What happens in Vegas…stays in Vegas?  Well not this time.  Too much fun not to tell.  Every year all of us hospitality designers flock to Las Vegas for the Hospitality Design Expo.  You might remember my post about the show from last year.  This year started off a little different.  Jessica Rae Sommer and I arrived early to re-install the HBA DIFFA Dining By Design space that was on show in NYC in March.  Beverly Furniture hosted our little jewelry box and the Swarovski Elements crystal table sparkled once more!  The week was packed with fun events and tons of new products to take in.

We met Candace Olson at the MDC party at Lavo.  She’s really tall!  And I had 4″ heels on!  Loved hearing her speak about the journey she’s taken as a designer and how she got to be Candace Olson, the brand we all know today.

Saw the gorgeous new bold carpet designs from Milliken’s Focus collection.

Admired the fun laser cut designs on hide over at Edelman Leather.

Spent a lot of time at the Swarovski booth.  Love that Hellman Chang joined in the crystal movement!  It is just the right touch of Swarovski Elements mixed in with the casual concrete finish.  The piece looked so chic in person!

Accessorized at Global Views.

And fell for these floors over at the Stella McCartney boutique in City Center.

The design dilemma’s have still been rolling in…this one is all the way from West Palm Beach, Florida.  And get this…her sister, who lives in Walnut Shade, Missouri, is actually the one who found YB&D!

The dilemma.

“We have an unusual problem with our rental.  Most of the time, the issue with a rental is all the white walls and Berber carpet.  However, our landlord’s used to live in our house and, being from Italy, lovingly “fancied” up the space by adding a lot of…embellishments.  Up until a couple days ago, they also had heavy gold curtains with tassels.”

Oh my, no joke.  Fancied!  Between the burgundy damask wall paper, the white architectural applied moldings & panels, and the heavy furniture styling, the space is quite traditional.  What she wants is bright, fresh, and modern.  I’m going to have to work a miracle.

Landlord rules.

No painting.  No removal of wall paper (apparently they are attached).  No new light fixtures.  Shish.  What to do.  In my head, I was thinking…break those rules!  Paint those tan walls white!  What landlord doesn’t like white!  And it would instantly freshen the space allowing the floating white architectural panels to disappear and the burgundy wall paper to feel slightly less traditional.  I also sent her a few images to show how a SUPER traditional space with traditional architectural details can feel VERY modern with the right furniture styling.  It’s a style mash up.  All hope is not lost!

The key is having an eclectic mix of pieces.  And right now all the furniture has the same wood finish and all the accessories are dark and heavy, including the frames on the art and mirrors.  The art imagery is also very traditional European.  And if that’s not what she is going for…then some of it has to GO!

For colors, go brighter.  Stay away from the sage & forest greens that are usually paired with burgundy/rose tones.  Other accent colors could be fresh cool purples or bright yellows.  Also, go to more modern neutrals.  No tans and browns.  There is already a lot of this.  Pull in black, white, and gray.

All of this can be done by selecting modern artwork, a modern patterned rug and some new, fresh throw pillows for the sofa.  Trading that heavy trunk coffee table for a metal coffee table with a glass top would also pull in some new materials and open up the space.

The dining space is a great opportunity for a do-it-yourself project!  DIY!  Hope there’s no attachment to those dining chairs!  Sand them down a little and paint them…WHITE!  The mix of the wood finish on the table and the white chairs will start to give some variety amongst the pieces.  Pop those chair seats off and re-cover them yourself.  Find a modern fabric – maybe a black and white stripe or even a gray and white stripe.  A 1/2 yard of fabric per chair and a staple gun and you’ve got a whole new look.  Go for neutral curtains on patterned wall paper.  And last but not least, the table centerpiece.  Trade those fake flowers and heavy vase for a simple clear glass vase and some fresh flowers.  I promise it will brighten up the space and brighten up the day!  Happy Friday!

Better late than never…after a computer melt-down (a blogger’s worst nightmare) and some long hours at the office…I am just now finishing up this final post on our DIFFA space.  We have gotten a lot of fun press over the last few weeks.  One of my favorite write-ups is from Bijou and Boheme.  I can’t believe it was exactly one month ago that I was sitting in the space having dinner celebrating the close of an amazing week of events.  Enjoy!  And I hope you think we rocked it too!

