If you’ve been following my blog, you know my projects are in the realm of decorative accessories. They are smaller in scale and can be done on a kitchen table. I came up with a couple options. In the end, Krrb and I decided to go a little bigger. We’re taking a leap into furniture!

I met with Andrew (Krrb editor in chief), Vanessa (Krrb writer), and Flossy (needs no introduction) at the Krrb office to hammer out a few project details. Vanessa, graciously donated a piano bench and her deft hands for the weekend. The project should come out on their site soon, but here’s a sneak peak with even more pictures and a wonderful write up by Vanessa.

Make sure to check the rest of the Krrb website. It’s kinda like Craigslist but more neighborly, more crafty, and WHOLE LOT PRETTIER. They’ve got how to’s, a blog, meetups, and cool listings.

ELLE DECOR’s January/February 2012 issue reveals five trends that five tastemakers think should go away.

1. Books as props have a short shelf life. “Rose Tarlow put it best: ‘An object added for effect instead of affection will always look like an affectation.’” – Ronda Carman, founder of All the Best Blog
2. The “monotony of one midcentury room after another, all with predictable, gratuitous, gimmicky accessories” ends in Modernism malaise. Instead collect objects from different periods and styles that all have a bit of soul. – Richard Shapiro, founder of Richard Shapiro Art & Antiques
3. It’s time to retire brightly lacquered Hollywood Regency furniture. “I think we all have seen enough garage-sale junk sprayed in high-gloss Skittles colors to last through the next century.” – Mary McDonald, “Top 100 Designers” House Beautiful
4. Interiors that don’t relate to people is “dysfunctional decoration.” “Everything is done for styling, and nothing has to do with living— there’s no place to have a conversation or set down a drink.”  – Mario Buatta, internationally renowned designer
5. The DIY craze has run its course. We’ve seen our fair share of “earthy, handmade concoctions. Just because it can be reclaimed doesn’t mean it should be.” – Sheila Bridges, ”America’s Best Interior Designer” CNN and Time Magazine

My take on the trends

1. I can appreciate prop books for their material beauty, but I’m not fond of that trend either. I prefer my books to be real, readable, and easily accessible. This trend’s days are numbered.
2. I have a soft spot for Modernism, but I have to agree with Richard. Instead of looking timeless, contemporary, or sleek, Modernism overload comes off as unimaginative and dated. I think this trend will stick around though. There are far worse things than floor to ceiling Eames.
3. Re-imagining garage-sale junk is stupendous! I’m all for finding value and appreciating used or old things. I’m not a fan of spray paint, but if that’s what it takes for others to give a Hollywood Regency furniture a second lease on life, I’m all for it. Like Mary, we’re probably reaching our spray glam limit. I think this trend is going to get kicked to the curb.
4. Mario, Maxwell Gillingham-Ryan, and I are all on the same page. A house has to function to be a home. Beautiful homes styled without daily life in mind don’t last, but we sure do like to look at them! “Dysfunctional decoration” is here to stay.
5. Handmade and reclaimed is not front of mind every decade, but it’s always been around. I agree with Sheila that crafters and upcyclers can get overzealous reclaiming everything, but that’s more responsible and frugal than throwing it out. The trend may wane, but it will never go away.

Which of the experts do you agree with? What trends do you think are losing steam?

1. Cook. According to Maxwell, “Your home has good pheromones if you cook.” Smells seep into the walls imparting warmth and homeliness, sure signs that a house is lived in. For those of us who are culinary adverse, take-out and delivery at home counts too. Invite people over for more often. You’ll become more attentive to the little niceties that make a house cosey.

 

2. Don’t supersize. Reenergize. If you’re tired of a space, it’s probably due to the energy not the size. Rearrange your furniture to reenergize your rooms. Copy a room you love. You’ll learn from it. When you do it yourself it starts to feel like home. I like to swap accessories and small furniture between rooms. It’s a fast and free way to revamp and lets you see your belongings in a new light.

