Displaying posts from August, 2011

Got a problem? Need some help? Just standing there shaking your head? Don’t know what to do? You’re not alone. Send us a link to photos of your design quandary and let the Desire to Inspire design crew help you …. that’s you lot… the readers! Here’s a good one to sink your teeth into. Danica emailed about her beams.

I am looking for help with my design problem involving exposed beams. I have a 35 yr old Cape Cod that has exposed beams through out the main floor. They are in ceiling in the kitchen, dining room and living room. They are also in the hall and continue down the walls in all these rooms too. Some are stained a 70’s chocolate brown and others are painted the same brown. At first I liked them as they lent a sort of chalet look to the place but now they are just too dark and dreary. They are large beams about a foot thick on all sides. I really don’t want to paint them white and I can’t even think about striping them. We have natural cedar walls everywhere too. I would like to brighten the kitchen by painting the cupboards(green) and the walls(white) in that area. I was also thinking of painting the ceiling a nice blue. But what to do with those beams? I also have a part wall of exposed brick.

I have been trying to come up with a practical solution to all of this for over five years now.  So here are some pics of the kitchen/dining room and living room. Looking at them all I am thinking is “Yikes, that is a lot of wood!”  We live out in the woods in East Coast Canada and have a eclectic style. I love the house but want it a little bit brighter. 

I’d like to share another beauty from Shoot Factory with you all today. After a chaotic day at the office, how lovely it would be to come home to a place like this – white, bright, minimal, slightly rustic, and just completely calming. Except maybe for the burnt out attic (after the jump). YIKES. Charred walls make for some gorgeous photos though. Imagine one of those blown up and framed in a simple thin black or white frame.

It’s Friday. Must mean that my attention turns to rest and relaxation. Warm sun, soft breeze, high design. A perfect trinity? Modern architecture meets traditional materials at Casa Al Mar in Port Sóller Mallorca. Round up the virtual holiday friends. We are off to lounge by the pool and soak up that view. I just have to find the energy to get that bottle of white from the fridge. Be a sweetie and bring it out for me?

I have been a HUGE fan of interior designer Benjamin Noriega-Ortiz of BNOdesign since I stumbled upon his website back in ’07. I’ve blogged some of his projects in the past (here, here and here) and it’s about damn time I blog his latest works. His designs can border on bizarre, but they’re always fun, funky and bold – either completely bathed in shades of white, or wild colours like pink and turquoise. I think it’s a hoot that he uses birds, feathers and fur often in his spaces. You need some talent and ballz to make those items work and not have the result be completely trashy.

From clean lined with mid century flourishes to traditional amped up with colour and modern art. From casually elegant to hard core bachelor pad. (Suspended and repositionable TV for the man cave anyone?) Brooklyn-based interior designer Leyden Lewis can take any style and make it his own. It’s about drama and passion. It’s about the performance. It’s a masculine take on high end design.