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Candice Tells All: Nature by design

05.10.11

I get some of my best inspiration from the great outdoors. Whether it's the shade of a flower, the pattern on a leaf or the texture of a strip of bark, I'm a big fan of Mother Nature.

So I was particularly energized when Jane and Mark asked me to work on a project for them. The couple and their three children live in a lovely urban house by the lake, and all of them love the outdoors.

Their open-concept home has a great casual vibe, with a sandy-beach feeling. Their walkout basement, however, was another story -- it had become a dumping ground for old furniture and castoffs. Jane and Mark needed more space and wanted to turn the unused lower level into a multipurpose family room. They just didn't know where to start.

One of the most common questions I hear about design: ''Where do I start?'' The answer: ''Start with what you love.''

Since Jane and Mark love the beach, I decided to use a natural design approach to bring harmony and function to their basement, with a rustic, earthy feel. So I chose a gorgeous coastal palette of warm woods, deep browns, rich blues and pebbled grays.

Source: Evansville Courier & Press

Relaxing with a breakfast-maker

22.09.11

Breakfast may be the most important meal of the day, but it also happens to be the most rushed. Since the name of the game is to fuel up and get out of the house, it doesn't take much to see why not a lot of time is invested meditating on kitchen appliances in the morning. That ambivalence can extend to the design of our breakfast-makers--otherwise they would more often go beyond basic black. Yet sometimes the confluence of convenience, versatility, and design results in something that gives us what we need and looks good doing it.

Appliances that cram a mish-mash of features together often end up looking like some sort of Frankenstein machine--because they basically are. Combining bits and pieces of a toaster, a coffeemaker and a griddle, the Nostalgia Electrics BSET100 Retro Series 3-in-1 Breakfast Station offers a complete solution for aesthetically challenged harried mornings. The distinctive styling matches other pieces from the retro-themed collection that also includes a minifridge and a microwave oven.

Source: CNET