Houston's Best 2012

 The annual Houston's Best Awards were held on October 6th at the Hilton America's hotel in downtown Houston.  It's always a fun party and a way to celebrate the past year's achievements in the Houston area's design and building industry.  

It's not ordinary party either; everyone get's all fancy and dresses up. Just check out Evan's James Bond outfit!

One of my favorite pictures of us... ever!

My standards for swanky parties were just set higher; personalized chocolate coins are a must!

There are so many awards given to the different areas in the industry including remodel, new construction, interior design, marketing, real estate, sales, green design, and many more. Several designers at BDI were finalist and award winners! Cindy Aplanalp won several awards including best Interior Design Bathroom and Living Room, Brenda Denny took home Best Interior Design Specialty Room!

(Me, Evan, Brenda, Peggy, Scott, Cindy, Amber, and Lucas)

BDI - we clean up pretty well.....

And, well.....we always know how to have a great time!

After the awards, I got to meet up with two old friends from Wayne State!!! Jarod and Diver Dan. We haven't seen each other in years and well... years too long!  Stay tuned to see some fun pics of Dan's wedding week extravaganza!

Your TV can do what?!

Every so often, Evan surprises me with some amazing design product or article.  Usually they have some cool engineering feature and this find of his surely is amazing!

Ever been lying in bed, trying to watch TV, and you can’t get a good view without giving your self a neck cramp?

Well there is a solution! It’s called hidden vision TV mounts. This device mounts your TV on the wall above your head board. It looks like a picture frame, and the wires and every thing are hidden, which is even better.

hvtvmounts.com

The side that shows is an actual picture. Instead of having a big black hole that a TV can look like over the fireplace or above your bed, it looks like you have a framed piece of art. And it fits any LCD or LED flatscreen TV.

But the most awesome thing is, when you want to watch TV the mount extends out from the wall above the bed! This means that you can watch TV while lying in bed.

Way to go, Evan!

You know it’s going to be a good day when….

I am an avid fan of Pinterest. In fact I’m going to pin this blog. Anyways, I knew it was going to be a good day when Erika said. “Hey I need you to make this paint chip art thing from Pinterest.”

I’m going to be honest, I’m not always a fan of DIY crafty things. There are good crafts and there are bad crafts. I mean does everyone remember those 90’s needle accented sweatshirts and vests?…YICKS!

Anyways, this one was awesome, easy to make, a lot of fun to do, and paint chip art is very popular right now.

Basically, you cut out paint chips in circle. I used a punch, because I am definitely not coordinated enough to cut out a perfect circle a hundred something times. Then, you glue them in lines on foam core, overlapping each line a little bit so you don’t have any white spaces. Now I used that double stick tape that comes in a roll like white out (which is super cool p.s.) so that there was not as much of a mess.

FINISHED!!!!

And TA-DA you have an awesome piece to frame and put in any room that needs a bit of fun and color. This piece for instance is going to go into a little kids room! Don’t worry we’ll post pictures of the final install.

 - Erin

Christmas is coming!

Just a little reminder.... Christmas is on it's way! 

If you're looking for some special decorations, like this fabulous wall hanging below, you have to check out For All Occasions!

They've been working on their Christmas items since August! In September and October, their showroom turns into a magnificent and glittery winter wonderland.  You'll find the most unique and incredibly beautiful items at this showroom!

A little snarky....

I try to be pretty full of joy all of the time... but sometimes, I find a little bit of snarky deep down inside.

Here are a few bits of snarky laughter for your day :) 

Traditional Get's a Facelift

There is a trend out there that I am just loving. Yes I know it has been around for a while, but I am still loving it! It’s taking old traditional items and doing something crazy, and wacky with them.

Take these chairs. They have classic frames and lines, but would you look at that fabric! Using bright saturated color or even a crazy patterned fabric to upholster your traditional furniture is a great way to add some spunk to any room.

houzz.com

Or take a look at this mirror. It is super duper traditional, bordering on over the top. But with by painting it pink it becomes an awesome focal point for any room!

houzz.com

These tips are great to remember if you are wanting to do a fun take on traditional or want to add some flare to a great eclectic style room.

-        Erin

Multi-purpose room - Husband and Wife Duo

A recent client of mine had quite a dilemma: her husband loves to watch TV (particularly live concerts) and she has a passion for sewing.  Sounds like a typical couple. Except, they wanted a single room where they could enjoy each others' company while partaking in their hobbies.  They happened to have a large game room on their second floor that could do the job- but it needed a little work. 

First- we rearranged the furniture. To the right (outside of the picture), is the entertainment center with the big ol' TV and speakers.  Behind the loveseat, is the wife's sewing table. So she can sew and watch TV with her husband.  You can see her work station in front of the window on the right. 

Next, we installed some dual purpose window treatments.  These room darkening curtains can be closed to make the room perfect for watching a movie.  However, when they are open, they add a soft feminine touch to the otherwise, very masculine room.

Close up of the drapery fabric.

The couple has a beautiful family of children and grandchildren which we proudly displayed on their walls. The photos are hung on Command Strips- the adhesive hooks - so we didn't hammer a single hole into the wood paneling. 

Finally, we replaced a large stone cocktail table with a giant custom ottoman. While the stripe adds a fun manly touch, the fabric brings in some much needed color. The ottoman is on castors so, if the wife is working a big project, she can wheel it out of the way and lay her pattern on the large open floor.