Home Designs Master | Valentina Expressions

Guest Blog: Cooking Is A Form Of Love | Valentina Cirasola | Interior Designer

28 Jun 2013 2 Comments

by Valentina in Home Designs Master Tags: #ComeMiaNonnaReturnToSimplicity, #ItalianCulture, #kitchenDesign, #RedVoyageIntoColors, #WallDecals, #WallLettering, #WiseDecorWallDecals, http://www.wisedecor.com/blog/cocooning-in-the-kitchen

A couple of months ago Wisedecor.com contacted me to contribute to each others blog with articles on home subjects. They specialize in personalizing home décor with favorite wall letters, words, quotes & decals to apply in any room with any style. WiseDecor Decorative Lettering offers a fresh and inexpensive way to decorate.

(Photo: ©Valentina Interiors & Designs)

Last week my article Cocooning In The Kitchen was published on their site:
“Do you remember the film Moonstruck with Cher? Many scenes in that film take place in the kitchen. Loretta Castorini (Cher) comes home after Johnny Camereri proposed marriage to her in an Italian restaurant. Her father Cosmo is listening to Opera on the radio in the living room. Loretta wants to announce she is getting married to Johnny Camereri and invites her father to the kitchen for a glass of Italian Spumante. A serious matter is always discussed in the hearth of the house, around the kitchen table! (…).
(…) In most families the kitchen means harmony, it is the cocoon where we find the answers to the majority of our questions in life and where everyday we go back to relax around food.
Today’s kitchens have returned to be the same multi-functional great rooms of the Middle Age, where cooking, entertainment, receiving guests, sleeping and resolving issues happened all through the day. (…)”
Continue reading my article on http://www.wisedecor.com/blog/cocooning-in-the-kitchen

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Today, I am sharing their thoughts on how Cooking Is A Form Of Love and this is the article written by: http://www.wisedecor.com

“The kitchen is the heart of the Italian house. Whereas formal guests are welcomed in the living room and presented with coffees and pastry for relaxed catching-up sessions, members of the family would rather meet around the kitchen table. Meals are scheduled to accommodate different timetables and daily routines and to ensure that everybody can enjoy food together. There is something special about eating with the other members of your family. It is far more than simply feeding and sustaining your body; it is an act of love. As Italians would say, “cucinare è una forma d’amore” (cooking is love made visible), and to share food is the best way to display that love. On one hand, the person in charge of cooking will prepare tasty dishes as a way to tell how much she/he cares for the other family members. On the other hand, those eating will reciprocate that love by eating up what’s on the plate and asking detailed questions about ingredients, origins of the recipe, and difficulties encountered in the preparation. Quite often, the story of how a meal was prepared will initiate other stories about how the recipe was discovered and in which circumstances. As a result, conversations about a specific food will often lead to the narrating of stories about people, places, and occasions that somehow relate to the dish in question. It is fair to say that every recipe carries a story that the cook will happily share to entertain and please her/his loved ones or guests.

Interestingly, keys, wallets and purses will be left in the kitchen, as it is the “safe” of the house – someone will always be there on guard. More importantly, this is the last place you visit before leaving the house to double-check that you have all the necessary items before exiting the house.

It is fairly common to hear Italians talking about food; they exchange recipes, rate restaurants they have been to, and discuss how to improve dishes they have already made. It is fascinating to realize how, whenever in the company of Italian people living abroad or travelling outside of Italy, they always end up talking about food. And yet, this is not due to a lack of other possible topics for conversation, rather it is the concrete expression of the degree to which their upbringing has molded their ways of approaching people and establish relationships. Talking about food is often an icebreaker and also a way to strengthen emotional bonds. This is why there is nothing more accurate than the saying, “it is around the table that friends understand best the warmth of being together” (See the Italian translation for this designed by WiseDecor Wall Decals in Figure 3).

Meals will never be quick and rushed; rather they will extend for hours while several plates are introduced and more bottles of wine opened. Every conversation will start with an assessment of the food presented followed by compliments to the cook and requests to exchange cooking tips. Many other stories will originate from the initial food conversation and plans for new dinners will be made to taste and share new recipes. The length of dinner parties is impressive and the amount of time spent around the kitchen table eating often surprises non-Italians. In fact, it is important to understand that in Italy, to eat is not always directly related to being hungry. Rather, Italians think that “appetite comes with eating”! It is not surprising then to be forced-fed by the cook who will always argue that it is indeed by eating that you will eventually realise how hungry you are. Buon Appetito!”

