Outdoor Living Spaces

-- Is there anything better than lounging outside on your back deck in the summer with the grill heating up and a warm breeze slowly turning the pages of your light-hearted book that's resting on your lap as you inevitably take a nap?? 

My extremely talented senior designer, Kimberly, recently started researching decks for her own home.  Follow her blog notes below as she discusses thoughts and research on the products out there...

Outdoor Living Spaces

My husband and I have been wanting to add a deck to our house. We recently built our house and wanted to see how the backyard would actually look after all the grading was done before adding a deck. Over a year has gone by and we still can not decide what we want to build.

There are so many options to consider besides the size and shape of the the deck. Which materials (real wood vs. Trex engineered material), the railing designs and materials: iron, wood. How should the staircase look, one set or two?  Do we need an outdoor kitchen, and fireplace?  Here's a picture of our current situation (notice the playground we desperately need direct access to!):

Barricaded with pressure treated lumber.

Here's is what I dream for it to look like finished one day:

www.lewis-aquatech.com

www.lewis-aquatech.com

Oh the beautiful limestone with iron railings. I love the well designed hardscape that is all lit up including a hot tub with waterfall. My husband would love the guitar shaped infinity edge pool. The kids could cook s'mores over by fire pit.  It's perfect! But, unfortunately not in our budget! Back to reality.

www.trex.com

See the picture above?  This deck is made from recycled materials. This particular company, Trex, has a great website with lots of useful tools. My husband loves the idea of maintenance free materials. No sanding or staining if we pursue this option. This particular design has a interesting radius curve to create a multi-level deck separating an outdoor living room seating group, from a fun gathering space around a fire pit. I would feel really good about our design, while sipping my chardonnay on this deck, knowing that, "Approximately 3.1 billion recycled grocery bags were collected for use to manufacture Trex products in 2010," (according to their website).

www.architecturaldesigns.com

This next design idea is fabulous. It incorporates the building materials that the house is made of. I love the covered deck with a ceiling fan and the beautiful stone arches. It really gives the addition visual weight so it incorporates well with the house rather than looking like it was something just stuck on.

www.mchalelandscape.com

I recently met with a landscaping firm to discuss our project. They had some wonderful ideas and designs. My favorite had a double outdoor fireplace that was on porch. They can also incorporate automatic screens that can be lifted and lowered by the touch of a button! Here's a close up of that beautiful real wood:

www.mchalelandscape.com

Another thing to consider is the underneath side of the deck. It can be completely finished to be weatherproofed. This makes the area under the deck more useable for outdoor living spaces. A big trend now is to have outdoor TV's. I know my kids would love that, but I think they have enough TV viewing already inside. I want to get the family outside to enjoy the beautiful scenery of our wooded backyard and enjoy time together.

www.houzz.com

I can't wait to get started on designing our outdoor living space. We will be phasing our project, and the first phase will be just the deck. Someday it will look like my dream picture. The most important thing to consider is how our family will spend time together enjoying meals and making memories.

Before, During and After Designing

      Writing a blog takes a lot of time.  A LOT of time!  The best blogs take the authors hours, perhaps even an entire day, to write.  At Margery Wedderburn Interiors we LOVE to write in our blog, but we are currently super busy with our amazing design clients, so time is limited.  For that reason I want to take you with us on a journey as we work directly on design projects. 

Before, During and After ...

We are going to start a new series called, "Before, During and After" and we will ask for your input.  We will show you photos of a project we are just starting to work on, and then you will journey with us as we work with the client and make decisions about a project.  We will even have you vote for what you think might work.  Sounds like fun, right?  Let's get started!!

Our first client has a condo in the Washington, DC area.  She is a fun, energetic person who wants things done "yesterday."  With her own individual drive, she tends to make decisions quickly and precisely...we love this in a client!

This is her Master Bedroom.  We will call her "Jeanette" to keep her privacy.  Jeanette has a limited budget, which is fine and perfectly normal, especially in this economy.  Margery Wedderburn Interiors (MWI) is happy to work with all types of clients with big and small budgets.   At MWI we believe that every person has the ability to create and enjoy a beautiful home, whether they work directly with an interior designer or do it themselves. 

Jeanette needs more storage...LOTS more storage.  So we are going to give her exactly that in this MBR, and make the room even cosier and more user-friendly.  She's very excited!!