 

3. Be negative. Instead of trying to fit everything into a room, try removing some items storing them out of sight. Actively design your negative space. Breathing room allows the eye to rest. I take my cue from high-end stores. They feel luxurious, because they display less and allow a ton of space for their merchandise. I also try to keep things off the floor and away from the walls to expose the base board. It gives you quite a few extra inches of visual space and makes it easier to clean.

 

4. Light it up. Invest in good lamps. Bring visual interest with varied shade shapes or different colored bases. Floor lamps don’t need a table so they’re perfect for smaller spaces. Use a combination of table and floor lamps to give three points of lights that are below eye level. Our eyes are attracted to light, so they’ll move between each point making the room feel larger.

 

5. Reflect on your space. Mirrors visually extend space and reflect light making your room feel bigger. If you have table against a wall, mount a mirror behind it and place table lamp in front. You’ll double the light!

 

6. Get unhinged. Remove doors from rooms that don’t need them like kitchens and living rooms. You’ll reclaim a lot of space and light. Replace closet doors with curtains and install a light inside, creating a faux window. This also forces you to be more organized, and you’ll be able to access the entire closet space.

 

7. Concentrate. Gather all the pieces of your collections in one place. When you have multiples, it looks good. Create a space to honor your collections, and build around it, so it becomes a design moment. Maxwell had a client with a home full of baseball caps. He consolidated the hats hanging them all over the walls of the client’s closet. The hats changed from house clutter to display worthy collection.

 

8. Stop it right there. Create a landing strip where you drop the stuff you bring from the outside world. Keys, wallets, umbrellas, coats, and cell phones aren’t necessarily homey. Prevent them from going further than your entry way and cluttering your home. Have a surface to put stuff, hooks to for hanging, a waste paper basket to dispose of things right away, and a charger to park your mobile device. This is also a great place to hang a mirror for more light and final crosschecks.

 

9. Disarm. Opt for armless couches, ottomans, and furniture that can be accessed from any direction. I’m a big fan of ottomans and stools, because they function as tables and seating.

 

10. Accessorize your kitchen. Make your kitchen welcoming and more usable by investing in nice kitchenware and storing them in plain sight. Hang pots and pans from hooks or pot racks. A nice chopping board can live on your counter top. I like to keep dishware and cutlery that I use daily right on the counter above the dishwasher. If you think you can keep your shelves organized, try removing the cabinet doors. It creates more visual space and makes it easier for guests to help themselves.

 

11. Go big! Incorporate one or two oversized decorative elements in your bedroom like a decorative pillow or framed picture. It creates visual surprise that opens up the space tremendously.

 

12. Get the spa feeling. Do little things to treat yourself. Use a nice cup to hold your toothbrush. Put a candle on the toilet. Store cotton swabs in a cute jar. Add more mirrors. Buy a nice shower curtain. It pays to splurge here, because is such a big part of the bathroom. Keep your bathroom clean. Put branded bathroom products into plain bottles to de-clutter the shower stall. I keep bottles that I like and just refill them. I also peel off plastic labels off new bottles to get rid of distracting graphics.

 

Do you have a small home or room? What do you do for to enliven your small space?

This resulted in an eyesore of wires and power cables. I couldn’t live with that! I whipped up an upcycled solution from the box the hard drive came in. I also made a couple of complementary decorative accessories to use up more of the packaging.

I’ll show you the basics of covering a box, a quick and dirty way to restyle a box, and let you in on some of my secret design techniques.

All you need is a pair of scissors, X-acto knife, ruler, Tempaper (contact paper or normal paper), and glue.

Covered cable box

This works best with boxes that are constructed without glue. The general techniques in this tutorial can be applied to glued boxes and any object with straight edges. I do NOT suggest hiding any adapters in the box if they tend to get hot, but if you must, then punch some air holes on the top and sides to allow hot air to escape. Use the air holes as another design element and create cool patterns!

