Visual oh so stimulating!

My first intro to design was in a far away land walking by a far away place. It was the most expensive clothing store in the city. They were famous for their window displays. What i loved about it mostly is that i was far from being able to afford the clothes they were selling, but what i appreciated was that they appealed to everyone's senses no matter what amount of $ we had in our pocket. They were the only store in the land that welcomed poor students like myself at that time to waltz in there without feeling intimidation, stroll around, and gaze and tickle their merchandise and then turn on my heels and walk out without a bag of new digs in my hand. I admire stores who share their love of merchandise with those who can easily fall in love with them too. My next project will hopefully be a store front window and i hope to create that spark in a young persons' memory too.

Memory Lane

Shake looks back to this project that was wonderful to create. Très Mademoiselle.

Cozy fall day

Someone special made me the most delicious soup lunch. Tasty and pretty. Who needs gourmet when you can crack open a can of Campbell's creamy tomato soup spiced up with some hot sauce and filled with happy cheese gold fish crackers. Let's not leave out the cheesy toast on the side, patiently waiting to be bitten into. Mmmm

Thursdays lickidy-pink

Anyone who knows shake, knows that pink is our color. Here are a few of our favorite things. Today is rose gold all day, very ring around the rosy!
1. Rose gold with emerald cut pink opal by Irene Neuwirth, found on ylang23.com 2. Rose gold bead ring, by Jennifer Meyer, found also on ylang23.com 3. Solitaire rings from Blanca Monrós Gómez, found here on blancamonrosgomez.com

TORONTO INTERNATIONAL ART FAIR October 28 - November 1, 2010

I went onto the TORONTO INTERNATIONAL ART FAIR site today and spent hours and i still haven't gone through all the galleries. Here are some highlights of the works i love that I had to share. Oh what fun it would be to hang these pieces. Oh yes, Shakedesign specializes in hanging works of art as well. My background in Art History hasn't left me yet. What better way to stay close to art than to hang them for my clients and help them arrange it on their walls. I found the ones you see on their sites...
1. Adam Gallery
2. Art45
3. PM Gallery
4. Parts Gallery
5. Parts Gallery

Can't get green out of head...

This week we are still stuck on the forest green, can't seem to shake it loose. I found this perfect hue of wallpaper on a website called Second Hand Rose. In this gem situated in NYC, you can find fabulous vintage wallpaper for your home. Wallpaper could be just another form of art on your wall...cover one wall in a room and that will give the space nice depth, some splash of color and texture. The only part of the home I would cover all 4 walls in, is your bathroom. Especially small tight ones...the color and movement will distract you from the porcelain. You may want to make your bathroom your favorite part of your home.

Gap filled the Gap in communicating with the public

The Gap attempted to changed their logo last week and then quickly reversed their logo after a storm "blue" in with anger. No CEO would allow a company to commit branding suicide. My hunch is that this was an attention seeking stunt. The company has been MIA lately with minimal sign of Gap ads and no sign of TV commercials. Maybe they wanted to see if we were all still out here. They could have just asked the experts? But i doubt the experts buy their brands, and so they figured out a way to get our - the buyers - attention. No doubt they found the perfect solution. Thanks to Twitter and Facebook, we the people expressed ourselves and they answered to us immediately. What company has done that in 2000's. We cry, they answer. That was genius Gap! All of a sudden I want to buy a pair of Gap Khakis for my boyfriend to show my gratitude.
I do look forward to seeing what ads and commercials will be coming out this Christmas for another round of attention.
PS. Gap, if you would like to pull a stunt like that again, call Shake, we can do a better job on a more convincing fake logo. Gradient blue? Really?

Tweety-licious

This special post is for our forest friends (tweet! tweet!). These little colorful wonders are what I suggest that we can bring into our city slicker homes. I am diggin' the still birds resting in our dining rooms and living rooms. Here are delicate ideas to share with you from lighting designer Mathieu Challières and photographer Amanda McLauchlan still life portfolio.

Today is brought to you by...

It's Thursday color day! And today is the color green...deep, luscious, forest green. Found this bag on Kate Spade website. Perfect fall purse that will fit all your cover ups for these nippy days. A classic style that will accompany you throughout the next few seasons. You can't go wrong. They have the same bag in last weeks mustard yellow too. Your welcome Kate!

Out with the old in with the new

As promised, here is a new example of a Craigs List find. An old dresser that I shook up to look new again. New knobs and a paint touch up. The perfect hallway drawer piece to put away papers, keys, purses, and warm wear (gloves, scarves, hats) for the winter months ahead.
If you are looking for an inexpensive way for function and design in your home you can go on a hunt for used furniture or higher companies like Shakedesign to take on that task and revive your space.

Glass + Acrylic Knobs = chic

I like a good challenge when shopping for furniture. For myself and clients I am a strong believer in Craig's List. The key is to narrow down your search to cities and their neighborhoods that you know could have quality furniture. Small towns are most likely to have old and perhaps bad condition furniture however may have some good antiques. If Shabby Chic style is what you are looking for than, that's your best search bet. Find your piece and keep in mind you can paint it a solid color and change the pulls or knobs. What's fun is to find glass or acrylic knobs (these look the same but much less expensive) , best to find at this website I came across a few years back.
http://www.dlawlesshardware.com
This site has the best prices that you can find on reproduction period knobs, better than your local hardware store or even stores like Pottery Barn or Anthropolgie who have reproduction glass and acrylic knobs for sale at 3 times the price. The photo attached is only $1.47 from this site. And at my local hardware store they were selling them for $7.50. For a 6 drawer dresser, you need 12 of these, which adds up at a price difference of $17.64 vs. $90.00. For a personal project, I bought a Sears dresser and changed their wooden knobs to this acrylic one and created a new shabby chic look. The same can be done to your contemporary furniture finds.
shake tip: buying on line could be a great money saver even with the delivery charges. If you are not sure what style you would like to get, go visit your Restoration Hardware, Pottery Barns, and Anthropologie websites to get inspired for furniture, then go to Craigs List, to see how you can give new life to a used piece of furniture. You don't need to always match styles in your home, sometimes one different piece adds new life into a room which is a whole new shake tip in itself. More examples like this to come in the next week.