Betty's Custom Designed Live/Work Home House Tour

Name: Betty
Location: Chelsea, Manhattan, New York
Size: 1400 square feet, 2 bedroom, 1.5 bath
Years Lived In: 4

Betty bought a commercial office space in a large mixed-use — but office oriented — building and turned it into both an interior design office for herself and her assistant and a comfortable home for herself and her 11 year old daughter.

Betty works and lives in the same place and yet, she has made a very successful division between work and play. Her two small offices open off the main living space and have large sliding opaque doors that can be shut at night to become visually interesting elements in and of themselves.

As an interior designer, Betty can sit at her kitchen counter, which doubles as a conference table, and use her own home as a showcase for her work. Other blurred lines between work and home life include the coffee table, which is also a flat file for drawings.

After gutting the original space, Betty knew she would have limited space to carve into two bedrooms, bathrooms, a den and a laundry room. Knowing that she and her daughter would share a bathroom and that it would be a heavily trafficked room in her home, Betty opted to apportion more space for the bathroom and less for her own bedroom.

Betty has created intimate spaces within an open plan using a mix of materials and a muted color palette. The result is very warm and cozy while practical and well thought through.

Apartment Therapy Survey

Style: Modern, efficient, comfortable, clean, custom.

Inspiration: So many things...

Favorite Element: Floating wood wall

Biggest Challenge: Storage and office and home all in one space

What Friends Say: Will you do my place?

Biggest Embarrassment: Not being techy

Proudest DIY: Installing the cork wall in my office

Biggest Indulgence: Furniture, closet interiors, rugs!

Best Advice: Over plan for storage and think it ALL thru before making one purchase.

Dream Source: Interior Design Magazine

Resources:

LIVING ROOM
• Sectional sofa by B&B Italia, fabric by DONGHIA
• Custom Chair; fabric by Pierre Frey
• Pillow fabric by Pierre Frey, Bergamo, Holly Hunt
• Side table by Jens Risom
• Lamp by BBDW
• Rug by Odegard
• Bowl by Calvin Klein

MASTER BATHROOM
• Custom Cabinetry by Andre
• Glass Tile and stone countertop by Stone Source
• Glass doors by Manhattan Glass Co
• Vintage rug by Odegard

MEDIA ROOM
• Sofa custom in Pierre Frey fabric
• Club chairs by Donghia in Fadini Borghi fabric
• Custom chalk top table, design by bettyhome
• Rug by Odegard

Thanks, Betty!

Images: Jill Slater

• HOUSE TOUR ARCHIVE Check out past house tours here
• Interested in sharing your home with Apartment Therapy? Contact the editors through our House Tour Submission Form.
• Are you a designer/architect/decorator interested in sharing a residential project with Apartment Therapy readers? Contact the editors through our Professional Submission Form.

View the original article here

The Personal Touch: Custom Gift Ideas

I love making gifts for the holidays. Often, it allows me to be more generous on a modest budget, and I think that a personal touch instills a great deal of value to an item! The time it takes, however, to DIY gifts for all of your friends and loved ones can be overwhelming. Here are a few options that allow you to put your own personal touch on a gift that won't take up three weeks of prep time!

If you'v got an artistic leaning that leaves you wanting to create original works of art for all of your friends, perhaps streamlining your creativity a bit will help. These resources do a lot of the grunt work for you, allowing your custom design, artwork, and ideas to shine through with much less effort:

Scout Books allows you to custom design pocket-sized notebooks that are ever so handy to carry around! I'd love to hand-paint sets of notebooks for my friends for gifts, but I just don't have the time to do 20 batches of them. Scout, however, will print these notebooks with your custom artwork. If you have a bunch of folks on your list that would like this universally handy gift, the price per book (just under $4 if you order 50) makes for an affordable gift. Even if you have 25 people to give them to, that means you've spent about $7 on a meaningful gift that has your custom touch on it!
There are many places to get custom address stamps with beautiful calligraphy or modern types that are stylish and fun---but they tend to run $30-60 each. With a little ingenuity and a bit of know how, you can create personalized address stamps for your friends for around $7 a pop. Simon's Stamps offers an array of rubber stamp options for reasonable prices. I prefer the old-fashioned wooden-handled stamp. Need a cool font? Check out the Lost Type Co-op, where you can pay what you like for designer fonts! Pick a great typeface, layout a simple return address stamp, and you've got an affordable personalized gift that will be used and loved!
Moo is an adorable custom print shop online that specializes in business cards and stickers. I love their photo stickers--they're full of rich color and they're super glossy! Put together a pack of custom photo stickers or a set with original designs that you've created, and add a sheet or two of custom seals to some simple stationery for a great customized gift!
Everyone loves reusable canvas tote bags. Great for stowing your daily needs, or taking to the grocery store, they're a useful thing to keep around. Why not design your own and give them as gifts to your friends? If you have a knack for drawing or designing, create an image that will remind your friends of you, and have it printed on to a canvas bag. At Zazzle, there's no minimum order, but the prices get cheaper as you increase the quantity. Even at $9.95 for a single bag, it's a great price point for a customized, fashionable gift for a friend. Have a lot of friends? Places like Green Monster Promos offer options that run about $2 per tote if you order 100...you could gift a lot of people a custom bag at those prices! Heck, you could use them for gift wrap!
Alright, this is still a total DIY, but I feel like it's a bit more automated, so the results you could yield would supply many gifts. Poppytalk offered up this great project from Ruth Bleakley on Easy Relief Printmaking. Create one template from a piece of styrofoam, get a brayer and some ink, and you could be rolling out holiday cards like gangbusters! And, they're totally customized with artwork that you've created.
Images: As credited above.

View the original article here

Room Juice: Custom Online Interior Design Store Profile

Specialty: Affordable online interior design services

Price Range: ($) Budget

Ever wish you could get just a little design help? Assistance in selecting the right paint color, ideas on how to accessorize your room, or advice on what the best furniture layout would be for your space? Nothing too involved... just a little guidance from a professional to get you on the right track...

Enter Room Juice, an affordable online design service that lets you choose the plan that works best for you. You provide measurements and pictures of your space, and Room Juice provides exactly the assistance you need - at the budget you specify. Want a $400 modern Moroccan facelift for your bedroom? You betcha! How about $2000 overall of your living room? Absolutely! With Room Juice, you call the shots. Services range from paint selection, to furniture layout, to accessories, to a total makeover. Prices start at $49, and results for all services (except a complete makeover) are delivered within a week.

For more about Room Juice, visit their store page over at Marketplace.

Image via Room Juice

View the original article here