Junk Mail Never Looked So Good

Sandhi Schimmel Gold is a recycling genius and an artist on top of that.  She turns every day junk mail into the most amazing art!

She hand cuts, sorts and manipulates thousands of pieces; images and text to assemble a mosaic portrait.

I hope you can see the detail but here is a tighter picture to show up close just how detailed these are.....

She does custom portraits too, I know what I want for Christmas, honey are you reading this? ;)

She is probably the one person who actually gets excited by her junk mail each day.

Stainless Copper Sinks

Say what? I know you think those don't go together but they do now...

Rohl has come out with a copper stainless sink...It's the look of copper with even more durability than stainless due to the PVD coating they finish it in.  It's scratch proof finish has a brilliant shine and is resistant to abrasion.

Copper is a "living" finish, meaning it changes and ages which most of my clients don't like for a kitchen sink due to it's higher mainentance...But these new sinks give you the finish/color without all that hassle.

So are you thinking copper could be an option for your own kitchen now?

Lighting Up in Unexpected Places

Wow, I can't believe the last time I posted was back in February, time flies right?  I hope you are all well and enjoying your summer so far...I have so much to share with you all including lots of projects that I am currently getting photos snapped of, but in the meantime....

I have been wanting to share this very cool innovation, from Keeler Products....It's light integrated trim (LIT).

You can add this trim to crown moldings, decorative trim, baseboard, cabinet and backsplash, stair railings, recessed ceilings, etc.

It's a safe (low voltage), highly efficient lasting up to 50,000 hours and lights up your dark spaces, which we all have right?

I am all for lighting spaces but I think I will need some time to warm up to the backsplash trim in the kitchen, what do you think?

Your Photo Inspiration Realized

Back in January, I posted "Your Life, Your Colors", about a Glidden Paint quiz to discover your color palette for your own walls.  If you haven't taken the quick/fun quiz yet be sure to swing by and check it out...Takes 2 seconds and seems really accurate from all the feedback I got.

Anyway, I wanted to talk about the depth of Glidden's My Colortopia website today, not just about the quiz which I already liked, but they have a section on their site called My Image Inspiration. It's a great place to find colors to paint your walls and even accessorize with other elements in your room.

So I will walk you through the steps so you get an idea of how easy this very helpful tool is to use...

1st:  Let's Upload a photo...

My client loves orange and if you didn't know this already The color of the year just happens to be Tangerine Tango.

To get her excited about the palette for her office I sent her this picture....So for this exercise we are going to use it as our photo for inspiration...

2nd: Now we are going to "select your/my favorite"...

So you pull the box over any part of the picture you want to pull colors from. And you can enlarge the box if you want or need to as well.

3rd:  Last step, browsing color palettes....

Don't panic, like I initially did when I first saw the colors that I "supposedly" liked...At first I was thinking oh oh, I don't see or want "deep coral" or "red grapefruit" those are way to pinky....But I didn't read the directions thoroughly, ha!  

Of those 4 color selections you click on the one that best represents what you want....So on mine it was the "Vibrant Day Lily".

The next step shows the palette I am intending on using in my clients office....It worked, that is exactly the palette I am using.

If you are like my Mom for instance and don't know how to upload a photo or are just not overly inspired by any photo that comes to mind...You can go directly to The Inspiration Gallery (scroll down the page from here) and pick a photo from there and do the steps above.  It will look like this...

They have some beautiful photos already chosen, so super easy right?

Oh and it took me 5 minutes tops to do this exercise and what great feedback I immediately got.

***** (five stars) Glidden, I am feeling inspired already.

Oh and a cool feature after you have your palette selected is the 1 click option to share it with others if you want.

I look forward to hearing from you on how this worked for you.  Please let me know if you uploaded your own photo or chose one from the Inspiration Gallery as well.

I have been sponsored by Glidden brand paint to write this post but the thoughts and opinions expressed are all my own. :)

Change the Face of Your Fireplace, Part 2

One of the most popular posts I ever wrote was Change the Face of Your Fireplace.  I guess my clients aren't the only ones who don't know what to do with their fireplaces and how to update them.

I thought it was time to add a part 2 to the original post with some more fireplace updating ideas.

For a cleaner, more contemporary feel you could consider all glass, definitely a fresh look right?

This tile is great, it adds really nice texture without seeing any grout joints. 

On this fireplace, we did a Contours tile from Diamond Tech with a travertine slab on top of the hearth.  The slab was a little more money, but worth it to my clients who don't like grout lines.

This client wanted to get rid of the polished brass fireplace insert, it was too shiny to him. But there wasn't anything wrong with it other than the shiny brass.  So a really inexpensive way of fixing that, was to paint it a flat black, it does the trick every time.

Now when I looked at the mantel it just looked soo wimpy it was driving me crazy for his larger family room. After getting to know this client and his taste..I recommended we try something different....

(Family Room: Before)

I have been driving by this place for years never having the right client to suggest something like this until now....

I showed him some pictures like this one and he bit...I was sooo excited!  After measuring, carefully of course, I found the perfect one and had it installed.

And voila....He loved it!  It added the perfect amount of weight to an otherwise dull/boring fireplace.  Oh and yes I took out the tired marble surround and replaced it with the travertine tile I used in the floor of his kitchen to tie it all in.

