We're not exactly a bunch of wallflowers (seriously…ask anyone). We love to talk: about our work, our passion for our clients, our weekend cooking extravaganzas). But even more, we love to help everyone understand the transformative power of design and how to think about it in our daily lives. Live Your Story is all about that: bite-sized nibbles of good design thinking and living (with the occasional recipe and client shout out).
Live Your Story
To the Finish Line
We all have these moments: a wedding, a birthday, a big project where everything we’ve envisioned, planned, and worked so hard for is on the brink of becoming real. It’s show time…and in our world that means construction and fabrication. And construction and fabrication is the place where there are still a few little … Continued
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Follow-The-Bouncing-Ball
Last month, we settled the budget. Now, it’s time to begin taking the story we want to tell from somewhere in our dreams and spreadsheets to the real world. It’s construction time. This is the part where everything can go wrong, everything can go right, or more typically, a little bit of both. What are … Continued
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Number Crunching for Wish Fulfillment
When embarking on an interior design project, it is easy (and, of course, very, very fun) to think about all the possibilities that are available, particularly as you begin to build your wish list full of images and colors and collections from which you’ve drawn inspiration. After all, without wishes, there is nothing to come … Continued
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Candy Shop
Fortunately, for any interior design project, there are nearly endless resources for almost any idea. It’s like an enormous candy shop, and the question is always the same: how to choose; how to find the right new thing while staying true to your personal storyline. This month, we’re going on a field trip to an … Continued
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Dreams to Reality
You know the phrase “back of napkin?” It refers to the quick-and-dirty generation of ideas, often to solve specific problems. They tend to be the ideas that sit at the heart of new creative projects, whether it’s starting a business or redesigning the interior of your home. And while they are exciting, and often worth … Continued
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Taking the Plunge
Now that you’re hooked up to your favorite interior designer, it’s time to get down to business. You have likely put a lot of thought into what you want to accomplish with your interior and now is your chance to let someone else in on your dreams. Like with most other relationships in our lives, … Continued
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Wanted
If seeking a romantic link, one might turn to an online dating site. If it’s a specialty collectible we’re looking for, there are a number of options, from eBay to a local specialty store. But when it comes to finding the right match for an interior-design project, the pathway to finding “the one” isn’t at … Continued
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Let’s Get Behind the Scenes
Last year we set out to convince you why it is so important to live your own story through well designed places and spaces. We kept bringing up risk-taking as an essential element to crafting something that is truly and authentically you. And one of the things we kept hearing was, “ok, fine, I’m on … Continued
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Through Our Eyes
As design junkies in both our personal and professional lives, we are constantly (and voraciously) discovering, cataloging, and evaluating great design — from almost every imaginable direction. Inevitably, we need to make sense of it. What does any of it say about where the market is going? What is useful for our work? What inspires … Continued
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With Risk Comes Reward
All of us can remember a time when we ventured beyond our comfort zone and found something both unexpected and wonderful. In the world of design, such explorations are part of what makes it all so fun, and successful. And regardless of whether you’re the sort of person who likes to surf the avant-garde wave … Continued
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Top Shelf Design
Let’s face it, we all like to feel that we know something special — that thing that not everyone is privy to, but we are because we know the right person, or happen to be in the right place at the right time, or belong to a well-informed circle of friends. There is a certain … Continued
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Crafting the Story
How do good designers tell good stories? Like following a recipe, there is both a specific framework and a well-honed sense of intuition that interior designers use in the design process. As much as we would like to wave our wand HGTV-style, good design does not work that way, and for many good reasons. The … Continued
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Trust an Interior Designer to Get a Space That’s Just Right
We have all experienced the happiness, and often the sense of intense relief, when we find that “just right” fit, whether it’s a suit, a pair of shoes or a home. When all of our expectations and hopes and requirements come together, it can feel nothing short of miraculous. And then, as it seems to … Continued
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Onward and Upward
Now that you are feeling free to boldly turn away from hyped–up trends and seductive retail sirens, and know whom to turn to for solid, relevant advice, it’s time for some meaty questions. What does the professional’s process for creating a well-designed interior design story look like? Why do you almost certainly want it? How … Continued
