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Came across this project recently. I love this on a few different levels.

First, I admire that the project was constructed with 1,800 issues of The New York Times that were pressed together to create display stands. I think it is a very innovative way to use something that would otherwise end up in the trash or recycling.

Second, I love how the Architect from Tacklebox used the newspapers to create depth by staggering the overall heights of the stands.

Third, how the Architect used light to add a grazed effect on the material for a very dramatic feel.

I love, love, love this project.

http://www.tacklebox-ny.com/

10 months ago  3 notes

One Year

One year. Literally it has been one year this month that I have been unemployed.

Earlier today I received a rejection e-mail by a firm I had interviewed with. The position was Design Assistant and when I went in for the Interview, I found out I wouldn’t be a Design Assistant, I would be Assistant to the Designer. I was rejected because I had too much experience.

I am, by degree, and Interior Designer. When I graduated from school in Manhattan, the markets were crashing and America had officially gone into a depression. I was lucky. I was engaged to a Swiss native who was finishing up one year of school in Geneva. We were getting married three months after I graduated in Switzerland where I would live with him until the economy was safe enough for us to move back to America and work in New York.

It took 7 months for me to get an internship in Switzerland. This was because I didn’t know a lick of French. I worked in a firm where I was constantly made fun of for being an American by my other co workers. After 5 months, I switched jobs to another office. At the new firm, I was making double the amount of money and on the top of the world.

Never before in my life had I had a job where I could completely support myself and I wasn’t only supporting myself but also my now ex-husband. I worked at that job for 6 months where I took more and more responsibility until I was caring for four of my own projects.

My relationship was sinking because my husband was seeing someone else. Before I knew that, he encouraged me to take a vacation to see my friends and family because it had been a very tough year. I gave in and booked my flight. The day before that flight I was called into the conference room at work.

I was told that we had lost a major project that we’d thought we would win. That was supposed to be the project that I would work on when I was originally hired. Because we didn’t get the project, I had to be let go for financial reasons. I almost canceled my flight. My husband had convinced me to go and take a break. He told me we’d start a search as soon as I’d returned.

I never returned. When I got to America, my ex husband told me about his girlfriend. He told me if I tried to come back to Switzerland, he wouldn’t see me but if I stayed in America, he’d send me my things. I was devastated. Not only had I lost a job that I loved but I also just lost my husband.

To make matters worse, after he told me, I woke up one morning with Bell’s Palsy. I didn’t even know what it was until one morning, I had it. A month after being back and searching for jobs in multiple cities, everything came to a halt on that morning and stayed at a halt for six months while I slowly recovered.

I didn’t know what to do. My speech was slurred, I couldn’t open or close my left eye, I couldn’t taste anything, my face was completely dead and it wasn’t even guaranteed to return to normal. I couldn’t apply to jobs because I hated myself. I hated myself for being a failure as a wife and to have lost my job. I hated myself because of how I looked. Normally, my smile was something to look in awe at; I am a very pretty woman. All of a sudden, I was a failure and a monster for an indefinite amount of time.

Slowly I could move my face more and more with the help of electroshock therapy. The therapists would hold an electric gun to my face and shoot it for an hour three times a week. I didn’t even have health insurance and no job. All of this money that was being spent was from money I had saved while working over the past year.

When I was about fully recovered, I moved out to Portland. I had met the man of my dreams who had taken me completely off my feet. He made me feel like the most beautiful woman in the world when half of my face wasn’t working and I had felt like a monster. I moved out to Portland in March in search of a more relaxed life style where I work and I could come home to my wonderful boyfriend and beautiful dog. I deserved it after the past half of a year.

For four months I applied like crazy to any Architecture firm I could find in Portland and then resorted to retail with absolutely no luck. If I weren’t applying, I was spending time with this amazing human being who was the shining light at the end of a very dark tunnel.

