Update: still searching.....checking out 3 more places tomorrow.....

Change is upon us...

It seems that J and I attract adventure...

He found out this week that he got a summer teaching job.........in LA.

We are thrilled. 

As many of you know we have been living at my mom's house in Temecula. We had hoped that J would get a full time job in the Temecula area for the next school year. So, we could buy a house, settle down and eventually start a family. However, things don't always go according to plan. I know that there is a reason we are moving back to LA and in time I'm sure that reason will be revealed to us.  

We have been searching all weekend to find a new place...no luck yet. Did I mention his job starts next Monday? We are on a time crunch to avoid J having to commute from Temecula to LA = not fun.

I am going to continue working in Manhattan Beach. Staying with my sister (thank you Maren) during the week has been great. It has saved me from making a treacherous commute.

We have some more prospects to check out tomorrow. Our goal is to have a place by Friday. Yikes! Keeping our fingers crossed...

Growing up.

Jocelyn (my baby sister) graduated high school 2 weeks ago. Our whole family is so PROUD of her. Jocey is the youngest in our family, literally. There are no children yet. I have always thought of Jocey as the baby and I still do. I didn't realize that the past 10 years as she has grown into a young woman, I continued to get older as well. At times I still feel like I am 19. Where did the time go? 

While sitting at her graduation I was able to reflect back to the time when I graduated high school. I remember the sense of relief of being out of "high school." At the same time feelings of sadness to be parting from friends and excitement to be embarking on a new journey. I am excited for Jocey and her future.  She is uncertain what she wants to major in. She will be attending community college to get her GE's out of the way. After that, we'll see.....

Jocey - WE LOVE YOU!!! J&J

The Fam - Rhiannon, Maren, Jocelyn, Me, and Mom

Matty (Rhiannon's Bf), Jocey, and Jared

Utah + Graduation + Birthdays

Dominique, Jordan, Jared and Shauntel

We made a quick trip (mentioned in an earlier post) to Utah to see our niece Jordan graduate from high school. We are SO PROUD of her.  Jo will be leaving this summer to attend BYU Hawaii, we are jealous.

The Fortes

Robin - Jared's mom, Me (why didn't I take my purse off? super awkward arm) Shaunie, Jo, Kimmy - Jared's sister, and Domi

The day after the graduation we celebrated our nephew Dylan's (center) birthday at Boondocks. Boondocks is in Draper, UT. It has miniature golf, arcade games, laser tag, go carts....you get the idea. It's a great place for kids to run wild and entertain themselves. Actually, Jared and I played a bunch of games and had a great time.

We also celebrated a couple more birthdays. The first week of June is packed in our family.

Dylan - June 3rd

John (Jared's brother in-law) - June 5th

Tara (my cousin) - June 6th

Jared - June 7th

Our usual self portrait

We hope to get up to Utah one more time before the summer is over. Hopefully we can drag the Thrapps along.

25+9 years of experience.

To the one I love, my hub. You are the best thing that has ever happened to me. I am a better woman, wife,(was that due to you or Dr. Laura?) and friend because of you. I am so thankful that we get to spend forever together. 

Hope you had a great birthday! Especially since you spent 10+ hours of it driving us home from Utah. Good thing we believe in birthday weeks.

Happy Birthday Jared!!!

Without further adieu...

here is SINGAPORE! This is a project I worked very hard on and I am definitely proud of. For those of you just tuning in, I started on this project with my boss back in November. Our clients bought a penthouse on the 63rd floor and wanted us to design EVERYTHING. When I say everything, I mean down to the last towel, pillowcase and dish in the cupboard. Not mention every single piece of furniture, accessories, window treatments etc - basically "the works." They wanted to be able to live in it as soon as they arrived. This gave us exactly 5-1/2 months to get everything in Singapore. In the design world this seems near impossible, especially when you have to custom make just about everything, not to mention the 8 other clients you have in California. We pulled it off......and did a great job!

We got busy and started designing, space planning, ordering, shopping, coordinating etc. Filling an entire house from scratch takes serious mental power, at least it does for me. We had obstacles to work with such as, the elevator. We had to fit every piece in the elevator, not a service elevator. A normal elevator that probably fits 10 people if you squeeze tight. Believe that I measured that thing twice over. We had to base all our designs off those measurements. We purchased everything in the US and the majority was sent in 2 containers on the ocean. 

We traveled to Singapore once to measure, I returned a few months later to check on construction and we just completed the installation at the beginning on May. This experience does not come around often. So, I jumped in ready, willing and more than anything EXCITED!!! Enjoy.

The Living Room - this room is so LARGE. It was very interesting coming up with the space plan for this room. We probably rearranged it 50 times. This custom sectional sofa much larger than it appears. I have never had to make one this big - 10'4" x 12'.  We also custom made every piece you see here...many, many measurements helped get everything made precisely to the inch. The chandelier in this room is breath taking. I literally sat and stared at it after it was installed. It is from Holly Hunt and is made of thin layers of rose/gold colored capiz shells. To die for. 

