Fu for Thought

Etsy Fab Finds, Part 1

2009-07-06T00:03:00.000-05:00

This week I feel like concentrating on stuff from Etsy because I'm bored with virtually every other home decor web site and this stuff is f-r-e-s-h, baby!

If I lived close enough to Denver to accommodate the seller's requirement for pickup only, this couch would be sitting upstairs in our loft area:

I expect nothing less from the local gals at Spruce Home, but this bench is superdarling:

How cool and unique is this retro wall unit?

Dying to have this little red chair. Dying.

Its lacquer finish and lime green color take this dresser from "nah" to "yeah!"

Separated at Birth

2009-07-05T13:58:00.005-05:00

This mounted buffalo head made out of cardboard looks a lot like my favorite building in NYC...

West Elm's Coming To Austin!

2009-07-02T18:00:00.008-05:00

Thanks Lynn, via Facebook, via Yelp, for hipping me to the fact that West Elm is opening a store in Austin! FINALLY! I could not be more excited unless I were interviewing Candice Olson on July 14th.

Oh, right. I AM interviewing Candice Olson on the 14th!

But I'm still plenty excited about West Elm. The store's going to be located at the corner of South Lamar and West Fifth Street and it's scheduled to open this fall.

Happy, happy, joy, joy.

Design Star, Season 4 Update

2009-07-02T01:16:00.008-05:00

I've been invited to interview the three judges of HGTV's Design Star the week prior to the July 19th premiere...and I'll be chatting up each designer the morning after they get the boot.

So if you have any questions for Candice Olson, Genevieve Gorder, and Vern Yip, comment away!

I'll post the interviews here on Fu For Thought--so stay tuned!

Keepin' It Weird

2009-06-30T08:04:00.000-05:00

I've been slightly down in the dumps about how square my neighborhood is and have been feeling nostalgic for our days living in the '04. (The 78704 zip, for those of you out-of-towners, celebrates the weird.) Even our Starbucks seemed lame and not up to the standard of funkiness we'd come to love and expect from our old neighborhood haunt.

And then I saw this parked at my local 'bux. Found out it belongs to one of the baristas there, so there's hope for our 'hood yet.

Either that, or we're currently bussing in the weird.

Artist of the Day: Judy Paul

2009-06-29T12:12:00.026-05:00

I'm a big fan of local artist Judy Paul's work and recently discovered a few resources for purchasing giclee prints of her pieces.

New Era Portfolio is an Austin-based company. They create giclee prints on-demand, which means you can order flat/framed prints, or have them do a wrapped canvas, which is basically a canvas print wrapped on a wooden stretcher. You can specify any size up to 54", and they'll even send you a sample print so you can see the work in person before you commit to a larger version.

Some of my favorites:

You can view more of Judy's work available via New Era here.

Surprisingly enough, I also saw several canvases available via Overstock.com. Obviously, there's less flexibility here in terms of size and output options, but they are good deals and the shipping is less than $3/order. (Actually, if you were to order today, you'd only pay a buck for S&H!)

If smaller pieces are more your style, you can order giclee prints mounted to wooden boxes directly from the artist here.

Editor's Note: Have Fu For Thought readers overloaded New Era's Web server?! Their site is suddenly down. Keep checking back if you receive an error message...

Home Staging in Boerne

2009-06-27T18:50:00.012-05:00

A couple of weeks ago, I spent a day staging a vacant townhouse in Boerne. Check out how it turned out:

I used the existing red paint to our advantage, turning that bedroom into a fun kidspace and incorporated other red elements throughout the house. It turned out so cute I wanted to move in right away!

Boerne turned out to be such a great little town. If you've never been, imagine Fredricksburg and crank up the style quotient a notch. I'm anxious to get back and have a crack at the restaurants and the shopping...

If you're interested in purchasing this townhouse, you can find information on it here.

Oops, more designers!

