Painting? Clever Helpful Hints




Doorknob Protector in a Clever Way



Stop Wearing the Paint






Watching Paint Dry

 Clever Helpful Hints that can make my Painting go smoother, easier, faster and I don't have to wear the paint too.......I'm in!!

I just love helpful hints......and Real Simple Magazine always have the best ones.  These three just stay in the paint category, but I wanted to post a whole lot more......Click on the link below to see your favs!!
 
(And you might want to subscribe to their online magazine too, it's a great magazine!)

Real Simple Magazine

High Point Furniture Market - Is A Slow Market Good for Designers?

I attended the High Point Furniture Market in October and the impression I got and buzz that I heard
was that it was slow. That the economy was definitely effecting market.  Well I expected this, in fact, I purposely went because of all things, I was excited about this.

I am an experienced designer with a new location.  I have been in the design industry since the late 80's, working hard at it, taking time off for kids, working at it again, etc. etc.   

When my husband took a job in AZ I knew that I had to start again.  Build again.  Start with a library again, seeing as I no longer had large design centers at my fingertips.  Well visiting High Point in a slow market and eager showrooms and reps have certainly helped me.  I never understood why manufacturers shrugged their noses up at designers and only welcomed the furniture stores with the large orders. Can't there be both?Designers are the ones that are keeping the constant flow of revenue........
Upon my return, I have received numerous amounts of material to help me facilitate my business and I will make sure I return the favor.  Thank you.

Now about the exciting things I saw!!
Below are just a few of my favorite things.....To hard to show alot of pics on blogger so I have posted an album on my facebook page:
Facebook Page - Vicki Bergelt Interior Design

Lots of Drama in Accent Furniture

Beautiful Mirrored Bed w/Contemporary Flair

Winner for the Top Notch Upholstery

Great Unique Accessories

Crystal Chandeliers with Color

Not Your Everyday Pillow

High Point Furniture Market-2010, . . . Clever & Fun Entertainment

High Point Market thought outside of the box and suprised market go-er's!!  You never knew where they were coming from and if they were standing right next to you.......they definetely looked the part!!
 So much fun!!

Incredible Learning Experience on Top Appliances "Thermador, Bosch, Gaggenau"

Did you know Thermador was the first to:
1.  Invent and Introduce the first Built-In Wall Oven & Cooktop - 1947
2.  Brought the first warming drawer into the appliance world - 1952
3.  Developed the first Self-Cleaning Oven - 1963
4.  Brought  first Black and Black Glass Appliances into the market - 1965
5.  Introduced the  Downdraft Ventilation System for cooktops - 1978
6.  Brought the cook the first professional range for home use - 1990
7.  Introduced the first induction Cooktop with Sensor Dome - 2009

And that's just to name a few that stuck in my mind at the BSH Designer Luxury Summit.....

September 27-29, I, along with 25+ interior designers, architects & kitchen designers gathered together at the Hyatt Gainey Ranch here in Scottsdale, AZ to be guests of Thermador, Gaggenau & Bosch.

What an amazing learning experience to be brought in, pampered, wined & dined and whisked away to their 12,000 sq. ft. fully functioning showroom not only filled with their appliances but in actual kitchen settings also showing products like Woodmode, Poggenpohl, Caesarstone and Kohler, etc. etc.  This showroom is amazing!!

We started the morning with a presentation about Thermador and learning some of the history, I.E. the things I mentioned above. Then started our walk around the showroom seeing, feeling and touching the actual products.  At lunchtime we had the pleasure of being greeted by Chef Brad Peterson and his staff leading us in groups to our Thermador cooking stations and testing our culinary skills.  (Some better than others!) Lunch was delicious!!  I didn't even have to grocery shop or do the dishes!! 

In the afternoon we were lead into a test kitchen that had all the top competitors ranges and that's where the fun began.  We grilled, browned and boiled side by side.....and I must say, was extremely proud of the Thermador product!!  I was also happy to have the opportunity to do this......I have specified so many appliances in my day, but to actually compare in a working situation was a new experience and a light bulb moment!!  Why are we not doing this more often!!!  How can we choose appliances just by the looks and the salesman's advise!!

