Archive for the ‘Project Process’ Category

Project Process: This Old House Living Room

August 30th, 2016

On our This Old House Northshore Farmhouse project the color palette was key. Immediately we had our blue and grey base palette down and picking our rug was the key next step to make sure we were heading on the right path. As we were thinking about of cool tones mixing in with our warm woods determining an accent color was our next step. Below is a process shot when I was thinking about green and what tone of green would add richness to the materials and color palette.

Kristina Crestin Design_This Old House_Living Room

Feeling good about the colors and rug allowed us to think about what we were layering on top if it all. Keeping the modern farmhouse concept in mind I was thinking the sectional, a dominant piece in the room would be a great way to bring in clean lines. Handily enough I had one in mind, that I happened to own! It made testing it out a breeze. Turns out once I sketched out the scale it was a perfect fit – done!

Kristina Crestin_TOH living room 3Like our Dining Room going for our balance of farmhouse, clean lines and a touch of industrial was a driving goal. In light of the cleaner lines on the upholstery we looked towards reclaimed materials and industrial touches in the coffee and side tables, looking at this great cart as a coffee table, a really nice balance with interest for the middle of the room.

Kristina Crestin Design_TOH Living Room post B

Kristina Crestin_TOH living room 2

Clearly I am loving the accent of this mossy green, it balances so well when we think about the whole palette pulled together like below.

Kristina Crestin_TOH living room 4

Sourcing: Rug, coffee table and sectional through Kristina Crestin Design, accordion wall sconce from West Elm, blue pillow from Pine Cone Hill and side table from CB2.

The house was designed and shop built by Connor Homes. This Old House and  Kaminski Construction Management made it all happen on site.

KC signature

No Comments

Project Process: This Old House – North Shore Farmhouse Dining Room, Part 2 of 2

July 13th, 2016

Now to share the site progress at the This Old House North Shore Farmhouse! As we made our color decisions and started ordering product the site was moving ahead at a super fast pace. Below is a visit where I was shocked, with the house being shop built the clip in which they worked was so speedy. Just the previous site visit only exterior walls were in!

Kristina Crestin Design This Old House - Northshore farmhouse_Dining Room A

In very short order blueboard was up and trim was in. Here we were just getting to the point of selecting final paint colors.

Kristina Crestin Design This Old House - Northshore farmhouse_Dining Room B

Erik got those paint swatches up on the wall so we could review them on site. Below we were filming one of the episodes about color selection.  Check out our episode 24 for more behind the scenes.

blog post _dining room progress photos *

blog post _dining room progress photos **

blog post _dining room progress photos ***

After talking about the Living Room and Dining Room colors we moved to the Foyer where I pitched a fun green that would pull that mossy color from the Living Room into the Foyer. I think I scared them a bit! (and by them I mean not only Bill and April but everyone!)

blog post _dining room progress photos ****

OK, paint colors selected. Check. Before I knew it trim was up and painted. Again, faster than I could imagine. I love this phase. You start to see the house coming together right before the mess and mayhem that is move in day. Kristina Crestin Design This Old House - Northshore farmhouse_Dining Room C

Speaking of the mayhem of move in day – stuff is everywhere! It certainly looks worse before it gets better ……Kristina Crestin Design This Old House - Northshore farmhouse_Dining Room D

We’re almost there – drapes are in and we’re gearing up for filming of the final reveal episode – so fun!

Kristina Crestin Design This Old House - Northshore farmhouse_Dining Room E

Lastly – ta-da! The final reveal! The room is together, our barn door is up and the home is finished. I love the barn door in the dining room, it adds some texture the room needs to warm it up and bring some more of the reclaimed feel into the space.

Kristina Crestin Design_TOH final dining room blog post images

Stay tuned for more behind the scenes on other rooms!

Sourcing: Custom Barn Door by Old House Parts, Dining Table Restoration Hardware, Chandelier, Rug and Dining Console is vintage through Kristina Crestin Design, Table lamp from Lekker Home, Painting from Jules Place – “Coastal Cove” from artists Craig Mooney, Marlow II Black Wood Dining Chair – Crate and Barrel, Paintings next to the barn door art Robert Hanlon from Powers Gallery. Drapery fabricated by Willow Design with Designer’s Guild Fabric through Kristen Crestin Design.

