Before and After: Master Bath

This bathroom was one of four that I designed for a client with a weekend home in Woodstock, NY.

The thing I love most about design is seeing a project come to life: from an idea, to a drawing, to a three-dimensional reality. Even better is when it starts as an uninspired (read: ugly) space and turns into something special.

After: custom cabinetry and simple finishes create a relaxing master bath in this contemporary country home.

Before: The original bathroom had dark cabinets, ‘makeup lights’, and a funky jetted tub. It looked like a patchwork of mirror, cabinets, and fixtures.

The final plan unified the space and emphasized the symmetry of the windows by running the shelf and mirror along the wall, and adding lights that flanked the windows. To keep costs down, the plumbing was kept in the same location.


The faucets (from Waterworks) are low profile and manage to be refined and industrial at the same time

The Victoria + Albert soaking tub is now a favorite spot for the homeowner to unwind.

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CATEGORIES: Baths, Before & After, Field Trips
POSTED ON: June 7th, 2013

Before and After: Secret Garden

This projects was a lot of fun, since it involved tree branches (my favorite DIY material), a kids’ room, and a little dose of magic!

Here’s what it looked like before – not too inspired. I couldn’t wait to get that paint on the fireplace and bring some color and life into the space.

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CATEGORIES: Artwork, Before & After, DIY
POSTED ON: April 21st, 2013

A renovation roadmap from TheSweeten.com

The folks at TheSweeten.com have come up with this great infographic illustrating who to hire — and in what order —  when you are thinking about a renovation. In case you haven’t heard yet, TheSweeten is like a matchmaking service for people looking to make home improvements and the contractors, designers, and architects who can do those improvements.

Thanks for this fun graphic, Sweeten folks!

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CATEGORIES: Uncategorized
POSTED ON: March 7th, 2013

Tile Trends

A couple of weeks ago I headed out to San Diego  (where even the bad weather is good)  to spend some time with my awesome friend Erin Adams. Erin started as a glass mosaic artist, with many patterns you would recognize from all the years she sold her wares through Ann Sacks.

House Fifty Two is her latest venture — a boutique tile and wall coverings company featuring hand-picked artist like Suzanne Redfield, David Csicsko, and others in addition to Erins own playful designs.

Here are some of the fun and sophisticated tiles House Fifty Two offers…

Nigella, color way 3 tile

Houndstooth 3, color way 1

Houndstooth 3, color way 1 tile

Houndstooth 1, color way 2 tile

Letterpress ceramic tiles

Surfboard ceramic tiles

Letterpress ceramic tiles

To visit House Fifty Two, click here.

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CATEGORIES: Field Trips
POSTED ON: March 6th, 2013

Entry Makeover – transforming a home ‘trouble zone’

You know those areas in your home that bug you every time you see them? Well, my vestibule was one of them, and finally I got to work doing something about it. One of the problems is that the area didn’t have much character, and the other was that there wasn’t a good way to store our scooters (we have a kids scooter and an adult scooter).

Before: originally the strips of wallpaper were a cool idea to protect the walls, but the scooters all ended up piled up anyway and it ended up looking messy.

The other side was just blah.

I always loved the board and batten detailing at my local coffee hangout, Smith Canteen, so I decided to do something similar.

First I painted the lower half of the wall with Benjamin Moore Indian River 985.  Then I cut my strips of wood to fit. I primed and painted them (probably the most time consuming part of the project!).

Love me my power tools! Got to use my chop saw and paslode nail gun to put up the board and batten wainscot.

Here’s a progress shot — I decided to paint the baseboard to match after seeing this!

Next, I tackled the scooter holder, which was inspired by drawer pulls made of leather loops.

I laid the scooters on my strip of 1×3 and decided where the leather loops should go

The leather was purchased as a scrap, and I created a template to make the strips consistent — I always say don’t measure unless you have to.

The Forstner bit allowed me to cut a nice flat bottom hole for the nut in the back, so it would sit flush to the wood. The tape is a guide so I don’t go too deep.

 

Drilling the holes for the bolt

 

 

Voila! an artisanal scooter holder — very Portlandia…

 

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CATEGORIES: Before & After, DIY, Storage
POSTED ON: February 25th, 2013

Organizing with Color

During our Summer trip to Utah, I came upon this place which of course I found irresistible. It was packed with just about everything imaginable; boots, books, pottery, rocks, record players, beads, and much, much (much!) more. Inside, I found that in spite of all the clutter, it was pretty easy to look around. Why? They had organized things by color!

There was a blue wall…

 And there was a pink wall…

All of which got me thinking about organizing by color. I’ve also organized my  books by color and found it easy to locate what I needed. As a visual person I think remembering the color of the cover is a lot easier than remembering the title or even the name of the author! I have one client, a book editor, who is horrified by this, but it works for me.

