Simply Inspired Italian Kitchens

Watching the kitchen episode of Design Star left me searching for something inspiring. I mosied over to the website of a classic Italian kitchen company, Scavolini.

Now here’s something to drool over.

Look at the harlequin detail on the frosted glass doors, and the elegant mix of wood and shiny laminate. Oh my!

Somehow, this use of cool blue and steel doesn't leave me cold.

There's something very inviting about that kitchen. It's like a play kitchen for grown ups.

This one feels fresh, with an old world feel.

Everything reads as freestanding, even though they're built-in. Great use of contrast in the cabinet frames.

This one could be inspired by the green olives in the DS baskets.

A great monochromatic palette of greys with a fun splash of yellow green. Like cooking in a martini glass. Shaken, not stirred.

Now here's a simple color scheme done right.

Simple doesn't have to be boring. High contrast blocks of black and white are perfectly balanced with the dark wood floor and sparkling pendant. Sophisticated and fun.

Now that's how to do a kitchen.

All photos sourced from www.scavolini.us

Design Star Upstaged - Through Episode 7

While I haven’t stopped watching Design Star, I have stopped writing a blog after each episode. Why? Well, I just didn’t know what to say anymore. After letting a few episodes pile up in my mind, here are my general thoughts.

• It seems like this crew of designers does not know how to think conceptually. They consistently take inspiration from objects (some very cool, I might add) and have no idea how to distill the essence of something and translate that into their own design. This is something I can critique, because I have done this constantly over my career in graphic design and interior design. I am a firm believer that there are no new ideas, just new ways of using the same old idea. Not only do I see a lot of, “I showed my parmesan cheese in the color on the wall” excuses from the cast, but I see a total lack of design concept thrown in. Which leads to my next thought.

• There is a huge lack of design expertise being displayed. The visual designs have been ok, but don’t ask them to talk about the designs, please! They sound like scared robots. “We didn’t have enough contrast, so we added a bunch of food.” That’s not design, that’s like a kid fingerpainting. I’m all for an organic design process, and making decisions on the fly, but the reason there was no interest in the first place was because the designers made it that way. Did they not see that coming when they chose garlic and cheese? Where’s the thought process and use of the elements and principles of design? I want to be wow’d with the use of the fancy terms that I paid thousands of dollars to learn about in design school. Isn’t that what makes an expert? Those who can use and understand terms that lay people can’t?

• Another gripe... The designers seem completely unable to define their client, especially in the Trump challenges. (photos above) The apartments looked like urban dorm rooms, NOT luxurious Trump dwellings. That is certainly not the time for Stacey’s arts and crafts project experiment. And, the kitchen designs showed the same hum-drum designs I’ve seen in tract homes for the past ten years. Where was the sexy tomato red Italian laminate in the Italian inspired kitchen? Maybe the cabinet selection was limited, but still paint or counter tops, something exciting. And the fact that there is no story shown about who’s using the space. It is difficult to see a lifestyle in any of the designs. Even in these fake challenges, they are still designing for someone who would use the space. It seems that the designers are trying only to showcase their talents. How exhausting! It’s much easier to show talent when you are designing for a purpose.

I could definitely upstage these designs. J

All photos sourced from www.hgtv.com/designstar

Wonder Why Your House Isn’t Selling? - The Three P’s

The Three P's: Property, Price, and Presentation

What can you do when your house has been on the market for months with no sale? It may seem like all has failed, but consider the Three P's as a formula you can tweek to achieve the results you want.

Property

There’s only so much you can do about the property itself (which includes location, location, location). It is stuck in the current neighborhood, for better or worse. The basic footprint, size, and configuration are probably there to stay since you’ve decided to sell.

Price

By now you have probably analyzed the comps with your realtor and know you’ve priced fairly. There are a number of different strategies you can take, but this is basically a given unless you want to give the house away.

Presentation

First, there is the physical presentation, meaning how the house looks during a showing. Second, the virtual presentation, or how the house looks in the marketing materials. Your house should not only show well live, but also in the photos.

How the home is presented is where you have the most flexibility. It’s about staging to full advantage. There is so much you can do for a little cash or elbow grease that will improve on this part of the home selling equation.

