Handy Interiors

Happy Halloween

2011-10-31T21:30:00.000-07:00

My Chia Pet
I originally saw this idea about a month ago on Pinterest and had to try it out.
I changed it up a bit but overall I thought it was pretty great.

The dog was a great sport :)
Happy Halloween!

Inspiration: Everyday Items

2011-04-11T21:09:00.000-07:00

Lately I find myself a bit obsessed with the color combination of the items shown in this picture. I’ve apparently been in this place before. The picture of berries was taken last summer.

Currently a few of my favorite things:

beaded necklace

amazon kindle and kate spade kindle case (I even love the kate spade box it came in)

essie nail polish (enuf is enuf & gerenium)

scarves. i love scarves all year long.

http://handyinteriors.tumblr.com/

Goodbye Summer and Hello Fall!

2010-09-25T12:00:00.000-07:00

I’m a California girl and while some people might find this odd, my favorite time of year is on a cool and stormy day during fall or winter. I mean it is California so with our mild temperatures summer isn't bad but I’m excited to say goodbye to summer and hello to fall! Time to switch it up. *Today they forecasted in the 90s... not my idea of fall weather just yet.

Since we are now just a couple days into fall, I figured that today is the perfect day to update my summer bucket list and see how I did. Not sure what I’m talking about, see my post “Summer Goals” back in June.

Unfortunately I didn’t get around to everything but I think we got pretty close! Here is a recap.

· go on the architectural tour when we go to Chicago – we did it and it was so great. If you have the chance to do this while in Chicago I highly recommend it. Chicago is packed with some amazing architecture and design. *We also did the Sky Deck at the Willis Tower at night. Amazing!

· take a funny face picture of the nieces when we go to Michigan – I forgot about this and they did it anyway :)

· take a full family photo when we go to Michigan – Christmas present pre-planning ;)

· dance at a summer wedding – we didn’t do this but we danced later on at home so sort of.

· go to the dog beach (maybe a few times) – major fail, the one week I thought about heading to the Huntington Beach dog beach was the same weekend of the Open for surfing.

· go to Disneyland just for the fireworks – loved it!

· go to the animation class at California Adventure 5 times – so we went 3 times, Daisy Duck, Chip, and Dale. I don’t think I’ll be animating for Disneyland any time soon but it was a lot of fun. I drew the first one, the husband drew the second one. He got better with time ;)

· save for a kayak – this is taking the back seat for now.

· tweet up with Chicago Twitter friends – time got away from us, there is just so much to do there!

· walk around the Queen Mary, possibly take a tour (beautiful Art Deco interiors)

· host at least 2 game nights – okay so I hosted one and went to one…that sort of counts.

· bike ride to Huntington Beach – we just rode bikes this past weekend and that was plenty, HB is still a goal.

· ride the AquaBus and walk around Shoreline Village – walked around Shoreline but decided to bus home instead

· ride a water bike – these things are a bit more expensive than we expected, while we thought about it but it didn’t happen.

· go through our closet and find clothes and other items to donate – huge accomplishment! We got rid of a lot more than I expected.

· go to the Belmont Brewery – I recommend the wings at happy hour.

· start refurbishing the alley chair – while it hasn’t happen yet, we have started shopping upholstery shops and fabrics. This is a current work in progress.

· girls day at the spa – if you live near a Glen Ivy you should go! It’s like a mini vacation

· have a sunset picnic at the beach – my lovely husband set up a picnic at the beach on our anniversary. We watched the sunset but the marine layer cut the sunset a bit short, but still beautiful.

· make a summer mixed drink – I didn’t make it but my neighbor did. LOL

· try at least 5 of the gazillion recipes I haven’t tried – fail, I tried approximately 2. One was a huge success. I tried the Lemon Chess Pie recipe that was posted on www.abcddesign.com and it was amazing! It’s become my favorite thing to bake. I’ve learned that I prefer baking over cooking. ;)

· walk around downtown Fullerton – Maybe in the fall?

