2012 Inspiration

I've been inspired!  Here is my official inspiration board for the year 2012 - a year that is showing much promise for my business!

I love having these boards posted on the wall near my computer.  I know that throughout the year it does, and has, lend inspiration for my career, my passion for interiors and the things I have done or want to do in my designs.

The medium I prefer for these boards is magazine photos pasted into a collage. I notice the colors are similar to last years but more bright orange, pinks, and turquoise with touches of gold. Very vibrant and fresh with hints of sophistication and bling.  I see cosmopolitan and global emerging as well.  It will be an interesting year!

I want to see your inspirations for 2012!  Please post a reply with a link to wherever you have posted your board online, or you can upload it to my facebook page.

Merry Christmas!

Wishing you a wonderful Christmas!

It's That Time Again

It's time to start working on my 2012 inspiration board!  I think this is one of my favorite things that I do each year.  You may remember last years:

  

I can definitely see how this inspiration board revealed itself in my designs through out the year.  And just a quick reminder to 2010's board:

As you remember, I love to see your own creations for inspiration for the upcoming year!  When I post my board next week, I would love to get links to your own boards or you can post it on my facebook page as well.  Happy creating!

Eclectic Inspirations

One of my current clients has quite a few french inspired antiques that they would like to incorporate into their new house, yet they also want to bring in a tribal/african motif.  How to marry the two?  See what I came up with for their Living Room:

I decided to use the ever French looking Grey/Yellow and Creams palette with pops of Orange and Purple and Berry to bring in the more tribal accents which will make their presence through pillows, window coverings and artwork.  This warm and fun, yet sophisticated palette is my current favorite!

The Liebster Blog Award

I was just honored by Sarah of Monaco Interiors who gave me the Liebster Blog award.  Liebster, German for "beloved" or "dearest", is an award given to up-and-coming blogs that have less than 200 followers.  In turn, the nominees get to pass it on to their favorite Liebster award worthy blogs.  I had a great time gathering and reviewing my pick!  You must check them out:

1. Laura Neuman of PepperJack Interiors Blog - Laura is a fabulous designer in Granite Bay, CA who is in my local ASID chapter with me.  He blog touches on the wealth of inspiration and sophistication her designs are filled with.  One of my design faves and great sounding board for my own designs!

 2. DeAnna Mackensen of REDesign Interiors Blog - I have enjoyed watching the incredible DIY creativity of the up-and-coming designer in Yuba City, CA.  DeAnna works with me once a week as she is establishing her design business and experience.  I am constantly invigorated by her enthusiasm and out-of-the-box ideas!

3. Jordan Iverson of Jordan Iverson Signature Homes: The Blog - Jordan is my cousin and a fabulous builder in Eugene Oregon.  Jordan sets the cutting edge for his city by being one of the only builder to bring urban and modern to these northwest homes.  He is my go to guy for the latest in modern design. 

4. Lori Crooks of The Chic Geek Blog - I met Lori through the Blogging Your Way class I took, given by Holly Becker of Decor8.  We were able to meet up at the last BlogHer convention which was so fun!  Lori's blog is always a great blend of personal life and style, food and design inspirations.

5. Sheri Shay Johnson of Designer Junk Finder is another fellow student from the BYW class I took.  I am endeared to her by her constant photos of her Standard Poodles, the type of dogs my family had growing up.  Aside from this, I also love seeng her great finds and many design inspirations.







Congratulations to all my nominees and a big thank you to Monaco Interiors!

The Stockings Are Hung

I like to get Christmas decorations up as early as I can, so I can enjoy them as long as I can. We had a great time finding new homes for our decorations. Did i mention we have two trees. They are small and artificial but I figure why have one when you can have two? Maybe next year we will have a real tree as well. But for now, stockings are hung, presents are wrapped, halls are decked, cards are sent.

I have also been enjoying entertaining in our new home immensely. We hosted two Christmas parties this week and the hostess in me is very satisfied. I have been surprisingly and wonderfully busy with work as well so this month has been quite a juggling act amidst the hustle and bustle but I'm loving every minute!

Pantone's 2012 Color of the Year

It's here!  Finally the time has come to share with you the official color pantone has chosen for 2012: Tangerine Tango!

I love it already!  I love using flashes of orange in my designs and Tangerine Tango has just the right mix of fun and sophistication. 

For the official press release from Pantone, go here.

Image via Pantone

Design R's 3rd Blogiversary!

Can you believe it's been 3 years?!  Three wonderful years:)  I thought it best to commemorate this day with a visit to 3 of my top read blog posts, according to the statistics on my site:

Mirror, Mirror on the Wall
Color and Your Age
Claim Some Reclaimed Wood

I'm a little curious why these were the most read...  If you have a different favorite post that I've made, I would love to hear from you!

Looking forward to many more Blogiversaries to come!  A big shout out to all my faithful readers!

So Thankful

I have just finished making, alongside my mom, and consuming a large Thanksgiving feast while my family and I enjoy a little relaxation on the Oregon Coast. I am so thankful for my family and friends and moments like these. Have a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Expanding Territories

A few days ago, I accepted a client in San Francisco. I'm very excited to expand into that territory as it is one of my favorite cities! I will be designing a room with a view, among other things. My creativity is in full swing!

