September | 2011 | Valentina Expressions

Renaissance Canopy Bed | Valentina Cirasola | Interior Designer

27 Sep 2011 Leave a comment

by Valentina in Home Designs Master Tags: #1600sFurnitureStyle, #BedroomStyle, #CanopyBed, #EuropeanFurniture, #HistoryOfFurniture, Avaliving

It is a pleasant surprise to start the week with a project featured on Avaliving.
Thank you Avaliving for choosing my projects among all the very talented designers hosted on this site. Avaliving is a site for experienced designers who want to showcase their work to consumers and help them decorating or restyling their homes through on-line consultations.
This week’s theme was a timeless canopy bed. I presented my Renaissance Canopy Bed, which I designed for a teenager who enjoyed the room until it was time to leave the nest to go to college. This is still her room when she returns home and she is still enjoying the timeless décor.

Four-poster beds became very popular around the early 1600. They usually had side curtains, which afforded a great measure of warmth, as well as privacy to their occupants, although personal privacy concept was taking off as an idea, it was relatively unimportant at that time. Small kids still slept in the same room with the parents, as they did in the Middle Age time, while the older kids slept in one room all together. A desire for a greater measure of privacy was evidenced by the separation of the masters from their servants, who usually had beds in the smaller adjacent rooms, or near the kitchen.

Furniture was to be admired and to convey the wealth of its owners, but the primary function was to be used, just like today. Tables, chairs, containers furniture such as credenza and cupboards, curtained four-poster beds were of oak or walnut with elegantly turned legs and often hand painted with the application of gold or silver foil. Canopy beds, when they were very ornate, found their place in the middle of the bedroom as a focal point just to add style and character, or against the largest wall in the bedroom.

Today we have kept the same custom. In my room featured on Avaliving, the canopy bed takes the center stage in a very colorful room. It was custom designed accordingly to the girl’s taste. The frame at the feet of the bed was hand-painted on wood in the style of a Renaissance bucolic theme. A local metal worker, who executed my design, forged the metal posts beautifully.

https://valentinadesigns.com/portfolio-view/girl-bedroom-and-bath-palo-alto-ca/

A canopy bed can fit in any style décor, even in a contemporary style with straight lines, dark wood and neutral colors.
I like the spicy colors in this photo (below). I find it very relaxing and vibrant.
Vintage pillows on the coral velvet settee that sits at the base of this bed bring a splash of colors, while bringing life to a neutral color bedroom.

Have fun with a canopy bed, take inspiration from the past, or look around in stores to adapt elements that might be used for something else and make it your own. Not everything we see is meant to have one function only.

As the professional who is always ready, I shall be prompt and ready to help you with any of your needs, whether it will be decorating, designing, or remodeling. Ciao,
Valentina
www.Valentinadesigns.com

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A Design Success Story Video:

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Valentina Cirasola has been in business as a designer since 1990. She has helped a variegated group of fun people realizing their dreams with homes, offices, interiors and exteriors. She is a designer well-known to bring originality to people’s homes. As an Italian designer and true to her origins, she provides only the best workmanship and design solutions.
She is also the author of two books. Find her books on

Amazon: http://goo.gl/xUZfk0
Barnes&Nobles: http://goo.gl/q7dQ3w

The Plate In The Middle | Valentina Cirasola | Author and Designer

25 Sep 2011 2 Comments

by Valentina in The Good Life Tags: #HandPaintedCeramics, #ItalianCeramics, #ItalianFood, #ItalianLifeStyle, #ItalianTableCustom, #TableDesign, ItalyTravel

A few years ago, I was in Kyoto, Japan sitting in a restaurant with my friends and their friends to whom I got introduced in that moment. One of these new friends, a tall Japanese guy, wanted to welcome me, a blonde, blue eyes western woman visiting his country by showing me his appreciation with a special gesture. After a while we were sitting together enjoying each other company, the tall Japanese guy started to eat from my bowl of soup, truly surprising the rest of the company with this gesture.

Perhaps his behavior was too exuberant for being Japanese, or perhaps he really meant it. Later, my friends told me that his gesture was a sign of wanting to consolidate a new friendship, a creation of a tight bond that would last through the years.
(Above photo: One of my plates hand-painted in Italy – artist unknown).

Eating in someone’s plate in Japan means loyalty, trust, respect and it is an honor. That was his way of showing these feelings to me.
I really liked that very much. Never thought I was going to receive such a friendly treatment.