· tour the Gamble House by Greene & Greene in Pasadena (Arts & Crafts) – Yes and it was awesome. If you have the opportunity, go check it out! Highlight: the door, it made for a gorgeous entrance inside. Not only did we do this but we also drove to the Hollyhock House in Los Angeles by Frank Lloyd Wright and then drove by the Ennis House not far from there. This excursion is blog worthy and more details about this trip should appear in October.

· walk up Signal Hill and back down it – I drove it but never got around to walking it. Maybe in the fall?

· walk to the local farmers market – Yes we did and we even bought some fruit. The farmers market offered some beautiful color palettes for inspiration. Look at these gorgeous berries!

*Apologies, some of the photos are taken from my phone.

*Sidenote: While in Chicago we found a little time to go explore Frank Lloyd Wright’s first home and studio and some neighborhood homes that he did as well. More detail later on.

Out of 25 goals we only missed 7! How did you guys do with your summer goals? Any exciting plans for fall?

Traveling Kimpton Style

2010-08-30T22:08:00.000-07:00

I’ve recently had a few people tell me how much they love hearing about the hotels we stay at and often ask about them. This blog is about those hotels and may seem a little like an ad but I really enjoy these hotels and decided to blog about it. So here it goes.

We recently took a trip to Chicago & Michigan. Ever since our honeymoon we have become huge fans of the Kimpton boutique hotel chain.

entry way to Hotel Allegro

We’ve stayed at 3 different Kimptons just in San Francisco, (Argonaut Hotel, Titan Hotel, and Hotel Palomar), Hotel Solamar in San Diego, and now Hotel Allegro in Chicago. Our honeymoon was at Pacific Palisades in Vancouver however they no longer own that location. All future trips, if there is a Kimpton, you know we’ll be there.

Why do we love these hotels so much? To name a few….

· A hosted wine hour every night - we checked in after it had past and they gave us complimentary vouchers to take to their restaurant since we missed it.

· In the morning there and coffee & iced coffee in the lobby

· In the afternoon, there was lemonade and iced tea in the lobby

· In San Francisco they had fresh baked cookies in the evening

· Free high speed internet….I know most places have this but it’s still nice to have

· Pet friendly…although we have never taken our lovely beagle on a trip, some of the hotels have an in house pet that seems to go along with the theme of the hotel.

· The restaurants are delicious and beautiful.

· Great concerge service

· Every hotel is a little different and unique to the surrounding area

· As "In Touch" members we have received snacks and drinks in our room upon arrival and received discounted rates on rooms

Most recently Kimpton has been doing a summer program to their twitter followers. If you follow them they gave a code word to say at check in. Each hotel gives out a different freebie. Last month in San Diego it was free appetizers at the restaurant. This month we received a free room upgrade we had signed up for as "In Touch" members. Instead of paying the discounted rate for the upgrade, they gave it to us for free! Our favorite perk so far!

All that listed above is quite wonderful however my absolute favorite thing about this chain of boutique hotels is the great design. These hotels are colorful and full of different textiles, patterns, shapes, and textures. I’m always so excited to explore the details of these hotels.

For your viewing pleasure I have attached some photos from our most recent trip to Hotel Allegro. I highly recommend you check out their different hotels. One day I hope to visit the George in Washington DC, Sky Hotel in Aspen, and many more.

lobby view

stairway

so much in the detail

elevator doors

double-sided fireplace

living room of hotel room

jacuzzi bath tub

bedroom chair

Do you have a favorite chain or hotel we should check out? What do you love about it?

Wordless Wednesday - LACMA

2010-06-23T18:00:00.000-07:00

Summer Goals

2010-06-21T20:15:00.000-07:00

Summer

I’ve seen a few of my fellow blogger friends do this and it seems like a great idea. I’m one of those people that like to list things out so that I can check them off. That and the fact that I often forget the things I wanted to do. With today being the first day of summer, I thought this would be the perfect time to plan some fun events that I always talk about doing and never seem to get to..

