The Christmas Card

Merry Christmas Eve !

Cards finally in the mail !  I'm just proud of myself that they aren't Valentine's cards !! I love Christmas cards, we have a big bowl of them on the kitchen island.  It aways blows my mind to see how quickly friend's kids change over the year.  My friend Holly's stepson suddenly became model material and both my girls paused and asked if I had a delivery to their house any time soon.  We always anxiously await  that one card from a friend of mine in Manhattan... hilarious as always.  This year, after a drive by at T. Reid we drove around Noda looking for a good back drop.  As always the last pictures I took were the better of the batch.  Now I am no photographer, but my one bit of advise - pay attention to the background !  It was a fun afternoon and as they get older and older I am desperately trying to freeze the moment !  

I discovered Print Studio two years ago and love them.  Small operation in San Francisco.   Get the App on your phone and when you take that great picture, you can simply download to their site and they will send you the coolest postcards.  Being stupid organized I have a folder on my phone called "travel" and towards the end of the year I would order about 10 of these postcards to add to my stash.  This year I used then on my tree - so cute.

. . . another idea for all those holiday cards . . .

or how about this !

Merry Christmas !  Lucy and Company . . .

Install of the Day !

Hey There !

The light and airy feeling I saw in Petros Koublis's photography reminded me of a recent install Maggie pulled off for our client's the Little's.  We have been so slammed as of late, even writing on the blog was something we both had to back-burn  - running around, installing, designing and a little sleep trumped posting.  But have a little time now that most of the full house designs I have been working on are now down to just one to finish, so thought I'd play catch up while Bobby Flay is taking about the best brine for your turkey !

Maggie has been working with Cheryl for a while now.  It started with her master (here) and lead to the front entry, kitchen and this family room.  Such a conducive color scheme, soothing and pulled together !  

Take a look at the details !

 

Maggie did a great job with an odd entry.  Entering from the left of this image you face a center fireplace with two cut thru's.  Centering a sofa on that fireplace would have blocked your traffic flow.  By adding a two sided love seat, you create both a conversation area to the back and another in front of the fire if you like !

 

photos by Mekenzie Loli

Great job Maggie and Mekenzie !

Artist Spotlight: Petros Koublis

Happy Sunday !

I am actually home.. and home ALL day.. wow.  It has been months and months of doing something work related every day and while I did answer a few emails and spent about an hour moving more documents from our old remote server to google docs (reluctantly I might add - it has been a chore we have had to deal with as of late.. updating all the computers - UGH).  I decided I needed a brain break.  I made my Thanksgiving Menu from all the wonderful things I pinned and put in my Pinterest file vowing that this year I would make something different, created a grocery list - then sent Keith, Kate and Lucy all to the grocery store.  I then clean out and organized my entire fridge, pulling out the new Food Saver and having a big ole time with that thing.  Now I sit, for a few to relax a bit. While watching back to back Food Network challenges, I just spend time on the website of Petros Koublis, photographer.  Wow.  Beautiful.  I have been on the hunt for a horse image.  I love horses. While I don't have one, ride one or even fantasize about moving out to the ranch and disconnecting with horses, a garden and several dogs (ok maybe I do)  I love a good horse movie, they always make me cry a bit.  Seabiscuit and The Horse Whisper being two of my favorites.   So when I came across these images by Petros I really paused.  He reached out to me and I throughly enjoyed all of his work. Not only did I fall in love with several of the horses, the landscapes and still images are all so beautiful as well.

Take a look and enjoy.  

Petros Koublis

He is a New York and Athens based photographer. His relationship with photography started in 2000, after having dedicated some years in painting. Since then he has been developing his style through a constant personal exploration. His work has been presented in exhibitions, and frequently published on major Art & Design platforms and magazines all over the world. He has been taking over photographic assignments both in the United States and Europe.