Saturday's Short

Long time no post....I'll keep this short and sweet.  I got a new job that I absolutely looooooovvvveeee!  It was such a perfect move for me and I think I will grow as a designer tremendously and learn so much.  I love all the people there and the fun exciting work we do.  It has been crazy though getting use to my new schedule and all the new info in my brain so posting the latest has been low on the list.  I have a lot of things I need to get up on here and several exciting things in the future.  Stay tuned.

Keep learning!
Anna Landers

Tuesday's Tailored Living Room

Happy Tuesday Everyone!

Today I'm sharing a living room design I created on Photoshop for a client of mine.  They recently moved into a new house that is so cute, but has some challenging rooms that they needed my advice on.  They first wanted to start with the living room since that is one of the areas they use the most.  Here is the before picture I took:

After meeting with them they conveyed to me that they wanted this room to have a more contemporary style with some pops of color.  They were unsure of where they should place the new couch because of the fireplace and TV cabinet placement and the ceiling was very tall so they needed help capitalizing on that. 

We decided to do new built-in's and move the TV to the center of the room so we could place our seating arrangement in front of it and gain more space.  They also wanted to have a bookcase so this was the perfect solution.  I like to do the big ticket items neutral, ie; the couch, wall color, curtains & built-in's.  Then I added in some color with the other items that may not cost as much and can be easily changed out when you get tired of this look.  Here is how it turned out:

Hope you like it! 

Anna Landers

Saturday's Shutter Assignment

So...we have been wanting to add some shutters to our house for some time now, but I don't really ever see any out there at the typical Lowe's or Home Depot stores that I like.  Plus, if you know me well I always think I  (excuse me-my husband and I) can make that object I am eyeing and at a lower cost than what the retail value is! Anyways, I mostly knew what design I wanted at this point because I had been doing some research on different styles, and when I say research I mean staring out the window at houses.  My husband finally had the itch to make them himself (usually the timing on when things get built at our house is based on his itch to do a project or my hinting I want "blah blah" built for mother's day or something).  I am not exactly knowledgeable on all those tools he has in that garage of his.  I mostly stick to my paint cabinet and occasionally toy around with hanging some pictures on the wall.  OK, man I am rambling.  It is way too late for me to be writing this.

First we measured our windows to figure out how tall the shutters needed to be and selected 3 pieces of wood per shutter to reach the width we wanted.  These were only about $2.00 each.

Here is my husband working hard at sawing the wood off to be the right size.  The back of his truck often becomes his work bench.

Here is what the shutters look like all nailed together in its raw form.

I decided to stain the shutters instead of paint them.  I wanted to warm up the front of our house a little and give it that slight touch of country charm.  This was the most expensive part of the project since I had to buy a gallon of stain.  Oh well, I am sure I will find a way to finish that can off on something else.

Next we added the hardware to make them look like they were operable.  I also think it adds something to them that without they wouldn't be as interesting.  This is adding "bling" in the construction world as I would say.

And here they are up on our house.  You will need special screws that are meant to go into brick and a good bit for your drill.  My husband learned that the hard way when he was using an old bit and it took him like 30 minutes to get one screw into the brick.

I am very pleased with how they turned out.  Now we just need to work on our landscaping.  Ahhh...lost, help!

Happy Making!
Anna Landers

Time To Share Tuesday

Thought I would share my latest design project.  My sister-in-law wanted me to help her with her playroom.  Her kids are getting older so she wanted to turn her playroom into more of a homework/art room type space.  It still has an area for toys and TV watching, but most of it purpose is for sitting at the table doing homework or craft projects.

Most of the storage items came from IKEA and can be interchanged with several units; ie, open storage, closed storage, etc.  The table we are going to look for on Craig's List and paint this green color.  Then we will look for the chairs and stools at local stores around the area to see what deals we can find.  Sometimes Ross or Home Goods can have some inexpensive looking ottomans and chairs. 

One side of the table would be my neices area where she could put all her things, the other side would be my nephew's.  Hope you like!

