A Day in San Francisco

A few days ago, my Designer friend, DeAnna Mackensen of REDesign Interiors and I donned our "sensible shoes" and headed down to San Francisco. 

We attended a seminar for Lexington Furniture in their new MacQueen Showroom at the Design Center.  We learned about their latest lines and got to try out some of the great pieces they had out on the floor.

After lunch we headed over to the beautiful hills of Pacific Heights to attend this year's Decorator Showcase house, which they do every May.

We weren't allowed to take photos without the designer's there to give us permission so I can't show you much except for the Media Room.  We were fortunate that Colby Proctor, the Senior Designer of the Weaver Design Group was there to answer our questions about their fabulous design.

Photo via DeAnna Mackensen

I love these oversize nailheads!

If you are in San Francisco this May, I recommend checking out the house.  I found it especially appealing this year in that there was a congruent theme between the rooms. The color palettes and design styles blended better than I have ever noticed in the past.  A great feat to accomplish when 30 designers are involved!


Photos by Rebecca Ward, U.N.O.

A New Look

I'm so glad to get my newly redesigned business cards (thank you Krista Roark for the graphic design!) I think it's a great fresh look for RWD. Be watching for some trickle down changes in my blog and website image.

Adding Vintage to your Walls

Christopher Stott is an artist that has become a favorite of one of my clients, and is now one of my favorites as well.  He captures vintage items for his paintings in everyday compositions.  One of Sacramento's galleries, the Elliott Fouts Gallery, has hosted several of his shows and his works have been very popular.

You can see two of his pieces here in my client's home:

And another one in this corner:

Here are some other works that can be seen on his website:

Love the look!  Vintage is such a wonderful trend right now, but these painting would look great in any environment.

Before and After: Hillside Home in San Francisco

On this gray and potentially rainy day (in Sacramento anyway), I thought I would brighten it with some color from my Before and After photos of my recently completed client project, which was a hillside residence in San Francisco that had some lovely south bay views.

This project was a marriage of French antiques and African vibrancy.  It was a slight challenge to find the right blend but in the end came together beautifully!  I laid the base colors of gray and yellow (French influence) and added pops of orange and purple (African influence).  I had fun with this unique palette!

Before

After

Before

After

Before

After

Photos by Rebecca Ward

Who's on Houzz?

Are you familiar with the website Houzz.com? 

I have recently added my business profile and portfolio to the site, which is always nice to have available to others, but I have found I really love perusing other designers' work for inspiration.  I have also printed out photos for a visual illustration of a concept I am wanting to convey to a client during the preliminary stages of our design process.

It's a nice set up in that if a viewers sees an item in the photo they like or want more information about, they can ask the designer in the comment section.

This last week, my cousin Jordan Iverson was awarded a Best of Houzz 2012 for some very inovative design and photos of his work that have been favorites of many of the viewers.

modern living room design by portland general contractor Jordan Iverson Signature Homes

Go take a peak and browse the wonderful portfolios!

How To Design The Perfect Bathroom

Today we have a guest post from the London interior design company called Evitavonni.  They have imparted some great wisdom on designing the perfect bathroom:

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A bathroom is a great place to relax and wash away all your stress after a long day at work. However, designing the perfect bathroom is not always straightforward and there are many different factors to consider when planning your bathroom design.

There are many bathroom design ideas and it all depends on you and the type of design you prefer. Are you in favour of a bold and elegant bathroom design or do you prefer calm and minimalistic? 

The key element to a prefect bathroom is to have a focus point. Too many wow factors can just be distracting.  If you have a reasonably sized bathroom and love candle light baths, investing in a large deep bath might be a great idea.  Taps in the middle of the bath can create that much craved for SPA feeling.  Using skylights in bathrooms will give more light and a feeling of space to your bathroom.  A big fog free mirror, under floor heating or beautifully patterned floor tiles can also create a big impact.

via evitavonni

Your bathroom needs to be a space where you can relax and feel comfortable, so make sure to incorporate all the things that you like and don’t blindly follow trends.  It will be your sanctuary of relaxation after a hard day’s work or one of those mornings when you wake up feeling terrible. So it very important to have all the elements in the bathroom that you believe will calm you down.

Playing around with textures and colours can give your bathroom a great character. Use the block colour scheme and mix match and gloss finishes for stunning effects. Monochrome is a strong theme at the moment.

For those who don’t have a very big bathroom, clever space management will be particularly important. In such cases maintaining minimalism is a good idea, as this will make your bathroom look bigger. 

Via evitavonni

It might be worth investing in a shower with a large shower head for really good pressure which is almost like a massage. It is sure to take all the stress away from your body. Walk in showers are rally handy and they suggest more space. They are plenty of options available and you can choose form a range of controls and the size of the showerhead. A tailor made shower can add the touch of perfection to your bathroom and add that little extra to your bathing experience.

If you wish to obtain more information about bathroom design and how to create the perfect bathroom for your home, you might want to look for expert advice from luxury interior design consultants.  You may also wish to consult interior designers online for professional and specialist guidance.

Your perfect bathroom must have a character to it and it should be all about you. So get creative and don’t be afraid to experiment.  

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Thank you Evitavonni for sharing this expert advice!

Images by Rebecca Ward or evitavonni, as noted

Would You Cook With Steam?

Earlier this week I went to a demonstration of Wolf's new convection steam oven. 

I was not familiar with steam ovens prior to this but they seem to be very efficient and great for healthy cooking! Steam means using less fats.

 

 This tray of food was put into the oven all at the same time and cooked for 12 minutes to perfection!  That would make dinner times for a busy family easy, quick and healthy. 

In case you are curious, cost runs about $3500.00 and is installed as a wall oven.  Probably best paired with a microwave and/or standard oven.