Lori's List » Materials

Cherokee Studios Rock N Platinum Showcase

Lori — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 01:40:56 +0000

Alcie Cooper Lyrics

: Platinum records for the Platinum loft

Thursday night, across the street from Genghis Cohen and behind a secretive, black curtain Rethink Development unveiled the rock n’ roll lofts at the Cherokee Recording Studios LEED Platinum Lofts Showcase benefitting Habitat for Humanity. We (Lori Dennis and Brook Casey of the Dennis Design Group) were in charge of the Alice Cooper pad and took our assignment very seriously, literally dressing the part.

Dennis Design Group gettin' down in bed?

Our shock rock loft never could have been possible without the generous donations of our many vendors and time from our interns, Sara, Rob and Natasha. Plus it’s not really a party if Tony of Francois and Roy from the SoCal Contractor aren’t in tow. In the bedroom Heritage Draperies fabricated and installed our padded, chained window treatment and Mike Ragan of Rags put together this amazing patchwork, padded wall with fabric from Jason Asch of Diamond Foam. The stars were out in LA on Thursday night and two showed up at our event: Jodie Sweetin , who we all know and love as the old Stephanie Tanner from Full House and Calico Cooper, Alice’s daughter and former co-star of his stage show.

Calico Cooper representin' for Papa

Looking at these pictures you would never know that a mere 24 hours before the event we had no stairs and were finishing up our super style in a deadly, construction zone! Sparks from the welding were hitting us, the wall, the furniture and Sara even got smacked on the noggin’ pretty good by a wayward steel beam. It’s a good thing she has a better work ethic than that witch who hit her head on the Apprentice and wasted the team’s time going to a hospital. No, not Sara… she just kept on hot glueing those recycled, reclaimed water bottles that we used as wall art in the guest bath. Through it all Brook and I just kept hammering the boxes and boxes of nails into our wall eating snake. Jason Asch over at Diamond also donated this massive amount of rocker, (faux) snake skin fabric.

Lori and Brook Nailing

Still nailing...

and finally it was done.

I was afraid Brook was going to hang himself. But he stuck it out and we even finished the lyrics on the bathroom wall so Tony from Francois could learn them and sing along.

Don't do it Brook!!

When the doors opened at 7PM we all took a shot of Skull Vodka and welcomed our guests to Alice’s Lair. Francois provided the Gothic mantel in the living room, serving as the perfect backdrop to the snake skin bench from Bausman and Co. and upholstered chairs from Cisco Brothers. All the kitchy 60s, 70s and 80s accessories from Retropia and the original props from Alice Cooper’s show gave our loft an authenticity rarely seen in staged showcase homes. Big Red Sun even landscaped our balcony in a true, desert decor representative of the golf courses in Phoenix that Alice so dearly loves.

Alice's Lair

You'll never guess what these balls are for!

Cooper Gang in the Loft

The most shocking thing about our shock rock loft was the dirty, little secret in our turquoise blue, laundry room. Really, how could you not go there in this loft?! Pleasure Chest hooked us up for the event and I’m not going to reveal we did or didn’t use before hanging it on the walls.

Green bondage-stay in and save gas!

All in all the showcase was an event to help the developers sell property in a really tough market. Habitat got more than a few bucks, we had a blast and I heard someone is making an offer on our loft today!

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Fall Market at the Pacific Design Center

Lori — Sat, 26 Sep 2009 01:38:02 +0000

Badly needing a break from the book writing, I headed over to the festivities at the PDC for some inspiration. I’m currently on the “Living Rooms” Chapter which focuses on maximizing use of space, especially precious outdoor square footage. Luxe Magazine‘s gorgeous, garden party in the lower level lobby featuring stunning vignettes from all our favorite outdoor vendors couldn’t have come at a better time. The wine was delicious and the steel drum band was a breath of fresh air conditioned air from the 102 degree fall weather outside. Michael Wollaeger, the new Luxe Editor at Large, never disappoints.

Christian Liaigre at Holly Hunt

Richard Frinier at Century

Corbin Bronze at Sutherland

Janus Et Cie

Chinoserie at Robert Allen

Janus Et Cie

Richard Schultz at Summit

In a town where we are literally running out of water, it was great to see Synlawnand Astro Chic make a green statement. I’ve noticed about five of these synthetic lawns on my nightly strolls, along with a lot of gravel and succulents. I’d like to say it’s concern for the environment, but it looks like the water bills finally converted a few folks to the sustainable side.