Thanks for letting me share,

Anna Landers



Thankful Thursday

So many of you may know my story, but for the sake of those of you that don't, here it is.  Early last year during a "routine" surgery to remove what looked like to doctors to be an abscess on one of my fallopian tubes it was discovered that I had ovarian cancer.  After a complete hysterectomy followed by six rounds of chemo I was told that my cancer is gone!  I went through one of the roughest times of my life over a period of 6 months, even though it seemed like so much longer.  Praise God that He got me through it.  On my journey back to recovery I was not sure how or even if I would be able to get back to the workouts I had once done prior to surgery.  Since cross country in high school it has always been one of my dreams to run a marathon, and I always thought that one day I would get around to it.  It seemed, though, that every time I started to train something else got in my way.  After some inspiration from one of my closest friends, I decided that with the help of God's strength I could start running again.  And so I did.  I set a goal to run a 5K in April called "Sprint for Cancer".  A little at a time I increased my distance until I hit the three mile mark.

Of course, I talked Anna into running the 5K with me.  For her, this was a comeback story, as well.  A couple of  years ago she had knee surgery and was unsure she would ever be able to run again like she had before.  With a little physical therapy and increasing her run distance at little at a time she was back to three miles again.

On April 21st we both ran together to sprint for cancer.  Through a little hard work and perseverance we both crossed the finish line and accomplished our goal.  We are both thankful that we were able to go out there and run that 3.1 miles with no injury, and we aren't going to stop there!  After all, life is a race me must run.  Never give up on the dream!

Right before the race

Almost finished!

Keep Dreaming,

Tiffany  

Photoshop Friday

We wanted to share with you some of the Photoshop projects we have worked on recently for some friends of ours.  Most people know what Photoshop is, but if you don't google it (because I don't feel like explaining what it is right now - he, he).  People often come up to us and ask us to help them with their house.   Most people don't have hours of time to go shopping with a designer, nor do they want to pay for that; so our solution in these situations is to come to your house, speak with you about what you are looking for, and take pictures of the area you wish for us to design.  We can take measurements for you, create a plan, and then do a Photoshop design like the following pictures I attached.  Then, you are able to go search for the peices on your own time or find things that are similar in your budget.  Check it out!

We have one more Photoshop project to show you, but I think I will hold out on that one untill she finishes the room so you can see the design we created and then how it really ended up looking like.  It is a playroom for a friend of ours who has 3 boys.  Our inspiration for the room was a treehouse hangout.  There is your little teaser!

Happy Creating,

Anna & Tiffany

Monday's Making Memories: Making Art

For those of you who love painting or just love a fun place to hang with your buddies, Tiffany and I discovered this wonderful place called Pinot's Palette.  Their motto is Paint. Drink. Have Fun.  And you will do all of those (well drinking is optional).   They have painting classes that you can go to or you can rent the place for a private party.  You can bring drinks and food and a big smile on your face!  Check out their website:  http://www.pinotspalette.com/  (No, we aren't getting paid for this)  And here are some pics of Tiff and I with our paintings:

Please try it out.  You will have tons of fun and you don't have to know how to paint.  They give you step by step directions on how to achieve the painting they are working on that class.  Or (like us) you can just paint what you want to paint.  And bonus, you get to take the painting home and hang it on that empty wall you needed to fill. 

As always, Happy Painting!
Anna Landers

Friday's Flee Market Finds (Tulsa, Oklahoma)

This past weekend Tiffany and I went up to Tulsa to visit a dear friend of ours, Alayna.  I think I have mentioned her on here before.  She comes to Dallas a few times a year and we try and get up there once a year as well.  We also went out to eat with some old college friends of mine.  Go Pokes!  We sat at the chef's table in the kitchen at The Tavern downtown, which was such a fun experience.  If ever you find a restaurant that offers that you should certainly try it.  It can get loud in there at times, but it is so much fun. 

It has become a tradition now when we go to Tulsa that Alayna takes us to this place called River City Trading Post.  It is this wonderful place that people can sell their "cheep crap" at, as I would call it.  There are rows and rows of booths set up and each booth is a different persons stuff that you can rummage through.  We always find some great "cheep crap" that we can turn into something unique and interesting.

