Diary of an Interesting Year

 

A Rendering of my Living Room given to me as a Christmas gift by Michelle Morelan.

2009 is a great year to reflect back on, now that it is almost over. Whew, what a turbulent year - full of challenges. I am not one to buy into the doom and gloom of the economic climate (I have weathered others through the years: early 80's, early 90's, late 90's), but this year was a year of an down economic climate that has seemed to have escaped no one in the 'world.'  There is a saying that when the going gets tough, the tough get going. It is hard to see when you are in the midst of chaos, until you have come through it.....hopefully we are through it!!! One of the benefits for me was that I kept busy and was continually looking for ways to recharge and re-inspire. I was fortunate to have four wonderful trips this year to do just that. It is very important when you are working in a creative field to be continually evolving and expanding your horizons, and travel helps me to do that. I also full filled a life long dream this year and went back to school and took two Art classes in Mixed Media Painting. I subsequently turned my garage into an Art Studio and have spent many glorious days there immersed in painting.

A trip to Palm Springs in the early Spring - where I became fascinated with and wrote a Blog posting on the Mid-Century Post Modern resurgence of 'screen block.'

Palm Springs Modern Architecture and the Use of Screen Block

A trip to the Okanagan with my Dad and a visit to the The Nk'Mip Winery and Resort in Osoyoss where I was inspired by the use of Rammed Earth in Modern Architecture.

 
Rammed Earth Wall NK'MIP Winery Osoyoos

A trip to New York in September and another in December.  What can I say about New York, other than that it is one of the most exciting and visually stimulating cities in the world.  Being able to see the artwork of great masters at the MOMA, Georgia O'Keeffe at The Whitney, and Kandinsky at the Guggenheim - it just doesn't get better than that. I shopped for clients at the D & D Building, A & D Building, and the New York Design Center, explored Soho, Tribeca, the Meat Packing District, Canal Street, walked Central Park, 5th Avenue, tried the Subway, enjoyed live theatre, ate at wonderful restaurants, enjoyed the lights and shop windows all decorated for Christmas, met new friends, and connected with old friends.

 
Kandinsky at the Guggenheim / The Meatpacking district and Highline / South Pacific at The Lincoln Center 

Mixed Media Painting Classes at Emily Carr University of Art

Frottage 1  24" x 36" Mixed Media: Pastel, Acrylic, Gesso on Glassine

Experimenting with Mono Prints

 
Acrylic on Canvas

The Salton Sea 23" x 36" Mixed Media on Paper

West Coast Landscape 24" x 48" Acrylic & Mixed Media on Canvas  

Triptych in My Living Room: Be Still My Bleeding Heart 72" x 36"'
Chinese Ink on Bronze & Silver Metallic
 
Diptych in My Living Room: Koi Pond 16" x 16" Gold & Pearl Opalescence (right)

 
My painting companion - Nicole

I am very honored to be on the 'Board of Experts' for LoftLife Magazine in 2009, and to have an article published in BC Home Magazine

I wish you all a very Happy, Healthy, and Prosperous 2010 and may all your dreams come true!!

Patricia Gray is an award winning Interior Designer in Vancouver, Canada who blogs about WHAT'S HOT  in the world of Interior Design.
2010 © Patricia Gray | Interior Design Blog™

Category › A and D Building New York , D and D Building New York , Diary of an Interesting Year , Emily Carr University , Interior Design Rendering , Modern Architecture Rammed Earth , New York , New York Design Center , Palm Springs Mid Century Modern Architecture , Travel - New York , Travel - Palm Springs , Travel British Columbia

Natural Coloring Decoration Home Interior Design

Natural Coloring Decoration Home

Take advantage of its magentas, Reds dark and shocking pinks and plant them in window boxes or outdoor planters. You'll stop traffic with curb appeal that will last for months.One of America's classic flowers, the Chrysanthemum, happens to be a fall bloomer. Then get ready to have some fun gardening: Replace summer annuals with fall bloomers such as royal purple, lavender and gold pansies to update the look of your garden.