Valentina
http://www.valentinadesigns.com

Valentina is an Italian Interior Designer with a passion for kitchens, cooking and extensive knowledge of food. 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. Copies of her three books are available on

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

Garden Art | Valentina Cirasola | Interior Designer

20 Jun 2013 4 Comments

by Valentina in Home Designs Master Tags: #GardenArt, #GardenDesign, #GardenLighting, #MetalSculpture, #RecycledFurniture, #ValentinaInteriorsDesigns

Sure this is true, as my found picture says (author unknown), but what else does one need besides books and a garden? Maybe wines.
(Click on each photo to view it larger).

Garden styles are various and personal. My personal style of garden is a bit rustic, not too manicured and a lot of whimsy. After I create the garden bone, I build around this structure often with recycled items. I find it very easy to create garden art re-using and repurposing items that already had a previous life. You would be surprised how an old bathtub or furniture, such as a unique coffee table, baby crib or an iron bed can be transformed into a beautiful piece of garden art. Just use your imagination and garden art can be almost anything.

Trellises or other walkways are ideal to create secluded area with a romantic atmosphere, or to divide a path from another scene; statues of cherubs and angels with fountains are perfect to recreate a classical style garden, bridges and lanterns for a Japanese style, just to name a few.

Specific plant will determine the style of your garden from tropical to nautical theme, or wildlife habitats.

Metal is not a strange material to include in garden art, it offers many possibilities for benches, arches and sculpture. I would suggest large pieces of metal sculptures, the small things get lost between the foliage. If the metal sculpture gets rusty, don’t worry it looks even better showing the patina of the time. For metal gazebos it might be better to use aluminum looking like old metal, it is less expensive and durable. Personally, I am not into simulations, I prefer the real things, metal must be metal, stone must be stone and wood must be wood. One last thing, have you thought of mirrors as garden art? Keep in mind not to place a mirror directly in the sun, it will catch fire and burn the house down, but placed anywhere in the shadow, under the eave and between heavy foliage will double the beautiful image of your garden.

Rust-Blue-Vignette

Have you thought of what you might see reflected in the mirror other than the opposite image of your garden? I saw myself as an Opera singer in costume warbling my voice out loud while putting flowers and leaves on my face as make-up. Ciao,
Valentina
http://www.valentinadesigns.com

As a designer in business since 1990, I am interested in helping people designing their interior and exterior spaces to add that feeling of peace and relaxation everywhere.
Find copies of my three books on

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

Up Above | Valentina Cirasola | Interior Designer

05 Jun 2013 4 Comments

by Valentina in Home Designs Master Tags: #ArchitecturalDetails, #HomeRemodeling, #HowToDecorateWitnMoldings, #MondingsandTrims, #ShelfOverWindow, #Shelving

Delight of my eyes! It excites me to see homes well cared with elegant details that are not always expensive. It takes only a few pieces of trim material, perfect measurements, a coat of paint or stain and voila’ it’s magic!
A simple window with a shelf on top is an opportunity to add some memory of your life, or collectibles. The shelf bracket rod functions as a curtain rod for a finished look.

A naked passageway dressed with multiple layers of cornice molding and a couple of side corbels just speaks the language of elegance.

What to say when two walls painted in different colors come together? The corner molding is the perfect solution and I would add a vertical light hidden inside the molding to give luminosity to each colored wall.

(photo credits given to the respective owners)

As in fashion, clothes matter, but it is really the body that shapes the clothes. Pleats and darts give fullness to a body that is not full and straight lines are better suitable for round bodies. The same is for the house. The house is a shell, the interior spaces tailor our lifestyle and the details add value to the property, don’t spare them.
“God Is In the Details” ~ Mies Van Der Rohe ~ Ciao,
Valentina
http://www.valentinadesigns.com

Through my writing and suggestions, I am hoping to enrich your sensibility towards aesthetic, design, style and inspire you to live in beauty. I have loved my profession as an interior designer since 1990. I am here ready to offer consultations on-line if you need and in the traditional way of in-home consultations. Check out my latest book on colors ©RED-A Voyage Into Colors, available on
Amazon: http://goo.gl/xUZfk0
Barnes&Nobles: http://goo.gl/q7dQ3w

