Tile Talk...... Your kitchen wants you to read this!

When you are ready to purchase a home (or build) where is the first place you go? Many years ago the answer would be an Architect. Today most of our generation runs out to the local Costco's of homes. You know the major national building companies building neighborhoods across the board. You will scorer the communities as you would the isles at the grocery store trying pick out the one exact thing with all the right ingredients.

I am here to tell you just like your food it will never be perfect unless you build it yourself. What do we do you ask? Find the one model that is almost everything you want and then you can spice it up. There are so many ways to do this but the first place I would start IF this was not done in the design process and you have a bare wall back splash is start there. Today our generation loves living in open space and entertaining. It is no longer the age of room division and our kitchens are not only about their functionality and equipment offered for your enjoyment and foods pleasure BUT these spaces now need to blend and be a living space! They need to be beautiful. They need to make a statement that represents you. 

Now before you unpack all your decor, start with your back-splash. You can take a basic kitchen and add a traditional, relaxed, modern or contemporary flare. For instance the images below came from a blog I follow and the person was asking what to do with their back-splash (images source: Remodelaholic). The follower stated, "I need ideas for backsplash, I'm not sure if to use glass tile or stone & also need advise for what color tone to go with. Cabinets are espresso. Any help is appreciated." 

My description of this space is basic. Its a good solid foundation for nearly any type of back-splash tile out there. The Cabinets are an espresso craftsman style cabinet front which is a very basic design and can be molded into many different design styles. The movement in the granite is a jack of all trades. Just a note, the hardware and appliances suggests that this particular blogger would like something a little more modern. 

There are many tile materials out there and walking into a showroom can sometimes be overwhelming. I'm going to give a brief description of the types of tile material out there to help you make sense of the way things are sorted inside a tile showroom. 

• Ceramic Tile- This tile is made of clay and hardened with hear. This tile is one of most affordable types of tile materials on the market. This is also the most delicate man made materials on the marker. It breaks easily when a heavy item is dropped on the floor or hit hard enough on the wall. Typically cannot be used within a commercial setting. 
• Porcelain Tile- This tile is also made of clay but fired at a a higher heat. The toughness, strength, and translucence of porcelain arises mainly from the formation of glass and the mineral mullite within the fired body at these high temperatures. Porcelain Tile can be used in residential and commercial applications. It is a tough product and can survive most household abuse. This tile can be rated for many different uses and weights. 
• Through Body Porcelain Tile- This material has all the same qualities of a basic Porcelain Tile however the color of the tile is dyed to be the same color has the base/foundation color all the way through the product. Because of this feature if the tiles was to chip or crack, that would be hard to do, it will be a similar color making the damage less noticeable.
• Glass Tile- This is pretty self explanatory. It can not be used on floors. 
• Metal Tile- This happens to be one of my personal favorites right now. You can achieve such elegance and interest with these tiles. 
• Beside the man made materials that are on the market there is a nearly limitless array of natural stone products out there to choose from.  The basics and most popular are travertine, marble, slate, river rock and granite. 

Now here in order to portray a style/design depends on material and pattern. For instance a travertine tile (in almost every pattern) gives you a casual rustic look same goes for slate. Depending on the types of marble Your come can move from a very traditional look to an ultra contemporary look. What helps determine what the marble will do inside you space is cut, color, and surface finish (i.e. a polished material vs. unpolished material). The river rock decorative tiles are a very relaxed and rustic look most of the time but again can be very contemporary. When you approach the glass category there is a polished or matte look. There are also large glass tile all the way through the mosaic tiles. There are also the mixed mosaic with glass and other materials, typically stone. It is my opinion that one should use glass mosaics carefully and cautiously as they can look very busy and not allow your eye to focus on the room as a whole but instead stand out and force your eye to that space covered in the tile only.

Here is the link to a board on my Pinterest account to show you some ideas and what the materials look like in different settings as well as cabinet colors and countertop materials.