Fall Color Infusion - Decorating with Flowers Want to add a some natural autumn color palettes to your home's exterior this Fall? It's no surprise why, Orange is a warm, inviting, dynamic, invigorating and energetic color. Orange is Hot for 2008 and 2009 The color Orange continues its Stellar run as a fixture for home decor color in 2008; and the leader in Color forecasting, Pantone, projects that the Orange color trend will continue on to 2009.

Category › Decoration

Living Room Furniture Design Picture

Living Room Furniture Design Picture 1

Living Room Furniture Design 2

Category › Living Room

Beautiful Children's Rooms Ideas

Beautiful Children's Rooms Ideas

Category › Bedroom , Kids Room

Wrapping up 2009

I always revel in the week between Christmas and New Year as a time diverge from routine, and welcome the New Year in with a change in what I usually read throughout the year, which are books on Interior Design. One of the ways I make a choices on what I want to read, is to leaf through several books and read the jacket covers or page through the book randomly to see if anything speaks to me. That is how I choose, What the Dog Saw by Malcolm Gladwell. I had previously read his book, Tipping Point, and then saw him interviewed on a talk show on his third book - Outliers. While paging through his most current book, What the Dog Saw, I was immediately hooked on his article entitled: The Ketchup Conundrum. This book, What the Dog Saw, contains Malcolm Gladwell's favourite pieces that he has written over the last several years for the pages of The New Yorker. "Good writing," Gladwell says in his preface, "does not succeed or fail on the strength of its ability to persuade. It succeeds or fails on the strength of its ability to engage you, to make you think, to give you a glimpse into someone else's head."  It is a fascinating read.

   

Another favourite way to choose a book is to ask people what is their favorite book they have read. Usually they are so enthusiastic in recounting the highlights of the book that it gets me excited to read it. The outcome of my most recent enquiry was - the New York Times Bestseller by Muriel Barbery, The Elegance of the Hedgehog. This book is set in Paris, which immediately attracted me, but the real focus of the book is about a woman who is a concierge at a bourgeois building in a posh Parisian neighborhood. She (Renee) has a secret: she is a ferocious autodidact who furtively devours art, philosophy, music, and Japanese culture. Renee hides her true talents and her finest qualities from a world that she suspects cannot or will not appreciate them. It is a story about living out her life in obscurity to hide this fact about herself, and how she reconciles herself to owning her brilliance. 

Last night on Charlie Rose I watched a fascinating interview with the brilliant Orhan Pamuk, a Turkish novelist and winner of 2006 The Nobel Prize in Literature, on his new book: The Museum of Innocence. The story, which takes place in Istanbul between 1975 and today, is about obsessive passion and the great question: What is love, really?, as well as a look into the minds and culture of the Turkish society. I am off to purchase this book tomorrow to wrap up my reading for these last few day left of 2009.

What is your favourite book that you have read lately?
Please leave a comment here, and let me know.

Patricia Gray is an award winning Interior Designer in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada who blogs about "WHAT'S HOT"
in the world of Interior Design: New and Emerging Trends, Contemporary Design, Modern Architecture and Travel,
as well as how your surroundings can enhance the world around you.
© Patricia Gray | Interior Design Blog™ 2009

Category › Book Reviews

Beautiful Basement and Bedroom Designs

Beautiful Basement Designs

Beautiful Bedroom Designs

Each family would anywhere you want a comfortable house to live in if all members of the family, natural home is one solution for those of you who want to make a home. impression of modern and elegant design must be in this house, which the need is like where you can comfort while in the house. If only you occupy the house that can feature which does not exist on other types of homes are, beautiful and seems solid in the house.

Category › Basement , Bedroom

New Design - Modern Children Bedroom Set

Bedroom children well is a bedroom equipped for learning, such as a table to study, bookshelves, computer table. as in the following figure is a bedroom that children complete with wardrobe.

Category › Bedroom , Kids Room

Best Design for Home

Universal Design means planning the spaces that everyone finds easy to use. Kitchen design is a sea of opportunity filled with potential. There are certain areas that require consideration when a homeowner is remodeling or renovating the kitchen. It is important to ensure the basic principles of kitchen design are kept in mind, while incorporating innovative ideas. Once found only in the rear of the house, today's kitchen design takes the kitchen out the background. The challenge for kitchen design is in creating a more open-faced kitchen that is part of a dining area, a family room or a great room.