Daydreaming On The Orient Express | Valentina Cirasola | Interior Designer

28 May 2013 15 Comments

by Valentina in Home Designs Master Tags: #1920sStyle, #AgathaChristieThrillers, #ArtDecoStyle, #ArtOfDressing, #DressingUpForTravel, #OrientExpressTravel, #TravelFashion, #TravellingInStyle

In a few minutes, the doors of the most famous and chic train in the history will start its journey through Europe countryside and I will be on board. Handsome men in starched uniforms greet me with big smiles making sure the accommodation in my private cabin is just right. All the passengers are treated with white gloves, whether they are royalty or restaurant-car conductors, so much elegance, so much mystique here.

I see Agatha Christie, Miss Marple, and Hercule Poirot boarding the train. Is a murder going to happen tonight while I am on the train? Resolving mystery in thriller films has been one of my specialties.

I asked Agatha Christie where she gets the inspiration for her thriller books and she said the plots come to her at such odd moments when she is walking along the street, or examining a hat shop. Miss Marple looks like a sweet grandmother, one of those grandmothers we know in the country.

In Venice, I spotted a lad dressed in black boarding the Venice Simplon-Orient Express. He appears unaccompanied, his walk is distinctively elegant, but an aura of mystery surrounds him. Will he be involved in the murder? It’s all to be seen, but in the meantime, I want to know him. Of course, someone who is open, friendly and comes to me saying “Hi, I am so and so…” could not attract me, instead, those who have a mysterious and distant look attract me.

The smell of the Mahogany inlaid wood inebriates me, or wait, perhaps it’s the smell of fresh flowers everywhere filling the wagons with expensive perfume scents. No, I know what it is: the popping of the champagne in the silver bucket polished to perfection! I can ask for champagne anytime and anywhere on the train. Bell stewards with white gloves will respond to any request all hour of the day.

Where is that lad? His piercing green eyes are dangerous. For a moment he took off his dark sunglasses and I saw the bottom of the Mediterranean Sea in those eyes.

I am looking at my cabin, no details have gone unchecked, I smell luxury and comfort. The Venice Simplon-Orient Express reflects the current deco period style. Will I ever have a client who likes to decorate a house in the deco period style? Or am I going to be stuck in the Belle Époque? I know the deco period is modern and graphic, the only sinuous lines are the representation of lilies flowers on furniture, lighting, door panels, glass, and accessories. Flooring often is checkered or made of mosaic, strong and vibrant colors characterize all floors in this roaring age. Black is the common denominator that unites a home décor in this style as well as fashion.

The Gatsby’s are on the train too. This will be a load of fun! Zelda Fitzgerald is so beautiful and “all over the place” exactly how people who know her have described her. It has been said her talent lays in drinking and there she goes with her first morning glass of champagne!

The Venice Simplon-Orient Express licenses its name from SNCF (French railways), the trademark owners. It will take us from Venice to Paris and London. To some people, the Orient Express is synonymous with this modern decade of 1920-30s traveling in style on the route between Paris and Constantinople and to some others, it simply evokes memories of past steam engines and luxury carriages. To me, it means venturing, replicating, and creating in homes a dreamy setting with this fantastic train décor.

But wait where did the lad dressed in black go? We could pop a cork together. Ah, he is there at the piano bar I can see the large silver buckles on his black shoes, he is entertaining Madame Pochette.

What a fabulous woman she is, petite, and full of spunk! She created extravagant pochettes (clutch bags) in her life, they were true work of art. Great fashion designers requested her pochettes for their fashion collections, but she created them as her fantasy dictated and that was it, never bent to any particular request. One day she opened her Bohemian guesthouse in Cannes that she called Madame Pochette. Her guesthouse attracts high calibers poets, painters, musicians, lovers, and politicians with all the best intrigues one can weave in a juicy novel.

(Photo credits to Simplon Orient Express)

Chic people mingle around in the train, women dresses are so elegant, black tie is required for dinner at night and a musician shows off his pianist skills with the music of the modern Jazz Age of Gershwin, Armstrong, Duke Ellington, Cole Porter, and King Oliver.