Again, Slowly, my dog, Elwood, was showing signs of being sick. After thousands of dollars on multiple veterinary hospital bills, we found out that my dog has an incurable liver disease and his life expectancy will be about 5 years; he is currently 2. I had lost all of my savings to those bills and had to move home. My now ex boyfriend grew distant and we broke up on the day we found out what was wrong with our dog. He had no plans on moving back to New York and no interest in a long distance relationship even if it would only be for a few months.I now had to deal with being unemployed for over a half a year and a dog on the brink of death.

I felt like I had lost everything again. I felt useless, unemployable and as if I were a failure no matter what I did. I thought the world hated me.

I have been back in New York for two months now. I have applied to numerous jobs and even attended networking events. Things were beginning to look brighter and I was even considering getting my Masters of Architecture. I’ve been told how impressive my resume and work is. I am also a fine artist who is getting international acclaim. None of that however is working out for me. The economy yet again is coming to a halt and with unemployment still over 9%- not looking as though it will get any better but instead, worse, as a result, hiring is slowing down.

The more I read, the more I become worried. This past year of my life has been so hard. I have felt alone, exhausted and helpless. I hear my friends who have jobs complain about how crazy their bosses are and all I want to do is slap them. How lucky are they to even have jobs?! I have been applying to job after job, at least two a day, with no luck.

I have decided to go back to school but I know that it will take at least another year until I pass the GMAT and do all of the research to get myself in a respectable school. I can only do that thanks to student loans, grants and scholarships. Today I read an article about how students will be feeling the pinch of the debt deal. School will now cost more for me than it would have before. I have been unemployed for a year next month and our economy will be in the dumps until- projected- end of 2013.

I am not able to collect unemployment in either Switzerland or America.

I am 26 years old and I can’t even buy a sandwich without asking my parents for money.

10 months ago  6 notes

This past weekend a friend and I went out to Queen City aka Charlotte, NC. We picked it because neither of us knew anything about the city and decided, hey, there is a sale on tickets, why not.

When we got there, we checked into the Aloft hotel in the Epicentre. I’d seen the Aloft before in Portland, Oregon on my way to and from both Ikea and the airport but have never stayed at them. We walked in and as two interior designers we were in design heaven. It was a great atmosphere and, I think, got us started off on the right foot in the city.

We put our things in the room and were absolutely amazed at how dead downtown was. Ate some food and returned to the hotel. I spoke with a woman named Yvonne who worked at the hotel and asked if the city is always dead. She told me that sometimes you can look down from the hotel which starts on the 5th floor of the building and its full of people and other times you look down and its empty.

My friend and I decided to walk around a little more. Quickly we saw the city come to life as we sat outside at a mexican restaurant drinking margaritas in the summer’s heat. At that point, both of us were in love with the city. We had an amazing night out on the town because of the suggestions they gave us at the hotel as well as free passes to come clubs in the area.

The next morning, we went to the Bechtler Modern Art Museum constructed by Botta, a Swiss architect. I think they should just call it the Swiss Modern Art Museum because there was mainly Swiss artists in there. Next we went next door to the Mint Museum that you can see in the background in the photo of the Giacometti statue.

After we took a short walk through the Common Market where all of my fellow would-be Brooklynites if they were in Brooklyn can be seen hanging out in front of a boutique called Niche, American Apparel and a great place called Black Sheep.

I love Charlotte and I’m glad we went. As I said, neither of us knew what to expect and I think it’s safe to say that Charlotte took us by storm.

10 months ago  3 notes

Here is a restaurant where there aren’t any refurbished materials. Everything is new and although those are designer chairs, I am under the impression that this place will not wear as well as a place with more durable materials that are flattered when they take a bit of abuse or dirt such as wood.

I would go here in two seconds but after a while, I might not go back because it will quickly degrade with use.

10 months ago  2 notes

This is by far my favorite restaurant. It is a French style villa on 3 acres of sculpture grounds. There are peacocks roaming the grounds and the food is rated in the top 3% of the country by zagat. They are so good in fact, that the year after I was married there (divorced a year later) the chef who catered my meal and worked there as head chef won America’s Next Top Chef.

