Wednesday, August 13, 2014
Wednesday, July 30, 2014
Hope ANCHORS my soul.
I have spent a lot of time this summer at the beach. For the past 17 years my husband has worked on the weekends and since he has not had to this summer, we have taken advantage of it by spending them at the beach with family and friends. We had a trusted friend tell us to enjoy this season of our life....and we listened.
That brings me to anchors. While at the beach last Saturday, I thought about anchors. The old song The Anchor Holds came to mind. I asked myself what (or who) is my anchor? While pondering that question I started putting together a board with some cute items with anchors. You can see the list below.
Today, I read a devotion from Port City Community Church in Wilmington, who has been our church away from home. This past month they did a series called Life Interrupted. Can I just say that it has been exactly what Phil and I needed to hear. They have devotions everyday that go right along with their series and today it was called Anchor My Life (I chuckled at God because He always does stuff like that). You can check it out here: Port City Devotions
My prayer is that as I walk with Christ, I will hold onto Him as my anchor and that my faith will only grow stronger through the storms.
Check out items by clicking link:
4. thomas Paul Anchor Pillow 5. Seersucker Anchor Monogrammed Koozie 6. Lilly Pulitzer Anchor Flash Drive Keychain 7. Anchor Monogrammed Beach Towel
Monday, June 23, 2014
Plans
I am all about some plans. I love making plans to hang with friends. I love making plans for big events. I love drawing house plans. I just love to plan. It's exciting to me. It means that something fun and great is coming up....whether it be a party or a fantastic home design for a family to enjoy.
When I was in college the first time (a FEW years ago) I had a secret sister that would leave me scriptures under my door. One day she left this:
It's about plans. It then became my favorite verse because it tells me that God has a plan for me, a good plan. This little piece of paper has been in my Bible since 1994 and it is the scripture that I cling too.
The reason I know that God has a plan for me is not only because His word says it but also because of how I got here on earth. You see my mom and dad had two kids, Robert Jr. (Robin) and Suzanne. No more kids were in their plan. But Robin died when he was nine years old and my parents decided to have another child. They said God took one child away and He would give them another. Well, He did and that child was me. If Robin had not of died, I may not have been.
The past year has been rough. Phil left his job to follow God's plan, although we were uncertain what that plan was and still do not know it fully. Not having the complete plan is hard for me...really hard. Having to trust God fully for absolutely everything is hard and that is why I cling to Jeremiah 29:11 now more than ever. Who new that back in 1994 when my secret sister put this verse under my dorm room door that it would become my life verse. It gives me hope.
Because of this promise from my Heavenly Father, I have hope knowing that God does have a plan and that I can always have hope knowing that God's plan is to prosper me and not to harm me. His plan gives me hope and a future. I am excited about His plan for me and my family!!
When I was in college the first time (a FEW years ago) I had a secret sister that would leave me scriptures under my door. One day she left this:
It's about plans. It then became my favorite verse because it tells me that God has a plan for me, a good plan. This little piece of paper has been in my Bible since 1994 and it is the scripture that I cling too.
The reason I know that God has a plan for me is not only because His word says it but also because of how I got here on earth. You see my mom and dad had two kids, Robert Jr. (Robin) and Suzanne. No more kids were in their plan. But Robin died when he was nine years old and my parents decided to have another child. They said God took one child away and He would give them another. Well, He did and that child was me. If Robin had not of died, I may not have been.
The past year has been rough. Phil left his job to follow God's plan, although we were uncertain what that plan was and still do not know it fully. Not having the complete plan is hard for me...really hard. Having to trust God fully for absolutely everything is hard and that is why I cling to Jeremiah 29:11 now more than ever. Who new that back in 1994 when my secret sister put this verse under my dorm room door that it would become my life verse. It gives me hope.
Because of this promise from my Heavenly Father, I have hope knowing that God does have a plan and that I can always have hope knowing that God's plan is to prosper me and not to harm me. His plan gives me hope and a future. I am excited about His plan for me and my family!!
Friday, June 13, 2014
Father's Day
Father's Day is Sunday and I am so grateful for my earthly Father. He is my hero.
My Hero
My hero is the quiet type,
No marching bands, no media hype,
But through my eyes it's plain to see,
A hero, God has sent to me.
With gentle strength and quiet pride,
All self-concern is set aside,
To reach out to his fellow man,
And be there with a helping hand.
Heroes are a rarity,
A blessing to humanity.
With all they give and all they do,
I'll bet the thing you never knew,
My hero has always been you.
--Anonymous
Here is a little guide to help with some Father's Day gift ideas.
More ideas www.askmen.com
Wednesday, May 14, 2014
Final Project - Mixed Use Facility
Last week, I turned in my final school project for my last design class, Advanced Interior Design.
The concept was to convert a historic school that had been unused for some time and create an environment where local residents could work, dwell, shop, dine, and socialize. My partner and I came up with a plan and design that provided businesses, retail spaces, dining, and an event space on the 1st floor and residential units on the 2nd floor.
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| Y.E.Smith Building in Durham, NC |
We wanted to keep the overall historic feel and overall base layout of the building so we choose to go with a French Industrial Style. Industrial style can seem a bit cold so the French style warmed it up and gave it a soft feminine touch.
On the 1st floor we added a fine dining restaurant, a fast dining deli, coffee shop, wine store, florist, open business spaces, managers office, bathrooms, and an open event space leading into the atrium.
On the 2nd floor, we designed one and two bedroom apartments.
This was a board with some of our inspiration.