Enrico is the name of my mystery man; apparently, he is Italian, apparently looks like a man who makes an art in wasting women, apparently his voice is suave and hypnotic, apparently is so easy to fall in love with him. He is like an octopus, once his tentacles brush against a woman, they feel enveloping, but an hour later he strikes his final grip that will take a breath away. No, I don’t need this kind of man, but before I could say no, we are already dancing the tango, wait, should we not be dancing Charleston?

The sound of a cellular phone brought me out of trans into reality. The music in the piano bar was playing, but Enrico was not there and neither were the Gatsby’s, Agatha Christie, Miss Marple, nor Hercule Poirot. I was day daydreaming on the Venice Simplon-Orient Express this April 2013 and this is my story. Ciao,
Valentina
http://www.valentinadesigns.com

I was serious when I was wondering if I will find a client who wants to decorate in the deco period style.

Valentina Cirasola, is the principal designer and owner of Valentina Interiors & Designs. She is a trained designer and has been in business since 1990. She works all over the world through Skype line and in the traditional in home consultations producing concepts for remodeling, restoration of historical dwelling, upgrading, décor restyling and home fashion. Vogue magazine and many prominent publications in California featured Valentina’s work. She has made four appearances on T.V. Comcast Channel 15 and has been interviewed on various Blog Talk Radios. Author of three books all-available on
Amazon: http://goo.gl/xUZfk0
Barnes&Nobles: http://goo.gl/q7dQ3w

Pattern | Valentina Cirasola | Interior Designer

15 May 2013 9 Comments

by Valentina in Home Designs Master Tags: #ColorScheme, #DecoratingTips, #ItalianCeramics, #RedVoyageIntoColors, http://dailypost.wordpress.com/2013/05/10/weekly-photo-challenge-pattern, Pottery

This week photo challenge by Sara Rosso is Pattern, I like it and I am taking the challenge. http://dailypost.wordpress.com/2013/05/10/weekly-photo-challenge-pattern
(click on each photo to view it larger).

(Floor tile: Romeo Cuomo – Italy)

In my world of design, a pattern might be:
A wooden model or paper drawing used to build a home.
A diagram, or model drafted for making a dress.
Artistic or decorative throw pillows with paisley and flowers, or a quilt made with left over fabrics.
A design of natural origin: wild bird formations happening in my plants every spring.
An assortment of Victorian cutlery on the dining table or the cutlery motifs painted on my decorative glass plate.
A Christmas light ball I turn on every night makes different designs as I turn the colored lights
A person considered worthy of emulating, learning perhaps from a famous chef.
Traits or features characteristic of a recognizable individual: Sophia Loren.
Colorful hand-painted Italian ceramics and tiles.

Life is full of patterns. “Sans poésie on exist sans vivre” – Without poetry we exist without living.

Pattern of being thankful and recognizing friendship. I want to take this opportunity to thank two people who nominated me last month for two awards. I am so honored:

Tom at The Palladian Traveler http://thepalladiantraveler.com nominated me with the HUG Award©.
When you contact your nominees for the award, please include a link to this page http://ahopefortoday.com/2012/01/14/hope-unites-globally-hug-award-guidelines
I will nominate one person for this award Adam at http://unorthodoxepicure.com – Confession of an inspiring food snob.

Natalia at Postcard From Italy http://nataliasarkissian.wordpress.com nominated me for The Versatile Blogger Award.
I will nominated one person for this award: http://littlemisswordy.wordpress.com
Awards usually come with some rules.
1. Thank the person who gave you the award.
2. Include a link to their blog.
3. Name the bloggers to whom you would like to pass the award and send them a link to tell them you’ve selected them.
4. Finally, tell the person who nominated you seven things about yourself.

I wish you a productive and happy rest of the week. Ciao,
Valentina

http://www.valentinadesigns.com

Valentina Cirasola is an Italian interior designer in business since 1990. She is passionate about colors and all expressive arts. She is a “colorist”. To her, selecting art means to bring out the best energy of her clients and nourish their soul. She is the author of three books available on Amazon and Barnes&Nobles.
Get your copy of her book on colors: ©Red-A Voyage Into Colors
Amazon: http://goo.gl/xUZfk0
Barnes&Nobles: http://goo.gl/q7dQ3w

M for Mantel | Valentina Cirasola | Interior Designer

01 May 2013 13 Comments

by Valentina in Home Designs Master Tags: #ArchitecturalDetails, #DecoratingTips, #HowToDecorateAMantel, #MyPersonalAToZChallenge, #RedVoyageIntoColors, #SalvageFireplaceMantel, #VictorianFireplaceMantel

Welcome to my personal A to Z Challenge on the subject of Home. The goal, in a year time, until Jan. 13, 2014, is to elaborate and dissect topics regarding the Home not as containers of stuff, but as a cocoon for the soul, mind, and heart. I will touch on decorations, style, trends, history of the home and sometimes technical information.

