What to do with a suburban deck to make it more urban

No, you don't need cars rushing by or neighbors talking to you across their fence to make a place more urban. Let's go with something even MORE fun!!

I just married a wonderful man who lives in Palatine and yes, I moved in with him. With this economy you can't exactly sell anything! So, we're renting out my condo. You'd think "How exciting! A new place to use my talents as an Interior Designer!". Well, true, but Craig has his own ideas!! I really want to redo his master bath shower because I'm pretty sure it's only 2.5' x 2.5' and needs to be bigger. I can't shave my legs... But, let's not TMI this thing to death!

I did get Craig to tell me that his sitting room furniture isn't something he feels "married" to. Today, I'm sitting here, in my running clothes since 8am and still haven't gone running. However - I did think of some great ideas for the deck and the sitting room (yes the two spaces are related in this case!) as I looked out the kitchen window at my laptop blogging....

Okay - so Craig has this great big deck! And he recently got it rebuilt and stained (I know - I helped him stain it) and just in time for the wedding, I might tell you. And the party he had the night before the wedding. Which by the way, ended up being WAY more fun and important than I originally thought. Our family and friends were able to sit and enjoy each other and meet the other side in a casual setting. Craig is a smart guy... I digress.

I've been wanting to put a cool low table with cushions around it outside the sliding deck doors. This will allow it to still look like a nice big deck and have a way to utilize this portion. However, it was utilized quite well when we had 100 people at the party! And it will be great for being able to look out side the sliding doors or kitchen windows and see across the yard.

I have been wondering where I was going to get this table when I remembered today that the coffee table in his living room would be the perfect size! It is plywood that has a finish that makes it look like stone. Here's a picture of the coffee table:

Sans the silk flowers.

Come on! Don't you agree how cool this could be? I can use my stone 3x3 coasters here.

Next, Craig has this sofa table that matches this coffee table. I am going to set it against the house wall between the sliding doors and the kitchen bay windows in this spot...



I would like to put the mirror to the right of the kitchen bay window here. The sofa table is to the left of this bay window. I'd love to switch these but the meter man would not be too happy with having to get under the sofa table to check the meters. Don't wanna anger the meter man.

I did it! I need Craig to install the mirror, but here's what it looks like until he does....

NOW, for the gazebo. This is an awesome space for us because we can sit there even when raining. Craig grills there when it's raining or snowing since it is sheltered by the cedar roof. Inspired by a Chicago Porch I saw last week or so, I would like to enhance it using cheap sheer curtains from KMart or such a place.

Here is my inspiration - a Chicago Porch in Wrigleyville; The gazebo in Palatine will look so romantic:

More pictures when I get this more complete and accessorized. For now, it's a work in progress!!

We are Finalists in Lightology Contest!!!

I got married on July 11! But more about that later. Right now, I want to talk about a contest my business partner, Jasmin Marie and I entered at Lightology in Chicago, IL.

The contest challenged designers to create a way to use Lightology's LED soft strips in a new and unique way. The final designs were due June 30, 2010.

Jasmine works full time, we are working on our own company, Cadmium Interiors and, well, you know what I was doing those last two weeks before my wedding. Additionally, I am an assistant to Alison Gramenos of Alison Victoria Interiors and had some various projects to work on. Imagine we were a bit frantic to get this design completed!

Jasmine and I met at Trump's lounge to be inspired and to work on our design idea. Jasmine thought of doing garden furniture, but had found some out there in the format she was thinking. So, we brainstormed together about how we could change our idea. We went through a few different iterations and looked at various ideas online to continue to feed our creativity. We came up with a way to possibly reuse or build a wooden chair, encase it in a museum like box made of Lucite or some such clear plastic and create a floating effect using the LED strips on the bottom side of the wooden chair being encased. We had a hard time agreeing on a name of the design.

We made a Sketchup model, with three different views. Jasmine did a CAD drawing of the front view of the object and then had to leave for Boston for a wedding! I continued to work on the pictures and filled out the entry form which requested specifications of the object and construction strategy. Jasmine gave me freedom to change the name from Klismos. I chose Hortus Sculptura Chair as this shows that it is a garden chair and is much like a museum piece to be displayed but also functional. This chair was functional to be used outside, create a soft romantic light for evening use and display a nice chair. I submitted the entry the afternoon that it was due.

On July 7, we anxiously awaited news of the contest results and finally, I got the call - we were one of 16 finalists in the contest. NOW, comes the hard part - getting it fabricated by the end of August so that it can be viewed and hopefully picked as the best of the bunch!!! We are trying to find someone to fabricate the case. It's complicated because we would like the back and seat to be contoured but this requires a mold and thus very expensive. We may have to go with a straight back and seat. The end result is judged on how close it is to the original design, so we would rather go with a contour.

I will keep you posted on how this goes...

Cradle to Cradle and a talk by Ray Anderson (Anderson School of Management)

Hi everyone!!! Happy Winter!

I am in the LinkedIn Group of Green Design Pros. There are always some interesting ideas posted. Today, Kevin O'Donnell posted a summary of his Green Design class at UCLA. The summary is viewable at
http://threadcollaborative.com/threadpost/2010/01/uclax-class-3/

The first half of the class is about the makeup of the book Cradle to Cradle which the students diss. I actually think it's cool that the book is so durable that I can carry it everywhere and not worry about it getting too messed up. Also, it's supposedly cradle to cradle in itself. The making of it and the polymers it is made of can be separated and all used again. The students dissed that the authors didn't explain HOW and what polymers were used. I say - if you're that interested, write them and I bet they'll tell you. As it is, the book is too long and cumbersome/rambling.

The second half of the class is about a talk given by Ray Anderson and how we should go about leaving a smaller carbon footprint. Supposedly, his company is following their own advice which I will look into further to see how.

One thing I thought was interesting about the talk was that technology keeps growing and making it harder to be green and leave a smaller footprint. The desire for affluence is making technology grow without concern for the environment. The desire for affluence is based on the fact that people think it creates happiness. Mr. Anderson suggests we need to alter this view and show that affluence in and of itself does not create happiness. My thought is - how do you change that perception? We all think it. We all need money to get what we want and need. And the more you have, the less you have to worry. Or do you think that you have to worry about different things once you have more money? Like how to manage it. How not to lose it.

Thoughts?