2009-06-26T19:34:00.011-05:00

It turns out there will be one more designer added to the Design Star mix...selected by the other 10. Among the options:

Gary Andrews
If the eyes are a window into the soul, then Mr. Andrews is this season's FON (freak of nature). Sorry, fans of Gary, but this guy's giving Jen a run for her Crazee title. Design-wise, not bad...but if you have three minutes for your audition video and you use part of it to chat up your "strategy," all signs point to you being the first to throw someone under the bus.

Alissa Sutton
So...Alissa got her interior design degree from Texas Tech, which means my fellow Design Star watcher and client, Lee (also a Tech grad), will undoubtedly be rooting for her. And it won't have anything to do with the fact that she's gorgeous, right Lee? I don't personally think she's as fabulous as she thinks she is, and I loathe that whole white everywhere thing...so overdone, cold, and impersonal. I'm getting a bit of a whiff of prima donna, and for some reason I expect her to clash with Jen. If she doesn't make it on the show, I guess we'll nevah know.

Torie Halbert
Oh dear gawd, we've got us a Texas pageant girl here, y'all. All I can say is, "yee-ikes." Her work gave me a perma-cringe, to be honest. Faux finishes and themed media rooms and murals out the ying-yang. I'll be a bit surprised if she makes the cut.

If I were the original 10, I would vote for Antonio to go and Gary and Alissa to make it onto the show...

Design Star's Season 4 Designer Hopefuls

2009-06-26T01:59:00.004-05:00

The Fashion Show has been eclipsed by Top Chef Masters... Project Runway (soon to come on the abused woman channel--er, I mean, Lifetime) hasn't started yet...so thank gawd the next season of Design Star's about to make its debut. My take on this season's lineup of competitors:

Amy Sklar
She seems polished enough, and she's coined her own design phrase. I think "eclelegant" will be much less annoying than previous competitors Vanessa De Leon's "glamalistic" or Michael Stribling's "It's official. I'm amazing." As long as she doesn't overuse it, that is. Her eponymous company Web site is pretty slick, although for the most part overly beige rooms and only 3 sites represented. The lack of variety suggests she hasn't been doing this very long, which makes her achievements thus far pretty impressive. She'll be a strong contender.

Antonio Ballatore
Geezus, one look at this dude's audition video and I'd like to vote him off right now. What the hell, HGTV? What a schlub this guy is...it's insulting to all the other interior designers who tried out to let this doofus cavedweller on the show. Maybe they're trying to lure other grunting he-men to HGTV? Or maybe they're looking to attract the dudes who like bears? I don't know, I'm not buyin' it.

Dan Vickery
This season's pretty boy, Dan has the construction chops that Antonio seems to have, but unlike Antonio, has a palatable personal style. I'm curious about his experience though...why's a guy with all of his building and supposed design experience (including a degree in architecture) working as a bartender? It sort of smacks of "mom and dad made me get a degree so I'd have something to fall back on, but what I really want to do is ACT!" That sort of do-anything-to-get-on-TV thing always comes off as inauthentic to me. However, that's basically Kim Myles in a nutshell and that certainly seemed to work out okay...

Jany Lee
Jany currently hails from Dallas, so we've gotta root for her, right? Cute girl, seems a little ditzy but I give props to any gal who travels around the world solo as I used to. It remains to be seen whether or not she's a particularly strong design force, but I suspect she'll be one of the most sincere contestants on the show. I'll also predict that she'll be the first to be blindsided by a dig from whomever turns out to be the closet evil one.

Jason Champion
Jason, you had me at "Favorite thing in your home: Framed 1960 circus costume from Kandy’s Tijuana Pink Poodles." And when you were talking about how everyone deserved good design, no matter what their price point? Amen, brother. But then you had to go and wreck it by using the term, "expecially." Twice. Exspecially, Jason? Expecially and expresso make my ears hurt and my skin ef-fing crawl. I'm going to look the other way on this because you seem like such a nice guy...but you better step it up if you want to be a TV host!

