You can make the lighting in your bedroom be your alarm to wake more naturally with the lights slowly getting brighter.

You can set mood lighting for a romantic night with your significant other.

You can set dance lighting for a house party.

Turning on your lights when you are hundreds of miles away.

You can set it to the light tone that is proven to help you work or relax with ease.  You can have up to 50 bulbs controlled individually with one app!

There are so many different settings and ideas to try.

You can start by purchasing one bulb or you can by the starter pack at apple.com

You will need the hue wireless bridge to start controlling you lights wirelessly which is included in the starter pack for $200, and comes with three bulbs.  You can keep adding single bulbs.

It’s called Nest and it is a thermostat that learns all about how you like your home temperature.  It is even able to be controlled from your smartphone, tablet or computer!

The Nest is connected to WiFi and will update itself for the best performance.

-It has activity sensors to track when someone is home and if no one is detected it is able to go into ‘away’ mode and not turn on.

-It will track your local weather via WiFi to best understand how you prefer your temperature.

-The leaf lets you know when you are being energy efficient.

You can install nest with ease.  They provide easy to follow instructions on their website.  It can replace any thermostat you have, unless it is considered a high-voltage thermostat currently.

It is controlled with the stainless steel outer ring turning to the left or right and the touch screen for ease.  The stainless steel ring will go with most home decor since it will reflect the wall color it is on.

Currently the Nest is selling for $249.00 per unit and if you need help installing the system it will be $119.99 for the first one and $25.00 for any additional units.  The nest can be bought on their website here.

All images provided from Nest.com

Ritsue Mishima

Mishima lives in Venice now, but moved from Tokyo in 1989.  She illustrates her ideas with the master blower and their assistants and allow them to finalize the pieces.  Mishima chooses to work opposite the typical Murano glass blowing known for their many colors.  She likes to work with clear crystal and explains that “Transparency contains all colors”

Spin Cloud, 2011

Fiore Di Mare, 2011

Nucleo, 2011

Personally, I love the work I am seeing from Mishima so far.  The fluidity of the glass and the movement of the shapes.  The eye can really move around the different compositions of glass and almost get stuck staring.  I am excited to see what Mishima creates for the future.

The bath fittings are to feel less feminine and more universal (something not found so easily).  The tile, District Tile collection was created to compliment the new bath fittings made in upstate New York.  A classic and timeless ceramic with the modern glazes.

Would you use this new line for your next design project?

This home was done by Koko Architecture + Design. You can tell just by looking at the exterior that they took inspiration from the Farsworth House by Mies van der Rohe completed 60 years prior.  The architects took the time to bring the natural elements inside the home.  They used wood to add a softness and slate flooring throughout the main public spaces of the home.  This home is a private residence on 5 acres of land, unlike the Farnsworth home which is open for tours.image sources

Designed by Mies van der Rohe for Dr. Edith Farnsworth.  Mies wanted to have the home immersed in nature.  From that the home did not have many opaque walls.  The home is hidden from the road and just steps from the Fox River.  The Farnsworth house was completed in 1951.  Dr. Edith Farnsworth did not own the home for long.  It was restored by Peter Palumbo, who hire Mies van der Rohe’s grandson to restore the home to it’s look in 1951.

Today the home is open for tours almost daily.  It is a great stop if you are in Chicago.  This is a home you have never seen, though some are trying to replicate.  More tomorrow on Mies and the Farnsworth house.

Have you been to visit?  Tell me about your trip.

Adler’s colors are always bold and saturated (my favorite!) and the American bathroom company of Kohler has done it!  The sinks retail from $295 – $1795 for Adler’s colors.

Colors (L to R) Piccadilly Yellow, Palmero Blue, Annapolis Navy, & Greenwich Green

Bathroom Sinks:(L to R) DemiLav, Tides, & Canvas

Kitchen Sinks: (L to R) Iron Tones, Whitehaven, & Riverby

Staging a home with furniture lets the potential buyers see how a room can be space planned and the room itself!  I have seen many situations where potential buyers will walk into a space and not know what the room is being sold as.  A bedroom should be a bedroom, a living room a living room, etc.

A simple thing you can do to make a home feel lived in when it is not is to accessorize!

Head Control can be found at 18155 Roy St. in Lansing, IL and can be reach for appointments at 708-418-5257.  They offer a ranges of hair services, massages, and coming soon are no-chip manicures and much more!

Before Pictures:

After Pictures:

We took up all the existing flooring materials to expose the concrete below and had it tinted and polished.  Took out a few walls to really open up the space.  Added fresh paint.  Custom shelving units to display all the product Head Control offers.  A art gallery wall(to be filled) for local artists.  Custom work stations for the stylists.  A massage room.  A new shampoo room that used to be a bank vault!

Again, Head Control can be found at 18155 Roy St. in Lansing, IL and can be reach for appointments at 708-418-5257.  They offer a ranges of hair services, massages, and coming soon are no-chip manicures and much more!

Cayce is a native Midwesterner, even though she was partially raised in Australia until she was in her early teens.  She studied art at Wheaton College in Illinois and Washington University in St. Louis.  She mentions in the Elle Decor article that she first tried needlepoint as an alternate medium while she was pregnant.  The photo realism that she capturing using needle and thread is amazing and very inspiring.

Like Chuck Close who is a photo realism painter.  When you look into the artwork, something makes you stop and stare.  I tend to think it is the way the eyes are interpreted and the realism to the work.  It is hard to get this type of realism with a photograph and both Cayce and Chuck achieve it in painting and needlepoint.

Below are some pieces done by Cayce and by Chuck.  I wish Cayce the best of luck in career and to keep up the amazing work.

You can find more work and information on Cayce on her website. http://www.caycezavaglia.com/

Cayce’s Work

Abbi

Elly

Carol

Dad

Chuck Close’s Work

Self Portait, 1988

Phil/Fingerprint

Self Portrait, 2007