light bright

Check out these cool new light fixtures from artist Rick Strini

Blissful Bedroom

I just received the new trade catalog for the fall/winter collection at Bliss Living. I have to say, it couldn't have come at a better time since I had just attempted to make my bed (which rarely happens) with the various mismatched pillows and blankets. I did finally buy a quilt to fit our king sized bed a few months ago - prior to that we were using the one from our old queen!

Having the requirement of eco-friendly bedding makes it somewhat difficult. You typically can't just go to a store and pick up organic cotton anything, though it is getting better. Furthermore, bedding can be quite expensive and we have a standard king versus the ever popular California king...the excuses go on and on.

Getting back on subject, I was excited to flip through the pages and see a range of colors that felt new and fresh, like the Icelandic Dream collection

(I love the wooden mobile in the background)

and Amelie Green


I'm really drawn to the varying shades of green, especially the touches of olive and dusty sage together. Notice the Canada passport pillow too. How cool is that?


I'm also a fan of the reclaimed wood shelves


Needless to say, it sent me into a bedroom redecorating frenzy so you may be seeing my bedroom before/after posts in the near future.

spied it, found it

One of the first stops on our trip to Santa Barbara was the city of Solvang, also known as Little Denmark.

We ate at a cafe called Panino, which can be found all around SB County (which we did not know at the time...oh well).

Our sandwiches were served on these great splattered enamelware dishes, which I obsessed over for the rest of trip. I thought I would find them in a shop in Solvang, but alas I did not.

photo courtesy of Flickr


I took this photo through the window of the closed cafe just as we were leaving town - last chance for a picture!

So...when I got home I immediately began my search for this lovely enamelware. I found them at Crow Canyon, along with the rest of the collection of servingware, bakeware, and flatware if you really want to go nuts!

I would like to have a couple of plates and bowls to mix in with assorted white dishes for a casual but fun dinner party.

design innovations

I just received my updated binder of Innovations line of sustainable wallcoverings. Among some of the old favorites were some new items and I just couldn't wait to share!

My new favorite is called Origami Wood (guess why). I am currently imagining this on a wall behind a hostess station or reception desk. It's so texturally interesting and I'm thinking that on a large scale it would have the appearance of a cubist masterpiece - but subdued enough to work in more conservative spaces as well.



And for a couple of oohs and aahs, let's look at some shiny stuff. The first one is covered in Murano glass beads. In black it reminds me of an evening gown.



I also like the simple texture of mica chips in this paper, appropriately named Nautilus. It's got a soft sheen, not exactly irridescent, but eye-catching just the same.

I'll drink to that!

I love this chandelier by Propellor Design. Using 120 mismatched glass tumblers, this fixture is unfussy yet exciting in all it's glossy glory. I can only imagine how it looks lit up in a dark space, with light bouncing all around the varying shades of glass. Stunning.

dram chandelier, by Propellor Design

plates with purpose

I am currently working on a booth for the Spring Garden Show at South Coast Plaza. While sourcing the various furniture and accent pieces for our native California garden, I came across Riverside Design Group's new collections of recycled glass tableware. And I'm in love.

Riverside Design Group was the first company I found that had an amazing variety of colors and styles for recycled glassware. As you can well imagine, just a couple of years ago this was not so common. The collections now have branched out to become truly unique pieces of art (functional, sustainable art...)

One such collection is plates with purpose. Each of the designs in the series benefit a different non-profit organization, which means you can feel great about shopping!

the tree collection benefits CASA (Court Appointed Special Advocates)


proceeds from the elephant collection go to The National Autism Association.


Another favorite of mine is the new splash and drop bowls. These don't need much of an explanation, but how cool are they?

I'm such a geek for fabric

Recently it's been feeling a lot like Christmas in the office- simply because it seems like every couple of days I'm getting a new delivery of samples (read: presents for designers) and I get overly giddy about each and every one of them. The other day I received swatches of Live Textiles, a company founded by four amazing women who care about the environment as much as they do about making beautiful,
quality materials.

The textiles are made with organic materials in the U.S. and printed using water-based inks. They have a laundry list of eco-cred and, really, they are just so lovely to look at. Oh, and you can pretty much have things anyway you like them. The colors are customizable and they have seemingly endless options to mix and match. As my mother always said, "you gotta have options." Indeed.

I love this! It's called Sunset in the Park.

rubie green goes to bed

One of my very first posts was about Rubie Green textiles; a line of playful, vibrant prints on organic cotton (I have a bit of an obsession with fabric lately) designed by the oh-so-lovely Michelle Adams
of M.A. Belle.

