Two Timing

Dear powder bath,
It was love at first sight. I had to have you. I stalked you, I wrote about you, I even recommended you to a friend...but we were meant to be.


I thought you were the one.....

Recent completed bathroom

 

 

 but ours was to be a short lived relationship and I am on to someone new.

It is not a perfect start but when are they ever. It's over. I have found a bigger better
master bath and it needs me.

Tile Terror

I am having a moment...well maybe several moments. I cannot commit to a shape for the back splash tile. Lead time is a couple of months and that translates to order today.

Option 1 square Moroccan  Zelig tile below from Mosaic Del Sur. Simple, classic, timeless in an opalescent white.

Yes, Brooke Shields has the same tile in her NYC apartment kitchen. I love this kitchen.

  
Option 2 arabesque Moroccan Zelig tile below from Mosaic Del Sur in same color as square tile

 

A wall of handmade arabesque tiles in a metallic finish.

 

A close up of the beautiful patina on the silver and gold handmade metallic tiles.

Another arabesque tile image for shape reference

kitchen style is a more fussy than my desired look.

Do I play it safe go square or risk it with arabesque? What are your thoughts?

Some items are confirmed to help you vote.

Extra thick honed marble counter tops with painted cabinets.

Open shelves made out of reclaimed wood or marble with steel brackets. The shelves will hang in front of the tile which extends from ceiling to counter.

Sleek Wolf rangetop

Oly Studio Chandelier above the breakfast table.

 Modern brass Arterior's pendants above island.

Love,

Melinda

Black Doors

The power of black....
Sometimes a simple change can have big impact. I have posted before on my love of black painted interior doors and now my back door is black. My black door makes me happy in so many ways.

One it reminds me of the home I grew up in, all the original interior doors were very dark stained black walnut with white painted trim. The windowsills were the same 18" deep dark stained black walnut with white trim and all the hardware is and was brass.

Do not replace your brass hardware, repeat do not replace your brass hardware. It is coming back in style and if you look closely at magazines you will see brass and gold popping up in lots of little details from kitchen faucets, to cabinet knobs, door hardware and yes light fixtures. Brass hardware looks amazing on black doors.If you are purchasing brass hardware order it without the protective coating so it can weather to a subtle natural brass patina. Reason two, I have brass hardware.

Last reason, I have always loved the contrast of dark with light. white upholstery with dark wood frames. Dark floors and white walls. 

Houzz 2012 Best of Remodeling Award

Yipppeee!!! Yahooo!!!! I won. It came as a big suprise. ( I did not even know I was entered) My first design award since I made the Best of D Home and Texas Monthly with my stores years ago. Officially, I won in the Design Category and it made my Monday pretty special. Now I need to network and publicize it. This blog and my Facebook page are my poor attempts to do it, so any better ideas would be appreciated.Thank you to all who voted for me.

Check out the Houzz website if you never have before.

The official press release.

Melinda Faranetta of Allen, TX Receives

Houzz’s 2012 ‘Best Of Remodeling’ Award

First-Ever Survey & Analysis of More than 1.2 Million Members Reveals Top-Rated Professionals and Current Design Trends from Across the Country

Dallas, TX --  March 21, 2012 –Melinda Faranetta of Allen, TX has been awarded  “Best Of Remodeling” 2012 by Houzz, the leading online platform for residential remodeling and design.  The 2 year old interior design firm was chosen by the more than 1.2 million registered members of the Houzz community.

The Houzz “Best Of Remodeling” award for 2012 is given in two categories: Customer Satisfaction and Design. Customer Satisfaction award winners are based on homeowner members who rated their experience working with remodeling professionals in 12 categories ranging from architects, and interior designers to contractors and other residential remodeling professionals.  Design award winners’ work was the most popular among the 1.2 million members, also known as “Houzzers,” who saved more than 16.5 million professional images to their personal ideabooks via the Houzz site and iPad/iPhone app.

“I am so honored that the Houzz community was inspired by my designs. Over the past twenty years I have transitioned from dressing the body to dressing the home. During this time, I realized how important our home environment is to who we are. The concept behind my company Simply Beautiful Living is to merge a client’s life with design and find their personal sweet spot. A beautiful home is like good food for the soul, it nurtures us.”

“With 3.5 million monthly unique users and 80 million monthly page views, Houzz has rapidly become the largest community of active remodelers, providing homeowners and design enthusiasts with first-hand advice from Houzzers who have been through the renovating and decorating process,” said Liza Hausman, vice president of marketing for Houzz. “This is a real stamp of approval for Melinda Faranetta from the Houzz community and we’re thrilled to welcome them to this elite group of ‘Best Of’ winners.”

With Houzz, homeowners can identify not only the top-rated professionals like Melinda Faranetta but also those whose work visually aligns with their own design goals. Homeowners can also evaluate professionals by contacting them directly on the Houzz platform, asking questions about their work and evaluating their responses to questions from others in the Houzz community.

