Monday: Hope you had a relaxing weekend.

Besides the super cute boys, our new lamp and side table are pictured.

The side table is from World Market. I hope you all got to relax a little.

Tuesday: Blog designs, you vote

It didn't work out with Kelly from Fabulous K. We parted ways and she gave me back my full refund in a very professional way.

These headers aren't forever options. I did them tonight in 20 minutes and I'm not a graphic designer! Something temporary until I find someone new.  I know the first one doesn't have Match in it, but it does have cool pictures of my four favorite things. I can still put Match back in. Is the second one too girly? Oh, and a shout out to Missy Heid for the photograph of us. She's a really wonderful photographer and captures all those perfect moments.

* I caught the typo.

Wednesday: things that happen when you rent

We moved the crib downstairs into the living room/office because no one was getting any sleep. So now it's the living room/office/nursery.

Here are some specs:
The sconces are Jonathan Alder from Macy's.com and the blue print pillow is a sale item from WS home. The sheets are from Target by Dwell and the prints are Sharon Montrose's baby animals on Esty. The cute animals in the crib are Fonte (Satchel's) and Oliver (Eero's) from Anthropologie (neither of them have the slightest interest in them, but I keep them around hoping). The blanket is the best baby blanket and it's from SFerra. It's not as expensive as you might think.
*SFerra is a top of the line luxury linens brand.

Lamp dilemma. You know how I posted about the Buster lamp? I ordered it and they e-mailed me saying it was back ordered until February 10th. Bummer. So today I went to my favorite baby store to buy Eero some teething rings and the lamp was there and I asked if I could buy the floor model. It looks the same but I think it's slightly different? They said it was Jonathan Alder but it looks identical and Robert Abbey makes his products I think. So for 20% off I got it for $40 less than it would have been to ship it. However, just as I was about to call and cancel my order I got an e-mail saying the lamp had shipped! And I got a parking ticket today. I hate that. And then my christmas lights weren't working so I flipped the breaker and it shut off my computer and I lost all of my unsaved worked for my blog design from the night before. Maybe it just wasn't meant to be, me and this blog re-design.

Tuesday: Christmas stockings

I found these at the flea market this weekend. The seller threw in the pink one for free. More of the goodies I found this week.

Monday: Toddler bunk bed

KEVIN: "I need to build something"

WHITNEY: "OK"

SATCHEL: "Flying Treehouse bed for Firemen and Superman and Swordfighters and puncher-guys?"

IN UNISON: "Oh Yeah"

We saw this picture (Below) somewhere in the blogosphere, and both liked it, it was a similar space to what we were working with.

     From here, Lets just say that Whitney and I have different design processes.  

She is organized, well planned, thoughtful, and balanced. She starts a process by organizing her thoughts, writing them down, scheduling time to get them done, and realizing that sometimes other things are a higher priority than that project.
For those of you who may be wondering, THIS IS THE CORRECT WAY.

I, on the other hand, drive immediately to home depot and wander for hours just getting more and more confused and stressed, and then realize that there are just too many ways to accomplish a single task, and the only difference is how much money each option costs, and that I don't have as much disposable money as I thought, and that there has to be a better way. And, I haven't eaten or drank in 6 hours.

Then I come home without buying anything, and then start to do all the things that Whitney inherently already knows.

In this case, I tried a different approach. 

I did some research. I planned, drew, and then began.

I wanted the modern look of the horizontal slatted fences, so I knocked on a guys door who happened to have a really nice fence. He told me it was IPE wood. So I called a local hardwood and asked for ipe (pronounced ee-pay).

The phone call went something like this,

"Hello, do you carry ipe?"

"Yes, it is $9 a foot."

(Silence)

(More silence)

"Okay, thanks." (click) 

Sorry Satchel, unless there is ruby-studded-gold-plated-titanium-laden-cancer-curing edges on this wood, I will not be purchasing ipe. Sorry. But then a quick phone call to a reclaimed lumber place over in Half Moon Bay, CA gave me some hope. The guy on the other end said yes, I have some IPE, come on over.

When I got there, he said, "It's back there" >>>>>>

We walked down the hill by those trees, and had to hang on a branch of a tree to keep from rolling down the hill into a river. 

But there it was: ipe. 10 year old moss covered ipe.?? WHAT?? Yes, 10 year old moss covered ipe. But I had done some ipe research, and I learned something. Ipe is one of, if not the densest wood on the earth. It can last for 80 years buried in the ground. It has the same fire rating as steel and concrete. Awesome. 

So I took all he had. Oh, and it was $0.65 a foot. 

