Wednesday, March 14, 2012

Modern Bench At A Price You Can't Beat

Good morning,

While working on my medical office project I have been trying to find ways to bring in some warmer and more organic elements to soften all of the black white and gray elements and colors that we have going in there, and doing so with budget options in mind. Since this is a medical office, function is typically priority so saving a little here and there is a rare but much needed opportunity.

One place that I struck gold is down the main hall way leading to the restrooms as shown below.



In this cringe worthy picture taken from my i-phone you can see the dark black floors and the grey walls with the still raw doors and frames. That long wall next to all the open door ways (which are exam rooms) is where I plan to put some custom photography art as well as 3 "affordable" benches.

When looking for affordable accent furniture I never over look Overstock.com and Amazon.com where I have found some gems. It's also nice to see all the previous customer product reviews.

Here are the two that I presented to the client.

 The one above is a smooth gray-ish wood that measures 60" and costs only $182.99. I love that with all the leather and metal that we have coming in here, 3 of these would be such an unexpected feature.


The one above is my personal favorite and also the client's choice. It is also 60" in a white leather with a natural wood base and chrome legs. This bench still keeps it modern while lightening up that hall way and bringing in some nice organic tones. At a price of only $240.99 how can you beat it!

If the above bench seems familiar that's because it resembles the Barcelona day bed (and the Barcelona style) from Mies van der Rohe from Knoll.






I like we're bringing in a little designer inspired bench (or 3) to give this medical office some real style.

Monday, March 12, 2012

Finding Affordable Stylish Employee Work Stations

Good morning,

I finished yesterday with a 6 hour meeting for my medical office project (the client and I only meet once a week because their schedule only allows for that). I am really really busy right now getting this ball rolling which puts off projects here at our house.

One of the big priorities right now for this project is finding stylish modern employee work stations at a price that is reasonable. Sound easy enough? I need to fit 4 employees plus storage in to an 11'x11' room, and 2 moder employees in to a reception work area with tricky dimensions which is all easier said than done. I'm coming to the finality of price between buying and customizing a designer line or having something made custom from scratch.

Here are some of the ideas and desks that look functional and stylish, and that's the name of this game.





 As you can see, offices have come a long way baby!  I'll keep you updated as we go along, but what I can tell you is that the image I'm helping these guys define for their growing company is going to look really good and I'm excited to be a part of it!

Happy Monday!

Friday, March 9, 2012

DIY Scarf Pillows, Amazing Pillows On The Cheap

Good morning,

Remember how I've been posting and posting about the new pillows on our sofa as seen here , and here , and here ? Well guess what? I'm gonna do it again! While I was looking through Etsy for the perfect pillows to add to my growing collection, I came across these:




Which were all good, but then I came across this!

Dare I say that it kind of sort of reminds me of gold!!! Well, I'm sure if you've been keeping up you already know how I feel about G-O-L-D!!!

To test out how it would look with the other pillows I went to my large scarf collection to find one similar so that I could take a look. Well when I did that I realized that I'm secretly a genius (in my own mind) and that my scarf should BE the pillow, as in BECOME the pillow.

*As a side note: Once I had this little revelation about the soon to be scarf pillow you could practically hear the evil little "mua ha ha" coming from me. This tends to happen when I get super excited about something that isn't bad in any way, but similar to the creature from Lord of The Rings these little obsessions become "my precioussss" for at least a short time. Is it just me?!

**As another less creepy side note, you can find scarves in AMAZING colors and prints for next to nothing! And often they are made with whats on trend. Point being, what a great way to update your room on the cheap!

I took the scarf and 2 18"x18" down inserts to my AMAZING pillow maker and she worked her magic and added a zipper for me. Here are the lovely results.








Oh, AND I bought the inspiration pillow! I found it on clearance at Z Gallery for only $34.99. BAAAM! I'll show you that as soon as I DIY a couple of lamps today. "muah ha ha".  

Thursday, March 8, 2012

I'm Working On The Darndest Things, Modern Medical Office

Good morning,

 I have a project for a medical center that has been under construction for about a month that's starting to come together, so I'm moving full speed ahead. Part of the challenge of each different design project is over coming the many obstacles that can present themselves, and this one is no different.

Color Scheme: Black, Grey, White, Blues *with some touches of wood.