That moment brought me back in time when in Italy, my native country, people used to eat all together from a plate placed in the middle of the table. In every corner of the world, people do the same things, just like home, I thought.

Again, a few days ago, I was in a restaurant on American soil and a large plate of spaghetti was propped in the middle of the table to share with everyone in my party. These days, when I sit at a restaurant, sharing my dishes with the person I brought along is not always possible. Often, I go out with people I conduct business and it doesn’t seem right to share food in a friendly matter.
I am wondering though if this custom of sharing dishes is happening because so many cultures are living together, and we want to try everybody’s food, or because we feel the need to get closer to people.

As I said earlier this is not a new costume to me at all. I remember the painted large dish at the center of the table in my grandmother’s house and in all the families in the town of Italy where she lived. The plate was a simple hand-painted, huge size for hosting a large quantity of food for the entire family, mom, dad, all the kids, and the grandparents. Back then seniors lived in the family until their time on this earth expired.

The table setting was quite interesting. The hand-painted dish always took the middle of the table and it was filled with lunch or dinner food.
Each person had a fork, a wine glass, bread was sliced as needed and knives were placed loosely on the table for whoever needed them.
Everybody sat around the table and waited for the head of the family to sit as well. For the respect of that person, generally was the oldest person in the family, nobody would start eating until the person started first.

After the head of the family sat and dug the fork to get the first bite from the plate in the middle of the table, everybody dug in and ate from the same plate.
The last bite was reserved for the head of the family as well. Incredible, you might say and yet, I have lived in such an ancient society, even though I am not that old!

This seems unreal, almost a scene from a Medieval Shakespearean comedy, but less than 50 years ago this was a common scene in the South of Italy where I grew up. Everyday people, perhaps to brighten their days, ate in hand-painted, colorful dishware they bought at the street market. Nobles and wealthy people ate off of “chic white porcelain plates”.

Today modern Italians do not use hand-painted ceramic plates anymore for everyday use, nor for holidays either. They might hang them on kitchen walls for decorations, or they might place one small dish on a coffee table.
Italians just are not in love with such a beautiful antique art anymore. They love modern style, sleek, straight lines, no curlicues, and no fussy designs. The reason behind this is that Italians live and breathe antiquity every day.
In some cases, they live just across from famous buildings, statues, famous fountains, stairs, or Cathedrals and Corinthian capitals. All of that beauty is part of their everyday landscape, it is part of their lives. It’s just routine!

There are still many factories making hand-painted ceramics, but they are sold mostly to tourists. Tourists bring back to their countries the beauty of Italy. They find very chic eating off hand-painted Italian plates from Tuscany, Umbria, Puglia, and other regions.

Although Italians are very social people, convivial and relaxed around food, they also have distanced themselves from the custom of sharing food from the same plate. Here in America, very surprisingly, I am finding this costume back into my life and I do not know how to take it, I don’t know if I like it or not.

(Photo: https://www.pinterest.com/italianceramics/tile-murals-hand-painted-from-vietri)

I am thinking this is history repeating itself.

I am treasuring my hand-painted ceramics, as a matter of fact, every time I return from Italy, I hand carry in the plane a few hand-painted ceramic pieces.
I want a cheerful table whether I have a company or not, I want to surround myself with the beauty of my country and enjoy the colors of my heritage.

If you need help in locating a special hand-painted tabletop, or a custom-made backsplash for the kitchen, some specific plates patterns, I am here prompt and ready to help you with any of your needs, whether it will be decorating, designing, or remodeling. Ciao,
Valentina
www.Valentinadesigns.com

Valentina Cirasola is an Italian Interior Designer with a passion for kitchens and cooking. She operates in the USA and Europe.
She loves to remodel homes and loves to turn unattractive spaces into castles, but especially loves to design kitchens and wine grottos, outdoor kitchens and outdoor rooms, great rooms, and entertainment rooms.
She is the author of two regional Italian cuisine books, available here in this site on the Books page and in various other locations:
http://outskirtspress.com/ComeMiaNonna
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lnq8baaAq0M
http://outskirtspress.com/SinsOfAQueen

Animal Attraction | Valentina Cirasola | Interior Designer

17 Sep 2011 2 Comments

by Valentina in Home Designs Master Tags: #AnimalPrintColors, #AnimalPrintFashion, #AnimalPrintFurniture, #AnimalPrints, #DecoratingTips, #DecoratingWithAnimalPrints, #HomeFashion

Year after year, I am fascinating with the “animalier” look, even when animal prints were not so much the vogue, I have always worn at least one item in those prints. I believe my attraction comes from the visual rhythm in the movement an animal pattern can imprint in my mind, more than the animal magnetism I might feel.

