Design Archives - Page 2 of 2

Cafe Lalo

Ah, Cafe Lalo. Is there a more picturesque french cafe this far from France? I think not.

This is one of my favorite places to visit in NYC, so naturally we had to have brunch there (my favorite meal) on our recent trip. It felt like visiting an old friend.

(via Cafe Lalo’s Facebook)

There are a million reasons to love this little cafe. Here are a few of mine:

1. It’s famous. It is the meeting place “Joe Fox” and “Kathleen Kelly” (aka Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan) choose to meet in the classic chick flick loved by many, “You’ve Got Mail”. Look familiar?

(via Guest of a Guest)

2. The coffee. It’s delicious. And I love the espresso machine. And the brightly colored cups, saucers, and cream pitchers. Let’s just face it – coffee tastes better when it’s made and served in pretty things.

(KJL)

(via Cafe Lalo’s Facebook)

3. The interior. I love the brick walls, Art Nouveou art, brass rail bakery case, crystal flower track lighting, marble table tops… the list goes on and on.

(via Simple Recipe Raves)

(via Cafe Lalo’s Facebook)

4. The french windows. I know this technically falls under #3, but the windows are so fabulous, they get their own category.

(KJL)

5. The menu. From breakfast to midnight snack and every meal or treat in between, Cafe Lalo features an impossible array of delicious offerings. I say impossible, because it’s impossible to choose, so I always end up placing at least two orders for myself. A personal favorite: the Belgian waffle with home made cinnamon whipped cream and fresh strawberries.

(KJL)

(via Cafe Lalo’s Facebook)

6. The details. From the working vintage cash register to the souvenir match boxes… it’s the unique and unforgettable details that make Cafe Lalo so special.

(via Cafe Lalo’s Facebook)

Need I say more? I think not.

So next time you’re near the Upper West Side of Manhattan, you most definitely should stop in. Even if you only have time for a cupcake, it will be totally worth it. Until then, you should go like their Facebook page and check out their website.

It’s one of my happy places. I close my eyes and imagine that giant yellow cup of coffee and suddenly all is right in the world.

Happy November. Stay inspired!

-K

Master Bath Progress

So I’ve been missing from the blog this week – sorry about that! But I can promise you it’s been for a good reason.

As some of you may know, when we purchased our home last year it was a foreclosure. Needless to say, it needed alot of TLC and updates. We’ve been on a mission to bring it to it’s full potential ever since.

We took this last week to focus on finishing up some house projects that we’ve been needing to get to for awhile, including landscaping, trim work, light fixtures and touch up painting. The biggest undertaking, however, was bringing our master bathroom from about 30% to 98% completion!

So are you ready to see what our master bath looked like before we got started last year? The below picture was taken by one of our neighbors (and now good friends) before the house was even ours:

(before)

Yikes! I’ll just point out a few of the problems with it that were apparent right off the bat.

The vanity was only 22″ deep and 28″ high, so small and low, not to mention a dated yellow oak finish and cultured marble moulded sinks and counter top.

The forest green walls were dark and depressing for such a small space and made the room feel smaller than it already was.

Come to find out, it was dark green paint over TWO different layers of old wallpaper. Yes. That was fun trying to take off. When it stopped responding to all traditional methods of stripping and started damaging the sheet-rock in the process, we ended up sheet-rocking over with a thin layer to get a fresh, smooth surface.

Here was a picture from a couple months after we started remodeling once the new walls, floors (minus the grout), and 24″ deep by 36″ high cabinets were in:

(during)

Looking better! Now, if you remember from my previous post, Designer House Reveal: The Process, the inspiration for that project actually started with Dwell Studio fabrics I’d original picked out for our master suite. As we hadn’t finished our master project at the time, I used the materials in the show house instead and decided that if the items didn’t sell, I would re-purpose them in our project as originally planned.

So if you followed the Designer House project, you’ll recognize that some of the original items used are now in our master bath, including some of my original art!

Here’s how it looks after our big push this past week:

Quite a transformation so far, right?!

It still needs a few finishing touches including the final light fixtures over each mirror, drapery panels under the valance, and crown moulding. All in good time. Right now I’m just basking in the joy of having working sinks just feet away from my bed! Not to mention thick, coke bottle-like glass sinks. Ooo la la.

