Guides Interior Designs

And here is a beautiful cottage style China cabinet and serving buffet to go with the rooster painting above.

Shabby Cottage Style Vintage China Cabinet & Serving Buffet

From: Pink Paper Rose

This gorgeous vintage chandelier will make dinner sparkle and seem like a special occasion every night.

Vintage Wedding Cake Chandelier

From: Sheri

And here is a nice set of table and chairs. I like the contrast of dark wood with the white paint.

Harvest Dining Table

From: Black Mountain Furniture

And why not add a bright floral arrangement to add a bit of color to the room.

Rhapsody Floral Arrangement

From: Wreathmic Creations

Room With A View - Welcome To My World

6:44 AM charts, decor, designstyleguide, functional art, furniture, home accessories, home decor, interior design, maps, metal, mosaic, original, painting, room with a view, tabletop art, wall art, world No comments

Whether your world is big or small, mad or wonderful, it is a wide, wide world in terms of interior design and home decor. Liven up any room in your home with handmade decor featuring coast to coast world and map graphics by the Design Style Guide team on Etsy.

This world map wall decal from rEvolv3 r comes in several sizes and colors, and is especially suited to a living room or home office.

Home accessories, such as this custom decoupaged map tray from Carolina's Cottage, are sure to assist your desk or tabletop organization while incorporating visual interest into any decorating style.

This vintage globe turned wall clock from IMOTIME adds dimension, color, and humor to the art of clock-watching.

A black and white topography art pottery bowl from Love Art Works is large enough for showcasing favorite tabletop treasures while allowing the design to shine through.

Handcut and etched copper, over glossy textured red, punches up a representation of the Seattle, Washington area in wall art from Copper Leaf Studios.

Roads Traveled, an original acrylic painting from Fauve Studio, suggests a world map in striking, abstract style.

Functional art, this storage table from Kelly Guswiler Studio displays a Chesapeake Bay, Virginia chart map preserved under polyacrylic, and accented with stained glass mosaic tiling and rain glass doors.

A Little Bit of Old and A Little Bit of New

3:14 AM candle holder, chairs, clocks, designstyleguide, dog bed, DSG Handmade Directory, footstool, furniture, handmade, lighting, living room, lounge chair No comments

Anyone who has even been to my house can see that it is full of an eclectic array of hand-me-downs, rescued items, thrift store pieces, new items and even a few antiques. I think, and I've been told by others who are maybe just being nice to me, that my house is a perfect mixture of old and new. And after spending all week refinishing two old pieces of furniture to fit in with a few new pieces I recently purchased, I thought I would see what some of the members of Design Style Guide had to offer in the furniture department. I was not disappointed.

Here are a few of my favorite finds.

I love the lines on this Havana Lounge Chair and Ottoman by Lunar Lounge Design. And it would add a perfect punch of color to the room.

And these wonderful, vintage Hollywood Regency chairs by KLUpholstery would look perfect flanking a cafe table in a corner of your house.

I love all of Mad Tea Party Furniture's items. This Age of Innocence Hand Painted Clock is one of my favorites. It would make such a fun statement in your house.

I love this Girtz Plasma TV Stand by Shaka Studios. The primitive finish adds a softness to the room that provides a nice counterpoint to the harsh lines of your plasma TV.

Everyone needs a small stool to reach the top-shelve items in your cupboards and closets. Why not use one with a little personality like this Pullman-Type stool from Wislancraft.

And accent your room decor with these Art Deco-style candle holders from Arzu Musa.

And don't forget the puppy! These Uniquely Handcrafted Doggie Beds by Jakeybb are perfect for your pampered pet.

To find more fabulous, hand-crafted furniture finds, be sure to search "designstlyeguide" on etsy. Or visit the Design Style Guide website.

Room With A View - Zen and Now

6:00 AM art, candle, colorful, design style guide, etsy, furniture, glass, handcrafted, handmade, home decor, interior design team, lime, metal, photography, pottery, raspberry, room with a view, zen No comments

Buddha in the World Original Mixed Media by Zen Dot Studio

Humboldt Esquire Lively Lidded Vessel by Barbara Dunshee

Habitat Chair by l+j industries

Violets and Birchwood Beaded Soy Candle by Mireasma

Glass and Copper Garland by Tapestry Arabian Farm

Fused Glass Vase by Moon of Glass

Raisin Magic Orchid Original Photograph by From My Eye

The Many Faces of Wood

1:11 AM artist, cabinets, cupboards, furniture, jeffbuildsfurniture, jn3, natural wood, secondlineframes, shabbysantafe, wood, woodworking No comments

I'm a woodworker. Yeah, I used to be a professional graphic artist. Before that I worked on a magazine, worked for a print shop, worked for a department store... and I played drums back in the '80s in a progressive metal band, a power trio called Loremaster. But I'm a woodworker now, and I like it.

I get to create useful, artistic designs, see them come to life in front of my eyes, and then people pay me money for my creations. How amazing is that? As a graphic designer, more often than not, I had to make everything exactly the way the (usually) non-artistic client thought it should be, even when he hired me for my artistic abilities in the first place. Now I get to design first and sell later, and the headaches are just gone, like your insurance agent after a big storm!

