I spent most of today in my daughters room putting the (almost) finishing touches on her recently re-designed room. The new drapes and upholstered dog bed have yet to be finished, but we were so excited, we had to post a few pictures.

I was on a very tight budget for a small office meeting space/lunch room renovation recently. I find the budget limits often force me to be more creative and I end up sourcing things from interesting places.

For this particular job, I spent a day scouring the city at second hand stores and architectural clearing houses. I ended up with two chrome chairs, a walnut credenza, legs for a board room table, some coloured glass pieces, a coffee table (from Populuxe), a couch and chair to decorate the “Mad Men” inspired space.

For the chrome chairs I designed a faux leather channel upholstery that was a definite improvement over the bedraggled corduroy.

Since eight foot board room tables can be crazy expensive, I had the legs added to Teregren’s beautiful plyboo then finished it off with a simple french polish.

The couch and chair ended up being a big hit. As we were moving it into the office building we received offers to buy it off us, something we continued to hear after the installation.

This week I picked up chairs and a footstool that I had re-glued and upholstered for a client. These are custom built pieces that a great-aunt had crafted for herself then passed down through the family. They are quite interesting chairs with unique carvings, well worth the investment of rebuilding.

We wanted to go with a retro-glamour feel in the room that these pieces will be going in. I think the chairs will be an awesome addition with their new rich red, black and cream fabric. The drapery that is still in the work room is a creamy silk with crystals attached to it. I am excited to see it all together when it is finished.

I have wanted to go to The Merchandise Mart for forever. On the Friday of my visit to Chicago, Paul, Becky and I put on our walking shoes and took the train downtown. The Merch Mart building is huge with 18 floors of design showrooms. They were preparing for NeoCon so everywhere we went we got apologies about the “mess”. Most showrooms do not allow photographs so I had to content myself with lobby and exterior shots.

After  a very full morning we went to lunch before we hit Design Within Reach and Room and Board where we found the perfect sectional and chair for the condo.

Paul and Becky in front of the Merch Mart elevators.

The entrance to the Merchandise Mart

Exterior shot

My tourist shot!

Paul and me in front of Design Within Reach.

A week ago I was in Chicago to work with a young professional couple on their condo interior (my brother Paul and sister-in-law-Becky). I had a bit of time when I first got in to do some site seeing so I took a two hour architectural tour and spent three hours at the Art Institute (it could have been three days). Chicago is an amazing city.

The Art Institute

Tiffany Glass dome in the Chicago Culture Center

Michigan Avenue

Franks Gehry's Pritzker Pavilion

The Bean at Millennium Park

The new modern wing of The Art Institute of Chicago

In winter I visited the Pacific Design Center in Los Angeles and have been meaning to write about it ever since. One of the many showrooms I went to was Espasso. Their space was filled with beautiful wood with gorgeous grains. I ended up spending quite a bit of time there as Felippe Rocha was so friendly and helpful. They also carry various accessories which includes some stunning flatware with a custom storage chest in freijo wood.

On Tuesday night I was fortunate enough to be part of an event co-hosted by Janice Lindsay and Pittsburgh Paint. Janice is travelling to promote her new book all about colour and Pittsburgh Paints exclusive colour collection based on her book. Following her inspiring talk, attendees were able to approach the four designers (of which I was one) for help concerning their colour dilemmas.

One of the statistics she shared that evening was that 70% of all paint sales are for white….I was shocked! I know she is preaching to the converted but 70%?! I love colour and most people I see are not walking around in all white outfits, so why do we feel the need to paint our walls all white? 

Another thought that she shared that found me nodding in agreement was about the white ceiling. She talks about this in her book as well within the first few pages so you know she feels strongly about this. It could be as simple as a half tint of the wall colour, start to think about options instead of just white. Let’s get some colour on the ceiling!

Back in October I mentioned Michelle Kaufmann and her incredible work. Unfortunately, the economic times proved too much for the firm in many ways. I only hope that she will find some new way to share her talent with the world.

L.A. Times article about Michelle Kaufmann’s architecture studio.

Well, I am back. It is embarrassing to see just how long I have been away from the blog. Fortunately I have good friends with kind words and gentle reminders to get back on the bandwagon.Within the next week we will be updating the web-site and I thought it was a good time to get back at writing. I have been on twitter for about a month now and realized how I really just have to set aside time in the busyness of work and family to be able to keep up with writing. It is a bit like exercise, it’s about getting started.