Cozy Christmas Interiors


This living room space exudes warmth and looks so beautiful for the holdiays--Traditional Home



Decorating with vintage ornaments in colorful hues, a very traditional Christmas--Country Home

 

The mantle is decorated very earthy and looks so inviting with the roaring fire!--Elle Decor

 

The main focal point on this mantel is the shell-shaped vessel filled with pears--Bergner and Johnson Interior Design



The swag is made up of burlap and raffia bows mixed with layers of magnolia, boxwood and cypress to create a very textural look to this warm and cozy fireplace--Betty Burgess Design

 

This home is decorated with wreaths and a Christmas tree mixed with shells and starfish and brightly colored ornaments for this beachy house--Coastal Living

 

This traditional holiday design of woodsy greenery and berries mixed with pinecones and white blooms creates a very nature-inspired theme--Randy McManus Designs Inc.



Adding lots of metallic into a room that is all white helps to create a lot of shimmer--Coastal Living

Holiday decorating



A mix of Crate & Barrel and Urban Farmhouse line up along this festive mantel--Country Living



Chandelier decorated with silver tinsel, mercury ornaments and glass votives with springs of pine needles--Country Living

 

This wonderful holiday bowl is composed of a beautiful arrangement of small gift boxes with ribbon and ornaments-- Elle Decor



This elegant centerpiece was made with an etched glass bowl, beautiful red hydrangeas, gold leaf ivy and some gold spray on the hydrangeas--Southern Accents



Tiny ornaments dangle from a cluster of dried branches in a cylindrical vase--Holden & Dupuy



Spice up your table with this gorgeous centerpiece of glittering trees and stacked topiaries of varying heights.

 

Add colorful ornaments and glasses to your entertaining table to make it really sparkle!

 

Add texture and color and unique holiday decor to your table--Country Living



Fill a decorative silver lantern with colorful holiday ornaments and mini lights to create a wonderful accent piece.



Create a focal point on your table by adding various colors and sizes of ornaments into glass hurricanes to match the color scheme you are trying to achieve.



Create your own layered dessert platter out of festive holiday plates and mugs--Southern Accents

Photography Studio Magic



J S Peck is my most favorite photographer due to his undenying artistic capabilities. Here is a photographer that can create a work of art with smoke and mirrors and a camera leaving Photoshop out of the equation and create a masterpiece. I first fell in love when I was on a trip to Sedona, Arizona and walked into a fine art gallery called "Exposures." This gallery is absolutely stunning, but when I layed my eyes on JS Peck's work I had to buy two, one for me and one for my client.



White Azaleas
"The wondering effects found here came from the light diffusing qualities of diluted milk."     
--JS Peck





 

This tulip was frozen in ice and the ending result is refractions and reflections in the photograph.



Peck achieves his unique effects using projection, distortion, and manipulations of light with prisms, mirrors, and lenses, along with ice, gels, and crystals.

Whole Tree Architecture


This farm house in Avalanche, Wisconsin was created by diseased and weak trees that were located on the property, a model exemplary of how beautiful green architecture can be. Designed by Architect Roald Gunderson who is a “whole tree Architect;” his designs incorporate the whole tree, including round timbers, curves and branches.


The framing for this three bedroom, 2,160 square foot structure uses whole branching box alder and elm trees. Straw bales covered with curved wood purlins that have been reclaimed from a wood kiln help to insulate the metal roof. Straw bales were also used as insulation for the majority of the walls inside the home.



This bedroom was built with whole birch trees and pine flooring. The green that can be seen on the wall came from green sand that was found on the cliffs of a river that was located close by.



The bathroom was designed with pine for the flooring.

Traffic Signs Transform into Art


"Transit Chair" This recycled metal chair has been hand-fabricated and is made out of re-purposed steel traffic signs, champagne corks and steel hardware. $1100

Metal designer Boris Bally from Providence, Rhode Island, demonstrates in his art forms that sustainability has no limits. His furniture are true conversation pieces for those who are collectors of art. They have a colorful, bold and dynamic "raw American street aesthetic" that can only be described as "graphic furniture art." Not only does he create furniture, he also designs home accessories, jewelry and tableware. Besides incorporating salvaged street signs into his designs, Bally also re-purposes other materials such as weapon parts and various found objects.


"Pedestal Drums" Commissioned for Neiman Marcus as table bases for indoor displays back in 2002. They were made for their Las Vegas and Coral Gables, Florida stores, these drums were built to support heavy glass. The drums are hand-fabricated out of re-purposed traffic signs and copper rivets.

"Broadway Armchair" This hand-fabricated chair is made up of re-purposed traffic signs, champagne corks and steel hardware. $2500

Junk Mail gets an Artistic Makeover!


Portrait of John Lennon, 24 x 24" $2,400


The Path to Success: Who would ever believe that this beautiful work of art is actually composed of greeting cards, advertisements, postcards and junk mail? Arizona artist Sandy Schimmel Gold is the talented artisan that creates this paper-tiled mosaic that recycles what would otherwise be garbage into her designs. Her journey began on a trip to Venice, Italy where she was inspired by a stained glass mosaic displayed in front of a light box in an art gallery. Too heavy to bring home with her, she decided that she would re-create this herself. Finding too many complications in re-creating the piece, she begun cutting up various accumulated junk mail and presto, this is the story of how this brilliant artist begun.


The process that goes into these designs is quite intricate. Schimmel Gold first starts off her art work with an acrylic painting. She then takes this art a step further by pasting colorful pieces of junk mail over top of her canvas. The paint then saturates through the paper which emulates the effect of a mosaic with grout lines.



Across the Universe 40 x 40"


All American Blonde

Schimmel Gold is a huge fan of recycling as much as possible in her art work. She will rummage through garage sales to pick up recycled canvases or even canvases that have already been painted on and then she paints over top of them. To help encourage others who have an artistic flair and a love of recycling, she holds workshops to teach others how to recreate works of art out of their own junk mail! To learn more about this amazing artisan, visit her website at Sandy Schimmel Gold.



Cherry Blossom 30 x 30" $3,250. The dominant feature in this portrait is the use of metallic gold paper that was gathered from embossed holiday cards.

Sustainable Art Forms


Designed by David Trubridge this picture depicts sustainable lighting called "Taniko Lights" which are made from natural bamboo plywood and nylon cable ties. The furniture on display is called "Cradle" and is constructed from bamboo plywood and plastic clips.


Designed for Milan Design Week 2008, these "Spiral Islands" are designed to look like puffy clouds that form over islands in the pacific. The lighting was designed to mirror the furniture which is made from the skin of two interlocking spirals.


"The Three Baskets of Knowledge." Designed as a lighting installation for Milan Design Week 2009, the title is based on the mythology of the New Zealand Maori.


Hanging in a darkened room and lit from the inside, the Coral Pendant light takes on the form of a magnificently delicate skeleton crafted by nature, floating mid-air like some kind of an exotic sea creature.


This lighting series, called "Volute," which means beautiful sea-shell, was shown at the Milan Furniture Fair in 2006. Made up of several pieces of thin cut plywood which was crafted through the use of a computer and a CNC router machine.


David Trubridge's light fixtures are shipped in a box unassembled to make shipping more efficient and to reduce waste. Instructions for simple assembly are included and no tools are required. Trubridge won the Natural World Museum’s 2007 Green Leaf Award for artistic excellence. The Green Leaf Award celebrates an artist's ability to inspire and engage the public in environmental awareness and action.




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