HOUSE HUNTING FANTASIES

Hi! I am back. I noticed that my last post was done in the Fall. Oh, My! We are in the middle of winter already. But never forgot my blog... Nooooooo! I didn't. I thought about it almost everyday. And I feel really bad abandoning it like that. I am just been out of track, trying to catch up with all in my life. Between client's projects, new classes and country house hunting in the weekends with my husband. OH! That's a lot of work... house hunting. If you have house hunted before you would know what I am talking about it. Specially if you are doing in a tight budget and want it all! Anyway, I would love to share one of my "furnishings fantasies". Below is a breakfast/dining furniture collection as a result of one of those fantasies. This last weekend I really liked an antique house that we visited. Since then I have been day dreaming about the house. The kitchen was really spacious... and it had a nice area for a table setting. There was a brick fireplace there, vaulted high ceilings with light/honey color rustic beams; and the whole kitchen was wrapped by a paneling warm wood, in a the same color as the beams. I thought I would like to create a cool palette for the floor area, for the furnishings. Here is the result of my kitchen/breakfast area wishes.

FOR THE SOURCES

 

HOUSE HUNTING CT

This weekend my hubby and I went house hunting in Connecticut. We been traveling there once in a while checking out the area and looking for houses without any serious commitment. Sometimes we consider of finding a get way weekend, where we can mellow out life, after hectic weekdays in the city. This weekend we moved one step forward. We met our real estate agent, Ileana Santore from Marrin Santore Realty, LLC. What I nice lady! And she drove us around from 10am to about 5pm on Saturday showing a bunch of houses, and she even paid lunch for us! We looked at a lot of cottages, capes, ranches, colonial types; all generally surrounded by a good size of land with a lots of trees, grass, and even a stream. Almost all of them need to be fixed, or need great updates. Mike, my husband, is not happy about it; but for me this is kind of an exciting the idea… saving a lost house or fixing it up and making into beautiful home. Today I my post is about exercising the idea of fixing up a house with a new paint coat, adding some features here and there, cleaning it up like removing the old carpets and wallpaper, and adding charming furniture and accessories, and of course planting a lot of flowers. I choose one of the houses we looked at (one of my favorite) and started imaging what that could be transformed into without spending too much. First, I took pictures of the house when I visited. Now I found beautiful images of well done rooms that I like that kind of assembly in some features with the “potential house”, then try to image the possibilities…

I would paint the exterior of the house in white, the doors in back, the windows and doors' frame the color that is there, which seems to be a warm gray....  Then get some black pots fill with lavender... and lot's of hydrangea around the house.  Ah, and one lantern of each side of the door!

 

Living room before...

After...

The sunroom before...

After...

The dining room before...

Dining room after...

The kitchen before...

The kitchen after...

The Master Bedroom before...

After...

Guest Bedroom before...

After...

The backyard before...

After...

And then if we could afford later... much later...

maybe we can extend that porch... to...

And then... if the baby comes...

Let's keep looking...!  And letting the universe undersdand what you are looking for!

INTERIOR DESIGNER JAMES HUNIFORD’S HOUSE IN NYC

This week while flipping one of my old Veranda’s magazine I came across again with James Huniford. At this time the article was about his Greenwich village house in NYC. When I flipped the first page of the article I fell in love again (I say again because I had this magazine for a long time and I have seen these photos a while ago); with the serene and neutral palette of the house, filled with full of personality objects and art. In the article he says “I love found or natural things as art. Especially natural things from the sea”. There is a mix of old and new, modern and traditional that personally attracts me a lot. I believe that’s an interior to inspire… if you are into that kind of combination of styles. My tip is: if you like to collected things as James Huniford I would advise you to design an interior that is clean and simple with elegant major furniture pieces, and let your found objects stand out as pieces of art in an embracing gallery.

All photos credits to photographer William Waldron

DESIGN ON A DIME

This weekend Housing Works Thrift Shop/NYC had their seventh annual Design on a Dime fundraising event. On Friday I went there to support it and of course, enjoy it. Perhaps… shop! I really like this event because it mixes creative and renamed talents of the design world; with charity and good intentions… It’s rewarding to know that designers can create beautiful spaces, and at the same time “Get a Room” for homeless and low-income New Yorkers living with and affected by HIV/AIDS.
Being part of this event is one of my plans… I believe that we can produce luxurious rooms and help the less privileged people in different ways… Being part of this event is one of the ways…

I took pictures of all the rooms that were there, but here I am going to post just some of the rooms because there are a lot pictures. If you want to see all of the rooms you are invited to look at them in RG Art & Design's Facebook page _ Design on a Dime Event 2011.

However, I have one criticism about the event... I wish they didn't let people take their purchased pieces until the end of the show!

I call this one: "The Bad Guy Room"

This one I call: "Asia-Deco Elegance"

This one... I call: "Bold Lines & Shapes of Expressions"

Hum... for this one... "Lemon Splash"

This one I call... "The Angel's Fall"

The center table is my inspiration for the name of this room! The base is made of a pile of newspaper, so... I call this one: "Sunday Morning"

"Should I marry, should I buy a bicycle?! Should I get a bike, should I marry?!" For this one: "Free Spirit Girl"

This one... I am not so sure what name to give it... but I might call it: "The Outdoors Inside In"



What name would you give to this one?

How about this one?

I like to call this one: "The Beach Cottage of the South"

Maybe... "The Wild Side of Me"

How about for this one... "The Eclectic Fusion"?

This one? "Life is... The Sounds of Music"

..."Rustic City Paradise"



I really love the elements of this room... But I don't have a name for this room?! :-(

Do you have any suggestion?


HAPPY MOTHERS DAY TO ALL OF YOU, BEAUTIFUL!!!