Design Crew

Got a problem? Need some help? Just standing there shaking your head? Don't know what to do? You're not alone. Send us a link to photos of your design quandary and let the Desire to Inspire design crew help you .... that's you lot ... the readers! Carolina needs some suggestions this week.

I emailed you a few weeks ago telling you how much help your blog has been to us on decorating our new home. Here are a few photos of what we accomplished so far. We are stuck at finding the perfect dining chairs for our custom dinning table. Maybe you can help us get a little inspired. The chairs we had originally picked are not available (the factory closed). We are thinking about chairs in different colors since our walls are all white.

Now here's the table (and it is a beauty, oh be still my beating heart) ...

And here are some other shots of Carolina's house in progress. There's still a way to go but what a great start.

Know the perfect chair? Jump right in with your 2 cents worth. Links would be lovely too ;)

Design Crew

Got a problem? Need some help? Just standing there shaking your head? Don't know what to do? You're not alone. Send us a link to photos of your design quandary and let the Desire to Inspire design crew help you .... that's you lot ... the readers! Sonia (who shared the amazing rowhouse renovation earlier this week) has a question ...

We are venturing into our 3rd renovation, another rowhouse.  As is typical in our area space is adequate but not abundant. In an effort to be better designers we'd like to know how most respond to this: Given the choice of some extra space on your 2nd floor, which do you choose....an extra bedroom or an extra bath?? Suppose there is space enough for 3 bedrooms & 1 bath or 2 bedroom & 2 bath but no way to combine 3 bedrooms with 2 baths. Size of family is not a constraint -- 2 bedrooms is enough for you and your nuclear family.  The 3 bedroom scenario gives you a good size master, a nice size bath and 2 smaller rooms with closets.  The 2 bedroom gives you slightly larger bedrooms, more closet space (but not a ton more), en suite bathroom and a washer dryer upstairs (vs downstairs in the 3 bedroom scenario).  In case it matters there is a powder room on the first floor of a 2 level structure in either scenario. In either case, finishes will be high quality so that's not a factor either.

Something to keep in mind is that this house is being renovated to sell. Why is she asking you? Because she knows that thousands of design savvy readers with very set opinions come here every day. What a great resource to tap. And what does this next house look like now? Look away now if you are squeamish.

Phew! That wasn't too bad but knowing what the other houses have looked like inside I shudder to imagine what this one is like. So what do you suggest? Scheme 1 or Scheme 2?

Design Crew

Got a problem? Need some help? Just standing there shaking your head? Don't know what to do? You're not alone. Send us a link to photos of your design quandary and let the Desire to Inspire design crew help you .... that's you lot ... the readers! Bridget emailed ...

 

Okay, I have a styling question.  My hubby and I have an industrial loft (30 foot ceilings, brick top to bottom, polished concrete floors, the whole nine yards) in Buffalo, New York.  After searching and searching for the perfectly vintage, perfectly chic work tables for both of us, we ended up purchasing these new industrial packing tables.  Our workspaces are out in the open, and we each wanted about 10 feet of workspace, so we realized that getting enough vintage worktop to look cohesive would be nearly impossible.. and finding 4 mismatched antique tables could get really hodge-podgy, really quick.

We bought these new:

Basically, we'll each have 10 feet of workspace (1 6-foot and 1 4-foot table each), with brick behind.  The hope is that they'll be a good, blank, cohesive, industrial canvas for us..  Do you have any ideas for how we could "chic" them up and make them feel more vintage industrial.  His stuff consists of a computer and then bike gear (tools, wrenches, etc.) and mine is 2 desktop iMacs and craft/paper supplies.

Any tips would be much appreciated!

Design Crew

Got a problem? Need some help? Just standing there shaking your head? Don't know what to do? You're not alone. Send us a link to photos of your design quandary and let the Desire to Inspire design crew help you .... that's you lot ... the readers! Emma emailed with something a little different.

I am about to bite the bullet and buy some rooms to practice from. I work doing mostly psychotherapy with parents of babies and young children and other adult patients. I have tried to look up some design plans for psychiatrists offices and have hit a blank.

As an additional challenge, the space I am looking at has 5 metre ceilings, a lot of glass at the front and I need to think of acoustics  and privacy.....I was thinking rooms within rooms. It needs to be a welcoming and calming space....but not "seductive" if you know what I mean. Even though we need to cater for children who may come along with their parents on occasions I do not want it looking like cartoon vomit (if you know what I mean)

Can you or your readers help me with some suggestions to this pretty major challenge! (More after the jump.)

Click to read more ...

Reader request - bookshelf vignettes

Today's reader request is from Eva in Toronto: I was wondering if you could perhaps provide some inspiration on how to decorate and style some build-in units in a main living space? I would love to see how others around the world have filled these spaces with treasures/books/objects d'art so that I can do the same in my home. Simple enough request, but sometimes quite a daunting task to get vignettes looking just right. I constantly change items on display in my house as I am never happy with them and get bored quick. Observing how others display objects can help us rethink how our own pieces are used. For example, I have a bunch of spray painted black vases (leftover from my wedding) on some shelving, and I took a wide/short vase and stuck 2 skinny/tall vases in it. I have a stack of about 8 books on the same shelving, standing upright with the tallest at the back and shortest at the front that way you get a peek at the cover of each book (seen here). Hopefully the following group of photos help to inspire Eva's built-in displays.

Lonny
all about you
Lonny
Hus & Hem
Lonny
Design*Sponge
Jen Fong

Click to read more ...