Style gets a nod from this generation – but quality often does not.  Making investments in material objects is not necessarily  a priority for the long term of this disposable generation’s mind-set.  Interior design elements are clever and repurposed, with what I appreciate are fun new names for those re-purposed things…like a “barmoire” – what a riot – all those TV cabinets and armoires now dinosaurs can be great dry-bars!!! Porque no?

The funny thing is that I did one not long ago that was actually intended to be a bar console thing from the 70s – not originally an armoire – the flip-top console was functional but dated and tucked off in a corner all closed-up and wasting its potential. The resulting new scene with newly painted cinnamon back-drop and client’s’ own decorative accessories…(he dashed out and bought the mirror and shelves at Target while we rearranged)  looked so Trader Vic when we finished that it seemed to validate a re-purpose of a piece that was dated and yet had a combo retro/to-the fore purpose – get that?  

Well, I’m getting it…and so are all the millennials…they get it. IT is that we are entering a whole new design realm that services and responds to the needs and desires of a new articulate, inventive generation. It is fun and creative, sleek yet eclectic – clean meets ornate – and there really are NO Rules!

It appears as though this new group/generation recognizes the art, style and joy of the best of the best.  With that comes fantastic design opportunities to gather, discover, pair and meld disparate elements… while all the while, watching their budget, making the most of what they have available and being incredibly creative. It’s as though they have the silver spoon, desire for the best and can’t always get there and therefore strive to creatively achieve a suitable facsimile. 

I had a reply last week that bemoaned the fact that most of her peers of this generation did not have the discretionary income to “decorate.” Primarily, from her position, they lived in major metropolises (specifically NYC) where the cost of living was astronomical – but this speaks to the creative aspect of this generation’s eclecticism.  

Creativity is the key  to EVERYTHING. It’s not always sexy…it is sometimes painfully tedious and practical. But think about it. Regardless of your place on this planet, creativity will elevate your position. I digress.

Today we have so much access to ideas on TV, internet, magazines, DIY at every turn..but it is still a challenge if not daunting to know where to start, what to assemble, and how to group things.  Used too be that clipping magazine photos was the start of planning a design project – it still can be – in addition to pinning it and filing in digital folders…whatever your method or combination thereof, gathering ideas about what you like is the start. 

I do what I do because I LOVE what I do and the idea is that making someone’s space better for them if not incredible for them is the goal. I told a couple tonight as we discussed the options for remodeling their kitchen, “You have me here for a reason.” They laughed and agreed. I either bring something entirely new to the discussion,  referee or break a tie – but the service serves a greater purpose and that is to enhance the environment, solve a problem,  save unneeded expenses or redirect the budget for the better…all resulting in good design decisions!

DIY is inspirational and fun! The ideas and instructions flooding the internet and TV networks are endless  – but it still means that having guidance to decide what to do with what and which to pick and pair – the consultation is how you distill the choices. 

At the expense of sounding like a sales pitch, buy an hour with a well-vetted interior designer. Do your research and see what you can accomplish in that singular consultation. It’s an investment in the quality of your life, the best use of your possessions and the directive as to how to move forward with the process.

Creativity in design spans so many disciplines. To benefit from these creative exercises, retaining the services of an interior designer is key. EVERYONE has a certain sense of what they regard as adequate if not a stellar design sense. HOWEVER, if you get into an evaluation/consultation with a practiced interior designer, you will reap the benefits – just like you might from a creative and smart tax consultant!

Funny that I make this analogy. Its nearing the tax-time deadline, so find those bonus dollars in your return and see how much you will gain from a smart design consultation to bring your special space to the place that brings you bliss.

Merry Happy Holiday extravaganzas!! Now—on to the next step in the design progression of the year. I have written before about my take on the cycles of design—the seasonal influences by temperature and responses to other recent colors schemes. It’s all about reactions. Reacting to temperature, tradition, and changing from previous periods of color. It’s the yin and yang of  color swings. This is true of more broad-sweeping color trends too. They are invariably a reaction to having had a scheme in place for too long—people need a change. Opposites represent a radical change.

It is also key to capitalism and keeping the economy on the move with consumers needing to own that new thing—that new color scheme. Participating in the practice of changing trends is motivational—its big money.  But I digress…

As we set forth  to change our displays at the shop,  it is always a representation of what makes us feel good. So ask yourself—what do you need? Not things, but environmentally…what would feel good and what represents a change for the new season and the New Year?