Gaggenau's showroom is a showpiece!!  So sleek and custom, you can't wait to be able to have a client that wants to "go all out"......And what details!  Everything is thought of and top of the line!!

At the end of the day we were back in the meeting room.  I expected a close with a bit more information, yet I was wrong.  I couldn't believe when Bob Eustice, National Sales Manager for Thermador, started asking us what Thermador needed to do to improve!!  How could Thermador add/change products to make them better....and he was writing things down!!  They actually cared!!  What an amazing two days!!

Thank you Thermador, Gaggenau and Bosch and all the staff for an unforgettable time!!

These are a few of the photo's I took, to see the entire album, click the link to visit my facebook page:

Vicki Bergelt Interior Design Facebook Page






BSH Thermador Showroom

  



Bob Eustice demo on induction heat





















Look at the difference!!















 



















Test Kitchen







 
















  

Designers Cooking w/Chefs



Thermador Kitchen



Appliance Demo for Thermador

Being Invited - Thermador / Bosch / Gaggenau / Kravet

Social Media has become a super highway between me, my vendors and my reps. This type of communication has brought me closer to my product than I ever felt possible.  In the past designers tried to build relationships or learn what manufacturers had to offer in a once a month visit to their showroom or my workplace. Now, with the internet, they are just a click away..........

Last week I was asked to speak about Social Media at the Kravet Showroom, Arizona Design Center with two of my fellow designers.  This was my first speaking engagement and became possible through my social media efforts.

This coming Monday I am honored yet again. I am invited to:

 "Thermador's Luxury Design & Build Summit"  at the state of the art "BSH Gallery & Training Center"    here in Scottsdale, AZ.  This showroom features Thermador, Bosch & Gaggenau Appliances in actual kitchen vignettes and I hear it's like no other showroom anywhere. 

 Myself and other designers from around the United States will be flown in (to bad I'm from Scottsdale)treated to massages (yeah!), golf, dinners, and a night on the town.  We will also be visiting their showroom, having a real life chef cook for us, and exposing us to what these companies have to offer.

This is "Part One" of my exciting experience w/Thermador!! Below is just a peak of the kitchen at the actual "BSH Gallery" showroom.

Thermador Kitchen at the BSH Gallery & Training Center in Scottsdale, AZ

Vicki Bergelt Interior Design & Arizona Luxury Real Estate - Branding!

Arizona Luxury Real Estate & Vicki Bergelt Interior Design have decided to put our heads together and "Brand" Two Great Businesses that have to do with what is very close to our hearts......Our Homes.

We are seperate, yet together!  I really loved the way this ad came out and wanted to share..........



Two Companies Thinking Like You!!



Recycle Everything Even Mens Belt & Ties!

Looped Pillows made out of Mens Ties

Mens Belt Floor Tiles

Seat Belt Colorful Hammocks

 Taking everyday things and reusing them to things you would never think of puts me in a good mood,   especially when those things have to do with using them in the home some way.  What a great way to save the earth!  The statement we hear so frequently now, "Sustainable Living".

The pictures above show a couple of my favorites:

* Mens belts recycled into Floor Tiles - What a great idea for a man's office, or even apply them to walls!

*Colorful Hammocks made from Seat Belts!!  Talk about durable and fun! 

  Both made by  Tings in London

*Throw Pillows made from Men's Ties. - You could have any colorway you needed, and in all different hues.  Made by  Dreamweavers

Chairs, Chairs, Feed on Chairs

I just absolutely love chairs!  I collect small chairs....they are everywhere in my house!  If you want to get me anything, get me a small "unique" chair!  I guess that makes sense being a designer!

When I find someone who takes a chair to a new level I want to shout it to the world...."Buy this chair!!  It's the greatest!!"  I know I don't have space in my house (or I would have everyone of them) yet I just want someone to have it....so I know someone I know is getting pleasure from this find!!

Well here are such finds:  (And if you like them......click on the link!!  I couldn't post all of them!)
Jimmie Martin Creative Chairs in the UK

Unique Creative Chairs

New Color of the Year Discussion

Pantone is a standardized color system. It allows all manufacturers to use the same color, yet in their own unique way.

