Designer Highlight: Diane Bergeron

Happy Monday!

I hope everyone had a lovely weekend. I did. I spent the weekend relaxing, something that is very rare for me. It was kind of nice taking a weekend off from the normal hustle and bustle. I feel refreshed and ready to take on a new month.

Today I'd like to share one of my favorite designer's with you....Diane Bergeron. Her work is incredible. What I love about her the most is her ability to mix bold patterns and colors to create a modern, yet classic style.

Her design philosophy "is based on timeless elegance and bold self-expression. Her approach is to mix classic and modern elements to invoke an atmosphere of glamorous sophistication while maintaining a relaxed feel."

I hope you enjoy her bold designs as much as I do...

Image credits: Diane Bergeron

What do you think? Do you love her daring use of color and pattern as much as I do?

Happy Friday!

Happy Friday everyone!

What do you have planned for the weekend? This weekend I'm laying low. My goal is to get cracking on some of my projects around the house. Have a lovely one....and while you're at it check out Two Become One for another link party.

Can I Get a Do Over?

I cannot believe it's the end of February (we are almost into the 3rd month of 2011). Wow, where is time going? I feel like I need a do over. It is OFFICIALLY time to get busy on my house goals for 2011. I have been in a blog bubble since I started my blog January 8th. I realized yesterday that I have not even been to Lowe's in a month! That is a record, Lowe's is usually at least a tri-weekly stop for us. I think I am starting to have withdrawals.

What have I been doing the past two months? Learning how to blog, trying to be consistent in my posting, and learning photoshop and how to design a blog....but now it is time to get serious.

Here are some of the projects I have planned for the house in 2011. Hopefully, this will get me motivated and help me stay accountable.

Dining Room:

Entry:

Additional Entry:

* maybe I will build a bench similar to this storage bench from Ana White
* I love this mudroom locker idea too, but our entry is too small.
*new rug
*new window treatments (we have two glass block windows flanking the front door, I would love to hide them)....maybe something like this from Isabella & Max Rooms: No-Sew Window Treatments would work.

Kitchen:

TV Room:

Cloffice:

Additional Cloffice projects:

*diy- storage/organization for mail

I've started on the cloffice, hopefully I'll make progress this weekend.

Laundry Room:

*paint
* DIY drying rack- maybe something similar to this one by Centsational Girl.

Master Bath:

*new floor tile (we reglazed the sage and pink wall tile, but still have sage and pink floor tile that is coming apart).
*DIY disaster mirror (we tried to add molding to our mirror, but when my husband hung it he didn't center the mirror). It needs to be taken down and re-centered.

Garage:

Isn't it funny how a designer's work is never complete? Whether it is interior design or blog design. My poor husband was ecstatic when we "finished" our renovations. I still see so many things that need to be done. When we started renovating two years ago we were focused on the "big ticket items." Now, I am in nick pick mode. Overall, I am happy with our home, but there are so many things I still want to change and upgrade.

How are you doing with your New Year's Resolutions? Do you have any fun DIY/renovation projects going on right now? I would love to hear about them!

Calling New Blogs

This post is for fellow blog newbies.

Sassie Sites Blog is hosting a new blog link party! I just signed up, it is to introduce blogs 6 months old or younger.

I also linked up for a link party at Hello, Splendor. Beth is featuring all blogs, big or small...just link up.

Both of these sites have tons of blogs new to me....I love it! I am having my own party reading through all of the new blogs (or new to me blogs).

Have Fun! Have you found any additional link parties? Or new blogs I should be reading?

Round Dining Room Tables

I love round dining room tables. I love the fact conversation can flow so easily around a round table.

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How do you feel about round dining tables? Have you ever thought about using a round table in the dining room?

Great Fun at The Quadrathalon and Albuqurque...

I hope everyone had a fantastic weekend. We had a terrific weekend, it is always nice to get out of town....but it feels so good to get home again.

We traveled about 4 hours to Grants, NM for the 28th annual Mt. Taylor Quadrathalon. The race consisted of a 13 mile bike ride (up hill), 5 mile run, 2 mile cross-country ski (up heartbreak hill, which apparently lives up to its name), a 1 mile snowshoe to the top of Mt. Taylor....a shot of Jack Daniels...then you turn around and do it all backwards. This was my husband's first quadrathalon. He finished in 8 hr. 35 min. Can you imagine racing that long?! I can't.

Alfred Before the Race

The Starting Line

Off They go


After the Race...exhausted

While he was racing I took the opportunity to explore Grants and all of the outdoor fun in the area. I took the dogs hiking in El Malpais. El Malpais, means badlands in Spanish. It was named this because of the barren and dramatic lava fields covering most of the park. The El Malpais is part of the Zuni-Bandera volcanic field, the second largest volcanic field in the Basin and Range Province. We had a nice little hike through the park, it was beautiful.

