My Favorite Things: Library Ladders

One of my favotie things are library ladders. They can be used as a decorative element or function as a useful way to access the vertical spaces in your home.

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 Contemporary Family Room design by New York Architect Murdock Solon Architects

They are fun  way to access storage a child's room.  Children will love climbing up and down to get their toys. 

Contemporary Kids design by Hawaii Interior Designer Philpotts Interiors

I love this idea for purse and shoe storage.  You know, a girl can never have too many!
  

And finding a favorite books is so much easier with this spunky red ladder!  

How about incorporating a library ladder in your kitchen to acces high cupboard space, or.....

  via Cultivate

  to reach your accessories to rearrange or rotate them.

This certainly makes the case of building all the way to the ceiling.

ia Patricia Gray interiors Inc from Southern Accents Magazine

Or if you just love the way they look, get one and prop it up in your library (bookshelf) area. 

If you are now inspired to add one of these lovelies to your home, here are some resources where you might purchase them:

http://www.alacoladder.com/library-ladders.php

http://www.putnamrollingladder.com/

Amazing Internet Resources for Design

Here are some amazing websites for items for your interiors and ideas for your design projects.

For accessories and furniture go to One Kings Lane for their daily sales on all sorts of beautiful items at a discount price

https://www.onekingslane.com/

Also check out Josh and Main for similar items and great buys.

https://www.jossandmain.com/

If you are looking for  Kitchen designs and inspirations I love Cultivate.com at http://www.cultivate.com/. There is even a link to post a question for a kitchen expert  who will post the answer online as well as  interesting articles related to kitchen design.  For example there is an article written by a designer from Walker Zanger about how to select the right marble countertop for your kitchen.   You can also upload a picture of your kitchen and get advice from an expert online. 

For  photos design and remodeling ideas for the entire house check out  Houzz.com  http://www.houzz.com/.  You can a collection of photos on their website for future reference.   If you are looking for ideas for a porch, here is just one example of a design I found on Houzz today .

Contemporary Porch design by Other Metros Interior Designer Joel Snayd

Pinterest is another way to communicate your ideas to your designer.  it is a great way to collect lots of images of things you like and categorize them.  A helpful way to start "defining your style". Sign up and start pinnning. A picture is worth a thousand words.

Here is the link to access my  pinterest boards: http://pinterest.com/pdrane/

Find a great picture on the internet? Just join Pinterest and "pin" the image to one of your concept or idea  boards.  You can follow other "pinners" and they can follow you.  It sure saves a lot of time trying to tear photos out of magazines and file them.   For example I recently  found this photo on a blog I was reading recently and pinned this funky painted furniture photo to my Furniture board.  A great idea for decorating a child or tween room.  

I hope you are having a relaxing weekend.  We are gearing up for a busy week for our family. My son and his wife are moving to Chattanooga with our little grandson George next weekend. Boo!  Fortunately, Chattanooga it is only a couple of hours away, so we will be "burning up the road" as they say down here in Atlanta.  Thank you all for reading!  

Patti

A Case for Custom Shower Curtains

I am a big fan of custom shower curtains.  I love being able to select the fabric, create the design and see it transform a bathroom.  A few reasons that you might want to consider having your next shower curtain custom made are:

• You can repeat the same fabric on a window to extend the pattern around the room and give the space a "pulled together" look. 

• The curtain can be lengthened to go from the ceiling to the floor, making a small room seem larger.

Tropical Bathroom design by San Diego Interior Designer James Patrick Walters

•  Since you can choose any length you desire you can even do a puddled hem. This is so chic in this eclectic bath. 

Eclectic Bathroom design by Other Metros Architect Zimina Inna

 

•  You are  able to add  details such as valances, trims, borders etc.  create a  very "finished" look.

                   Contemporary Bathroom design by Dallas Interior Designer Emily Johnston Larkin

• And, the sky is the limit in terms of fabrics you can choose for a custom shower curtain. This  fun geometric print by Robert Allen takes this bath from ho hum to oh wow!

Contemporary Bathroom design by Other Metros Interior Designer Joel Snayd

If you are decorating a bathroom in the near future you might want to consider investing in a custom shower curtain.  

Photo credits: houzz.com

From CBS to Cocktails

Flat screen television are the latest thing, and many of us have at least one giagantic entertainment/armoire unitwhere we housed our former big TVs. This piece of furniture is now pretty much obsolete as we all sooner or later get new televisions.

So what can you do with your television armoire now?  We decided to convert our bedroom unit into a bar.  As many of these cabinets are quite heavy, we had to hire a moving company get it  into the niche in our foyer.

 It took 3 men to get it moved about 20 feet! 

We began by removing the pull-out swivel shelf.  Next, I found an unfinished wine rack online that would fit under the DVD shelf and  had it stained to match. The shelf itself will hold a couple of rows of high ball glasses.

 Then I headed off the the stone fabricator to find a granite remnant make the bar top.  There are lots of options in most stone yards for small pieces that weren't needed in another job.  In this case, I found a piece of Black Absolute that was honed (no gloss).  They did a fantastic job of making a template and fitting the piece perfectly into the the bar. 

Next, a quick call to a glass and mirror shop to set  an appointment to have a mirror custom cut to fit the back, and we were pretty much all set except for LIGHTS!

Handyman, Chip brought some xeon lights from Home Depot and installed them across the backside of the DVD shelf from Home Depot.  Lighting makes all the difference.  Don't skip the lighting step! 

 http://www.homedepot.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?storeId=10051&langId=-1&catalogId=10053&productId=203101595&R=203101595

Here is the cabinet BEFORE

Now all the liquor and pitchers and extra glassware is in the drawers below, freeing up several cabinets.  

Hopefully, we can get our guests to socialize in the living room a bit more now that the bar is nearby. I had a caterer once tell me: " Set up the bar where you want the party to be".  I have found this very accurate advice. 

If you decide to try your hand at repurposing your entertainment unit into a bar please share your before and after photos.  

Cheers! 

Decorating with the American Flag

If you have a flag you would like to display in your home,  take a look at how several designers have used the American flag  in their designs. 

Notice how the colors of our flag have been the inspiration for the color scheme. 

Red, white and blue have always been my favorite colors for  boy's rooms.  It is  timeless.  

The all white room creates a crisp backdrop for an antique American flag. 

What a great idea to hang the flag in a hallway!

 This antique American flag  with the 13 stars of the original colonies creates such an emotional response that it truly is  mesmerizing in this voluminous room.

via Absolutely Beautiful Things 

 Another point of flag ettiquette is to make sure the "union" or blue field is  always to  the observer's left.  

 via Better Homes and Gardens

Lastly remember one important rule of displaying  the flag:  Title 4, Chapter 1, Section 8, (d) of the US Flag Code maintains that the American flag, "should never be used as wearing apparel, bedding, or drapery. It should never be festooned, drawn back, nor up, in folds, but always allowed to fall free."

On this 4th of July let's remember those who have sacrificed their lives to keep us free and display our flag proudly!

Hope you have a Happy 4th!