POOF, Instant Kitchen!

One year to Remodel. One Year in a rental house. One year with her displaced, old-as-the-hills, sweetest pooch. One week to move back in. 

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The kitchen, after an attempted unpacking. We'll call it . . .

Pre "Ruby" ;-)

Now, I think the easiest way to go about this is to just go drawer-by-drawer, cabinet-by-cabinent. Pictures say a thousand words. But in case they don't tell you this: Yes, I unpacked and organized it. All.  

 

 

The Pantry:

                                                                                                       

Utility Drawers:

Bathroom Drawers:

The Den, In Progress:

   

The Den was finished wonderfully by the client and she has her dream home back, and in much better shape. 

Some photos omitted, there's only so many utensil drawers one can take. I don't have much to say except I LOVED doing this! It's like working a giant puzzle, on my own terms, with a 16 GB ipod attached to my scull ~ and I win every time! 

xo ruby

3 Closets Designed: From Frame to Finish (by me!)

I had the good fortune to be asked to help a client (who was in the middle of a remodel) by designing her new closets. And so, grid paper, pencils, electric sharpener, measuring tape and a ruler were promptly purchased! Electrical boxes, outlets, plumbing and 
fixtures were duly noted. 

I asked the client, "what are the most important things?" This closet was for linen, so deep shelves, as many as possible in the space allowed and a little lip at the front to contain the slipping and sliding of fluffy towels & Egyptian Cotton sheets on the nice smooth pine shelves.  The rectangular cubby on the right is so that the electrical panel for the second floor can be accessed, and it conveniently stores a rolled up Queen Sized air-bed.

This is the raw Master Closet. We talked about two sets of double doors, one tall mounted dowel for long ware, two "stacked" mounted dowels for shirts, skirts and pants that can be folded over a hanger.
SIDES:  Right side cubbies for purses / scarfs / belts / hats. Under those, a boot shelf, measured specifically to her tallest pair of boots. Left side slanted shoe shelves, again with a lip so the shoes don't slip off :)
            

Here are the 

lovely built-ins 
close up:

And here's final touches. A top shelf wraps around the entire
ceiling to store extra shoes and whatnot, and a smaller shelf
on top of the lower dowel for misc. like a change bowl or a 
couple shallow baskets for sunglasses and wallets...?

            Here's a raw version of a Mini Master
                closet in the Guest Room.  

Finished Mini Master :)

Here it is w/ final touches. We only had one side deep enough to work with, so we did the same cubby holes and fewer shoe racks (slanted w/ lips) right below.

Storage shelf above, the length of the closet. A divided dowel for my client's evening gown storage on one side and and empty dowel for guests' items on the other when they come to stay.  

Here's a little 

closer look at 

the guest closet 

built-ins. 










All in all, an awesome chance for me to learn some design on the fly, but actually it's kind of innate in me; my Dad is an interior designer, product designer, retail space designer, art designer, graphic designer, ALL self taught ~ but my most favorite title of his when I was little was "food designer."  He was a chef as well, and although we're Italian, I grew up on his awesome Chinese food and his penchant for all things breakfast, pies and breads! Sadly, "food design" is not in me - because I had my own personal chef for too long (both Dad & Mom), which causes the great dilemma of being a food snob with nothing to back it up :-/

Thanks for reading!

God Damn PAPERWORK!

Hello! Long time no blog! I have been lazy, in blogging, but not in organizing! Hopefully, this is one of 3 posts I've been meaning to do.

SO, it's tax time and all that paper piling up is possibly important, no? Possibly~ luckily for me, and this particular Client last week, he is not writing off any of these stacks / piles / throngs / troves / masses . . . this mother load of paper bits was mostly for the shredding pile, but there was still the task of sifting through and looking at each one. We found roughly 8 new gift cards for various places, a $168 claim for lost funds to CA Employment Division and a $517 check from a job a year ago, un-cashed! He called that employer who is willing to reissue once he checks his records to make sure it wasn't reissued already ~ with all these $$ finds, I think he came out ahead with just the gift-card findings alone even after he paid me ~ plus the $168 & $517 checks, if they come through. He made money by hiring me! That's a good day :)

Hi, I'm Desk. Do I Stress you out? Sorry~

I'm simply a corner,
Once bathed in the sun :(

 The sun shines outside, but not for me. 

HI!! Now I am happy, so YOU are happy! 

I, Floor, cannot breath very well...

My books are about to commit suicide.
Signed, The Shelf

My books now choose LIFE!
And D. Floor can breath again!

Thanks for stopping by! Call me if you need me ~ Happy March :)