 In the past Jeanette's taste has been all over the place...she's done French Country, then went for an Asian contemporary style, and now she's back to her original love of the French Country style with happy, fresh colors such as light yellow, lime, various hues of blue and tones of red.  She is so much fun!!  Nothing like designing for someone we love with good taste!!

So...what would you do here in this room for Jeanette?? 

We are going to add built-ins along the entire headboard wall.  This will give her an enormous aount of storage space for all of her seasonal bedding, seasonal clothing, etc.  She will have this very comfie niche in which to relax in the evenings while watching TV.  Here is a preliminary (VERY preliminary) sketch of what we are going to do:

Isn't this fun??  Built-ins on either side of the bed...the bed will be ensconced in this little cozy niche with the wall sconces above .  The built-ins will hide everything she is wanting to hide in this room.  

Do you have any suggestions you would like to add?  Please let me know and I will share them with our readers.

Stay tuned...I am going to Home Depot today to meet with the Kraftmaid expert there.  We are doing Kraftmaid as opposed to custom built-ins to save her money. 

Escada...Window Into Future Interior Design

Oh, For the Love of Escada!

About 9 years ago I went shopping with my mom to Saks Fifth Avenue and discovered the latest spring fashions from Escada.  Naturally, I fell in love with that season's styles...(the same personal story every season for me...can't get enough of Escada! ).

But the color combinations that year were breathtaking, hanging there on those hangers with those sumptuous fabrics.  Most noted were the color combinations of light blue with light brown, and then light brown with pink.  Woweee.

I immediately went to our Washington Design Center to find similar color combos in fabrics.  There were none, nada, zero.  When I inquired about these color combinations I was met with a few stares and squiggly noses.  Not sure if they questioned my taste or personally disagreed with those colors.  I could only find the single solid blues or browns or pinks and had to combine several fabrics myself for a space I was designing.

Nowadays there are hundresd of fabrics with these two color combinations, and you will even see the spectrum has broadened to include every hue and combination possible.

The thing is that the interior design industry follows fashion, but it's about 3 years behind.  SO!  If you want to know what is coming down the pike, just study Escada or some of the other haute couteur fashion houses.  If you are about to drop a bundle on your home softgoods, this is not a bad idea.  Then you can be assured that you will want to keep your new, fresh, beautiful home design for about 10 years!! 

Here are some inspirations from the new Escada Spring Collection, 2012.



Brown is the new Black...This has been true now for about, what...8 years??  And still we are seeing the brown in fashion.  It's really hot in the interior design world right now too.   




This year we are seeing a lot of this combination in fashion, but it is a few years old...you will see it carried over this year in Designer Showhouses across the country, butnotsomuch in homes yet!!


Love love this color combination...the purples are huge right now in fashion and in wall paint and accessories.  It's still very tough to find the purple and lavendar tones in rugs, however.  Rugs and carpets are always about 5 years behind the fashion industry.  This makes sense...think about it...carpet is made on a huge loom, where the threads and yarns are pre-dyed and placed on that huge loom...That part alone takes hours.  Those carpet companies are NOT going to mess with fashion color trends that may not translate to interior design.


More...do you want this green in your home?  Kind of fresh when combined with other colors, right?

 My favorites here...look at these splendid colors, and the combinations are yummy.  This will DEFINITELY translate into the interior design world in another year or two.  Can't wait.  You will already see it a bit...but just wait.

 Last but not least, the quiet combination of the neutrals, but set off in a new fresh way.  This will remind you of the 70's but it's only a quiet nod.

So for your homework assignment, if you are about to embark on an interior design project of your own, get online and study these fashion houses.  Then make your own intelligent choices from the fabric houses or stores near your home, and you will be pleased for years to come!

 Margery

Bath Tubs

Note from Margery:
Recently we were researching new tubs for one of my favorite client's Master Bathroom.  She is ready to re-do the whole bathroom, so we did a bit of research to find out what's out there.  I got my Senior Designer, Kimberly (who is amazing, I might add!!), to do a bit of research for us and here's what she came up with:

Bath Tubs

Photo Credits (from top): 

http://www.copycatchic.com/, Houzz.com, Mary MacDonald

My favorite little luxury is to take a long quiet bath. I love the ritual of it, the pampering, the bubbles and bath salts, and my favorite rubber duck. 

I am amazed with that “spa blue” color that the water creates when I fill my large white oval tub.  

We neglect to take this luxurious time out for ourselves because other things usually take priority over “me time” (and for the most part rightly so). We all have over scheduled lives with demands: kids, spouses, jobs, commitments. A quick shower in the morning is all we have time for.  So when we do take time out for a bath, you want a great tub to pamper yourself in. 