So I was pretty excited to learn that she's been working on a line of bedding that includes some of her most versatile prints. These are so reasonably priced that I almost bought one of each just so that I would have them by the time she figured out that the prices were wrong (but that would technically be stealing...).




Congrats Michelle. You are going to do really well with these.

the write idea

A certain number of us remember the days when the school blackboard suddenly turned white...when the boring white chalk (or sometimes pastel) was left behind for brighter shades of red, green and blue. Aah, the marker board. Standing in front of class became fun again. Okay, maybe not, but the absence of screeching chalk and the ability to fully erase that wrong math equation was pretty exciting wasn't it?

Well here is a new take on that genius. Paint. It's called Idea Paint and, you guessed it, it works like a dry erase board. You can paint it anywhere; classrooms, conference rooms, children's bedrooms, even replace the family chore board with it.

There are endless options and endless positives about this stuff. First of all it's non-toxic, a pre-requisite for anything I would suggest in your home. It can be painted over so there is no lifelong commitment and, best of all, it inspires creativity every time you pass by!
Who can resist a blank canvas?

not your grandmother's wallpaper

Most people have a pretty strong memory of their grandmother's house. The smell of cookies or bread and getting to stay up later than you were normally allowed brings back fond memories for many. But I'm going to venture a guess here that the design of the house didn't rank quite as high...tchochkes from floor to ceiling, faded carpet, outdated draperies. Am I on the right track? Well, some of the things from grandma's house are now finding their way back into the world of high design, and it looks like they might just stay awhile.

Wallpaper is one of these such things and I can attest to previously being on the other side of the fence. But thanks to companies like Farrow & Ball I have fully recovered from my wallpaper aversion.

Farrow & Ball is a British manufacturer of paint and wallpaper, but have showrooms all across this side of the pond.

The images here are beautiful, but even they don't do justice to the magnificence of the actual paper. The color palette is earthy and rich and the paper patterns range from funky to elegant so there are endless possibilities here. The papers are printed using traditional blocks and water based paints so they have a totally unique texture and quality. They make a bold statement no matter where they are and truly are timeless design.

Samples of both paper and paint can be ordered through the website and product can be ordered through me.

rubie green

Designers sometimes get a bad rap because many people think that all we do is pick out fabric all day. Well that isn't hardly true but I do have a certain fondness for the stuff. I get pretty darn excited when I walk into a showroom filled with wall-to-wall swatches of patterns and textures and colors, oh my!

So imagine my delight to have stumbled upon someone who seems to have that same giddy excitement, and a passion for green as well. Her name is Michelle Adams and she owns a textile company called Rubie Green. Her prints are bold and happy and come in the most usable colorways! My current favorite is Indian Lake (the fish).


These fabrics rank incredibly high on the eco-charts too. They are made in the US on 100% organic cotton fabric, whitened without bleach, and then printed with zero VOC water-based inks and finished without the use of chemicals. And because the printing process they use is so efficient they only use a gallon of water per day! That is pretty impressive.








Check out the company in all their eco-fabulousness at rubiegreen.com

I would also like to credit Patrick Cline, the photographer, for the stunning pictures. Take a look at his website (this guy is kind of a genius) Brand-Arts

flushing the competition

I do realize that it's a little bit odd to start out by featuring a toilet (is that some kind of symbolism? Or maybe just a sick sense of humor.) Actually, this product just doesn't get near the attention it deserves. As a designer I am fairly attuned to things that are well designed- or not- and this one is a winner in my book.

This is a dual flush toilet by Caroma. I think by now most of us realize the concept of the two-flushes, but just for fun I'm going to spell it out. Flush one is for liquid waste and flush two is for what we lovingly refer to as 'a number two.' Get it? Thought so.

An average toilet in this day and age uses anywhere from 1.6 gallons to 5 gallons (depending on when and where the toilet was installed) of water per flush. That is a little crazy, especially going back to the 'number one' use. So it seems like a good area to invest some time in creating new technology.

And so it is that Caroma, along with many other toilet manufacturers now, has come up with the concept of having a dual flush system, which uses only about .8 gallons on the one flush and 1.6 for the regular one. And the true design genious here is that they are virtually un-cloggable! Seriously, I tried this at a showroom. It's oh so un-eco, but we shoved wads of (recycled) paper towels in there without any problems. And I kid you not, we flushed a potato. I'm talking Idaho potatoes, not the little ones. It just sucked it right down. Amazing.

So to Caroma and friends, my hat is off to you. Thank you for making a great product that contributes to a solution rather than adding to the problem.