The street view walking to our car from Disneyland

go on the architectural tour when we go to Chicago
take a funny face picture of the nieces when we go to Michigan
take a full family photo when we go to Michigan
dance at a summer wedding
go to the dog beach (maybe a few times)
go to Disneyland just for the fireworks
go to the animation class at California Adventure 5 times
save for a kayak
tweet up with Chicago Twitter friends
walk around the Queen Mary, possibly take a tour (beautiful Art Deco interiors)
host at least 2 game nights
bike ride to Huntington Beach
ride the AquaBus and walk around Shoreline Village
ride a water bike
go through our closet and find clothes and other items to donate
go to the Belmont Brewery
start refurbishing the alley chair
girls day at the spa
have a sunset picnic at the beach
make a summer mixed drink
try at least 5 of the gazillion recipes I haven’t tried
walk around downtown Fullerton
tour the Gamble House by Greene & Greene in Pasadena (Arts & Crafts)
walk up Signal Hill and back down it
walk to the local farmers market

A lot of these things are local activities. So often we don’t get to experience the great things that are right in our backyards. Living in Southern California, we’ve been blessed with some pretty amazing weather. I want to take advantage of these blessings.

Do you have a similar list or any fun summer plans?

Wedding Memories 9.8.07

2010-06-18T18:15:00.000-07:00

How fun is this blog hop? I love reading about other's weddings. It's such a joyful day in someones life. I love it. I could read about wedding for hours! I read about my twitter friends wedding and she told me about this blog hop. I loved the idea and here we are. Not exactly interior design related but possibly could be used for inspirations?

9.8.07

Our wedding was at 12:00 in the afternoon on a beautiful September day. My husband and I really enjoy cooler climates and a hot summer was not one of our desire so we went for September. We both love the beach and ocean and decided to have our wedding (with 100 of our closest friends and family) aboard a private yacht that went through the Newport Harbor. Some photos are from our photographer, some are from friends, and some are from the disposable cameras we had on all the tables for guests to take pictures from their view.

One of my favorite parts about having a wedding on a yacht....we didn't have to hire outside vendors or coordinate that stuff. We need with the yacht coordinator and just told her what we wanted within the vendors that they already partnered with. These vendors were great I might add. We met our DJ and photographer for the first time AT our wedding. Kinda crazy but it went so well, we loved them!

Cake - Cinderella Cake (who we now use for special events) www.cinderellacakes.com

Instead of freezing the top of our cake they gave us a brand new little wedding cake top for our anniversary just like the one we had :)

White roses, white calla lilies, and lavender calla lilies.

One of my amazing bridesmaids worked at a florist and did my bouquets and got me a great discount. How awesome is she?

We were married by a great guy, the pastor of Mike's old church that has been a mentor for Mike. His name is also Mike and did an awesome job. We're at a different church these days but still keep in contact with this guy and his great family :)

dress by Alfred Angelo

Mike felt like the Brad Paisley song "She's Everything" was written about me and I just happened to find this awesome pair of yellow running shoes and wore those during our first dance. If you don't understand the connection, go look up the lyrics.

I loved our photographer, he took these great shots of Mike and I love!

Photographer - Kip Roof www.kiproof.com

Sealed with a Kiss! A wonderful start to living life with my best friend who makes me laugh every single day through lifes ups and downs, I'm so happy to experience it all with him. I truely feel so blessed.

Diamond in the Rough

2010-05-27T20:44:00.000-07:00

I love chairs.

There is something about chairs that I find so interesting. They are practical pieces of art. Lately I’ve been taking notice to wire chairs.

Currently catching my eye: Bertoia Wire Diamond Chair

It was designed by Italian furniture designer, Harry Bertoia in the 1950s and manufactured by Knoll.

While Bertoia created a few amazing wire chairs, this one draws my attention the most. It’s strong wire frame delicately folds down and reminds me of great structural architecture. It’s made of bent and welded steel rods of chrome with an upholstery seat.

I love the chairs that aren’t just chairs, chairs that take the form of art or in this case sculptures. This one definitely fits into what I love about chairs.

“If you look at these chairs, they are mainly made of air, like sculpture. Space passes right through them." – Bertoia

You can also find this chair completely covered in upholstery for a much softer look however you miss out on the unique wire structure. Both would be great pieces to add to a mid-century modern style.

If you’re interested in learning a bit about these great iconic chairs, check out http://hivemodern.com. They have a great selection and give a brief history on the chair and designer. I could and do spend hours on this site.