Even if it isn’t a special occasion, the decor and food give you the high class experience. This is not an advertisement for you to go there. This is, however, telling you how much I love how they reclaimed wood from a barn in upstate New York that was being town down. In the photo of the stairs, you can see just how thick the wood is. Love it here.

10 months ago  8 notes

In keeping with restaurants, I was wondering what everyone thought on this. Would you rather go to a restaurant that was plastic-y, brightly colored and brand spanking new or would you rather go to one that is equally as new but has refurbished wood and other materials that have some history to them as well as being sustainable?

A large part of my education was centered around sustainable design. Also, I’m a big nerd. I love being a nerd and I love when objects have history to tell. An object which can tell me it’s history is much more important in my mind that a new flashy bright object which will probably wear terribly.

One of my favorite restaurants is called Rat’s and is located on 3 acres of sculpture ground. The bones of the building as well as the interior stairs, bar top and some other structural aspects were created from a barn that was located in upstate New York.

I should have added those photos on second thought but I will save them for later. Instead there is this beautiful project that uses refurbished materials and is located in an airport. I wish it were in JFK.

10 months ago  2 notes

I’ve mentioned earlier that I’d gone to an antiques market and left with a camera. Well, I went back and left with a desk, a crate and a fan.

I’ve mentioned earlier that I’d gone to an antiques market and left with a camera. Well, I went back and left with a desk, a crate and a fan.

10 months ago  6 notes View high resolution

As a follow up to yesterday’s post about over-lit restaurants, I’m posting this food-hall because I love it. The design is just beautiful- the lights are innovative and I am a huge fan of concrete and wood. Of course this can make and high-occupancy area very loud. I think, however, that the majority of the noise would be concentrated because of the coffer ceiling.

I also think another problem could be due to something that I love- those lights. There are a whole lotta lights going on in there. I would love to see this place in person to know exactly how this looks at night. If the wattage isn’t too high, then it could be a nice glow. Or it could be terrible. I think it will be a glow.

10 months ago  2 notes

I went out to eat with my Father last night- we had Chinese food at his favorite place. Although the food is good (and clean), well after night had fallen, you could still see clearly under the tables. It was so bright, in fact, that you could clearly see everything. Which is fine because you want to know what you’re about to consume but there is a fine line of being well lit and being so well let that you can see the dropped food under the table.

The reason I enjoy a more dimly lit experience is because I do not want to be distracted from the people sitting in front of me. Restaurants can, at times, be extremely crowded and noisy- especially in New York. Because of this, if you are in a well-lit restaurant, not only do you see all the imperfections on the wall, scratches in the wood but you can also see everyone around you. You can easily be distracted by other people or a poorly covered-up hole in the wall. If you see someone glance over at another side of the room, you look too.

This can be bad news when you’re out with your parents or friends because it looks as if you don’t care that they are sitting right across from you and you are more interested in other things going on around you.

Having more focused lighting helps you to to be more focused also. It can make a restaurant direct your gaze on things that are more important such as a beautiful wooden focal wall, a collection of wine bottles, a statue, etc instead of the man or woman across the room with the noisy children and horrible t-shirt.

10 months ago  1 note

As I am becoming more and more involved in this blog, I think I should mention to those of you who are following it, that I am an Interior Designer. It is important, when hearing the title Interior Designer, that you not think that I fluff pillows or get the name confused with “Decorator”. I will pick out your curtains whether you be an office, restaurant, hotel or home only after I am done demolishing existing walls, changing them around to give you your best possible space.

This means that I am a builder. I know how things are put together and I know how to draw details. I personally know how to use power tools and have built my own apartment.

Before I continue with this blog, I hope that you are all here to see beautiful design, not just nice interiors of someone’s apartment that they’d gone thrift-shopping for. I am a structural person and even while in school, I was much more interested in structure than soft surfaces such as fabrics and treatments whether they be wall or window or floor, etc.

