Archive for July, 2015

One of my favorite projects right now is a basement built out for a kids play zone. We’re getting to be creative and a little bit playful, which is making our team pretty happy. We’re creating a bathroom space, a TV zone (with barn doors and a recess for the TV), a billiard/games zone and a snack bar adjacent to it all.

Designing a space for a pack of boys is certainly fun! We started with bare concrete floors which are being painted and adding a few areas of barn board accents for texture and liberal use of industrial and outdoor lighting to give the space character. All while trying to be reasonable with the budget. (don’t roll your eyes here, we didn’t say cheap, we said reasonable!)

Kristina Crestin Design_Basement Bar_Materials Palette

I’d like to bring in some pipe fittings to add to the industrial accent concept. We’re thinking perhaps the barn door pulls and shelf brackets could be made of pipe fittings. We found a vendor on etsy that makes them cheaper than us buying the parts and having the contractor tinker with them. LOVE etsy!

Kristina Crestin Design_Basement Bar_Paint Color Selection

Below is my concept sketch showing cabinetry with a custom shiplap door that runs horizontally. The builder/cabinet maker Premier Builders also made a thick 2″ shelf for me that spanned the space as we were avoiding too much cabinetry. This is the area that we decided to go with some barn board, using it judiciously as to not eat up the budget.

Kristina Crestin Design_Basement Bar_Materials_Selection

More progress pics to come!

Sourcing: Porcelain light socket from Commune. Vintage Kitchen Pendant in black from Potterybarn, Solna single handle faucet from Brizo,  Avalon Indoor/Outdoor Sconce from Potterybarn, Streamline Hook from Anthropologie.

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One last bit to share from Palm Springs ….. the Parker Hotel. SO cool. We saw little bits of it one evening when we hit Mister Parkers for dinner (by the way – a must see – dark, moody and delicious food – feels more like a private club than a restaurant!). We didn’t have time to wander the grounds and check the place out, so a car rental later on our last day before traveling home we set the GPS for the Parker and explored!

If I get back to Palm Springs some day I think this is where I would like to stay. The grounds were sprawling and I thought cleverly designed. You never knew what you were going to stumble upon. The hedges are labyrinth like with epansive vanishing points and long corridors that almost make you wonder what your going to find around the next corner. What did we find? A lemonade bar in the middle of the property. Yup. Who would have thought? Another couple turns we found some bocce courts tucked behind another hedge. A couple swimming pools?  Yup – they have that too. We came to poke around because we heard Jonathan Adler did the redesign – reason enough to come see the unexpected – but the whole experience is what put this on the top of my list for coming back!

Kristina Crestin Design_Parker Hotel Palm Springs

Photos taken at the Parker Hotel in Palm Springs, 4200 E Palm Canyon Dr, Palm Springs, CA 92264

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After the lush beauty of the Ace Hotel we did a quick stop at the Moorten Botanical Garden. I am a sucker for succulents, ha-ha. The place was a little jewel. It made me so jealous we are in the wrong climate to have some plant varieties like this (well, maybe not the caucus …). This summer I’ve mixed in different succulents into my pots on the patio and they look so much more interesting than past years. Seeing as I don’t have a greenhouse they will most likely get tossed at the end of the season. So sad!  Anyhow, if you are visiting Palm Springs I think it’s definitely worth a quick stop to tour this place, quick if it’s 110 degrees out like when I went!

Kristina Crestin Design_Moorten Botanical Garden Palm Springs

Photos taken at Moorten Botanical Garden in Palm Springs, 1701 S Palm Canyon Dr, Palm Springs, CA 92264

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Palm Springs: Ace Hotel

July 5th, 2015

Back to sharing a few highlights of my recent Palm Springs trip….. with After a yummy breakfast at Kings Highway we wandered the grounds at the Ace Hotel. Anyone that can take a neglected hotel and a Denny’s and do something creative with it is worth a trip in my book! I was not disappointed. I almost wish I stayed here on the trip (though I think the Parker would win out …I’ll share thoughts on that next!).  There was something nice about the way the layout sprawled out and at each turn you had a long corridor like view, capped with the mountains in the background. It really was stunning. Not to mention these people know how to work a color palette – The neutral buildings with warm, rich accents of the wood carvings balanced with all the vegetation adding bursts of colors. I could build a room based on the vibe here!

Now I can’t say much about the experience as a guest, but if we went on vibe and pretty factor (and don’t we all?) I’d give this place a shot!

Kristina Crestin Design_Ace Hotel Palm Springs

Photos taken at the Ace Hotel in Palm Springs, 701 E. Palm Canyon Dr / Palm Springs, CA 92264

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After finishing a couple intense days at the BOLD Conference our brains needed a timeout, not to mention sunlight. Seeing as I was flying so far I booked an extra day  in Palm Springs to see the sights with some new friends.  Me being me I did a little research and looked up some ideas before car rental time. Who would want to miss seeing a cool hotel or beautiful space!

Stop one, after coffee and picking up the car of course was Kings Highway at the Ace Hotel. Both of which I wanted to see in my one night in Palm Springs last year but never got to. I love a good diner and diner food. Even better I clearly love animal heads – check out the massive elephant made of rope! I am not sure who gets the design credit for that one! I do know that Commune and Ace’s own design team Atelier Ace collaborated on the hotel and I assume the diner.
Kristina Crestin Design_Kings Highway Palm Springs

The photo above is actually the lobby of the Ace Hotel, right outside the diner and I was in LOVE with the cool rope design in the windows. How clever. Some people are just so imaginative. Now I wouldn’t want to be the one to dust the display …..

Next up – exploring the Ace Hotel … stay tuned.

Photos taken at the Kings Highway in Palm Springs, Ace Hotel, 701 E Palm Canyon Dr, Palm Springs, CA 92264

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