Wednesday, October 31, 2012

Halloween for the Grown Kids

So, to be honest I have no idea where the whole madness of Halloween originated. It's not a day we ever celebrated in Jamaica, so Niks and I are sorta clueless about this crazy event. 
We do know that kids go crazy for this day and I'm sure if you ask any kid, Halloween ranks right up there with Christmas and their birthday. But no way should they have all the fun. Halloween should be for grown ups too...minus the trick or treating from door to door of course, cause that's just down right creepy...LOL.
I will never pass up an opportunity to attend an awesome shindig, especially if you're throwing a bash that rivals that of Hef's annual Halloween party at the Playboy Mansion.  Take a peek at some of these grown up Halloween decorations and yes, I'll be on the look out for your e-invite.


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Halloween Tablescape by Style Soiree
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Now the best thing about any Halloween party is the chance to dress up in costumes.
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Dress up as your favorite character in Downton Abbey

































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Or dress down as you pay homage to Game of Thrones.
Side note..next to The Wire and Entourage this is the best show HBO has ever aired. If you haven't seen it you are truly missing a treat, be prepared to become addicted. Can't wait for Season 3...sigh..March 2013 seems so far away.
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Or live it up like the crazies on American Horror Story. 
I would pass on the Black Onesie..lol..unless you don't plan on drinking.
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For the True Blood fans....
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Or go totally old school and Ally McBeal it.

Or mix things up like our dearest Miami friends did here this weekend........
Sophia as madame Flapper, Paula as the Black Swan and I'm pretty sure that is gymnast MacKayla Maroney herself looking very unimpressed.

What are your grown up plans for this Halloween? Or did your grown plans go out the door the minute your kids became old enough to trick or treat?
Have a safe and fun Halloween! 


xoxo
Debbie B.





Tuesday, October 30, 2012

Dear Sandy

We're old hands at living through the ravages of hurricanes here in Florida, but for our friends and family in the Northeast, a hurricane is a bit of an anomaly. As you wade through flooded streets, clear debris from your neighborhoods and grapple with the realities of having no electricity or running water for days, maybe we weeks, know that you are in our thoughts and prayers daily.
And to you dearest Sandy, what an unwelcome guest you've been. It's really time to pack up and be gone. It's been real, perhaps too much so.

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Thursday, October 25, 2012

Vacay Blues

This little weather system....
Hurricane Sandy showing her wrath over Jamaica
and a very sick baby....
Advice on helping sick babies get to sleep...
Had to rush the lil man to the hospital yesterday. Fever, non-stop crying = an ear infection and he cannot fly for at least a week.

Means there's none of this for us this weekend...
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Our much anticipated trip to Negril has been cancelled. Of course we are bummed, but we can't mess with mother nature and we need to nurse our lil man as he gets over this ear infection. Here's to everyone being safe and well this weekend.













Wednesday, October 24, 2012

Spascape

With a full-time job, two part-times ones and all the other stuff that I have to do, I sometimes feel that there will be never be enough hours in the day. It's no wonder I've been dreaming lately of spa days..eight to ten hours of ultimate bliss. You know the world is getting too darn hectic when even rappers are yearning for spa days...LOL
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My ultimate spa day would start with a soothing facial. 

Followed by a 80 minute foot massage. 

Capped off my a 2 hour massage.
Source: via Lisa on Pinterest

Any of these spa locations will definitely fit the bill.
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Local spa dotted with French furniture, balanced with a contemporary design, the Spa at Viceroy Miami. Niks my birthday is in a couple of weeks....hint hint....
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What's your favorite way to de-stress? Are spa days a must have for you or do you just need an hour or two and you're good to go?



xoxo
Debbie B. 

Tuesday, October 23, 2012

Kitchen Renovation Reveal - Red or White?

Here we are at last with our latest kitchen reveal and it's a sizzling one. 
Remember these white cabinets, monster hood and that way too small island that we dished about here?


Well, of course we ripped things apart and made some unorthodox changes such as shrinking a window, removing the island and suggesting red counter tops, which you remember caused some debate among the family!
Well the votes have come in and, here's how it looks today. 
 
So as you can see, they went along with the red counter tops and man, what a burst of color for this fun family! To balance the red, we selected a classic Carrara marble tile for the floors and an arctic glass mosaic for the back splash. 


A rather large sink to wash the many dishes of this large family, is flanked by our clients faves, orchids which she grows out back in her amazing greenhouse.



