Master Bath Challenge

I loved working on this Master Bath remodel whose owner (Maria) is truly one of the nicest ladies I have ever met. Now as you can see from the photos, this was a tiny bathroom. It proposed not only a challenge for designing, but also for me to fit in it to snap the photos of the end result! We wanted to keep the colors light as to not make this space seem any smaller. Many times when you use a light or even white tile, you lose warmth in the process. The solution was using a white tile that had a gold vein running through it. The pinwheel mosaic had a gold, stone center that drew the color out even more. The gold added warmth while the white background kept it light. I ran the tile to the ceiling in the shower which is another good way make a small space appear larger. To continue on our theme of "lightness", a frameless shower door was installed and a small wall mounted sink kept the floor space open. The result, small master bath...big impact! Maria was extremely happy with the end result and actually sent the showroom flowers for all of our hard work. Thank you Maria for letting us be a part of your home.

House Beautiful-Color Institute

Last Wednesday I attended "Designer Wednesday" at the San Francisco Design Center. This week was hosted by House Beautiful and was all about color. The guest speakers were Stephen Drucker (Editor in Chief, House Beautiful) and San Francisco Designers Suzanne Tucker and Paul Vincent Wiseman. They offered many great tips for the oh so dreaded selections of paint colors as well as many exciting stories of interactions with their own clients. When designing one client’s private jet, they had to make final selections IN FLIGHT to insure all colors were viewed in the proper lighting. Wow that would be amazing! I do agree though, color changes in different lighting therefore it is crucial to view it in the setting in which it will live. I tell this to clients every day.

MORE TIPS FROM THE PROS:

• Don't forget the 5th Wall aka The Ceiling. If you don't like white ceilings and you need a no fail solution to match your wall paint, have the paint store add 25-50% of white to your wall color. Voila, a toned down color to match perfectly.
  
• You must test paint. Do not try and make your final selections off the teeny tiny cards you receive at the store. If you don't want to paint samples directly on your walls, paint 3 coats on a 24"x24" board. I like to use foam core board because it doesn't bend.
  
• View the samples vertically not looking down at them. This goes back to lighting again. Try it, you'll see the difference.
• Last but not least, and my favorite tip of the day because I run into this with clients all the time. Pick your paint last. I can't tell you how many times I have clients bring me paint swatches and want me to pick flooring, fabrics etc to go with it. There are millions of paint color options but only so many tiles, carpets or fabric patterns that you will like, so hold off on the paint. I promise paint can be found to match!
  

The day was finished off with guest speaker Brice Cooper from GE Lighting. He discussed lighting design tips and introduced an interactive web tool that teaches users how to create moods with light. Ohh Laa Laa! VIEW TOOL. Check it out, it's pretty informative and you can also enter a Sweepstakes to win $25,000 to redecorate your home.

Dirty Girls

About two weeks ago I got back from Teri's, (my brothers fiance) Bachelorette party in Tahoe. It turned out great with the help of fellow bridesmaids Sally Buonomo of Andiamo and Grace (Teri's Matron of Honor).

Teri loves Dirty Martinis so we used that as the theme for her party. We used green & red (for olives of course) paired with a zebra print to add a touch of sexiness for the decor. It turned out spectacular!!! All except for when my attempt to make the beautiful cake pops from Bakerella into an olive design went bad. Quick thinking and Plan B was underway. Store bought brownies+green candy melts+squirt of red frosting=olive themed dessert!

Dirty Martini shaker from SOCIAL COUTURE

Party Favors~ Choice of Photo Album with Zebra pattern or "Live...Laugh...Love" Teri's favorite quote.

Welcome

Hi everyone and welcome to my new Blog! Although many of you are already Blog savvy, I know there are a handful out there that still have no idea what a Blog is.

A blog is a website usually maintained by an individual with regular entries of commentary, descriptions of events, or other material such as photos. It basically is an online journal that will gain regular readers overtime. It is a great way to post current projects instead of always having to update your regular website. And that is exactly what I plan on doing.

An easy way to keep current on reading my blog is to click on "Subscribe to: Posts Atom" at the bottom of the page and that will open a yellow box. In there you can click on "Subscribe to this feed". This will send all new Blog entries into your favorites folder under Feeds. You can then go read them as you have time.

Sorry for the lengthy explanation I just wanted to explain the process so that everyone who didn't understand the process (you know who you are!) would know what to do.

Hope you enjoy viewing my Blog and in case you hadn't seen my new website you can visit it at

http://www.jenniferbishopdesign.com