photo from Inspired Design

Sometimes you start down a path not knowing exactly where it will lead

tumbler

But if you just keep taking one step at a time the destination will eventually reveal itself;

such is the case with this blog.

I started it because so many people told me that I should, but I had no idea what I would write about or if I even had anything to say that you would find interesting.

I realized this morning that I have reached a milestone-

POST 100!

So in celebration of that we are going to have another give away.

 WOO HOO.

I wish I could add some flashing lights, bells and whistles

or confetti.

But this is even better!

My sweet friend, Sherry DeBray, from

 Itz A Gift

is donating this

 An original Donny Sasser available ONLY at Itz A Gift in Montgomery, Alabama.

Thank you SO much Sherry. I wish I could win. I love “Donnys”.

The drawing will be held on the 29th.

That only gives you one week to register.

This is how it works.

Scroll down to the very bottom of this page and hit the “like” button… your name goes in the hat 1 time.

Hit the “share” button and your name is entered 2 times.

Leave us a comment telling us why you like the blog  or what you would like to read about and you get 3 chances to win!!

It’s that simple… now get clickin’.

Then start down your path and before you know it

photo by Suzanne Israel

you’ll be soaring like the…. egrets. LOL

Have a happy, happy day!

And if you would like to say, “That was fun!” at the end of your project contact me at

www.cindybarganier.com.

A sweet friend’s daughter got married this weekend and I got to help stage the reception.

There’s nothing better than being surrounded by piles and piles of fresh flowers, fresh fruit

and amazingly creative people.

Decorator extraordinaire Janna Lubert

and caterer extraordinaire Beth Bridges brought me in.

 Those two are so amazing they didn’t need me but I’m glad I got to hang out and help.

Unfortunatley, the crowds descended on us before we had time to get the cameras out so I had to shoot through people and in some cases the yummy food was already disappearing but you will get the general idea.

coffee station

 Individual Krispy Kreme Donut holes in each cup on their own cute little personalized pick.

They were fighting to get to the cake. You would have been, too.

Bottom layer was strawberry.

Middle layer was red velvet.

Top layer was buttercream.

Yum. Yum.

And then there was the Groom’s table.

This is where The Writer hung out.

Individual homemade banana pudding.

At this point things got too busy for picture taking.

I am so sorry you can’t see all of the gorgeous giant lanterns,

and the enormous basket filled with tiny burlap bags filled with heart-shaped bird feeders,

or the “happily ever after” sign  hanging on the basket by the adoreable chalkboard message from the couple,

or the……..

It was fun.

If you would like to be able to say, “That was fun!” at the end of your project contact me at

www.cindybarganier.com.

pinterest

This is how I would like to give!

How much of it do you think is chocolate???

So what do you have planned for your Valentine?

I don’t think it was a Valentine’s party but it could have been. Friend Bob Vardaman,  Montgomery’s favorite event planner, dressed my favorite building in town – The Blount Conservatory- for a party last year.

I wish I had been there!

photo courtesy of McAlpine, Tanksersley

My little ballerina ( who wears her pink tutu to bed) would love this as much as her Gigi does.

You can’t believe what a great dancer I am in my head!

I’m not a fan of red roses but these are a great option!

or these

Happy Valentine’s Day to all of my precious friends, fans and followers!

You have made my year so special.

And to The Writer,  my awesome children, MC and IV

If you would like to say, “That was fun!” at the end of your project contact me at

www.cindybarganier.com.

Below is the upstairs master bath.

This is the hall bath but the floor is not orange something went goofey with the lighting.

And this is the front upstairs bath. I can’t wait for you to see how if turns out.

That’s a wrap for tile and grout.

Next week we move on to paints and trim.

If you would like to say, “That was fun!” at the end of your project contact me at

www.cindybarganier.com.

It took five years to renovate but it is now open to the public as a luxury hotel in Southern Italy.

I introduce to you

Palazzo Margherita by Francis Ford Coppola.

Just give me the entryway. Have you ever seen a more beautiful doorway?

This is one of the common morning rooms.  Bella.

All of the walls are hand painted and look at that fabulous floor!

I’m glad I didn’t have to measure off each of those stripes but whoever did it did a beautiful job.

May I extend my stay, please? And, yes, that “marble” is faux.

The Murano chandelier however is the real deal.

 The Sophia room named after Coppola’s daughter.

Be still my heart I want those floors. The Francis Ford Coppola room that welcomes the breeze as it ushers you

out to

the terrace. Coffee?

Where are you dreaming of going on this good Friday?

I am off to stage a wedding for sweet friends. Have a fabulous weekend!

And if you would like to say, “That was fun!” at the end of your project contact me at

www.cindybarganier.com.