Animal prints can stir feelings of vulgarity, just as much as feelings of elegance. In the ‘50s the elevated elegance was to wear one or two strings of pearls around the neck and only one small garment in animal print, perhaps a bill box hat, a pair of gloves, or a pair of ballerina shoes and never all together.

Today, animal prints are over used and produced in all colors. Being aware of how to use or wear them will put us on the path of elegance. Animal prints when paired up with a sober look, will give an extra touch of highly seductive femininity. In fact, today the animalier prints are a symbol of high-class fashion, no longer for sexy bombshells that want to make a lasting impression. Ethno-chic and retro styles are the rage in this year 2011 fashion, just as much they have been in past collections.

Pop animal prints spotted in blue, green, or red (confess it, you have one of those too), are fun to wear, but bordering vulgarity is easy to do when the pop colored animal patterns are matched with sequins, bright shiny stuff, or with the wrong colors.

It is not good to mix or match all the prints together, just because they are the same theme or color.

As an interior designer it happens often that I am attracted to animal prints in home décor.

It is good to provoke and create some strong emotions, when designing an interior. This zebra ottoman is not zebra skin, it is a printed leather and it looks so real!
(Photo found on catalog.sourcecollection.com https://www.pinterest.se/pin/196469602468482265)

In this interior, the client is a young woman with a super traditional taste. It took a lot of convincing to mix a racamier seat dressed in animal print (foreground in the photo) in her very traditional living room furnishing. I wanted to lift the heaviness of the rest of the room by adding a new dimension with one contemporary piece and a contemporary throw rug. An extravagant piece, as she called it was too scary for her, but it turned out her favorite piece in the entire décor. I am glad she saw what I saw.

Animalier prints have conquered thousand of women because it is young, transgressive, elegant or….less pretentious; it is a good fit for any age, or in any décor and above all it is fun for any occasion.

I am here to help if you need to lift the image of an area in your home with animal magnetism. Ciao.
Valentina

http://www.valentinadesigns.com

Valentina Cirasola is an Italian Interior Designer since 1990 and a former Fashion Designer, working in the USA and Europe. She blends fashion and interior well in any of her design work. She loves to remodel homes and turn unattractive spaces into castles. Fashion designing has been her first career choice that made her happy in her own fashion company for fifteen years before settling in the interior designing business. Find her books on

Amazon: http://goo.gl/xUZfk0
Barnes&Nobles: http://goo.gl/q7dQ3w

Tonight, Eggs, But Only À La Coque! | Valentina Cirasola | Author and Designer

16 Sep 2011 2 Comments

by Valentina in The Good Life Tags: #Coquetier, #EggÀLaCoque, #EggRecipes, #EggsForDinner, #FoodHistory, #KitchenGadgets, #MediterraneanDiet

In Italy, as I believe in most European countries eggs are not considered breakfast food only. Kids eat them as an afternoon snack and they are common to find in the home’s evening menu, as a simple, fast to prepare and nutritious food.
(Photo basket of eggs – free download pngimg.com)
(Click on each photo to view it larger).

In Europe lunches are the main meals and dinners are much lighter in portions and caloric intake. Often a bowl of salad, a piece of cheese with bread and olives, a glass of wine and a piece of fruit will make a good dinner.
Other times, some eggs scrambled with meat and vegetables also make a good meal.

In my native region of Puglia, in Italy, lamb cooked in the oven with fennel, green peas and scrambled eggs is one of the most common dishes. My favorite of all the egg styles is egg à la coque, oeuf à la coque in French, uovo alla coque in Italian. Before you embark on the egg à la coque ritual, because it is a ritual, you must have the right tools, the coquetier (egg cup) made of any material, from glass to ceramics to metals and the egg topper (cutter), also made in a variety of metals, each ranging in price from $10 up to $90. If you like to have a professional restaurant type topper, the price will be much higher.

For long time, I had searched for an attractive egg topper, if it was a second-hand piece, or an antique I would have not cared, I just wanted an interesting piece.
Once I was visiting some relatives in Bologna, Italy. Strolling around in downtown area, I stopped to admire the merchandise in the window of a jewelry store, it was clear to me the store carried some unique home pieces all in silver.
The store was elegant and expensive looking. I entered because it was inviting. I asked for an egg topper and the owner looked at me puzzled: “nobody uses this tool anymore, you must be a food connoisseur” he said.
(Photo egg topper: http://vermontkitchensupply.com/hic-stainless-steel-egg-topper)

Apostrophizing one as food connoisseur is a bit over rated, I just want to treat myself to good things in life. He showed the only example he had available and I purchased. I was lucky to find the egg topper I wanted, it is made of silver, not a contemporary design and they got rid of something that had not sold in years. I have used it ever since.

