Decor and Art and Introducing Rachel Rubenstein

( Decor by Miles Reed)
We love art. We both see everything through an artists eye. Art is so important in a room. It can pull a room together and make it flow.  It is the icing on a cake! 

(Miles Reed)
Julie remembers having a painters brush in her hand at a young age. Her mother would let her draw and paint on her bedroom walls. She would paint beautiful pictures. It gave her a tool to change her decor. Creativity has always been like food for Julie, it has been a part of her soul.   

( Miles Reed)
Danni was always drawing and creating. She used to make home-made play dough and help her brothers create battle scenes for their little plastic army men. In school she was asked to do extra art projects for her teachers because they knew how much she enjoyed them. Soon she learned to paint with oils., which became a big focus of her creativity. She has been in many shows and has sold many pieces. Danni has been teaching a painting class in her studio for years now where many students have attended.

 Interior design came easy for us. We can use the same skills as artists that we use in decor. Just like painting, we use tools such as balance, scale, and color when designing. A room can be like a blank canvas just waiting for the story to be told.



 And now, drum roll please....

We would like to introduce you to an artist that is impressive for her young age. Her name is Rachel Rubenstein, born in 1985. Her art has been displayed in many show.

She has an affinity for nature. Rachel uses found objects and molding paste to create intense movement and flow. 

 Cant you see this painting above a sofa in a contemporary designed room?

They would make an incredible statement. 

Rubenstein has a way of playing cool and warm hues off of each other. Like a reflection of a sunset off the ocean.

 She has a show coming up March 8th at the 262 Gallery.
Reception is at 6pm to 10 pm.
 262 S Los Angeles St, L.A. Calif.
  Visit her web site to see more of her pieces and where she is showing her work.
 http://www.checkoutmyart.com/#!

We have been Tagged!

 (Charles Faudree)

We have been tagged! 

Jessie from  Mix and Chic tagged us.  If you haven't been to her blog, check it out. She has a fun contemporary style and always has something new. Jessie has some questions for us to answer, so here we go! 

( David Phoenix)
The rules of this tag game are,  there are always rules to a game. Just like the childhood game tag your it. Get it? Ok, that means we are going to tag someone else. We have noticed that everyone is being tagged.
 Please accept our tag!



Rules:

You must post the rules.


Answer the 11 questions the tagger posted for you and create 
11 new ones. 



Tag 11 people and link them to your post.


Let them know they have been tagged.

(  Mary Mcdonald)


What room is our favorite to decorate? 

We love to do it all, but if we had to choose we love to design living rooms and dinning rooms. We love all the fabrics that can be used, curtains, sofas, chairs, and pillows.

(  Sig Berman, Elli Decor)


What trend do you love?

 We both love paisleys and the mix of patterns.

( Designed by Shannon Bower, Sorry it is so small, blogspot would not work with us!)

( Mary McDonald)

Julie loves all the blue and white and Danni loves all the industrial feel. 

( Mark Sikes)

Our biggest pet peeve? 

 Hands down it has to be budget! Boy, what we could do with no budget! Our other pet peeve is all the gray! We do love  gray, but it can get a little boring. That is why we love this image designed by Pam Pierce. She added pops of color with the grayed out furniture. It makes it so interesting. 

( Pam Pierce)

The average time it takes us to create a post? 

 At least an hour or two. Sometimes more. All the social media can be a challenge for designers.

( Betty Lou Phillips)


What we have learned from blogging and gained?

   We have learned how generous people are with information. There are so many wonderful and kind people in the blogging community. We have been invited to lunch and to visit people all over the country. We have gained so much from meeting so many interesting and kind people.

(  Westbrook Interiors)


Who do we most admire in the blogging world?

 That is a hard one to answer. There are so many! Some we admire because they are kind, creative, making a difference. There are too many to list.

(  Jackye Lanham)


The coolest thing or opportunity that has happened to you because of blogging?

 That is a tough one because we haven't been doing this that long. We are amazed that anyone comes to visit us.We feel very blessed that we have any comments at all. One other thing that was exciting, our name was given to Kravets marketing dept. to sit on a panel at the design center in L.A.. We did not get it, but we were honored just to have our name mentioned. .

( Jeffers Design, photo Cesar Rubio)




Who are our favorite designers and why?

  Why! Shoot, We guess it all has to do with creativity and balance.
We love Mary McDonald,  Jeffers design group, Pam Pierce, Charles Faudree, Betty Lou Phillips, Katheryn Ireland, Jackye Lanham, David Phoenix, Pam Pierce.

Kemble Interiors

( Steven Gambrel)


A little unknown fact about us?

 OMG, I guess we would have to say, we are very private. Blogging does not come natural to us. We really have to try hard and it takes us time to think about what we post. We are always amazed at how other bloggers find so many beautiful images and can freely share their lives. We are trying and it is getting a little easier the longer we blog.

( Tory Birch)


What do you hope your blog will achieve in the long run?

 Another really hard question! Can you tell we have a hard time with personal questions. We wish we were more like Tina from Enchanted Home. She can answer anything and writing comes so easy for her. Well any whooo, We wanted a place to share our work and share our style. We hope it will give our clients and friends an opportunity to know us and see the things we love. 

