SIMPLICITY (AKA the IKEA RED KITCHEN)

For a lot of us, this is a life goal:  to achieve a balanced, simple, uncluttered existence.  It can be a challenge in today's society!  But you can accomplish this in your surroundings.  Whether your interior is contemporary or traditional, or anywhere in between, you can eliminate clutter, live with what means the most to you, and let go of the rest.

I have been very blessed to work with Doug to help him attain this harmony in his San Francisco apartment.  Stillness is sacred.  You feel that when you enter Doug's space. 

We are not quite finished yet, but I was out in San Francisco at Thanksgiving so I took these photos.  We'll update in a few more months, after our silk TAI PING rug arrives from China, and after we install our solar shades and dimmers.

But for now, here's an abbreviated tour of Doug's renovated apartment, with my comments on Interior Design as Art......

Doug and I share a passion for original art and 20th century furniture classics, and that has made this project one of my all-time favorites.  Doug's friend Susan Tibbles is the artist for this set of mixed media assemblages from her "Swank Box Series."  The shadow boxes were originally from the Swank Jewelry company, where they were used to store various components in the manufacture of their jewelry.  Each of the boxes is filled with a melange of fascinating miniature vintage finds, and each box has an individual title by the artist.  Once you begin exploring them, it's hard to tear yourself away!  (For a closer look, see the enlargement below - and to magnify it even further - increase the zoom level on your monitor.)

Tibbles' work embodies "a sense of wit and political consciousness," and she has "a unique ability for assigning dual meanings to commonplace objects" (quoted from Gallery Ocho, Santa Barbara).

Here's the closeup:

                                                             "SWANK BOX SERIES"   by Susan Tibbles

To learn more about Susan Tibbles and her unique work as an artist, as well as her extensive work as an illustrator for the L.A. Times Opinion Page, visit her website at

http://www.susantibbles.com/

Contemporary art is all about juxtaposition.  Elements of line, form, color and texture are combined by the artist to create a unique work.  Sometimes the artist has a particular objective in his work - a social or political statement.  Sometimes the intention is simply to engage or delight the viewer.

Doug's apartment is a wellspring of juxtaposition.  One might think that this would cause clutter, but when properly edited, it creates just the right amount of tension to keep you thoroughly engaged. 

                  

Take, for example, this classic TRAVE table, with its simple glass candle ornaments on top.  This is Doug's doing - his canvas.  I've loved working with him because he has such a wonderful sensitivity for balance.  Look at the angles in the table base - so beautifully and simply counterpoised by the 3 glass spheres.  And the one blue sphere picks up the blue light in the stainless LED wall switch nearby (see photo below). 

This composition of the dining table is Doug's self-expression.  My "artist role" as editor is to be sure it is in harmony with everything else in the space.  My "techician role" as interior designer is to be sure that everything in the space conforms to health, safety and building standards, and to provide sources for the products needed to accomplish this.

SWANK BOXES by Susan Tibbles,  Stainless/Blue LED Lutron Lighting Control, TECH LIGHTING round stainless transformer for track lights

From the dining area you peek through to the red Ikea kitchen.  The raised bar hides the cooktop on the other side.  The soapstone counters and Black Empress granite mosaic add elegance, while still maintaining our theme of SIMPLICITY:

Doug's apartment is all about detail.  To make sure that we controlled every detail within our power to control, we worked together for months prior to and during the installation.

To revisit the construction portion of this project and to see the BEFORE pictures, click here:
http://swestdesign.blogspot.com/search/label/san%20francisco%20ikea%20kitchen

The beautiful reflection we get off the polished granite mosaic is a perfect backdrop for Doug's antique Thai bamboo container.  Several hundred years old, and given to Doug by an archaeologist friend, this piece is carved out of a single piece of bamboo, hollowed out inside, and fitted with an interior bamboo tray.  (And the special order Lutron receptacle in black is almost invisible....)  The mosaic technique is 1000s of years old, and much of the earth's granite is PreCambrian - this is another miniature "canvas" of juxtaposition in the apartment.

Take a close look at the center of the above photograph.  Doug's skyline view of San Francisco from the 10th floor of his apartment is reflected in the glass fronts of his Ikea kitchen.  It's magical!!