Back in the kitchen. Prepare some mouillettes, long bread strips.
I cut the bread in slices, then in strips, brush olive oil on each piece, roll them in grated Parmigiano cheese, place under the broiler and toast for a few minutes. The bread is for dunking inside the egg yolk and a small spoon is for scraping the egg white off of the interior shell.

In a small pan, boil the water, with a needle poke a hole on both ends of the egg, when the water boils, rest the egg on the dipper and slowly drop the egg in. Let it boil for 4 minutes, take it out and place it on the coquetier.

Make a decisive clean cut at the top with the egg topper to expose enough of the egg, serve with the warm toasted mouillettes.
Asparagus tips sautéed or grilled, or a small bowl of green peas will fit really well with egg à la coque.

I like caviar, for me it is like the parsley in every dish. If you like caviar, place it on the caviar dish and eat it together with the egg à la coque.
What a way to end the day! A lite dinner with eggs, caviar, a glass of wine and you will be happy, happy. I hope you will try it. Ciao,
Valentina
http://www.valentinadesigns.com

Valentina Cirasola is an Italian Interior Designer with a passion for kitchens and cooking. She operates in the USA and Europe. She loves to remodel homes and loves to turn ugly spaces into castles, but especially loves to design kitchens and wine grottos, outdoor kitchens and outdoor rooms, great rooms and entertainment rooms. She is also the author of two Italian regional cuisine books available here and in various locations:

http://outskirtspress.com/ComeMiaNonna
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lnq8baaAq0M
http://outskirtspress.com/SinsOfAQueen

Organize Your Kitchen To Please Your Soul | Valentina Cirasola | Interior Designer

05 Sep 2011 Leave a comment

by Valentina in Home Designs Master Tags: #CustomMadeKitchenCabinets, #kitchenDesign, #KitchenOrganization, #PreparingDiningTable, #SmallKitchen, #Tablecloth, #TableCustoms

Most of you know the kitchen is my favorite room, I like to design it and I like to live in it. In my family, the kitchen is the place to resolve our difficulties and the place where we invite the real friends to sit. (Click on each photo to view it larger).
I executed my schoolwork on the kitchen table, where I could be part of my family life, instead of being closed in my room alone.

Most of the kitchens of today are conveniently located near the garage or entry door and just because it is convenient turns into in a dumping ground for mail, bills, magazine and stuff.

Nowadays we got so complicated we must have Feng Shui in the kitchen too, but when I was growing up we called it common sense. Here you will find some of my life habits on how to keep the kitchen in harmony with the soul.

* September is the month of cleaning the kitchen cupboards inside and out. Prepare the kitchen for the coming holidays, make room for new serving dishes and cooking equipment you might buy this Fall. Some are so inviting!
This is the time you will get the opportunity to throw away or donate all the items you don’t want anymore. Get rid of those non-matching plates and glasses that have lost their companions. Cupboards need to be completely emptied out of contents at least every change of season to keep a clean positive energy in the kitchen. If the job feels too overwhelming, get help, there are plenty people out there who want to do this kind of work.

Keep all the bills in the home office, study, or any room dedicated to office/school tasks, but please don’t take the bills in the bedroom. Kitchen functions are for cooking, tasting, and conversations. Keep everything else out of it, unless you have a dedicated desk in a corner of the kitchen.
Today we see mail with suspicion. Mail is no longer welcomed, as when a letter arrived from far away, or we received friendly cards from people we knew. Today we get bombarded with emails and our post mail is filled with advertisements and junk mail. Stand by a fireplace or trash when reading the mail of the day and don’t even let it in the kitchen.
Recycle all the store plastic bags you bring home with food or other items. I reuse them as garbage bags and I have no need to buy more plastics. Recycle also any paper bags for other uses, such as packaging wrap, for more shopping, or to keep in the car as garbage bags. In my garage, I have two containers, one for recycled plastic bags and one for paper bags rolled up neatly.
Organize all the food plastic containers, find the matching lids and keep them together in one place. Throw away containers without lids. The same applies to cooking tools. There is nothing more irritating than being in need of a cooking tool ready for the task and instead finding a tangle up mess of tools in the kitchen cabinet drawers.
(photo: BHG)