Well I am going to put this in fast forward to catch you up on what’s been going on in Florida.

Framing

framing still

It was tile selection day for the beach project.

Here I am working with Billie from Destin Tile and Stone making the tile selections for the baths and kitchen.

I love this grey strie that we found for the downstairs master. The glass tiles are used as an accent band on the walls.

Here is a close-up of the glass tile.

It is actually a combination of tile slivers and smoky glass and it is beautiful but I have to tell you that I am being very careful how I use all of these specialty tiles.

I know the tile reps would hate it if they could hear me but I am afraid that they (the glass tiles) are going to scream

2010 like big hair screams 1980.

Just don’t date yourself too much.

We did a little special touch in each room and one of my favs is the river rock on the floor of one of the upstairs showers.

Now, here’s where the glamour part ends.

There is no such thing as a decorator who doesn’t work out.

Everything that we deal with is heavy. HEAVY I’m telling you, tile, granite, wallpaper books, fabric books, paint cans.

And step aerobics? Are you kidding me? We INVENTED that. We are up and down ladders all day.

So here we go in our cute little clothes (sometimes) to the granite yard… in 120 degree weather.

You know I’m just kidding you.

I actually find the granite yard quite exciting.

 It is hard to believe that all of those different colors and patterns were just buried on the side of some mountain until someone figured out a way to excavate them.

God is so creative. That’ s why I love to hang with Him.

We found this beautiful black to go with the grey strie’.

 Don’t you think that’s great looking?

We were trying to find remnants to use in the upstairs baths. That’s a trick I use that allows me to use a more expensive product. You don’t need the whole slab…. IF you can find a piece big enough for your needs left over from a job that someone else with very good taste used.

For this phase we went into the marble warehouse.

 These are the giant machines used to wet cut the slabs.

This slab is being readied for its cut.

I am determining what size I have to have for each vanity.

Then we narrow down by size and try to find one that will match the tile.

Three hours later we shake the marble dust from our clothes and after determining that we have

 the right colors

in the appropriate sizes,

 available at the required moment,

for a price that is almost within budget

 we pack up another 50 lbs of samples and call it a day.

Hopefully when we present it to the clients we won’t have to start all over. LOL

Thankfully, that rarely happens but there are those days….

So there ya have it. A day in the life of.

If you would like to say,”That was fun!” at the end of your project contact me at

www.cindybarganier.com.

This house is located just down the street from the last one but the builder for this project is

Boyd Martin of Martin Properties.

We have met some of the nicest people and thoroughly enjoy being down there.

Our first site visit was for the framing portion of the job. This is one of the most important visits because it is here that all of the important decisions have to be made concerning proportions that need to be tweaked, wiring, cabinet layout changes and a long list of  ”is this in the appropriate spot” and “does that meet code” type of questions.

Here, Boyd and I had just begun our initial walk-through and were concentrating on lighting and electrical outlets.

There were several areas that I knew  would need art work so now is the time to decide if you need junction boxes in the wall for special lighting or if a plug needs to move 3″ to the left  to keep a cord from stretching across a wall when it could be behind a chest. 

But it we move it will it still be within code?

 In each city and within each type of development, whether residential, commercial or mixed-use, a designer has codes that must be adhered to. One of those codes stipulates how far apart electrical outlets can be from one another. So if I moved one it could throw an entire room off unless I knew I had some “wiggle room.”

Below is a view from the kitchen showing the front wall of the house. There are three sets of French doors opening onto the front porch.

Directly opposite the first set of doors is the stairway to the second floor.

Below is a view of the dining room which is on your right as you enter the house.

I hope to use two large paintings flanking the triple window so it is here that I was concerned about the placement of junction boxes and/or wall outlets should I decide to use portrait lights or  possibly lighted cabinets in lieu of art.

Also, think about things like electric ice cream freezers. Are the exterior outlets appropriately placed for when you are ready to try that new recipe of peppermint swiss almond?

I once visited a VERY expensive house,mn  that a friend of mine was building in a very exclusive part of the city and as we walked around the outside I commented, “Are you aware of the fact that you have no electrical outlets at all on the outside of your home?”

Needless to say it was not a happy revelation. The house was already bricked and close to being finished.

It was an expensive problem to fix and could/should have been caught so much earlier.

This house has so many wonderful porches and this is my favorite. It is upstairs off one of the guest rooms and it is here that I would live with a massive stack of magazines and a pitcher of iced tea with lime. ( I know, I’m a real partier.)

I asked Boyd if he would please add some extra blocking here… and there…  in the ceiling because…

if it were MY house it would most definitely have a bed swing- maybe two.

Don’t you want to come visit?

This room will be the greatest challenge of the house. It is a bunkroom but it is very long and skinny.