The apartment is clean again and there is more to come!

2010-05-26T21:08:00.000-07:00

It official. I finished. How can you tell? Walk in my apartment. It's so nice to have our floor and dining table back and not covered by drafting boards, mat boards, and fabrics.

I had two final projects and presentations that I recently finished up.

They were a lot of fun to do, quite time consuming, and probably my favorite boards that I've done. I will be posting them soon :)

While looking back at some old projects that I posted, I noticed the pictures aren't that great so I am going to try and get some better photos of my past boards to post on here.

With the time that's freed up I've found that I can now catch up with friends, read some of of my favorite blogs, and organize my photos. For example, here's a picture of a flower I took at the Getty back in April. I love that it's so soft and delicate with a majestic metal structure for the background. I've had some requests that I blog more often so I think I'll try that out. I just looked through a bunch of my photos of fun Interior Design finds and experiences that I look forward to sharing over the next week months. So please check back :)

Rocking Chair Revival?

2010-04-08T18:00:00.000-07:00

Let me start off by saying I love chairs.

Lately, I’ve been thinking about rocking chairs. It could be a great marketing push by Crate and Barrel, the lovely California weather, or maybe just the thought of relaxing. I think it’s a combination.

I used to think of rocking chairs as always traditional, bulky, usually done in wood (example: Windsor or Adirondack styles) and mainly used in nurseries.

Lately, they seem to be popping up in all kinds of materials like stainless steel, wicker, and more. The use of line in the design is also more exciting and simple.

In particular, I love these two rocking chairs that found their way to my email inbox.

CB2 – Julep Rocker www.cb2.com

Crate & Barrel - Summerlin Rocking Chair www.crateandbarrel.com

I stumbled across this one and thought it was noteworthy since it uses stainless steal, leather, and it’s tufted. I love this rocking chair. Posted by ArchUpdate.com from ModernLineFurniture http://archupdate.com/modern-rocking-chair-2

Apartment Contentment

2010-03-04T20:20:00.000-08:00

I'm one of those people that move the furniture, change out the accent pillows and accessories with different color pillows and accessories every couple months. I'm never really content with my decor.

We moved in to our little apartment about 2 months ago. At first I didn't like it at all. It was a bit of a sudden move but it is right by the water so it did have that going for it regardless of it's size. It's pretty small but already had character from the moment we moved in. The kitchen counters are tiled in yellow and black and the bathroom shower is also tiled in yellow. It was pretty clear that we should embrace the yellow already given to us.

I really love how accented neutrals look in a room so I used yellow as my accent with gray,black, white, and cream. I added a floral fabrics over the side tables and then framed the same fabric on the wall. Since the apartment is so small we kept the furniture against the walls and used furniture with legs to show more floor space. Lastly, we added a large scale mirror above the sofa to add depth to the room.

Overall, I don't think I've ever been happier with the living room space of any of our apartments. This is our smallest apartment so far and it almost feels like our largest one.

We are content with our living space and I can now put the other color accent pillows and accessories in storage......at least for now ;)

and yes, that's my husband's surfboard in the corner, it had to go somewhere :)

Color Theory Final Project: Savonnerie

2009-12-07T16:19:00.000-08:00

I have a lot of pride in this particular project. It has a lot of little aspects that do not appear to the common eye.

Our project was to choose a city in France, other than Paris, that we would be designing a Hotel Check-in/Lobby area for. The hotel was to be an old chateau that is now a boutique hotel. I choose the beautiful city of Grenoble. We were to research the city and find out as much about it as we could....agriculture, political history, landscape, architecture.

We were also told to choose a time period, Baroque, Rococo, or Neoclassical. We were suppose to find furniture and motifs that would be associated with the time period of choice. Along with that includes colors and textiles, from patterns and textures.

With all of this information gathered, we were suppose to design a French Savonnerie rug and also design a wall elevation cordinating with the rug. We choose time period appropriate antique furniture.