We also were fortunate to come up on the weekend that a great flee market was going on at the fair grounds.  Again, this flee market was rows and rows of people selling their "cheep crap" they have collected or found themselves over the years.  Some of the stuff people were selling was actually "crap", but you can also find some really interesting collections of antiques, furniture, kitchen stuff, vintage clothing, jewelry, and anything else old, antique or vintage that you can think of in your head.  It was so much fun seeing what everyone brought and talking to the people about how they had come to collect these things.   Here are some photos from River City Trading Post & The Tulsa Flee Market:

 

You don't always have to go to Pottery Barn or Crate N Barrel to furnish and decorate your house.  If you want to include some unique pieces in your home try and find a local flee market you can go to.  Most of the things you find just need a coat of paint or some re-purposing of some kind.   Then your living room or bedroom will be full of conversation pieces that remind you of the fun times you had finding them and making them into something uniquely yours. 

Happy Flee Marketing!

Anna & Tiffany

P.S. Stay tuned for further posts of what we did with some of this stuff. 

Wednesday's Wall Art

My friend Randi moved into a new house and she has this big wall going up her stairs that she needed to fill.  I have been helping her design her house little by little and decided that we should fill that spot with a custom art piece that Tiffany and I could paint (our first one by the way).  We bought large canvases (these are 4' wide x 5' high) at Michaels and used acrylic paint, paper, and some nail heads to complete this project.  These took forever to finish as it is layer upon layer of paint to get it how we wanted it.  We finally got them done and hung (that is a whole other story) and I think they look great!  

Would love to do another one someday (maybe not quite as big) so give me a call if you have a blank wall that needs some canvas love.

Happy Painting!

Anna Landers

MID WEEK MEMORANDUM

Interior Designers vs. Interior Decorators

A lot of people don't know the difference or that there even is a difference between those two titles.   Well, there is and so today is your end of the week education class with Anna. 

Interior Decorator

You typically see these people in the residential world of design although many of them are designers.  Decorators do mainly what the word describes, they decorate a house, office, etc; however they are limited to changes that do not involve having to get a permit with the city.  In this case they would have to use an architect/designer to get drawings developed and stamped in order to go to the city for approval. 

Interior Designer

To call yourself an Interior Designer you have to have (in most cases) a 4 year degree from an accredited college, so many man hours working under a licenced designer, and have taken the 2 day NCIDQ test and passed.  You also have to maintain a certain amount of continuing education credits and pay a yearly fee to maintain your licence each year.  Okay, so why you ask would someone need this licence as opposed to just being an Interior Decorator?  Well, if you work in the commercial side and want to survive you need your licence.  Interior Designers have the ability to stamp drawings that go to the city for permit.  In most cases for interior projects you can hire a designer without needing an architect to plan out and design your space, get drawings developed, and see it through construction.  The limitation with designers is that we would need an architect when dealing with a structural change. 

Tiffany and I are both Interior Designers at a company called AM Design Associates.  We do mainly commercial projects, and office spaces are the majority of our workload.  Let me walk you through one of our projects so you can see what we do here. 

Programming/Space Planning

The first step is to sit down with the client and figure out their needs in the space, ie; how many offices they need, what spaces need to be next to what spaces, etc.  This is the programming stage.  Then after we figure that out we do a space plan for them at the chosen location.  We do this on a computer program call AutoCad.  Here is what it would look like:

Design Development

Next, we turn the 2-D drawing into 3-D.  This is the phase where we design what the space is going to look like and what finishes we will use in the space.  We usually would do several drawings, elevations and boards showing the client what it will look like.  Some of these might look like this:

Construction Document/Construction Administration
After all designs are approved we move to developing construction documents that go to the city for permit.  These would include plans on the wall locations, all electrical placement, lighting, and furniture.  We also include elevations, sections, and details on how things will be built and put together by the contractor.   We include everything the city will want to look at to make sure it meets all city codes and requirements.  I won't bore you with what these look like.  Lastly is construction administration.  This step in the process is where we oversee the construction.  We might go to weekly meetings and site visits to make sure everything is going as planned.  We field any contractor questions and sign off on any changes that get made.   

And finally, here are some finished photos of this space:

Thanks for sitting through my lesson!  I bet you never thought you would learn something on this blog (ha, ha).  I will post some more photos of projects we are working on or have worked on in the past in other posts.  

Happy Learning!

