Loft Room Divider

We're in the process of downsizing from a 4000 sq ft home to a 1200-sq ft loft.  Do you know,  loft living sounds more romantic than it actually is? We find that we really miss the traditional division of space. We miss having rooms.  We miss the privacy!

We've been looking into options of dividing the space.  Drapery is one, but do you have any idea how expensive a piece of fabric with four stitching is?  It's quite a mystery actually, how much drapery can cost.  The other option is to go with a company like the Sliding Door, but they are really pricey too.

We found this company, Loft Wall, today and we thought it might be a good option.  They make portable dividers that you can customize the sizing and the panels.  They are not cheap but they are not too expensive either.  You can visit the web site to download the price list.  Keep in mind that the published prices are retail, and no one pays retail!

Here are some samples:

To see more product specifications and pricing info, visit the Loft Wall web site.

Modern Planters

When we go to a really cool restaurant in Miami or Los Angeles we are always envious of the huge, modern planters that they have.  It's really hard to find them.  Most of the pottery places that we have in our local area sell the traditional planters.  If you have a modern home you are kinda out luck.

Anyway, we just found a great source today for huge, commercial modern planters that we thought we'd share with you.  They are so cool!  We have no idea how much they cost, sorry. But if you are interested drop us a line and we'll get pricing info for you.

Here are some samples:

These are made by Green Form. To see more see their web site.

Color Story: Red

A pop of red home accessories to brighten up your day...

Red coral statues from Made Goods, Red Silk Flowers from New Growth Design, Shikaro Red Fabric from Fschumacher, Red Garden Stool from Urban Trend, Red Carpet from Chandra, Red Pillow from Caroline Cole, Red Chair from Jessica Charles, Red Artwork from Art Frame Source, Red Mirror from Made Goods.

All can be found under our home decor section.

Black and White Artwork

We usually have a really hard time finding artwork.  Mainly because we know nothing about art and when you know nothing about something you tend to be really insecure.  We suppose art is like wine, you can pretend to be a connoiseur or you can just decide you like what you like and that's that.  

It's easier that way, no?

So here are some artworks that we just picked up for our own personal loft lately.  It's a modern loft with very dark floors and white paint, so we thought we keep it simple by sticking to black and white theme.  We really like them in person. They are made professionally for commercial projects so they look really nice and expensive, even though they are quite reasonable.

For more information on pricing and sizes, you can check out our artwork section.  They are on the first few pages of the category.

Barbara Barry Home Accessories for Global Views

 We haven't seen much from Barbara Barry for a while.  She was huge a few years back, with furniture for Baker, fabrics for Kravet and so on.  Her stuff was always so expensive though, so it was a nice surprise to see her home accessories collection for Global Views.  They are actually reasonable!

The accessories has her signatured subdued colors & clean-lined styles.  Here are some examples:

These items run between $100-$250 each. They will be posted in our home decor section shortly.

Dining Table Pendant

The much anticipated dining area light came in last week!  In a previous post, Time Together, I talked about installing a pendant fixture with a drum shade over our dining table. My hope was that it would bring some focus to our meals together and at the same time help delineate the small dining area in our open floor plan.

It arrived last Friday and the kids were excited to see the box full of packing material.  They had a great time playing in a sea of foam peanuts.  I thought it was fun until we tried picking up the static-y little buggers!   

When I pulled it out of the box it felt good.  O'lampia on Bowery St in NYC made the fixture per my sketch and they did a nice job.   Even though it's a simple fixture... just a ceiling escutchoeon, rod, shade fitting and bulb socket... it was critical to get the correct rod length and the shade at the right height over the table.   It's perfect! 

 

Fortunately, we already had a wall switch and a junction box at the ceiling. It was not located exactly where we wanted so we exposed the chord a bit and added a hook to put the shade directly over the table.  Please ignore the ring at the ceiling around the escutcheon plate... nothing is ever really done. 

If you don't have a junction box at the ceiling but still want an overhead light, there are many chorded options available that only require an outlet. Here's an example from CB2 and it's only $49.95...

I got the shade at Mackeyblue here in Hoboken for a steal.  I like that it has a subtle pattern, almost like wood yet slightly metallic.   And because it's a solid material, all the light is directed down at the table where I want it.  

We aren't totally finished.  Besides the ceiling patch, I'm not happy with the bulb selection yet.  It's a little glaring with the current halogen spot.   We like the strong focused light but we're thinking a dimmer might make it just right.  I tried a fluorescent bulb but it was awful.  Yes, let the environmental sticklers strike me down... but I'm sticking with incandescent at this location since it's only on at dinner time.  