Synlawn at Fall Market

Astro Chic Pillows, Ottoman and Lawn

The first floor gave us a sneak peak of what was to come on the second floor open house. I especially loved these three sculptures made of everything green including cleaners of the kitchen sink.

Cleaning Up at Fall Market

Worm Hole by Lynn Aldrich

A More Combustible Smoke by Greg MacLaughlin

Broken Sofa by Jeremy Everett

DJs were spinning and one piece was more interesting than the next throughout the second floor galleries.

Green Wall at Pucci

Love this Chandelier

How much is that Horsey in the window?-Twentieth

So sad……. mine is even better.

Art by a USC Graduate?

By this time the world’s most stylish builder, Mr. So Cal Contractor, and Junior Designer Elle started getting a little sleepy……

but woke up for a bit more fun in the best installation of the night. Little Miss Elle obviously shares her Designer Mommy’s love for graffiti art!

Bravo to the PDC for another Fall Market success. Take that recession!

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Feeling High on the Highline

Lori — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 05:15:17 +0000

Last week my husband, daughter and I returned from a trip around the world to show the 6 month old baby off to her relatives throughout the globe. One of our stops was New York City where we visited with my side of the family. I had been reading about the Highlinerenovation in New York for about a year and to my delight we hit the opening at the perfect time. It was a Monday afternoon on July 5th . I don’t know if I’ve ever seen a better summer day in the city, perfect temperature, clear skies with an occasional puffy white cloud floating by us. We started our journey on 12th Street between 10 and 11th Avenue in the meat packing district where the old railway, now converted into an elevated city park, begins. It’s the lower Manhattan’s answer to Central Park. But it has a few things Central Park is lacking: a clear view to the Hudson, no street traffic and a vantage point to city rooftops you would never imagine existed. On our walk there my husband commented, “Wow, they still sell meat here.” It is a perfect example of urban civility when you see a Hugo Boss Boutique, next to quaint outdoor patio dining of a tasty bistro, with the Quality Meat warehouse in full view complete with blue collar guys loading sides of beef into cold trucks. In the mix is a sky scraping, modern condo sitting atop the Highline Park. The scene is sublime and even these great pictures can’t tell the story… you have got to go to the city and check it out for yourself.

See what I mean.

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The Greening of Westweek

Lori — Thu, 02 Apr 2009 18:00:19 +0000

Every year the PDC opens their doors for a fabulous three day party called Westweek. Showrooms host glamourous parties with entertaining lectures and tasty treats. This year I was delighted to see so much attention being to sustainable products and practices. The libation station hosted by Liebherr served up a refreshing organic fruit drink. When they handed me the styrofoam cup and offered me a plastic cap and straw, I proudly declined and said, “caps and straws are not great for the environment”. I was so happy to hear the reply, “but these are 100% percent biodegradable and made of corn, even the cup breaks down”. I had just been rereading Cradle to Cradle the day before and this was one of the solutions they offered. Talk about syncronicity. The PDC was the last place I expected to practice cradle to cradle theory. Go Liebherr.

As I was sipping my delicious libation, I headed through the Green Building lobby and saw fashion and furniture collide in the Barbie/Student Designer exhibit. Cisco, one of my favorite sustainable vendors, provided this adorable campaign inspired seat. Barbie can fold it up into a suitcase and hit the road in her hybrid.

My daughter Elle and niece, now 2 1/2 and three months old, made their first appearances at Westweek this year. Elle was much more impressed by the bagpipes at Edelman Leather than the Barbie exhibit. I always imagined she’d be a singer, so this was encouraging. Her smoking hot daddy carried her around in the Baby Bjorn. You can imagine all the attention he got!

Stylemaker Thomas Lavin embraced green design with open arms. He’s included an entire line of sustainable fabrics, Creation Bauman and featured Chista’s gorgeous tables at Westweek this year.

And as always, Thomas had the hippest flowers arrangements. They reminded me of something I’d see in the Jetson’s living room. Brook Casey really loved them because they actually looked like his work.