So that’s a sneak peek of what we were up to all week. Hopefully it makes up in some small way for my absence. 🙂

Have a wonderful rest of the week and stay inspired!

-K

Trevor Thurow Custom Furniture & Design

Today it’s my pleasure to introduce to you the incredible Trevor Thurow Custom Furniture and Design! Trevor and his lovely wife, Jenni, are based out of Austin, Texas – a state near and dear to my heart. (I was born in Dallas and let’s face it, once a Texan, always a Texan!) 🙂

Trevor is ridiculously gifted at was he does – his work is simply spectacular! Everything from the furniture style to the variety of materials used is precisely my cup of tea. Check out some of my favorite pieces of his work below!

Awesome, right? To read more about the above pieces and see more of Trevor’s work, be sure to check out and like their Facebook page and visit their website.

Now that you’ve met Trevor Thurow Custom Furniture and Design, I’m so excited to share that I’ve been asked to work with them to design a piece of furniture from these amazing old barn wood beams! What?!

I’m extremely honored to be teaming up with them on this one-of-a-kind project. It’s going to be a blast!

Stay tuned to my blog and Trevor’s blog to follow the design and production process over the next month.

Back to sketching! 😉

Look-alikes: Glam Living Room

I’ve had this image of a Jan Showers designed living room pinned to my “Living Rooms” Pintrest board for awhile now. Every time I see it it just makes me happy! I absolutely love the bold geometric prints and bright colors – what sophisticated fun.

(schlegel penthouse by jan showers via decor pad)

You can read more about the owners and the design of this space in this article by D Magazine.

Using the above image as inspiration, I created a look-alike living room design of affordable options to get a similar result!

1. Lamps – $80 each

2. Side Tables – $60 each

3. Black Pillow Covers – $38 pair

4. Pink Pillow – $99

5. Sunburst Mirror – $250

6. 8×10 Wool Rug – $310

7. Gold & Glass Coffee Table – $173

8. Daisy Arrangement – $50

9. White Tray – $30

10. Gold Vase – $20

11. White Sofa – $1090

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Everything on the board totals $2,340. But just think – if you were working with an existing sofa, then you could get everything else for $1,250!

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Here’s to a happy Monday and great end to September. Tomorrow brings my favorite month of the year… 🙂

Stay inspired!

-K

Altar’d State

How about a little retail design therapy today? I just have to highlight this fabulous store the girls and I stumbled upon while perusing the Columbia Mall this past weekend: Altar’d State.

(Columbia Mall Facebook)

We were drawn in by the Anthropologie-like window display. The distressed wood, the array of drum and glass pendants… this was our kind of place!

(Altar’d State Blog)

Adorning the ceiling throughout the store was a sea of floating pallets sprinkled with various pendants and a stunning Arteriors chandelier in the center. (My image didn’t turn out well so this is a similar example from the Knoxville location.)

(Knox News)

How about this dressing room?! I’m beginning to think the secret to ceiling success may all come down to pallets and pendants.

(KBIA)

Behind the checkout counter was a mesmerizing lighted mosaic tile accent wall complete with more fun pendants raining down from the ceiling above.

(Columbia Favs)

The interior of the store wasn’t the only thing that was cute though. Their eclectic collection of ladies clothing, footwear, accessories, gifts and home decor were just as much fun as the store itself! At the top of my wardrobe “wish list”: this line up of cowgirl boots.

I did come away with this coral blouse that I fell in love with…It was mine all mine for a whopping price of $18.75. What?!

While Altar’d State’s style is similar to that of Anthropologie, the prices appeared to be alot friendlier in general. Even in the sale room the discounts were more significant.

If you live near one of their captivating boutiques, well then lucky you! I highly recommend going in for a unique shopping experience full of retail and retail design eye candy. The nearest one to me is still 3 hrs away, so until my next road trip, I’ll just be building my wish-list via web, here. 🙂

Happy shopping!

Designer House Reveal: Happily Ever “After”!

Ladies and gentlemen… it’s finally the moment I’ve been waiting for. It is my pleasure to unveil and share with you the “after” photos from my room at the ASO Designer House XXII, the Patio Bath!