Ok—so its freezing outside and you want a tropical escape—that’s not what I mean. I mean despite the temperature outside—but perhaps to compliment it too, what would feel good after the colors of fall?  Inspired by the changing leaves, produce of the season—the results are a last burst of strength of warm oranges, golds, rusty reds, and of course the resignation of the fading vestiges of summer leaves…tired comfortable olives. Followed by Christmas, often before Thanksgiving has graced the turkey laden tables—the seasonal colors and decorative clutter insert themselves into our lives whether we like it or not.

We transition into Christmas with reds and greens—poinsettias, evergreen boughs and branches, all represented in fabrics, and ribbons, lights and decorative accessories.  Punctuated with gold and silver…perhaps to symbolize opulence and riches…for adoration and celebration.

So again—I ask you to review those recent schemes and ask yourself—What do you need to restore, renew, refresh, rejuvenate—RE—?

As we de-cluttered the shop and dismantled the Christmas displays, we began assembling things that felt restorative and cleansing. We collectively were drawn to the refreshing cool tones of icy aquas and the fresh clean bling of silver.  We are not going to deny the frigid temperatures (although this is not true for everyone) of winter, but it is also true of purging the heavy colors of fall and the holidays to refresh with something that is opposite of all the warm tones.

I must say, at this juncture in my theory, that Hanukkah jumps the gun with refreshing cool color following the heavy warm tones of fall and amidst the traditional colors of Christmas. Hanukkah presents a refreshing color scheme smack dab in the middle of the full force of the red and green.  The blue and white might be the choice of the celebrations because of the Israeli flag, but as Amanda Green writes in Mental Floss: “Blue and white come with universal associations, too. White suggests purity, peace, and light. Blue is associated with the sky, faith, wisdom, and truth. (The expression isn’t “true blue” for nothing.)” We also see silver punctuating the festivities in Hanukkah decorations. Ms Green writes…”some people think the holidays call for a little more sparkle, not to mention the popularity of silver menorahs. Blue and white clearly aren’t just the colors of Hanukkah. They’re symbolic all year long.” True too is the fact that blue and white are a classic  color combination in interior design for many cultures over many centuries.

So if it feels good…guess it means that changes are supposed to be for the good. Positive, restorative change…renewing, refreshing, rejuvenating—RE!

About the prefix from  the Online Etymology dictionary:  http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=re-

“word-forming element meaning “back to the original place; again, anew, once more,” also with a sense of “undoing,” c. 1200, from Old French and directly from Latin re- “again, back, anew, against,” “Latin combining form conceivably from Indo-European *wret-, metathetical variant of *wert- “to turn” [Watkins]. Often merely intensive, and in many of the older borrowings from French and Latin the precise sense of re- is lost in secondary senses or weakened beyond recognition. OED writes that it is “impossible to attempt a complete record of all the forms resulting from its use,” and adds that “The number of these is practically infinite ….” The Latin prefix became red- before vowels and h-, as in redact, redeem, redolent, redundant.”

Cleansing aqua, white, silver…preparing for a refreshing Happy New Year!!!

Design can be so simple and be so exquisite. Yet sometimes what appears to be simple is extraordinarily complex. Take my recent blog about nature and fallen aspen leaves…simple. Yet the complexity of the leaf itself and its fingerprint-like structure and the complexity of the changing seasons and the stages of the growth of the leaf and its ultimate passing onto the ground amidst others,.,.it is a most complex, detailed lifecycle/design.

Fast forward…Planning a cocktail party takes a lot of attention to detail/design. You plan the food and the containers in which you are going to serve it.  You make it and/or order it out. You plan some hors d’ oeuvres and their little platters. You get some flowers and count your glasses. You plan your table settings and other ancillary things like candles and cocktail napkins. Then you  gather your beverages and make a dessert. Coffee in a pot or individual al la carte in the Kurig? Have enough cups and saucers or do we use mugs and if so—who wants cream and sugar and where will they put their spoons? Back to the cocktail napkins—with coffee mugs too?  Down now to the cutting of the lemons and limes and last but not least, the olives. 

Have you ever used an olive picker? Do you know what an olive picker is? How do YOU extract olives from their traditionally tall narrow jar (before we bought them in bulk, wide-mouthed jars from warehouse stores) into a bowl for the bar from which you will garnish drinks? VOILA –an olive picker. Hand-crafted of exotic woods and shaped as artists often say based upon how the raw material speaks to them. Like a stone carver who walks around and around a massive boulder prior to even considering the ultimate subject of the piece. It might be a crouched cougar or it might be seagull devouring a crab on the beach…walking around the stone allows the artists to let the stone speak. He sees the form and studies the possibilities until the moment strikes and the message is clear. It is what it is and cannot be anything else.