-4 Business spaces that can be upfitted for a dentist, hair salon, law office, etc.
-Public restrooms
-Trash/recycling chutes
-Open event space and small commercial kitchen
-Facility management office
-Coffee Shop (1,000-1,500 sqf) with counter for ordering and picking up, drink cases, refrigerated units, warming units, shelving for sellable items, seating for a minimum of 20 people, storage area, and ADA accessibility
-Fine Dining Restaurant (1,500-2,000 sqf) with hostess area, dining area, bar, commercial kitchen, storage, and ADA accessibility.
-Fast Dining Deli - dining area for seating, counter for ordering and picking up, commercial kitchen, deli cases, storage, ADA accessibility.
-Retail Spaces
Wine Store with cash counter, display shelves and tables, cooler, ADA accessibility
Florist with cash counter, display shelves and tables, display coolers, back room flower prep area, walk in cooler, ADA accessibility.
The second floor program:
One and two bedroom units, trash/recycling chute, laundry facility, community facility with small kitchen and exercise area.
Below is the space plan I came up with for the 2nd floor one bedroom units. My partner did the space plan for the two bedroom unit.
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| 2nd floor residential one bedroom unit |
Demolition plans for the 1st and 2nd floor, construction plans with enlarged details, enlarged plans of each residential unit, dining, deli, wine store, florist, coffee shop, lighting plans and finish plans.
We also provided finishes for all of the listed spaces above. Below is our presentation board that includes a rendered plan for each floor, two perspective renderings - one of the fine dining and one of the one bedroom unit, finish selections such as tile, cabinets, shelving, etc.
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| 24x36 presentation board |
Below you will find a presentation board with the lighting plans and selections. Most of our lighting selections came from Shades of Light and Restoration Hardware.
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| 24x36 presentation board |
We kept the brick exposed on all the exterior walls and refinished the hardwood floors.
Some of the finishes we selected for the residential units:
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| Stainless Trapezoid Hood and Stainless Appliances |
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| Kholer Pull Down Faucet |
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| white subway tile for 2nd floor residential units |
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| Calcutta Marble for 2nd floor residential units |
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| White cabinets for residential units |
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| source |
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| Florist Cash Bar from etsy |
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| Wine Store Cash Wrap Custom Made |
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| Concrete Tile for counter tops in Deli and Coffee Shop |
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| Calacatta Hexagon Tile for bar in fine dining |
This is the rendered perspective of the 2nd floor residential unit,
Autocad drawing on the computer with lots of dimensions for the construction plans.
One of the many sheets of printed plans.
I learned so much from doing this project. I loved that we were able to design both residential and commercial spaces. The most challenging part to me was learning about commercial kitchen design. Meredith was a fantastic partner and we worked very well together......and we got an A!
A big sigh of relief knowing that all of my design classes are complete!
Monday, May 12, 2014
Light It Up Baby - Pallet Wood Lantern
In my lighting class, my final project was to make a luminaire. My brother-n-law is very good at making things out of pallet wood so I thought why not make a pallet wood lantern. It would go great on the screened in porch of a beach or lake house or even on your front porch. It makes a great decorative porch light that can be used with or instead of your traditional overhead porch light.
I sketched out and shared my idea with my brother-n-law, purchased the socket and lighting materials from Home Depot, and we went to work.
This is how it looked in the shop.
I added velum as a shade to cut down on the glare and added a piece of rope to the top.
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| This image was taken at night and as you can see, it gives off plenty of light. |
We will be making more.......smaller ones, round ones, and ones that hang. If you are interested in having one of your own, contact me.
You can find other great pallet creations here at designrulz
Thursday, May 8, 2014
Dining Room Lighting Tips
When lighting your dining room remember this....layer, layer, layer.
Layered lighting gives you the best balance of illumination. A dining room is not properly lit if the only light is coming from a chandelier over the table. If a chandelier is bright enough to illuminate the whole room, it will be too bright when eating. It is best however, to always start with a chandelier and then add accent lighting.
The right lighting makes your food look better as well as you and your guest. Who doesn't want to look more attractive, right? And with the right lighting, you can.
Here are some tips:
1. USE A DIMMER - Add a dimmer switch to your chandelier or pendant light.
2. ADD RECESS LIGHTING
3. ADD WALL SCONCES - They not only add decoration but they also add drama to the space.
4. ADD LAMPS - This adds more light and ambience to the space, while adding decoration.
5. ADD CANDLE LIGHT
Here are some examples of layered lighting:
Layered lighting gives you the best balance of illumination. A dining room is not properly lit if the only light is coming from a chandelier over the table. If a chandelier is bright enough to illuminate the whole room, it will be too bright when eating. It is best however, to always start with a chandelier and then add accent lighting.
The right lighting makes your food look better as well as you and your guest. Who doesn't want to look more attractive, right? And with the right lighting, you can.
Here are some tips:
1. USE A DIMMER - Add a dimmer switch to your chandelier or pendant light.
2. ADD RECESS LIGHTING
3. ADD WALL SCONCES - They not only add decoration but they also add drama to the space.
4. ADD LAMPS - This adds more light and ambience to the space, while adding decoration.
5. ADD CANDLE LIGHT
Here are some examples of layered lighting:
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| Found on houzz.com |
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| Shirley Meisels |
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| Found on Flicker.com |
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| Charlie & Co. Design, Ltd |
Remember to always let your light shine...just make sure you use my tips to ensure it is shinning at its best!
Much Love-
Jenn
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