What's better than nibbly things and a glass of vino?

All I have to say is these ladies I met the other night, are genius!  Leah Kuo and Laura Englander created a business called Cookies & Corks, baking the most wonderfully thought out sweet and savory morsels to be paired with different wines.  How brilliantly simple a concept is that?  They are adorable ladies, with a real lucrative future ahead them! 

Check out this box for their Sparkling Wine Pairing Box... It gives you a lovely assortment of yumminess, while giving you all the possible combinations of wine you can pair with it... I mean come on!  I know nothing about what goes with what, but I know I LOVE cookies, and LOVE me some wine, so they just created my new bible... They provide words and scriptures I can read, learn from, and live by...  Love them! Amen!

Pigs, the new trend...

So I was literally just having a conversation about a necklace from Michele Varian's amazing shop, when it went from jewelry, to rabbits, to the Year of the Rabbit, to the Year of the Pig, to PIGS... The new trend!

Let's explore this... I love a good pig, don't get me wrong, but the new trend?  I don't know, let's see where this blog takes us...

During the conversation with Michele Varian and Ron Foo Chun, Ron posted a picture of this adorable guy because he was born in the Year of the Pig...

Photo courtesy @RonFooChun via Twitter

It got me thinking... I have used a pig or two in my own designs, one of which is actually one of my favorite creations... I've posted about this guy before, but Robert Kuo does such amazing lacquer work, that anything worth saying once, is worth a repeat... This cream lacquered pig seat that sits at the foot of this bed gives just the right amount of whimsy with the right amount of chic.  It's the perfect understated way to bring a little humor to a space with out it becoming a joke...

 

Also, another amazing creation from Mr. Kuo is this elegant indoor/outdoor hand carved garden stool.  This hunk of Chinese white marble was meticulously chiseled into this handsome little guy that would work in any style of garden or garden room for that matter... The great people over at Sutherland is where you can grab him.

There's always a need for a footstool or ottoman in a home, so why not this handsome one from Omersa and Company?...  He's sturdy, well crafted, and any library or den would be proud to have this bit of livestock taking up residence.

Finally if all these large scale pigs are just too much for you to handle in your home, then maybe just a classic piggy bank is the way to go... This Harry Allen pig bank was actually cast from a real pig that died of natural causes, and would look lovely anywhere from a cocktail table to your child's dresser... Super simple, super functional, and super chic!

So what do we think?  Cochon the new trend?  I don't know, but I can honestly say, I wouldn't mind if it did take off... Boy if pigs could fly...

Quick thank you...

I just wanted to extend my deepest gratitude to Emily Henderson, Design Star Season 5 Winner for her constant support.  She has the most awesome Online Manager in the world, Lana Migliore who works her butt off to ensure that Emily is always where she needs to be, meeting the people she needs to meet, and appearing in the best light possible, all while looking spectacular.  They are a team to be reckoned with, and I was so fortunate to be a part of a wonderful evening of talent, creatives, media, bloggers and friends last night.  I will be send out props to the amazing new friends and connections I've made, but first and foremost, this dream team of Design Delight, Emily and Lana... Many many thanks!

Photo taken by Duane Hosein

Fresh flowers, never fake...

I just participated in a wonderful chat about flowers the other day with my friends over at #DesignTV on Twitter and it got me thinking about some of my favorite flower options...  Personally I think you should ALWAYS go fresh and not fake.  There's not really a need to explain that, as it's just better. :)  Although I do have to say in the world of succulents, they have come out with some spectacularly faux versions, that I may give a free pass to...

I do think that fresh flowers can transform a room's static appearance to something more organic, homey, warm and luxurious...  The use of flowers or any greenery gives the room more appeal for not just your visual senses, but the amazing scents, the textural feel, it's an essential element in a well designed room...

I think the key to a really great arrangement in a space is restraint.  I prefer to use really no more than about 3 or 4 elements within an arrangement, then the true beauty of each piece is able to sing on it's own and not be drowned out by the visual noise of the competing flora and fauna. 

This is one of Bloom's signature arrangements of tulips... How gorgeously simple is this?  It's tactile, it's colorful, without throwing a thousand unnecessary colors into a space, and it's architectural in its form... Any room would be happy...

Bloom, Signature Tulips

Another one of my favorite "go to" florists in the city is Jane Packer... She has this aesthetic that I love, in celebrating the flower for what it is, and not having to over do it, and sugar coat it.  It's the greens speaking for themselves and the focal elements.  I particularly enjoy the name of this arrangement, "Wicked".

Jane Packer's Wicked arrangement

Lastly, sometimes nature in its purest state is the way to go... I love the smell of gardenia, it's just so lovely.  A small potted plant of blooming gardenia is the perfect way to dress up any area, the flowers are crisp and white, and will go into anyone's decor...

Brizo, have you heard of the brand?...