Angular brushed nickel handles mimicked the shaker style shape of the chocolate cabinets. As you can see, going with the darker cabinets after all did not make the room feel any smaller. Even with a smaller window,  there's still plenty of light and we have loads of ventilation with a more streamlined and size appropriate hood!

When designing a kitchen, consider if you can, reusing appliances that are in good shape. Sure we could have gone bananas with some fancier items, but everything was still relatively new and we were able to save a lot by making that decision.

This cook top was originally in that tiny, misplaced island.

We maximized every inch of space here! Squeezed in these drawers which now house some exquisite bags of tea, and all sorts of other goodies, and we took the cabinets all the way to the ceiling and did a mix of horizontal cabinets with a frosted glass to house her fun dining items. Happy to report that pots and pans that were once stuck in a back room are all now housed inside a kitchen cabinet. As usual, we loaded up on those lights. Cannot stress enough how important a well lit space is.




Behind the Scenes

Like most major projects, we made plenty of compromises and there were moments of insanity.
  • For starters, in our original design, we thought we could add some extra inches to the kitchen by removing the angled edges of the wall framing the pockets doors at the kitchen's entry point. Those walls turned out to be solid and were simply not worth the money/time to remove and refinish. It meant we were stuck with one pantry instead of the two we initially wanted as seen in the above design. 
  • I'd suggested chrome finishes for the handles and faucet but my client had a new faucet sitting around in her garage in brushed nickel so we decided to save money and use what we had and to go with brushed nickel on the handles. Then guess what happened? After drilling all our holes, we realized the faucet was stationary, not a big deal, if you have a single sink! We had a double and needed a faucet that could move from side to side. Sigh. Double sigh. We had to find a budget friendly substitute which we did at Home Depot
  • In shrinking that window, we also shrunk our window treatment options! We definitely needed something for privacy but we had to again, select a shade that would not fight with all the elements and that would filter in the sun at all times so we selected white pleated shades by Hunter Douglas supplied and installed by the amazing team at Titan Decor.
  • And that's that. A new kitchen for one of my favorite clients whose been cooking up a storm every hour of the day. She also sent me the most heart-warming text the day after the installation, thanking our team for finally giving her the kitchen of her dreams. We'll tackle her master bathroom after the holidays. 
 I'll let you know that I often analyze projects to death longgggg after they're done and think about things I would have done differently, items I would have fought for etc...Do you guys do the same when you renovate your home or for a client? 
So what are your thoughts? Could you live with red counter tops? 
For a complete photo album visit our Facebook Page.

Source List


Floors: Carrara Marble 12 x 12 - $4.99 per sq. ft.


Glass Range Hood by Whirlpool
Cabinets: Single Shaker Chocolate
Counter top: Red Vital Silestone 

Backsplash: Arctic Ice Mosaic glass - $8.99 per sheet






Monday, October 22, 2012

Design Dos and Don'ts With DefySupply via Houzz

I was asked to share some design dos and don'ts with the folks over at DefySupply for an info graphic they were working on.
They released it last week and I gotta say, it looks super cool - this I say using my borrowed Cuban accent, which I copied from this amazing video titled, "Shit Miami Girls Say and Guys." If you've never seen that video, hold on to your over-sized drawers because it is BANANAS!  
Anyway, I digress.
The main thing I wanted to point out is that amazing opportunity, landed in my email via Houzz. If you're a lover of all things design, and not on Houzz, then you need to stop 'sippin on that syrup and get to it STAT. It is the ish, a bag of chips and a can of hair grease all rolled into one. Translation, among the best sites for those in the design business, and where potential clients/followers congregate to see the latest in design. 
I cannot tell you how many opportunities have happened for my business this year because of Houzz. Love them. Now. Go forth and join that thing. But before you do, check out these dos and don'ts.
Design Do's and Dont's

What are some of your design dos and don'ts? Holla back. I'd love to hear and re-post.
P.S. Happy Monday!

Friday, October 19, 2012

Dreamy Home Offices With My Best Friend Craig

Today we're over at My Best Friend Craig, the amazing DIY blog by one of our  blogger besties, Charmaine. She's a DIY maniac and stalker of all things Craigslist, hence the very clever name of her blog.
We've been stalking Charmaine's blog ever since we started blogging a few months ago, and pop in daily to see what she's up to. We rarely have a chance to do any DIY projects so kinda live vicariously through her and her manic ability to transform items she finds on Craigslist. To honor her recent foray into design school, and the need to create a home office, we decided to pay our homage by featuring some fabulously amazing home offices/desks that would make any girl wanna stay home and work as well. Go on over and check her out. And P.S. Happy Friday! Cheers to a fab weekend.