I just discovered the IPhone4 "My Pantone" app....and what a great app it is. It's like a paint fandeck, with over 225 colors, on your phone and so much more. You can take a picture of something or use an existing photo, it scans the photo, picks out the colors that apply, then displays them. You can then select the colors that you want, drop them into a menu, save them, email them or both!

I can't wait to play with this app at a clients home. I just love new technology!

What is my niche?

I belong to a designer chat every Tuesday and the topic today is "What is my niche?"

Well...good question and takes a bit of thinking, can you smell smoke?

After contemplating this one for a bit, I don't feel like I can just describe just one niche....I think I have a few different niches, so I will list a few that I am more passionate about. (You can recognize these with all the "loves" in the sentence, couldn't think on another word!)

** I love to renovate. I love the history in older homes and buildings, I love to preserve or incorporate old and new. I love going into an old house and opening up walls to make it more open and into today's world. I love to wonder who lived here before and before them and what they did for the world.

 My niche: Combining old with new to give an updated look and feel

** I love to do framing walk-thrus on new construction. I always find hidden areas that can become storage. I find areas that reflect more or less light than I originally thought and use that to my advantage by using a mirror or a reflective accessory to bring more light into the room or a place for a halogen spot to light up a particular piece of artwork. Framing stage is also a phase to reassure any electrical questions you may of had.

 My niche: Seeing and Understanding All Aspects of the Job in the Construction Phase.


**I love color. I love when a client is not afraid of color. I love when a client gets excited with me when I suggest using something bold and something that makes a statement.

My Niche: Color is definitely my niche!

**I love installing jobs. I love opening up the boxes at the job site and putting the picture that is in my    head into reality. I love presenting the final project to client and they are as happy as I am.

 My Niche: Loving what I do and feeling the passion until the very end!!

Blogging by Phone - Dangerous??

While registering for my Wordpress blog (which is a good place to start to put your blog on wordpress....but as far as I got for now...) I came across this article!!  Cool??  Yes!!  But Drunk phone blogging....oh no!!

Phone Your Blog by Matt  http://en.blog.wordpress.com/2010/07/01/telephone/

It’s happened to all of us. The night starts off innocently enough with a little gin and tonic, maybe a mojito, then next thing you know you’re doing tequila shots with the bartender and the girl from Brazil and you find yourself thinking it would be a treMENdous idea to call up your ex and see how they’re doing and perhaps impress them with your newfound wit.

We’ve got the cure. Now, instead of drunk dialing random friends, lovers, and acquaintances one at a time, what if you could dial your blog and talk to the whole world at once? It’d be like something out of Star Trek.

The future is now, folks. You can now go to your My Blogs tab, enable Post by Voice, and get a special number and code to call your blog. After you’re done, the audio file from your phone call will be posted to your blog for all to listen to and enjoy. (And added to your RSS feed for podcast support.)

So now you can post to your WordPress via the web, email, iPhone, Android, Blackberry, desktop clients, and now any telephone in the world. Of course when you post it can be pushed to Facebook, Twitter, and more using the Publicize feature. What more could you want?

Right now this is completely free, but we’ll charge you money to take down posts. Just kidding! We’re making it free and allowing recording lengths up to sixty minutes, but that limit may go down without a paid upgrade in the future. Mostly we’re just curious to see how people use this.

ICarly Show - Great Girls Room Pieces

I have always loved Hollywoods set designs.  The best creative minds are hard at work making furnishings not only creative, but gimmicky enough that people talk about, mention to friends and best of all, tune in to help those ratings! Yahoo's homepage this morning displayed such that.

"ICarly" the show that my kids have grown up with has a new girls room set and some really cool pieces!  Where were these things when I was growing up?  I would have definately been the "hang out" room of the year!                                                                         

Ice Cream Sandwich Bench

Rotating Closet

Gummy Bear Ladened Chandelier

        

Fearless with Color

This caught my eye when I was in Florida and reading "Florida Design Magazine".  I titled my blog the same name because it's perfect!!  Fearless with color!!  That is so me! 