The reason I chose Interior Design over Architecture was due to my belief that we already have so many buildings- some completely unused. I wanted to take those existing buildings and pump fresh life into them. I’m going to get my masters in architecture sometime in the next year, getting ready for the GMAT soon because 6 years wasn’t enough. Wish me luck!

10 months ago 

This week is all about outside of the home and how those spaces can relate to your own.

Today is hotels. I am an avid traveler- I have been to more places than most 26 year olds. Under my belt, I have five of seven continents, I’d learned to walk in Canada, my first words were uttered in Mexico and I’d gone to summer camp in Iceland. No need to mention that I’ve been very fortunate with my travel experience, but because of it, I understand how hard it is being away from home.

When you are abroad for a week, a month, even a few days, you miss your small comforts like your personal items at home. Many times, you get to a hotel that is completely impersonal and often make you feel like you’d rather be anywhere but in your room. There can be an especially fine-line when it comes to ultra-minimalist rooms. I understand and fully agree with the idea of less being more some sometimes less is just less.

With the two rooms above, I think I can guess which hotel room would be more of a comfort to stay in..for anyone. As an interior designer and traveler, I feel that hotels should be your temporary home away from home. Something that allows you to come in and make believe you are someone else for the time being. That, even on a small budget, you feel like you’re first class. Whenever I get a job..I promise to those weary travelers that I will do my best.

10 months ago  1 note

One of the things I hate when shopping is how cluttered some stores can be. There is just so much product that it’s a sensory overload. However, this has never stopped me from buying as many clothes as possible. I even have so many shoes that I can pile them up, one on top of the other, reach my ten foot high ceiling, and then pile them up halfway again (I’ve tried).

Yesterday I went out shopping with a friend and once again found myself buying something that I don’t need because I loved it. While walking around, I was thinking that there must be way more creative and clean ways to display the clothing. So today, here are some examples that I love. Not only are they clean ways to display, but they are also cheap solutions. These solutions could also work in your home. For example, buying plumbing pipes and two flanges at home depot gives you a clothing rack. Going to your local wine store and asking for crates can give you boxes to put your shoes/clothing inside of and stack up.

10 months ago  11 notes

Before interior design, I was a fine arts major…for many years. When I made the decision to go into the design field, I kept a lot of the principles from fine arts and applied them to work. During my painting class with Farrel Brickhouse who is an amazing artist, he made comment about how a good painting directs your eye around the canvas. In the photos posted above, I want you to notice the frames. Note how with the thickness of the frame and their position keeps the viewer engaged and moving around the wall.

All good design should have that principle. Your eye shouldn’t focus on one chair, one wall one whatever. Instead there should be an engaging dialogue with all of the objects in a room. They should speak to each other and keep your eyes moving around much like these frames do on the wall.

10 months ago  7 notes

Recently I’ve had this problem where all of the books I’ve collected are haphazardly thrown next to my book shelf, on top of it, and layered book in front of book because I don’t have any more room for them. I decided to make a complete purge of over half of the books I own because that corner of my room felt incredibly dark and heavy.

That got me on the track of looking for ways to display books that don’t make a room feel weighted. When you are doing any kind of design- interior, architecture, urban planning, it doesn’t matter- you have to make sure that there is a balance to your project. For example, if you were doing a commercial project you would never put all of the desks on top of each other on one side of the room. Instead, you’d spread them out to create a balanced feel. Not only does it look better on paper but in real practice, people feel better in balanced spaces.

Point of the story: give your books some room to breathe.

10 months ago  3 notes

When I first moved to New York, I moved into a loft. Not just any loft but a loft that didn’t exist yet- it was only the envelope of a building. The landlord made a deal with the tenants that he would allow you to not pay rent for three months while you build your apartment. So for three months, a friend and I labored away on our place. By the end we were running out of money. We had built walls to mark our space, added two doors, built a loft area with stairs and a close space with two rooms underneath the loft.

We were still tackling the kitchen when we realized we couldn’t afford to buy cabinets. Instead, we bought shelving or even made some shelves to pile our dishes on top of. This can be kind of tricky at times because they have to be neatly stacked or at least displayed in an artful way that doesn’t look too crowded or cluttered. Here are some ideas if you’re having some storage issues. Think of them as wall art.