Also in the dining area is Doug's copy of the iconic Mackintosh Hill House Chair, designed by scottish architect Charles Rennie Macintosh in 1902-1903.   The original still resides in the bedroom of the Hill house in Helensburgh, Scotland, 20 minutes from where Doug used to live when he was working out of Scotland.

Above the Hill House chair hangs a Susan Tibbles work:  "Unzipped"  ......another study in contrasts:  the geometry of the chair is perfectly balanced by the soft curves and wispy feathers in the artwork.

                                                                                 "UNZIPPED"   by  Susan Tibbles

There is also a Tibbles piece in the kitchen - a special gift to Doug - a single long-stemmed rose entitled "Valentine Love Monster":

The luxurious finishes in Doug's space provide worthy surroundings for his beautiful art collection.  Once inside the kitchen, the rich red and black furnishes an elegant backdrop for food preparation.  But it is completely practical.  Soapstone requires no maintenance.

The cabinets run all the way to the ceiling to provide generous storage for things out of sight.

The halogen lighting supplies ample task illumination, and Doug's Wusthof knives are hanging within easy reach of any kitchen task.   

Doug actually uses his kitchen!  He keeps his favorite items right on the counter, and the colors enhance the granite backsplash and the soapstone.

On the opposite side, the oven and cooktop are easily accessible, but out of view from the living/dining area.

*****

I believe that everyone is an artist in some way.  And I approach every project as an artist ready to collaborate with other artists, including (and especially!) you.  My job is to direct you in your self-expression through your interior space.

Collaborating with Doug has been one of the most personally rewarding projects in my career, because his appreciation and embodiment of art has guided every step we have taken.  Doug lives and breathes his art collection, and he loves to share it with visitors.  I am delighted with each phase of this project, as Doug continues to refine and add to his collection.  We'll post the rest of the art when we get the final photography later this year.

To read more about the juxtaposition of old and new in interior spaces, see my website page:

http://swestdesign.com/church1.html

To read more about letting your own individuality be the creative canvas on which you build your interior space, and also how to work with commissioned art, see my page on ava living:

http://avaliving.com/room.php?rid=5613  (When you get to this page, it's counter-intuitive:  DON"T press NEXT under the photo....that will take you to the next featured designer and away from my page.  Instead, scroll down to see all the photos and the story behind this design.)

See you next time!

SAN FRANCISCO KITCHEN - WEEK 2

I'm a Designer.  I NEVER pick anything without seeing all the samples.  This goes for paint colors, fabrics, tile, flooring, EVERYTHING. 

Week 2 brought the selection of the soapstone.  The original soapstone we had selected in 2008 was longer available (probably because everyone heard that Martha Stewart has soapstone in HER kitchen).  So we had to scour around for a slab with minimum veining and deep enough  black color once it was oiled.  Doug found a great company in Roseville:  http://teresinasoapstone.com/    Carrie was very helpful, and sent us photos of the possibilities.  I called her and arranged for samples to be sent to Doug and myself, so we could test the color with the rest of the kitchen samples - the red Ikea door, the black granite mosaic backsplash, and the espresso oak for the Dining Room bank of drawers.  Above is the sample we chose:  Black Minas.

Next, we had to select which slabs we wanted to purchase.  Carrie sent photos again, with the areas marked off in the sizes that we would need.  We completed the purchase and Doug's contractor picked it up in Roseville and began to cut!  For more information on soapstone as a countertop, visit teresina's website.  Doug loves it!

Now for the COLOR!

As you can see in the above photo - the COLOR is starting to emerge in this kitchen!  The red filler strips and the granite mosaic have been installed by Paul, a member of the team at Victory Construction, Inc.  Doug is extremely pleased with this team.  Their website states:  "Based on our deep spiritual and moral belief in the 'golden rule' of treating others with honesty and integrity, we strive to run our business in this manner."  And that is precisely how they operate.  Check them out at http://www.victorybuild.com/

Here's a close-up of the soapstone (not yet oiled) and the granite mosaic.

The whole team at Victory are from the Ukraine (yes, they speak Russian.  Doug is trying to learn some before the project is finished!)  The above photo shows the meticulous attention to detail that Paul puts into his work.  He was a surgeon in the Ukraine, and his beautiful craftsmanship shows it.

This photo shows what the Ikea cabinets look like before the red doors go on.

