Visiting a Tropical Climate and Always the Designer

It is funny for us designers. There is never really a break. No matter where we are:
a local restaurant, a hotel, a beach bungalow, a large hotel complex with many many venues,
we are always working. Gathering ideas. Seeing how other designers have interpretted architectural detail, and color within spaces. Our senses are so tuned to our work that every moment we absorb it. We can remember how the white washed walls and white washed rooftops contrast with aqua walls and pink porticos. I gaze out the window of the airplane as it lands and see a world of color. I gaze out the bus window and see the details of bright tropical tones playing against each other, encouraging us to open up our hearts and let the sun in.

We let the sun in and sit under bamboo thatched roofs that are woven and detailed in flowers and vines. We sit under a stone gazebo and we see how the stone was honed smooth with the signs of handmade tools. We look at steps and see tiles set in local grout and local shells are used for decoration at edges. We feel the coolness of this choice on bare feet. We see the sun peek through bamboo and palm and revel in the artistry of every detail that the designer saw long before we got here.

Good design never stops. Our admiration for it does not stop either. When on vacation and tuning out. I am still tuned in to every tiny detail. Every relationship of color, texture, natural materials and their unique uses. The crowd sinks in and just lets go. I take furious notes, committing not only photos to my files, but images to my memory. How do I replicate the feeling of a tropical breeze in Central Ohio on a portico that is one season of four without coming off insincere? I interpret the feeling, not the way it was communicated here. I catch the essence and celebrate it for a season with sincerity. I gather details and think of current projects. I set my brain to feel rather than see. What a delight this world is to designers like me. I am so lucky to be in this profession.

You Can Just Feel Spring Today

We all kind of wade through March grasping warm days and dreaming of short sleeves and tops down on convertibles. We get some winter mixed in with some spring and we savor the sun, which brings it all together. Today is a cloudy day after two days of rain. But the week is supposed to be gorgeous. I find that the season of spring and rebirth influences everything I design. The rebirth of nature and it's possibilities cannot help but rub off on all that we do. To bring in the optimism of spring one can easily embrace the "greening" of design. Natural materials, recycled products, and reclaimed accent pieces are good design elements, but especially for spring. Bamboo is clean, clear and fresh looking in an interior. Smooth bamboo floors can be softened with season area rugs that can be light and airy or cuddly and warm. Bamboo reacts to both very well. Using faux finishes to create a wall detail to enhance bamboo is simple too. We are using alot of real lime infused Ventian Plaster lately. We love the look. Burnished, it is clear and bright. Textured it is olde world and imagination brings history to the design forefront. I love combining faux finishes in green ways. It is non toxic, if the right products are used. It even kills bacteria if original formulas are used. (those Europeans knew what they were doing in using faux to create interior and exterior drama)

Recycling from your own home is also a great design trick. The fussy end table inherited from Aunt Helen can be painted in a matte color paint and is instantly tranformed to a funky new design element. Don't just go safe with white or black. Choose lime green, or lemon yellow. Aunt Helen may be watching, and I bet she is pleased. Digging through a client attic is more fun that a thrift shop. These things actually meant something to a dear client and deserve some thought going into them. Pull it out, dust it off and consider the possibilities of using it in a new way. Old radios, children toys, large baskets, large porcelain pans, old ceramic tureens and bowls, and of course old textiles. Reusing these elements in a new way can insure an interesting environment that actually tells time.

So reach out for spring. Find it in your interior with a fresh approach. Feel the suns warmth in how you approach a space. But most of all get outside and breath it in.

Design is One Element of Successful Living

Yesterday I got to spend an entire day with one of my favorite clients. We were doing some sourcing and just had to slog through details to make it all come together. We ended up laughing most of the day, truly enjoying the bonding that comes from making such decisions on a time frame. Our total expenditure came in below budget, and that made everyone happy.

It is rare that I get to spend one whole day on a given project. I am usually multi tasking, and rolling with a work load that is full of diverse spaces, and great combinations of fun. Yesterday it was all about a play room full of fun, and full of energy. We dove in to storage, bins, play mats, childrens desks and task chairs, lounge furniture to snuggle in and great growable colors. So often the primary colors that are executed in play rooms are outgrown before the youngest is out of diapers. We did not want that to happen. We ended up doing "playful elegance" and using wood tones that were deeper than we expected, and a great use of materials to "grow up" the space for us. We introduced color playfully and gave some surprise punches of bright colors to remember that we are dealing with three children 7 and under. We made choices that will grow with these darling wee ones and give them some organization to work with.

We had alot of fun doing it together.

Following a Dream

Columbus is a wonderful reality, based on a dream that started when I was in 11th grade.
Sounds silly, but it is true. I was in class and new to a school. I felt exhilerated by the possibilites of a new school, and a move to a city that was so much larger and alive than the little berg I came from in Michigan. In reality I was in Worthington. Really a tiny town. But it was newer and brighter than what I had ever known. The possibility is even more real today.

As we enter our fifth year of design service in a market that energizes us, Christy Collection pauses and remembers the dream of being here. A long road. But one full of great design, and most of all learning. We discover new things about Columbus with every project. We have met so many wonderful people. Entrepreneurs with ideas that are big. Corporate people that serve a real need in our community. And the ones that are the most special, our neighbors here in New Albany.

We love it here. We are enjoying the possibilities of growing in a city that seems to be growing along with us. Prospering and creating design that will hopefully make a difference in the lives of others. We are very happy to be here.

Giving Back in Columbus Ohio

February flew by. March is certainly starting as a month of firsts for this little interior design company in New Albany Ohio.

We have welcomed back clients for 4th and 5th phases on their homes.
We have completed areas in hosptitals that have never been designed with such sensitivity and caring for the patient and their experience.
We have grown by leaps and bounds, and still stayed humble, and true to our goal of delivering the best interiors, at the right price, and reached goals for our clients.

Spring is always the month that expresses our design direction more than any other. It is bright, and airy, and full of rebirth and new opportunities. This spring is starting out with
great clients coming to us for direction, and design expertise. We are very fortunate to be in
a city where design is treasured and appreciated.

Christy Collection Inc. is in its fourth year here in this little beautiful berg. We are knee deep in making a difference in everything that we do. Giving back our time and our energy to a community that nurtures our children, and feeds our soul. We are looking for a project for this spring / summer season. We would like one that involves children and working parents. We would like to help. Give us a comment if you have a worthy cause that you believe in. We are always open to ideas from our freinds. Enjoy this beautiful spring weekend.