10 months ago  6 notes

Came across this project recently. I love this on a few different levels.

First, I admire that the project was constructed with 1,800 issues of The New York Times that were pressed together to create display stands. I think it is a very innovative way to use something that would otherwise end up in the trash or recycling.

Second, I love how the Architect from Tacklebox used the newspapers to create depth by staggering the overall heights of the stands.

Third, how the Architect used light to add a grazed effect on the material for a very dramatic feel.

I love, love, love this project.

http://www.tacklebox-ny.com/

One Year

One year. Literally it has been one year this month that I have been unemployed.

Earlier today I received a rejection e-mail by a firm I had interviewed with. The position was Design Assistant and when I went in for the Interview, I found out I wouldn’t be a Design Assistant, I would be Assistant to the Designer. I was rejected because I had too much experience.

I am, by degree, and Interior Designer. When I graduated from school in Manhattan, the markets were crashing and America had officially gone into a depression. I was lucky. I was engaged to a Swiss native who was finishing up one year of school in Geneva. We were getting married three months after I graduated in Switzerland where I would live with him until the economy was safe enough for us to move back to America and work in New York.

It took 7 months for me to get an internship in Switzerland. This was because I didn’t know a lick of French. I worked in a firm where I was constantly made fun of for being an American by my other co workers. After 5 months, I switched jobs to another office. At the new firm, I was making double the amount of money and on the top of the world.

Never before in my life had I had a job where I could completely support myself and I wasn’t only supporting myself but also my now ex-husband. I worked at that job for 6 months where I took more and more responsibility until I was caring for four of my own projects.

My relationship was sinking because my husband was seeing someone else. Before I knew that, he encouraged me to take a vacation to see my friends and family because it had been a very tough year. I gave in and booked my flight. The day before that flight I was called into the conference room at work.

I was told that we had lost a major project that we’d thought we would win. That was supposed to be the project that I would work on when I was originally hired. Because we didn’t get the project, I had to be let go for financial reasons. I almost canceled my flight. My husband had convinced me to go and take a break. He told me we’d start a search as soon as I’d returned.

I never returned. When I got to America, my ex husband told me about his girlfriend. He told me if I tried to come back to Switzerland, he wouldn’t see me but if I stayed in America, he’d send me my things. I was devastated. Not only had I lost a job that I loved but I also just lost my husband.

To make matters worse, after he told me, I woke up one morning with Bell’s Palsy. I didn’t even know what it was until one morning, I had it. A month after being back and searching for jobs in multiple cities, everything came to a halt on that morning and stayed at a halt for six months while I slowly recovered.

I didn’t know what to do. My speech was slurred, I couldn’t open or close my left eye, I couldn’t taste anything, my face was completely dead and it wasn’t even guaranteed to return to normal. I couldn’t apply to jobs because I hated myself. I hated myself for being a failure as a wife and to have lost my job. I hated myself because of how I looked. Normally, my smile was something to look in awe at; I am a very pretty woman. All of a sudden, I was a failure and a monster for an indefinite amount of time.

Slowly I could move my face more and more with the help of electroshock therapy. The therapists would hold an electric gun to my face and shoot it for an hour three times a week. I didn’t even have health insurance and no job. All of this money that was being spent was from money I had saved while working over the past year.

When I was about fully recovered, I moved out to Portland. I had met the man of my dreams who had taken me completely off my feet. He made me feel like the most beautiful woman in the world when half of my face wasn’t working and I had felt like a monster. I moved out to Portland in March in search of a more relaxed life style where I work and I could come home to my wonderful boyfriend and beautiful dog. I deserved it after the past half of a year.

For four months I applied like crazy to any Architecture firm I could find in Portland and then resorted to retail with absolutely no luck. If I weren’t applying, I was spending time with this amazing human being who was the shining light at the end of a very dark tunnel.