It is perfect for built-ins but the owners are concerned about the difficulty of making the beds so I’m not sure what the final plan will look like for this room. Got any ideas?

When we went back downstairs Scott, the cabinet man, was waiting for his walk through.

Scott and I worked together on the last project so we were happy to get to collaborate on another one.

The biggest issues we were facing were the re-working of an upstairs bath and one wall of the kitchen.

The kitchen is basically an L shape with a huge center island.

On a previous visit Scott and the owners had made some changes to the short L that looked good on paper (except for the fact that the base cabinets were not centered on the window which was making me crazy) but standing in the space I realized that we had a problem.

There is a short wall that divides the dining room from the kitchen.

A pantry had been added on the kitchen side of that short wall adjacent to the refrigerator.

However, standing at the front door I was afraid that the pantry was going to stick out so far that you wouldn’t even see the window.

In order to find out, we staged it by moving a large beam into place to represent the pantry face. Sure enough, it was way too big and completely concealed the view of the window thus making the room feel small and closed in.

It sure is nice to have four heads working on a problem like this. ( Hubby, the writer aka camera man, was throwing out suggestions also.)

In the end we shifted everything to the right, centering the cabinetry on the window which made me very happy. We removed a small base cabinet, and due to the shift, we made more room between the fridge and the island AND erased the problem of the blocked window while retaining the pantry.

I love it when a plan comes together.

Next up…. tile selections.

If you would like to say, “That was fun!” at the end of your project contact me at

www.cindybarganier.com.

Interior Design students and Auburn’s Interior Design Program Named Best in Nation by DesignIntelligence

Pictured above is Will Parker one of our recent graduates and one of  the best architectural renderers around.

 The undergraduate interior design program in the College of Human Sciences at Auburn University is the best in the U.S., according to DesignIntelligence magazine.

For its annual survey, “America’s Best Architecture & Design Schools,” the publication asked 277 leading architecture and design firms which schools best prepare students for success in theprofession. Based on interior design programs accredited by the Council for Interior Design Accreditation (CIDA),

Auburn was ranked No. 1 in the nation, along with Savannah College of Art and Design.”Being ranked #1 is a testament tothe efforts that both faculty and students have made to ensure that our graduates are indeed prepared for theprofessional world,” says Consumer Affairs department chair Carol Warfield. According to CIDA, accreditation requiresstudents to apply knowledge of human behavior, history, space and form, materials, environmental systems andconstruction, among others, to the design of residential and commercial spaces.

With a CIDA-accredited interior design degree, Auburn graduates are eligible to sit for the NCIDQ licensing exam within two years of full-time professional practice. Auburn graduates consistently earn placement with top 100 architecture and design firms each year.

“We are pleased to be recognized as one of many excellent design programs offered here at Auburn,” says June Henton, dean of the College of Human Sciences.

 The interior design program also placed third nationally for cross-disciplinary teamwork. “Our students work very hard to meet the challenges of an ever-evolving and increasingly interdisciplinary field,” says Paula Peek, Interior Design program coordinator and W. Allen & Martha Reimer Reed Professor of Interior Design.

Additionally, DesignIntelligence cited the growing importance of collaboration and communication in design education. “The interior designer doesn’t just hand down a set of drawings and walk away,” says assistant professor Shari Park-Gates. “Good communication with clients and other building professionals is essential in every step of the design process.” “America’s Best Architecture & Design Schools” ranks undergraduate and graduate programs from the perspective of leading architecture and design firms.

For more information on Auburn’s CIDA-accredited interior design program in the College of Human Sciences, visit

www.humsci.auburn.edu/cahs/bs-inds.

They have worked so hard and so deserving of this. Having served the school as Vice President and President  during my undergrad years and now as an advisory board member, this program and these students are my babies.

If you are looking for a great place to begin a fabulous career check us out!

Oh, and War Eagle!

If you would like to say, “That was fun!” at the end of your project contact me at

www.cindybarganier.com.

Well it was ALL OVER market.

Orange, purple, turquoise, gray… wait I’ll show you.

So that’s a snippet of the color story.

Here are some of the trends that are continuing or just hitting their prime:

Bleached woods

Architectural Salvage

driftwood everything

wood,wood,wood I loved these.

shells

maps and architectural prints

natural elements mixed with teal, turquoise

really beautiful sisals

 You get the idea.

Sorry that the pictures aren’t top quality but after thirty years of this I have learned to leave every

ounce of unnecessary weight at HOME when it’s market time. The phone has to suffice as a camera.

I hope you enjoyed your little tour and

if you would like to say,”That was fun!” at the end of your project contact me at

www.cindybarganier.com.

You can purchase many of the items you see on Foreverdesign simply by contacting the above address.