Kitchens need a personality and a look and feel that can liven up the senses in addition to being a functional place for the preparation of food. The French Country Kitchen design is one of many classic kitchen design themes that you could consider. Tuscany a region in north central Italy is known as a warm place almost year round and Tuscan kitchen design should reflect this. In Tuscany families tend to eat and cook together. A good kitchen design should have sensible work triangles and the right appliance arrangements so it will be easy to move around.

The design of a kitchen, the settings and the appliances vary from one person or family to another. The design will depend on how large the family is, the size of the kitchen, the lifestyle of the family and how much time is spent in the kitchen. There is no place in the house that is used more often than the kitchen. The kitchen is the nerve center of any family's operations; meals are created there, snacks prepared, often it is the area where the family will get together.

Category › home design

Home Design Suite

The key to a successful kitchen design is the complete understanding of the true needs of the intended user. Universal Design means planning the spaces that everyone finds easy to use. One of the most basic principles of kitchen design is offering a variety of work top heights. The first thing to examine is the counter surface area. Look at where you put everything in your existing kitchen and where in your new kitchen design will these things will go in the new space.

Kitchens need a personality and a look and feel that can liven up the senses in addition to being a functional place for the preparation of food. A good kitchen design should have sensible work triangles and the right appliance arrangements so it will be easy to move around. Lighting Even if the kitchen has generally good lighting, the counter areas can be somewhat dark. For these areas under-cabinet lighting can help provide more light to work in. In addition to decorative lighting which can match any style, remember to but abundant task lighting over food preparation areas.

Mood lighting can accent glass front cabinets and cove ceilings. Accent lights can be located under cabinets, against walls, or other areas. Additional lighting can be added in larger kitchen spaces with wall sconces. You’ll also want to consider how you light the island and table areas. Here is where you will want to insure that lighting is adequate, and looks great with the style of your kitchen. In the kitchen several requirements need to be met and these must be aided by precise lighting. Thus kitchen lighting is mostly task lighting and ambient lighting and less of decorative lighting. Direct lighting is achieved by using conventional recessed lights, surface lights or light fixtures that are on a pendant or chain.

Category › home design

Home Design Online

Many home design styles have evolved over the years and some are more popular than others. Keep-in-mind that design styles can also be trendy styles. This means that any particular trend can become obsolete in a short period of time. Consider this when choosing styles. Do you want to go out and purchase new styles when the old ones fade? Be sure you really like a particular style before purchasing.

Of course; many people like the home design styles for their look and feeling it gives a room. So, what design style should you choose when decorating your home?

That depends upon your own personal preferences. What do you like when choosing decorating items? Do you like painted furniture, American flags, soft and cozy? There are design styles which will fit your type of home. Look around and see what items you already have displayed.

If you are just starting out, it would be a good idea to go on-line or visit the library to see all the design styles available. Of course, your furniture choices could help with that decision.

Are your furnishings modern, traditional, contemporary or tropical? If so, then you are already tuned into a specific design style. Some styles fit specific regions of the U.S. Coastal areas use the nautical themes while those in the mountains and higher elevations prefer the ‘lodge’ themes.

Category › home design

Architect Home Design

You are finally there - you've made it! It's time for you to get the house of your dreams. That big binder filled with magazine clippings - a collage of colors, textures and designs - can finally be put into a cohesive custom home design just for you.

Now, maybe you think you know exactly what you want and all you have to do is hire a contractor to take your vision and build it. For a project to this magnitude and import, hiring an architect to handle the design and to work with the contractor is a better move.

Why? Because an architect brings certain things to the table that will ensure the house of your dreams becomes just that. What are these special qualifications and how do you know you're getting the right person for the job?

Here are a few things to look for and questions to ask when shopping for an architect to breathe life into your custom home design:

1. Is he licensed in your state?

Architects must obtain a license to work in any state. If your "architect" doesn't have one, he is really just a designer. The difference is not just the piece of paper, it is the skill and knowledge necessary to get that license.