Again, Slowly, my dog, Elwood, was showing signs of being sick. After thousands of dollars on multiple veterinary hospital bills, we found out that my dog has an incurable liver disease and his life expectancy will be about 5 years; he is currently 2. I had lost all of my savings to those bills and had to move home. My now ex boyfriend grew distant and we broke up on the day we found out what was wrong with our dog. He had no plans on moving back to New York and no interest in a long distance relationship even if it would only be for a few months.I now had to deal with being unemployed for over a half a year and a dog on the brink of death.

I felt like I had lost everything again. I felt useless, unemployable and as if I were a failure no matter what I did. I thought the world hated me.

I have been back in New York for two months now. I have applied to numerous jobs and even attended networking events. Things were beginning to look brighter and I was even considering getting my Masters of Architecture. I’ve been told how impressive my resume and work is. I am also a fine artist who is getting international acclaim. None of that however is working out for me. The economy yet again is coming to a halt and with unemployment still over 9%- not looking as though it will get any better but instead, worse, as a result, hiring is slowing down.

The more I read, the more I become worried. This past year of my life has been so hard. I have felt alone, exhausted and helpless. I hear my friends who have jobs complain about how crazy their bosses are and all I want to do is slap them. How lucky are they to even have jobs?! I have been applying to job after job, at least two a day, with no luck.

I have decided to go back to school but I know that it will take at least another year until I pass the GMAT and do all of the research to get myself in a respectable school. I can only do that thanks to student loans, grants and scholarships. Today I read an article about how students will be feeling the pinch of the debt deal. School will now cost more for me than it would have before. I have been unemployed for a year next month and our economy will be in the dumps until- projected- end of 2013.

I am not able to collect unemployment in either Switzerland or America.

I am 26 years old and I can’t even buy a sandwich without asking my parents for money.

This past weekend a friend and I went out to Queen City aka Charlotte, NC. We picked it because neither of us knew anything about the city and decided, hey, there is a sale on tickets, why not.

When we got there, we checked into the Aloft hotel in the Epicentre. I’d seen the Aloft before in Portland, Oregon on my way to and from both Ikea and the airport but have never stayed at them. We walked in and as two interior designers we were in design heaven. It was a great atmosphere and, I think, got us started off on the right foot in the city.

We put our things in the room and were absolutely amazed at how dead downtown was. Ate some food and returned to the hotel. I spoke with a woman named Yvonne who worked at the hotel and asked if the city is always dead. She told me that sometimes you can look down from the hotel which starts on the 5th floor of the building and its full of people and other times you look down and its empty.

My friend and I decided to walk around a little more. Quickly we saw the city come to life as we sat outside at a mexican restaurant drinking margaritas in the summer’s heat. At that point, both of us were in love with the city. We had an amazing night out on the town because of the suggestions they gave us at the hotel as well as free passes to come clubs in the area.

The next morning, we went to the Bechtler Modern Art Museum constructed by Botta, a Swiss architect. I think they should just call it the Swiss Modern Art Museum because there was mainly Swiss artists in there. Next we went next door to the Mint Museum that you can see in the background in the photo of the Giacometti statue.

After we took a short walk through the Common Market where all of my fellow would-be Brooklynites if they were in Brooklyn can be seen hanging out in front of a boutique called Niche, American Apparel and a great place called Black Sheep.

I love Charlotte and I’m glad we went. As I said, neither of us knew what to expect and I think it’s safe to say that Charlotte took us by storm.

Here is a restaurant where there aren’t any refurbished materials. Everything is new and although those are designer chairs, I am under the impression that this place will not wear as well as a place with more durable materials that are flattered when they take a bit of abuse or dirt such as wood.

I would go here in two seconds but after a while, I might not go back because it will quickly degrade with use.

This is by far my favorite restaurant. It is a French style villa on 3 acres of sculpture grounds. There are peacocks roaming the grounds and the food is rated in the top 3% of the country by zagat. They are so good in fact, that the year after I was married there (divorced a year later) the chef who catered my meal and worked there as head chef won America’s Next Top Chef.