So if your house isn’t selling, take a look at each of these categories. Is anything missing from the equation? What variables can you play with? What can you do to improve or strengthen the value in each category? Consult with local professionals, realtors, stagers, inspectors, etc. for expert advice. They’ll steer you in the right direction, and who knows it could even result in a sale.

Remember, there’s only one chance to make a first impression. Make sure buyers are impressed even before they walk through the door. Make sure you do all you can to achieve the results you want.

Design Star Upstaged - Episode 3

It took me a while to process this episode. It seemed to reflect my life these days a little too much…a bit disjointed. The designers were tasked to design an outdoor patio space at Trump Tower. How awesome is that? Well, the designers didn’t seem to tackle the job as if they were excited. What’s with the cast? They seem to be missing how lucky they are to have this opportunity. Is it the editing, the new format (ok that’s becoming a lame excuse), or the casting?

About the format, they seem to have taken a bit of The Apprentice and mixed it with some Survivor. Sounds like the formula should work. It must be the editing or the casting. I love a good experiment, so I’llstick with the hope that producers see what I see. That means, next season will be amazing! (Because I’ll be on it, but I digress.) Back to the designs…

I’m not sure that I can say enough to comment on each team separately. Both teams seemed to lack any cohesive planning vision. The teams are missing an important Apprentice element, the project manager. It shows.

The Women and Dan (let’s just call them the women) were the winners by a narrow margin this week. I feel badly for the judges who really have to pull elements of design from these lack luster designs. I use the term “design” loosely. It does afterall imply a “plan”. There is no cohesive plan, concept or vision. I only see evidence of two designers work, Nina and Stacey. I’m not sure where the others are represented.

Overall the patio space reads the same way their personalities are coming across…BORING.

The space is empty, disjointed, lacking cohesive design. Oh did I say that already? I’m so disappointed. This is Trump Tower in NYC! There’s little element of urban chic or Trump luxury. This feels like the courtyard at a college dorm.

While the Men’s team lost this week, they used some design tactics that the women lacked. They actually thought about the design planes, including the floor. They added a rug and decking. Genius, sort of. They created groupings and spaces for a variety of activities. Sure it’s a little cramped, like they threw the entire furniture store at the place. EDIT. At least they had the energy to come up with so many ideas.

They, too, seem to have elements that are dorm-chic rather than Trump-chic. I do think they’re leaning in the right direction, though. Gosh how I wish I could set them straight! Maybe they need a woman on their team.

In the weeks to come, I really hope that someone will have some balls and take the lead for the benefit of their group. These talents are really showing badly, but I don’t think it’s a lack of talent. Just a case of acting too timidly. (Wasn’t that something casting was trying to avoid?)

In the end, who was eliminated? The one that seemed to lack the most personality, Trent. He seemed to have strong personal style, but lacked gumption for a show like this.

Photos Source: http://my.hgtv.com/design-star-judge-the-designs-2010/gallery.esi?sortOrder=2&page=1

What is Upstage Home Staging?

We help houses sell quickly and profitably, because a staged home can sell up to 30% faster than a non-staged home. The use of proven techniques will attract buyers.

For example:

• Pocket of Emotion – allows a buyer to bond with the home and remember it later.
• Furniture Placement – the furniture arrangement determines how the buyer views the home.

A professional home stager is like an encyclopedia of home staging techniques. Even a home that shows fine and is well kept by the homeowner can benefit from staging. Because how we live in the home is different from how the home should show to buyers.

It’s like Retail 101. When a house is for sale, it’s a product. It needs to be packaged and marketed, just like all those items on store shelves.

Let’s face it with so many properties on the market today, it’s difficult for buyers to remember individual houses. Especially when they look at 10 in one weekend! A home stager will ensure that your house stands out in the crowd.

That’s what we call, Upstaging the Competition!

Design Star - Upstaged

Since I couldn’t be in New York to compete myself (even though I really wanted to be), I figured I can at least critique those who were. After watching this second episode, I have gotten past my funk about not being cast and am ready to dish. So here goes…

This season’s designers are being thrown right in. They’ve had little time to get to know each other, which adds to the element of competition. How very Mark Burnett to add this element of Survivor to our Design Star.