The house was designed and shop built by Connor Homes. Kaminski Construction Management made it all happen on site.

KC signature

No Comments

Project Process: This Old House Dining Room, Behind the Barn Door Process

July 5th, 2016

One of the things early on the clients expressed wanting was a barn door in the house. Which works perfectly as I’ve had a barn door ‘problem’ for years! We mentally worked our way through the house figuring out where we could have one and the Dining Room became an obvious place to put one. We had a larger opening to the front hall so in turn our barn door could be larger and really make an impact with texture.  Some of our inspiration images are below.

Kristina Crestin Design_TOH Barn Door A

Where to get a barn door this big? My friends at Old House Parts in Kennebunk of course. I’ve done lots of salvaged doors with Tom so I thought he could hook us up. We took a trip up to Kennebunk, which you can watch on episode 21 of This Old House.

Kristina Crestin Design_TOH Barn Door B

Of course nothing is every easy – they didn’t have anything that fit our size and especially our taller height. Tom suggested he could make one for us and that would even allow us to really hone in on what textured wood we wanted! Great!  We got to go through this process on camera, filming one of the episodes for the show. You can see me freezing below. What you don’t see is that between takes we had hand warmers to try and warm up our fingers. Oh the glamour of design and filming!

blog post _DR barn door 1

Tom delivered our door to the site and in short order it was being installed. We used the same flat black hardware we used for my office barn door from Specialty Doors. So happy!

Kristina Crestin Design_TOH Barn Door D

Lookout for some follow up blog posts showing the final reveal!

If your interested in a barn door reach out to Old House Parts. Barn door track hardware from Specialty Doors.

The house was designed and shop built by Connor Homes. Kaminski Construction Management made it all happen on site.

KC signature

No Comments

Project Process: This Old House Dining Room, Chair Thoughts

June 30th, 2016

I find dining chairs are always one of the hardest items to source and settle on. So many options, such a variation in comfort and and even bigger variation in price! On this This Old House North Shore Farmhouse project we talked early on about farmhouse or industrial, about which direction was right for the house. I love this inspiration image below of how graphic the backs of the black chairs are. We also were looking to see if we could find something that was vintage or antique, ideally sourcing locally.

Kristina Crestin Design_dining chairs Chairish A

Since finding something vintage that works and has the quantity locally can be so hard without endless hours of design time scouring I thought about mixing it up. I love these images below that shows mixing and matching of dining chairs can work really well.

Kristina Crestin Design_dining chairs Chairish B

Kristina Crestin Design_dining chairs Chairish C

Mixing is totally an option. The idea of the farmhouse chair started percolating as the right look for the space, really driving that farmhouse feel forward. I have an obsession with the ones below. I love the graphic visual of the traditional Windsor chair!

Kristina Crestin Design_dining chairs Chairish D

I found these guys on Chairish and they totally have that modern farmhouse look!

Kristina Crestin Design_dining chairs Chairish E

Follow along to see where we ended up with our chair selection!

Photo sources: Image 1 from O&G Studio, Image 2 from Style by Emily Henderson Blog, Image 3 from Elle Decoration. Chair sources: Colt Highback blue chair and black side chair from O&G Studio, 1950’2 Mid-Century Metal Dining Chairs – 6 from Chairish

KC signature

No Comments

Project Process: This Old House – North Shore Farmhouse Dining Room, Part 1 of 2

June 27th, 2016

Greetings all! If you follow us on social media you might have heard that we were working on This Old House’s newest project this winter – their North Shore Farmhouse project. It was a whirlwind of quick progress and fun. All 10 episodes have been on TV recently and now we’re sharing some behind the scenes of the interior design development! I’ll be sharing concept, ideas and progress photos over the next couple of weeks. I’m breaking it out by space so you can really see how the design and the project evolved on site – and lets be honest, if we hit the framing progress point and all the photos were of the framed house you all would be bored!

