French Essence

One of my favorite blogs to read is French Essence.  This Australian living in England and the south of France captures beautifully the joys of living in these places.  Since I also lived for a time in the south of France, the descriptions of southern french living tug at my heart strings and conjure up memories of my fabulous time there.  I read today's post about the french supermarket and felt I just had to share this magnificent writing with you.  It is these kinds of passions that she expresses that I, as an interior designer, strive to evoke from my clients in the newly designed spaces I have made for them.  Please visit French Essence here!

Images from French Essence

Purpose Restoration

Happy Friday everyone!

Here is a fun website to browse this weekend.  It's a company called Purpose Restoration in LA that takes old furniture and refinishes it in a new and exciting way.  Often very artistic!  Their website is filled with a lot of before and after photos of the furniture they work on.
Here are a few samplings:

Enjoy your weekend!

Images from Purpose Restoration

House Numbers

Do your house numbers need to be updated?  Some of your guests searching for your home amongst your neighbors may agree.  DWR featured these great house numbers in an email from them today.  Like the letters and monograms that I love, these numbers really appealed to me.

The font and clean look of these 4" tall aluminum numbers would look great on the front of any home.

The numbers are designed by Dion Neutra for Design Within Reach to reflect the numbers that his architect father, Richard Neutra used on the mid-century homes he designed.


Images from DWR

Let There Be Light

I ordered these light today from Lumens for my client today.  These Blocs Linear light will hang in front of those wonderful Robern uplift mirrors I mentioned a few posts back.

The sconce will actually be in a different finish, chrome with a clear and opal glass.  I can't wait to see them.  Lighting like this is really the jewelry of the room and will definitely make this bathroom look classy!

Images from Lumens

Positano Pillows

These pillows arrived in my inbox today via Jonathan Adler and I loved the fun summer colors.  These would be perfect in the rotation of throw pillows for Summer.  The great thing about throw pillows is that they can be switched out with the seasons.  I love this quote from the Jonathan Adler site about these pillows:
"Our Positano Pillows are refreshingly simple, cool and classic, like a tall glass of lemonade for your sofa."
I agree!  The body is made with a white linen and the color is added through grosgrain ribbon.  The website can give you some great high res photos of all the styles and color options here.

Images from Jonathan Adler

Sonoma Forge

I heard a presentation today by the rep from Sonoma Forge, an unfamiliar line of fixtures for your bathroom, outdoor shower or kitchen sink. 

These beautiful works of art are made in California and designed by a blacksmith.  Most of the peices are based on the typical piping you may find on your average hardware store but look so elegant with a vessel sink or carved stone freestanding tub.

This last faucet is actually made from stainless steel and given an antique finish to show the character.

For more products and styles, visit Sonoma Forge's website.

Images from Sonoma Forge

Design: Sacramento

Today's Sacramento spotlight is on Planet Granite.
When you have a limited budget or  a small area that you need a slab of stone, check our Planet Granite.  This is the place to go for remnants when you don't need a whole slab.  They have an incredible amount of inventory that is quite fluid so chances are the have what you need, or will have it soon.  Their website is really easy to search through by color or name and once you see a piece you like, you can call them to put it on hold or pay for it right then!  If I'm going to suggest to a client to buy a remnant this way I usually find what I like at one of my local stone showrooms to see it in person, and then search for it on the site.  They show pictures of each piece they have available in the selection you want so you can get a piece with the "character" you like and fits your need.

 This is a a piece of Costa Esmeralda that I'm searching for for a current client.  Unfortunately this piece isn't long enough for the vanity, but I'll keep looking!

Images from Planet Granite

Give Your Bathroom an Uplift

I am currently working on a master bathroom remodel.  The look is to be very sleek and I thought the Robern Uplift medicine cabinets would be a perfect fit against a glass tiled wall.  What a nice alternative to the traditional medicine cabinet!

Check out more great Robern products here!

Photo from Robern, CAD drawing by Rebecca Ward