My Simple Beauty: Tile Idea Board

Advertisement Note: I sell tile and happen to be an Interior Designer. If you are interested in either of these services I would be honored to help!!!! 

Love -N

We have got the blues...

Ladies and Gents the the news is out. It is official the color trends for 2015 are here (okay they have been for a while, I needed to form an opinion first) The upcoming color of the season is blue. Yup, blue! Now I am actually a huge fan of blue. Tommy Hilfiger did a living room in blue years ago and I still have that magazine cut out filed away in my favorite things. Blue can be a very graceful and relaxing color. Blue can also be elegant and timeless if used properly. Now if your watching the run ways or picked up a recent decor magazine or PB catalog you are aware this is the color of the season.

I tend to be a colorless designer! I rarely use color in my own personal designs. However, I do use blue. We currently have a blue/grey tuffed sofa in our great-room. In this picture looks grey but it does have a very dark blue undertone to it. We also have a cream and blue wool rug that accents the space perfectly. Using a color such a blue is a great way to define a space or ground your large open space in a very light room with the same color pallet throughout.

I consider blue one of the classics. In the early 2000's brown was the thing. Everything was painted some form of brown/beige. We have since moved into the grey movement. Blue happens to work well with these colors. In room set with the foundation of browns and beige is puts some richness into the room. It takes the room from the possibility of being bland into a room with some character. Blue adds a great amount of depth to brown. In my opinion in adds a great deal of depth in the medium tone woods like oaks. It works really well with woods that have gold and red undertones. Adding some blue to a beige room can add some pops of life and places to rest your eyes on something nice and pleasing to the eye.

When looking at the room to the left it could be very bland and monotone without places to rest your eyes. The depth of the wood in the center of the space grounds the space. The linen like fabric of the curtains that are similar to the wall color make the space feel open and airy. The colors work well with all the light in the room. Its not to bright or to dark. If you look closer the sofa is also the same color as the walls often times as a designer I will do this to make the space look visually empty and open. It is an optical illusion to enlarge the space. the accents in the space such as the wood furniture helps add the foundation to the space as well as definition. What was also done well is the pop of light color in the throws. Notice three were used in the trow. The deeper brown ties into the wood furnishings. The white in the pillows helps reflect and add the light to the space. Both the brown and the white add much needed dimension to the sofa. Then there is the muted blue pillows. They add a little bit of life into the space. Just enough interest that they blend and pop all at the same time. The add life in what would otherwise be a colorless and boring space. With out this new color being introduced into the room the room would fail and lack any kind of dimension whatsoever.

One of my favorite ways to use a nice muted, rich and grey blue is on a wall. I have done this personally in one of my own homes. I did so to define a large open space that had tons of light. We used the space to watch tv and lounge around and the deepness of the color worked well in muting the light, defining the space and adding character. It was a major conversation starter. The color helps almost anything on the wall pop. using the blacks, rich dark browns and the medium tones all work well together. The white really makes a statement on the wall and it will lend itself well to gold or silver accents within the home.

I tend to always lean toward the grey tones in the blues. I love blues that are rich and creamy. They will do well in just about any space and I happily have been and will continue to use blue as one of my signature colors.

Click here to view the Benjamin Moore Color Trends 2015 color palate. You will notice that this deep blue is in there along with others.

Happy decorating.

Love -N

Super Hero Laundry Recipe! Say goodbye to dull clothes.

Have you ever cried Noooooo? 

If you have children of course you have. 

This type of NO would be when you see your children's clothes or in my dear friends case her Pottery Barn Pillow Case with a red lipstick art project! 

Madalyn, Julia and Olivia have left me pondering at their laundry offten saying how did that get there? Julia in particular loves her dinosaur stamps. She ecspecially loves stamping herself and her clothing. 

When they were babies I loved looking at them in their Baby Gap and Ralph Lauren Clothes, they were so cute. Well what I didn't realize is that would be short lived the as soon as they they could move and have anything but milk! We quickly moved onto Target! Their clothes are constantly dingey and stained with in days of purchasing them! 

