London Subway Cars as Artist Studio

These re-purposed London Subway cars are now being used as artist studios- Furniture designer Auro Foxcraft purchased for underground cars for about $400 each and mounted them on the roof of a neglected warehouse. The warehouse now serves as a gallery space, and the subway cars rent for about $30 a week. I really enjoy seeing things such as these cars recycled into useful and attractive spaces for living and working.

3form Installations

I've mentioned 3form a few times, but they are worth mentioning again. I just received some new application photos, and the results are always visually stimulating. 3form is a great product that can be used for wall cladding, furniture, and lighting design- it's an amazingly simple product with so many ways that it can be used- it's also LEED certified, and comes in so many styles and colors. The photos are fun to look at on their website, and it's definitely inspired some projects for us! My favorites are the lightbox tables- so great for a combination furniture and lighting function. We have spec'd this for many residential clients in the desert- specifically in Palm Desert and Palm Springs- really fabulous looking at night.

Palm Springs Preservation's Alexander Weekend

For the next few Mondays, I'm going to feature some of the fun snapshots of the great homes that were on Palm Springs Preservation Foundation's popular Alexander Weekend. The Alexanders were a development team who worked with architect William Krisel and Don Wexler that turned out thousands of outstanding modern homes in Palm Springs thoughout the 1950's, 60's, and 70's.

Outdoor Living Areas

As Spring is about to pounce on us, thoughts turn to outdoor activities and the spaces to enjoy them.

Outdoor living areas are an essential part of today’s lifestyle, and indoor/outdoor living spaces with continuity is essential to a pleasing flow and design. This is especially so in the desert communities of Palm Springs, Palm Desert, and Rancho Mirage, where out relatively mild weather allows us to be outside more of the year. From Tuscan style to contemporary, outdoor spaces considered essential to harmonious living, dining, entertaining and relaxing. Expanding the overall livable square footage of a home is easily achieved if these outdoor spaces are considered and designed from the beginning of the design process.

The best interior design creates a smooth transition from indoors to outdoors is choice in materials. An interior designer will often select wall finishes, flooring, paint colors and fixtures that will carry from the interior space to the outdoor living areas. For example, repeating a granite or stone slab material that was chosen for the kitchen counter or interior wet bar, to the exterior fireplace surround creates continuity. Wall treatments such as Italian plaster, natural stone and faux finishes can also be used indoors as well as outdoors to further design continuity.

Today’s outdoor rooms are not your average backyard spaces. They are extensions of your interior living space that can be enhanced significantly by an interior designer. These spaces incorporate televisions, fireplaces, wet bars, and in some cases even outdoor kitchens. This integration of outdoor living rooms, kitchens, televisions and entertainment systems, bars and even outdoor showers; are essential components in creating a lifestyle experience to which most home owners aspire.

Comfortable seating is a must- and of course, a functional and relaxing dining area, which is just as important to plan for as the architecture. Choices in furnishings and colors to coordinate with the interior of the home will further a feeling of continuity, making the outdoor living space seem like an interior extension.

Thoughtful planning by your interior designer that incorporates architectural overhangs, heating, lighting and comfortable durable materials are the foundation of effective outdoor rooms.

Unique Sinks

In Palm Desert, California and throughout the Palm Springs and Rancho Mirage area, more homeowners and interior designers are focusing on individualizing their personal spaces with unique and creative ideas and products.

Powder rooms and bathrooms in particular can be a location within one’s home to express the unique individual personality of the owners. Of all the fixtures in these rooms, sinks are becoming more of a sculptural feature than simply a functional fitting. The materials of these objects of fine design can range from the standard stainless steel to precious metals; from vividly coloured hand-blown glass to high-quality hand-thrown ceramic. The limits on what shapes and heights can only be limited by the designer and the homeowner’s creativity.

The pedestals for these stylish basins can be as beautiful as the fixture themselves or be on the minimalist side to highlight the beautiful glass, ceramic, or stone vessel that is used for washing. Lighting in this room can also highlight the basin in addition to providing light to the function of the space itself.