1. Open and flatten the box.
2. Cut a sheet of Tempaper to the size of the flattened box.
3. Peel off the Tempaper backing.
4. Place the outside surface of the flattened box on the Tempaper.
5. Smooth out the air bubbles pushing from the center outwards.
   Design secret – This is how you get a smooth finish when you cover anything with. Start smoothing from the center outwards towards the edges. This helps prevent wrinkles and bubbles and makes sure the adhesive sticks!
6. Cut out the excess Tempaper leaving about 1/4″ – 1/2″ allowance around the box.
7. Cut an angle at every corner leaving about 1/8″ – 1/4″ between the angled edge and the box corner.
   Design secret – This is how hardbound books get their clean covered corners.
8. Cut a slit between every flap of the box.
9. For each flap of the paper box, fold in the side edges of the Tempaper. Make a crease in the folded Tempaper at the top edge of the flap, then fold down the Tempaper over the top edge.
   Design secret – Cardboard or any thick paper has a thickness. Sounds obvious, but sometimes I forget. The crease makes a it easier to fold over the top edge and also gives you a cleaner covered edge. It’s all in the details!
10. Cut a hole large to accommodate all the wire to enter and exit the box.
11. Fold the box back up.
12. Insert your wires.

Quick and dirty box restyle

I turn my boxes inside out all the time. If you need to store an item in it’s original box, turn the box inside out. You can decorate it to match your decor and store it out in the open without it creating more visual noise.

1. Open and flatten the box.
2. Using an X-acto knife, roughen the flap that was glued by making cross-hatched scores along the entire surface. You can also sand it lightly with sandpaper.
   Design secret – Slick cardboard and paper is often coated to protect from smudging and moisture. This makes it difficult to glue on as well. Roughening the surface makes it possible to glue onto.
3. Apply glue to the flap.
4. Reassemble the box inside out.
5. Cut a strip of Tempaper, removing the backing before wrapping it around the box.

I noticed that the manual was a conveniently a perfect square, so I tore the sheets in half and made a little origami octahedron.

I like saving all my glass jars. I have a bunch of tall spaghetti jars and short, plump pickle jars. They are so handy to have around. There was one thing that bothered me about the jars though. Logos and graphics on the metal lids are a distracting mess! I came up with a really easy way to raise the jars to a whole nother level.

I found some inspiration in three vintage Guerlain perfume bottles I bought from my favorite thrift store, Housing Works Thrift Shop. The bottles are covered with an ornate bee pattern, but I really loved that they were topped off with cute glass stoppers. I think that’s just the visual punctuation we need! Let’s make it better!

• You can store little odds and ends in them.
• Fill them with marbles or shells for a cool decorative accessory like Nate did on The Nate Berkus Show. Personally, I think they look great empty too!
• I like keeping jars of snacks like nuts, chocolate, and potato chips neatly lined up on my kitchen counter, for easy access. When I have unexpected guests I can quickly pour snacks into little serving bowls. Sometimes I just put the jars on a serving tray and leave them on the coffee table for guests to help themselves.

Pictures from the show to come!

Here are the house tours. I’m in love with Justin and Kari’s four-poster birch bed!

 

On the show I reminded Nate he had given me one week to work on the challenge. That’s mostly true. Almost all the projects that you saw in the show sitting on set were finished during the week before the taping. You might have seen me on TV for 10 to 15 minutes, but it took weeks of intense preparation. To give you a bigger picture, I’ll take you behind the scenes and back in time.

I had decorated a bunch of Easter eggs, and Nate got hold of some photos I had on an earlier design blog. That got me on his radar. A few months later I officially launched Relevé Design’s blog and shop. My pendant lights made a few splashes here and there. I guess he thought I was ready after that, cause he threw down the gauntlet and challenged me to a duel (aka Design Blogger Challenge)! Make five upcycled items to decorate a living room.

I have sketchbooks full of projects and ideas from years of sketching and writing. I work in several sketchbooks at a time, cause I never know when inspiration will hit! I already had quite a few projects made. I thought I was pretty well-prepared. Design challenge? Bring — It — ON! It’s going to be a breeze! Boy was I wrong!

I love antique wire trays, but they are so expensive, especially in the NYC where the vintage and distressed look is still all the rage. I decided to make my own with white powder coated clothes hanger. I showed this to the producers, but it didn't make the cut. Now it's sitting in my bedroom. I keep some of my neckties in it.

