SURPRISE!!!

Something very exciting is happening in my personal life....I am moving in with my man.  This means a lot of things.  Two people cramming things into what used to be one persons space,  me moving into a bachelor pad of sorts, and me hiring a maid.  It is so much easier than arguing about cleaning details every week.  But the reason I am writing to tell you this is because I will be documenting my journey of transforming our space into a compatible living situation.  The first transformation is in the bedroom...old dirty rug is out, shelves are in the works and the baseboards, doors and trim have a fresh coat of shiny bright white paint.  Exciting!  But don't get me wrong, there is obviously a deep reason I love and adore Ben and I want to maintain his personality in things, although his skull paintings might be too much for me, there is a real elegance to defining our space as ours, and maintaining our own personal styles underneath the transformations.  Either way, instead of thinking of this as a difficult argument, or challenge I am looking for the most fit design solutions to cure our concerns.  There is a design solution for everything.  If something isn't working it is no one's fault it is just poor design.  And that is true for a lot of things in life.  New hybrid bedroom pics to come... but until then, these are some pieces I am longing for to change the functionality of the space.  Get ready!

kitchen storage unit meets butcher block, meets table with stool  

Multi-purpose furniture is a must in small apartment living

from: JaysonHome

I also found this amazing piece that could work in the kitchen, but it is on ebay and in kansas

I want it so bad!

 bathroom storage option

old drafting stools! I want 

small spaces call for drastic measures. This simple desk will be perfect.  

from bluedot

another bathroom wall mount storage unit. Reclaimed wood box. Remodelista.com

Out with the Old in with the Old...

I don't even know how to begin this blog because I have so much to say about doors, and yet really nothing needs to be said at all...they speak for themselves.  Doors open new beginnings and close bad endings! They slam, bang, whisper, roll, swing, creak, speak.  Doors say so much without saying anything at all.  They are symbolic, historical and like most design elements doors have followed fashionable trends.  But I have always loved doors and have always wanted a big beautiful speaks-for-itself kinda door.  One day I think I might just have one.  Doors are all about scale, texture, and color.  Large, bright doors say look at me...Come on in!  Small, intimate rough or textured doors say there is probably something worth your time behind me.  Doors can really be added anywhere in a space.  They divide space well and create interest.  My mom has wanted a red door since I can remember....Mom, it might be time to paint your door red!  In fact she had a red door hanging at the end of our hallway with a mirror behind it in the house I grew up in.  So many people asked where it lead to or even tried to open it, even though they could see themselves in the reflection.  Its interesting how our brains override logic.  Door = new room, new space. 

  Hot Trend: repurposed doors...but this is really nothing new.  I like the room divider with a hung door.  Great for small spaces that need options, or big open spaces that need defining.   

modern, classy, sophisticated

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one coat of paint has made this niche contemporary and special.

door meet table....your new best friender...

green door....really green Flora Grubb would be so proud! 

yellow never looked so good

hmmm....more my style! clean, simple, old and new. 

images from: 

offbeat home. remodelista. tickingandtoile

Gjelina

This weekend I was in LA visiting my sister and it inspired me to write this blog.  I went to Gjelina Restaurant in Venice Beach, CA.  It was really interesting, beautiful, and jaw dropping for me.  I have been in so many restaurants this is hard to do these days.  But there is something about this place that was really worth talking about.  It's not super new, but for sure hasn't been there forever.  It is warm, sexy, trendy, and hipster if you will....but in all the right ways.  It is good enough to be whatever it wants in my opinion.  The food was great.  Pizza crust droopy only at the very tip....the rest was cracker crisp which is exactly how I like my pizza to hang.  Our peach salad was salty, refreshing, and savory.  It was incredible and a memorable part of the meal, but for me, the thing that really makes this place special is the design.  The walls are dark with a delicate inlay in the plaster...(the carving wasn't my favorite pattern but I think it fit).  The dramatic very unpretentious light fixture is very attractive, different, and sort of lazy looking....this light fixture isn't trying to be anything but a light fixture which I like, a lot; simple piping with drooped bulb fixtures hanging all over it.  The communal is centered over the cold expo station, and the back patio was just right.  The lighting is sexy day and night.  The vibe is hip, loud, and fast.  The ceiling is low and covered in plank wood, but not too reclaimed looking (because we are all tiring of that), the host station is simple and efficient.  The exterior eye image is brilliant, graphic and sort of offensive for a restaurant to put it there but I dig...a lot.  The whole thing if you couldn't tell.