Then, over the next couple of Tuesdays (Project day around here), I made some sawdust. I had to "mill" (Re-sawing each board to be thinner, and cut to size) my own planks, and I only had a tablesaw. There are a number of other faster, easier ways to achieve this, but Novice woodworkers don't always have planers, or bandsaws, or joiners. Oh, and they don't have fancy things like vacuum systems by the way. (But I did wear a mask)

Gluing, and Fastening.

The Facing

I wanted to build it straight into the corner of the room, without any noticeable legs, but then realized that we are still (alas) renting, and sizable holes in the walls were probably a bad idea.

But it turned out, and he loves it. Sleeps up there every night, and stays in his bed finally. The vintage flags and boxing gloves?-  Flea market. Dress up clothes?-Dollar store. And the ladder? Found it by the trash can.

Sometimes the stars just align.

Kevin

Happy Friday!

If your interested, check out my old blog for inspiration too. I love it. It's full of great pictures and great design quotes.

http://the1struleofdecoration.wordpress.com/

These picture are to celebrate my commercial work. I love doing commercial projects. We are working on the building front and bathrooms. I know it doesn't sound very exciting, but I love it. It took a lot of searching but I think I've found the very coolest bathrooms on the internet. Do you love bathrooms as much as I do? Every great hotel or restaurant I have to check out the bathrooms.

This is my inspiration:

This week I've been spending most of my time designing and decorating a room for Creches to be displayed for the 24th Annual Bay Area Creche Exhibit. It opens tomorrow and I had the most wonderful time working with the most incredible people. If you live in the area come check it out.

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend. I'm heading to a few estate sales and flea markets. Wish me luck!

Whitney

Wednesday: Bedroom Makeover- how to

This room was easy because it's always easy to design when you have a great client but especially when there are great bones to the room. The ceilings were high, it had good moldings and trim, a beautiful window seat just begging for a cushion. It also had great storage space.

This is how we started:
I interviewed the daughter and mother together. I had Annie (the daughter) flip through magazines before the appointment and clip out pictures that she loved. She only had a couple of catalogs like pottery barn and west elm but the over all feeling was lots of blue-greens and natural woods finishes and blown glass.

Here is where I made one of my first mistakes on the project. I know Annie really well. Apparently I thought I knew her better than she knew herself! My initial reaction to her clippings was that they were more "Wisteria" and feminine and french and I thought she was more punk, Restoration Hardware, London. I mean, she listens to Jimi Hendrix, Deaf Leopard, Nirvana, Pink Floyd, The Rolling Stones. She had the most awesome short, red, punk haircut, wears converse shoes and old rock band tees. I thought for sure I was right. But I wasn't and I pushed this style on her because "it is my job as a designer to show her all the things she might like if you knew all the stores and styles that I did". However, I presented with this idea, she went with it, but it eventually it just morphed into all her original clippings. She wanted a calm, peaceful room to be in after a long day of craziness at high school. Lesson learned.

The room specifications:
1. Bed: Restoration Hardware on sale, king for $1000 with shipping and tax.
2. Sheets: Home Goods Calvin Klein. Really soft. $70
3. Blue-green coverlet: Pottery Barn, $200
4. Linen Pillow Shams in Euro size: Pottery Barn, $100 each, 3
5. Desk and Chair: World Market, $400 for both
6. Lamp and shade: Ikea $60
7. Plants: Ikea, $10 each, 5
8. Glass jars: Anthropologie, $4, 3
9. Rug: Carpet Remnant, $500 for a 9 x 12
10. Blown glass hanging from the ceiling: she made at a glass blowing factory in Switzerland over the summer. Cool.
11. Pleated duvet: Ikea, $130
12. Mattresses: old ones from another room in the house
13. Bath towels: Target
14. Orchid: Restoration Hardware $65
15. Keep Calm print: found on the internet, $30
16. Mirror over bed: Home Goods, $99
17. Window seat cushion: custom made by Losa Upholstery, $650

We still need to fix the cords behind the desk, hang Anthropologie lanterns over the window seat, get a frame for the poster, decoupage the lamp shade with dictionary pages, and put up her vintage key collection on either sides of the mirror over her bed.

Tuesday: Blog Re-design frustrations

I'm feeling frustrated and down about my blog! I love my blog and it's been neglected by me lately because my job/marriage/children/etc. are on the crazy side of things right now. But also because I've been wanting to put my posts on my newly designed blog and have been waiting and waiting...

