GEORGE Projects: Glass Office

Maybe you work in an office (or live in a house) with an open floor plan. If you do, you know that sound privacy, or any privacy at all, can be tricky. Meet 2nd Street, a local office that was in need of my help to devise a sound privacy design solution for its open floor plan while still maintaining the interactive/collaborative atmosphere that makes this office environment so desireable:





Since some of the biggest and best architectural/design firms around are pouring loads of brain power into devising privacy solutions for the "open" office (or campus's as they like to be called) at powerful companies like Google, Amazon, Pixar, etc. so I spent some reviewing case studies from firms like Gensler and IA: Interior Architects for ideas...









It seems that the best material to create sound privacy while still maintaining the feeling of transparency within an office is... you guessed it.. Glass! Along with glass come additional sound issues but we'll save that for a future post. We'll keep you posted as we implement some high tech glass partitions at 2nd Street.

Cabana Comforts

Remember this teaser blog when we shared some images of a soon-to-be-completed project at the Home Depot Center in Carson, CA? (That's me wearing my Galaxy hat next to the poster advertising the coming suites.)

Well, here are some of the after shots at last! The point of this project was to provide premium Home Depot Center clients an alternative location to their regular seats, where they can enjoy tasty bites, drinks and watch the ongoing game below. The views are GREAT and it is a fun place to see and be seen. (I LOVE the topiaries so much!)

Photo by Manolo Langis

The cabanas are rented out for a fixed price which includes food and beverage options and the privacy of your own personal & private game-side seating. They are the perfect place to entertain or be entertained! Adjacent to the Cabana Lounge is the garden seating area. This area offers a great spot to sit al fresco for large or small parties. There is a live feed of the game on the big screen TV so you won't miss a beat.

Photos by Mora Photography

The cabanas are nice and neutral. They enhance the existing architecture of the Center and keep patrons nice and cool.

Photo by Manolo Langis

Hope you'll get to enjoy a game or 2 this weekend or whatever makes you happy! Happy Weekend.

'Tis Vacation Season

I found this website, Kiwi Collection, geared towards finding "hotels for people who care where they stay". The hubby and I are talking about taking a trip to Turkey or Spain & Portugal for our five year anniversary, and this looks like a great site to help us find a small and interesting hotel or resort.

For instance, check out Anatolian Houses in Turkey...

This place was designed and built right into the side of a hill, offering guests a glimpse at what cave living was like for ancient societies. Sounds good to me, a slice of history with all the modern conveniences I want while on vacation!Definitely a fun place to spend a night or two...

We hope you all have exciting plans in-store for the summer, not to mention this weekend and July 4th!  And for our friends up north in Canada, we hope you enjoy a happy Canada Day today!

PS. I know we aren't talking about Thailand, but I may have to rethink things...

Selecting Furniture for Commercial Clients

I spend so much time perusing online furniture stores looking for perfect sectional sofas for a commercial client's design earlier this year, so I was totally stoked when one of them, CSN, approached GEORGE I.D. about doing a free giveaway for our readers. What better way to say THANK YOU to all of you who read and get involved with our blog than to give back!

CSN is going to team up with us next week while we do a week of blogs about what else... nurseries! Nurseries are so much fun to design and even if you don't have kids, everyone loves babies. :) So please check back next week for your chance to win a gift card to CSN baby and kids (but really, it can be used on any of the CSN websites). This is great for all the new moms out there and lets face it, it would be great for the rest of us who attend baby showers regularly!

Speaking of spending time shopping for that perfect sofa...

Earlier this year, we had the opportunity to work with a great LA sports team to re-design their players' lounge. Inside the walls of the lounge, (open only to players, coaches, trainers, etc.) the team takes meals, reviews film, talks strategy and relaxes in pre-season and in-between games.

I took the below photo during our initial consultation. The U-shaped sectional sofa was made out of a commercial grade fabric but over the years of player use and abuse, it had started to show worse for the wear.

The BEFORE photo...

And here is the AFTER...

One of the hardest things about working on commercial jobs is trying to find great looking, durable AND economical furniture. Budgets are usually tight (hello recession of 2009-2010!) and commercial clients are just as pinched as the rest of us. I struggled with the furniture mix that I wanted to present and include in this design but wanted to share with you some of the places that I looked.

After creating the floor plan and figuring out my ideal sectional dimensions, I looked at things like this Albany sectional which was priced really well but not quite big enough.

And this chic Benson Canyon sectional which looked great but was a bit pricey.

