Ava Living | Anthem Residence by Barb Solem

Ava Living | Anthem Residence by Barb Solem

Turkey dinner in the oven....football on the TV....my family all together in Payson for the weekend....for all these gifts I am thankful! Hope your Thanksgiving holiday is filled with family and friends and ever-lasting memories!

Barb Solem, Designer Finalist for Ava Living's First Annual Wine Week!

I'm so excited! I was chosen as one of the ten designer finalists for Ava Living's First Annual Wine Week! Read all about it below....

Ava Living Announces First Annual Wine Week

Thu Nov 19, 11:00 am ET

Wine-themed Projects by Interior Designers Shine for Consumers

Long Beach, CA (PRWEB) November 19, 2009 -- Interior design social network pioneer, Ava Living, Inc., has announced the top 10 interior designer finalists for their first annual Wine Week on www.avaliving.com. Anyone considering design of a wine cellar, bar, or even a tasting area should not miss Wine Week and all of the design resources available to them.

AvaLiving.com is the first vertical social network site to serve the home improvement market with professional interior designers from around the world. The 10 interior designer projects finalists are featured this week in the Ava’s Choice homepage slideshow at www.avaliving.com. The finalists who were chosen from among the thousands of interior designers on Ava Living are:
Kathryn Waltzer of Pacific Palisades, CA; Vicki Posey of Atlanta, GA; Olga Adler of Ridgefield, CT; Jennifer Jelinek, from Colorado; Cheryl Smith of Hendersonville, NC; Linda Jenkins of Napa, CA; Valentina Cirasola of Sunnyvale, CA; Barb Solem of Scottsdale, AZ; Gillian Drummond of Georgetown, CT; and Donna Saadey of Canfield, OH

Ava Living features the best in interior design and designers for the consumers who are enthusiastic about working on their own homes. According to David Bassett-Parkins, Ava Living Founder and CEO, “Ava Living is a thriving social network bringing to consumers the designer resources to provide professional help, support and advice for everything you need to help create your perfect room. Ava is all about the new participatory method of home design where consumers and designers work together from anywhere on the globe to bring the best room design resources to consumers who are engaged in refreshing, redecorating, or redesigning their rooms. ”

About Wine Week: The first edition of this annual event on www.avaliving.com, Wine Week is a celebration of the design of wine-themed spaces for both commercial and residential clients. Chosen from among the thousands of Designers on Ava Living, the selection team chooses the top 10 most interesting wine related projects for the featured home page slideshow. In addition to project photos, there are articles about wine design written by professionals, travel articles featuring wineries, and design blogs with tips and tricks by the pros. “It’s like having a professional interior designer online to make sure your room makeover is a success”, states Bassett-Parkins. He adds, “Our online community is one where interior designers finally have a gallery to display their ‘works of art’ and consumers get to search and shop designs online that fit their homes and budgets – no matter what the size.”

ABOUT AVA LIVING Ava Living (www.avaliving.com) is an international vertical social network combining interior designers, consumers, suppliers and advertisers from around the world. Ava Living inspires and informs consumers while providing access to simple, professional-grade design tools to execute their a la carte design projects from inception through execution. The mission is to serve as a showcase, marketplace, and ecommerce meeting spot to create more design consumers, increase the velocity of consumer spending in the design industry, and transform the international design paradigm. Ava Living is founded by successful entrepreneur veterans and 15-year business partners David Bassett-Parkins and Hanh M. Ngo.

Out With the Old

Well, a lot has been happening in the condo since I last checked in.

Cabinets and flooring have been removed and drywall dust has been flying! We chose to keep the basic floor plan intact (the HOA is very restrictive about what we could and couldn’t do), so attention was paid to cosmetic changes ~ particularly in the kitchen and bath.

Here are some photos of the kitchen and bath before we began ~ very eighties and plain boring!



kitchen – ugh! Old appliances, horrible tile on the floor, ugly ceiling lights, and boring cabinets

bathroom – check out the overhead lighting, flooring and cabinet– not so chic!

My wonderful contractors, Dean and Ron, are working feverishly to finish the renovation by the end of November. I’ll update you on their progress with more photos later this week.

MY LATEST PROJECT ~ RENOVATING AND STYLING A BEACH CONDO IN CALIFORNIA

Actually, it's in Coronado, CA, a beach town near SD. The town is quite charming ~ very quaint Victorian ~ A mere two-mile drive from cosmopolitan, downtown San Diego, across one of the world's most distinctive bridges ~ a town rich in history, blessed with one of the finest beaches in the world and bathed in endless sunshine, Coronado is a vibrant beach community loaded with charm.