If kitchen space will not allow to store large pots, baking pans or slow cookers, take these items to an adjacent closet.
Appliances garage and roll out shelves are designed on purpose to keep small appliances out of sight and counters neatly clean.
I like to keep my expensive chef knives in a drawer with a magnet to keep the knives from sliding back and forth and to protect the tips.
To have a fresh lemony air in the kitchen, put lemon peels in the sink garbage disposal, lemon peel in the dishwasher utensil tray and lemon potpourri sachet in each kitchen drawer and cabinets.
I don’t like my kitchen steamed up with cooking vapors, not only it creates condensation, but the odors will stay in the house, especially if the kitchen has an open floor plan communicating with other rooms. The vapors and grease will go up to ceiling and will come down on the upholstered furniture. Keeping windows opened during cooking will redirect vapors outside and you might hear the wild birds singing at you for the good aroma you are producing in the kitchen.
Have you thought of a calendar for family activities and one for weekly menus? My mother added a comment at the very top of our weekly menu calendar:
“If any of you don’t like this week menu, there are plenty restaurants that will take your money”. Needless to say we, teenagers kids ate at home all the time.
Prepare your table with a tablecloth and napkins, every time you eat at the table, even if you eat alone. Feeding your soul with beauty and comfort will distract your stomach from overeating.

Enjoying fresh food prepared in the kitchen, to me this is an important ritual. Kitchen and food nourish and bound the family together.
Kids who grew up with good food and pleasant kitchen atmosphere will always want to return home even after they have formed their life.
(Photo right found on: http://www.magazyndomowy.pl/przechowywanie-w-kuchni/zdjecie/14971/)

I am here ready to help, if you need to organize your kitchen and feel really overwhelmed with the task, just leave your name in the box below.
Ciao,
Valentina
www.Valentinadesigns.com

Valentina Cirasola is an Italian Interior Designer with a passion for kitchens and cooking. She operates in the USA and Europe. She loves to remodel homes and loves to turn ugly spaces into castles, but especially loves to design kitchens and wine grottos, outdoor kitchens and outdoor rooms, great rooms and entertainment rooms. She is the author of two published books on regional Italian cuisine, available here in this site on the Books page and in various other locations:

http://outskirtspress.com/ComeMiaNonna

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lnq8baaAq0M

http://outskirtspress.com/SinsOfAQueen

Cafe’ Life | Valentina Cirasola | Interior Designer

02 Sep 2011 2 Comments

by Valentina in Home Designs Master Tags: #1700sStyle, #CafeDécor, #DamaskFabrics, #DecoratingTips, #EuropeanFashion, #ItalianCafe', #ItalianCafeLife, #VeniceCafeFlorian, ItalyTravel

How many times have you sat at a café in Italy enjoying the restful moment that a cup of coffee can give you? You were observing people around you, occasionally and without being invited into the conversation you heard all that people were saying at the next tables. The colorful street life took all your attention and you wondered if people sitting at the café ever worry about anything. The atmosphere does feel as an outdoor living room, conducive to relaxation. But this is what café life is all about, leaving the worry behind to enjoy a small part of the day by ourselves and regroup, or connect with friends and cultivate relationships.

In Europe and Italy coffee shops have always been the cove to go to, often during the day, to stay, relax, meditate, discuss with friends and like-minded people and to make work deals. News and gossips came from the local cafés; often people asked what was going on in the cafés at the start of the day. One more important aspect of the café life is to find a love match. Why not? At least the catch is right there in front of your eyes, in all the details and with no surprises. In the past women were not permitted entry in the cafés, thus strolling by, was just good enough to be noticed.

(Cafe’ Florio)

Part of the Italian history was written in the cafés of Torino, the first capital of Italy, an elegant city in the Piedmont region.

Camillo Benso Count of Cavour frequented Caffè Florio where he met often with Italian officials to talk about the fate of the country. In this café we can taste the excellent pâtisserie production and appreciate the elegant atmosphere as we can in all of the city’s historic cafés. The huge and complicated coffee machines of the past make the focal point in the Italian historic cafés. Such a beauty on display!

(Cafe’ Grilli)

From Torino, going down on the Italian peninsula we can enjoy Caffe’ Gilli in Florence built in 1733 during the reign of Gian Gastone de’ Medici, decorated in the Liberty style of early 1900s. For two and half century of history the café has been the cove for artists, painters, literates and political people. Its sophisticated décor, complemented with frescoed ceilings and glass chandeliers from Murano, never allowed fistfights and flying chairs or dishes, as it happened often in other cafés, where the décor was not so sumptuous and invited boisterous behavior.