Mantel, mantel-shelf or mantelpiece are the names used for a type of construction framing the opening of a fireplace and usually covering part of the chimney breast in a more or less decorative way. It is the focal point of a home and the stage that tells a story.
To display only photographs on a mantel is a bit diminishing for the fireplace itself since it is an opportunity to make a dreamy display vignette of antique objects found in flea markets, or during traveling. It is a place where colors can have a voice when a monochromatic color dominates the room or a way to display arts and crafts that perhaps you create. Then comes Christmas with endless possibilities and decorating a mantel becomes almost obligatory. In any case, a mantel is something to cover, envelope and conceal the black hole of the hearth.

(Clicl on each photo to view it larger).

Italian Carrara Marble

Red Iron Stone-Jerusalem Split Face Stone-Wood Mantle

Italian Carrara Marble and Rosso Verona Marble

Niche over hearth

BHG Outdoor room

Salvage Mantel – BH&G

Travertine Mantel

Travertine stone fireplace and wood mantel

(Photos other than Valentina Interiors & Designs are the property of the BH&G)

Mantels follow the architectural style of the house. I have seen many examples in Gothic, Renaissance, Louis XIV, XV and XVI, Empire, Marie Antoinette, and so many more styles, but I think the most popular and pleasing is the Colonial mantel, both in the old and modern style. The Victorian mantel refers to the style created during the long reign of Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom, a period stretching from 1837-1901. In Victorian times women sat by the fireplace to read, sipping tea or embroider with women, while men stood by the mantel to talk about important issues with men and various odd objects found their place on the mantel.

Victorian mantels today are standard designs with many modern furniture companies and are popular with builders, as this style is linear, not too ornate, but elegant enough to mix with any mélange of décor. In today’s homes, often a huge black plasma T.V. is propped on top of the mantel, disturbing perhaps a beautiful room setting. Not always I win this battle with the youngest clients who like to stick the black monster plasma T.V. over the mantel. Most people don’t know that when the T.V. is not on, the front black screen is easy concealable with a picture of your liking, remotely controlled to disappear into the T.V. casing made for this purpose. However, I rather see a huge mirror on top of the mantel to reflect the beauty in the room and enjoy the sound of a crackling fire with a book.

If there is no fireplace in the house and you like to create the feeling of it, find an inexpensive mantel at the architectural salvage yard and nail it to the wall, as shown in one of my garden photos. Of course, any salvage piece can have a second life as something else and not what was originally intended for. In the bathroom photo, in fact, a mantel has been turned into an ornate towel holder, just by adding metal hooks.
Mantels over outdoor fireplaces often will be used to rest your guest’s drinking glasses.

Get creative with your own mantel vignette, this is an art form. Anything goes grouped in odd numbers. I am here if you need help, my Skype line is always open. Ciao.
Valentina

http://www.valentinadesigns.com

Valentina Cirasola is an Italian interior designer in business since 1990. She is passionate about colors and all expressive arts. She is a “colorist”. To her, selecting art means to bring out the best energy of her clients and nourish their soul.
She is the author of her book on Colors: Red-A Voyage Into Colors available on
Amazon: http://goo.gl/xUZfk0
Barnes&Nobles: http://goo.gl/q7dQ3w

Going Up | Valentina Cirasola | Interior Designer

22 Apr 2013 6 Comments

by Valentina in Home Designs Master Tags: #GardenSolutions, #ItalianColors, #ItalianRoofs, #ItalianStyle, #NeoClassicArchitecture, #RedVoyageIntoColors, #StoneCeilings, Balcony, Faccioni, http://dailypost.wordpress.com/2013/04/19/weekly-photo-challenge-up-2

How can I forget where I grew up and where my roots are so firmly embedded?