The show stopper was at Moura Starr, a wholly sustainable showroom which just relocated to the PDC after 14 years on Melrose. I can only imagine how they got this table into the showroom, it’s enormous. The table is made from a fallen tree which was nearly impossible to win at auction and fabricate. You only have to look at it to know it was well worth the effort. I had admired Moura Starr’s furniture for years without knowing about their committment to sustainability. Westweek was a hit and I now have another green showroom in my arsenal!

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Ship it to Me Green

Lori — Tue, 27 Jan 2009 21:45:03 +0000

Most often when people think of eco-friendly products, they think about what a certain product is made of. This is one of the elements, but there are many more. A product that is manufactured locally, and contains 75% eco-friendly materials should be considered more “green” than an item of the same size containing 100% eco-friendly materials that is shipped from China fully assembled.

According to treehugger.com , a green product is one “that is both environmentally and socially responsible.” Here are some criteria they give to determine an items’ “green-ness”:

Demonstrate care for the people who make, supply and use the product
Demonstrate care for the ecological community in manufacturing
Use materials which are reused, recycled, renewable or organic
Products that address the use of energy in their production.Could the energy saved by their use be greater than the energy it took to create the item?
Serve a useful purpose
Use materials that can be recycled or are biodegradable.

I’m seeing more and more businesses implement or continue the green practices that make products more appealing to those that care about the environment.

Our firm loves Ikea. The fact that Ikea flat-packs their furniture means that costs are reduced because more of that item can be shipped to the store at one time. Also, consumers are able to order most items online. This means than rather than making a trip to the physical store, the items can be shipped directly to the home from the place of manufacture.If you do have to make a trip, the flat-pack concept allows a few rooms of furniture to fit inside your back seat! One trip!

In other news, Wal-Mart is attempting some of its own packaging improvements. They have reshaped their milk cartons to be taller and rectangular-shaped for greater efficiency in shipping, which keeps consumer costs down about 20 cents a gallon. The new shape allows cartons to be stacked on top of one another, rather than packaged with lots of material separating rows of cartons. While some consumers love the new body shape, some are not so amused. Jo from Ohio said, “It is an utterly stupid design. You can’t use a paper towel, water and wipe it up every time you pour milk. They would need to give away a mini roll of paper towels or wet wipes to wipe up the old stinking milk on counters, coffer cups, bowls…. How green is the new design if we are wasting paper towels and running water after every use?” Hmmm, something to think about. A nice attempt though, I think.

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Eco-Friendly Parking

Lori — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 23:52:32 +0000

I’ve driven by the Santa Monica Civic Center about a million times on the way to our design studio. This weekend, walking around while waiting for my car to be serviced, I got a closer look at what is arguably the hardest to miss piece of architecture this side of the 405. It will be the country’s first LEED-certified parking structure, a rating based on a green point system given by the US Green Building Council.

You’ve never parked so eco-friendly until now, even in a Prius. If you’re wondering what could make a parking structure “green”, read on. For one, the structure’s roof is clad with Photovoltaic (solar) panels to generate electricity. These panels, in turn, provide shade for the vehicles parked beneath, reducing the amount of air conditioning a driver might use when they leave for their next destination. The steel used to build the structure is made of 68% recycled material. Electrical charging outlets are provided in 14 of the spaces for electric vehicles. The list goes on….

The only thing that could make this structure greener is to require locals to ride their bikes rather than drive to the Civic Center! In fact, the facility actually provides “mini garages” for bicycles to encourage a fuel-free ride to the center.

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Windmills Gone Glamorous

Lori — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 20:41:17 +0000

Wind power just went glam, thanks to Starcks’ ingenuity and eye for design. These so called windmills are part of “Democratic Ecology”, a line that Starck is developing with the Italian Industrial group Pramac. It’s part of what we love so much about his designs – the marriage of beauty, function and responsibility. “Ecology is not just an urgency of the economy and protection of our world but also creativity and elegance” – Philippe Starck. Made from the same transparent material used in the very familiar Louis Ghost Chair, these clever contraptions are able to generate 20—60% of a home’s energy needs. In addition to looking like a piece of Gucci jewelry, they are relatively inexpensive (about $630 US dollars). With the cost of energy (and everything) on the rise and on the loose, people are more willing than ever to make “good investments” that cost a little bit now and save a lot later. They should be available for purchase in the US early next year. Something to think about then next time you get that letter on the pretty yellow stationary from Mr. Edison.