The amazingly gracious people at Brizo have invited me and a select few to experience their amazing products, company philosophies and creative inspirations in the next few weeks, all while colliding with New York Fashion Week... Tell me this doesn't sound like the most incredible ride!  Yeah, well I'll be reporting back with all the fabulous news on what this ground breaking and innovative brand is bringing to the world of interiors...

Now the most intensive and stressful part of this event is, "What to wear!!!"

Siderna Faucet

Feathers, feathers, feathers!

So feathers have been an obvious trend in fashion for the last few seasons, and it looks amazing!  The craze even went so far as to feather hair extensions which are just super fun and playful...

So crossing over into the world of interiors, you can now find a multitude of applications for feather usage as well... Admittedly you gotta like the idea of the feather to rock it out, but it can be a wonderful way to add texture and color to things in the most organic of ways...

There are quite a few company's that offer varying species of feathers in trimming which is such a fun way to liven up a standard pillow.  It's not going to overtake your room or your surrounding, but it's such an unexpected way to dress a pillow... I highly recommend using only REAL feathers, or you'll stand the chance of it looking really cheap, really fast...  The last thing you want is for it to look like you took a boa off a stripper and attached it to your things... GROSS!

Along the same lines as the trimming is to use it in a tieback application, again dressing up simple fabric panels with a bit of texture.  It's the perfect way to heighten the look of those simple linen panels that everyone can get because they are so versatile and inexpensive.

 

Lastly and the most innovative and interesting application to feathers is to use them as wallcovering... I noticed a couple months back in the F. Schumacher showroom the most intriguing looking wall behind one of the representative's desk... Upon closer inspection I was blown away to discover the undulating wall surface was thousands of tiny feathers creating this amazing movement of iridescence and color... So so amazing... I think it's one of the chicest looks I've seen, but I know that there's quite a price tag that goes along with it... But like all really great things, using it sparingly can make it even more important in the right environment!

Everyone's asking, "What is Batik?"

Well, I've sparked many a conversation given the last challenge on Design Star when I made a last minute decision to try and give my pale green wall a different textural feel by doing a Batik technique on it...  I only had 2 colors to work with, the pale green and a greyish white, so the differences were very subtle.  I tried to accentuate the pattern by rubbing some brown and black pastel pigments into the lines...  Not necessarily the traditional technique or colors you'd use, but it was some quick thinking to try and differentiate ourselves from the other kitchens...

Photo from HGTV.com

So now you're still asking, "What is Batik?"  Well Wikipedia defines it as, 

"Batik (Javanese pronunciation: [ˈbateʔ]; Indonesian: [ˈbatɪʔ]; English: /ˈbætɪk/ or /bəˈtiːk/) is a cloth that traditionally uses a manual wax-resist dyeing technique. Batik or fabrics with the traditional batik patterns are found in Indonesia, Malaysia, Japan, China, Azerbaijan, India, Sri Lanka, Egypt, Nigeria, Senegal, and Singapore.
Javanese traditional batik, especially from Yogyakarta and Surakarta, has notable meanings rooted to the Javanese conceptualization of the universe. Traditional colours include indigo, dark brown, and white, which represent the three major Hindu Gods (Brahmā, Visnu, and Śiva). This is related to the fact that natural dyes are most commonly available in indigo and brown. Certain patterns can only be worn by nobility; traditionally, wider stripes or wavy lines of greater width indicated higher rank. Consequently, during Javanese ceremonies, one could determine the royal lineage of a person by the cloth he or she was wearing."

Batik comes in an infinite number of colors and patterns nowadays, from as subtle as my wall, to quite loud and outlandish...  Here are just a few images of Batik patterns and the actual process used in Indonesia to create individual bits of heaven...

 

It is such an amazing artform that I thought would be such a compliment to our "Global" kitchen, instead I was told that it was "botched"...  I hope you give it a try on a wall you find just a bit too plain, but remember to use colors that read well on camera, just in case Vern pops in to see what's for dinner... :)

How my elimination went down...

So, by now basically the world knows that I got the boot on this, the 5th episode of Design Star.  This was the dreaded kitchen challenge, which traditionally has been one of the toughest to navigate through.  The positive aspect to this episode was the fact that a certain Miss Paula Deen came to join the crew, and offer her insight on things...

 

Let's break this down... Kitchen Challenge.  This was a 2 day challenge, which is ridiculously absurd to begin with, but it is what it is... We used Lumber Liquidators, Cabinets to Go and a local stone supplier to get the heavy construction done.  I was teamed, again with the lovely Leslie.  We were required to immediately pick our materials, choice of flooring, cabinets and counters within minutes of us choosing our "inspirational" teapot, which was "Global".

