DIY Project: Marriage and Moving into New Husband's Home

I moved into my husband's home last year and I'm still reeling from the amount of work that is needed. You know how you live in your space and keep thinking you'll do that someday. And then all of a sudden, it's been a few years or maybe 10! In this blog, I'm talking about the work I will be doing to create a better kitchen on a budget (keyword here: budget!)

Project #2: Wallpaper and Paint

We got the 80s wallpaper off the walls. But, now for the not-so-fun part of getting all the glue off and readying it for paint. I need to go over it with Diff and scrape all the walls to get the glue off. Then, wash it. sigh. After that, painting will be easy right? Well, I forgot to mention that we will be painting the whole first floor: Dining Room, Family Room, Foyer (two stories) and the Living Room turned My Office. I'll be picking a palette that will work for all the spaces.

(Project #1: we already replaced the tile in the kitchen and we let someone else do it.)

Project #3 Cabinetry

Project #3 was going to be just replacing hardware on the cabinets.
However, they are what I call country hick style.
We don't really want to spend a lot of money on cabinetry.
I am hearing good things about IKEA. I'll go look at those.
(shhh. Craig HATES IKEA!)

Project #4: Corian Counters - what to do with them

I really hate the yellowed taupy corian counters.
I just read in Frank Fontana's DIY article that you can paint a faux concrete over it!
I wonder if I can then hone it so it's smooth concrete!!

Project #5: Builtin Window Seat

Project #5 will be fun but I really need to get working on it now - a window seat so that we can actually use our dining chairs and the kitties can have their own seat for "watching TV" (that's what my husband Craig calls the cats looking outside through the windows). Think I can find a fabric that the kitties like without collecting fur?

Don't worry, we are replacing the table and chairs with mine,
antiques from my late Auntie's house.

Project #6: Eliminate extra furniture - More Builtins

Project #6 requires talking my husband into getting rid of country style tables and desks that just take up room. The guy actually has good taste in furniture and clothes. But, sometimes his wallet talks louder than his sense of style. He bought these cheap or got them free. Let's build those in as well! An added problem here is trying to find a way to store all this "STUFF". You know you can take the stuff away from the guy but the guy keeps collecting stuff. (Okay I'm probably part of this problem)

Project #7: Lighting

Replace old outdated light fixtures.
I'll go with Brushed Nickel.
The whole house needs it so I'd like to do that all at once.

Project #8: Style

Shelving and add my touch to the kitchen.
I am from Moline so I'm bringing a Farm Theme to the
kitchen. You know - John Deere, Corn Fields.
I love the beauty of a farm and all the hard work it represents.

I will update you all on how these projects go.
As I go, I will communicate thought process and DIY tips.

Create a Dynamic Collage

COLLAGE

Have you ever thought of creating a collage of images for one of your walls? It's a new trend. The pieces do not have to be of the same artist, or same medium. In fact, it makes it so interesting to have an eclectic collection in a grouping. I was planting my spring flowers today and realized that creating an interesting planter is like creating a collage of pictures. Here are some tips for creating a collage in which every piece is enjoyed by the viewer.

1) Determine a focal point (probably the largest piece with possibly the most intense color and/or texture) and place it just off-center. A focal point is the main part of the collage, the place your eye tends to rest when looking at a grouping of some sort. Your art focal point could be something as simple as a family portrait that you want to display in an interesting way. Something like this colorful, variegated plant works :






2) Then choose other pieces (as you do flowers) of different textures and coordinating colors and heights to place around the focal point. Choose contrasting colors, white, textures such as smooth, rough, fuzzy, etc. These pieces could be part of a theme or not have any connection at all except that they look good together. Or perhaps, in this case, the rest of the collage are items that remind you of that picnic where the portrait was taken. Keep in mind the space in which this collage will go. Just as you choose flowers that might only flourish in sun, the collage must take into account the formality of the room, How much wall space you have, the kind of light that might bounce off each piece and the colors of the walls and furniture.

3) Do not try to be symmetrical because then your eye doesn't know where to go. You want the viewer's eye to move around the whole collection in the collage.








4) The viewer's eye should begin at the focal point, such as this shamrock-like purple plant. .










It could then move to a bright or white piece, such as this white fern.











Down to a textural piece such as this squiggly plant. Texture in art can be in the medium, or in the picture itself. It could mean a shiny photo, a thickly gessod painting or a spotted animal photo. It could even be a fabric.





Finally, over to a long tall piece or white or colorful plants that lead the eye back up to the focal point. Your Art collage might have a tall thin image on one side. Or perhaps it's an image that has a dark bold line that draws the eye up.


All along the way, the viewer's eye will move over fillers such as very small flowers or grasses. This is true of art as well. You could add a textured tile for color and texture. Use fabric or abstract images.