Kristina Crestin Design_this Old House_Dining Room

I got involved when the house’s deck was on and a few walls up. Definitely check out the first episode to get a total behind the scenes understanding of the house’s conception and backstory. Connor Homes basically custom builds the entire home in their shop and breaks it down sending components to the site. Seeing their process and how fast it makes the construction process is eye opening! Kaminski Construction Management had the task of making it all happen on site and they were already busy making it happen.

Kristina Crestin Design This Old House - Northshore farmhouse_Dining Room 2

The clients and I started off immediately talking about color palette and vibe – focusing on the main Living / Dining space as a place the rest of the decorating could take cues from. After working through the furniture plan and building a budget, I worked on some quick elevation studies of key areas. This helped us study scale and proportion and really get an idea of what size furnishings we wanted. This is especially useful to study items that would impact the electrical plan – like one fixture or two over the dining table!

Kristina Crestin Design This Old House - Northshore farmhouse_Dining Room 1

Though the exterior was classic, the clients were looking for a modern farmhouse feel inside with some industrial elements. So we were working on balancing how we pair that farmhouse feel with the industrial elements while trying to keep it fresh. Blues and grey’s were our baseline palette for the entire house and here in the dining room was the first space I had the idea of a pop of color being green to bring some of natures vibrancy inside.  Stay tuned for more progress and final photos to see where we ended up!

Kristina Crestin Design This Old House - Northshore farmhouse_Dining Room 3

Sources: Dining Room Lighting and Leather Arm Chair from Kristina Crestin Design, Painting from Jules Place ”Coastal Cove” – Craig Mooney, Dining chair options from Chairish “Herman Miller Eames DCM Mid Century Chairs – 7″ and Primitive Country Sheraton Windsor Chair

The house was designed and shop built by Connor Homes. Kaminski Construction Management made it all happen on site.

KC signature

 

No Comments

We’re Hiring again! Calling all potential summer and fall interns

April 27th, 2016

Kristina Crestin Design is looking for a Summer and Fall intern!

PDF image for blogging internjog

We’re starting the search for a summer intern and while at it interviewing for fall internships too.

They will assist in every step of a project, from sourcing products and materials,  project installations, keeping our library updated and full of good things, marketing and more.

The role of Intern would entail:

  • General office duties supporting the design staff;searching for things like lighting, furniture, fabrics and other items for projects; running errands & obtaining samples.
  • Preparing materials and presentations for meetings; meeting follow up with design team and executing action items.
  • Marketing; They would assist in updating our web site and Houzz as needed, assist in blog layout and uploading as well as provide some Instagram and Facebook support.
  • Support with special events and photo shoots.

What we like to see:

  • You should consider Apple’s Pages and Numbers like family, very close family!
  • Strong communication skills, accountability and self motivation.
  • The ability to work as a team.
  • Hand sketching skills

A must:

  • A reliable car.
  • A great attitude!

Time requirement: This position is Monday – Thursday 8 hours a day. This internship is unpaid with a stipend at the end of the internship.

Sound like a fit?  We’d love to hear from you. Apply by emailing deb@kristinacrestindesign.com with the subject “Design Assistant Position SUMMER/FALL” and your name in the subject. Please include your resume and samples of hand sketching, CAD work and rendering – we don’t require a full portfolio sent at this time.

We look forward to hearing from you!

KC signature

 

No Comments

On the Road: Barcelona in a Day

March 15th, 2016

A day to do Barcelona … 1,2,3 – go! We were lucky enough to head out on a trip with a vendor, Cosentino and they were generous in tacking on free days before and after visiting their facility. We all flew into Barcelona to meet up to make our journey from there. That also gave us a free day to tour the city. With limited time we decided on seeing some Gaudi masterpieces balanced with experiencing the culture (AKA sangria drinking in cafe’s)

Kristina Crestin Design_Barcelona_a

We experienced Casa Batllo, marveling at how something like that starts out on paper. That’s my Designer BFF Keith with me below.

Kristina Crestin Design_Barcelona_b

Another item we couldn’t help notice was all the beautiful pavers everywhere. Decorated, designed and thoughtful in the way the pattern repeats worked. Totally impressed.