Here we have the bank of drawers in the Dining Room, with the granite mosaic and the not-yet-oiled soapstone.  You can catch a tiny bit of the espresso trim at the side of the cabinets.

Below:  a photo of the hood that is going to be installed this week.  Stay tuned for more progress soon!

WEEK 1 - Demolition and Building Walls

What a mess!!  This week the contractor took out all the old cabinets and the wall between the kitchen and dining room. Time to start over!  They also assembled all the Ikea cabinets.  Ikea is well built, but you have to assemble them yourselves.  If you don't have experience, then be sure to get a contractor to do that.  The price for an Ikea kitchen is very reasonable, but you have to allow for assembly in your budget.

Here's the wall where the frig goes...note the new dedicated elec box for the frig on the left (no more hanging cord!)....

....the new half wall between the kitchen and dining room.

....the frames for the dining room cabinets in front of the wall.  These cabinets will be a bank of drawers in a beautiful brown-black finish on horizontal oak.   They relate well to the new bathroom cabinet just around the corner.  In the back of this photo you can see the new black frig peaking out from under a canvas drop-cloth.

From inside the kitchen - the view out to the living/dining area.

Inside the kitchen....the center cabinet is for the oven, the 2 side cabinets will be doors and drawers in high gloss RED....Stay tuned for the progress....hopefully we will make new strides this week, and have more to show next week!

RED KITCHENS

 

I ADORE red kitchens!  They have so much life and an expectation of something really COOL just about to happen.  (BTW, it's possible to have a red kitchen and still have it be cool.  Red does not always have to be warm.  However, a red kitchen is never COLD.  How's that for contradictory color theory?  Designers are allowed to do that!)  

My first personal remodel was updating a 1960s modern house to be current for the 80s.  We tore out the old kitchen and put in a modern white German kitchen (by Alno).  The walls were - you guessed it! - RED.  I cut my teeth on that project:  I had to layout the design in centimeters!  And my husband and I did all the installation ourselves. But that's a blot post for another day....Moving on with Doug's kitchen:

I had seen this red kitchen from Ikea on line and loved it, and I had read in shelter magazines about architects that were using Ikea for their own NYC apartment remodels.  If architects were using it, the quality would probably be OK.  And the price was right:  for an apartment, we didn't want to spend all our budget on Italian cabinets...there had to be some money left for art, since that is Doug's passion.

Doug and I visited the Ikea showroom in Palo Alto to check out the quality, and decided to go with it.  We started this project in 2007, long before I got my new Interior Design software, so I used Ikea's software to lay out the floor plan, import the cabinets and do the elevations.

The design developed as we went along, as design so often does!  The original design was for the microwave to be hidden behind doors, but Doug wanted to consider ease of access, so I laid out this elevation (above), showing the new black frig and dishwasher, with the existing microwave installed in an open cabinet. Neither of us liked this, so we went back to the original, with the microwave behind the doors.

This sketch is hand drawn onto the Ikea wall elevation of the back wall of the kitchen.  It shows the view from the Dining Room, with the new hood vent, the Dining Room drawers from Ikea, granite mosaic backsplash, and soapstone counters.  Doug loves soapstone - he had it in his Santa Barbara house and is hooked on soapstone!

This elevation is a study I did for Doug about hanging his new Wusthof knives on a magnetic knife rail on the granite mosaic backsplash.  I imported the Ikea elevation into my new software and imported the picture of the Wusthof knives from the internet, and correctly scaled it to see if it would fit properly.  We're going with it!   Stay tuned for tomorrow's post: Week 1- Demolition and Wall Construction....

SAN FRANCISCO KITCHEN REMODEL - BEFORE Pictures

REMEMBER THIS VIEW?
We are finally nearing completion of this very fun apartment remodel in San Francisco.  To get a little background on the project and to see the first 2 posts on the bathroom remodel, go to the label column on the lower right and click on "Bachelor". 

When I first arrived in San Francisco to help my client with this project (2007!  ...There have been some delays, but those of you who know Doug know that it's not his fault!), this was what I saw:

A VERY small closed-off kitchen.  With the 10-story view to my back, this boxy cave to the front definitely didn't live up to its potential.