Back on October 4th I hired Kelly from Fabulous K to give my blog the make-over it so desperately needed. I love her work and she is reasonably priced and it seemed like a great fit. I sent in a rush order for $55 extra so that I could have it done by November 1st. She responded acknowledging a rush order and a few questions and I answered them. Then nothing! I never heard from her. I was getting nervous so on the 24th of last month I emailed her and she wrote back that she was working on it and would send it over ASAP that week. Then nothing again! November 4th, four days after the rush order deadline I
e-mailed her thinking she'd pulled a fast one on me! She wrote back right away and said she has sent me an e-mail with more questions that I never responded to. Okay... understandable, maybe it got lost in some junk mail trap. I didn't care I just wanted it to be finished. So I responded back to her questions 5 seconds later and I've sent her three more since then to the same email address she's been emailing me from and still haven't heard from her since Nov. 4th. Isn't that weird? I don't see any e-mails in my junk mail. Maybe our e-mails are going into some void in the universe but I'm going crazy because I don't know what's going on. I just left a comment on her blog so I'll see what happens. I hope it works out. I was really excited about it! Now I'm mostly just frustrated by the whole thing :(
Any advice?

Whitney

Tuesday: Relatively Cheap and Chic

I love that this lamp is a very classic design but then the elongated shade adds a little modern sense of humor. I saw it in a store window and knew it was perfect for our family room/office. I finally saved up enough to get something. I desperately want a cozy chair but our room has no light in it besides my two giraffe sconces and I can't see anything! The lamp is from LampsPlus.com. I love free shipping. It's by Robert Abbey. I love that its name is Buster. It reminds me of Arrested Development. And the lamp couldn't look less like a Buster to me.

Tip to try at home: turn off the ceiling lights and then hang out in your room like normal. You will see where you need lamps. I have light by my desk, string lights in one corner for Christmas and the floor lamp will go in the other corner. The next step will be getting a chandelier/pendant for the center.

I forgot to mention! We are still trying to get the blog re-designed. Long story. I'll fill you in on the details later. -Whit

Wednesday: Kitchen makeover how-to

We've had a lot of requests to share our design process on the blog.

Here's what I do:
1. I start by making a list of everything that needs to go in the room. What is the purpose of the room?
2. I move to the floor plan and do the space planning. (Thinking of traffic patterns, dividing up areas, lighting, etc.)

3. I gravitate to a particular inspirational photo that I've been wanting to use. For our kitchen I'd seen an image in Domino Magazine with the same banquette. Banquettes are the perfect solution for small kitchens/dining rooms. We wanted open benches for storage space. The Saarinen knock-off from Ikea was easy because we already had it! The one in the picture is no knock off. You can tell by the shiny base.
4. Details: The banquette is made of wood and spray painted white. The clock is from Conran USA (an is the most expensive things we own besides our sofa!). The high chair is Ikea, the kids table is Ikea, the place mats are Crate and Barrel from my aunt for our wedding gift. On the counter we have out our juicer, toaster and a ceramic canister for all of our mixing utensils. On the stove I keep out my blue Le Creuset from our wedding because I use it almost every night. The pillows and inserts are from Ikea. The small plants are Ikea, the broom is from Whole Foods and the scooter is a Kick. The curtains are bad and need to be replaced but we haven't gotten around to it. We just used what we had.

Let me know if you have any questions!

Whitney

Monday: Flea Market

His idea, not ours. Promise....Although at times, I can see the benefits of a little containment while flea-marketing...

What a frustrating day! How do you mentally make it through the week when all you can think about is finding a set of Milo Baughman lounge chairs in the most perfect "pearl" leather and let them slip through your finger tips??? 

     Or see the perfect "British racing green," comfortably worn leather chair, (and ottoman!) for $200, and not pull the trigger on it??? 

How do you go on living after something like that, right?... RIGHT ?

We learned many lessons on flea market shopping last weekend. The hard way. I was very close to tears on our way home. What a silly thing to almost cry about! What a silly thing to waste time thinking about all week.

But we did.

What we learned:
*Have a list of anything you might be looking for with measurement and a measuring tape.
*Go with your gut and move fast.
*Offer 20% lower than the asking price. Then, take what they counter-offer.
*It won't be there when you get back.
*And if you catch sight of something from the corner of your eye from a half a block away, then you probably love it. And you will find a place to make it work. Or you will resell it.
*Go with your gut, go with your gut, go with your gut. *ALSO, speaking of going with your gut......Choose you truck-vendor burrito wisely.

sad face after loosing our chairs

These are the only pictures we have from the trip. Can you believe it?  Why didn't we take pictures of those amazing chairs? And take video for the blog? And take a picture of the view of San Francisco across the bay?!!

 It may have something to do with wrestling two little boys.

Written by:

Kevin and Whitney

Friday: Before and After

This project was so great because it was for my brother and sister-in-law! I know the before and after is hard but the window you see in the before is the same window on the right side in the after. 

