Happy Pastels!

With Easter just coming to a close, I thought I'd look into spaces using pastel color palettes beautifully.  Most of my images came from a great website called Shelterness.  I personally, would not prefer to live in a home with pastel spaces, but don't get me wrong, these spaces are nothing short of fabulous and shabby chic.  

The mix of neon green and hot pink in with the pale blue and yellow add a pop to this spaces giving it a little bit more life and fun.  

I think this media room is great, and I"m only guessing that it is a media room from the pop corn machine on the counter top.  Um... Yes please! I want one :) Plus, how fun is the wall design?

Okay, okay, I think I could live in this space.  My fiancée, however, could not.  This pastel is so perfectly feminine and pretty. I absolutely love it.  The area rug = to die for.

These pastels are so much fun.  I love the gold accents added in which give it a regal feel.  The space is so fresh and clean like a high end hotel. 

This fabulous space is completely precious.  So perfectly shabby chic.  My favorite piece: the grey patterned ottoman in the background.

I feel like this space would be in a classic country cottage somewhere.  The light pastel colors provide a clean airy feeling to the space.

Again, so fabulous and chic.  I think every pastel color is incorporated into this space, but oh so perfectly.

The thing I love most about this space is the fact that they framed the wall paper. How cute?

Perfect little girls room.  The carpet works surprisingly well in this space.  And of course I absolutely love the fur ottoman!

This is probably the cutest kitchen I have seen.  It is so very feminine and perfect for the lady of the house.  

I hope that you have enjoyed these spaces as much as I did.  Pastels can take on such different character, it just depends on how they are used in the space and what is paired with them.  

I hope everyone had a great Easter and are enjoying all of that yummy candy :)

Style Your Apartment Pretty

I am moving into my apartment in less than ten days, and as you can imagine I am going crazy with excitement on everything I have planned for each space!  I was looking on apartment therapy recently and found some great spaces that I thought I'd share.  

This space is so chic and I absolutely love how she managed to make such a small space fit so many different uses.  The color in the bathroom will soon cover the walls of my living room and bed room :)  It is by Benjamin Moore and its called chelsea gray.

This space is so sweet and fun.  I love the different colors and patterns that actually work together.  

This apartment is completely gorgeous.  The sophistication just makes me smile.  I could never own a house if I could live an apartment with this much fabulousness forever!  My kind of pretty :)

Now this one has to be my absolute favorite!  The mix of grays, yellows, creams and browns is fun but still completely sophisticated and chic.  the femininity is present, but not overdone, which I absolutely adore.  

Check out Apartment Therapy's website for more great little spaces.  And stay tuned for pics of my new space, coming soon!

Happy Decorating!

Bold: Beautiful: Stripes

Current Project: Print Corp

The project that I just finished in Studio 6 was for a book publishing company that published Art, Architecture, and Design books.  The concept was based upon timelessness.  I wanted to provide the company a facility that endured through design "trends".  One that would represent them as a company who publishes the art of the past and today and preserves it forever.  

The floor plan has a curvilinear nature that directs people's paths and pulls them through the space.

This chair is the inspiration to the color scheme that I chose.  When I first saw this chair I fell in love with the unique colors that you wouldn't expect to be put together.  I thought that it was original, exactly the kind of character I wanted for my office.

At the entrance of Print Corp you are greeted by the receptionist at a curvilinear desk that mimics the form of the mezzanine wall behind it.  In the background is a curved conference space that is open, or can be closed off if the privacy drapes are pulled all the way around the protruding ceiling element that creates the space.  The accessible ramp wraps around this space taking one up to the open office area.   

This section cuts through the plan from north to south.  It displays the open office area to the right along with the VP offices that have curtain walls on both sides allowing maximum sunlight to flood the large space.  The mezzanine to the left is shown with the conference room underneath completely surrounded by glass curtain walls.

The east-west section shows the entry way on the left and the transition from the floor to the mezzanine level.  In the center is the entrance to the large conference room underneath, and the rest are closed office spaces for the administration and financial department.

The view from the mezzanine shows the lounge area that can hold catered exhibit events or just provide a space for employees to meet and collaborate or even take a break for lunch.

The large exhibition space is designed to also hold the company's library of books.  The recessed shelves hold the company's archives, while the white shelves are for exhibition display.  The circular element that hangs out from the shelves mimics the shape of the circle conference space below, while also creating an interesting design element and bringing the space down to human scale, and because the ceilings are so high this is beneficial.  

The large open office area is broken up in the middle with the VP's offices.  These offices, like stated before, have glass curtain walls on both sides.  This enhances the collaborative environment and cohesive nature desired by the employees of Print Corp.  It allows every employee to get the maximum amount of sunlight available.  The ceilings are 18 feet high in this area and in order to keep the spaces at human scale and more intimate, dropped ceilings were introduced to 10 feet.  This helps create space in such a large area and it also helps with the acoustics.  

I hope that you have enjoyed looking at my design solution for this company!

FRAMED: Design.

Recently, I have been trying to find a solution for a large wall in my parents home.  The wall is about 10 feet wide by 12 feet tall.  It currently has wire frame window panes hanging on it, but now that they are redesigning the space after 14 years, it needs something different!

I was looking at something online, and saw a collage of frames and had an AH HA moment!  I've always loved frame collages, and I thought to myself duh! how perfect this would be.  I am getting married soon and there are going to be pictures that my parents have nowhere to put.  My brother and I are both getting older and are in very pivotal and transitional times in our lives, where many pictures are going to come into play.  This couldn't be a more perfect solution, so I have searched and found some great images of frame collages.  Enjoy!

The pattern of the wall paper behind the various frames creates a great contrast and interest on this large wall above the sofa.  I also really like that they incorporated a mirror, increasing the visual space in the room :)

Floor to ceiling collages are very interesting, some times overwhelming, but this one is done perfectly.  The majority of white keeps it clean and organized.

I really like seeing only the frame collages.  The different shapes and slight difference in color of this example are really great.

The two images above are the type of collage that I would probably incorporate into one of my spaces.  The simple black frame, or dark wood frame with the white mats create a cleanness and uniformity that I like, and the images become the thing that gives the wall it's character.  I LOVE the blue wall of the bottom image it creates a great pop!

This one is fun and whimsical in a way.  It is playful and very appropriate for this space.

Love.

This shows wall stickers or something of that sort, which provides the same look, also very whimsical in character.

Photo collages are great for large open staircases.  I've seen it done several times, and spaces like this can be very tricky to find a solution for, but the collage of frames tends to work most of the time, and can create a great conversation piece for visitors as well as house all of your treasured photographs and memories.

I like that this one incorporates art with photos, another great solution!

Have a large wall that you just don't know what to do with?  This is just one of many great solutions.  The possibilities are endless! 

Get creative and Have fun :)