Design Sketches

A Neoclassical Foyer Fantasy

July 10th, 2011 No Comments

Working on these two French style interiors got me thinking about another project Sally and I worked on several years ago that was never built because of the economy . The other day I pulled out a series of idea sketches of the main foyer I had done to see if they might be useful or provide inspiration. I always had it in my head that this foyer needed a very special chandelier. Well, I found it! I couldn’t resisit quickly pulling together a fantasy foyer around the chandelier.

To give the foyer context, these are front and rear elevations of the house - a happy mishmash of different styles and periods that end up saying Mediterranean Villa to me, although Hollywood Regency may be more appropriate term.

Foyer plan and elevation idea sketches. It’s funny how I now see design elements in these sketches that I immediately want to change…

So, the stage is set. The chandelier is solid rock crystal and is available at Antiques on 5, a wonderful showroom at the Boston Design Center.

Maybe these Niermann Weeks sconces on the walls…

The foyer floor would be black and white marble with a black marble border. Stair hand rail and ballustrades in bronze or black with brass highlites and topcap on the rail. Minimally furnished, all black with gold highlites. This is all about the chandelier…

Thoughts on furniture… Maybe this Burton-Ching table as the center table. Burton-Ching is available locally through M-Geough, at the Boston Design Center.

And this Dennis & Leen ribbon back chair at each front window. Dennis & Leen is available locally through Webster & Company at the Boton Design Center.

Or maybe a pair of antique urns.

Let me know if you enjoyed my Fantasy Foyer. I had fun pulling it together and I’ve gotten several great ideas for the foyers in one of our new projects.

Cheers,

Interior Design Show – Sneak Peek!

April 15th, 2011 3 Comments

Four (4!) weeks from today, John and I will be at a Gala Party celebrating the opening of the North Shore Design Show, benefiting the Wenham Museum, in Wenham, MA. Between now and then we will be hard at work making this mini-showhouse come together, flawlessly. We thought we would give our adoring public a sneak preview, and of course, invite you all to come to the show!

: Our design sketch for dining area

Our concept this year will be a dining area. We are allotted a very small space, but our goal is to make it look like a real room. Where did our concept begin? It’s funny, but it began with a film. We watched “Julie and Julia” over and over again. We loved it – the people, the scenery, the fact that I had real-life conversations with Julia Child, (one of my Life Goals) and the realization (by John, our family psychologist) that the film was about how food connects people. It gives the opportunity for connection – or should I say, it is used at important times of connection? Celebrations and important markers in our lives, as well as our daily interactions. Therefore, we wanted to create a very special room, one that would encourage more entertaining, more connections.

Thus, our special dining area. It’s meant to invite you to come, invite you to stay, invite you to cement friendships.

Our sketch for Dining Room Wall 2

Because in life, it’s the love that counts. It’s the friendships you gather that are more important than the money you gather. So . . . GATHER, in a great dining room. Designed by us, of course.

A Kitchen Design Competition Proposal

March 31st, 2011 No Comments

Last fall Sally and I submitted a kitchen design for a design competition. It was quite a challenge as the kitchen needed to fulfill two functions – that of a functional kitchen on a day-to-day basis for a stone and marble supply/fabrication business as well as a demo/learning kitchen, where a chef could present cooking seminars to the public. Layered on top of those requirements was the requirement to show off the businesses product and capabilities, which was it’s fabrication capabilities. We KNEW that we had a design that would win! Sally and I were ready for our trip to Italy!!!! Sadly, the business closed its doors. And we will never know… We loved working with these guys. We were stunned, shocked and deeply saddened we heard the news. Our hopes and prayers are with them and that they will rise like a phoenix from the ashes.

As a way to honor and thank them for their years of support, Sally and I thought it would it appropriate to share our design submittal with you. The idea was simple. Set the kitchen (all Black Zimbabwee Granite) within the context of a quarry of White Carrara marble. (book and balance matched slabs on the floor and walls). They had developed a cool process where one could apply a stone veneer to an aluminum honeycomb substrate, which I had proposed for the drawer and cabinet door fronts, creating stone faced cabinetwork. They also worked with fused glass, which we proposed for most all the countertops, and we designed a cool bench, combining their stone and glass fabrication capabilities.

I have since dreamt that the kitchen design would fit wonderfully in to a penthouse on the top of a high rise building – one with a two story space overlooking some wonderfully long vista where there was nothing between you and Portugal, except the Atlantic Ocean and your imagination.

Any takers out there?