Planning Ahead

Christian and I are working on scheduling an interview with a fun celebrity designer - we write for two different publications - and while our deadlines are similar, the publishing dates are quite different: for the Journal newspapers, our article will be out a week following our deadline. For 425 Magazine you'll see the article in the November issue!
Considering the 100+ degree weather we've been experiencing here in Seattle, a little November rain sounds delightful right about now...

Is Anybody Else As Tired of Chocolate Brown EVERYTHING??

My New Love - The Shark!

It's cheap and fast ... just how I like it!

We recently moved into a new home where there seem to be miles of flooring that the kids and cat track in dirt and grime. So we popped over to the local Sears for new vaccuum bags and left with both a carpet sweep and floor steamer. Roughly 40 bucks each.

The Shark sweeper gets DAILY use - my kids fought over who got to use it for the first week or so, then the novelty wore off. But just this morning, my 7 year old voluntarily retrieved the Shark and vacuumed up the crumbs under her spot at the breakfast table. THAT was worth $40 bucks right there!

The Steamer pulled up a lot of grime this weekend, and it uses plain water - so it doesn't add any nasty chemicals to the household environment.

I doubt they will last for years, they are rather lightweight. However, in my book, the pluses are outweighing the negatives.

Not bad for a total impulse purchase!

I'll Be Watching You!

I am in the process of buying a new house -sorry 425 Magazine readers, it's in Seattle! But... It has a bit of a view of Lake Washington, and I just learned something:
With a telescope I can peek into the lives of my Eastside neighbors. Apparently, a friend who has a lake view house told me this little secret: Her husband can peer all the way across the lake and see what's on others televisions!
Now, I'm sure the telescope works in both directions... but trust me, you won't be seeing anything too exciting at my place!

Fathead Fun

Not all design has to be serious.

I just saw a product today that is all about fun. They are super-oversized wall graphics called Fatheads. If you are keyed into sports you probably already know about them - um, well... they were new to me! This Ichiro image is 6'8" tall, for example.
Market research has shown that people are wary of investing in wallcoverings. One of the reasons is the thought of removal. With these babies, it's peel-and-stick. And peel-right-off. Sort of like a Post-It Note on steroids (no sports reference there!).

We are considering the possibility of bringing them into our store, in the meantime, check out the website, http://www.fathead.com/

What really got me (and this shows that I have a pre-teen boy in the house) was the bigger than life-sized Darth Vader. Cool!

425 Mag Debut!

I stopped by the downtown Seattle Barnes & Noble yesterday, and there it was... the March/April issue of 425 Magazine! Of course I bought two copies (one for Christian) and immediately looked for our article.

Hey! We look pretty good!

Wait... it's all about CONTENT, right?

Say! Our writing is pretty good!

The Office

At the beginning of the year, my husband officially joined Daly's - working from a finance and strategic background. A lot of people teased us, commenting that they'd certainly never be able to work with their spouse... and how far away were we planning on sitting from each other?

Until Tuesday, we were down the hall from each other - too far to yell, too close to always bother trotting down the hall for small things. Add to the fact that I have the floor-to-ceiling window with roomy office, and he had a measly high window (and let's not even get into what his folding table of a desk looked like!). That's all changed now...

Now we are sharing an office. We have two large desks facing each other, and it creates a neat six foot square work surface. Reaction has ranged from "Wow, you much really like each other" to "Well, if it doesn't work out, you can always add a hutch on top of your desks to create a barrier!".

However, we STILL needed to bring in professional help in choosing a new paint color... "Hello Christian?"

Christian popped by this morning and within a half-hour we settled on a new color scheme that makes us both happy - and Christian, too. You'd think that because we co-own the paint store (and I'm a designer) that we'd have an easier time finding a paint color. Ha!

What colors are we using, you ask?
On the walls: C2 Paint "Riff" (a mid-value taupy beigey latte color) (calming and perfect against our new, almost black furniture!)
On the ceiling: C2 Paint "Whitewater" (a tasty aqua that we will probably mix at half-strength)