Grenoble is world known for it's export of Walnuts, has the amazing French Alps, and great architectural features found all around. The cathedral, the bridge, the Lion Fountain....just to name a few. There are so many great aspects of the city and some of these are displayed on my rug. If you were traveling to this boutique hotel in a gorgeous ch extensive ateau you would fall in love with the Neoclassical paneled walls, furniture with marble tops, a rug with a story, drapery, and rich textiles including velvets, silks, damasks, and toile. This city may look small on a map but is overflowing with intrigue and history making it an absolute treasure to anyone lucky enough to visit.

There are a tons of hours/days invested into the project so I hope you enjoy it. Check it out and tell me what you think!

Just a little update... I received a perfect score!

Timing is everything!

2009-09-30T14:04:00.000-07:00

Kelly Laplante has become one of my favorite designers. I love how she can make a room completely eco-friendly and beautiful at the same time. She is amazingly resourceful and creative. In fact, for a drafting assignment I am currently working on, I am writing about her.

I found out about her from my husband. He was doing some searching online a few months back and stumbled across a video for the Lexus Hybrid Living Suite at Fairmount Hotel in San Francisco. He sent me the video which then lead me to click around her website. I highly recommend you check her out and see what she’s up to.

Lexus Hybird Suite video

Organic Design - Kelly LaPlante

Last Thursday, I had the opportunity to attend a few seminars at the Pacific Design Center for Fall Market 2009. One of the ones I went called “The Preservation for Passion: Finding Inspiration in Design with Lori Weitzner”. Lori is absolutely adorable and the presentation was great! http://www.loriweitzner.com/ I was waiting for a friend and saw a glimpse of a familiar looking face. While I had my doubts I was 98% sure I saw Kelly LaPlante walking around the showroom. I finally had enough courage to go up and ask her name and it was her.

She was very kind and friendly and I couldn’t believe that I was actually meeting the girl of whom I had been admiring her work for so long and currently writing about. Of course, I wasn’t able to tell her all of this because I was so surprised that the whole thing even happened. Regardless, she was an absolute delight and I’m excited to have met her.

Like Seen on TV....kind of

2009-08-31T19:18:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I was given an opportunity to design a Living Room and Dining Room like it was an HGTV style project without the many design teams you don't see in your screen behind the cameras.

I was presented with the idea of this project last Wednesday and decided to go for it.

The project: Design and furnish a fraternity house. They got the keys Saturday afternoon and it had to be

ready for Rush on Monday.

How it went down: We drive over Saturday around 2:30 pm and saw the house for the first time. It definitely needed help

they were going to try and get new pledges.

Here area few "Before" pictures taken that morning.

I think I counted at least 3 or 4 shades of orange used in these pictures. If it isn't showing through the pictures, this place was dated!

My wonderful husband went with me and immediately after went to shop out some furnishing ideas. We did that for about 3 - 4 hours and then to the paint store for another hour.

Sunday morning came along and we started working at the house at 8:00 am and it was already hot outside. We went shopping while a few people started painting. We came back to a freshly painted interior and started getting the furniture assembled. We hung all the new light fixtures and window coverings, put all the furniture in and finally finished everything 12 hours later at 8:00 pm. It was a long day but a lot of fun.

Here are a few pictures of the end result that night.

Special thanks to the Tiger guys that helped and the fraternity guys willing to work that day, now they can move in themselves :)

IDI Certificertificate Project

2009-07-23T20:40:00.000-07:00

Here are a few pics of my final project for the Interior Designer's Institute. Now a small, much awaited, summer break! Special thanks to my "client" Hayley.

2009 Spring Final Projects

2009-06-09T14:53:00.000-07:00

I finally finished my first two Interior Design project boards, presented them, and now posted them. Here they are!

The first one is a hotel lobby and lounge. I featured this Spa Resort Hotel in Vancouver, Canada. I used tranquil blues and green analogous color scheme and large furniture to create restful conversational spaces.

The second project was a VIP suite space planned, furniture books, specification books, floor plans, and elevations. Part of this project was to use 50% "green" materials. I choose some greenguard textiles, Bentley Prince Street carpet, and of course a low VOC Dun Edwards paint.

Update! My boards for the Hotel VIP Suite was voted best materials board by my piers and then featured in the Design hallway.