More Recent Cabinetry Work

I was upset that my fine photographer could not get this cabinet on the left in one shot. There is so much beauty in that cabinet and it can not be taken in in each individual shot. The cabinet on the left is the adult desk unit on the North wall and the one on the right is their kid's desk unit which sits adjacent on the South wall. Unfortunately, after we completed the cabinetry, the clients asked us to make a floating shelf on the South wall for a 4 in 1 printer they bought for their sons, and not the original printer that I had measured to account for within the cabinetry I designed! Something always happens to throw off the balance of the universe!

A Recent Project Completed In Chandler

Hello All,
I just wanted to post pictures of a recently completed job I did in Chandler, Arizona. The cabinets are in a multi-million dollar home in a private community here and I loved working with these clients. They were a laid back, fun couple with two great boys.
I got to design a custom buffet piece to sit between two walls in a niche area of their dining room. I selected a warm brown stain with a hint of Bordeaux in it-(custom made stain)- to pull out the warmth in the floral and paisley Tuscan print on their dining chairs. I did not go with a stain that matched the wooden dining table and chairs, but instead chose one one tone darker. I do not believe in matchy matchy. It just doesn't look lived in, it looks planned. The marble that I selected for the top is a color called Rosso Fiorentino. It is a very high grade of marble, with a deep Bordeaux with some purplish areas and hints of green and white veining. It is fantastic. I will try to post a close up, as I know I have one somewhere... I wanted the bottom of the cabinet to sit on delicate legs with a grape leaf and for the center drawers to have a nice pattern. They are lined with felt for dinnerware. This cabinet is made of alder, with a multi- edged, raised panel door. It is simple, yet elegant and defines this space. It commands attention in this room, and that was just what I wanted. They love it and I am proud to see another vision in my head come to life. I am an interior designer who has the ability to design my own custom cabinetry. I draw and detail my own designs and work with my custom cabinet team to manufacture the pieces in house. My husband is a custom cabinetmaker and master finisher. We make a great team, as you can see!

I will post the office cabinetry tomorrow.

Your Formal Living Room is TOO Dressed Up!!!

Recently I attended a function at a home that suffers from the same identity crisis I come across time and time again in Arizona. The homeowner had a nice sized house with a formal living room as you enter, followed by a formal dining room and then a family room. I find that so many don't understand the concept behind what some consider to be a two living room home. While they have two very different functions within the home, the formal living room (or just the living room, as it should be called) is not meant to be a stuffy space. It is merely what use to be referred to as a sitting room or parlor. It is a conversation area. It is meant to hold comfortable, yet well designed seating, tables befittingly small in scale, yet large enough to hold a coffee cup or other social beverage; furnishings are focused towards each other in a cozy, intimate fashion, as this area is meant for chats with neighbors or meetings with visitors.

The family room is the area where...well... your family hangs. Furnishings are more comfortable and area rugs are meant for high traffic. This is a more used and lived in space, a space for entertaining. Tables are larger, possibly slightly less ornamental, yet still decorative. Furnishings focus on the television or other source of entertainment and less on each other. This is the room that should contain your TV, audio components, video games or board games for family play (if you do not have a gameroom or home theater). This is your lounging area, your chill spot. It, along with your kitchen, should be the hub of your home.

Now, back to the reason that this post is about the formal living room. Despite these clear definitions for these spaces, most homeowners don't know how to interpret them and place furnishings in this room that do not fit the style of the rest of the home. People think, no matter what style of home they have: traditional, modern, contemporary or rustic, that their living room should resemble a mausoleum. They use fringes and lace, marble on tables, skirted chairs, french legs and heavy carved frames filled with landscape paintings. This is so wrong and only fitting if the rest of your home shares these characteristics. A modern home's formal living room should look just as modern. If you have children that are frequently sprawled out in the family room, perhaps they are not allowed to sit in the living room. You might have sleek pieces of furniture that have fabrics that require a bit more care- linens, silken blends or chenilles; where as your family room might have wearable cotton blends, kid friendly leathers or microsuedes. Your artwork and vases might be better suited for your formal room then your family room. This room is your fancy room, your show off room, but should still resemble the rest of your house. Consider your family room as you with your play clothes on and your living room as you dressed up a bit. One is formal, one is casual, but they are both still you. The same should be said for your home. Guests should not be looking for their ticket to the museum upon entering your home- unless you are planning on charging admission!

Need more help putting this look together in your home? Call me for a consultation on this space or any other room of your home today.

Loft Living... Where Did It Start?