Keep an eye out for the solar panels and the Prefab Green House that are both under prototype now to be released after the Wind Turbines.

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Cleaning Green

Lori — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 19:03:57 +0000

Everyone seems to be catching on to the green trend in techniques and materials for buildings and homes. Something people rarely think about is the way they clean these spaces. It doesn’t matter how much effort goes into the design and execution of your project if you don’t maintain the property in a green way. Think about this the next time you clean your windows with a toxic product or wash your whites with bleach. The amount of toxins that go into your space is alarming. What we’ve been taught to think of as a ” fresh, clean” smell is actually pretty bad for our bodies and the environment. This hit home on my recent trip to a friend’s newly constructed condo. We walked in the door and the new paint fumes (off gassing) hit me like a truck. I told her she needed to open the windows for at least a week before bringing her 2 1/2 week old infant to live in the space. She looked at me like I was crazy and said, “but I love the smell”.

Mrs. Meyer’s Clean Day are my favorite cleaning products. With smells like lavender, basil and geranium, cleaning is as fragrant as cooking a meal. I scout Ross and Marshall’s for Mrs. Meyer’s on sale because it’s not cheap. I also came across greenhome.com for great deals on healthy, earth friendly cleaners. Just be careful, buying a bunch of stuff isn’t very green and this site is full of goodies!

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LED Bulbs

Lori — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 15:36:11 +0000

So now that you’ve changed out all your incandescent bulbs for flourescent, get ready for LED lightbulbs which have hit a home run in light quality and savings.

Flourescents seemed to be the answer to our energy and environmental concerns. The price is right, I’ve seen them on the shelf recently for 99 cents a piece, and they’re easy enough to screw into existing lamps. The big problem is the small amount of mercury, a neurotoxin which is especially dangerous for children and fetuses. We haven’t come up with an effective way to recycle them. “The problem with the bulbs is that they’ll before they get to the landfill. They’ll break in a home or containers, or they’ll break in a dumpster or they’ll break in the trucks. Workers may be exposed to very high levels of mercury when that happens,” says John Skinner, executive director of the Solid Waste Association of North America, the trade group for the people who handle trash and recycling. Skinner says when bulbs break near homes, they can contaminate soil.

Are LED bulbs the answer? The new solid state designs will be twice as efficient as the touted flourescent bulbs and ten times as efficient as incandescent bulbs. To put it in perspective, current models can deliver 12 hours of light per day over an entire year for only 80 cents. They last ten years and NO MERCURY problem. Over the bulb’s lifetime they should provide a consumer $370 savings (per bulb) in energy costs.

One additional benefit of LED lighting is color. Solid state lights can produce a richer more full color than incandescent or fluorescent bulbs. This can not only help with visibility, but has been shown to psychologically improve mood among many. I’m all for better moods!

This fall the Department of Energy (DOE) will begin certifying LED designs with its Energy Star certification.

Maybe the coolest thing (to me) about LEDs is that LED are my initials!!!

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Pretty Things At Dwell On Design 2008

Lori — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 16:20:33 +0000

Last week I spoke about green residential interiors at Dwell on Design 2008. Presenting after Mary Cordaro of H3 Environmental is always fun. Mary is a Bau Biologist who lectures on the health aspects of green design. She’s like reading the editorial section of the NY Times and I’m the funny pages. I showed pictures of pretty interiors and discussed the green elements. The audience seemed to like the combo of brains and beauty. After the morning speaker session, we headed over to the trade show and looked for new and interesting green products. Some of our favorites included the assortment of planters, trees, plants and the lecture provided by Monrovia Plants. Living, breathing plants are gorgeous in interiors and help to clean the air. We also enjoyed the reclaimed wood wall and dining table display. I just love adding reclaimed wood to a project. It gives a place a sense of provenance rarely acheived by new materials.

Next on the list was this cool puzzle cabana. I wasn’t sure how it would hold up outside, but it sure would impress the neighbors.

With gas prices crippling the nation, this gorgeous sports car powered by a solar car port may have been the star of the show.

But I have to be honest and report that the prettiest things I saw at the show were my husband Roi and my designer Galina.

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