Well, it's been a week and I already feel that the project was a success!  The family was surveyed last night at dinner and it was unanimous...  we all feel better about our dining experience.  Even my toddler appeared more content... or maybe it was because he was eating a hot dog.  (Just kidding, he had delightful quiche and side salad with a light vinaigrette dressing ;) 

What kind of lighting do you have at your dining table and does it work for you?

wishlist item no.1

: : So we've decided we'd like to start a wishlist for items we would eventually love in our home. so we'll try to save and avoid other purchases until we can buy some of the things we really want. I think this IKEA trollsta sideboard could become a classic and I feel like it would be functional in almost any environment. I love it in the image above from this d*sponge sneak peek

Back to the Kitchen

Wow, what a weekend...yes, spring is here! And with that comes the desire to fix up my house. We are back to thinking about our kitchen again.  It's for real this time... my husband started sanding the cabinets!

We've been debating what to do with the kitchen since it may get ripped out if we renovate the whole house. So we're looking at it like this... what would make our kitchen experience better right now? Easy... get rid of the tile counter!  I can't understand why anyone would want a work surface that's uneven with grout joints to clean?!

Unfortunately, it's the only element that would be difficult to reuse if the kitchen gets moved.  But even if we only get a few years out of it... I think it's worth it.  I'm tired of saying, "Someday I'll enjoy cooking when I've got a good work surface!"   So over the weekend I hit the internet for some counter inspiration. We're thinking about gray or black cabinets, so that's where I started...



These cabinets look great with the white Calcutta Gold marble counters.

Lisa Epley Design: Image from Decorpad 

Another beautiful white marble counter with black cabinets... I like that it's thick with minimal veining.

Jeff Lewis Design: Image from Decorpad

We may go with dark lower cabinets and light uppers.  Here the island is in a different material that blends beautifully with the floor.  And another bright counter (looks like I'm leaning towards white!).

 

James Michael Howard Interior

We're thinking about subway tile for the back wall since it's economical and would tie into a white counter.  (And we have two boxes sitting in our shed!) Here are nice full walls of subway tile and they've used different colored cabinets.  I would prefer white grout instead of gray to minimize the tile pattern.

Image from Decorpad

These are actually dark brown cabinets, hmmm....

Image from Decorpad 

We're also considering a manufactured stone like Silestone or Caesarstone... which could be considered a 'green' option.  It is easier to maintain and more durable than marble, but mostly I like it for the consistency in color and the potential for a substantial slab edge...

Silestone: Image from Seven Seas

Caesarstone: Image from Re-green

I've read up on marble maintenance issues and found a good discussion on Apartment Therapy.  One other consideration for us is reuse.  If the kitchen does eventually get ripped out and we go with marble, I might cut up the counter for a bathroom vanity or a baking area in the new kitchen (yeah, 'cause I love making pastry?!).



So what do you look for in a kitchen counter?  I'd love to hear what you like and don't like about the material you slave over every day!  Well, at least that's how I feel.

Style Living Room Decorating Ideas

There are many ways to decorate your living room. As this is usually the room where a family entertains guests and spends time together, much thought usually goes into the design. Sometimes, however, inspiration is hard to come by. Here are a few living room decorating ideas to help get your creative juices flowing.

1. Determine your design style. Look through home decorating magazines and see what you like. You may have thought that you were a country gal, but find yourself drawn to the clean lines of a modern design. Even if you like both styles, you can mix them to create a style that is your own. You can choose country items that have a more modern edge, and modern design pieces with country flair. This way you can achieve a look that you love without settling on one style.

2. One living room decorating idea that is sure to spice up your space is to choose a bold wall color. Many people shy away from saturated colors, but these are the very hues that can make a dramatic statement about your personality. If you do not want to paint all of the walls in your living room a bold color, you can paint an accent wall. These walls are great to make an impression without overwhelming the room. You can then use accessories to tie the color into the rest of the room.

3. Updating your window treatments will also go a long way towards improving the atmosphere. Choose drapes or curtains that compliment the design style you have chosen for the rest of your room. Using rich looking fabrics on the windows will add a feeling of luxury to your room, and help to bring all of your living room decorating ideas together.

Interior White Decorating Bedroom

As well all know the bedroom should be one of the most relaxing areas in our homes and those whose bedrooms feel disordered may find it difficult to sleep. In fact when redesigning your bedroom it should be a place of peace and relaxation and the ideas provided below for your bedroom interior decorating design should help you to achieve this.

In fact the biggest problem you have may when looking at bedroom interior decorating ideas is not that you can not find any ideas but narrowing down to the ones you want from a list you would like to use.

Today there are bedroom decorating ideas everywhere you can find inspiration in a magazine, on TV, through a display in a store or catalogs or from the internet. What you must do is decide what you really want in your bedroom. For most people they want some where that they can relax and will want to use relaxing colours in this room.

So if you are looking for a relaxed feeling to your room then avoid bright reds and yellows instead go for either a deep maroon or pale yellow instead. The whole idea is to make the room relaxing to your eye and not energizing or bright.

Another bedroom interior decorating idea you may want to consider is to use wall paper rather than paint. There are many different patterns to choose from but it is important that you look for one that is soothing and easy on the eyes and not bright or noisy. There are many unique wallpaper designs now available its all a case of spending time and looking around to see what you like.