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When Retail Giveth, Mindfulness Goeth Away
It seems every day we are bombarded with mailings from retailers who seem to have some ESP-sort of insight into what we will respond to and, if all goes well, purchase. This is in addition to the very real daily deluge of digital ads so targeted that we catch ourselves saying, “Wow! they really know … Continued
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Weighted Advice
After last month’s article, we’re counting on the fact that you’re working on trusting that inner design voice, rather than falling prey to the trend du jour. Now that you’re feeling more in control, we’re going to challenge you slightly by adding an asterisk. There are times when we all need to get out of … Continued
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To Trend or Not To Trend
When considering the mind-numbing number of choices that contemporary consumer culture makes available to us, it is often easier to take the path of least resistance. To just accept what is being touted as the new best/right/life-altering product/food/ dogma seems to be the easiest way to survive it all. It’s the “I’ll have what s/he’s … Continued
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A New Title for the New Year
As this year opens, we introduce a new column title, and we promise a renewed and active contemplation of the ways in which interior spaces impact our lives. We’ll seek to uncover and evaluate the influences in our choices in how we live our personal and collective stories in the everyday, and of course particularly … Continued
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Wrapping Up
This year we have endeavored to touch upon our humanity through exploring design at a deeper level. We addressed higher ways of thinking about the power of interior design as well as practical applications on how one’s space can provide refuge, sanctuary, strength and inspiration. Starting the set out with “Food for the Soul”, we … Continued
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(No) Beating Around the Bush
As is the case in most of life, the more we practice saying what we truly mean with clear communications, the better the outcome. It is no different in any type of professional engagement, be it medical care, legal consultation, or interior design. Author and journalist Germany Kent says, “If you don’t know what it … Continued
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A Small Leap
Many find themselves struggling with decisions about their interiors, especially when the options are seemingly limitless. This indecision often comes from not wanting to make a mistake. Let us keep in context most decisions of this nature are far from life threatening, or even permanent: What color to paint the walls? What fabric to reupholster … Continued
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Sur La Table
Like the campfire in days begone, today the center point of family, home and social gatherings remains the kitchen. A room that is inherently much more than its Latin origin, coquere, “to cook” suggests. In fact, studies might show actual cooking as the central activity for this space ranking equal to or lower than other … Continued
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Amidst the Chaos
Does the thought of curling up in your favorite chair immediately bring you joy? Where in our interior spaces can we get away from stress, dive into our inner lives and daydream for a moment, even two? Most likely there is a place that comes to mind. A professional interior designer can evoke these good … Continued
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The Long View
We may love to believe that life will continue as we now know it, but pragmatism and experience tells us otherwise. We know that our own circumstances will inevitably morph as we continue the journey, both physically and situationally. Both inevitable and unforeseen life events unfold with the unobtainable unknown. Be it our physical capacities … Continued
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It’s a Small World
Design is a universal language with the ability to unify cultures. Under the larger umbrella of design, interior design is a global proposition from conception through execution. There is much acceptance and inclusion in the world of interiors where the best idea typically wins and cultural differences and attributes are celebrated. Interior designers and the … Continued
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Gather ‘Round
Let’s face it we all need human connection and conversation, whether that is strategic work conversation, mood-lightening, bonding, insightful, nostalgic, or even “those” conversations. In simpler times, such conversations took place around campfires, at the hearth or, perhaps, in a study. As society less and less avails itself to those deep, robust conversations, and connectedness … Continued
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Origin
These days we are fortunate to have many options for just about every purchase. Just as we have the choice of fast food or slow food, we can choose ‘fast’ or ‘slow’ interior design. While the former might provide something that is instantly gratifying and taste good going down, does it provide any nourishment on … Continued
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Food for the Soul
As our introductory article for 2017, we begin a series of articles aimed at touching our humanity and community through design at a deeper level. We will address higher ways of thinking about the power of interior design, as well as practical applications in how our spaces can provide refuge, sanctuary, strength and inspiration. We … Continued
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