• May 2012
• April 2012
• February 2012
• January 2012
• December 2011
• November 2011
• October 2011
• August 2011
• July 2011
• June 2011
• May 2011
• April 2011
• March 2011
• February 2011
• January 2011
• December 2010
• November 2010
• October 2010
• September 2010
• August 2010
• July 2010
• May 2010
• April 2010
• March 2010
• February 2010
• January 2010
• December 2009
• November 2009
• October 2009
• September 2009
• August 2009
• July 2009
• May 2009
• April 2009
• February 2009
• January 2009
• November 2008
• October 2008
• September 2008
• August 2008
• July 2008
• June 2008
• May 2008
• April 2008

• Accesories (5)
• Architecture and Design (35)
  • interior design education (1)
• Artists and Galleries (12)
• Baths (2)
• Before and After (1)
• Blogs (3)
• Books (10)
• Charities (9)
• Events (46)
• Free Interior Design Advice (8)
• Furniture (15)
• Green Building (13)
• Green Living (43)
• interior design education (1)
• Interior Designers (27)
• Kitchens (9)
• Lectures (17)
• Magazines (15)
• Materials (16)
• New Year (3)
• Outdoor Living (8)
• Outdoor Living Rooms (3)
• Parties (31)
• Press (14)
• Public Speaking (14)
• Retailers (10)
• Tag Technology (1)
• Uncategorized (18)
• Who's Who (4)

Archive for the ‘Outdoor Living Rooms’ Category

Interior Design Trends 2012-2013

Thursday, January 12th, 2012

 

 Last Week at the Metropolitan Builder’s Association Expo, I revealed the latest and greatest for 2012- 2103 interior design trends.

 

1.  Man Cave moves from the basement and dominates the entire home.We’re seeing a James Bond sophistication with plenty of menswear inspired fabrics and accessories. The spaces are filled with over-scaled, comfortable furniture upholstered in English styled, cigar leathers.

 

2. Personalization of a homeowner’s own style is seen in natural curiosities (found objects like bones, animal skins, drift woods), monograms and chalkboard paint.  These elements allow a space to reflect the personality, history and daily experiences of its homeowner.

 

 

3.

Indoor Outdoor continues to thrive.  Front yard,edible and roof top gardens are popping up all over urbanity.  The line between indoor and outdoor continues to blur with live wall planters and interior planters that occupy entire rooms.

 

 

4.  Nostalgia via old time transportation(railway, air and ocean liner) reigns supreme in today’s interior.   As times have been tough for the last few years, people recall “the good ole days”, when American industry was at it’s zenith. 

 

 

5.  Jewelry expressed in precious metals (gold, silver), gemstones and jewel tones are being used on every space imaginable from fabric to furniture to accessories to wall cover to murals.  This trend is the glamorous Yin to the Man Cave’s Yang.

 

 

 

Tags: Architecture, ASID, Award Winning, Bath, Celebrity Interior Designer, Commercial, Construction, Contractor, Custom Furniture, Decor, Decorating, Design, Expert, Furniture Rentals, green, HGTV, Home, home design, home remodeling, Host, indoor outdoor trend, Interior Decorator, interior design, Interior Designers, kitchen, LEED, los angeles interior designer, orange country inteior designer, precious metals, Remodel, Renovate, Residential, Space Planning, Spokesperson, Staging, sustainable, top interior design trends 2012, Top Interior Designer
Posted in Architecture and Design, Events, Free Interior Design Advice, Furniture, New Year, Outdoor Living, Outdoor Living Rooms, Public Speaking | No Comments »

Top Interior Designers Selected for Greystone Mansion Showcase

Saturday, July 2nd, 2011

Getting ready to settle into a relaxing Fourth of July weekend, I kicked back and opened the latest issue of LUXE.   Then I saw it, my name in the  first, official ad for the Greystone Mansion Showcase House.  What a way to start the holiday!

 

LUXE Maison de Luxe has chosen over 20 top leading designers from all over the world to participate in this fall’s show house for the historic Greystone Mansion in Beverly Hills.  You can imagine how excited I am to be included.  This event is one of the largest and most majestic show houses in the country and is sure to be awe-inspiring. 

 

Lori Dennis

HGTV and my show The Real Designing Women will be following the action, along with celebrity friends like Martyn Lawrence-Bullard, Nathan Turner and Mary McDonald from Bravo’s “Million Dollar Decorator.”

Any reputable showcase designer list would include the old gaurd and this one is no exception.  You’ll see legends like Hutton Wilkinson, Jamie Drake, Barry Dixon and Suzanne Rheinstein.

My Fabulous Friend Hutton Wilkinson

Colorful Jaime Drake

Lady Suzzane Rheinstein

Lord of the Manor Barry Dixon

 Built in 1928, this Baronial-style estate is over 46,000 square feet with 18.5 manicured acres of land.  It’s our city’s most famous palace and certainly rivals those of Rhode Island Coasts.