Lava Tunnel in El Malpais

Vista of Grants, NM

Lava Field in El Malpais

After the guys finished racing we then drove into Albuquerque to spend the night. We had amazing sushi and crashed. Sunday, we explored Old Town Albuquerque. It is a small square close the The Rio Grande River, where Albuquerque started.

Door of San Felipe de Neri Parish

San Felipe de Neri Parish (Albuqurque's Oldest Catholic Church)

Chili peppers hanging

Old Wooden Ladder

All in all a great weekend, I am thinking potentially if I can get the hubby to compete next year, I might give the quadrathalon a try too.....after a lot, lot, lot of training....we'll see....

Happy Friday!

Happy Friday everyone!

I'm packing my bags, we're headed out of town. My husband is crazy! He signed up for a quadrathalon.

Saturday he has voluntarily signed up to partake in The 28th Annual Mt. Taylor Winter Quadrathalon. He will be starting at 6500 ft. on a road bike. He will bike 13 miles and climb 1700 ft. Next, he will be running 5 miles on a gravel road, climbing 1,250 ft. in elevation. After that (if he is still alive!) is the 2 mile cross-country ski and 1 mile snowshoe to an elevation of 11,300 ft.

Sounds Bad, right!? That's only half of it, he then takes a shot, turns around and does it all backwards.

What about me?! I'm hanging back on this one...I will be cheerleader and DD (yup, designated driver). I have a feeling after this is finished, he will not be able to move.

Wish us luck, it should be an exciting weekend! I hope everyone has a great one.

Amazing Interior Design Studio

This evening I was leafing through the January/February issue of Lonny Magazine...It was incredible. It was filled with page after page of color, pattern, accessories, fashion, modern spaces, eclectic spaces....an eyeful on every page.




However, I think out of all the incredible images I saw...Bunny William's interior design studio took the cake. It is INCREDIBLE , I would kill (well not really) to have a studio space like this designated for design ...well, heck I would live there if I could. I am in love!

Check it out:






Enjoy!

Airstream Renovation Update

As I have mentioned before, my husband and I got the crazy idea in November to buy a vintage Airstream and fix it up (read the post here). We have been slowly working on it on the weekends (when it is not too cold). Today, I thought I would update you on the progress. This is a tough and nasty job, but we are so excited to get it finished (hopefully in July).

We are doing a full remodel on the inside, which means basically we're gutting it. We haven't decided if we want to restore or renovate it. This is my department and I am torn. On one hand it would be cool to bring it back to the glory days. On the other hand, I have so many ideas to make it fun, chic and contemporary.

For now, we're in demo stages. This project took a little while to really jump in head first. Hubby and I have NO IDEA how to work on a travel trailer....so we're learning one step at a time. Fortunately, he is awesome at home renovations and making my design dreams into reality.

So far we have....
1. sanded and stripped the rust off the tongue
2. Primed the tongue with POR 15- a rust preventative paint
3. Painted the tongue with POR-15 Stirling Silver paint
4. Repaired the door, which flew open and busted on our drive across the country, we drove 700 mi. with it duct taped....awesome.
5. gutted the inside (we are planning on refinishing the built-in cabinetry and furniture and reusing it in the new design).
6. Ripped up the terrible peel and stick tile.

WARNING!!! THESE PHOTOS ARE NOT PRETTY...but hey, it's PROGRESS.

Hubby and I working on repairing the door. We had to take it apart, have it re-welded together. Then, we had to put it back together.

Before we started ripping the cabinets and flooring out.

Work in progress....











LOOK AT THAT MOLD!! It is Disgusting, the whole wall was covered in it!

Honestly, after ripping everything out, I cannot believe we stayed in this thing for 1.5 weeks when we bought it. It is disgusting....but we're making it better and it will be as good as new in a few short months.

We still have the bathroom to rip out, hubby had to dremel some of the screws that were ruined. Getting the furniture out, has not been an easy task.

I am looking forward to spring so we can jump in there and work longer hours in warmer temperatures.

What do you think? Do you think we should take it back to the 1968 glory days, and restore? Or renovate and make it contemporary?

What is the difference between restoring and renovating an Airstream?

Q: What is the difference between a restoration and a renovation?
A: As applied to Airstreams, restoration is returning the trailer's appearance and operation back to looking like it was when new, or could have looked for the era. Hidden systems might be updated and subtle changes made to the existing configuration. High quality, era appropriate looking materials and styling are important. restoring, yet with some degree of customization works because very few vintage or classic era Airstreams were built exactly alike when made, owing to buyer options and variability from one trailer to the next.
Renovation on the other hand, makes no pretensions about being sympathetic to originality, and reflects the current tastes or desire of the owner. Modern design or materials that would never have graced an Airstream can be used, but the end result is still necessary - it must be functional and show thought and design. Renovations are not considered a bad thing as long as they are done well. (From Vintage Airstream.com).

If you're interested in learning about vintage Airstreams, and restoring/renovating them....check out this link. It is our savior, this website has anything and everything you could possibly consider wanting to know about Airstreams....and more.