“You are not going to find it on the floor!” I heard it often from my father. It was his way to teach me to walk proud with my head high. Walking with my head high I learned to discover beautiful architectural on top of buildings and all the details that are not at eye level for everybody to enjoy.

The streets of Italy are an open art class where walking is a real learning experience. Nude statues coexist well with people dressed in the latest fashion. Once I stayed in a hotel in Venice facing a beautiful nude of a man sculpted in marble. He was so real, I could see every vein going through his muscles and yet he sat on top of a church looking directly into my window, as sinful as he could possibly appear, almost saying:
“I am here, enjoy me!”
Ah, Venice, the only city in the world where pigeons walk, lions fly and sexy men are stones!

(Click on each photo to view it larger).

In Venice, it is common to find, in one street alone, broken pediments and eyebrows windows, neoclassical and Romanic style, Moorish windows and Baroque style, all competing to maintain a place in history. One might wonders who was the lucky patrician family to live there. Today, too often commoners are the lucky ones, people or offices who don’t even have the time to notice the beauty of their bulding.

Balconies decorate young and old buildings, they are almost like urban gardens so much sought after today. In reality, space in Italy is limited, people live in flats, for centuries balconies have been seen as an escape valve from the four walls surrounding the lives of everyone. Behind those plants on the balconies, Italians see, observe and keep the secrets of the neighbor’s life unfolding before our eyes.

If ceilings, which are not made of stones are highly decorated. In modern living, often ceilings are the forgotten walls making the room looked unfinished. In Italy, we like to eat under art, coves and circular shapes, the geometry of roundness gives vibrations of security and harmony.

In the southern parts of Italy, all the constructions are made with terrace roofs to enjoy eating ‘al fresco’ and soaking the Mediterranean sun without being seen, but in the colder north, the characteristic ‘comignoli’ chimneys line the sky. Many wealthy Californians have embellished their Tuscan style homes with copies of our Italian comignoli and ‘faccioni’ cherub’s faces stuck to walls as garden planters. The sophistication and elegance of those stone faces change any non-descriptive house into a classical villa of the past, however the Italians who are lucky to have an outdoor space, most likely will use walls, beams and stone heaves to dry produce for the winter.

My fashion school in Italy is an ancient building born first as a nunnery, then it became the state police headquarter, until in modern days, it became a fashion school. Going up those marble stairs made 400 years ago, warped in the center I felt a great sense of respect towards history. All of us students walked on each side of the stairs to preserve them a little while longer.

I never did find anything on the floor, except a few red cents.

This is in response to WP weekly photo challenge theme UP. http://dailypost.wordpress.com/2013/04/19/weekly-photo-challenge-up-2

Ciao,
Valentina

http://www.valentinadesigns.com

Valentina Cirasola is a trained Italian Interior Designer in business since 1990. Being Italian born and raised, classicism, stylish and timeless designs have influenced Valentina’s design work. She will create your everyday living with a certain luxury without taking away your comfort. She loves to restore old homes, historic dwellings and she focuses on remodeling. Find her books on
Barnes&Nobles: http://goo.gl/q7dQ3w
Amazon: http://goo.gl/xUZfk0

Color | Valentina Cirasola | Interior Designer

12 Apr 2013 6 Comments

by Valentina in Home Designs Master Tags: #CookingWithColors, #DecoratingTips, #DesigningWithColors, #RedVoyageIntoColors, #UsingFoodColorsForInteriors

Where there is nature there is color and art.
Where there is food there is color and health.
Where there is color there is music and happiness.
A house without colors is a stale home.
A fashion without colors is a boring attitude.

Colors emanate positivism, project a positive image towards others and put others in a good disposition towards us.

One of my clients says I designed an edible house for her. She wants to eat it every time she comes home. Her color scheme came from a food list I was supposed to buy for myself that day.

Spread colors in your home, in your garden, on your dinner table and in your wardrobe. Enjoy each day color by color and if colors intimidate you, ask me, I am here to help. It’s easy when two people row the boat.