The designs so far have definitely suffered. And, I’ll give the contestants that benefit of the doubt and say it’s the extreme pressure of the rapid fire challenges and not their design abilities. However…I’ll pick apart a couple for starters.

I’ll start with the one who was sent home after challenge 2, Tera. I liked her white box bedroom design. It was well planned and cohesive, but she doesn’t seem to play well in the sandbox. Apparently, she never got over being last to choose her fashion inspiration, because she was totally uninspired during the apartment challenge. It was lack of creative thinking that led to her dismissal. Come on, using the colors from the outfit on the walls was just lazy…or huffy from being last to pick.

Nina seems to be filling the shoes left by last season’s Antonio. Every good show needs a villain, the one we love to hate. This too, follows every good Mark Burnett show. Problem is we don’t have a reason to love her yet.

How annoying is it to see her be so sweet during judging?

Now for the overall designs seen on this episode.

Men’s Apartment

These spaces really aren’t that great. But it looks like the men worked with what they had rather than fighting what they were given. They seemed to use passion and energy that resulted in a better design.

The verdict.

• Some good overall design planning looks evident.
• Interesting choices created a sophisticated space in the living/dining room.
• Bedroom is lacking the same level of detail – Who’s idea was it to pair the wedding dress with those pjs? Functionally they work in the bedroom. The judges said it best, the romance element is missing. I don’t think the two styles work together. The whimsy of the pjs is also lacking.
• Accessories would be best way to inject the missing personality, and the men missed the mark accessorizing throughout the apartment.

Women’s Apartment

Nina’s headstrong opinions can be hard to take, but the best thing about this space? That red rug that the other women didn’t want. It starts the personality direction for the entire space, and certainly pulls in the red from Emily’s outfit. Why was she complaining?

Here’s what went wrong.

• They wasted too much time throwing disparate ideas into the room, and focused on the negative, rather than saying, "Ok we have this to work with. Now what?" Their argument against the red rug? It doesn’t work with the navy drapes…those ugly, cheap looking, drapes that are too small for the windows. Get rid of them. They are the worst part of the room. Whose ideas were those? She should be the one to go.
• Stacy’s chair I like, but don’t see the connection with the fashion. The dress uses pink (remember the rug?)and pastels. She could have done so much more with that rug there. I like the drink cart.
• I am surprised at the lack of pattern usage. There was so much to work with here from the two fabulous dresses. But everything in the space is solid or textured.
• Where are the plaid and zippers in the bedroom! They had two on trend styles that were completely overlooked by the designers. These two were uninspired by their outfits, and could not get over it. A designer has to have an appreciation for the work/choices of others. That’s what separates a designer from your average person. It’s the ability to “see”.
• Nina’s ideas are the only ones apparent here. Maybe her strategy is to wear down the others, so that they’re too tired from fighting with her to think brilliantly. Her competition should stop focusing on the things they cannot change, and focus on what they can control…their own choices and reactions.

Can’t wait to see what happens next week! They have certainly changed our old predictable Design Star.

Color Theory 101

Whether you love to play with color or prefer a safe beige, knowing a few simple terms can help you talk the talk.

Hue – Refers to the color or base color. A true hue is one that is found on the color wheel. Misuse – to describe lighter or darker a variation in color.

Tint–Put simply, a tint is a lighter variation of a color. Tints are created by adding white to colors. For example, pink is a tint of red. Misuse – to describe the application of color to something (e.g. blue-tinted hair).

Shade–A hue that has been made darker by adding black to it. Navy is a shade of blue. Misuse - when used to describe any color. Note: shades are darker than the base hue.

Tone – Created when gray is added to a hue, a tone is created. Tones are generally more muted versions of colors. Misuse – to describe any variation in hue.

Value– This term describes the lightness or darkness of a color. Colors with more white (tints) have higher value, and darker colors (shades) have lower value. Misuse – this term is often not used. Typically shade or tone is misused instead.

Saturation– The purity or intensity of a color is called saturation. The most-saturated colors are vivid and strong, where less-saturated colors can appear washed out or muted. Misuse – sometimes used to describe opacity.

With a better understanding of these color terms, you can easily choose color palettes for any application from walls to your wardrobe.

Look for more color tips to come.