Thursday, May 27, 2010

My New Office

My New Office!

We've been moving in since the end of February and are really settled in now and feeling quite at home in our new office space. We're located at 26202 Oak Ridge Drive in The Woodlands, one block west of the southbound feeder of I-45N, south of Woodlands Parkway and north of Sawdust Drive. It is convenient to the freeway and for running down to Houston and still very accessible to The Woodlands.

The exterior of our building! It's brand new and there are businesses still moving in. It's a nice group of people and we all love it here. I'm down on the first floor with all those nice windows running down the length of my space. It's very accessible for us, being on the first floor. We have ample, close parking and can zip in and out easily with samples and shopping bags all day long.

Here is the view looking down to the back of my space. I wanted a loft type look, nice and open, with lots of lay out surface and open storage. I got to design my space and they built it to suit, so it's a designer's dream.

Here you are looking up to the front of the space with the conference table in the front room. I have no closed offices, which is a nice way to let all the light in through the whole space.


This is my front reception/conference area. I used all creamy white to have a nice light backdrop for all our work. I love my floors, a special concrete finish that lets me roll my desk chair around my work space and is easy to keep clean.



Here's my sample area and a coffee bar. We have all the major fabric lines and are well stocked with all kinds of products and catalogs. Our clients love visiting us here for meetings and to work with us on their projects.
We love it here and know this was a great move for us!
Call us to stop by and have a look! 281-364-6633





Thursday, May 20, 2010

Brennan's for Mother's Day

Brennan's is always a special treat, especially on Mother's Day! Here's my daughter about to enjoy one of their delicious desserts!

Brennan's opened back up recently after their remodel from the fire that happened during Hurricane Ike. I had been to Brennan's a few times before and thought it had delicious food, but frankly felt it needed a bit of sprucing up. What a wonderful remodel and refurbishment! It is such a nice blend of it's traditional New Orleans flair with some updated, modern touches. It felt very fresh and yet very true to it's reputation. I think it's just fabulous!

The upstairs dining room with Fine Art chandeliers. Those are handmade crystals and although I've seen their catalogs and samples in showrooms, I'd never seen these installed. Beautiful!

A close up of the Fine Art wall sconces in the same dining room. A modern twist for a traditional sconce.


We sat in the upstairs rooms that I called the garden room. Painted wood floors and a lovely green upholstery. Very fresh and crisp!
I love these open weave draperies, sheers behind. A modern look on the windows.
And right across from the window, the traditional staircase.

Dining room downstairs, excuse the blurry picture, but I love the fabric and the chairs! A very modern damask.

The main dining room, with those wonderful clubbish wing backs at the windows. Wouldn't you feel special seated there? I love the carpets used throughout also. Large, overscaled, traditional patterns with modern colors.
What a lovely day! I can't wait to go back. Next time, I'm hoping for the wing backs.

Monday, May 10, 2010

Barry Dixon in Houston



Barry Dixon in Houston

Spring Market at the Houston Decorative Center was interesting, particularly because one of my favorite designers spoke in one of the showrooms. His book is shown in the photo above. He was introducing his new fabric collection for Vervain...beautiful!

This is the second time I've heard one of his talks on design and the inspiration for his work. There wasn't even standing room left. I guess many of the designers there knew what I did, that Barry Dixon is a verbose, passionate, talent who can make even the most jaded designer love their work again and remember why they went into this field. By the end of the talk, we were all nodding our heads and felt encouraged and excited about design. Just hearing him speak about the thought process behind some of his work and the way he marries the client's personality and taste with a site location and a structure made all of us identify with our passion for this business and drool with the possibility of having a client trust us the way Barry's clients obviously trust him. We all left feeling hopeful and optimistic again that good design is important and somewhere out there are people who appreciate that.

Check out Barry Dixon's fabric line at http://www.vervain.com/