I'm always getting junkmail and bills, but I really love the cool patterns on the inside of security envelopes. I make my business cards out of them, but I thought it would be funny if I made security envelope envelopes and notecards. They actually turned out really nicely. Obviously, this isn't decor, so it didn't make it onto the show. Another strike out! OUCH!

My friend Sara invited me and my bofriend to stay with her family at their summer home in Marbelhead in the late summer. Marblehead is an old New England town with a great nautical history. I was inspired by the all the shipmaking, sailing, and yacht clubs. It was gorgeous! When I got home I had the idea to make an soft t-shirt ocean plait bath mat to replace hard wooden teak one I had. I thought it looked pretty cool, Obviously it's not going to work in Nate's living room. That was a total miss!

Since I rent my apartment, I don’t like putting lots of holes in the walls. I came up with a system to hang everything from one hook. I was going to put it up in my living room, but my boyfriend wasn’t so enthused about that. I hung it up in my studio instead. Honestly, sometimes things can look wonky, especially when you know what it’s made of and how it’s made. When you actually put it up and stand back, it’s really cool! I made mine out of dark wire hangers and hung then from brass hooks. It’s perfect for Nate’s living room. SCORE! I made a white version for him. He and his crew made it look totally awesome on set with the grey wall.

The first tray didn't quite work out. It a functioned more like a basket than a tray. I went back to the drawing board, and came up with a folding fused plastic tray based on leather catch alls. For it to function as a serving tray it would need a whole lot more structure. It evolved into an ugly plastic and cardboard craft fail! But I managed to iron out all the kinks for the tray that ended up on the show.

Rolled paper vases and bowls are really common, and you can find them in home goods stores. I think they’re a bit overdone, yet I’m still in love with the idea! I was determined to freshen it up. I’ve sketched ideas to stack junkmail and magazines instead of rolling them, but it needed just a bit more OOMPH. I found inspiration in the silhouettes of two handmade wood layer stools at the Museum of Art and Design. I had to wrangle in my friend Joseph to help cut up junkmail for the prototype. Nate liked it, and I was so excited about the magazine vases I made him two. Win Win!

I never understood the whole spherical knickknack thing, until I got a dining room table! Instead of buying them I thought I could whip something up with origami. Never one to go about things the usual way, I decided to use plastic bags instead of paper. My coworker Ryan and his wife Lauren are a super skilled and incredibly crafty DIYers. I pulled them in to help me decide on shape to make with the plastic. It was much more difficult than we thought it would be! I went back to the drawing board and made paper prototypes first to show Nate. With his official approval I finished it up with plastic and shellacked paper versions.

I went to my stylist Mune to get a fresh new cut a week before the show. She’s worked with lots of people in show biz, so I knew I she’d be able to give me advice and a great style for my first TV appearance.

Our friend Makky came along with my boyfriend and I for the last minute wardrobe hunt. Hailing from London Makky is a veteran fashion maven and renowned make up artist. I was pulling in the big guns! I got a sport coat from Ramdane, shirt from Gant, and oxblood pants from Unis. In the end we went a more casual with the forest green Ramdane sweater, Unis khakis, and Tretorn shoes. It was comfy!

I got to the tv studio early. There was a lot of waiting, but it went by fast. I had Joseph with me just in case, since he assisted me on most of the projects he’d be able to help if anything fell apart. The t-shirt throw mostly his handy work. I did a third of the throw before I showed him how to do it, and he finished it off. The throw can definitely be a group project.

I rehearsed with Jordan, a producer on the show, in the green room before we rehearsed on set. He’s good. He gave me lots of tips.

Here I am after the taping with Jordan and another producer. It was fun!

It was hard work and I had lots of help along the way from all my friends. I hope you enjoyed the show and the projects!

As far as my experience goes, Svpply has been rock solid. No dropped pins. No mysterious follower number jumps. The format is different, cleaner, and I have to say the pinning is easier. There’s no need to write descriptions.