Why I love this project:

-my family has excellent taste

-my brother can make anything (ex. the bench/coffee table, the bookcases, the easel, the mirror over the sofa) Is there anything left? :)

- It's an old student housing apartment and it looks great!

Here's a break down.

-Desk chair, overstock

-computer desk, jimmy-rigged from ikea stuff 

-rug, ballard

-sofa, macys.com

-bench by window, ikea (holds niece's toys)

-easel and art both done by brother

-wood framed mirror, brother

-arc lamp, overstock

-side chair, brought with them

-bookshelves, materials from home depot

-lamp, target

-plants and pots, ikea

The break down in price is around $3,000, including making the bench and shelves but not the mirror or easel and art. Those were made a few years ago. 

This was our inspiration.

Thursday: Project (Remembered)

(Sarcastic Header and Picture)

Gone are the days (for me, though they shouldn't be) of hand planing, drilling holes with a egg-beater style drill, hand nailing, and pencil and paper sketches. 

I have been reflecting on my life lately, and how dynamic it can be. Dynamic meaning that it is a fluid thing. Some areas improving, and some declining, always trying to strike the right balance. I have noticed that my DIY skills are getting better in a lot of ways, but I am relying more and more on the technology that can sometimes replace good-old-fashioned-thought and planning. 

Years ago I saw the OEUF Classic crib, and I knew that it was "the one for us." Unfortunately, the price tag was "the one for someone else"

So my first child furniture related DIY had begun.

I first decided that I would need to buy a good router, then find a way to measure all of the openings in the crib, then build a template that the router could follow, then etc.blah,blah,etc.etc,blah,etc.

THEN I FOUND SHOPBOT

In this particular case, it isn't a matter of skill, or great craftsmanship, but rather the realization that computers are better than me.

WHAT I REALIZED IS THAT THE DESIGN IS THE HARD PARD. THE FABRICATION IS MANAGEABLE.

STEP 1

DRAW CRIB ON COMPUTER.

STEP 2

PUT SHEET OF MDF (Medium Density Fiberboard) on shopbot table.

STEP 3

Push ENTER.

STEP 4

PAINT

STEP 5

ASSEMBLE

STEP 7

ADMIRE AND BLOG

I am sure that I have Blogged about this before, but the reason that I have chosen to put it up today, is because I have a couple other DIY projects in the works, and I have noticed that when the Computer does all the work, things are easy. The latest project will go up soon, and I will explain what I mean. I have to give credit where credit is due. The computer did this project, and when I do it, things aren't quite so smooth. I'll post it up soon.

Tuesday: Backyards

They proved you can have a camp out in any backyard regardless of its size! Poor Satchel is still sick. Kevin was spending some much needed Daddy time with him. He loves his dad very very much.

Monday: Update on Boys Room

We moved the boys into the back room because of light and noise issues in the front room. Too many windows for nap time and too many kids playing outside to go to bed at night. We moved the Ikea bookcases upstairs to go on either side of the window. We brought the train table back out because it has spent that magical 6 months in hiding where Satchel now has a brand new toy to play with. Kevin is currently building him a toddler bunk bed/hideout in the pop-out in the corner of the room that you can't see. Eero will sleep underneath on the bottom bunk when he moves out of the crib.

Notes on room:
-carpet is from a carpet remnant store in San Jose for $80.
-Train table is Melissa and Doug. $100 I think.
-Frames from Ikea.
-Chair free on Craigslist with upholstered fabric from Ikea ($4)
-Bookcases Ikea. $130 each.
-Dresser. Hand-made by Kevin.
- Frame on dresser- Pottery Barn kids, elephant from Moma store. $25.
-Lamp HomeGoods $20.
- Cooler on bookcase- vintage. Kevin's grandparents.

Lots going on around here. Still in my PJ's and it's 2:45. Been working all morning with two sick kids. But the best part of sick days are we all slept in a little later because we were all up all night, and then getting to watch a movie with Satchel on the couch and pancakes for breakfast. We also went on a walk, hunting for pumpkins and got an M&M every time we found one. Terrible diet for being sick, I know. But I am in survival mode.

Hope you are all off to a great Monday.

Friday: California!

  

Thanks for all the comments! Happy Friday!

Thursday: Before and After

Thank you to the two who commented on the last post! I will try all of those suggestions. Thank you.

We've had a busy week. Tomorrow I am meeting to work on two commercial spaces re-designing the lobbies. I am also working on finally designing my living room for the first time instead of things just ending up wherever. I'm excited. 

This before and after was a blast! The clients were amazing. Budgets, deadlines, decisive! Every designers dream come true. It was an honor to work with them and a pleasure every day. And we still have more work to do so the fun will just keep going. 

Before:

After:

 Paint color: Elephants Breath FB match

 Paint color: light blue FB match