(If you’re just joining us, you might want to catch up on the reveal to this point by checking out the previous posts on the Before photos and the Design process.)

Ready? Here we go!!

Tah dah! There you have it folks. I hope you were inspired by today’s room reveal, and if so, I hope you will pass it on and share with someone who this may not have reached yet.

Thank you once again to my extraordinary photographer, Karen E. Segrave of KES Photo for so beautifully capturing this space so dear to my heart!

I was extremely blessed to be a part of such a wonderful event and work with so many amazing people throughout the entire process.

The key people I need to thank who contributed their time, skills, or resources to this project are as follows: the very talented Monica Smith of Sew Much for turning my textile dreams a reality, Jim Wawak and the Sherwin Williams team on Markham for donating a gallon of paint to transform the walls, Shades of Light for working with me to help the Springfield Sconce make it into the project, Joe Darr with Southern Reprographics for so carefully creating 1st edition prints of my original artwork, Larry Baxter and the All-Brite Electrical team for creating light where there was none, Louis Rodriguez for the impeccable paint job, Alex Juarez for helping make the new counter top possible, Rachel Danforth for being my expert shopping, framing, and installation assistant, Barry Jones for your mad skills at everything from valance to sink installation and for being there to help every step of the way, Lillian Jones for being my design sounding board, bringing me coffee and for the thorough Scotchgard application to protect the runner, Nancy LeMaster and Jeff LeMaster for your apt timing and assistance with the drapery installation, Stephen Jones for fixing me up with a taller ladder in a pinch, Hannah Jones for being my assistant and moral support throughout the tear down, Will LeMaster for winning the most supportive husband award and helping with all of the heavy stuff. 🙂 And to the rest of my outstanding family and friends who showed up in big and small ways to help make my vision come to life and went above and beyond to support me throughout the entire event. I can never repay you for th encouragement you brought to me!

A very special thank you to my music teacher and mentor for 10 years, Helen Vanlandingham, for teaching me everything I know and appreciate about music, and for thinking of me for and believing in me throughout this project.

Thank you to everyone who came to the event in support of Arkansas Symphony Orchestra, I cannot thank you enough! Your support for me and all of the designers, but especially for the ASO was appreciate so very much. Without an audience, there would be no “show” at a show house. You all are the best!!

-Kathryn

Designer House Reveal: The Process

Today I want to give you a glimpse of the design process I went through in creating the Patio Bath in the ASO Designer House. The process is similar to how I begin every project.

If you missed it, be sure to check out my previous post with more before pictures of the space!

The next thing after thoroughly documenting the space on camera is to document it on paper through measurements and more notes. Mine are always VERY rough sketches and scribbles, but it’s the numbers that count. When I get home and get all of the numbers and scribbles into AutoCAD (drafting software)….

… I can turn this (above)… into this (below):

My drawings are my maps. To start with an accurate, scaled drawing means I’m not going at this blindly. It eliminates so many question marks and protects from wasted time and energy during the selection process. They are the absolute truth that let me see how much space I have between point A and point B, thereby dictating what size light fixture, mirror, frame, rug, etc. I have allowance for.

I put that allowance together with the needs I’m trying to meet within that space functionally and visually. With that information I then know what I need to be looking for when I start selecting. When I select something, I draw it to scale to make sure it’s the perfect fit from a functional stand point, but also from a visual stand point of appropriately filling and balancing within the space

Switching gears from the technical side of the process to the creative!

I knew I wanted to create something fun and whimsical but at the same time calming. Like a little daydream of sorts! Since designers are responsible for the cost of labor and materials for their rooms in the Show House, I wanted to keep the cost reasonable by using things I already had if possible. I had yardage of these Dwell Studio fabrics on hand. They are some of my absolute FAVORITES that I’d swooned over for years and purchased awhile back with the intention of using them in my Master suite someday.

Thus began my inspiration for the direction I wanted to take the room. One by one I started thinking of items that would work wonderfully with these fabrics, evoking the feeling I envisioned. Then I’d add the items to my inspiration board.

An inspiration board is the first method I use when developing a design scheme. It contains anything from general ideas to specific selections. The helpful part of this is getting everything on the same page – literally – so you can get an idea of how it all works or doesn’t work together. It can include everything from specific ideas (the custom shower curtain I designed) to general ideas (a geometric rug).