Here are some examples ranging the full spectrum in prices for this true luxury. Starting at the top of the line model...this beauty costs the same as most luxury vehicles ($69,000. Kallista, “Archeo” Model # P50202-00, www.kallista.com). 

To the other end of the spectrum would be the Home Depot most basic tub, 

($198. Agua Glass Eleganza 5 ft. Left Drain Soaking Tub in White Model # 39764L)

Here is one of my favorites by Kohler:

(White Vintage Tub, www.us.kohler.com)

Some more fun tubs and bathrooms:

Photo Credits: 

1. www.baldi.biz, 

2. http://www.sicis.it/eng/Mosaic/Collections/Icons/Bathtubs/Models 

3. http://freshome.com/2010/02/23/dramatic-opulent-and-original-bathtubs-from-lineatre/ 

4. http://thismyporcelainlife.tumblr.com/post/9799509650 

5. http://www.houseofturquoise.com 


Q and A Time:

Q: So what makes that “spa blue color” in the tub when it is filled with water? 

A: Basically the answer is: because water is Blue!

In a nutshell, water not completely a transparent liquid. “All substances to a certain degree absorb light, ... the intensity of a beam of light spreading through matter drops exponentially with distance, as described by the so called Beer-Lambert law.”

For a very through scientific explanation you can find out more by clicking here:

http://backreaction.blogspot.com/2009/01/water-is-blue-because-water-is-blue.html

I recently took a mini-vaction to a Ritz-Carlton in Amelia Island, Florida, where I learned all about the amazing variety of salts and the many health benefits from cooking and using salts in our baths.  One particular salt they use at the Spa and in their signature restaurant, aptly named, “Salt,” is called Himalayan Salt. It is pink as a result of the minerals in it including: iron, magnesium, calcium & copper, along with 80 others!  This Himalayan Salt claims to help with circulation, removes toxins, lowers blood pressure, and helps with overall well being!  

http://www.ritzcarlton.com/en/Properties/AmeliaIsland/Default.htm 

You can also find out more about the history of the bath tub including a hoax of the anniversary of when the bath tub was invented!!) at the wikipedia link below.:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bathtub

So take time out for yourself,

grab your favorite rubber ducky 

& take a bath!

Available at amazon.com 

"http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?t=margeweddeint-20&o=1&p=8&l=as1&asins=B000WWCSY2&ref=tf_til&fc1=000000&IS2=1&lt1=_blank&m=amazon&lc1=0000FF&bc1=000000&bg1=FFFFFF&f=ifr"

Accessories - Home & Design Magazine Blog

This is a blog for Home & Design magazine's website from a few months ago.  It was fun to do.  Hope you enjoy it!!

http://homeanddesigndcmdva.wordpress.com/2011/10/19/design-insight-guest-blog-series-the-season%e2%80%99s-best-accessories-2/

Organizer vs. Designer

Here is the link to a blog that was published in the Washington Post's online blog this past Wednesday.  It discusses how to figure out whether you need a designer or an organizer.  I was honored when Washington Post reporter Teri Sapienza contacted me regarding this issue.  Do you feel you need an Organizer? A Designer?  Or both?  Let me know which one you need at your home.  Hope you enjoy the blog!!

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/where-we-live/post/do-you-need-an-organizer-or-a-designer/2012/01/31/gIQARW5phQ_blog.html

Sweeping Color

Remember your high school art class?  Do you remember learning about how the eye sweeps over a page in a magazine? The eye sweeps from top around and back up.  This is true for designing a room as well.  When you walk into a room, you will focus on a single wall.  Perhaps the focal point is the art, and what is below this art?  Try to use the Sweep of Color to pull your eye down from the art onto something below it, and then back up again.  Very appealing.  Your eyes will love it.

Whe you see some designers' work in the magazines, you can almost tell what the starting point was for that room.  Was it the artwork? Or a piece of fabric? These rooms most definitely started with the artwork as a focal point.

The above room absolutely started with the large piece of art on the wall. The eye is drawn downward to the furry pillows, soothing sofa fabric and light blue walls, then back up again to focus for a longer period on the art.

This light, contemporary piece of art ties in with the mantel below, and then continued throughout the space with grays and light yellows. Fab.

 The same theory works for fabrics, finishes...anything.  The picture above has the beautiful blue drapes. The eye sweeps over them and down onto the sofa pillows.  Same effect with panel drapes.