scratching the surface of surfaces.....

x0x0x0x0x0x0x0x0x0x0x0x0x....I love decorative accessories...obviously I opened a store...but I love adding treasures to a room or surface to make it more personal. A few of the shots are of my own home...you can tell I layer a lot with books and boxes...my two favorite things. I also like to layer my art and am a real sucker for Lucite stands/blocks. HOTTTT

I put some shells from recent trip in a black bowl and picked a stick out of the reptile section of the pet store that looked like drift wood...I guess it moved me at the time. Trays are also a great way of grounding a surface or creating a separate zone. Whatever you do...go bold and buy items of scale and substance. Like any other aspect of decorating....mix textures....wood, metal, paper, ceramic, and shells. (psst....half price books...1.00 a book - cant beat it....its my obsession)

cooking up a modern kitchen.....

My new modern Kitchen line is supa hot.....you can do so much with it. A frameless cabinet - it maximizes storage space. You can choose among its hundreds of laminates, wood, and veneer doors. We wanted the kitchens to be of course modern but sacrificed some of our Italian design intentions for a more traditional/functional storage layout. We strayed a bit on the lower kitchen by floating the glass lift door cabinets and throwing a punch of orange in. Function and budget are generally the two main concerns...and we have kitchens with soft close doors, dovetailed drawers and quartz counters that start well below 10k. Ask us about our various lines and we'll put the right kitchen together for you....

Cover the Wall with wall coverings

In keeping with the Master bedroom story....I love using the tried and true method of adding drama by using wall coverings behind the bed. Above we wanted to tone down the hard lines of the contemporary setting by using hide...both on the floor and the wall. The wall covering is a vinyl faux cowhide...alternating in directions. The lower is a foil wall cover that from a distance appears to be damask..but up close ...is cowboy hats, horses and oil towers - totally playful!

In the previous posting is a faux leather stitched wall covering that works perfect for a more serious masculine bedroom.

Mastering the Master Bedroom

So much to think about really when it comes to the master bedroom - but my number one complaint is using too small of lamps and too flat of pillows....STINKY! Two euros for a queen and 3 for a king bed. Also...unless your bedroom is small like the bed with the mirror above it...26 to 30" lamps are best. The small room used a mirror over the bed along with stools for nightstands. A couple of the room shots were condos Matty, Fox and I worked on so they might appear minimal....like had it been a customer.. I would have talked them into buying a coverlet just to fold over the bottom part of the bed (layering like we talked about earlier) Putting a rug under the bed defines the space and really finishes off the focal point...dont worry if you have carpet...put a rug down anyways. Small sofas, chaises, chairs, or ottomans add more drama to the bed and elevates it to a new decorating level....ahh. Mix match your night stands or go minimal on one side to have more drama/scale on the other like we did in the red bedroom. We imagined this condo for a single person so we short changed the right side...I think we actually bought a wall light fixture but ran out of time to hang it. Use your imagination :)

HOW TO TREAT A WINDOW

Imagine your window is like an outfit...and layering your outfit with the right "pieces" and colors make or break it....

sames is to be said for windows....your window is your often underestimated power impact. A well dressed window can make a room appear larger, taller, warmer and finished.

My favorite coverings are drapery panels and shutters but If I'm layering a window...by all means...I adore putting woven wood shades with drapery panels...or even fabric shades with drapery panels. The house in the photos is in various stages of completion but the windows shown are done to our design. Tammy Piety and I worked on these windows and our goal was to ... 1 unify the outside 2 keep the inside warm and cozy 3 emphasize the height of the rooms 4 and of course use them for function. We started with custom shutters in the front of the home...most all the windows...we used a very green product made in Indiana and color matched to our trim. On less noticeable windows...we used wide blinds (windows on the side and back of the house...attic and kids rooms) We layered the shutters in the dining room to warm the space. We knew we wanted to layer woven woods with drapery in the hearth so we used the same woven woods in the hearth and nook. The small office is on a unique niche in the home and its the only real window you see there aside form the laundry so we chose a different woven wood....one that blocked more of the light so that "real" work could be done in the lady of house's office - isnt that where all the "real" work is generally done? I generally dont used more than two layers..but if I used a third it would be a genesis shade for black out...(it rolls up in a cassette so its virtually un-noticed). Taking panels above the window 4 to 6 inches makes the window appear larger and maximizing the width of the window...hiding the sides of the trim makes the window appear wider. Vertical stripes also makes the window even taller...accentuating the height...like the right skirt on a woman can make her look slimmer or taller.