Inside the cave, the suspended microwave with exposed electrical connections for the microwave and frig made this apartment look like it was located in a different part of the city than Pacific Heights!  Also, all the finish materials were completely utilitarian - like a kitchen galley in an office building.

So we began to develop a design concept that would open up this space and add some luxurious finishes.  You can see in the photo above that we experimented with red for the kitchen color:  there is a red napkin taped to the frig, with a piece of aluminum foil, to give us an idea of the balance of red and stainless.  There is a paint color fan deck on the table opened to red colors.  (Click on any of the photos to enlarge.) 

Guess what!!!  We decided on RED.  Check out the next post to see how the design progressed, and to see the pictures from WEEK 1 of demolition. 

RENOVATION IN ANDERSON HEIGHTS

BEGINNING WITH THE DRAPERIES, ART AND RUGS.....



These clients own a wonderful home in Anderson Heights in Raleigh, not far from Five Points. They have lived there for years, and love the neighborhood so much, that they decided to stay where they were and renovate. We are still working on the final touches, but I wanted to get this much up on my blog, so the rest of you could see what fun we have been having with our art collection and custom rugs. The picture below is the BEFORE for the Dining Room, and below that is the empty Music Room, which they added during the renovation.

BEFORE

When I first saw this Music Room, I envisioned it as an art gallery. There aren't many walls, but with proper selection of original art and custom area rugs, we could make this room a peaceful yet dynamic experience.

After we designed the draperies (see below for full details), we began the search for some original art. I had seen the work of Scott Upton at Flanders Art Gallery a year before, and had recommended that my clients take a trip to the gallery to see his work. When they did, they were captivated!! We tried several different pieces for this space, and when this blue one went up, my clients were sold. So we began our color scheme with this work. We have since added some additional pieces on the other walls, and they will show up in a later blog post. Flanders has been great to work with!

The design for the rugs in these rooms had to begin with the Music Room. It was critical to choose a color combination that enhanced the Scott Upton, as well as flowed with the rest of the downstairs. And it needed to be simple enough not to detract from the painting, but still have enough detail to be interesting and balance with the rest of the traditional decor in the home. The colors turned out perfect in the space. These jpegs don't do it justice, so if you would like to see the rooms in person, I am sure my clients would be happy to give you "the tour"!

Once we arrived at the right rug for the music room, the challenge was to come up with a design for the adjoining Dining Room space, which is just a few feet away and completely visible from the Music Room. We explored many possibilities, and eventually chose a design that is actually a continuation of the border scrolls in the Music Room. But in this rug we used a plain double border, and let the scrolls dominate in the middle.

This is a close-up of the Dining Room rug, with the Music Room in the background. Both rugs use only 2 colors each, and they are the same colors. But the Music Room field is tip sheared, which makes it look like a third color (while keeping the price down!)

We did a lot of analyzing of color poms to get the right results in these rooms. The Music Room is very sunny, while the Dining Room light varies. We wanted to be sure that the results would be pleasing at all times, both day and night. We are thrilled with the final product!

CLOSE-UP OF CUSTOM LINEN DRAPERIES: I had a close-up here but I accidentally deleted it after I had completed all the rest of the layout. And since I am a designer, and not a webmaster, I give up! I'll post a close-up later on, but you can read about it here:

We chose to wrap the exterior of the room with these linen panels, to improve the acoustics for the piano. I designed a simple pleated panel with horizontal tucks at the top and the bottom. The sheers are fully operable, to provide protection from the direct sun in the morning.

Below are the renderings of our final selections for our custom rugs. After we chose the styles we were interested in, and the wool colors, we had renderings made of each possiblility. There was no charge for these renderings, and we explored at least 20 possibilities. We narrowed it down to these 2, and ordered custom strike-offs (24 x 24 inch corner samples), to be sure that they were perfect in the rooms. We were very happy with our choices, and then ordered the full size rugs. Davis and Davis Rugs has been wonderful to work with. There are hundreds of designs to choose from, and I can render all the standard designs myself with software on my laptop. There are over 120 wool colors, and I have the samples. When we want something that is not standard, they are so helpful, and they will render whatever you want done.

ALSO: they do WALL-TO-WALL carpeting, and have many beautiful designs that they can customize in your choice of colors.

Stay tuned for a continuation of this Project!

As we wrap up the details, and the photos are taken,

I will be posting it!!