Monday, April 26, 2010

Dreaming About A Dining Room?????

I have been writing this blog for almost a year now...and I write a lot about the oddities of my life....but I never have really touched on what I do for a living.  I work in the interior design field....and I love it!  It really is a major part of my life.  I spend about as much time perusing design magazines, design blogs, retail stores, and catalogs as I do at work...so I eat, live, breathe decor. 

In the beginning, it was my intention to pepper this blog with my projects, my favorite rooms, ideas and also my home life and familial misadventures...hence "Duel Living".  But...that never really happened.  I found that there were a million design blogs out there that said exactly what I wanted to say and could do it better than I ever could.  Here comes another "BUT"....BUT....I find that there are just times when I can't hold back anymore and have decided to infuse this here blog (just once in a while) with some of my favorite things.  I hope that's OK with all of you.

First off...the room that I have been pining over for over a year.  If only I had the money to do it the way I see it in my dreams.  My Dining Room.  Right now it is a suckfest of mismatched shit and hand me downs.  I hate it with the fire of a thousand suns...that's quite a bit.  The idea of my "dream room"  has always been there behind my eyelids...I can see it...and soon....soon...it will become a reality.  I wanted to share a very rough draft of my vision. 

Behold...."Organic Modern"




The grey toned zebra printed linen will be the window treatments.  (CLICK ON THE PICTURE TO ENLARGE FOR A LESS BLURRY VERSION).  The table is a simple streamlined teak farmhouse style that I have mixed with some modern and inexpensive acrylic and chrome chairs.  That all sits on a very thin wool woven rug with a simple geometric pattern.  The sideboard is also teak and hanging above is a triptych of carved wood that has been white-washed for an organic "ethnic" feel.

The real beauty will be in the details.  The art that I have yet to find.  I see glass floating shelves with collections of pretty silver serving pieces and some found pieces of driftwood.  Stone trays with sage leaves and river rocks.  Things that don't usually match...but the "GO"....and they work.  It's pretty colorless as a whole...but that's where I am right now.  I'm "into" neutrals...soft, serene, simple.  I want to mix texture and textiles....light and dark..."Organic and Modern".

Well...there it is.  I will post before and after pics when I finish....which may take awhile.  But I kind felt if I showed a lot of people....threw it into the universe....maybe the hubby would "allow" the process to begin sometime in this decade.  So...feedback please???  What would you do if you could redo any room in your own house?

That's all for now,
xoxox,

Friday, April 16, 2010

I'm Smitten....

Hello all,

What do you think of the new facelift? This has been in the works for over a month now. I have been working with Smitten Blog Designs and they did a wonderful job! The new look is just what I wanted...playful, whimiscal, humorous....and very me. I found the background red pattern and went from there. The rest came from the photo below as my inspiration.



Okay...tell me what you think.


xoxox,

Tuesday, April 13, 2010

The One Spider That Didn't Go SPLAT....


I watched a spider crawl across my windshield. I couldn't take my eyes away. Brendan drove, I watched the spider. It wasn't supposed to make it down the highway...it was supposed to fly away...flatten on the pavement...but it didn't. We drove the spider home.

I am feeling like that spider. Here I am curled up in a ball...days whipping by me like the wind. To and from work, street lights passing in my peripheral. Flowers are blooming amidst the spring floods...and it's all speeding by while I'm just trying to hang on. Where are the cops when you need to be pulled over...told to slow it down?

Days and days of rain...now thousands of little mosquito babies will be breakfast for my new spider friend. The sun will warm his 8 creepy legs; he'll stretch them across his silken doorstep. Maybe this is what I need...to get out of the car, slow it down...sunshine on my face....and a little bit of breakfast on my front porch.

I bought khaki pants at the mall...and a spider clung for dear life as we drove home...how very existential.
That's all for now,
Brandi
P.S. I truly hate spiders. They creep my shit out. And of course the minute I start writing about them....one crawls across my computer screen...so...I smooshed it. It was a lil' one...no harm, no foul. Then....the mother of all spiders decides to crawl outta nowhere and try to eat me! (this all happened within a 30 second time frame) But don't worry...a nice thick copy of Lucky magazine and I taught that bitch a lesson. I fear that I have awoken the whole spider kingdom...and they only have eyes for me.