Jan Guerin
This whole International Association of Color Consultation accredidation sounds about as meaningful as being ordained via the Internets, but whatever. I was kind of bored with her audition video, especially when she changed her shoes like Mr. Rodgers. I'm getting a vibe off her like she's this season's Crazee...we'll see if I'm right.

Lonni Paul
I'm mystified by all of these designers with experience who don't have a decent Web site...but I guess if you are a designer to the stars as Lonni is, you don't have to be so adept at marketing to the masses. She seems cute and goofy...maybe we'll like her. I have to say I hated the designs on her audition video though. Bor-ing.

NataLee Callahan
Natalee's been a gosh-darned swell designer for a year now, you betcha! She can buy a chair with torn upholstery and have it fixed! Wow, impressive! Sorry, a bit of a saccharine video for ye jaded designer. She strikes me as being Ms. Average...nothing heinous, but nothing special either. Hopefully, I'm wrong, but I'm expecting a bit of a snoozefest stylistically from her.

Nathan Galui
Nate is my pick to go head-to-head with Amy for the final challenge. He has a solid design background and enough confidence to make him successful without coming off as arrogant. I also wish I'd had enough design maturity at 26 as he does, judging by his home. I did crack up when he referred to his "Scan" dining chairs and I can't wait to rip off that posh-sounding reference the next time I visit Scandinavia (the furniture store, as unfortunately, I have no immediate plans to visit the geographic region). Go Nate!

Tashica Morgan
Cute and classic is my impression of Tashica. I'm not so much a fan of her kitchen's faux backsplash but think her living room backdrop looked very Domino. Based on her bio, she comes across as scrappy and the brains of the bunch. Ditching a law career to go back to school for a masters in interior design tells me she's got some cajones and isn't much of a "settler"...and the fact that she was a surrogate mother to her siblings at a young age, leads me to believe she won't take any guff from the whiners in the bunch.

Gaud(y) Help Us

2009-06-25T22:00:00.000-05:00

I'm watching Michael Jackson videos on MTV and wondering...how long before his daddy moves to turn Neverland into the new Graceland?

If Jackson's self-styled Rolls Royce (or his face, for that matter) is any indication of what the interior of the ranch looks like, I'll be expecting the overought and overdone...

No disrespect to the dead...but you know it's gonna be Bad*, right?

*Pun intended.

Best of Austin Three-peat Buzzkill

2009-06-25T10:58:00.008-05:00

I was about to start blogging away, asking everyone to vote for Room Fu in this year's Best of Austin readers poll via The Austin Chronicle. But when I scrolled down to the Services section, I didn't see Best Contractor/Home Service. Whaaa?

Since they're real sticklers about each person getting one vote, please hold your voting until I get confirmation that my category is no more. If there's a chance that they mistakenly left it off the online ballot, I want to hit you up for your vote! After winning the last two years, I'm not ready to let go of the title.

Although...I suppose I could always say I was the Reigning Champ-een if they've eliminated my category.

More to come...

Retro-Inspired Modern Coffee Table

2009-06-23T14:25:00.004-05:00

I have a deep and abiding love for this coffee table.

If I:

a) needed a coffee table, and
b) was going to Houston any time soon,

I would buy this puppy post haste.

I know from previous experience that this store charges out the wazoo for S&H, so if you love this as I do, don't fork that extra out for shipping. Take the same amount of money and use it to drive yourself and a companion out to Concrete City. You hit the store, pack up your fine table, swing by the Museum of Fine Arts, have yourselves a nice little nosh afterwards and you'll have a fun day plus a great-looking table.

At least, that's what I would do.

Movie News

2009-06-22T10:39:00.004-05:00

Color me excited. Why? Tim Burton's upcoming Alice in Wonderland in 3D!

It'll be a horrible wait (Spring 2010), but I'm sure well worth it.

