Gearing Up for an Amazing Opportunity
Urban Barn's Next Top Designer: Reloaded Contest
About a couple of months ago, I entered into a contest with Urban Barn and Vancouver Home & Design Show named Urban Barn's Next Top Designer: Reloaded. How I came to know about this was through an ambiguous text from a good friend. One afternoon I received a text with a link and her message that said "You should join this and don't forget about me when you become a famous designer". Of course I had not open the link yet and was a little bit confused, but curious, as anyone would be. So I opened it and it was the contest page for UBNTD: Reloaded. See I've never thought to join any sort of contest like this before, and if I'm being completely honest, my perspective on it was simply that it wasn't quite a "legitimate" outlet for "real" interior designers, whatever those terms mean. High brow of me? Definitely. But in my defense, my only experience of these contests is of the reality show variety that can be constantly seen on television in which the judges ask designers to create a whole space with bottle-caps or to cook a plate of food with only orange colored ingredients. This contest, though not as peculiar, but exciting nonetheless, won't be on tv (darn..) nor will they be asking us to design an interior with paper airplanes (I don't know where I'm getting these examples from). Babbling aside, I entered and was eventually chosen to be one of three finalists, gaining the tremendous opportunity to showcase what we can do with Urban Barn furniture and accessories in a 150 sq.ft. space. The catch? We have only $5000 to spend at Urban Barn and a color that we drew out of a silver mercury vase (glam right?) which we will need to incorporate into our space via their accessories and/or furniture. This opportunity, for me, is something that is becoming more and more exciting as we get closer to the Vancouver Home & Design Show on October 16-19. There you, the trade show public, will get to see all three finalists' booth designs and the chance to vote for your favorite. After the weekend, the lucky winner will receive a $1000 gift card to Urban Barn and a 10' x 10' booth of their own at the 2015 Vancouver Home & Design Show. Sounds amazing doesn't it?! I know I'm definitely wanting those prizes. Something even more amazing is that one lucky voter from the show will be entered into a draw to win a $5000 gift card of their own to shop at Urban Barn! So this goes without saying, please keep in the loop on my social media feeds or via this blog to get more details as the show date approaches. In the meantime, please check out my contestant interview here, with the Home & Garden Blog and buy your tickets to the show!
Beige is more than Builder
“Beige is atmosphere. It’s bisque, it’s ivory, it’s cream, it’s stone, it’s toast, it’s cappuccino. It’s, well, it’s magic.”
Beige for most people is, at its least; boring, at its worst; abhorrent. Drastic right? And the reason for this is that about two decades ago, and still sometimes at present, beige was often used by developers and construction companies as a go-to wall color. Mainly for it's neutrality and mostly for it's low cost. Hence the term "Builder's Beige". The connotation now is that beige is as uninspired as department store furniture sets and plastic flowers in the powder room. Pose the same question to interior designers and you may get a more varied response. Most will likely say that beige has it's place. That it is a fantastic neutral that allows other colors to take foreground. Other designers will praise it for it's elegance and range. I am from the latter school of thought. Despite growing up in an off white and beige home, I can still attest to the subdued sophistication of beige. Beige isn't just yellow, grey and brown mixed together into a muddy mush. Like it's more accepted cousins, off-white and grey, beige has a range that is just as vast. As noted in Albert Hadley's famous quote, it creates an atmosphere that can contain all the elegant colors of ivory, cream and stone. A single cohesive space can be created with the many tones of beige. Like with any color, achieving a tone on tone look can be done to great success with the introduction of varying textures and form. So before I start waxing poetic about the amazing qualities of beige, I will leave you with a single thought. Don't discredit the use of beige in your home. It can indeed be magic.