About Melinda Faranetta

A graduate of Philadelphia University, Melinda began her career as a clothing designer. Marriage to a great guy brought her to Texas, far away from the heart of the fashion industry, so she put her talents to use making beautiful curtains and upholstered pieces. After years of working with textiles, she turned her energies to more solid objects.”Who knew, that all those years of pattern making and drawing to scale would lead me to love designing cabinetry and tearing down walls. It is so exciting to transform a space 3 dimensionally and see the joy in a clients face when their home matches their dreams.” Melinda may be reached at Simply Beautiful Living 214-208-2273 or faranetta1@tx.rr.com.

About Houzz

Houzz (www.houzz.com) is the leading online platform for home remodeling, providing inspiration, information, advice and support for homeowners and home improvement professionals through its website and mobile applications. Houzz features the largest residential design database in the world, articles written by design experts, product recommendations, a vibrant community powered by social tools, and information on more than 1.2 million remodeling and design professionals worldwide who can help turn ideas into reality. @houzz_inc

It has been way too long...

Ok, I am guilty as charged. I have been neglectful, my poor blog has sat here all alone.  

I have been crazy busy and thought I would share a couple images with you.

Room transformed from never used game room to cool teen bedroom.

Take a step down into this relaxed hip space. Dark hardwood floors ground the room,

while new wood casement windows open up to the outside of this Darling built suburban home.

 Simple dip dyed bedding in navy and white "Modern Indigo" by Ralph Lauren dresses the two XL Twin beds. 

Fifteen feet of double drawers that are 40" deep offer tons of divided storage, twenty two pairs of men's size ten sneakers are hidden inside.  And, if the next owner does not like them, all they have to do is remove eight screws. The hardwood floor extends underneath as do the baseboards.

 The custom 300 pound barn door took four people to get up the stairs, but you would never know by how easy it glides on the track. I did not know that three layers of solid wood could weigh so much. The size 10 feet x 4 feet might have a little to do with it.

The bubble chair is centered to the TV for optional use of the hidden PS3. All the other components are hidden in the 12" deep cabinet/shelf with doors that are hinged on the bottom.Under it, the desk made of reclaimed barn wood has a glass top so you can write on it and a base from an antique library table. Nearby, is a comfy vintage leather club chair for reading.

The big trick with this room was making it look like it just happened without thought. The owner wanted a cool space that did not look like it was designed. Do you think it worked?

Love, 

Melinda

On Hold......

My horoscope for this week must have read.

Aquarius- Expect all plans to not work out, deliveries to be late,

 and meetings to be rescheduled.

Here it is Thursday, and all the things I had hoped to check off my to do list

 are still there, with a bunch more added.

I did manage to find pillows for a living room project.

avocado green velvet with bitter chocolate greek key trim

white with brown print pillow

chocolate and natural linen mitred stripe pillow

I learned all about back painted glass for a kitchen backsplash.

 I want to use a sheet of glass running from counter to ceiling.

The glass will be painted and stenciled in a simple graphic pattern on the back.

pattern like this wall

 or this wall

Check out the talented Emily Jones and her blog

attached with polished chrome bolts for a pop of spark

with simple floating shelves in front of it

Decor Pad

A few other things here and there completed,

sample books ordered but really not much progress.

Frustrating!!!!!

Enjoy your long weekend.

Love,

Melinda

Divided Light Decisions

It amazes me how ignorant we can be of our surroundings. I thought I paid attention to the details in my own home, until I had to order new windows (58 in total for my house). I knew what I wanted, or so I thought.
1.) Divided lights not the fake ones between the glass, but dividers that had depth created shadows.
2.) Wood windows with an extruded aluminun cover on the outside and primed wood on the inside.
3.) No unattractive exposed drywall, instead wood casings connecting groups of windows
4.) Casement windows on the part of the house with cement board and double hung everywhere else
5.) Wood french doors on the L shaped front porch
6.) White windows

Done deal piece of cake. Then I started paying attention to the window grills in magazines and high end neighborhoods. Guess what, the number of divided lights was way less than my current windows and they were painted the same color as the trim not white.

Less is more with divided lights.



Traditional Home July/August 2011

Traditional Home July/August 2011

Selecting the number of divided lights per window was a daunting task. I currently have 29 different sizes of divided lights on my 58 windows. Who knew? 

In the family room alone, a total of 10 windows and one door I have the following:  9.5 wide x 12 tall, 9.5 wide x 13.5 tall, 10.25 wide x 12 tall, 10.25 wide x 13.5 tall,6 wide x 12.5 tall (door), and 11 wide x 12 tall, and 11 wide x 13.5 tall.

The reverse cottage double hung windows. (Translates to a window that the operable bottom section is not as tall as the upper section) Why are my windows not equally divided in half, you ask? Building code limits the number of square feet of glass that can be in one section without being tempered.

The easiest way to show you how the number of divided lights affects a space is with pictures.

Open Oversized Traditional

House and Home

Horizontal Divided Lights

House and Home

Simply Split

House and Home

Mix and Match

House and Home




Oversized in Black

House and Home



Martha Style Traditional



House and Home


Four by Four

.

House and Home

Sophisticated

Unknown source

Dated Squished

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Once my new windows are in and trimmed out, I will be viewing my bluestone surrounded pool

not through a cage like grid but an open and sophisticated frame.

Love,

Melinda