Svpply has sets which are just like Pinterest boards. My sets on Svupply are similar to my boards on Pinterest but more streamlined. Sometimes I’ll pin something on Pinterest and then add it to my Svpply as well.

I think of my Pinterest as huge cork board in my hallway that I walk by numerous times a day, where everything interesting gets pinned up. I think of my Svpply as a mood board I see when I work in my studio, and it functions like a repository.

It skews towards shopping and products you can buy, perfect for all you shopaholics. It’s a great way to “shop” without actually shopping. That’s how I get my shopping fix on the cheap! The crowd tends to be very design and fashion minded. Since the crowd differs, you’ll find lots of cool inspiration you may not find on Pinterest as often.

If you like my Pinterest, check out my Svpply. It’s where you’ll find the stuff that I truly love, find inspiring as a designer, and wish I could have!

 Want a Pinterest invite? Send me a note.

A week later, I found out that I was designing for the “Ecohouse” which has a really high sloping ceiling. A sculptor named Ruth Asawa, inspired the first design. She crochets long vertical wire sculptures. I thought something really big with a striking silhouette would look great in a tall space. The design stacks different sizes and variations of my Helianthus and Allium lights.

The producers really wanted to use all the different lights I designed and suggested a cluster hung on crossbars. Seeing as the lights are woven from very pliable six-pack rings there was no way the lights could rest on one another. They would just end up in a big plastic smoosh. I designed a crossbar that’s pretty small and simple, with the lights spiraling down from smallest to largest (96 Lotus pendant light, Helianthus, 252 Lotus pendant light, Allium) . When I finally got my got my hands on the blueprints I was able to see whether or not the design would work.

The producers wanted a second Allium light for the dining room, but armed with the blueprints I decided to design two new versions specifically for the room. In the end they went with the tried and true original Allium.

Now that everything was designed, I had a week of scrambling to build and package it all! I called up my friend Bryant for some urgent assistance. Bryant, my boyfriend, and I sat in my studio weaving two Helianthus lights. One was for the show, but I also had to make one for an art exhibition that same week. Talk about stress. We managed to complete both in one very long evening. Thanks, guys! That’s one down for the show. Four more to go.

My boyfriend’s parents were visiting from Hawaii and staying with us. I put his mom to work. Actually, she volunteered. Thanks, Lita! It took one long evening for me, my boyfriend, and his mom to make the Allium lights. I had already spent a week making parts for the big and small Lotus lights, so it only took another evening for the three of use to assemble them.

I wanted to fabricate custom crossbars from scratch, but I only had a few days left. I stopped by Canal Lighting and Parts to swap them out with standard parts. They helped me out a lot when I started Relevé Design a while back. Charlene and the guys at the store are really good at what they do, and they’re also super friendly!

Everything on the show is donated. I wanted to give the Nevins family lightbulbs that were eco-friendly and gave off great light. I made a shopping trip to Home Depot.

The cluster lights got 8watt bulbs and the dining room pendant got a 12watt bulb. They give off a lot less heat than incandescent, halogen, or florescent bulbs and still give off a wonderfully warm glow. They’re energy efficient, money saving, and long lasting. They’re great!

After all the wiring was done. My boyfriend’s parents helped me wrap and pack everything. We dropped by the neighborhood UPS store down the street to send off the lights. Afterwards, I took them to a local bakery for afternoon tea. YUM!

I was exhausted after those few weeks! It was all worth it though, because I was able to help build the Nevins family a cool new home.

I’m holding a live online chat right here on this webpage.

If you just saw me on The Nate Berkus Show; tell me what you thought of the segment; ask questions about the projects on the show; or just say ‘hello’!

If you’re a Relevé Design regular; come ask questions about the projects; update me on what you’re doing; tell me what you think we should tackle next; or you can drop in just to say ‘hello’ too!

I’m excited to meet y’all to talk about art, design, crafting, and upcycling. The link to the chat room will go live on this page on Monday! I hope to see y’all then!

Craft Chat with Bao  —  Monday,  January 16, 2012  —  3:00 – 4:00 PM (EST)