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The moment of truth.  Drum roll please…after 3 months of design blood, sweat, and tears, Jessica Rae Sommer and I landed in New York to install the HBA DIFFA Dining By Design space! The location: Pier 94…in conjunction with the Architectural Digest Home Show.  If you are just tuning in-check out my previous posts with all the design and event details!

Dining By Design

Dining By Design: The Details

Day 1…let the install begin.  The pier was crazy.  Designers running around like mad.  Thom Filicia.  Jonathan Adler.  David Rockwell.

Hello black glossy structure.  Oh how we spent so many nights dreaming you up.  And hello boys.  Oh how you made the install that much better.  A little eye candy, anyone?  The crew from Geoff Howell Studio definitely rocked it and the space came to life!

Day 2…we brought the bling!  Well, actually Swarovski brought the bling.  A crowd began to form as we carefully unpacked hundreds and hundreds of crystal elements.  Probably due to the ridiculous white gloves we were wearing.  Or not.  More likely because no one could believe we were actually going to have a crystal table top!

But we did.  Oh yes we did!  One very sparkly table top!

Voila!  All the details came together.

The matte and glossy tilted herringbone pattern on the walls.

The cut outs in the structure…just enough to make you want more.

The custom designed fabrics upholstered on the Beverly Armstrong chairs.

The reflection of the Trove Indi wall covering on the side walls of the space.  It created this extra layer of chaos.

The table setting.  Vintage!  We snagged the set at House of Honey in Pasadena.  If you are looking for Hollywood glam, it is the place to go.  I had to hold myself back from buying everything in the store.  We found so many yummy goodies.  The overall table setting is also a true testament that mixing inexpensive items with expensive pieces and vintage goods can create a really high end look if everything is paired well.  But that’s all I’m saying.  I can’t let you in on all our secrets, now can I!

The gold “set me free” detail in the custom Zenith rug.

And after all that installing, it was time to brush the dust off and celebrate!  Jess and I headed to Cocktails by Design to kick off the week of events.  Our outfits matched the booth.  Sequins.  When in rome!

We sipped the signature EFFEN vodka cocktails.  Tried food from top NYC chefs.  And then may have stalked Thom Filicia for a photograph.  After he gushed over our space, we had to document.  Jee Levin, the designer behind Trove and the feature wall in our design, was also amongst the crowd.  We were so happy she indulged us and agreed to custom color her beautiful graphic.  The wall completed the space perfectly.

Try making some of the event’s signature cocktails at home – check out this NY Daily News article for all the recipes.  A little Designer Lover perhaps?

What would a dining room be without dining?  After a weekend long public viewing session, the Gala dinner concluded the event with speeches from Ralph Lauren himself and other design heavy hitters.  All so surreal.  I think the New York Times said it best – it truly was a Dizzying Display, by Design.

I promised you more details and here they are!  The design process for HBA’s dining space for DIFFA’s Dining By Design event in NYC this year was all about the details.  I mentioned last time that we enlisted the help of some of the top manufacturer’s and brands in the industry to help bring the design to life.  Schonbek came on board donating three gorgeous black crystal Hamilton chandeliers.

When the event is all about dining we figured we should have a killer dining table like nothing anyone had ever seen before.  And with a brand like Swarovski to help, why not do a crystal table top!  Swarovski donated hundreds of crystal elements and after a few sketches and some concept images, Beverly Furniture was willing to make our custom jewelry box table frame.  The black glossy beauty was designed to be a show stopper.

Beverly also allowed us to glamorize their signature Colette & Armstrong chairs for the table.  We selected faux black fur fabric from The Romo Group and did the chair frames in a gold leafing.

The style of the Armstrong chair shield back allowed us the option to really play around with the upholstery on the front and backs of these chairs.  We contacted Opuzen Design who has the capability of printing custom graphics on fabric.  We wanted each chair to be unique.  So we designed the fabric ourselves!!

Jessica Rae painted a large image of a girl transforming into a raven across 3 canvases.  We took the images of the painting and then layered them on top of a custom graphic I created as the background for the imagery.  The final imagery was then used for the chair fronts so that the girl transformed through the space.  For the chair backs, large graphic lettering layered onto the same background image created the word ”free” across the three chairs.

The process was quick and Opuzen Design had the custom designs printed and ready for upholstery.  Here’s an image of all the furniture in production at the factory before upholstering.  I always love going to the furniture factories.  Getting to see pieces in raw form and being part of the entire process is one of the best parts of being a designer.