Most of us would be pretty challenged to arrange this perfect rainbow of books, but I think a large wall of books by color of this size would be fantastic even with a much closer palette.  Notice how it really ends up functioning like a large painting in the space.

 

Arranging clothing by color is also extremely helpful to locating items quickly — who’s going to forget what color they’re looking for!.

Finally, I discovered that I can do the same with my files – this is not only pretty, it really does help me find things faster.

Got any color-coded techniques that help? Let me know!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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CATEGORIES: Field Trips, Organizing
POSTED ON: February 14th, 2013

Before and After: Custom Art and Architecture

As you can see from the image below, this multi-use room was crying out for some character. A built-in office nook, and a re-do of the fireplace surround made a huge difference to the tone of the room

Before

The fireplace surround was replaced with a slightly metallic tile, in a random strip pattern, and a new mantle from a re-purposed joist was installed. The TV was also installed in a recessed nook.

On the other side of the room,  furniture was replace and the walls painted. For a splash of color, I created a custom photo installation that wrapped along two walls. Since the theme of the room was ‘organic modern’ I used a tree as the basis for the piece.

Here I am with my assistant getting all these pictures up (with the homeowner’s daughter looking on with curiousity!). This install really required some planning, and those paper templates were a must.

Voila!

The client did not care for the spiral staircase, nor the barely-accessible closet. We took it all out, and designed a wonderful, open staircase with integrated storage.

 

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CATEGORIES: Artwork, Before & After
POSTED ON: February 5th, 2013

Holiday Gift Ideas under $50 (mostly!)

I know I’m not the only one who is not done shopping, but I may be one of the few who haven’t even started! Here are just a few picks – most under $50 – for those of you procrastinators like me…

 

Remember Spirograph? Hypotrochoid Art Set from Restoration Hardware. $12

 

Sun Art Paper from Restoration Hardware. $10.

Scrapbook Shadowbox Kit from Cricket. $24.95.

The City of New York History Over Time Puzzle – a multi-layered puzzle that lets you construct several layers of New York History. $39.99.

This is like Wired magazine for kids. It’s so tech savvy and cool, I have pretty much stolen my son’s first issue.  Muse Magazine. -. $33.95.

 

Home Gift Ideas

I like the contemporary look of the glass vases. Live Orchids in Glass Vases from Pottery Barn. $49.

The only coffee maker that makes a statement when it’s empty. Chemex 8-Cup Coffee Maker from Crate & Barrel. $38.95.

I still have my grandmother’s old one  - a timeless oven-to-table piece Kobenstyle 4-qt. Casserole from Crate & Barrel. $99.95.

 

 

This comes in several options including feathers – Origami Ornament from Bliss Living Home. $16.

Great color, and a great price!Maren Orange Candleholders from Bliss Living Home. $25 to $35.

Time to shop!

 

 

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CATEGORIES: Shopping
POSTED ON: December 5th, 2012

Free Kitchen and Bath Workshop!

OK, so it’s been a while…. Why? There are lots of new and exciting things in the works, including a completely re-designed website and blog (almost ready), and the first in a series of Design Coach e-books, The Design Coach Guide to Kitchens which will be available in December on my site and others. To celebrate I am giving a free workshop on kitchen and bath renovations, hosted by the nice folks at FLOR | Brooklyn on Thursday, November 15th from 7:30-9:00 where I will be sharing insider tips to help you avoid common pitfalls and make the most of your renovation budget. 

You’ll also have the chance to win some great giveaways including a FLOR twelve-tile rug (excluding wool), a Design-Coaching session with yours truly, and copies of the e-book, The Design Coach Guide to Kitchens. AND there will be light refreshments — it just gets better and better!

I really hope to see you there, it’s sure to be a fun evening. The event is free, but space is limited, so click on the button below to register.

Eventbrite - Kitchen and Bath renovations: Saving time, money, and stress

Kitchen and Bath Workshop with Jennifer Levy of CAVdesign

FLOR | Brooklyn
307 Atlantic Ave Brooklyn, NY 11201
Thursday, November 15, 2012 from 7:30 PM to 9:00 PM (EST)


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CATEGORIES: Baths, Events, Kitchens
POSTED ON: November 3rd, 2012

FLOR comes to Brooklyn!

I think FLOR makes a great product — and you can shop without guilt as they are a truly eco-friendly company (they will recycle any returned tiles, among other efforts). So….imagine my excitement when I spotted a new FLOR showroom on Atlantic Avenue. I hopped off my bike and took a look around — They have lots of samples which you can borrow, and a friendly staff to help. I think it’s so helpful to see things in person so I’m really happy we have a local place to play with FLOR tiles.



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CATEGORIES: Field Trips, Shopping
POSTED ON: October 31st, 2012