Even if it isn’t a special occasion, the decor and food give you the high class experience. This is not an advertisement for you to go there. This is, however, telling you how much I love how they reclaimed wood from a barn in upstate New York that was being town down. In the photo of the stairs, you can see just how thick the wood is. Love it here.

In keeping with restaurants, I was wondering what everyone thought on this. Would you rather go to a restaurant that was plastic-y, brightly colored and brand spanking new or would you rather go to one that is equally as new but has refurbished wood and other materials that have some history to them as well as being sustainable?

A large part of my education was centered around sustainable design. Also, I’m a big nerd. I love being a nerd and I love when objects have history to tell. An object which can tell me it’s history is much more important in my mind that a new flashy bright object which will probably wear terribly.

One of my favorite restaurants is called Rat’s and is located on 3 acres of sculpture ground. The bones of the building as well as the interior stairs, bar top and some other structural aspects were created from a barn that was located in upstate New York.

I should have added those photos on second thought but I will save them for later. Instead there is this beautiful project that uses refurbished materials and is located in an airport. I wish it were in JFK.

I’ve mentioned earlier that I’d gone to an antiques market and left with a camera. Well, I went back and left with a desk, a crate and a fan.

I’ve mentioned earlier that I’d gone to an antiques market and left with a camera. Well, I went back and left with a desk, a crate and a fan.

As a follow up to yesterday’s post about over-lit restaurants, I’m posting this food-hall because I love it. The design is just beautiful- the lights are innovative and I am a huge fan of concrete and wood. Of course this can make and high-occupancy area very loud. I think, however, that the majority of the noise would be concentrated because of the coffer ceiling.

I also think another problem could be due to something that I love- those lights. There are a whole lotta lights going on in there. I would love to see this place in person to know exactly how this looks at night. If the wattage isn’t too high, then it could be a nice glow. Or it could be terrible. I think it will be a glow.

I went out to eat with my Father last night- we had Chinese food at his favorite place. Although the food is good (and clean), well after night had fallen, you could still see clearly under the tables. It was so bright, in fact, that you could clearly see everything. Which is fine because you want to know what you’re about to consume but there is a fine line of being well lit and being so well let that you can see the dropped food under the table.

The reason I enjoy a more dimly lit experience is because I do not want to be distracted from the people sitting in front of me. Restaurants can, at times, be extremely crowded and noisy- especially in New York. Because of this, if you are in a well-lit restaurant, not only do you see all the imperfections on the wall, scratches in the wood but you can also see everyone around you. You can easily be distracted by other people or a poorly covered-up hole in the wall. If you see someone glance over at another side of the room, you look too.

This can be bad news when you’re out with your parents or friends because it looks as if you don’t care that they are sitting right across from you and you are more interested in other things going on around you.

Having more focused lighting helps you to to be more focused also. It can make a restaurant direct your gaze on things that are more important such as a beautiful wooden focal wall, a collection of wine bottles, a statue, etc instead of the man or woman across the room with the noisy children and horrible t-shirt.

As I am becoming more and more involved in this blog, I think I should mention to those of you who are following it, that I am an Interior Designer. It is important, when hearing the title Interior Designer, that you not think that I fluff pillows or get the name confused with “Decorator”. I will pick out your curtains whether you be an office, restaurant, hotel or home only after I am done demolishing existing walls, changing them around to give you your best possible space.

This means that I am a builder. I know how things are put together and I know how to draw details. I personally know how to use power tools and have built my own apartment.

Before I continue with this blog, I hope that you are all here to see beautiful design, not just nice interiors of someone’s apartment that they’d gone thrift-shopping for. I am a structural person and even while in school, I was much more interested in structure than soft surfaces such as fabrics and treatments whether they be wall or window or floor, etc.

The reason I chose Interior Design over Architecture was due to my belief that we already have so many buildings- some completely unused. I wanted to take those existing buildings and pump fresh life into them. I’m going to get my masters in architecture sometime in the next year, getting ready for the GMAT soon because 6 years wasn’t enough. Wish me luck!