(Cafe’ Gambrinus)

At the elegant Café Gambrinus in Naples, the art of making coffee doesn’t stop at a cup of coffee. I tasted the finest baba, tiramisu’ and a lemon sorbet served in a hollowed out lemon peel that was the end of this world.

Naples is proud of the heritage left by the famous coffee shop, Caffe’ Molaro in Piazza Dante, whose origins go back to early 1800s.
The brewing of the coffee was simple family style: coffee ground was boiled in water in a clay pot and served in small clay containers. The fortune of Caffé Molaro came with other ideas that had nothing to do with coffee. The Café offered pastries, a variety of gelato flavors and a new sophisticated atmosphere with piano music. It attracted the upper classes that locked to the Café to experience the nightlife.
However, the creation of a new elixir, a digestive after dinner drink to serve with an improved coffee drink was the real novelty of Neapolitan Caffe’ Molaro and brought much success to the Café.

(Cafe’ Florian)

My favorite of all coffee houses in Italy has been forever Café Florian in Venice, in Piazza San Marco. Opened on December 29, 1720 under the name Alla Venezia Trionfante (To Triumphant Venice) was soon called Florian after its owner’s name Floriano Francesconi. This year Café Florian is celebrating its 291st birthday. What a fun place this is! I visit it every time I am in Venice, as I try to land there on purpose when I fly home to Italy to spend two-three days in the mysterious town.

Through the centuries this café too has been the hangout of artists, painters, literates, actors and actresses, political people and nobles of all casts, rich merchants and foreign visitors. Situated under the porticos of Piazza San Marco, this elegant café carries all the secrets of a rich and peaceful Venice of the past.
If walls could talk, they would tell us the stories of Goethe, Lord Byron or Casanova’s dangerous liaisons, always in search of new female lovers. Casanova, a gentle soul, really loved his women, cultivated their beauty, placed them on a pedestal and made them feel appreciated. Don Giovanni, au contraire, a young, arrogant, sexually prolific nobleman, abused and outraged all the women he had an encounter with. Casanova is my icon I had to defend him.

(Sala Uomini Illustri – Photo above – https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Sala_Uomini_Illustri_Caff%C3%A8_Florian.jpg)

The typical Venetian interior style décor of the 1700s is the reflection of a secretly permissive era, during which coquetries and affected manners were the reach of the day. 1700s décor was very ornate, as Venice was one of the five wealthy Republics in Italy, independent from the rest of the government.

Café Florian is the summary of Venice’s wealth. It shows in the intricate details of mosaic floors, coffered or faux painted ceiling, rich colors on the walls, Damask upholstery of the chairs, expensive carved wood details and large gold foil mirrors. Today we can still admire all the artistic works made by hand by the masters of that era.

Café Florian was and still is the cove of gossips, fashion talks, political discussions, but especially the center of cultural, music concerts and art events, as the famous Biennale of Venice, organized the first time in 1895 in honor of King Umberto and Queen Margherita of Italy.

Starbucks tried to recreate the same atmosphere of Italian cafés in its franchised establishments, but sorry guys, the charm, the mystery and the magic is not there! Starbucks clients are the new yuppies, or professionals with a home based businesses that want to escape the boredom and solitude of their home office and find themselves even more alone inside of Starbucks with their computers and wi-fi.
Café’ is for relaxation and free the mind for a short while, not to develop work!!!

Now going back to my interior designer profession. Often, I have recreated tasting room in kitchens and wine cellars for homes, why not design a café corner in any part of a home, even in the garden. It would be so special and dainty! I have mine and it is perfect for me, let’s design yours!
Let me know if I can help you creating your cafe’ life in your home by leaving your name in the box below. Ciao,
Valentina
www.Valentinadesigns.com

Valentina Cirasola is an Italian Interior Designer in business since 1990 and a former Fashion Designer. She has been developing projects in the USA and Europe serving a variegated group of fun people. She blends well fashion and interior in any of her design work. She loves to remodel homes and loves to turn unattractive spaces into castles. Being Italian born and raised, Valentina’s design work has been influenced by Classicism and stylish, timeless designs. She will create your everyday living with a certain luxury without taking away a comfortable living. Find her books on

Amazon: http://goo.gl/xUZfk0
Barnes&Nobles: http://goo.gl/q7dQ3w