Imagine being in a glorious garden. Dazzled, you are focusing on the landscaped grounds. The fascination and excitement you feel remind you of being a small child. You are not worried about the past or the future. Mindfully affecting the present, you are completely engaged and involved with life as it happens.
A Few Tips on Choosing Skylights
I’ve been working on an overhaul project in Jersey City and writing about its various aspects that fit within this blog’s categories. This week’s theme “passion for details” lends itself to a discussion on skylights. All along, they’ve been a “suggested” on the plans with a dotted line. Today, I want to concentrate on defining what they are and consider them in section.
Tips on Designing a Reach-in Closet
Today, still working on the project in Jersey City, I am focusing on a layout for a modular reach-in closet. At this point, all four of them are drawn diagrammatically, as identical blocks. So far, I’ve assumed that 5 linear feet is enough per bedroom. If that’s wrong, the entire floor plan will have to be reconsidered.
Last week, in this blog’s Design Ideas installment, I discussed one of my projects. It’s a two-story building renovation in Jersey City. I outlined my thought process while coming up with four versions for a loft kitchen plan. This week, let’s take it further and apply the concept of the kitchen work triangle to all of the alternative layouts.
A relative is a New York City developer. Last time I was visiting, he showed me a building he purchased and plans to retrofit. The project intrigued me. On the airplane back, I was working on the layout for the loft — sketching, brainstorming, and breathing life into the space in my mind’s eye.
If being a minimalist is knowing what’s important and treasuring it (instead of loosing sight and taking for granted), count me in! And if a minimalist way of thinking can improve the quality of life, I am willing to question all previous assumptions.
Sentimental Collectibles: Beach Pebbles
Sitting still at the beach is not an option. Instead, I walk along the water’s edge and gather pebbles. That’s my way of connecting to the energy of the ocean while enriching myself with sentimental collectibles.
How to Design a DYI Balcony Canopy
A friend emailed asking if I would design a DIY balcony canopy kit for a condo complex. Its function would be to provide sun protection and improve curb appeal. It would bring uniformity to the exterior façade, as all of the residents would be asked to adopt the system or use nothing at all.
Integration Is Vital in a Well-Designed Life
Integration is inclusion or unification of opposites. It lets you make room for the messiness of life by acknowledging both your fragility and strength. Integration is seeking creative control of an authentic, well-designed life through orchestration of thought.
When it comes to selecting bathroom fixtures, the toilet is one of the essential components. Frankly, its appearance has to be taken very seriously — it can ruin or enhance the over-all look as well as functionality of a bathroom. It’s critical to pick a model that is pleasing to the eye, easy to clean, and sustainable.
Alla DIY Ally Project: Space Planning
As Alla DIY Ally, an online architectural services provider, I am frequently asked to help with space planning. DIY home improvement enthusiasts can benefit a great deal by turning to an architect in the effort to make the most of the space available. In this post I’d like to discuss a couple of examples that demonstrate the aforementioned benefits.
I am perusing various booths exhibiting at the New York’s ICFF (International Contemporary Furniture Fair). Strikingly sculptural custom panels of a display catch my attention. Their abstract beauty stops me in my tracks. Design ideas and various possibilities come to mind right away.
Celebrating Beauty: at Home in Your Own Skin
This week I am going to be in NYC, my home away from home, for a memorial, dubbed as a “Celebration of Life.” If asked to speak, I will talk about celebrating beauty of life every day while we are alive, not just when a life is commemorated.
Garden Hardscape: Working With Color & Texture
I discussed ideas and plans to change the hardscape of a certain “secret” garden in the previous Passion for Details post. I wanted to simplify the color palette and eliminate an annoying texture, but was not sure what construction method would suit our needs best.
A Closet in a Bookcase
Our “Garden Room” has a built-in 11-inch-deep bookcase comprised of predominantly open shelves and some closed storage. Even though minimum reach-in closet depth is two feet, I planned to use a portion of the unit as a closet.