2. Can you see examples of his work?

Either on paper or in person, you always want to see your architect’s finished products. This is important not only to ensure he does quality work, but that you also like it. If a majority of his work is contemporary chic and you want traditional colonial, will he be able to handle it?

Category › home design

Dream Home Design

Purchasing a home is something you will forever cherish and remember for the rest of your life. It is by far one of, if not the largest purchase you will ever make in your lifetime. For this reason, it is vital you have a home that contains everything you had hoped for. The best way to accomplish this is to have the perfect home design planned out.

Planning the design of your home can be a steep task even for professionals who do it for a living. While the final plans may take weeks or months to complete, the planning process that preceded this may have taken years to develop. As we live in our first or second home, we discover the things we like and dislike about the design. Over many years of fitting your lifestyle to the design of these homes help to shape and fashion your concept of what you want in your final home design.

When searching for a company that can design plans for your home, you want to find someone that has pre-designed homes already ready for you to choose from. This allows you to fish through the countless options available to find various amenities and features you had hoped for.

Category › home design

Christmas Greeting

 

 

I got this from a friend, and I thought it might also get you in the Christmas Spirit...... Enjoy the spirit of Christmas, wherever you may be, and whoever you may be with!!! Patricia

P.S. And I add greetings to all the "beautiful men of this world."

Category › Merry Christmas

Custom Home Design

Custom log home design ideas can be used to help create the dream log home you've always wanted. Perhaps you have some custom log home design ideas on paper as you've been collecting design ideas. That's a great way to plan and organize your ideas, by making a scrapbook of the things you may want in your log home design. Here are some tips for custom designing your log home:

Explore and Select Your Log Home Style - select the log home style that you really want and like, a style that excites you. Will you prefer the manufactured or handcrafted log home style? Manufactured log homes are made with logs that are milled into a desired shape, producing uniform logs without taper. The logs used generally range in length from 10 to 18 feet.

A custom log home design using manufactured logs can vary considerably in shape and appearance because the logs have different shapes and there are different corner styles. You can obtain kits ranging from just the logs and fasteners to more complete systems that include the roofing materials, doors, windows and even more.

A handcrafted custom log home design means handcrafters will strip the bark off of whole logs. Using special skills and tools, the handcrafter will fit each log into place. Handcrafted custom log home design and construction is labor intensive, and the construction process takes longer and usually costs more since so much work is done manually. This method attempts to preserve the natural shape of the tree, and each log is carefully trimmed and shaped for a specific location in the log shell. The logs may be assembled at the company's yard, the pieces are numbered, taken apart and shipped to the homesite to be reassembled.

Category › home design

Home Accessories - Bedroom Design

Decorating your home can be a daunting task, but it is one that will reward you many times over. Determining your personal style allows you to create a theme that you can carry from room to room, giving the house a cohesiveness, even if your style is eclectic.

Your furniture is the backbone of the home. It is important to choose wisely and then formulate your design plan around your choices. After you have laid that foundation in place, you can begin to look at complementary fabrics and colors - eventually visiting paint, window coverings, floor coverings, lighting, and accents in turn.

Discover your style and go from there. Your taste may range from traditional to country to casual to contemporary to modern, or anywhere in between. You can choose from materials such as woods, metals, glass, even plastics. You may like intricate designs or strong, simple lines, such as in the Mission style. You may want your pieces to be heavy and substantial, perhaps dramatic, or the sharp, linear design of Minimalism may appeal to you.

When you are considering your preference for what appeals to you, take into account too how you envision your home's primary function. Is it to be a comfortable haven for your family? Do you plan to entertain elegantly? Do you want a serene, cool, calming environment? Do you prefer an eclectic, cozy, warm nook? Is it to be an open, airy affair or more somber? Casual? Luxurious? Formal? Rustic?

Category › Bedroom , home design

Home Accents

There are many ways to decorate a home inside and out; there are also some that can be used in both places like candles. They can be used inside to make a room appear warm and inviting and they can be used outside to set a mood of romance among the aroma and beauty of nature.