For the main feature wall of the space, we chose the Indi pattern wall covering from TROVE.  I have been a fan of TROVE for awhile now.  Remember my write-up, Art & Soul?  A graphic tribute to film luminary Alfred Hitchcock, Indi feels like an action shot of a flock of birds in flight.  TROVE is led by Jee Levin and Randall Buck, who are both accomplished artists and the creative force behind the brand’s ingenious concepts.  TROVE so kindly indulged us and created a custom color of the pattern just for our space.  Of course we wanted GOLD!  When we got the sample in…our mouths dropped.  The custom color looked incredible on the graphic.  We knew it would be the perfect feature wall in the space.

All of these lovely details sit on a custom area rug fabricated by Zenith International.  The scripted black & white graphic is actually lines from the fairytale.  We designed the rug so that one line, “set me free”, is highlighted in gold lorex at the front of the rug.

We could not have pulled this Dining By Design space off without our loyal friends and manufacturers in the industry.  Thank you for all your contributions.  Stay tuned for the final installation shots and all the juicy details from the week of DIFFA events in NYC.

Hello YB&D’ers!  It has been forever!  I had so many resolutions and plans for this new year.  Work-life balance.  Healthy living.  Even a little make-over for the YB&D website.  All went out the window when I got the opportunity from HBA Design to work on a dining space for DIFFA’s Dining By Design event in NYC.  I am actually writing from NYC today.

Jessica Rae Sommer, my colleague-you may remember her, Lovely or Ugly?, and I, along with a fantastic crew from Geoff Howell Studio, finished installing the space last Wednesday and it has been a whirlwind ever since!!  Crazy fun in NYC!  I feel so humbled to have been in the company of some really great designers.  I mean Thom Filicia was installing a few spaces down from us, ever watch Queer Eye For the Straight Guy?!?!  There has been this great comradery and spirit amongst all the designers showing.  This past week I remembered why I became a designer.  I have so much passion and love for what I do and it is so refreshing to be surrounded with people who are equally passionate!

Ok ok, I bet you are wondering what the design looks like!  I can’t give it all to you just yet!  I know, such a tease!  It is all coming this week so stay tuned!  Here are a few little bits to nibble on.  These images inspired our design.  Hopefully they will inspire you too!

From the Press Release:

New York, NY – HBA / Hirsch Bedner Associates is set to unveil their first ever design installation at DIFFA’s 2012 Dining by Design. DIFFA is known for bringing together some of the most talented and celebrated individuals in the worlds of fashion, interior design, art and architecture to create awe-inspiring dining environments and raise money for HIV/AIDS service and education programs in the United States.  Leading the hospitality interior design industry since 1965, HBA is proud to participate in this year’s events and showcase a unique design installation that is inspired by the Brothers Grimm story, The Raven. 

HBA’s designers Kelly Sutton, Jessica Rae Sommer and Kathleen Dauber have worked tirelessly to create a design concept based on The Raven that embodies all of the depth, enchantment and anticipation of thriving in the midst of change and adversity.  In this dark children’s fairytale, a young princess is trapped.  Transformed into a raven, her only hope is in waiting for the prince that will one day set her free.

Through a myriad of design elements presented throughout the installation, HBA communicates their understanding of how a person’s current state, situation, or place so often appears dark, leaving one ‘lost in a story’ that does not feel their own.  In their design, HBA seeks to visually express the greater hope and transformation that exists within us all.

These are a few of our initial sketches and drawings for the DIFFA Dining By Design space.

Since the event is a non-profit we were really passionate about supporting the cause and also creating a story within the design that had meaning and relevance.  We also wanted to custom as many design elements as we could in the space to really showcase our skills.  So, we enlisted the help of some of the finest manufacturer’s and brands in the industry to make our design come to life.  Check back for details on how we created a jewelry box dining table to showcase hundreds of Swarovski crystals!

Big city living usually equals small spaces, noisy streets, and spending as much time OUT instead of IN!  But, for those times you just want to stay IN, why not come home to a place you love?!?  Our next design dilemma is from a YB&D guy in the big city of Chicago.

I couldn’t help but be a bit at a loss for advice as I was mesmerized by the wall behind the bar.