In simply changing a ho-hum bathroom sink to a handcrafted artistic basin, one changes a bland feature in a room designed for utility into a small jewel in a beautiful room that users enjoy viewing.


So when you think of bathroom sinks, think unique !

Kid-Friendly House; Tokyo

I'll make this a quick one, I've got a fashion show to put together!

This is a total dream house for kids: a built-in three-story slide AND a ball pit! How fun would this be to live in? Adore the parents who decided this was a priority in the budget and for following through with it! Read the full store here. Designed by Level Architects and photographs by Shinichi Tanaka.

Japanese Disaster Relief

Japanese Designer Tokujin Yoshioka has written a plea and posted a video for help:

Dear friends,

As you may already have known, Japan was hit by the largest earthquake ever recorded on Friday, March 11th.

The huge quake and devastating tsunami has left the overwhelming damage to the country and we are still facing this terrifying conditions.

As I have received the message from all over the world, I would like to take this opportunity to extend my sincere appreciation for your warmest concerns.

This is the time for us to think what we can really do. I have thought what I could do now, at this moment.

I believe that there would be more than just watching the situation of this disaster on television to help the lives of people there. I know I am not in place to ask such thing, yet one of the thing that we can do for the people in the afflicted area is to donate for their relief and recovery.

There are babies in need of milk, people who has lost their families, and houses.

Here are links to the donation for the relief and recovery of the Japanese earthquake and Pacific tsunami afflicted region:

Japan Red Cross Society »
American Red Cross »

We truly appreciate your support, even the very small support from your pocket, for the relief and recovery of my country.

Deepest regards,
Tokujin Yoshioka

Fashion and Furniture, March 18

Love Fashion? Join us this Friday at 6PM for Fashion and Furniture, a vintage fashion show from the collection of Marc Joseph. He will be putting retro fashions from Dior, Galanos, Chanel, Pucci, and more on the runway in our showroom. We're looking forward to bringing the fashion world into an interior design setting for one fabulous evening!

What: Fashion and Furniture, a Vintage Fashion Show
When: March 18, 2011 at 6PM
Where: 70020 Highway 111, Rancho Mirage
Who: William Miller Design, Marc Joseph, and The Home Collection

Orange!

As a child of the 70's I grew up in a household with an orange kitchen. Orange wallpaper, orange countertops, orange bullseye glass sliding doors in the cabinets, orange seat cushions on the dinette set, and orange linoleum. You'd think I'd have issues around 0range- not so, one of my favorite colors in a home interior. We recently did a fabulous home in the Las Palmas area of Palm Springs with orange accents, and a little further back, a spectactular home interior in Rancho Mirage with orange and lime green as an accent. Orange looks great in a lot more places than the desert- think about using it as a color in cabinetry, on an accent wall, or if you're not very brave, bring it into a room in the throw pillows and accessories, such as glassware. You'll find that orange not only perks up a room, but energizes you as well.

Milena @ Rose Bowl Flea Market

One of my favorite exhibitors at the Pasadena Rose Bowl Flea Market is Milena Sefferovich from Phoenix, Arizona. She displays some fantastic accessories, pillows that are sewn by her mom, and beautifully chic recovered furniture at outstanding prices. From what I can tell, she's sold out all of her furniture by about 10am, and goes home with very little, meaning that her inventory is changing constantly. The quality of the recovered furniture is amazing, and for far less than you'd expect- the pair of black rattan chairs pictured were tagged at $450 for the pair. It's really refreshing to find an interior design source that has so many great things at such a wonderful price point- wouldn't her things look wonderful in the interior of a chic Regency style home in Palm Springs, or anywhere for that matter?

