Soak in the Pure Pleasure of Nature’s Spa

When parts of the country are suffering record heat and staggering humidity, we out here in the desert southwest wonder what it would feel like to be washed with fresh rainwater rinsing everything everywhere and satiating all the parched plants and surfaces so badly in need of hydration.
Tonight we had a gully-washer by most standards…the thunder and lightning were an exhilarating sensory symphony while the rain pelted an acoustical beat against all that it hit from rooftop to skylights, car hoods to pavements. We drove upward – east toward the majestic Sandias like salmon upstream against the river’s current – in this case, rain rushing from the higher elevations down toward the mighty (we hope tonight) Rio Grande valley. Here is a shot at 2nd and Osuna as the lighting pierced the sky behind the traffic lights – quite the spectacular pyrotechnic scene – courtesy of man and Mother Nature. Looks like a color scheme of dark chocolate, amber and turquoise/greens with a purple punctuation…from where does interior design inspiration arise? Then know that the windows were cracked just enough to get that intoxicating smell of the elements and rain!
It was a beautiful natural saturation of the environment and tomorrow all will burst forth with renewed growth and promise as a result of this most welcome cleansing and thirst-quenching downpour. In fact…listen to the quiet night after the rain has passed and hear the tiny frogs that come forth from the moisture that permeates their hiding places and brings them to life with their chorus of happy chirping sounds.
Rather than hiding from it and skirting between the drops – why not stand smack dab in the middle of the rain and soak in the pure pleasure of nature’s spa?
The art and song of the desert during and after a good rain. Take a deep breath!

Don’t Be Afraid to Paint Wood!

Really gotta love red – it is passionate, fun, vibrant, warm and here are some cabinets to illustrate all of that! We recently completed an installation of custom cabinets that we designed for a busy family with two kids needing a work area for homework and craft projects. The upper cabinets were in place along with part of the lowers…but they were golden oak…So we designed the completed components and painted the whole thing a brilliant, semi-glossy red! The work-surface is a manufactured material – a durable engineered product, “Caesar Stone,” in a dark charcoal color. The cabinet “jewelry” is a handsome pewter pull with an Asian bent. They read as punctuations accenting the bold color.
Who wrote these rules? Painting wood is a sacrilege! Yet, I can appreciate the natural beauty and integrity of any organic material – oak is a richly grained wood – cut/sliced many ways – rift or quarter, the character changes completely. But to paint a course-grained wood, one gets the details reading through the painted finish and it is almost like a moiré fabric – water-marks dragged through the surface – but in this case reading through with a wonderfully dimensional quality.
Don’t be afraid to paint wood – it’s just another beautiful way to celebrate its magnificent character!