Anna Landers

Friday's Do-it Yourself Fashion

Winter is well upon us, except for those of us living in Texas.  It's cold, it's hot, it's cold, it's hot.  For those days you do find yourself outside in the winter weather it's always good to have a few accessories to keep you warm.  There's the usual scarf, gloves and coat, but what trends are we seeing this season in the way of fashion friendly toasties?
Fingerless gloves are pretty hot this winter.  They have become a great alternative to the norm because of their functionality.  No more taking your gloves off to make a call on your smart phone.  Also, we all have those short sleeve sweaters in our closet, but how do we keep the rest of our arms warm when it's chilly?

Fall 2011 Runway

Michael Kors - $68

Marc Jacobs - $54.60

We saw them on the runway this past fall.  Even Twighlight fave, Ashley Green, was dawning them in New Moon.  You could find a pair by Marc Jacobs or Michael Kors, but expect to pay between $50-$100.  When I saw the price tag I knew it was time to pull out my old crochet hooks and make some of my own.  All I had to pay for was the yarn of my choosing, and look what I ended up with.

Another must have I've seen in all the store windows are infinity scarfs (aka circle scarf or cowl).  They are an easy accessory to any outfit, and they have the added benefit of keeping you warm. 

You've got your knit version, fabric, long, short, chunky or light

There are so many varities, and they all add a unique look for your outfit.

I especially love the chunky knit cowls shown above.  They are so warm and cozy.  Because I only know how to crochet, I found a simple crochet pattern for a chunky cowl.  Here's what I ended up with.  Excuse the pic of me in my pj's.

Anna sporting a grey cowl I made her for Christmas

Taking a pic of the super chunky cowl I made for our Christmas gift exchange

All I had to do was change the weight of the yarn I was using and the size hook to get the desired effect.  I love them so much, and they keep you so warm.

These are just two of the many things you can crochet yourself.  If you don't know how to crochet, pick up a book and teach yourself.  It's not too hard.  Whenever I see a new trend I say to myself, "how can I make that".  Hope you will, too! 

Stay tuned for upcoming Spring fashion trends!  Happy Friday!

Tiffany

Fabulous Finds Friday (Where Are They Now?)

Hey Followers (all 3 of you, ha ha)!  Sorry it has been so long since we have posted.  I know you were checking your computers everyday to see when we were going to post next, so finally you don't have to wait any longer.  We promise not to be slackers again.  You know how the holidays get. 

Remember all that stuff I bought at Canton?  I thought I would update you with what I did with some of it.  Here is the picture to remind you:

The first thing I did was incorporate my new ladder into my minor bathroom remodel.  The guest bathroom was looking a little blah so of coarse I needed to change the paint color.  Everything was too neutral.  I said I would never paint this bathroom again as I have changed it several times, but I just couldn't take it any longer.  My husband isn't in love with the color so I am sure at some point he will talk me into painting it again, but for now it is staying.  I took down the towel bar that was in the room and used the ladder to hang our towels.  We built a frame around the mirror using standard base board and then I changed out a few accessories. 

Remember those old glass containers?  I used them to make me a coffee station.  My staition contains anything you need to make a great cup of coffee (except creamer) and if you know me you know I love my coffee.  Oh, and I have to put a plug in for the Keurig.  Love it!!!!

Next, I decided to tackle the serving tray.  I painted the outside of it with some paint I had stored away, which reminds me....I am beginning to store up a lot of paint.  Soon I will be able to open my own paint store.  I guess it would be like a used paint store.  I mean sometimes you just need a little paint and not the full can or quart.  Or what about those cans you bought and never used.  Instead of going to Lowes or Home Depot and spending 30 bucks on a can you can just come to Anna's garage and buy a little for cheeper.  Hmmm...what would I call my paint store?  Plus I could give all kinds of advise and what you can do with paint as I have done it all.  Not sure if you can paint it?  Come ask Anna......anyways back to the Serving Tray.  After I painted the outside I painted the inside with chalk board paint (that again I already had).  I set it on my kitchen counter and it has become my grocery list when I realize I need something. 

Well, that is all I have for now.  Hope everyone had a great Christmas and New Years!  Stay tuned for some more wacky ideas from Tiffany and I. 

Anna Landers