The same can be said of the woodcarver who studies a massive piece of wood, the enormous appendage, if not trunk of a tree, and practices the same studious evaluation to allow the wood to “speak” to him of its intended purpose—of its timeless statement or interpretation.

Ok, this is a bit more than the woodcarver experiences when he holds a raw piece of wood in his palm and intends to make an olive picker. But the principle is similar in that the artists all participate with the raw material that they intend to modify to express their talent and ultimate intended form of the material.  This artist is considering and intending a utensil at the outset. He holds the wood in his hands and allows the form to guide his hands to follow the contour as he caresses and carves the form in a fashion that is suggested by the raw piece itself. It becomes a smooth crafted interpretation of the original form. The results reveal  the unique characteristics and properties, form and shape, of elegant, hand-crafted, natural wood olive picks. 

Behold beauty and design in nature and nature modified. Beauty in seemingly simple things and yet quite masterful. Cheers  – we’re ready…will that be an olive in your martini or a twist of citrus?  

This is my favorite olive picker by artist Fritz Wood in Bozeman Montana! My mother and I were at an art show several years ago and came upon this guy with these gorgeous, sensuous wooden utensils and among the spoons and  spreaders were these curious tools—olive picks! I bought this one for my husband who enjoys jalapeno and/or garlic stuffed olives in his gin.

If you don’t have kids…Halloween can be tough…how to do it, how to acknowledge it. Then there are those who embrace Halloween and Day of the Dead with a festive passion–kids or no kids—that results in wild costume parties, elaborate home décor ,  Mexican celebrations of the deceased and yard art that will rival the Adams Family!!!

We have a neighbor who goes all out. Every year she accumulates more and more yard art of the most ghoulish and ghastly manner that we adults are “wierded out” by the amazing, effectively creepy display.  The kids, for the most part, think she is the “best lady in the neighborhood” (to quote Katarina a few years ago) because, in addition to her incredible presentation unfolding the entire month prior to Halloween night, she opens her garage on Halloween and gives out the most incredible free gifts, toys, dolls, and games to all the kids.

But I digress…my point is that even if you don’t embrace the holiday for all its fantasy and gore you certainly can find an amicable expression of it to adorn your door or entry table and feel that you are participating if not reveling in…

I elected years ago to hang a golf  prize that I won which was a door decor of branches and silk autumnal leaves accented with a real feathered black crow and festooned with a big autumn-inspired bow.  I love crows. But a would-be dead (albeit fake one with real feathers) one on my door was only a default as result of having won it—not having fallen in love with it, buying it and bringing it home. It’s funny though, I cannot remember what I had prior to my crow.

But it bugged me. Not enough to take affirmative action, but it was always lurking in my mind as I extracted it from the closet each year bemoaning to myself the fact that I was too lazy to do anything about it. That is a perfect example of one not taking an active interest in a holiday.

As it happened, one day I found a funky cat thing…here is a photo.  It is not scary and not literal but fun enough to make me smile and Halloweeny enough to do the trick, (no pun intended). He is the obligatory back cat and he sports a welcome sign and is adorned with painted tin accents of orange and black whiskers, eyes, nose and ears…Yes, I could have made him. But I didn’t.

Now as a designer this all sounds pretty lame. If you were looking for a DIY project—look elsewhere—except for the actual fact that I do like making wreaths and have one alongside my cat which moves to the primary door once Halloween is over.

Yes, I do like making wreaths, but I am not going to give you a step-by-step on how to do so…there are plenty of those. But I will say that big bold statements of the season are fun.  Mine is not the biggest nor the boldest—but it works in colorful contrast to my pair of black front doors and I do not have to re-make it every year—that is a choice, (not an obligation)  and this current one will last for a decade or two—unless I am struck by the wild hair of DIY that takes me to the craft store for a new rendition—don’t bet on it anytime too soon. Also I could have made two for the pair of doors—but this exercise coincided with finding the cat and therefore I did the cat on one side and the wreath on the other. A more thorough “designer”  move would have been to make two wreaths and have one held back until the cat retired after Halloween and properly balance both doors with a handsome pair of seasonal wreaths. NOT. This is a designer’s “do as I say and not as I do.”

