Custom Cookies- Favorite Fabrics as Frosting

It's that time of year again!!  The time for giving, appreciating the little things, and all that is jolly and merry…  Oh yeah, then there's the STRESS of figuring out what to give everyone!

We, here at Kim Armstrong ID, love and appreciate our clients so much, and always want to give them something heartfelt and meaningful.  This year, we dug and dug for a truly genuine gift, and I think we managed to exceed our own expectations!  With the help of Batter Up Cake Shop, located in Plano, TX, we created sugar shortbread cookies with custom frosting applied in the form of our client's favorite fabrics throughout their projects.

Take a look at some of these edible beauties!

Color for the New Year

So, I know we've been gone a while, but it's time again to share our interior design insider knowledge!  Recently, we took a trip to High Point Market, the largest home furnishings industry trade show in the world!  We covered (or tried to cover) over 10 million square feet filled with the latest and greatest products in home furnishings.  Needless to say, we were  exhausted and exhilarated by all the new products and upcoming trends we discovered.

As you may know, we here at Kim Armstrong Interior Design are avid color lovers… like we seriously have an addiction to the point that we coined the word, "colordiction"!  So, obviously, the color trends from High Point are the first things we'd like to share with you.

Everywhere we turned, there were variations of blue.  Ranging from aqua to navy, the stunning cool hue definitely stole the show!  Although emerald and kelly greens have been popular for quite some time, it doesn’t look like they are bowing out just yet.  Believe it or not, one of our favorite color pairings were none other than NAVY AND EMERALD GREEN!  Such a fun and classic combo.

Purple, plum, lavender, or whatever you want to call it, was pretty high up on the color radar.  It didn’t rear it’s head quite like the blue shades did, but we expect it to get more and more popular in the upcoming year.  Last, but not least, pops of orange are coming into the forecast.  It definitely wasn’t as prominent as the others, but was used here or there for a fiery flare.

Brass to the Past

Here are KAID, we do a lot of custom pieces because we like things to be PERFECT!  Oddly enough, doing custom pieces is often cheaper and quicker than purchasing from a vendor... who knew?  Anyway, in the process of creating some MAGENTA Louis XIV commode pieces, we needed to find hardware and ormolus for the piece.  Searching all over the internet, we found some great antique ormolu pieces, but finding vintage-esque handles and escutcheons was proving to be nearly impossible.  We did some research and discovered you can age brass...  Soooo, with lots of trial and error, we discovered the most efficient was is as follows:

1.  Make sure your brass pieces are REAL!

2.  Most newer brass pieces have a coating on it.  We got lucky and had the kind of coating that comes off with acetone.  If you have the stubborn coating, you're on your own!

3.  After removing the coating, rinse off the hardware with water and dry.

4.  Once dry, you'll need to submerse the pieces into Brass Darkening Solution J-3499.  Buy it HERE!

5.  It has all the directions on the back of the bottle, so just follow them from there!
6.  If you leave it in too long, all you have to do is polish it up a bit.  We always use Brasso, you can buy it at Lowe's or Home Depot in the cleaning department.

7.  Let us know how this works for you :)

RESULTS 

By Kim Armstrong Interior Design

Bohemian Bedroom and Tone on Tone Theater Room

Here are some room concepts we are preparing to bring to life for a client here in Dallas, Texas.  Kim Armstrong Interior Design developed these spaces through a detailed interview process and a customized questionnaire.  While this images are just a taste of what the finished products will be, these digital designs really help people visualize how the elements will relate.  It's also a lot less time consuming than doing a hand or computer-generated rendering!

Here is a Bohemian bedroom design with focus on having a place for everything.  Organization and clutter free design are always a must no matter what style you're going for.  We created storage in unique ways like putting shoes in the china hutch, using an old vintage desk as a makeup vanity, and attaching lace to ornate frames for jewelry display.

This tone-on-tone media room was designed with a masculine feel, but no woman would turn down watching a movie in this space.  By keeping the color minimal (on pillows and a chair) the rest of the room generates warmth with its color palette of grays, browns, tans, and creams.  Because the space's purpose is to watch movies, the focus should not be the rooms aesthetic, but to bring family and friends together to enjoy movies, reading, and each other's company.