Well. I’ve been invited to participate in the spring Design House at the Washington Design Center. The theme is “Urban Elegance.” My urbanly elegant room will be the kitchen.
The timeline is pretty short; the opening party is on April 23. So the first thing I need to do is nail down a cabinetry partner. I don’t have a floor plan yet, but I’m pretty sure my kitchen will have some cabinets. I have my eye on Poliform…let’s hope that works out. Their stuff is so gorgeous.
The first thing I thought when I heard the theme was that “elegant” doesn’t have to equal “neutral.” So I’ll start there. I mean, if bossy color won’t do right by the vibrant shades, who will?
I went to the Design Center on Friday to see the space in person. It’s actually kind of gigantic, so no need to dust off the space-saving tricks I’ve used in real-life urban projects. I should be able to make this a mixed-use space: there will be a desk, a sitting area…maybe I’ll even build in a fireplace. Here are some spooky pictures – the lights weren’t working when I was there.
The previous designer had divided the space, so the wing walls will come down to annex this little area:
Pretty inspiring pictures, aren’t they?
The great thing about show houses, of course, is that you have very few constraints: the fireplace doesn’t have to work, no water needs to come through the faucet, etc. But for a designer who’s reality- rather than fantasy-based, it’s actually a little daunting.
This will be fun, though. Why do it otherwise?
I’ll keep you posted.