Hi All,
I have to say that I have been excited for the last few weeks, as I have been working on a potential loft development in Tempe, AZ. Now... Lofts... they are my thing. I use to do them all day, every day when I lived back in the East Coast. Not only is Loft Living a way of life for those living in the typical factory conversion, but most inhabitants of the five boroughs of NY and the brownstones in MA also enjoy what minimalist style urban, contemporary living has to offer. When I left the city over there to live in the city over here I left weeks where I would crank out several lofts or Metropolitan style home designs to come here and do week after week of Tuscan or Traditional interiors with an occasional Transitional home thrown in for good measure. I noticed, after a year or so, that the lofts were coming! (I moved here in 04') Now they are here, and after several years of playing with the same thing over and over, I am refreshed to think of working on a loft space again. I giggle over the clean lines, I am enamored by the plastics, the exotic woods, the low profile sofas and bolder colors. My heart goes pitter pat over the stainless steel, the concrete block and counters, the glass... oh, the glass!

One of the funniest and saddest things that I have learned after doing my research in Arizona, is how ill-equipped the majority of the "Interior Designers" here are when it comes to designing or decorating a contemporary home in the Valley. There are rules that apply to a contemporary home. I laugh at the mish mash of "straight backed sofas" that they combine with an oriental rug ???, one piece of abstract art and their idea of the "modern" coffee table! I go into hysterics when I see their interpretations of an ultra-modern kitchen with a shaker style door and stainless steel appliances, or maybe they go as far as a drive to Ikea to get the truly "modern" stuff, ooh, ah! These effort are substandard when it comes to true Loft Style Design. Let me start from the beginning and show you the art of Loft Living...

In the 80's at the height of the conversion from old fashioned, massive machinery to more modern technology, huge factory buildings in the industrial sections of urban cities became abandoned. Selling for less than the average apartment building, some were bought by commercial property owners who figured they could make a small chunk of change renting these large open spaces to starving artists and other creative types who could use the apartments for both work and a home. With 10,000 square feet of barrier free space, renters had to get creative with furnishings to delineate spaces, separating one room from another. Furnishings were simple and sparse, as who could afford to stuff so much into a massive open room for one person. There was simply no need- the style necessary here was more utilitarian in nature. Thus, the birth of Loft Style took place.

Throughout the decades, owners became more intelligent and business savvy, breaking down one floor of a building into several loft spaces and investing in accoutrements to lure in those who might not otherwise choose to live in such a complicated space, not always in the best part of town. After the artsy sector moved into these neighborhoods, businesses began to notice how full they were and then they began to move in too. Jazz clubs and art galleries and cool boutiques soon followed. Before long, they became the center of town, attracting all to the convenience of living a walk away from everything.

Not everyone can live in a loft space. You have to be able simplify your life, your furnishings and adjust to the many deficiencies that others consider to be decorative accent- like exposed plumbing and chase pipes for electricity, concrete block walls or bricks in some areas. Cold hard surfaces are a staple for loft style homes and even those that are built in modern times boast them. On the one hand builders seek to replicate the wheel, not reinvent it and on the other hand, not having to bust through walls to lay plumbing and electricity saves lots of money in construction costs!

The largest problem that most loft owners have to contend with is understanding the proper style and placement of furnishings and accessories that fit in with the loft lifestyle. Those who are truly fans of this style understand it, but even still might not have the eye to select the right pieces for their space. The scale of each piece, as opposed to the space is imperative. If your sofa is too wide or too deep it can crowd even the most open of floor plans. It will steal space away from another "room" which is merely another section of the same space. Rooms are not cluttered by multiple vases and boxes and accent pieces of various sizes, staggered closely together in rows on shelves and cubbie holes and atop kitchen cabinets. THIS IS AN ABSOLUTE NO, NO! Placement of accessories long and slender or short and chunky in bold colors are random and sporadic or based on function alone. A sideboard is not sitting in the hallway to hold a decorative plant or a vase, it is there for when you first enter your home for you to throw your keys and eyeglasses. In this style of home the rule is form follows function, not Arizona's traditional function follows form. Looks are sleek and purposeful and that's not easy to understand, but can look stunning if handled by the right designer.

If you are considering moving into a loft space or want to learn more about them, please don't hesitate to call me! I'd love to help you design your space. I look forward to once again filling my portfolio with the many loft projects I take on. if you are not ready yet... stay tuned for my next blog post, where I will go into the style a bit more in depth. Lofts are here, love them or hate them. Maybe, through education and a good laugh, I can create a few fans!