 Our Kravets Rep Cheryl, encouraged us to start this blog. We call her our Kravets cheerleader. Rah Rah, go girls!  She is the most positive person we know. 
Thanks Cheryl!

 The blogs we are going to tag are.

 Home Bunch
 Allumer Decor
Chic Coles
 Design Chic 
Ragland Hill Social

Verdigrie Vie
 VT Interiors
 Chattafabulous
 Design Manifest
  House and Home Defined
 Acquired Objects


 The 11 questions are...

Who are your favorite designers
 Favorite room to decorate 
What trend do you love 
Your biggest pet peeve in design
 What have you learned or gained from blogging
 How long have you been blogging 
What exciting things or opportunities have happened to you because of blogging. 
What do you hope to achieve from blogging. 
How long does it take you to do a post
A little unknown fact about you
 What do you hope your blog will achieve in the long run

Don't forget to post the rules!

Thanks Julie and Danni

"Bonjorno" from Venice

We thought it might be time to share a few more images from Danni's trip to Europe. This is the Grand Canal in Venice where we arrived on a cold, wet and rainy day. It did not matter. The beauty of this unique city came through anyway.

Even in the rain the tours of the canals with their Gondoliers are magical.

These bridges link all the areas together. There are no cars and everything has to come in by boat. Men walk huge carts filled with goods all over the city to hand deliver the items to the shops, restaurants and markets.

This city is amazing. Everyone gets lost on their first day here. Ours was no exception. We were told how to navigate all the alleys and walkways by looking above the first story on the corners of the buildings with the arrows pointing towards the direction of the different landmarks. After that it was like reading the stars on a clear night. We never got lost again.

These unfinished masks originate in Venice.  They are then painted and decorated quite colorfully. Each one was meant for a different purpose. The long beaked mask was for the doctor. They would put garlic in the long portion. The plain, squared eyed, scary looking one in the middle was for the gamblers so no one could see their facial expressions. Dare we say poker face?

The Island of Murano is close to Venice where they produce the Murano glass. There were huge chandeliers in almost every store  along with many other beautiful glass creations that come from the island.

The open markets along the canals were so much fun, delicious and lovely to look at too.

Just had to include the Disney store in Venice with the Italian flag colored bags of Mickey Mouse.  Danni's daughter works for the Disney company.  It seemed so out of place to see Disney in Europe too.

We have always loved the Fortuny patterns. This shop had pillows, scarves, purses and of course the chandeliers and lamps.

The chandeliers at this Fortuny store in Venice were beautiful. Wish we had brought one home.

Venice was wonderful, Ciao!!!

Joining /no minimalist here.blogspot party

Project up Date

We wanted to show you the progress of our project. The painting is complete and the project is moving along. We added this darker blue fabric and we are making pillows out of it for the sofa. You can read about our project here.

 These are the Farrow and Ball colors we are using in the home.  From bottom to top, Pale Powder, Savage Ground,  Tallow for the ceilings and Matchstick. They always have such interesting names for their paint colors.




 

The painters worked so hard and did such a good job. We are so thankful to be able to work with  good tradesmen. It makes our job easier. 

We brought the ottoman to the work room and they are recovering it in a Robert Allen fabric.

This is how it looks now. 

We had a slip cover made in a linen Ralph Lauren fabric. It has a cowhide underneath and this will give her two different looks. This will slip under the coffee table so she will be able to pull it out when it is needed for extra seating.

Ralph Lauren fabric

These are the other fabrics we are using. The darker fabric we added is below.

These are the two samples of the darker fabric we will make pillows out of for the sofa. 

This is the before pictures of the room. We are recovering the sofa and the 2 brown chairs were removed. We found a new rug that looks like it was made for the floral fabric and replaced the coffee table.
 We cant wait to show you the finished project. We have to get the hubby to take professional pictures. We are working on him! 




We added Linky to our blog due to Google connect going bye bye. We would really appreciate it if you would join us. Thanks so much, Danni and Julie

Wilson Kelsey Design

We couldn't wait to share with you Wilson Kelsey design. A husband and wife design team and fellow bloggers.  We have visited their blog many times where we noticed their portfolio. We are not sure why we hadn't peeked before, but we were blown away when we saw their work. The first 5 images are from a home they designed and renovated that they have called Prides Crossing. It has been recognized with 10 national and regional awards..  
Photo by Laura moss 

John and Sally successfully captured an emotional impression that sets the mood and creates a beautiful gathering space for guests. 

Can you see why they were recognized for 10 awards for this project? 
Photo by Michael Lee

John and Sally both owned their separate design businesses before they met. They were both working in corporate interiors. After they got married in 1984 they merged their businesses together. They have been working together for 28 years, but only in the residential interiors for the last
 7 years. 
Photo by Louis Michud

After years working in corporate interiors they were burned out. They completely walked away from corporate interiors leaving their contacts behind. They had to completely start over rebuilding their business and contacts as residential designers and formed their new firm, Wilson Kelsey Design.
Photo by Rich Mandakorn

Photo by Rich Mandakorn

Photo by Rich Mandekorn

Please visit them at their blog, Wilson Kelsey design blog and their web site here. We are sure you will enjoy it.
Photo by Laura Moss