But much of this might be like the busman’s holiday—I love what I do and I decorate and design for others daily—I know that many of my peers immerse themselves in their own décor and re-decor and re-decor  – did I say re-decor? Always embellishing their personal space, home, apartment, condo, boat…They are endless, tireless examples of embracing trends,  and concepts, color schemes and  astonishing design statements. Which is all fabulous—don’t get me wrong—it’s just that I feel pressed to do  so much and have so little time that this story is about giving yourself a “bye”!  Like they say this time of year during football season when they skip a week—its like a gift to the players anyway.

As another example, a couple of years ago a friend and I went outside and found two large tree branches—limbs with branches–and stuck them in big  pots, strung lights on them and added a handful of ornaments and said “Voila!” We gave ourselves a “bye” from having to do the entire Christmas tree extravaganza–it was a gift.  But please know that we resumed the tradition the following year.

Back to our point, the season for autumnal décor begins prior to Halloween and lasts through Thanksgiving at which time it comes to a screeching halt and moves aside for Christmas and the next holiday season’s adornment and inspirational design elements.

Therefore, to celebrate the entire autumnal season, I love the various colored, textured, shaped and speckled  gourds, and of course pumpkins which now naturally come in white and blue in addition to the favorite orange.  Indian corn and dried wheat, grasses and leaves…natural organic elements are, to me, the best—timeless—evoking the feeling of  the harvest and marvelous fall cooking . This delicious display was at Sanger Farms in Youngstown, New York.

In summary, I say find your happy place with a couple of simple Halloween items and fill-in with the organics—they will take you comfortably through Thanksgiving and after that we will be ready for another story.

Referencing the fabulous continuing education course of a couple of weeks ago, my story continues with a bit more regarding the content of the course and also the context of having it held in Santa Fe.  You might remember that the focus was on natural and engineered construction and design materials including leather, concrete, natural stone, and engineered and natural woods, cork, terrazzo, recycled rubber, glass and paper.

To have had this class in an architecturally unique environment such as Santa Fe in a beautiful, soulful, old historic structure like the La Fonda Hotel, in a meeting room with hand-carved wood beams and architectural details, antique art pieces and an intimacy that one can’t get in a new facility, it made the subject matter much more relevant and compelling.

While we have been awakened to, if not shamed into realizing the responsibility toward sustainability, it is also fascinating to see the back-tracking and re-thinking that have occurred. For example

the bamboo bandwagon was so HOT and then, like a hot potato dropped from the design narrative when studies showed that in most cases, a high content of formaldehyde used in processing of it as a flooring material negated the healthful virtues of this otherwise natural, renewable resource.  Tanning leather…the actual chemical ingredients (chromium) used to process leather in many places, Morocco as an example, was so toxic and penetrated the soil into the water table causing untold deadly health issues. Newer technology has almost eliminated such practices – but for years it went unchecked and a bazillion products were sold under the guise of leather being “green.”

We are often so knee-jerk and willing to follow a movement about which we don’t get all the facts. While sustainability is a seeming moral obligation and only makes sense for the good of the planet and our custodial responsibility, the manner in which we go about it to allow things that are not completely vetted and then the restrictions we impose and the  guidelines that we set forth are often misguided and impractical.

I sat in a conference room once that was in a suite of  a highly regarded LEED building – that suite’s designers and those of the entire building were regaled with honors for their efforts and accomplishments, yet the room was asphyxiating to me as the off-gas of the linoleum conference table was too much to bear. I thought – how can they meet encapsulated in this room for extended periods of time when I was only there on a passing tour? Phew! Not practical for me! Oh, but it comes from linseed oil and a complex recipe of other wonderfully sustainable ingredients – it’s natural!

We now hear so much about BUY LOCAL and it is both to support our local communities but also to reduce the fuel costs to transport things from afar. Why eat a blueberry in the fall in Vermont when the season is clearly past and the berry comes from – who knows where – but not close by. We can get bananas and mangoes all year round in Alaska and are spoiled by the incredible supply of endless exotic produce – but it is not an inexpensive supply chain. Let those who shout the loudest do without a pineapple when the desire arises.

When Toyota’s Prius cars came out there was a commentary that compared the cost to drive an inefficient fuel-eating gas-guzzler against the fuel cost to build a new hybrid Prius. One was actually better off, for the good of the planet, driving their old car until it died rather than spend the amazing amount of energy to build a new car. Now, I have not fact checked this, but the analogy is interesting.

I was raised to respect things. I collected aluminum cans in every trash can on the beach growing up as it was regarded as a recyclable resource even back in the day…but we were also encouraged to pick up trash when we passed it and to care for everything with which we came in contact. That concept of respect is what this sustainable movement is all about. Respect and care, thoughtfulness and smart decision-making to that respectful end.