The Hotel del Coronado has made the town famous and is considered one of America’s most beautiful resorts. The Del, as the hotel is known, was built in 1888 and was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1977. The condominium complex is adjacent to the Del ~ what a fabulous neighbor to have ~

The one-bedroom oceanfront condo, built in the 1970's, is a cozy 950 square feet. It has a spectacular view of the ocean, and the roar of the surf is almost deafening when the windows are open. A cool breeze continually blows through, and the sounds of laughter from surfers and beachgoers can be heard all day long.

My vision for the beach condo includes a palette of calm, neutral colors, a variety of textures and casual-yet-sophisticated furnishings. I love to use furniture and accessories in unexpected ways ~ just to keep things interesting and unpredictable.

As the next several weeks pass, I'll keep you posted on progress made ~ It should be a fun project to watch unfold ~ I can't wait to dig into it and share it all with you!

Quebec Holiday

I just returned from a summer holiday spent exploring the province of Quebec. I had never been there before and found it to be very friendly, charming, quaint, lively and interesting.

It's the only Canadian province that is predominantly French-speaking; French being the official language of the province. No worries about a language barrier though ~ they are very bilingual and speak fluent English.

~ beautiful architecture ~ delicious food ~ warm and friendly people ~ lively streets ~

a delightful vacation!!!

Valley Design Network Event in Phoenix

Barb is planning the next Valley Design Network event on Thursday, June 25th. Email me for more information.

The new Valley Design Network was a huge success last evening!

Designers, redesigners, stagers, certified cabinet designers, faux finishers, and shop owners all attended and were excited about the prospect of networking with other professionals related to the field of interior design. Everyone agreed, we should meet again next month to continue our networking and relationship-building.

Meetings will be kept short - 1 hour - with half of the time devoted to socializing and networking and the other half dedicated to a program of sorts ~

I encouraged everyone to invite other guests to our next meeting so we can grow and provide greater opportunities for our network of professionals.

I am launching a new Phoenix designer's networking group this evening - for designers as well as the trades that make us look good! My goal is to develop a network of design professionals and the trades, artists, vendors, etc. with whom we work in our design-related projects who will periodically come together, learn something new, share our triumphs, understand our not-so-shining moments (!), and generally help us become better design professionals in our community.

Wish me luck! More to follow....

an excert from STIR eEXTRA, January 2009

Dress your recession in purple.

This past fall, when Michelle Obama made an appearance in St. Paul, Minn., during the 2008 election season in a purple dress, she almost single-handedly assured us that this popular color, called a "new neutral" by some because of its versatility, would not be considered played out anytime soon. And for her President-elect husband, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, and virtually every news anchor and talking head, purple has usurped red as the color of the power tie.

The color of royalty and enchantment is the "it" color this winter. Its many shades and hues are showing up in fashion apparel, accessories, cosmetics and personal-care products. Its hues range from deepest amethyst, grape and plum to delicate lilac, wisteria, orchid and pansy. Depending upon the shade, purple can be formal (eggplant), feminine (lavender), or warm and cozy (violet). And purple’s popularity doesn’t end there: The royal hue is popping up on walls, textiles, tabletops and even home furnishings.

"Purples, especially red-cast purples, are going to be important in 2009," said forecaster Michelle Lamb, editorial director for The Trend Curve. "I’m seeing dark, passionate plums, used along with black, and layered purples. It’s a feeling of luxe. Think purple velvet."

Why? Because purple symbolizes both luxury and fun — both things that people feel they can use more of these days.

Conquering Clutter

A common New Year's resolution is to be more organized. This is one resolution you can keep ~ if you start small and don't overwhelm yourself with a huge project at the onset....

Begin with a small but typically cluttered area ~ your junk drawer. Overcoming the clutter in that one small space will give you a sense of accomplishment and encourage you to tackle another project in your home.

Remove all the contents of the drawer and discard those items that aren't necessary ~ You'll be surprised at what has found its way in to that small space! Only replace those things that are necessary, using dividers to separate and organize the contents.

Be creative with what you use to organize the drawer. Vintage muffin tins are perfect for holding paper clips, small batteries, stamps, etc. Not only will you be organized, but you'll also enjoy memories of days gone by at the same time!

Once you've tackled the junk drawer, move on to your linen closet, coat closet or laundry room. You'll be motivated to conquer all the cluttered areas of your home when you see how organized you're becoming!