Show House Tour runs November 4-20, 2011 and Designer Lecture Series are November 4, 11 and 18.  For more information, Please visit www.beverlyhills.org/maisondeluxe.

Tags: architect, Architecture, ASID, austin, Award Winning, Bath, Bravo, Commercial, Construction, Contractor, Custom Furniture, dallas, Decor, Decorating, Design, Expert, famous interior designer, Furniture Rentals, green, HGTV, Home, home design, home remodeling, houston, Interior Decorator, interior design, Interior Designers, kitchen, LEED, los angeles interior designer, los angeles interior designers, Maison de Luxe, new york, Orange County Interior Designer, Remodel, Renovate, Residential, Space Planning, Spokesperson, Staging, sustainable, The Real Designing Women, Top Interior Designer
Posted in Baths, Charities, Events, Green Building, Green Living, Interior Designers, Kitchens, Lectures, Magazines, Outdoor Living, Outdoor Living Rooms, Parties, Press, Public Speaking, Uncategorized | 2 Comments »

Poisonous Preschool

Wednesday, May 4th, 2011

During spring break my daughter’s preschool refinished their wood floors.   As excited as she was to see her teachers and friends on Monday after the break, our visit resulted in a big fat round trip right back to my house.  In two decades of refinishing floors, I don’t believe I’ve ever smelled a more noxious interior.  There was no way I was leaving those tiny lungs to fend for themselves. 

 

I immediately turned to the smartest guru I know for healthy green interiors, Mary Cordaro.  In addition to being a certified Bau Biologist, she deeply cares about the effects of built environment toxins on infants and children. Mary, of course, had plenty of answers for me and generously shared her time and research.

Mary Cordaro

The brain of Larry Gust , another green building expert, was also picked.  Between Mary and Larry I had enough info to go back to the preschool and discuss options.  Unfortunately there weren’t many because the product used was within the legal limits (unbelievably) for VOC levels in a preschool.  The owners felt badly that they didn’t know more before they finished the floors and said they would research more for future renovations.

Moral of the story: GO OUTSIDE OFTEN and get fresh air for as much time as you can EVERYDAY.   The design and maintenance of places where we work, pray, shop and study are mostly out of our control and these interiors are loaded with carcinogens (cancer causing chemicals).  Most Americans are forced to work in very unhealthy environments for 40 plus hours each week, year in, year out.   And many live in homes that contain materials that are toxic.  It’s just not good for our bodies or souls.  Human beings are meant to be outdoors.

Christopher Kennedy

 

During the week of research it took to determine how long my daughter would need to stay away from school while the VOCs dissipated, I was invited to Niche’s party for Kettal thrown by LUXE Magazine.  Ironically Christopher Kennedy, the designer on LUXE’s current cover, was speaking about his concept of bringing the Inside …Outside due to the toxicity of most interiors.  Unlike architects like Phillip Johnson (Glass House) and Frank Lloyd Wright (Falling Water), who strived to bring nature into our interiors, brilliant designer Christopher Kennedy proposed we do the exact opposite and pay special attention to our exterior rooms.

    

Kettal’s chic outdoor furniture

 

He echoed my sentiments about human beings not really being meant to live in boxes with manufactured air and toxic paint.  He talked about the interior air being much worse than outside air and the positive effects that sunshine and fresh air has on us.  He even reminded the designers in the crowd to include outdoor spaces in their interior budgets so clients wouldn’t be tapped out at the end of their projects and miss designing quite possibly the most important spaces- the outdoor spaces.

 

(Falling Water and Phillip Johnson’s Glass House, beautiful, yes,  but not necessarily designed for outdoor living.)

Thankfully my daughter’s preschool has a great playground that the children use for many hours during each day.  And… those floors  have almost finished off-gassing.

Tags: Architecture, ASID, Aspen, austin, Award Winning, Bath, Bau Biologist, Boca Raton, Brand Ambassador, california interior designer, Celebrity Interior Designer, Christopher Kennedy, Commercial, Construction, Contractor, Custom Furniture, dallas, Decor, Decorating, Design, Expert, Expert Witness, famous interior designer, Frank Lloyd Wright, Furniture Rentals, green, HGTV, Home, home design, home remodeling, Host, houston, indoor air quality, Interior Decorator, interior design, interior design expert witness, Interior Designers, Kettal, kitchen, La Quinta, Larry Gust, LEED, los angeles interior designer, Luxe Magazine, Mary Cordaro, Miami, new york, Orange County Interior Designer, outdoor living, outdoor rooms, Palm Beach, Palm Desert, Palm Springs, PHillip Johnson, preschool, Rancho Santa Fe, Remodel, Renovate, Residential, Space Planning, Spokesperson, Staging, sustainable, Top Interior Designer
Posted in Green Building, Green Living, Outdoor Living, Outdoor Living Rooms | No Comments »

© 2011 Lori Dennis. All Rights Reserved.