(Family Room: After)

The backside of this fireplace is another fireplace.  He loved the family room fireplace makeover sooo  much he let me do the same thing on the other side.

(Office: Before)

Of course I painted the polished brass a flat black, changed the surround again to a warmer travertine tile and check out the mantel, BAM right?  Well I mean the paint helped too, ha!  

(Office: After)

We were on a roll!  I think this client will never look at a plain fireplace the same way again...He immediately wanted me to do something, actually the same thing on his other 2 fireplaces in his house for his master bedroom....That is where I drew the line...Nah uh, you can't put that in master bedroom, no way...But we can do something grand and elegant.

(Master Bedroom: Before)

We could do this!

(Master Bedroom: After)

He LOVED it!  It's even more stunning in person.  It added the perfect amount of weight to that side of his room and painting the walls a bit darker really made it pop too.

So please don't be afraid to change the face of your fireplace...It can be done for very little money or alot, but always with a big impact...Remember most of the time your fireplace is a focal point in your rooms, do you really want a sad/dated focal point in your house?  I think not. :)))

Of course I love feedback, so let me know what you think of my latest installment of fireplace faces okay?!

Baby Got Back Splash

I think one of my favorite parts of remodeling a kitchen is adding some WOW to the backsplash...Alot of times I am working on other parts of a clients house and I see a BORING backsplash and I talk them into adding some WOW like these...

(Before)

(After)

(Before)

(Hmmm this looks nice...)

(I think we have a winner...)

(Just installed, bad phone pic though...)

(Wish I had a better pic of this backsplash, it's gorgeous in person)

The granites remained the same along, with the appliances and cabinetry as well. 

Simple but impactful and usually it doesn't cost alot to tackle something like this either.  I personally like "shiny" ie: glass on a backsplash, they look particularly gorgeous with under cabinet lighting.

What kind of backsplash do you have, boring or WOW?

Learning Thermo

..As in thermostat...

Yawn you say....Well check this out....

This thermostat learns YOU and improves with time.  There is no more programming or constantly changing the temperature, The Nest, that is what it is called, will program itself in a week to keep you comfortable and save energy too.

See that little leaf in the above pic?  Well that appears when you are saving energy....You do know that changing the temperature just one degree can cut your energy use by up to 5% right?  Well if you didn't know that before, now you do...I love a challenge.

Check out the video and admire it's cuteness and ease of use too, which I could use.

Their website is really friendly, right down to their DIY install videos.

Even the "guts" are easy looking....

Can you tell I am sort of digging this new product?  Here it is in its box..Oh and it's $249 each and they are currently sold out, so if you are interested in it, it looks like there is a list you can be added to and they will alert you when they get more in....

I think I am going to add my name to it personally, I need 3 please. :)

Your Life, Your Colors

It never fails...Every one of my clients has a problem choosing colors for their walls.  They know what they like and don't for that matter but the process of looking through a fan deck or looking at all the paint samples in a store overwhelms them...They are afraid of making a mistake and their fear paralyzes them.

Glidden Paint has a blog now called....

My Colortopia provides inspiration, tools, and relatable advice from the Colortopia Team to help their readers build confidence throughout the painting process. This enables visitors to select colors, buy paint, get the paint on the walls and be really proud of and satisfied with the results.  Basically what I do for my clients, BUT this is you doing it for you, how empowering right?

Check out their new quiz, "My Life My Colors" which you can take right here to help steer you in the right direction in painting your walls.  It will help guide you in discovering colors that suit YOUR personality and YOUR lifestyle, plus it's short and sweet and fun to take, here it is.....

So do tell, after taking the quiz...What color selections did you end up with and what do you think of them?  Can't wait to hear! :)

I am partnering with Glidden/Akzo Nobel paints with the My Life My Colors quiz but these are MY Opinions. :)

Color Palette, All Aboard

I am back and for those of you who were wondering where in the world I was, I was on the Society Islands, in the South Pacific.  Anyway, I love it there, and have been 3 times now and it's still not enough...Simply put, it is paradise on earth.

From this blog post, here is that same church taken in Ta'haa 4 years later and with different light...

Since I have a design blog I better add some design to this post right?

Sooo we were on the Paul Gauguin ship.....

Rainbow showed up on Christmas day on the stern of the ship, isn't this magical?

The Paul Gauguin is already a beautiful vessel, but guess what...?  In a week they are going to completely remodel the inside to the following...I took pics of the boards that not everyone got to see on the ship, I had special access and thought I would give you a sneak peek here....

Pool Deck

Promenade Area Deck 6

Le Verandah restaurant

Promenade area, deck 5

L'Etoile Restaurant

Main Cabins

Le Grille Restaurant

Suites

Deck 8 Lounge

Le Grand Salon

Reception Area

More Suites

I am sooo glad to be seeing so much blue and green used in the new deco it really compliments this kind of scenery nicely don't you think?

It will only take them 3 weeks to do the entire ship and they are sailing to Australia with the contractors working the entire time...Isn't that cool and mind blowing too that they can get that much work done in only 3 weeks?  I can tell you the planning took alot more time than that.

Thumbs waaayyy up or what?


In regards to this post...I don't work for the Paul Gauguin or get any incentive (I wish) for mentioning them, I am doing it strictly from the heart which all my blog posts are if you are new to my site.