Thursday, October 18, 2012

A Few of My Favorite Things

Tickled pink - literally - to be sharing some of my favorite things over on Mimosa Lane this morning.
I stumbled across ML a few months ago while reading one of my other blogger faves, The Aestate and have been addicted ever since. For starters, it's named for one of my favorite drinks, their style was kinda killer and they were a duet blog just like us. Even though she's now flying solo, Albertina has become a true blogger/sista/friend and we chat regularly via email about tostones (friend green plantains to the uninitiated) and all sorts of other bees nees (among her favorite terminologies). Swing on over and see what things have me swooning all the time. Many thanks as always to Shaggy at Circle Ten Media for the amazing photos.  


Wednesday, October 17, 2012

Binders Full of Women

Today, women everywhere are headed out to purchase binders - in amazing colors no less! - so they too can be included in said binders when Governor Romney commands that his people find him some qualified women!


 Binders full of women meme inspired by Mitt Romney on Tumblr of Hey Veronica (@Hey Veronica).



This was just one of the crazy moments of last night's debate.

I think the President held his own against the very aggressive and combative Mittens. To paraphrase: "No sir, I do not check my pension often because it is not as big as yours!"
What were some of your favorite moments from last night's debate?
Are ya ready to vote?

Thursday, October 11, 2012

What's Wrong With My Son's Afro?

Xavier in all his Afro glory in a boxing stance, and with his hair in cornrows.
We sent Xavier to daycare with his Afro puff yesterday and when we picked him up, he had cornrows. I was a tad startled since no one had asked if it was okay to change the child's hair, but I was also shocked that he sat still long enough to even get that done.
So what's the issue? I have no problem with cornrows (I rock em myself on occasion) and I've had his Godmother Khadeen do said style before. The issue is the teacher who put these in had made a comment to my husband on Friday about us cutting off or taming the child's wild hair.
Now, as a black woman who recently stopped using chemicals to straighten my hair and started wearing my hair in it's natural state, I know that "wild" is code for nappy aka bad hair and I take major issues with that. In my culture, we also don't cut a child's hair before their first birthday so cutting said Afro is not an option for now.
Here's the deal, I want my son to grow up feeling like his hair in its natural state, is perfectly fab. I want him to know that when he gets older, rocking an Afro, cornrows, a mohawk or shaving it all will be perfectly fine.
So today I'm trying to craft the conversation I'll have with this teacher when I pick him up this evening. It'll be a delicate task because she's the only black teacher at the school and she'll in fact be his teacher in a few weeks when he turns a year-old. In other words, I'm not trying to piss this woman off and cause some major rift because I really do like this school. I know her intentions were good, but I need for her to also understand that there's nothing wild and untamed about his Afro and that she'll need to get used to seeing it on occasion when he moves up to her class. 
Who knew hair could be such a delicate issue! Any advice on how to tackle this mini UN moment?

Wednesday, October 10, 2012

I'm Single Again and Now it's Time to PAAAARTY!?

Engagement parties, bachelor/bachelorette soirees, the uber fabulous wedding and now divorce parties? Lord help us, but yes, the latter has now become quite the trend. So after taking 18 months to plan the wedding of your dreams, including sending out 300 wedding invitations (with no labels mind you, just your perfect handwriting to address each guest), it only takes you three days and 50 e-invite cards to plan your divorce party. Ouch. I know somewhere I'm missing the irony in this....

                 Source: throwabigparty.com via Nick on Pinterest

you can still wear white...
Source: zazzle.com via Emily on Pinterest

and have an open bar...

even hire a DJ so you can rock out to songs like Trina's - I'm Single Again, Fiona Apple's - Get Gone, Pink's - So What, Ace of Base's - I Saw the Sign, Daughtry's - Over You and your new anthem Taylor Swift's - We are never EVER getting back together.

there will be party favors...

                             Source: via Liz on Pinterest

and what party would be complete without cake...
                           Source: via Selina on Pinterest


Now I have been to countless bachelorette parties, but I have to admit I have never been to a divorce party and really hope I never have to go to one. I think we should start a trend where we have "Let's fight to stay together" parties.  I guess that's my hopeless romantic side rearing is ugly head again....
Have you even been to a divorce party? Was it a fun, liberating affair, or was it simply awkward? Should your marriage end (God forbid!)would you even think about having one? 
p.s.
Happy Hump Day!!

xoxo
Debbie B.

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