Archive for June, 2013

Done! I am a little bit in love with this first shot. Always nice to see projects come to completion ….. then to get as far as actually getting them photographed for the web! More photos can be found on our web site or on our Houzz profile.

POST_Darling finished photos w watermarkPhotos by Jamie Salomon, General Contractor as well as the custom cabinetry by Premier Builders, Electrical by Manchester Electric, Plumbing by Mansfield Plumbing , Tile installation by  Mansfield Tile Design (508.889.8115), and Stone counters by Athena Marble and Granite.

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Yesterday we got to be the first in a guest blogger series Designer Bath is doing – how fun! Click HERE to check out the whole post!

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After trying out some different rug options we took a look at some of the art we liked and pulled together 2 styling directions. Amazing the difference! What’s your preference? Funnily enough one of the pieces of art we didn’t use ended up with another client. Nice to see good pieces work out regardless of the client!

POST_ Darling upper bath_styling options Photos by Jamie Salomon. Top photo art by Oana Lauric, bottom are from Eugene Quinn right in Rockport.

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I’ve gotten sidetracked with sharing other projects! Back to sharing the last couple pieces falling into place for George’s bath …..

As a renovation cranks along we always need to be forward thinking, if possible. As George’s bath was wrapping up we started pulling some rug ideas for the space, since this space was truly designed to be neutral so that a potential future owner could do whatever they wanted with it. I dragged a wide array of options from Landry & Arcari over to the site to sit back and think about. Of course this is always a fun part of the project where we also think about different ways we can dress it up to shoot it, as sometimes what the client ends up with as finishing touches doesn’t show well in photography. Any favorites??

Blog Post_Georges rug sélection

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We fit in a quick photo shoot recently of a Powder Room that came together quickly that I’ve always liked but forgot to shoot! Wish I could find before photos. It was your typical bath with a bad stock base cabinet (which I too have in my house, so I am not being snarky here!) We wanted to make it clean without going too cold modern. We actually had too much length when looking for sink bases. We ended up with this long 48″ wall hung vanity from Duravit through Designer Bath. The builder, Covenant  was able to match the stain and build the super large mirror for me so that it looked very intentional. We also added a deep cove moulding since we had such high ceilings. We showed on a blog post not that long ago the Niche Modern pendant lights which I love with our earthy orange wall! Photos just added to Houzz too. 
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 Photos except pendant light by Jamie Salomon, Plumbing is all by Designer Bath, lighting is Niche Modern, and the builder that brought it all together is Covenant.

Brass. Yes brass. I said it again!  We seem to be exploring such a range of finishes lately it’s exciting. We jumped recently into an ever growing project with a past client as they decide to relocate closer to the city. It’s an exciting transition to a new style (think 50′s modern) and a new design direction to work in. We’re updating most of the bathrooms and this Master Bath palette came together rather quickly. She gravitated towards the shimmery opaque flax glass tile at first and we worked on developing a rich, sophisticated, layered palette from there. We mixed a warm grey with it for contrast, even considering a textured wallpaper in those same rich warm grey tones. Materials palette images are below.

For the vanity I sent her on a shopping trip to Machine Age to look at some vintage pieces – thinking if we could source locally and reuse something rather than buying new that would be great. In a flurry of emailing and texting images so I could sketch different options in elevation we arrived at the piece below, a 1950′s John Stuart Dresser. From the Master Bedroom you look directly into the bath, seeing this vanity area. I am working at making it more ‘room’ feeling and less ‘bathroom’ feeling. To do that I was thinking of trying to camouflage the mirror area into the overall wall – great sconces of course for good illumination, and adding pictures and art all over the rest of the wall as I sketched out below. Working yet again with Mindy at Designer Bath, she helped us explore some neat sink options, settling on this great Wet Style vessel that is a long oval, which actually has subtle points at each end. We’re sitting it asymmetrically on the dresser and even setting the wall mounted faucet off to one end.

Lastly, thinking of the ‘jewelry’ of the room I pitched this super cool burnished brass lantern to hang over the tub area, more of a mood light for a twinkle of light that anything else. But it will anchor a corner of the bath, filling up some of the volume and layering over a very large wall of tile. We ordered that recently along with the mirror, which looks like it was made for the design of the space. I love when things come together! The sconces are already in as well as the mirror and lantern. Plumbing rough in starts next week. Keep an eye out for more updates!

Brookline master bath

Photo sourcing: top and bottom are our studio shots, dresser from Machine Age , scones are the Graceful Ribbon Sconce from Visual Comfort, Faucet and shower valves are from Newport Brass through Designer Bath.

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Its amazing how excited I can get about a little lighting installation. I met the client at the site to look at some exterior stone and got totally distracted by seeing some of the decorative lighting installed. I got literally giddy running around like a kid take snapshots. It was like Christmas!  Pics of some of the rooms with lighting installed – so many more. I’ll be back shortly to get some more pictures and better images of tile progress. The tile is close to being done and most of the vanities are set!

So far my favorite is the top photos showing the Master Bathroom with the West Elm Glass Orb Chandelier installed and lit with Edison bulbs inside – makes such a difference! (Thank you to our friends at the local Burlington store for turning theirs off and on so I could get all sorts of photos of it up front!)

Blog Post site lighting installed

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Last week, the team here at Kristina Crestin Design had the pleasure of seeing the great Charlotte Moss speak (fitting her in between meetings) at the Boston Design Center.  Her talk was centered on the idea of “Age Defying Decorating”, which basically means that if it’s good now, it will be good later.  She used some pretty amazing examples from throughout the 20th Century by design legends that included Billy Baldwin, Elsie de Wolfe, Albert Hadley, and Bill Blass, to name a few.  Some of the images she used were so amazing and inspiring; rooms that were created over 50 years ago could easily be used in a magazine today and no one would know the difference…truly!  I love to hear the wisdom time-tested designers have to impart to those of us that are working on making our mark.  It is inspiring and refreshing and re-invigorates me to want to ensure that every detail of what I create will stand the test of time.  Thanks Charlotte!!blog layout charlotte moss_stacey

Photo Credits: Charlotte Moss and Me by Me! / Chinoiserie Wallpaper Detail: Simon Watson for House & Garden / Elsie de Wolfe’s Room: Simon Watson for House & Garden / Billy Baldwin’s Room: Billy Cunningham / Pile of books, by Me!

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Amazing how one image torn from a magazine can inspire the color and vibe of a space. I love the idea of a softer Tiffany blue balanced with a richer mossy /pea soup green. (which we all clearly can tell with my Flamingo post that I have no fear of greens!) The Baker Furniture round table I am slightly obsessed with and  think the wishbone chairs look killer with it. Now to see if the blue in the image is the right blue in real life. So many details to check. Lets see where this develops!

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Photo souring: top right is a Diesel ad we pulled out a magazine. Beaded light is the Malibu chandelier from Serena & Lily. Great table is from Baker Furniture, final bottom right photo a quick studio shot whole we were working on ideas.

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Ok, now that we’ve committed to the flamingo’s going in the guest bath we obviously need to pick a color that works with them. Bold, daring, lush. That’s the goal. Check out the samples. Thoughts?

We’ll most likely make the walls shiplap boards so there is some detail and we’re honing in on a white lacquer modern 40″ wall hanging sink base. Sconces are a whole other issue, I can’t make up my mind for myself ever! Weigh in on your favorite!

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Top color: Sherwin Williams Luau Green and bottom color is Ben Moore (made my SW) Olive Tree.

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