is their finished Powder Room .



Anatomy of a Family Room

One of my favorite aspects of my job is the opportunity to create long lasting working relationships with my clients. Often, a client will work on certain rooms in their home, and put others on hold. This was the case for a client of mine whom I have been working with for several years. It was finally time to tackle her Family Room.

I really enjoy working with this client; she has great taste and I feel like I can speak in design "shorthand" because she is quite knowledgeable about it. She also knows what she likes, and is familiar with the fabrics, furniture, and other design elements that are out there (she would probably tell you that this can also be a curse). Since this room had been on hold while her kids were little, she had been collecting ideas and had time to formulate an idea of what she wanted the room to look and feel like.

The room had great bones....lots of windows, lovely wood floors and beautiful molding. It is also long and narrow so it was a challenge to make sure my plan made the most of the space.

This is the how the room looked "before"...



Then came the floor plan. My goal was the maximize the space, and try and use the length of the room since it is longer than wider.

The client wanted an airy, California feeling room. I used Kravet (www.Kravet.com) and Peter Dunham fabrics ( http://peterdunham.com/textiles-peterdunhamdesign.html) as well as Kravet and Lee Industries (www.leeindustries.com) furniture pieces. We are both extremely happy with the results...

When do I get to work on MY house?

It seems like the list of projects for my own home is never ending. All of the things that have to get done leave little time (and money) for the fun stuff. Instead of re-furnishing a room or renovating a bathroom, the pool has to be re-plastered and the stone on the deck replaced. The joys of home ownership.

Recently, I made a change that been 8 years in the making. So, that's one small project I can scratch off the list.

When we moved into our current home, almost nine years ago, we brought with us, a custom built wall unit that had been fabricated to house our television and components as well as provide storage. It was lovely ; walnut with a  beautiful stain and great storage. When my carpenter made this more than ten years ago, televisions weren't just a few inches deep and they didn't hang on your wall. Since our "new" Master Bedroom was quite a bit larger than the one we were moving from, we figured what better way to take up some of the space than to use the wall unit there.

Well, almost nine years have passed and the lovely stain is losing its lustre and the unit has battle scars to show from a few different TV's being dragged in and out of it. Mostly, it just felt bulky and too deep for our thin flat screen television. All of these reasons aside, we hadn't replaced it because it weighs about a ton. When the opportunity came for someone (or five strong movers) to move it out for us, we opted for it to not come back.

This was finally my chance to design for myself!

                                                Below is a picture of the lonely wall...

                                      Then the addition of my lovely new console table.....

Voila, it is finished!

I am so happy with the result. Only a million projects left on my list.

Movie Magic

My house is often used for commercials. Usually, there is some painting involved and my furniture is moved out to make way for the prop furniture. This time however, the house was chosen to be used in a TV pilot. I had no idea how much work would go into this shoot and how the art department would transform certain areas of my house. They turned my closet into a shower, installing a faux bathtub and cladding the walls of the closet with fake wall tile. In addition, the art department constructed fake walls in other parts of my closet to make it appear as a toilet room. Such imagination! 

The photo below on the left is how my hallway usually appears. There is a bathroom at the end, and there is wainscoting on all walls. The photo on the right shows how the space looked after art department made some of their changes.The hall was made to look like it was a second story. They even continued my molding and wainscoting. I love the design of the window, it happens to match a window I actually have at the top of my stairs in the second floor landing.

 

                                               Below is my Daughter's bedroom.

It was transformed into a little boy's bedroom.

There is a lot that goes into restoring the house after it is taken over for something like this, but it is fun to be part of the process and to observe all that goes into a production. I'll let you know if the TV show gets picked up, and then you can check out the end result!

I have been fighting the idea of writing a blog,  but since I started The Black Door Interior Design Facebook page I have really enjoyed posting all things design. Whether it's before and after photos of a job, current jobs in progress or things I see that inspire me, I love the idea of immediately sharing it. I hope that anyone reading it enjoys what I have to share!