Finally, I found exactly what I was looking for in this modular leather sectional at West Elm. The modular pieces work great in a dynamic world where todays needs might be completely different from tomorrows!

Trend Alert

Elle Decor has declared that pastels are "in" - not my absolute favorite when used all together, but I think I could definitely mix them in in small bits. I do, however, really love these beautiful green and gold rimmed dishes by Anna Weatherley.

Designed by Patricia Urquiola, the Mandarin Oriental Barcelona opened in November, and low and behold, PASTELS! And, I love it. Not only do the pale blue, turquoise, yellow, orange, purple and cremes look soft, relaxing and beautiful together, but the architectural details turned out fabulous. The airy, net-like screen is my favorite part, and I can just imagine the wonderful things it does with lighting and shadows.

{It's a bit hard to see the true beauty of the colors in this photo, if you have the April issue of Elle Decor, check out page 52}

After researching the rest of the hotel, I found these other photos. I want to take a trip here, Barcelona is on my list ya know!

Being such a fan of architectural screens, I can't help but admire all these gold ones. They are a perfect reference to the hotel's Asian influence, yet in a modern and interesting way.

These rooms look amazing too! Good sleeps would be had! Something about white in a hotel room is high on my list of favs. I feels clean both visually and physically...

Here is a great example of the light shows created by all the decorative screening. I'm sure everything tastes better while eating in a space like this...

And after all my potential sight-seeing, I wouldn't have a problem having a drink on this rooftop patio, or taking a swim in this dark, cave-like pool...

Off to inform my husband about our next getaway! hehe

LA GALAXY Wins the Season Opener!

Well it was a fantastic evening all around with a Galaxy win vs. New England and some greatly improved spaces at the Home Depot Center.



If you haven't been to the Home Depot Center, you should buy some tickets to an event! It is such a fun and relaxing evening.





How fun are those topiaries!!





I have to admit... I was pretty excited about one of our renderings blown up like this! The cabanas should be in this week.. Can't wait!

A Fantasy Garden Delight

I really enjoyed Saara's blogs about incorporating plants into your home. I think the same concept is true for commercial environments, which is why I am so excited about the "fantasy garden" that the awesome folks at the Home Depot Center and GEORGE Interior Design will be unveiling this evening. The leadership team at the Home Depot Center, led by General Manager Katie Pandolfo, asked GEORGE I.D. to come up with a concept for this space, that would make it more enjoyable and user-friendly for their premium ticket holders.

Take a look at these BEFORE photos of this terrace on the back side of the Stadium Club restaurant (for those of you who have been to the HDC, it's the cool restaurant with the huge open windows hanging right over the field):




The main obstacles were no. 1, the coldness of the hardscape, and no. 2, the lack of field visibility from this particular location. What we together came-up with, was this "garden" concept, complete with "grass," plantings, places to sit, waiter-service and access to the action via TV screens with the game piped-in live. These were some of the sketches that we proposed for the East Terrace:




The first step was polishing a "cobblestone path" into the cement. Next, the synthetic turf was laid down by CALIFORNIA ULTIMATE TURF. http://californiaultimateturf.com/index.aspx
Here is a aerial pic taken right after the insanely real looking turf was laid down:






Looking softer already! The final step was installing the lounge furniture (seen here without cushions), 60" TV screens and fun topiary planters.



I know you want to see the AFTER photos after all this tantalizing talk but you are going to either have to go to the season opener tonight or wait until I post them this week! Still to come, photos of the improved Concourse Club and the Cabana Lounge (also at the Home Depot Center). Here is a link to the Home Depot Center press release for more information about the game and the center:http://admin.homedepotcenter.com/contentright.php?section=aboutus&page=news_article&news_id=695

Getting Back to Exciting

So my brother-in-law (thanks Scott!) turned me on to a totally cool boutique hotel called Ace Hotel, designed by New York design firm Roman and Williams.


What I'm loving about this hotel concept (there's one in Palm Springs, Portland, Seattle and now New York City) is how fresh vintage furniture and accessories are feeling right about now to this recession-weary, sick-of-shopping-for-clients-and-seeing-the-same-old-stuff, designer!

Love this description by Loft Life blogger Kyra Shapurji: "...each room is designed with layers and “takes its cues from the vibrancy of street life, the honesty of materials and the potential of invention..."

Apparently, it is the uber hip place to go in Manhattan... so maybe it's time to schedule that long overdue trip back to incredible NYC to see for myself:)


Reuse at its finest, rebirth of fantastic product designs to be discovered and enjoyed by a whole new generation.. what a concept!

http://www.acehotel.com/newyork/place