This week is all about outside of the home and how those spaces can relate to your own.

Today is hotels. I am an avid traveler- I have been to more places than most 26 year olds. Under my belt, I have five of seven continents, I’d learned to walk in Canada, my first words were uttered in Mexico and I’d gone to summer camp in Iceland. No need to mention that I’ve been very fortunate with my travel experience, but because of it, I understand how hard it is being away from home.

When you are abroad for a week, a month, even a few days, you miss your small comforts like your personal items at home. Many times, you get to a hotel that is completely impersonal and often make you feel like you’d rather be anywhere but in your room. There can be an especially fine-line when it comes to ultra-minimalist rooms. I understand and fully agree with the idea of less being more some sometimes less is just less.

With the two rooms above, I think I can guess which hotel room would be more of a comfort to stay in..for anyone. As an interior designer and traveler, I feel that hotels should be your temporary home away from home. Something that allows you to come in and make believe you are someone else for the time being. That, even on a small budget, you feel like you’re first class. Whenever I get a job..I promise to those weary travelers that I will do my best.

One of the things I hate when shopping is how cluttered some stores can be. There is just so much product that it’s a sensory overload. However, this has never stopped me from buying as many clothes as possible. I even have so many shoes that I can pile them up, one on top of the other, reach my ten foot high ceiling, and then pile them up halfway again (I’ve tried).

Yesterday I went out shopping with a friend and once again found myself buying something that I don’t need because I loved it. While walking around, I was thinking that there must be way more creative and clean ways to display the clothing. So today, here are some examples that I love. Not only are they clean ways to display, but they are also cheap solutions. These solutions could also work in your home. For example, buying plumbing pipes and two flanges at home depot gives you a clothing rack. Going to your local wine store and asking for crates can give you boxes to put your shoes/clothing inside of and stack up.

Before interior design, I was a fine arts major…for many years. When I made the decision to go into the design field, I kept a lot of the principles from fine arts and applied them to work. During my painting class with Farrel Brickhouse who is an amazing artist, he made comment about how a good painting directs your eye around the canvas. In the photos posted above, I want you to notice the frames. Note how with the thickness of the frame and their position keeps the viewer engaged and moving around the wall.

All good design should have that principle. Your eye shouldn’t focus on one chair, one wall one whatever. Instead there should be an engaging dialogue with all of the objects in a room. They should speak to each other and keep your eyes moving around much like these frames do on the wall.

Recently I’ve had this problem where all of the books I’ve collected are haphazardly thrown next to my book shelf, on top of it, and layered book in front of book because I don’t have any more room for them. I decided to make a complete purge of over half of the books I own because that corner of my room felt incredibly dark and heavy.

That got me on the track of looking for ways to display books that don’t make a room feel weighted. When you are doing any kind of design- interior, architecture, urban planning, it doesn’t matter- you have to make sure that there is a balance to your project. For example, if you were doing a commercial project you would never put all of the desks on top of each other on one side of the room. Instead, you’d spread them out to create a balanced feel. Not only does it look better on paper but in real practice, people feel better in balanced spaces.

Point of the story: give your books some room to breathe.

When I first moved to New York, I moved into a loft. Not just any loft but a loft that didn’t exist yet- it was only the envelope of a building. The landlord made a deal with the tenants that he would allow you to not pay rent for three months while you build your apartment. So for three months, a friend and I labored away on our place. By the end we were running out of money. We had built walls to mark our space, added two doors, built a loft area with stairs and a close space with two rooms underneath the loft.

We were still tackling the kitchen when we realized we couldn’t afford to buy cabinets. Instead, we bought shelving or even made some shelves to pile our dishes on top of. This can be kind of tricky at times because they have to be neatly stacked or at least displayed in an artful way that doesn’t look too crowded or cluttered. Here are some ideas if you’re having some storage issues. Think of them as wall art.

One Year

About:

Interior Designer & Fine Artist Jamie Lynn Genevieve

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