Tag Archives: design

LIVE, OBSESS

springish cleaning


60 degrees outside yesterday… Opened up the windows and aired the place out.

In nervous preparation for the re-fi appraisal this coming week, I spent most of the day cleaning.

I hate the “appraisal” mindset. On any given day I can look around the house and love it… But when I’m in this headspace all I can see are the things that are wrong… The little bit of water damage on the ceiling by the fireplace. The bad patch job the previous owners did on the dining room wall.. The… (insert long list of nit pick crap here).

Kevin would emerge from the back from his heating pad to throw out suggestions about furniture placement, all of which would invariably make me nervous and defensive. While he’s a natural at business management, shockwave scripting and other very complicated tasks, – interior design is not one of his strong suits.

But…. It’s “OUR” house – and I don’t want to auto-poo-poo every thing that comes out of his mouth. He’s actually had awesome ideas we’ve implemented. (Like moving the master bedroom).

Chad’s more passive about houe-type decisions and I generally have to fish to get what he really thinks out of him.

I just have to keep reminding myself that even though I’ve got the entire house completely designed and done in my own head (all the way down to electrical outlet covers)…. Situations change and other solutions present themselves as time passes… When it’s all finally completely done – I want all three to feel like it was a communal effort.

That said…. “Kevin darling… We’ll be painting an accent wall “burgen-durple” over my dead body.”

Can’t blog about this – ya’ll will think I’m a neurotic control-queen.

design, WORK

free lunch foiled

we do windows

Ran BACK down to the restaurant client’s to throw up one more vinyl on a door from the previously botched self-install attempt.
I figured it’ll be a decent excuse to get us out of the office and mooch a free lunch. nadoz interior

The manager wasn’t there and the newbie staff had no idea who we were so we wound up paying for lunch. Not a big deal – the food is actually quite good. Five bucks will get you a side of Asian Pasta Salad (stupid good) and a nummy chicken breast sandwich with olives, roasted peppers, fresh mozzarella, and some form of shi-shi spread.

I was really worried about how the restaurant was going to look when they began construction, previously not-blogged, but it turned out way less* hideous than I thought it would. The layout / flow is wonky – but at least the interior drekorator put enough black design elements into the space to jive with my stuff. (Their identity is all based on mega-cheap one-color black print).

Definitely not the most progressive / interesting ID I’ve ever done, but given the parameters, the budget and client’s satisfaction, – I’m happy.

It’s always cool to see a project get implemented in the real world. The client’s pretty cool about letting me fuss over details like the little cards which label the carafes at the coffee refill station.

So.. I can’t bitch…. I can’t blog either.

nadoz identity

LIVE

some folks only care about the sheets

Branded to Death

Just a quick note about this wonderful hotel. Hotel 71 (www.hotel71.com)
I’ve never stayed anywhere that’s showed such a commitment to design.

This place is branded out the waaaaazoooo! Everywhere there’s thoughtful little over-designed details from the tasty type treatments on everything from the telephone label to the simple little ribbon labeled “NOURISH” to indicate the yummie little eats and drinks hidden within the TV dresser.

Their design firm must love them as an account.

I need a client like this.

OBSESS

old white guys (and gals) can’t design


Had a site visit today for a logo gig. A client is putting in a restaurant adjacent to a large ballroom / meeting facility in a historic building they’re restoring. My meeting was with their interior “DREKorator” who, between fielding phone calls on her cell phone, hastily pulled out various fabric swatches and paint samples to enlighten me to her vision for the space.

It will be mortifyingly high-end. Sopping wet with the kind of pretense only Pottery Barn and the corporate folks at Barnes and Nobel would consider inhabitable.

Sadly, their target audience will be college students and I fear this baby-boomer design sensibility will miss the mark entirely. Sure if I had my way, I’d encourage them to leave it as rough as possible, without breaking any city codes… Fuck the terrazzo floor and pour concrete. Find the chunkiest-funkiest metal hand-me down fixtures you could find. Oh yeah – and make the whole place wi-fi.

I suppose I may be getting jaded – because at this point, despite a genuine “give a shit” sense about all my work: I’m seeing a quick logo treatment and moving on. Wet it, Wipe it,… GOOD NIGHT.

By the way, I’m still not blogging.