 
This is a long shot from the complete other side of the room. You can see the gigantic television/movie screen. Throughout the room large speakers are hidden behind the drapes. We wanted to conceal them as much as we could. The drapes make a big statement, beautiful with the lighting and compliments the furniture perfectly. From this angle you can see the mirror panels in the ceiling. It was a great touch added by the architect during the design process. I think it contributed to the glam of the room. The fabric wallpaper used throughout the main areas of the house is a small box print. The small scale pattern adds interest and a unique look in person.

In this picture you can see 1/2 of the main living space. On the raised wooden platform there is a fireplace and 2 over sized comfortable club chairs with matching ottomans. Behind the "glass paneled wall" there is plenty of storage and small bar area that houses a refrigerator and bar necessities. We custom made all the furniture in this picture except for the 2 small upholstered w/ wood frame side chairs and side table.  The BEAUTIFUL piece of artwork (which could possibly be one of my favorite things in the house) was handpicked by my boss and I at the artist home in the Hollywood Hills. To help put it into perspective it measures 6' x 7'. We did not provide the black stereo system mounted on our lovely wallpaper - that would be Bang and Olfusen.

The Dining Room - one word: challenge. The room is not a specific shape, which by the way not one of the rooms in the penthouse are. This means that most, if not all, the walls are angled. Nevertheless, we love a challenge. We did have one piece that helped - our dining table. A 68" round was all that we could fit in the elevator. With everything slightly off center (including the center of the ceiling where the chandelier was to be hung) having the round table helped soften the lines of the room and anchored a place we could call "center." The chandelier is a beauty from Donghia. It is made of blown glass and made this room really glow. One last thing, the silver/gray printed fabric wallpaper (also the same print on the drapes) is made of silk and radiates a shiny texture, it completes the room.

This picture is of the outdoor patio off the Dining Room. Our client wanted a space that he could eat breakfast outside or extend the formal dining space to be indoor/outdoor. The more the merrier. If you go around the corner toward the white table it leads you up stairs to the main deck and pool area - AMAZING.

The Blue Room - this is a guest bedroom. The room is small and I think we did a good job maximizing the space to feel open. The wallpaper on this wall is natural raffia woven with gold. It is a great way to add texture and color to a room, especially a small one. The great lighting fixture is from Oly Studio. It is made of reclaimed glass and much larger in person than it looks in this picture. It is hard to tell from this picture but, this room has panoramic views of the ocean. So we added a bench all the was around the room - a great space to read a book and relax.

The Purple Room - this is another guest bedroom. It turned out to be my personal favorite of the bedrooms. The fabric wallpaper is purple and gold. At times it reads purple and then you turn the slightest degree and you see pure gold. I LOVED it! We custom designed the darling bench at the end of the bed and were really pleased with the way it turned out. The drapes in this room really tied it together for me. The geometric square fabric is from Osbourne and Little (another personal favorite) The art in this room is very interesting. The prints are real vintage stamped seals. You just want to run your finger over them but, I guess I can settle with looking through the glass.

The Master Bedroom -  Yes, that is a fireplace (electrical) in Singapore. No, not one person in Singapore has a fireplace. Why? Because it is EXTREMELY humid...capital words cannot even express. However, our client wanted something different that no one has in Singapore. This room is done in soft aqua with accents of gold and cream. The picture does not do the wallpaper justice. The fabric wallpaper by Nancy Corzine looks amazing in here. During the day it is bright and inviting. The ceilings have recessed fabric panels that make such a great statement.

This upholstered tufted bed was custom made. When I say custom, I mean it. We had to have it made into pieces that would fit into an elevator. Needless to day, we were really happy when we saw it coming in the door, meaning our measurements were probably to the 1/4". The lamps that flank the bed are vintage Murano glass. They are stunning up close with hints of aqua and gold.

This is the outdoor patio/deck that wraps around the back of the penthouse. There was a dining table and chairs in the blank space however, we ended up moving things around for staging/photography purposes. It was also very windy. Quick story: the wind in Singapore is NO JOKE especially at 63 stories high. We had set up all the outdoor furniture and it looked great! We proudly finished our work for that day/night. The next morning to our surprise we found some of our Janus et Cie furniture in the algae infested (later cleaned) pool. All our outdoor furniture had been shifted to the guard rails = very DANGEROUS, could kill somebody if it flew over = NOT GOOD. Thank goodness everything stayed in tact.

I am so fortunate to have worked on this project. Having worked in the industry for almost 5 years now, I realize how much this experience has helped me grow as a designer and how it has strengthen my business skills. Working internationally is quite a task. It is not all fun, fabrics and furniture. There were many hours of hard work, problem solving, and late nights. I am grateful that I was able to help in the process of creating a unique style for this client. It increases my love and passion for interior design. I look forward to many more challenging and rewarding projects in the future.

Not home for long...

I know blogs are BORING without pictures...sorry. I still have to post my pictures from Singapore.

I was home for a day or so and had to head back to work in LA. I was there for 4 days and then Jared and I took off to Utah. We arrived this afternoon just in time for our oldest niece's graduation from Alta High. (Btw I did take pics today so expect them in a post soon) She graduated with a near 4.0...just a couple points shy. She had so many "ropes" which represent all the programs she participated in and honors recognition. She will be leaving at the end of the summer to attend BYU Hawaii. We are SO proud of her. CONGRATS JO!!!

We are playing this trip by ear because we possibly have to go back Saturday - did I mention we drove here?

We'll see what happens......