I am in search of "heavy duty" "weight bearing" "tandem style" patient seating for a waiting room and 3 exam rooms. Sounds easy enough, right? Well, aparently it isn't as easy as it looks. Like everything else in design life, the good stuff don't come cheap! I meet with said client on Saturday, and I'm preparing that the high priced styles that I LOVE will be shot down so I'm also searching out lower priced options that still look good and have some swag. There lies the challenge.

Here's what we DON"T want (and what seems to be everywhere!)




-Outdated and sterile
-Traditional Medical Office Looking (in the bad way)
No aparent swag or defined awesomeness
-80s looking
-F-U-G-L-Y
-Expensive, WTF!


Here's what we DO want:














-Clearly cool looking
-More expensive :( (that's what we don't want)
-Modern style
-Lovin some chrome in there
-Non Medical Office Looking (in the traditional sense)

The idea here in case you missed it is to have something sleek and modern. This is the client's first "gorwn up" office, and they want something that they can be proud of. Anyone in the medical field knows the amount of work hours that are put in to their days so why not make it something special and something that you like?! The client feels that if they have to spend the money anyway they want it done right which is why they brought me in. I'm actually very excited about it now that I can see things coming together. I'll show you along the way.

Tuesday, March 6, 2012

Furniture Review, My White Sectional Sofa

Good morning,

I have a few projects to share with you, but first I need to take some pictures and get that ol' ball rolling. In the mean time I thought I would reply to a very overdue question from a reader about our beautiful white sectional sofa.




This sofa is called the cielo and it's from CB2. This was part of our HGTV Color Splash makeover picked by David Bromstad, and for those of you looking for a sectional we wanted to break it down for you and give you the scoop.

Pros:
-It is a modular sectional and can be moved and adjusted piece by piece to fit your needs and the needs of your space.
-It has a very clean and sleek look including the metal legs which we love.
-It is a very high quality sofa and has a down cover over all the pillows.
-It is COMFY SMUMFY
-I LOVE LOVE LOVE that there are 2 chaise lounges on this so that multiple people can kick their feet up.
-I love that it is low to the ground and makes it feel very South Beach loungey.
-All the cushions have zippers on them so that in the event that a HUGE glass of red wine gets accidentally spilled on one of them one night, you can quickly remove it and soap that baby up. (True story!)
-It's easy to move around to get underneath and clean which is hard with sectionals that are all connected.
-It is such a refreshing neutral color and therefor easily goes with any style and color scheme.
-So far a little warm water and soap take off most of the dirt or hand marks on the back (WHY ARE THERE ALWAYS HAND PRINTS ON THE BACK!?)
-Since I love change, one day I will reupholster this sofa and the easy zippered cushions should make it a little less costly for me (I hope).

Cons:
-WHY ARE THERE ALWAYS DIRTY HAND PRINTS ON THE BACK!?
-This baby was expensive! When I looked up the price for the sake of letting you know I added all the pieces together and came up with $4,693+ tax!!! Now this was something we won in our Twilight/Color Splash makeover, but still!!!
-Though I love the neutral easy going color, I have 2 kids and a dog and it shows. Anyone with kids and a dog knows that you have to have a family friendly place to watch tv and movies and relax. I drive myself and my family crazy with this sofa and my daughter's were definitely bummed that we have such a "delicate" sofa. I can keep our kids out of certain rooms, but a family room is called a family room for a reason:(
I have to constantly flip and rotate the cushions since the down cushion covers get smushy and sunken. This doesn't bother me that much though because I would take the nice down fill over a traditional sectional ANY DAY.

Overall rating: 4 stars Confortable, high quality, versitile.

Though it's tough to keep an eye on this ALL THE TIME. I really love the sofa and it's quality. It does also come in a grey color and the price varies depending on the pieces you buy and how you put them together. For me, since we didn't personally "pay" for this sofa I figure that one day I can reupholster it and make it more family friendly, however for the average person this wouldn't be an option at that price point. I'd say that this sofa in this color is for the single or older children families and would not be good for those with pets. It is costly so if price is a factor it may not be suitable for everyone, but remember that you pay for what you get and the quality is there (though I'm not sure worth that price).

Here it is in the grey:
 And here is a breakdown of each piece (regardless of color) and their prices:

Armless Chair (shown in shadow) $599 *we have 4 of these


Corner Chair (shown in shadow) $699 *we have 1 of these


Chaise (shown in shadow) $799 *we have 2 of these


Love Seat (shown in shadow) $899 *we don't have this piece