Daniel wrote to me with some really great news, I had to share it. Last May 2006, I shared a tour of his condo with decor8 readers and it looks like someone out there from TV land was reading…Check it out!
“I wanted to share some news with you. One of the producers of HGTV found my work on decor8 and contacted me last month. The HGTV producers selected my South End renovation to feature on an upcoming episode, and they came in with a full camera crew to film the show. Thank you for featuring me last year, not only will I be on TV this spring but the Boston Globe and South End News will run articles on my project in coming weeks. I don’t know the air date of the HGTV show yet but can keep you posted.” -Dan
Here are some photos Dan sent in from his HGTV shoot. Yay!
Here’s the Globe article that just ran on March 7, 2007. Design Boston’s Grady has a shot of the full page spread right here. Go, Design Boston – you rock (psst: he’s always so on top of Boston-design, Grady never quits!).
Congratulations Dan, and we’ll be looking for you over on HGTV!
(images from daniel sugarman)
I love the internet. It brings us in touch with some of the brightest, most talented people that we may never had known otherwise. Take Matthew Mead for example. Mead owns a lifestyle production company and a full service daylight studio right here in New Hampshire, where he lives just outside of Concord. The world just gets smaller and smaller, doesn’t it?
Mead’s website, Matthew Mead Style, is one that you’ll want to browse for a very long time, it’s packed with beautiful images and loads of tips, from entertaining to styling, collecting, cooking, and more. He even has free downloads where you can find craft projects, and a whole section of archives loaded with great reads and images. Mead updates his website on a seasonal basis, so you’ll want to check back often.
Mead is busy at work as a Stylist and Author too, with years of experience working for all types of shelter and woman’s service magazines and websites such as Mary Emmerling’s Country, McCall’s, Woman’s Day, Family Circle, Country Home (where he is now a contributing editor), and iVillage.com. He’s also authored a few books, one is about nature, Gifts from Nature: Ideas & Projects for Every Season, and the other, Easter Eggs: 40 Fabulous Projects for the Whole Family, which just released from Chronicle Books (here’s a video about it if you’d like to learn more).
Of course, there’s more to a man like Mead, so you’ll have to read his bio for the complete story, and view his videos, too.
Psst: Check out a few of his slideshows on iVillage here and here.
Happy Spring!
(images from matthew mead style)
All this lighting for under $100 USD? Really? Oh yes, and there’s more… Ulrika Liffner and Thorulf L?fstedt are the design talents behind The Snowroom, a Swedish design firm with lighting that I’d describe as simple and modern, yet very playful and stylish – and affordable – you must check them out. Shop for most of the lighting shown below from The Snowroom online over at the Scandinavian Design Center, one of my favorite online stores of all time. Serious, the Scandinavian Design Center is amazing, they stock everything under the sun, from lighting to textiles and furniture, and they ship to nearly ever corner of the planet. :)
I’ll take the Swedish horse or the house, my two favorites…
(images from the snowroom)
I love to learn the history behind some of my favorite companies because their beginnings are often based on real experiences that I can relate to as a freelancer; passion, struggle, determination, a genuine love for the trade, and a willingness to reach ones personal best, no matter how hard or how uphill it may seem at times.
It’s one thing to be a writer or a design consultant. Quite another to own your own printery like one of my favorite textile manufacturers, Ljungbergs. I imagine the process of perfecting the prints, fine tuning the colors, hiring trained staff, operating large machinery, all of it must take a great deal of patience and much time to ‘get right’. Especially since being the best printer means being an absolute perfectionist.
Ljungbergs is a printery founded by Erik Ljungberg in 1949, one of the most skilled textile printers in Sweden in his time. Ljungberg was hired by Svenskt Tenn to produce Josef Frank fabrics, which are still in production today, all hand printed and gorgeous. Long after Ljungberg passed in 1983, his dream lives on and the printing continues.
One bit I didn’t know about Ljungbergs is that they not only take on large commissions, but will gladly work with anyone on a small project, printing patterns on cotton or linen. Another interesting fact is that they have a showroom in Stockholm, Area, and an outlet store in Floda, not far from G?teborg. If you ever hear I’m visiting Sweden, you know where to find me.
Ljungbergs shares a brief history behind their signature fabric, which I found completely fascinating. “Signed Textiles took its start in 1954 when the Swedish department store NK launched a new collection of fabrics for the expanding public sector in Sweden. The idea was to improve the status of textile design as an art form by letting the artists sign their work. The copyright regulations regarding art work at this time was still neglected.”
Learn more about their signature fabric here.
Like most of you, my best ideas flow freely when I see something I connect with on some level, no matter how small or insignificant the same item may be to someone else, it doesn’t matter because it’s my experience and what I take away from it that gives me the inspiration I need. I’m certain you process things much the same. I’m a very tactile and expressive person, so I love fabric because I can not only touch it for instant pleasure, but also shape and sew it into many different forms so it can serve as something pleasing to the eye, functional, or both – allowing me to express myself. When I see a pattern that stimulates my mind, ideas flow so freely that I have to write them all down to keep up. The textiles that Ljungbergs prints sends my brain into absolute overdrive.
How do you respond to prints and patterns?
(images from ljungbergs)
Green Tea Design, a decor8 sponsor, offers beautiful Asian-inspired design and wants to extend a 10% discount to decor8 readers from now until March 31st. Whether you visit their Toronto storefront or phone in your order, just mention that you read about them on decor8 and you’ll receive a 10% discount off your order total.
As someone that loves an eclectic interior, I’m relatively open-minded when it comes to design and merging various styles. I could easily incorporate some of these peices into a more contemporary space, especially the wood panels (above left) – paint them a bright coat of teal (see this post for inspiration or this post for an idea) and display them on the wall or in front of a window. Or, add legs and top with glass and you have a sofa table. The red bench shown above would look great with a customized cushion – use a print like the modern Japanese floral or these terrific circles + squares pilows from one of my absolute favorite designers, Florence Broadhurst (sold at Weego Home) and you’ve bumped the bench up to that glamorous Hollywood style that’s so huge right now in the world of interiors. Imagine how gorgeous an entryway would be with her wallpaper and a table from Green Tea Design…
Pillows from Weego Home.Even some of the papers shown below, from Walnut Wallpaper, would work with many peices from Green Tea Design. You can even go a little outside of the lines with this and purchase an ornate table, like the above piece shown in red, and paper the wall behind it with the dotted ovals from Neisha Crosland or Kelly Wearstler’s updated trellis pattern. Mix and match styles, have no fear!
Wallpaper that works with this style.There’s more to Asian than meets the eye, so explore the ideas and be careful not to limit yourself to seeing Asian only in one way, in a completely Zen den way. Flip through the pages of Elle Decor magazine, look through the portfolio of Kelly Wearstler, Asian furnishings can blend in beautifully in an array of living spaces.
Interior inspiration from KWIDThanks so much Green Tea Design for extending this special discount to all of us. We really appreciate your generous spirit! To learn more about them and to tour thier showroom, watch this video. Green Tea Design offers worldwide shipping, too.
Interior inspiration from KWID(images from green tea design, weego home, domino mag, and walnut)
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