Fashion and Furniture

March 18, from 6-8PM, we are hosting Fashion and Furniture, a Vintage Fashion show from the collection of Marc Joseph. If you have an interest in interior design and its connections to the world of fashion, you'll love this show full of high-end vintage fashions from the houses of Chanel, Pucci, Galanos, and more! The event will be held in our showroom at 70020 Highway 111, Rancho Mirage, for more information call 760-770-9199. This will be a fantastic lead-in to El Paseo's Fashion Week (one of the most fun things to attend in the desert)!

Movie Sets I'd Like to Live In: Grey Gardens

When I mention Grey Gardens, invariably images of two women living in squalor in a cat-ridden decaying summer place in the Hamptons immediately pop into your mind, but in the HBO version conjures up a Grey Gardens summer place in its heyday of the 1930's. If the sets are a little fussy and traditional 1930's for your taste, they are at least inspiring in the types of furnishings: adore those bamboo dining chairs, and love love love all the yellow hand-painted wallpaper. You might not have noticed it, but that's a fantastic metal side table in the parlor, and there are some great Scandinavian overtones in the entry foyer. Have fun looking, interior design fans!

Kyle Bunting Cowhide Leather Rugs

I just fell in love with the cowhide area rugs from Kyle Bunting. We just got this fantastic orange, white and brown in the "Rewind" pattern, and measures 9' x 12' . It's really a breathtaking piece, and the more I look on his website, the more I'm loving the vivid colors and the fun patterns that are available. Stop in our showroom to have at this amazing piece that draws inspiration from the countryside outside the Kyle Bunting studio outside of Austin, Texas. Custom sizes and patterns are available on request.

Alexander Weekend 2011, Palm Springs

The Palm Springs Preservation Foundation will be having its annual Alexander Weekend March 25-27. On Saturday, March 26, tours of homes by the famed builderi Twin Palms neighborhood will be featured (and our current residence will be included)!

These fabulous homes were originally billed as "designed by architects...built for permanent value" which completely rings true to their current reputation. The Twin Palms neighborhood is generally marked as the origin of mass development in Palm Springs. The neighborhood got its name from two palm trees planted in the front yard of each residence in the neighborhood.

The Twin Palms homes sold pretty quickly and enticed the Alexanders to continue development in the area. Future neighborhoods included Racquet Club Estates and Vista Las Palmas. Design elements from Twin Palms were to be included in the subsequent communities including the now famous selection of roof lines.

As Alexander homes are an integral part of Palm Springs history, the Twin Palms community is just as important since its popularity fueled the development of Palm Springs by The Alexander Construction Company. The Palm Springs Preservation Foundation pays tribute to this ground breaking mid century modern neighborhood by featuring it on the Saturday Modernist Home Tour of Alexander Weekend 2011. Tickets for the Saturday event are $85 or a weekend pass for entrance to all events is $165 available at the Palm Springs Preservation Foundation's website.

Pendant Lamps Over Nightstands

A practical solution in a bedroom where there simply isn't the horizontal surface space for a bedside lamp is the pendant light fixture. Normally found in an entry foyer in a grouping, as an accent light, or functional as overhead spotlighting above a bar or kitchen island, the pendant light is equally at home and stylish in a bedroom. I'm a fan of the pendant light in any home interior, and we use them often for interior design projects in Palm Springs, but we're seeing more of them in use in the country club communities of Palm Desert and Rancho Mirage.

Desert Design District March Design Walk March 4

Don't forget this evening's Desert Design District's Walk, featuring the best in the Desert's Interior Design, which runs from Noon-8Pm. Participants are eligible for a $1000 shopping spree with participating vendors. Simply get this form signed or stamped at each retailer, and you'll be entered to win!

Palm Springs Modernism Show

Interior design fans in Palm Springs probably know about the Modernism Show that takes place in February- it's one of my favorite events the whole year, and it takes place around Valentines's Day every year at the Convention Center in Palm Springs. The show highlights midcentury modern artwork, accessories, and furnishings as well as some great vintage jewelry, clothing and fabric...have fun looking at my snapshots of some great home interior items!