Feeling Nostalgic and Grateful

2009-06-22T00:05:00.014-05:00

I'm feeling nostalgic about my first year in business these days. For one thing, I'm coming up on the SIXTH anniversary of Room Fu on July 4th--Independence Day! It's an incredible feeling because I never would've thought I'd take such a risk in the first place, this whole self-employment thing. To see it take shape and grow into this entity that people feel attached to and support with such zeal, it's such a wonderful experience.

For another thing, I'm working again with two clients who were there in the beginning...one who was my second interior design client ever (Laura), and another who came along during that first year (Debby). Both have become friends of mine and treated me like family from the get-go, so it's great to have an excuse to hang out with them more frequently lately.

Laura's recently purchased a condo in a high-rise near campus, and it's a total gut job. We're blowing out the kitchen and creating one huge open space for the living, dining and kitchen areas. We're also gutting two bathrooms, eliminating popcorn ceilings and replacing the flooring throughout the entire unit. I'm excited about the palette Laura wants to work with and the prospect of such an extensive transformation has me dealing with a level of insomnia that even my beloved Melatonin can't cure. I'm constantly working and reworking the space in my head, brainstorming 24/7, and the mindpush is simultaneously exhausting and thrilling. When we get to the other side (hopefully September), the finished space will be unrecognizable as compared to the "before" state. Can't wait.

Debby's purchased a mid-century ranch in Allandale and is turning it into a short-term rental property she'll eventually promote on Home Away. I'm channelling my inner hotelier in this manner for the second time this year, having furnished/decorated this home in South Austin back in February. This type of project is a complete and total blast because it's exactly the type of place I'd prefer to stay when I'm on vacation--something filled with local charm and nothing like a chain hotel.

I'm so thankful for having a supportive new husband back in 2003, who said, "absolutely go for it!" when I broached the subject of starting my own business. I can't believe how long I held a death grip on a job I kinda (okay, really) hated when it was so easy to make my own way once I took the leap. Everything happens the way it's supposed to though, right?

I'm ecstatic to have the privilege of working with the people who become my clients. I don't know if hoity-toity sticks-up-their-butts designers are as fortunate as I am. Although many of them make a crap ton more money than I make, I am proud to say that my clients tend not to be keeping-up-with-the-Joneses types, but rather are people who are building nests for themselves, and there's a huge chasm in the personal satisfaction arena for me as a designer between those two groups of people.

My clients tend to be warm, friendly, goofy, personable, and not at all pretentious. Aren't I awfully damn lucky??

Mid-Century Goodies

2009-06-20T10:59:00.009-05:00

Arachnophobes - Do Not Read!

2009-06-17T18:06:00.009-05:00

Yesterday was c-r-a-z-y. My seventeen and a half hour home-staging-fest in Boerne started with an 8:00 am freakdance on the side of the road after a spider came out a' callin' inside my car. I had to pull over to the side of the road so I wouldn't have a wreck mid-freakout...tried to shoo it out with a discarded protein bar wrapper but it ran under my seat. Which started a real anxiety overload, to be honest. I stood there beside my car in some corporate parking lot shaking in my shoes at the thought of that little guy running up my pantleg if I dared take the wheel again.

I wanted to buck up and be a professional about it but in order to do that, I desperately needed to know if the spider was poisonous or not. I would've called Jeb so he could give Google a whirl, but when I'd left the house he was snoozing and Phoebe was snoozing and I wanted to give him a chance to sleep late if she'd let him.

So I called my dad. Like I was thirteen.

Dad was in the car himself. So I called my mama. But she wasn't at work yet.

Which meant I had to call my client. And tell him that a widdle bitty spider had FORCED ME OFF THE ROAD.

Fortunately, this was a client I've been working with for a couple of years on various projects, so he was very sympathetic. But let's be honest. I had to get back into the spider car and get over to his house, pronto.

