It's a Disaster!

My room no longer looks like this...I promise! 

But it did just a few days ago.  Work went from a mild tropical storm into a full fledged hurricane and is steadily picking up.  It is rare that I spend more than just a few hours at my apartment and this is the result....

It was embarrassing! I could hardly open my armoire without tripping over piles of clothing and my bed became my floor space after I ran out.  

Every now and again....everyone breaks from their norm and has a small meltdown.  At least you finally get to see pics of my place :)

Newly Finished - Bathroom Remodel

Things at work have been excessively busy lately- it must seem crazy considering the lack of photos of my projects but finally some projects are coming around and finishing up. Here are some pics from a newly finished bathroom remodel I did with Cindy Aplanalp. Adrienne's Greg the remodel work!

Wall mounted faucets make cleaning a bathroom counter top a breeze!  These brushed nickel fixtures are mounted on an iridescent black Oceanside glass tile mosaic.

You can see the shower design reflected in the mirror where....

the same glass tile from the vanities is used to create a plaid pattern with some slate tile on the walls.

The frameless shower surround allows you to see this awesome shower with the natural slate and glass tile accents. For large showers like this one, a handheld shower wand makes cleaning much easier. It's also great for washing pets! The lack of wall space in this bathroom created a challenge for placing towel bars....so we mounted them to the glass!

A honed black granite was used on the counter top to contrast with the sparkly glass tile going up the walls.

A custom cabinet houses shoes and has custom drawers built for accessory storage.

Epic Battle in the Bathroom!

Yesterday morning I woke up, laid in bed for a few minutes contemplating rolling over to go back to sleep or actually getting up to start the day.  Getting up won and I stumbled into the bathroom, turned on the light and saw two long feelers sticking out of my drain hole.  

It was going to be my first battle with a roach in my apartment since I moved in.

Roaches aren't uncommon in my apartment; it's an old building with lots of trees.  The apartment is sprayed once a week but roaches are ridiculous to kill and I learned that first hand.

I turned on the water and tried to drown him and send him on his merry way down the drain. He apparently took swim lessons when he was younger, resisted the water-boarding and climbed out of the drain. 

Excuse my language...but shit! He was now scurrying around my vanity, on my towels, across my mirror and eventually he stopped to rest on my soap dispenser.

After photographing him, I viciously used a wash cloth to swat him down to the floor, injuring him in the process.  I know this because there were roach guts across my counter top.

Then, wielding the wash cloth in one hand and a plunger in the other, the roach and I began an epic battle across walls, floor and cabinets of my bathroom until I finally trapped him under the plunger.  I couldn't kill him while he was under the plunger because you can't squash the plunger flat; I tried but he would just sit in the air pocket.

I needed a shower after that. And some time to come up with a strategy for killing him. Maybe just some time for the adrenaline to go away.

I couldn't come up with anything better than using the plunger to beat him to death. But that meant letting him out and then relying on my aim with the plunger to repeatedly hit him.  

It was not very graceful, and it was definitely full of profanities, but I finally squashed his quick disgusting little butt.  Then, using the plunger to scoop him up into some toilet paper, he 'went swimming with the sewage fishes.' 

I cleaned my entire bathroom after that. It's sparkling.

The end.

Happy birthday to my amazing sister!

I just wanted to wish my sister a wonderful happy birthday!

She is amazing and I thank my lucky stars for everything that she has done for me (including being the reason I'm in Texas).  I can't imagine not being able to call her up for anything, or only driving 20 minutes to visit her and her beautiful family!

You know what.....

She rocks! :)

Happy birthday, Adrienne!

Happy Birthday to me!

In June, I attended Dallas Market a few days before my birthday to take a look a some lighting and accessory lines for current clients.  Well, I found a birthday present for myself while I was there....this handmade ring made from an old bronze Indian coin from 1978.  Why am I just now blogging about it? Well, it just came in the mail!

""I love all that is vintage and have been religiously inspired by the classics. I love the contrast, the idea of luxury and grit. I found vintage medals in a Paris flea market and the rest is a series of fortunate circumstances that have allowed me to create the universe inside my head...."

Shannan Koszyk

To see more of Shannon's Jewelry- CLICK HERE!

It's Party....Open house time!

As interior designers, we work really hard....so we know how to throw a pretty good party as well!  At the completion of one of my mentor's big projects, we threw an open house so everyone could see our work.  

Cindy has been working on this project since before the slab was poured and was there to place the last accessory after all of the construction was completed. 

Chelsea, Amber and I

My biggest contribution to the project was in the tile work and designs of all of the tile arrangements.  Each bathroom (7 in all), the two kitchens, several bar areas and a few other spaces here and there all had custom tile designs that were drawn up by....me!

Here is a neat panorama of the kitchen. 

Amber, Cindy's mom, Cindy, Cindy's dad and me!

Panorama of the living room.

You all know this guy! He came out to check out the beautiful home and eat some of the delicious food prepared by Viking Chef Scotty.

Panorama of the powder bathroom. 

(The panorama's are created by an app on my iPhone- called Photosynth.  It's free- you should check it out!) 

It just so happened that the party was the same week as mom and dad's visit to Houston!

My New Office!

Most of you already know- but in January, I was promoted to a head designer at By Design Interiors!  I have my own collection of clients that is consistently growing, I have new business cards that say "Interior Design," and now I even have my own office!

It's amazing how much stuff you collect while working on various projects.  I have baskets, bins, tubs and bags to keep all of my clients' things together and organized.  All of these things were spilling out of the office I shared with my coworker Amber until it got to a point when the owner decided I needed some more space.

I even got to select my wall color- a happy sunshine yellow!  I just finished cleaning my office (on a Sunday night!) so please don't think it looks like this all of the time :)