Tuesday, July 26, 2011

Ship Shape



I am feeling a bit "nautically" inspired as I prep to spend spend time on Balboa Island, aboard my family's boat in Newport Beach.


Check out these cute beachy inspired decor accessories!










{Knot Board Pillow from Dransfield & Ross}








{Wave Pillow from Dransfield & Ross}










{Flagship Bedding from Dransfield & Ross}


Tuesday, July 19, 2011

HGTV Home & Shaw Floors Event



Last week, I attended an event to experience a new line of flooring from Shaw Floors for HGTV Home, a partnership known as HGTV Home Flooring by Shaw Floors. The event took place in North Carolina, starting with a kick-off dinner at the Biltmore in Asheville, NC. Part of the three day event was to partner with another blogger to create a room design challenge featuring two products from the HGTV Home by Shaw Floors collection. Prior to dinner, we gathered for cocktail hour where we got a chance to browse the collection and choose our flooring. I was selected to partner with Pam from the blog Retro Renovation. (Pam and I had previously met before, so it was fun to team up together for this event - as well as hone in on our mutual admiration for modern and contemporary design.)




We started first with selecting our area rug from the HGTV Home Area Rugs collection, a line that features over 120 area rugs which includes everything from traditional and transitional to contemporary . Pam and I gravitated toward one of the more modern rugs called Mod Links.




The area rug we choose for our design challenge room, Mod Links in Beige (which also comes in Black and Dark Brown).




Next, we selected a hardwood flooring that would be installed wall to wall in our mock up room design. While the Shaw Floors line of hardwood floors has an amazing assortment of hardwoods, many of them rustic and distressed, in various colors, we opted for a more sleek darker wood species to work in our room.




Also, included in the collection is a line of carpet in various colors, patterns,  and textures.


Once we finalized our decisions, we placed our "order" with a Shaw representative who immediately called the order in to Shaw Headquarters in Dalton, GA. The amazing thing is that the entire order (along with the selections of the other teams, five in total) was to be shipped out and driven across the state to Greensboro, NC and installed in our rooms (five "bays") by early the next morning when we arrived at Tribuzio-Hilliard, the studio location and furnishing warehouse  we used to create our room design.




On Day 2, we arrived by late morning to the Tribuzio-Hilliard studio where we got a brief tour and were greeted (much to  our surprise!) by Lisa LaPorta from HGTV's Designed to Sell.




Once we got to see our rooms in person (complete with the fast track overnight installation of our flooring selections!) we were let loose to run around the Tribuzio-Hilliard warehouse to "grab" what we could of their huge assortment of furniture, lighting, and accessories.  Here's my team partner Pam from Retro Renovation along with our assigned designer Dawn from (who knew just where to find what we were looking for!) - as they scout for side chairs at the very top of the racks.




We quickly nabbed a green sofa, leopard side chair, and a round retro looking coffee table to fit into the scheme of our room design - which was going in the direction of a mod retro glam look to tie in with our Mod Links area rug.  With a little extra assistance, Ashley from Empower Media Marketing holds up artwork for Pam and I to decide on.




On the second day of the two day room design challenge (essentially the 8th hour), our room was finally taking shape. Overnight, it had been painted, window treatments (custom!) had been installed, we had cushions "upholstered" for our window seats, and a fly wall brought in to create a fireplace complete with a painted mantle and hearth (which was painted brown to tie in with the ceiling trim) - a touch we added to correlate with the brown "links" in the Mod Links area rug. We spent the final hour hastily accessorizing our room (and making a few last minute decisions!)...




And here it is: the completed room!




Detail of our fireplace vignette.




Detail of the leopard chair on the Mod Links area rug with a makeshift bar in the background.


Of course, we had much competition with the four other teams who all created amazing rooms! Starting in September, the rooms will be featured on Shaw Floors Facebook page and readers will have a chance to vote on their favorites rooms along with some exciting giveaways daily. Stay tuned as I am planning to feature more about the event, the other rooms, the giveaways, and the info on how and where to vote!


{Many thanks to Shaw Floors & Empower Media Marketing for inviting me to experience the new line from HGTV Home up close and personal. As I've mentioned before, being apart of Shaw Floors means a great deal to me having grown up in the carpet industry.}


{And I had a blast teaming up with Pam of Retro Renovation - could not have asked for a better partner!}


Photo Credits: All photos by me, except the last three by Pam of Retro Renovation.


Saturday, July 9, 2011

DIY: The Beaded Chandelier





Awhile back I spotted this beaded chandelier on Pinterest. Shortly after I came across it again on the 2Modern Blog which linked to a blog post on Gus + Lula about a how to tutorial DIY project to make the beaded chandelier.  Check out the easy steps here!




{The DIY version by Gus + Lula.}




{The version by Marjorie Skouras Design.}




{Up close in a dining room.}




{One of my favorite rooms with it over a rustic dining table.}




{Just as pretty in a more contemporary setting.}




{Love a yellow version too!}




{Pretty and elegant in a smaller size.}




{Works for outdoors too!}


All images via Pinterest.

Saturday, July 2, 2011

The Pink Swan Project

SUITE New York has launched The Pink Swan Project, a collection of nineteen Arne Jacobsen chairs designed by well known designers to be auctioned off for charity to benefit the Breast Cancer Research Foundation. The chairs were donated by Fritz Hansen and the auction will take place in October. The chairs will be on rotating display at the Gagosian Shop on Madison Avenue while the rest of the chairs rest in SUITE New York’s showroom on Park Avenue.

Have a favorite?




Designed by Victoria Hagan.






Designed by Windsor Smith.






Designed by Vicente Wolf.




Designed by Madeline Weinrib.








To view all the nineteen chairs, check them out here.