Here is my finale:












Here is an image I found on Design Formula blog. In this case, the focal point is the group of candlesticks sitting on a table in front of the wall. From there, my eye goes to the long horizontal picture on the left because of the whites and textures of the animal pictures. My eye moves up to the longish picture because of the white and shadows. Next I look to the right to see the tree with the sunrise or sunset, seeing the smaller fillers in between. Finally, I go down to the largest picture in the grouping which is just continuing the palette but is large so I go there. The texture of the pouf in front of the furniture and the colors within the room make this collage work. You see textures in the animals and then the smoothness in other photos because of the way the colors blend together.

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?

Homeless Need Hugs Too!

Homeless and the Design

Have you ever wondered how the homeless elderly, these frail people, can survive in severe weather like we have in Chicago? Yet, we see them everywhere. Today, I'm discussing what I learned while researching elderly and homeless in an effort to resolve some issues they face. I really enjoy my mother's company and have learned much about how she feels in the world around her as she tries to exercise on cracked sidewalks and make dinner for one. I know that she feels like she is the same person she was 30 years ago, 50 years ago! Designing a refuge for homeless elderly was important to me because of my desire to bring dignity and family back to the elderly, whether homeless or not. We need to take care of those who provided for us for so many years.

There are some centers that teach people how to cook and to participate in their food-making. There are exercise health initiatives as well. My idea is to create a day haven for seniors to come to take cooking classes and partake in healthy exercise. Don't you feel great when you take charge of something in your life and make it better? Additionally, this center would provide GED classes, computers for connecting with the world, job search and socialization in a safe environment. Shuttles would provide rides to and from the shelters or other spots to the center. Maybe we could get community involvement by requesting help from neighborhood seniors who know what seniors go through as they age.

The Design Issues

Seniors see some colors better than others. Yellow, reds and oranges are best. When designing a space for elderly, you should know that many elderly are timid at first when approaching a new place. Socializing in small groups is most common until they get to know others. Timidity is prevalent in elderly who have become frail and are afraid of falling, of getting knocked over by a larger person or someone trying to take their money or hurt them. Spaces need to provide enough space for wheelchairs and walkers. Three feet wide walking spaces are minimum. Turning at a corner in a wheelchair takes more space. Bathrooms must provide enough space for a wheelchair to turn in angles so they can back up to the toilet. Foot space around counters must be high enough in the bathrooms and at reception and desk areas to allow for wheelchairs to roll under and not hit their knees or toes on edges. Counter tops should be around 29-30 inches for wheelchair access. In Illinois, it is law that at least one public bathroom must provide access for wheelchairs.

HUG
The space I designed is called HUG, Human Urban Group Homeless Resource Center. I designed the ground floor of a 2-storey building dedicated to the homeless. I created spaces that curve toward the individual as he/she enters the center, much like outstretched arms. The concept is to create a space where elderly feel at home to relax and feel welcomed and hugged.

I use warm colors that elderly can see well. Wall and furniture shapes are curved and soft.

The glass wall behind the reception desk contains the image from a vintage wallpaper design. This design shows the palette of orange, gold and reddish brown used throughout the center.

A resin arch hanging above the reception desk refers to the home of yesterday where the arch was used between living areas as a welcoming door. Glass and resin are used everywhere to create a lightness and airiness and to provide ability to monitor activities in all areas. Additionally, the homeless like to see everything that is going on around them and not feel trapped and closed in.

The floors throughout the center is a terrazzo found in many high schools and government buildings. Terrazzo is a flooring that is poured. It is made of chips of marble or other aggregates and concrete or resin. It is very resistent to wear and tear yet has the ability to create useful and interesting designs.

Other areas of interest are computer areas, a classroom, Staff offices, Assessment stations in the reception area and a break room.

An informational wall that is useful for the staff and the clientele to share information on community, news, classes and other items. The ledges encircling the column provides a place to take notes on activities as well as another area to gather and discuss. The lower ledge is the correct height for wheelchair access.

I'd like to design the second floor into an area for cooking classes, exercise and other challenges to be solved for the elderly homeless.

I hope you learned something from me today!!

Introduction to Kristin Taghon, Founder of TAG You're Designing!!

Hi!

Everyone's blogging! I have something to say too! I would love to talk about design, sharing tips and ideas and maybe even get some feedback on my ideas and designs.

My background? I am an artist. I took photography at the School of Museum of Fine Arts. Then, took drawing at the Art Institute of Chicago. I take drawing and oil painting classes every once in a while at Palette and Chisel (an artist coop) and Lill Street Gallery (another more formal version of Palette and Chisel which started out with ceramics but has branched out into other arts).

Now, I am finishing up my Associates in Applied Arts in Interior Design. I had no idea how much I would love designing spaces! It's more than decorating a space. It's also about creating the space, changing walls, lighting and really thinking about the function, ambience and safety issues.

Next week, I foray into the world of architecture when I go to the Passive House Conference in Champaign, IL. This is a new way of creating houses that use hardly any energy! Yes, it's possible and there are houses out there to show us! I will be spending two days in seminars and then a day touring houses that use this technology and concepts.

Please feel free to send ideas on what you'd like to read about. And please come back and visit me often!!!