Living in a Tree

Lately I've been feeling a little drained and I've been trying to find sources of new inspiration. I've realized that as time goes on, you lose a little bit of the innocent spirit that's inside of you. You begin to forget the simple things that use to make you uncontrollably happy, and unfortunately everything around you gets tangled up into a discombobulated mess.

I spent a few days searching for what really does inspire me. Then, out of the blue, I stumbled onto my admissions essay for the School of Interior Architecture and Design. We were told to write about a place that inspires us, a place that makes us want to be designers. I read through the 250 word essay and reached the last line..... "Not just one place, but the natural world around me inspires me to create beauty."

That sentence reminded me why I came to this program and why I'm going through this.

Soo... lets look to the natural world for inspiration !!

The Dancing Tree

The Cherry Blossom. Always an amazingly beautiful thing to see. Its flowers are nearly pure white, tinged with the palest pink, especially near the stem. They bloom and fall within a week, so catching sight of one is pretty spectacular.

Lets Design...

A stunning room! Done in simple light colors and patterns, set against a dramatic canvas of a cherry blossom imitation.

[Image taken from Material Girls blog site... more amazing tree paintings on walls found there.]

Lulu Painting

A child's play room, made to resemble a park. Never to young for imagination.

The Hydrangea.

I was stumbling through Anthropology's website (die for the store) the other day and I found this absolutely delightful knob. It's so cute I decided to put in my current studio design.

Fashion Designers also take inspiration from the natural environment. Lucy Liu in a Giambattista Valli Gown, paired with gold Christian Louboutin pumps.

There are many ways to be inspired, everyone is drawn to something new and different. These are a few examples of how the natural environment inspires design.

Don't forget what makes you imaginatively innovative! What inspires you?

Giving Back to God's Green Earth

In my Studio Design class, we're learning about the construction and development of kitchens. We are also further learning about sustainability and the amazing benefits the world will have from it. In studio we were all told to come up with a sustainability event, that would give back to the community around us. A group of friends and I decided to create a children's poem, titledGiving Back to God's Green Earth, and read it at a Sunday School and a local daycare.

Below is the poem and pictures drawn by Danielle Waye::

The children all loved the story and afterwards we helped them plant radishes so they could be apart of giving back to God's green earth...

Material Girls

So lately I've been looking through different blogs, for inspirational and imaginative ideas. Quite luckily, I stumbled upon a blog cite called Material Girls. The cite was designed by five self proclaimed material girls: Emily Johnston, Lauren Haskett, Julia Buckingham Edelmann, Jill Seidner, and Hilary White. Each woman covers a different city and blogs about amazing new treasures they find. This blog is absolutely inspirational and I encourage you to visit it!! Immediately.

An example of the Material Girls blog ::

Viva La Glam

by: Emily Dallas

Miss Dallas writes: I took a trip to the Neiman’s downtown today to get a last minute glimpse of the exquisite Jan Showers’ room that has been on display for the past few weeks. The “living room” vignette is on the second floor and the display ends November 5th! (yes, tomorrow!) So go check it out if you are in the area.

I normally don't go for the glam style, but when I read this article and visited Jan Showers website, I found an amazing appreciation for it. I love the modern feel of the furniture mixed with the natural elements such as the trees, branches, and flowers on the tables. The mix of geometric shapes on the throw pillows and the curvilinear chandelier also provide nice contrast. I've recently read that mirrored furniture is very in style right now and many designers are using it. When done in the right way I think that it can be quite fantastic. In Jan Showers design glass mirrored features are found on the frames of the chairs and on the end tables.

Here are a few mirrored pieces I found

on the Neiman Marcus website.

[completely out of my price range, but absolutely lovely to look at]

Antiqued Mirrored Chest

Handcrafted wood and eglomise chest has reverse painted floral designs on its top and the faces of its four drawers.

Priced at :: $2,199.00

Mirrored Vanity and Vanity Seat

Antiqued mirrored veneers cover the select hardwood frame of this stylish vanity with gold- and silver-leaf accents.

Priced at :: $699.90 (Vanity)

$459.00 (Bench)

"Equis" Mirrored Chest

Sophisticated and compact, this chest with beveled mirrored veneers make a handsome addition to the bedroom, living room, office, or foyer.

Priced at :: $699.00