But this isn't about me. This is about artistic expression using the work of three other artists, all woodworkers and all members of Design Style Guide, as examples.

Woodworking is both a craft and an art. At least it can be both. I suppose anybody with a saw and a nail gun could slap together a garden bench or a shelf, but it takes an artist to make it look like, well... art. For example:

This beautiful chair and ottoman were built by Shabby Santa Fe. On the surface the actual construction might appear simple. I have never built anything like this, though, and it will probably be some time before I attempt such a venture. Peeling the bark, cutting round mortise and tenon joints, leaving all the bends and twists in the finished product, these are foreign concepts to me. I love the results, but the way I work in my shop is very different than this.

You really can't argue with the flair and appeal of these wonderful pieces. I figure anybody could nail together a bunch of branches with the bark removed and call it a chair. When you look at a chair from Shabby Santa Fe you see the art and the craft of furniture making. This is what woodworkers strive for: That perfect balance. I aim for the same thing whether I'm building a lectern or a candle holder. I just have to make sure all my parts are perfectly straight before I put them together. The chair and ottoman you see above, there were no such constraints placed on their construction. Sometimes it amazes me how differently one artist works as compared to another.

This photo frame from SecondLine Frames, like all their frames, is "built from authentic wood siding salvaged from homes destroyed during Hurricane Katrina." On the crafty side of things, the construction could be fairly straightforward: You get some wood, you make a few cuts, you knock together a frame. Great. What sets these frames apart from the norm, however, is the artistry that goes into them. The right wood, the right ratio of old paint to exposed wood, the proper size, how much wood to show without distracting from the photograph displayed in the frame. All these considerations, and probably a lot more, go into the planning and building of these beautiful frames, even if they aren't on a conscious level.

You can see the difference between the first frame and this one, of course. Do you like one more than the other? My preference is for the first one, but you may disagree. As designers of furniture and accessories for the home we have to take into consideration that one design may not appeal to everyone. We come up with several versions and let the customers pick what they want. Someone else will always come along to take the rest. That's a reversal from the way I had to work as a graphic artist.

Moving along, let's take a look at this beautiful cabinet from Jeff Builds Furniture. It's a cupboard designed to hold towels and bedding, or it can be used as a pantry. This is certainly not something that existed in the past, but cabinets like this seem to be catching on, rather like the "bathroom cupboards" that have become popular in the last few years. I like it because it is functional art, the sort of thing I'm driven to create in my own shop.

This design is simple, rustic, elegant, useful and beautiful. It took skill to build it, but it took the eye of the artist to envision it's lines and proportions.

Designs like this don't create themselves. Artists get ideas, glimpses of something great, and they strive to bring those ideas to life. I do this every day in my shop. Someday I will build something as cool as the pieces you see here.

If you make Handmade Home Decor Items, come and join our team by clicking on the image below.

Not only will you be able to network with us, but also you will have the ability to post your listing on our team website.

If you like this blog entry you'll love my blog, jn3 Hand Crafted Woodworks. Check it out. I'll be glad you did.

Inspired By Nature...

9:46 AM birds, chairs, collage, design style guide, designstyleguide, digital paintings, furniture, home decor, nature, owls, photographic prints, pillows, pottery, room decals No comments

It is a foggy morning here in Portland. As I sit facing the window, I can easily daydream myself into a forest with thick mist clinging to the tree branches. Momentarily I am a bird perched with my beak tucked securely under one wing...delightful. So let's see what the Design Style Guide can do for my fantasy...

The brilliant blues of this "What A Hoot" pillow cover from Sun2Create add a retro touch to my reverie. Measures 12x16" / priced at $14

A refinished chair from Vintage Renewal - a beautiful combo of crisp white linen and a vintage floral pattern with appliqued birds up the back. Perfect for daydreaming and priced at $480.

Speaking of fantasy - a digital collage from Blame The Moon, combines original illustration, photography and digital painting. Print measures 8x10" / priced at $18

How about a Fancy Scrolled Tree With Birds vinyl wall decal from Chuck E Byrd Wall Art - no need to tuck under a wing in the warmth of your own living room! Measures 12x20" / priced at $24.95

This "Tattoo-Bluebird Sphere" vase from One-off Pottery and Modern Ceramics can come to roost easily just about anywhere in your home. Measures 3.4" tall / priced at $50

Ah, here I am, full circle, back outside in the chilly morning mist. At least I have some company in this original acrylic painting titled "Waiting In Moonlight" from Snapdragon Studios. Measures 24x30" / priced at $450

Is Santa Bringing You a Plasma TV?

6:00 AM furniture, furniture handmade No comments

Plasma and LCD TVs are sure to be lurking under many a Christmas tree this season. Give your new tv a home worthy of the investment with one of these audio video furniture masterpeices:

Girtz Plasma TV Stand

From: Shaka Studios

Plasma TV Pie Safe

From: Shaka Studios

Brazos Plasma TV Stand

From: Shaka Studios

Media Console

From: Black Mountain Furniture