Well a mircle has been found for the laundry and anything else that can fit in your washer. While scrolling through Pinterest as I often do I saw an article about dish soap and all it's uses. I clicked the link out of curiosity. The most amazing article had a list of things Dawn liquid dish soap could be used for (Dawn is acutually one if the only non-natural cleaners we use). There it was a seed of an idea, Dawn in your laundry! The instructions said a squirt in your laundry can breath life back into your clothes! 

As many of you know laundry is my worst enemy. This article however peeked my curiosity enough to do some laundry. I started with my whites as I typically wear white every day and it gets so dingy so fast... I kicked it up a notch and added a scoop of Oxyclean and white vinegar to my new laundry "recipe." I set the washer to whitest whites and waited. Once complete I tossed them in the dyer with much doubt (I was washing them in Rio Rancho and it has the worst hard water). 

As usual, typical me I avoided the beep because that means I have to fold them and put them away.... I procrastinated until the morning when I needed one of my shirts as I was living out of  a suit case between CO and NM since September. 

All I have to say when opening the dyer and pulling out my laundry was OMG! They looked brand new! They were sparkling bright white! 

I tried the "recipe" yesterday as I sorted through all three girls laundry and organizing their closets. I closely examined each piece of laundry for stains, lack of vibrancy and of course holes in the knees (that is a common problem in this house)! This time I did a load of colors and BOOM the clothes looked nice and fresh. Out of all that laundry in the first two categories I only tossed one shirt..... I typically would have tossed it all. I saved an entire load of laundry. I still have to purchase several pair if leggings and pants due to holes on the knees! But I just saved myself hundreds as we are entering the phase of "I want designer clothes."

As for my dear friend and the red lipstick white pillow incident; the throw pillow was also saved! 

-NBS

Living Area KID APPROVED!!!

This room was intended to entertain three children. That's right, no need to re-read that, three kids. The number one priority for this space was TV and relaxation away from the main living area of the home. 

Second most important thing (to me número uno) was the look of the room. My goal is to look like we are living in a magazine at all times. This room is the first room you see when walking up to our third level where all our bedrooms and my small office space is..... I can't work in kid city. 

The best way to achieve a room that works for the family yet is still ascetically pleasing is start with a solid base, no baby stuff! What does that mean exactly? No kiddie furniture. All the furniture in this room is what I would consider casual adult furniture. The large dark sectional sofa not only defines the space but can fit a slew of kids or in my case our whole family! The color and fabric is kid friendly and the down filling is great for mom and dad. Let's face it though, it is a huge brown sofa! In comes my all time favorite thing, throw pillows..... Select stuffyou wouldn't   mind being torn to pieces or having anything a child could dream of adding too, for instance a lipstick piece of art on your cream colored pillow. 

I'll let you in on my secret when it comes to throw pillows and spaces with children as they can be rather costly for the good stuff. The pillow must be under $20. Best places to find those are Ikea (big cream pillows and down inserts). Local indoor markets (shabby chic burlap pillows purchased at The Barn) and HomeGoods. 

If your seating is dark lighten it up with pillows and throws. For this particular area I went with creams and burlap. Walls are painted Grey and the curtains are stark white (cotton).  All very washable I might add! 

For the remainder of the furniture everything in here is repurposed and Rustico Antique. All with closed storage for things like toys. I added baskets all tall and in burlap and wire or a similar color tone to hide away toys from the onlookers. There is also additional baskets with pillows to throw on the floor and kids blankets. All in the same color. Many were hand made by family members. 

Sophisticated wall hangings they can't reach really add the perfect touch. For instance in this room we have an antique Italian mirror that has monetary value hanging on the wall and the kiddos are none the weary.  

And last but not least a durable rug to protect the carpet. I chose a Sisal to go with the whole burlap and natural textures theme of the room. 

Can you see toys?!