Home décor is as diverse as the family that lives in the home, some people like the appeal of the modern décor and home accents while others find beauty in Victorian home accents or antiques.

There are a few things that will help to determine what type of accents will look right in a home, there is the furnishings to consider, the colors of the walls, the amount of light in the room and materials. If a room in a home has dark colored walls and modern furnishings then Victorian accents may not bring the warmth and appeal the person would like. However, if the walls are a deep color and the furnishings are a Victorian style then Victorian accents would do well in this room to give it a finished look.

Home accents come in many different materials such as glass, wood, metal, stone and others, which means that there is some type of home accent to complement any furnishings. Glass and metal often fit will with modern furnishings, while colored glass, wood or even stone will fit well with Victorian or antique furnishings.

Category › interior design

Christmas in New York City - Art Galleries & Theatre

Christmas in New York City - Galleries & Theatre

This Christmas visit to New York I was fortunate to see the Musical, South Pacific at the Lincoln Center, and two Art Galleries; Georgia O'Keeffe at The Whitney Museum of Modern Art and Kandinsky at the Guggenheim Museum. I love theatre in New York.  There is something very special about getting dressed up and the excitement of the opening strains from the Orchestra.It was a toss up between the new play 'A Little Night Music', the latest revival of Stephen Sondheim's Tony Award-winning musical with Angela Lansbury and  Catherine Zeta-Jones, or the classic Rodgers and Hammerstein musical 'South Pacific' at the Lincoln Center. I am happy to say that I saw South Pacific and it was as good as the concierge at my Hotel said it was. There was something soothing about hearing songs that I have grown up with and are so familiar. The theme song "Some Enchanted Evening," stayed with me for several days. Here is the YouTube version of 'Some Enchanted Evening' you can listen to.

 

  
South Pacific at Lincoln Center 

The Guggenheim Museum had a wonderful exhibit of the work of the Russian artist, Vasily Kandinsky, who was a pioneer of Abstract Art and broke new ground in painting in the first decades of the twentieth century. The Guggenheim designed by Frank Lloyd Wright was opened in 1959 and, rightly so, is claimed to be one of his most famous masterpieces. The spiraling design of the interior makes this museum one of the best venue's I have ever been in to view an art exhibit. As you walk up the spiral ramps you can view the pieces of artwork as a whole. Magnificent!!!

 

    

The view from the roof top of the Guggenheim across the reservoir & jogging trail of Central Park.

  
I want this townhouse!

 

These are two of my favourite pieces by Kandinsky from the exhibit. 
You can view the exhibit on line here.

After the exhibit we got directions to a local's favourite restaurant on E. 73rd Street where I had a most memorable lunch of Arugula salad topped with sliced roasted artichokes and topped off with large, (very large) paper fine slices of Parmigiano-Reggiano.  Yummm!!

Via Quadronno on E. 73rd Street. (left)
A Beautiful piece of street sculpture outside the restaurant. (right)

The walk back to the Hotel was in typical New York style down streets lined with beautiful townhouses all decorated for the holiday season, past apartments with uniformed concierges, among the locals walking their dogs, across streets with bumper to bumper honking taxis, and a short jaunt through Central Park.

   
Townhouses decorated for Christmas on E 73rd Street

   
Fifth Avenue

I wanna wish you a Merry Christmas
I wanna wish you a Merry Christmas
I wanna wish you a Merry Christmas
From the bottom of my heart.

Feliz Navidad
Feliz Navidad
Feliz Navidad
Prospero Ano y Felicidad.

Feliz Navidad
Feliz Navidad
Feliz Navidad
Prospero Ano y Felicidad.

I wanna wish you a Merry Christmas
I wanna wish you a Merry Christmas
I wanna wish you a Merry Christmas

From the bottom of my heart.

Patricia Gray Inc is an award winning Interior Designer firm  in Vancouver, Canada who blogs about WHAT'S HOT  in the world of Interior Design.
2010 © Patricia Gray | Interior Design Blog™

Category › Christmas in New York , Guggenheim Museum New York , Kadinsky at the Guggenhem New York , Lincoln Center New York , New York , Travel , Travel - New York , Via Quadronno New York