Another method I use besides inspiration boards to give me rough idea of what things could look like together is creating a mock-up in photoshop over an image of the actual space. It helps to see things in context of the room.

As each selection checked out from every angle (budget, fit, scheme, deadline) I started ordering, scheduling subcontractors, and spending alot of time on site installing what I could as items arrived. My sweet family showed up time and again to help me out with the install at various points along the way where I could not have done it myself. They are my heros! 🙂

Before I knew it… it was ready!

Don’t miss the reveal tomorrow morning!!

Designer House Reveal: The Before

Today I wanted to share more “before” photos of the Patio Bath along with the initial observations I noted upon first seeing the space that helped shape the outline and “punch list” of my design. Please enjoy this room tour from my perspective!

In my previous post introducing the reveal, we left off here:*enter room* It’s very… coral? I love coral! Why don’t I love it in here? Ah – it’s a tall skinny room with inadequate lighting. The coral is closing in around me and I don’t like it in this application. Glass shower… that’s nice. I wish it were frameless. The frame lines make for so many right angles. I think I want to hide it. Something soft. Note: I feel uneasy. Change wall color. Something calm. Add soft billowing curtain to cover shower.

Speaking of inadequate lighting, what kind of lights are even in here? *look up* 1…2…3 can lights. One over shower, two off centered over vanity. Two windows is good natural light. But I want more overhead light. I love light. It helps the space feel bigger. It helps you see. And the right light fixture makes such an artistic statement. Note: Add fun lighting. Something on wall over vanity, something in the center of the ceiling.

*look down* Hm, nice travertine floor. It looks cold though. Maybe it is cold, from the air vent. Don’t love air vent placement. Don’t love tiny fluffy crooked rug. But I want something soft. How would two bath mats work in here? They’d fit, but I don’t love where how they would fit. I want to unify the space. I want one rug. I want a runner! Note: Look for skinny runners (not the marathon type, the decorative type.) Ask if it’s a problem to cover air vent temporarily for “show.” If that’s a no-go, can I cut out a hole in the rug for the vent? Hmmm…

*look back* More coral. Yep, definitely need a new color. Hey, those electrical outlets and switches stick out like a sore thumb. I want to hide them. And hey, are there no towel bars in here? How will I dry my hands? Note: tall floral arrangement in corner to distract from switching/outlets and towel ring next to them to dry hands on way out the door.

*look to right* I like the vanity color, and the cute little feet. What’s bothering me? Ah – the countertop. It’s cultured marble with a poured sink and back-splash. Why does it look like plastic to me? I would love to upgrade that. That would be expensive. Hey, there’s satin nickel hardware everywhere. Shinier would look nicer here. Note: Go over budget and look at upgrading counter-top. Something white. Marble? Quartz? Change out all satin nickel hardware for chrome.

*look closer at vanity* While I’m thinking of upgrades… how COOL would a glass vessel sink with a waterfall faucet look in here?! I mean this is alright… it works. But something sleek and spa-esque would really help accomplish the feel I’m going for. Note: Pinch pennies to get new countertop… so that I can get a glass sink and faucet. Yep, definitely want to do that.

*look to left* It already has wooden blinds… those can stay, you need privacy in a bath. One again, so many right angles. The window needs to be softened. Drapery? Floor panels are sort of impractical for a bath, but especially one with a shower. Cornice? Valance? Yes. Nothing overwhelming. Just a simple “hat” for the window to soften the corners and bring in pattern/color. Note: Pull images of outside-mount window treatment style options. Think about fabric. Call seamstress for quote.

*walk back to entrace and turn around for another look* Yep. The shower is fine but nothing special. Drapery in front of it would be prettier. The countertop will do, but if I can swing it, and new one and new sink/faucet would be fabulous! The mirror is too square for all of the right angles already happening in here. Maybe round? Definitely want to add a wall sconce over the mirror, or maybe one on either side of it. Hey, a giant piece of art or a grid of several pieces would look swell between the mirror and shower! Okay, yes, good talk with myself. I have something here. This could be great.

Stay tuned to read about the design process next!!