I have to admit I was driving while crying with that beast lurking under my seat. I got the "ew" shakes once I imagined this thing laying eggs in my car and all those things scurrying out and eating me and my child whole.

Pause for another "ew" shake.

Made it to my client's house and he graciously took my Fit apart, trying to scare the spider out with his vacuum cleaner. At his own suggestion. Nice, huh?

While the guys loaded furniture, I tried to find out more about this buggar on my BlackBerry, but looking at a ton of photos of spiders and disgusting spider bites was only making my anxiety worse. I finally broke down and called Jeb, who I hoped by now was firing up some PopTarts for the dumplin' and he quickly determined it was a wolf spider. Which is not poisonous, he said.

I told my client and he said, "oh yeah, those are nothin'."

But just now? When I went to find a picture of a wolf spider to link to? I discovered not only is the dang thing poisonous...but it wasn't my spider.

Egads!

I traveled to and fro to Boerne--the aforementioned "fro" occurring during scary spider witching hours of midnight to 2:00 a.m.--in relative calm based on the fact that I didn't have a poisonous spider in my car and now, gulp, I might've had a poisonous spider in my car?

To be fair, Jeb was searching based on my verbal description. He hadn't seen my spider in person, so how could he know if the wolf spider was truly my spider? But why did he and my client conspire together about the lack of scary venom these guys possess??

Even worse, I've now identified my creep as the gray wall jumper but cannot find out any basic information about the dang thing. Which I'm hoping translates to "fairly common, not a threat at all, Ms. Callan."

And do not give me any bunk about how spiders are so great and how oooh, they eat a bunch of bugs. 'Cause la-la-la-la I'm not listening.

Kitchen Styling Tips

2009-06-15T09:54:00.003-05:00

Leaving shortly to shoot a recently completed kitchen remodel in Lost Creek and am very excited about how amazing it turned out. I was trolling the Interwebs for some fresh ideas for styling the room and came across the blog of photo stylist Annette Joseph. Thought I'd share her tips for styling a kitchen, since they're simple and completely functional vs. a lot of unnecessary froufrou.

Enjoy!

Ooh La La

2009-06-13T14:23:00.004-05:00

I'm thinkin' N'Orleans, sitting at a bistro table with some chicory coffee and beignets...

Today's Mid-Century Craigslist Finds

2009-06-13T10:31:00.004-05:00

Get Lit

2009-06-11T21:38:00.005-05:00

If I hadn't already purchased all of the lamps we need for the house, this would have to wing its way to Chez Callan:

It's so great, and its price is awesome. I just ordered a pair for a client's project and normally that would sate my appetite, but not this time. I still want it for my own dang self.

Pity me and my lamp envy.

Make My Day

2009-06-10T02:00:00.006-05:00

It would make me so ecstatically happy to have wood floors so I could plop this rug into my office space (these tiles don't work so hot on carpeted surfaces).

Pink haters can kiss my grits.

Yet More Craiglist Finds

2009-06-06T13:21:00.008-05:00

Bear with me...two of the projects I'm currently working on are furnishing two whole houses with low budgets so I've been trolling Craigslist A LOT lately. Some stuff I wish I could put somewhere:

Ridiculously Excited About Green Sheets

2009-06-05T07:35:00.001-05:00

Ugh, I've been on the hunt for the right set of green sheets for so long it's ridiculous. No one should hold out as long as I have (9 months) out of sheer cheapness and persnickety color demands.

At long last, my wait is over. Crate & Barrel has Egyptian cotton sheets in the perfect shade of green on sale now for less than $55/king set. I'm in heaven...at this price (50% off), it's like a BOGO deal.

Today's Craigslist Finds

2009-06-04T10:04:00.008-05:00

Cute China Cabinets

2009-06-03T14:07:00.005-05:00

Evidently today's the day to buy a vintage china cabinet...spied these two fun ones available on Craigslist for $150-160.