Paint chips.  Home Depot.  Free.  How brilliant.  And makes the space so bold and mod.  Ok, ok, let’s not all run to Home Depot and snatch paint chips.  They might come after me if these things start disappearing in mass quantities.  It does show that art can be found in unusual places.  Be inventive when you are on a budget!  He chose multiple colors but stuck with similar values of those colors and adhered them to the wall with standard painter’s tape.  So easy.

And now for the dilemma.  He was seeking advice on what to do on the other walls.  Since the paint chip wall is such a statement, the selection has to be simple so that it doesn’t compete with the feature of the room.  I suggested focusing on the headboard wall rather than the side wall.  The side wall is already home for the closet doors and putting something at the headboard will ground the bed and also offer a little balance next to the window.  It could be anything from art to sculpture to mirror.

Just some fun ideas.  A large modern Vitra-esq clock would keep with the mod vibe.  Hit the flea market for an affordable retro find.

Or, I liked the idea of using a mirrored sculptural element like this CB2 Perspective Mirror to act as art but also reflect light so that the room feels larger.  Our big city guy took the advice and solved his dilemma.  He was able to find this retro art piece depicting the Chicago L system.  Affordable and a little local flair.  Perfect.  And with a few new graphic pillows the look is complete.  Check out the finished room below.

One of my fabulous friends, who I met during my stint in Hong Kong, has allowed us to take a peek into her newly renovated flat in the Sai Ying Pun area of the island.  And it is good.  Real good.  The 1100 square foot space got a major make-over….

Gorgeous! Stained concrete floors, animal accents, and a touch of regal purple.

Some accent walls in black and gray and a mix of modern and vintage furniture pieces.

Did I mention the sunken outdoor living space?

The warm wood tones play nicely with the modern grays.

And a pop of yellow!  My favorite.  The perfect use of two traditional chinese cabinets to make a desk – just add a clear glass top.  So, go ahead, make yourself at home.

Modern Rustic.  Vintage Modern.  Rustic Chic.  Call it what you may.  But either way, this design trend is on fire.  What is it you ask?  The trend usually includes reclaimed wood where every knot, warp, and flaw add to the character of the material juxtaposed by industrial furniture, metal, and bare bulbs.  It’s a trend that seems to go hand in hand with the gastro pub phenomenon.  Good food, good beer, and good decor.  Love.  Several LA hot spots are rockin the trend.  From Gjelina’s in Venice…

to the converted former post office space in Manhattan Beach, MB Post…

to the new comer, Wurstkuche, in Venice and Downtown LA serving some uber cool gourmet sausages.  The beer taps here are done in such a clever way.  Not the usual plastic handles with the beer brand’s logo.  All black!  Making the taps into a graphic modern stand-out at the bar.

So, why not bring a little modern rustic flair to your home?!  I pulled together a few materials from my desk to create the look.  I’m loving mixing these warm wood tones with rich dark steel gray and silver colored fabrics.  The fabrics start to play off the metals in the furniture and lighting to complete the look.

You can find affordable decorating alternatives at stores like Crate & Barrel, CB2, and West Elm which seem to be carrying more reclaimed wood furniture and hand-made items.  Modern Rustic here you come, grab a beer and have a seat!  A couple of my favs are below.  Enjoy!

Paloma Dining Table

Industrial Stool

Utility Pendant Lamp

“From My Desk” is a monthly inside look at the products and materials I am working with as a high-end hospitality designer.

Hey all you YB&D’ers…looking for a great wedding gift to give this year? Or Christmas gift?  The answer is yes!  Or just enjoy sitting around the house with a glass of wine in hand?  Who can resist!  Check out a fellow designer and friend’s fabulous glassware and lighting line, Sempli.  And, it’s sooo fabulous, it’s on FAB.  3 days only.  The sale starts TODAY!  Go.  Quick.  And, share the love…tell your friends!

For more information, visit Sempli online at www.sempli.com

What in the world is FAB?!? Just fabulous designs on sale at up to 70% off.  Become a member and get some deals!  www.fab.com

Today is the big day!  Run.  Because you only have till October 22nd.

It’s the Missoni for Target collection.  And I am obviously a Target lover and a huge fan of all their designer collaborations!  High fashion on a budget.  Who can beat that!

Does anyone else put a massive dent in their checkbook every time they leave the store?  Or is it just me?  Take a peek at the Home Collection Look Book. I’ve got my eye on some pillows!