San Francisco has such varied and beautiful architecture. It's a very cosmopolitan city, a favorite of Europeans and tourist destination for anyone visiting northern California.

This is going to be fun!

miFrame: A Marriage of Tech and Decor

The average house of today contains many gadgets and gizmos.  We, and especially our kids, are becoming more tech savvy and reliant.  These fabulous tech items usually start piling up on coffee tables, vunerable to kids, dogs, coffee spills.  There is never a plug available for your charger. As designers, we have to start becoming creative on ways to incorporate tech into our designs, rather than leave it to an after thought.

I had the privilege recently of getting to see first hand a wonderful peice of tech that will fit perfectly into any interior space.  If you own an ipad, you need this item and your room will thank you.  The miFrame is a charging station that doubles as a digital display and photoframe. While charging, your ipad can play a slideshow of your photos. When you are using your ipad, the frame will shadowbox whatever fabulous 8x10 picture you've slipped into the back.  It fits seemlessly as a decor item in your house or office whether you are charging your ipad or viewing a great photo.  It's well disguised tech for modern living.

The frame comes in a brushed aluminum or black finish and you can display your ipad horizontally or vertically.  So versatile!

You can find out more information about the miFrame here on Striped Sail's website.  I'm looking forward to incorporating this item into my client's designs.  What a great idea for a Christmas present too!

Photos courtesy of Striped Sail

Sleigh Bells Ring...

Are you listening? Christmas is around the corner, ready or not!  I have started preparing myself by thinking about decorating my new home for the holidays.  We have plenty of room for a big tree - may two! 

I have the opportunity from Red Envelope, who I met down at the BlogHer convention, to review a few of their items on my blog.  One of these is a personalized ornament.  This particular one is so simplistic yet classy, I know it's going to fit right into my decor. 

I chose the personlized inscription to be "The Ward Family" "2011" since it is the first Christmas my husband, our cat and I are spending in our new house and I wanted to commemorate it.

They certainly do offer other styles and options so I recommend go checking it out.  These would make fabulous presents! 

Red Envelope has a whole assortment of great gift ideas!  I'm going to go do a little browsing...

But Wait! There's more!

Here are the Kitchen/dining photos to finish of the house tour...

At Long Last

A few weeks ago, I showed you the photos of my husbands and my new home, our first.  After a few weeks and the goal of having a housewarming party, our house is finally presentable enough to show how we have put a spin on it, hand me down furniture and all.  So here are the photos you have all been waiting for, I'm sure ;) 

Lovely Living Room

 The home office of Rebecca Ward Design

The Master Bedroom

 Master Bath

Dramatic Guest Bath

My husband's music room/office...until a baby comes along

I realize I'm missing the Kitchen/Dining!  I'll add that one tomorrow...

As you can see, I'm just getting started, rolling up sleeves and ready for the projects to begin...after our first mortgage payment of course.

Photos by Rebecca Ward

Fall Fun

Happy Halloween!  I took a trip to the hills today to experience some Fall Fun. Apple cider, yum!

I have finally made some progress on my house and it's much more presentable.  Photos tomorrow!

Photo by Rebecca Ward

Taking A Break

I've had to take a short break from blogging lately to get my house and office moved.  I worked myself into the ground on this move apparently since I came down with that nasty cold that's been going around.  Then, we procrastinated on getting the internet set up and there is an 8 day waiting period from when you order it.  It feels like the dark ages without the internet in my house.   It makes life much more difficult.  Thank goodness for smart phones for reserving some of my sanity.  I'm borrowing internet from my family today to bring you this update.  Put all that together and Design R has been a little neglected. 

I thought I would share some "before" photos of my house before my "after - in progress" photos are taken.  I won't have true "after" photos for a while as there are a few projects I would like to do, but I will at least show you the paint updates soon.  So enjoy and imagine the potential of my new home:

It's odd to see these!  Paint does wonders!  Just wait till you see it now!

Photos by Rebecca Ward

Busy Bee

It has been quite a week for me!  Last Friday afternoon we got these:

Keys to our first house!  Since then there has been a lot of this:

Of course, I couldn't leave the walls white so I had to paint every single room before we moved the furniture in.  So there hasn't been much time for anything else but I promise we will get some decent photos up of the place once we're moved in!

Future office of Rebecca Ward Design

The big move should happen this weekend.  Wish us luck!

A Special Occasion: Giveaway

How would you fill in this line: "_______ is a special occasion"?
 
I was asked this question at the Hallmark booth when I was at Blogher and asked to fill in the blank on a t-shirt.  I chose "inspiring a friend". 

I feel like this is a lot of what my goals are in life and in my career; to inspire.  I am constantly getting inspired by other people - family, friends, colleagues, and by books, movies, nature.  I love the feeling inspiration brings: hope, energy, change.  I love passing this on to others.

Via Hallmark

Hallmark has offered my readers their very own t-shirt to fill in the blank along with some inspiring cards.  What would you put in those lines?  What makes "a special occasion" for you?

To enter to win, leave a comment of what you would say to fill in the blank.  Enter between now and Thursday, September 29th.  Winner will be selected via random.org and announced on Friday the 30th.

Good luck!

 P.S. You can join the Hallmark Mosaic here

Images via Hallmark and Rebecca Ward