Everyone works differently in the "real world" but choosing paint colors is not something that I normally do as the first step in a project, but in TV land, we need to do this right out of the gate so the paint can be mixed, purchased and delivered as soon as possible to allow us time to actually paint the walls...  We were allowed 3 gallons of paint...  Basically given the size of the room, this roughly translates to a gallon a wall, more or less. Leslie and I chose to keep a more subtle color palatte, which was a light heathery grey and a soft celedon.  So, keep this in mind, I had 2 colors to work with...  Upon starting to paint the walls, I realized 3 out of the 4 kitchens are painting green up on the walls.  I quickly think that I need to alter the green in some way to stand out.  I decide to go with the batik look... Okay, first of all, I'm not a painter, I'm not a faux finisher...  I go with whatever I can figure out... I start with feathering vertical lines onto the wall in the grey color and it's still not reading dark enough, so the only other pigment I have access to is part of our HGTV supply bag.  I crushed up a brown and black pastel and rubbed it into my "stripes"... This is what I had to work with.  I had to also just get something up and done...

This basically took up the first day of work... Keep in mind also, when we say "first day" and "second day" of work, don't assume these are 12 hour work days, or even 8 hour work days.  For each challenge that time varied, so it's not always a never ending time clock.

Next day, we arrive, in theory all the floors should be laid, the cabinets installed, the counter tops in and the appliances in place.  It happened that Leslie and my plot was the last in the order of work, so we arrived to floors down... That's it... They were still installing cabinets, meaning that the stone guys needed to follow and the appliances... We had a full crew of workers in and out working over us for hours...  Because we happened to get this unfortunate work schedule it stalled certain things.  Like the backsplash.  You can't install a backsplash till you've got a counter for it to rest on... Not to mention that we were not delivered the thin set to apply the tiles to the walls, despite us ordering it... I had to wait to put the backsplash on till my area was clear, at which time I was using Silicone and a caulk gun to get whatever I could up...

As for the "tragic" bench... I still don't think it was so bad, but at this point in the game, comments and criticism is par for the course.  You're going to get critiqued no matter what.  Then there's the camera challenge.  I love how it was edited so much to make my sentences into gibberish statements... I have no comment.  This challenge was very difficult, both physically and mentally.

At the end of the day, I'm not placing blame on anyone, or giving any excuses... I'm a big boy and can take the heat, but I just wanted it to be known that as finalist, we just don't give up, or throw in the towel.  We are stressed beyond belief and are pushed hard.  The time I spent on Design Star albeit short, was an amazing one.  People's first question is, "Would I do it again?"... Absolutely.

This was the quite a ride that I tried my best at... I don't think I was shown in a negative light, and constantly put out great work, which is all I wanted to do...  This was such a priceless experience that will only catapult me into really really spectacular things...

Love you all for the support!
(All photos from HGTV.com)

What's hotter than a bit of OMBRE...

Definition of OMBRÉ

: having colors or tones that shade into each other —used especially of fabrics in which the color is graduated from light to dark.

 

I just love a good ombre, it's evident in fashion, interiors, even hair, but the subtle color change is so elegant that it's a great look that fits into basically any space.

 

3.1 Phillip Lim Spring 2012

 

 

Bisazza Tiles

J. Robert Scott Adelphi Tea Tables

 

 

 

Totally lovely, and such an easy effortless way to get several colors integrated into a space, and outfit, or basically anything you can think of... One of my favorite things!

Down at the Shore!...

So it was all about fist pumping, hair bumps and a lot of spilled alcohol in the hot tub!  Well not really, but it was still fun!  The gang was brought down to the Jersey Shore to the historic Spring Lake Inn to makeover 4 of their rooms!

I was paired up with Leslie this time around as they wanted a male and female perspective in each room...  If you actually caught it on the episode, Leslie and I, both gay, found the pairing humorous, but we did work remarkably well together...

The main priorities for the Inn's owners were to update the rooms but still keep within the context of the house, it's history and the surroundings...  Leslie and I nearly vomited upon entering the room, but holding our nausea back we agreed that a Cape Cod sort of feel was the way to go...  The furniture layout was actually basically all it could be.  The spatial configuration of the room was such that you didn't have much flexibility with circulation in the room, so our major furniture pieces remained in their general locations...

This was a challenge about re-purposing, and this especially held true for the two of us, and we had to change out the carpet, there was no choice in the matter, and that ate up over half of our budget, leaving us with a meager amount to shop for new linens, sleeper sofa and a few accessories.  If you noticed, only one other room had to also change their carpet, the other two had gorgeous wood floors, leaving quite a hefty amount left for them to really buy some amazing pieces.  Ah well, what're you gonna do?!... This meant we really needed to figure out how to give all these items in the room a new lease on life.  There was a hell of a lot of spray paint usage for this challenge, but I think at the end of the day, the space was definitely transformed and updated.

 

We didn't win the challenge, but received the highest compliment from the owners as they said that they would actually stay in this room... That's as good as it gets, and what it's all about.  Television aside, the client is happy.  Leslie and I set out and conquered our challenge!

(All photos from HGTV.com)