Kristina Crestin Design_Barcelona_c pavers

Our other Gaudi experience, and one that took almost an entire afternoon was visiting La Sagrada Familia. Wow. I mean wow. Some of our new build projects take years, but it’s been under construction for over 100 years – and still going!  I don’t have nearly enough space to share everything but basically the church started out in the gothic style and then Gaudi got involved. When you get up close you can see how he cleverly designed around and over the gothic elements.  Almost a game of hide and seek for us designers to look it over trying to ferret out the gothic elements!

Kristina Crestin Design_Barcelona_d new

We were lucky enough to tour the space towards the end of the day when the light was low and shining; illuminating all the stained glass windows and coring the interior with a myriad of colors. It was definitely a special experience. You’ll notice below I even found ‘my’ area of the interior – covered floor to ceiling with various shades of blue and green stained glass!

Kristina Crestin Design_Barcelona_e

Lastly, and because I don’t want one experience to overtake the whole blog I’ll share one last element – the doors below. These are bronze but look like carved wood; the relief and the shadows and forms it created I thought was just beautiful. Imagine if I asked an artisan now to create something like this – I can’t even imagine how much money it would be!

Kristina Crestin Design_Barcelona_f door new

For more information on the La Sagrada Familia check out their web site.

KC signature

No Comments

This Old House: North Shore Farmhouse – Our Newest Collaboration!

March 11th, 2016

Finally! We can share this big announcement after keeping it under wraps since last summer! We have just completed the interiors for the Emmy award-winning PBS series This Old House.

For many months we have been working on a North Shore 18th century farmhouse that combines historic architecture with todays amenities. This is where we come in – helping the clients bring some modern farmhouse touches into the interior and make it a home.

We have been collaborating with Connor Homes out of Vermont and builder Kaminski Construction throughout this process. Check out the teaser video here. I can’t wait to show you more!  This North Shore Farmhouse premiers in Boston on Thursday, March 31st at 8pm on Channel 2, but check your local listings here.

Kristina Crestin Design_This Old House announcement

For more info follow along at the This Old House web site.

KC signature

2 Comments

On the Road: Heading to Spain with Cosentino !

March 5th, 2016

Hi all! Long time no see! Sorry we have been absent. We’ve had a special project that’s been keeping us busy that I’ll share more about next. In the meantime after a very busy fall and winter Deb (aka Mom) and I have the amazing opportunity of whisking off to Spain on a vendor trip with Cosentino! Yes you heard me right – they are bringing us all the way over to Spain to see their quarries and production facilities. A designers dream vacation! I’ll be sharing some of the highlights, so tag along with us to see the behind the scenes!

Kristina Crestin Design_Cosentino trip 1

KC signature

No Comments

Project Progress: Basement Snack Bar & Game Room

August 6th, 2015

Now to share some progress on this game room and snack bar area! We had an unfinished basement to work with. We developed a layout that would allow for a TV/video game zone and then a billiard zone with a snack bar area. Basically kid heaven. The walls are up and painting almost done …. then the custom cabinets came! Ya! In the top right photo below the TV is going to go on that end wall where we have a recess built for it; flanking that there are two openings that go to a mechanical space. Custom massive barn doors will be covering those. Really excited to see that come together. Even more exciting to know that the cabinetry will be in in short order and I can see my shiplap looking cabinet doors!

Kristina Crestin Design_Basement Snack Bar and Game Room 1

Barn doors in! We have a massive track so that the doors can move to cover the TV area for access to the space behind. On the left you can see that the cabinet is finally installed and the guys just got up the barn board backsplash. They’re working on the pipe brackets installation that will hold up the thick 2″ shelf.  This is the part of a project where it’s hard to be patient. I know I have black porcelain sockets sitting in a box that will go up over the barn board and I want to see them!  At least the other lighting is in, that makes me supper happy. We used mostly industrial lighting or outdoor lighting – keeping it really protected and functional for any assortment of balls or pucks that could be flying with a bunch of boys down here! I am particularly in love with the billiard lights, big warehouse sconces with a black hood and satin brass cage. LOVE!

Kristina Crestin Design_Basement Snack Bar and Game Room 2

Buildout and custom cabinetry by Premier Builders.

KC signature

No Comments

Back
Image 01 Image 02 Image 03 Image 04 Image 05 Image 06 Image 07 Image 08 Image 09