I love color.  Color can make such a statement.  Dictate a mood. Lift spirits or make things more serene. 

I have found some clients intimidated with color yet if done correctly can make a room ageless.  By putting color in the simple accents such as a coat of paint, throw pillows, drapery panels, ottoman/accent chair fabric will allow you to make easy changes to go with the times, go with your mood, go with whatever you want.

Interior Designer Jamie Drake did just that in his own New York apartment.  He used color that just bursted with energy in the main areas. In the Master Bedroom, even though color was used, it was done in a monochromatic way with a patterned accent that made the room pop and still allowed a serene flow.
A simple flash of color in the guest room made a statement of drama yet still had the feel of a perfect setting of sleep.

To see the entire magazine article click the link below or click on the title "Fearless with Color"
http://www.floridadesign.com/web/issues/18_4/fearless_color/p1.asp

Time to Post - Summer Vacation

Trying to spend a bit of family time and summer vacation leaves blogging a bit lapse.  You never know how much you miss internet until you go without.  Was going to put a little summertime photo with this blog, but downloads aren't possible.  Will post more as soon as possible!

Red chair

I love unique chairs especially red ones! A friend sent me this picture of a Mackenzie Childs chair taken at a local store.
Can't wait to see it in person!





- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Another Great Space Turned Into a Home. From a Barn!!

Barn Residence Exterior

I just can't help sharing things I find that are unique or just crazy creative!!

This is a barn turned into a house!!  A barn!!   It is located in the country of New York.
The couple found this Dutch influenced barn that dated back to the 1800's.  The high ceilings and great concept gave them inspiration to use it for their "country home".

They found a very creative architect, Preston Cohen, to help them put this idea into an actuality.  After purchasing the barn they had it disassembled and reconstructed on their lot, keeping it as authentic as possible.  They reinforced the barn's stability with a steel frame which allowed 48 windows to be strategically placed to not only enhancing the views but showing  the details of the interior.

I found this article on Dwell magazines online site, April 2008.  Follow this link if you want to know more:

http://www.dwell.com/articles/raising-the-barn.html

Barn Residence Interior

Barn Interior Bathroom

Blogging? What Platform? Wordpress help?

blogger vs. wordpress

Blogging?  What is blogging?  Well to me it's an online type of journal.  It's also a way to get your branding out there.  Show people what your thoughts, inspirations and anything else you want to show on your blog is.

How to get started?  Well, for me, alot of trial and errors, hours and hours of time, plenty of cursing and wrong key punching, and finally sighs of reliefs and aha moments.

My opinion "Blogger" is the easiest way to start.  It has lot's of starter templates, color choices and an advanced (which isn't to advanced) designer program that you just fill in the blanks.  Everyone should have a blog with this program.  My blog is with "Blogger". Which brings me to my next subject:

Wordpress - Wordpress is also a blogging program that alot of people are using now.  It's different from Blogger because Blogger uses one template file. Wordpress has smaller individual components on a "theme"  that will allow me more flexibility to do more with my blog.  (Whatever that is.)

Pretty soon, I'm going to try to get into the Wordpress world. (Of course, just when things are getting easy for me to understand, change it!)  I am going to try to change my blog over to Wordpress, I'm just trying to get up the nerve.  I have bought:  Wordpress for Dummies and have a webpage that I found that provides tutorials.  (If you want a link to this webpage, click on my title above.)  So if you are following my blog and you see me disappear, you'll know why.  

If anyone out there has any Wordpress wisdom for "Idiots", please forward!!

Summer Time at the Beach

Nothing says summer like the Beach.
Putting your feet in the sand. Reading a great book. Watching and listening to the waves. Hearing the thunderstorms. Ponytails. Sipping on a glass of wine at dusk and everything peaceful. I love the days of summer.  I took these pictures last year.  Will take and post more soon.



- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

A House with a Different Exposure Every Minute

My husband sent me this link.  This is a house that turns!!  How would you like to buy a lot that has so many views and you don't know how to position your house.....Well now you don't have to decide!  Just build this one!
Growing up In Fort Lauderdale, we have a hotel that has a restaurant on top that turns.  I remember that I put my purse down on the ledge and couldn't find it!!  It had traveled across the room by the time dinner was done......For this, make sure you don't put your kitchen housewares on any ledge...they may end up in the master bedroom the next day!!

before: Winery....after: Amazing House

I have always loved when people take out of the box things and turn them into something fabulous.

When I was younger (and without children) I always wanted to rent/buy a warehouse and turn it into a one room amazing apartment. Just open the garage type warehouse door and drive right into my living room!! Now my needs are slightly different, now I just want to design one!

Today I found pictures of a winery in Silicon Valley that was turned into a home and it truly is something fabulous!! Every room looks warm and inviting....... Click on the link below to see more pictures.

Want to go in and curl up with a glass of wine

Amazing Winery turned into a home

Second Look Homes: architecturaldigest.com

Designing with a Conscience

Sustainable Living is an extremely fast growning business in my industry now and rightly so.  For those that are interested "Going Green" holds the builders, architects and interior designers to a whole new level and makes us responsible for what we put in the clients homes and well as the atmosphere.

The BP oil spill that we see on the news everyday we will never recover from.  Being from Florida I hear the real stories, the real truth on what is coming up on our shores.  Everyone is devastated. 

There are alot of seminars locally on how to achieve more "green" and it is not a fad.  Designers need to keep educated and stay conscience so we can offer clients "better" options.

I am attaching a video that was on the ASID website that I found short and good.  It is not a lecture, it is a point of view in a more human way.  Enjoy.......hope it makes you think.

Tone on Tone Done Beautifully

Tone on Tone doesn't have to be boring.  Keeping things all one color or in the color range and making the textures and patterns different gives a very elegant feel and makes it easy to change at any time just by changing your theme color.

I am attaching four pictures that show examples of tone on tone in the darker neutral fields yet it can be in any color range.  Hope this gives you inspiration.

                   

Paint your Doors Dark? What do you do with the Baseboards?

We bought a house with white doors and baseboards and I have always wanted to do something with them.

Being an interior designer I have a thing for everything matching. If I was to paint the doors, I would have to paint the baseboards too. Then I looked around the house at how many baseboards there were and lost my motivation.

Last year when we were renovating I wanted to replace my interior white doors to stained louver doors to add a bit more pizazz to the house with the look of the door and warmth with the stain. The thought went by the wayside.

Tonight when I was reading designers blogs I came across some pictures of dark doors leaving everything else white. I really liked it. Even designers sometimes need to get out of their own way and find something to visualize. This is a way to add warmth and no, I don't have to paint the baseboards. (Now....what about the closet doors? Will have to ponder this!)

Custom Lighting Workroom Visit

I was invited to a gathering at a local well known lighting company called Hinkley's here in Scottsdale.  They set it up in the back where they actually made the custom fixtures.  I was really intrigued.  I love watching things being made. 

We were walked around by one of the designers who showed us some of her work. She is very talented and knowledgeable and you can see by the way she explains some of the fixures very passionate about what she does.

Also at the workroom there were guys actually melting steel, hammering it, twisting and turning it, and molding it to make parts of the fixtures.  I love lighting fixtures and why I had never seen this part of it I'll never know.  I guess I was to busy specifying them then to get into the science of how they were produced.  That was their job.  This I am understanding now, was my loss.

I have been getting pretty involved with going to my vendors events lately and I am happy I am doing this.  Vendors are also taking this time to inform designers on their products properly by putting on these events.
In the past month I have been to Kallista for a presentation on Custom Showers, Kravet Furniture where they uphostered a chair in front and displayed the types of frames/padding, fabrics, etc.  And as I mentioned above Hinkleys Lighting.

  Business being a bit slow is giving me a chance to relearn.  To put a face to a name rather than just talking to vendors on the phone.  Actually seeing what it is that they do on a day to day.  Realizing that always seeing them in my place of business could hamper me because seeing each little thing that goes into the job is just as important to the whole process of what they bring to the table.