Great challenge this week.

http://dailypost.wordpress.com/2013/04/05/weekly-photo-challenge-color/

Ciao,
Valentina
http://www.valentinadesigns.com

Valentina Cirasola has been in business as an interior designer since 1990 improving people’s life by changing their spaces. Often people describe her as “the colorist” for a reason. She lives in a colorful world, wrote a book on colors ©RED-A Voyage Into Colors and loves to color her clients’ environments by creating the unusual. Her deep interest in food led her as an autodidact in the studies of food in history, natural remedies, nutrition and well-being, then finally she wrote two books on Italian regional cuisine. Find Valentina’s books on
Amazon: http://goo.gl/xUZfk0
Barnes&Nobles: http://goo.gl/q7dQ3w

Nuts And Bolts | Valentina Cirasola | Interior Designer

07 Apr 2013 6 Comments

by Valentina in Home Designs Master Tags: #MetalAccessories, #MetalGardenSculpture, #NutsAndBoltsChessSet, #RedVoyageIntoColors, #StainlessSteelBath, #StainlessSteelWC

I was called to visit a single male’s flat for a design consultation. The place was strangely decorated, but nonetheless intriguing. The first things that struck me were some very creative furniture pieces made of various steel and metals. A marvelous glass top coffee table with the base made from a huge metal wheel of a truck was the living room center piece. As I was getting familiar with the flat’s lay-out, I discovered more abstract and out of the ordinary items: a coat hanger shaped into a metal tree made of nuts and bolts, a bookshelf made of brushed stainless steel with blue glass panels and many smaller objects scattered around.

I was curious about the discovery unfolding before my eyes. I thought the interior was typical of a single man, loaded with grey and black colors, linear shapes and glass mixed with cold material. Later, I learned the man who became my client was in the metals scrap business and used his craft ability to shape unattractive metals into submission. He created something unusual every time, changing things into imaginative objects. You see, things don’t have to stay the way they were born.

As the project in the flat evolved, he asked me to decorate the bedroom into a jungle scene, in fact I surnamed him Tarzan (get it? A single man in jungle style bedroom…..), I was waiting for him to ask for some lianas hanging from the ceiling, instead he required a stainless steel W.C. .

It wasn’t hard to find that “piece of art” , I guess there are enough prisons around, but when it was installed, I wanted to pull my hair out!!! Often I keep my clients happy in their wishes, but when the requests are absurd I end up not taking any photos of the project. Look at some of the findings in my video and think what you can do with your nuts and bolts. It is even possible to create striking custom jewelry.

If you have challenges with any material ask me, l shall be glad to help you. Ciao,
Valentina
http://www.valentinadesigns.com

Valentina Cirasola transforms and creates spaces realizing people’s dreams in homes, offices, interiors and exteriors. She infuses your everyday living with a certain luxury without taking away a comfortable living.  She offers design consultations on-line through Skype and the traditional in-house consultations, helping people with their design challenges anywhere in the world. She is the author of three books, all-available on

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

C For Corbel | Valentina Cirasola | Interior Designer

02 Apr 2013 8 Comments

by Valentina in Home Designs Master Tags: #ArchitecturalDetails, #CabinetCorbel, #Corbel, #HomeRemodeling, #ItalianArchitecture, #NeoClassicArchitecture, #RedVoyageIntoColors, #RoofCorbel, #TableCorbel

Welcome to my personal A to Z Challenge on the subject of Home. The goal, in a year time, until Jan. 13, 2014, is to elaborate and dissect topics regarding the Home not as containers of stuff, but as a cocoon for the soul, mind and heart. I will touch on decorations, style, trends, history of home and sometimes technical information.

Korbel with a K is a California winery producing traditional Méthode Champenois sparkling wine in the United States, but the Corbel with a C, of which today I am delighted to speak, is a projecting stone or a piece of timber carved block supporting a beam or a eave. Just as exciting as the bubbly Korbel, the corbel with a C has been a feature in universal Architecture since almost the dawn of time. From ancient Rome to ancient China, corbels supported magnificent balconies, window sills, projecting parapets, or exceptionally elegant entry ways. In the Medieval time corbels appeared as gargoyles and the Paris Notre Dame Cathedral is showing off its beautiful examples to these days.

The word comes from Latin corbellus or corvus (raven) apparently because it resembles the beak of a crow. In Italian is called mensola and in French is called cul-de-lampe, I like this last one. To disguise the load baring function, a corbel must be highly decorative, the eye wants to see something pretty too, not just functionality, that’s the reason of the existence of so many variety of styles and sizes through history from Corinthian design to animal head, cherub’s face to a king’s face and the very popular woman’s face or pineapple, symbol of prosperity.

Faridabab-http://www.grcscreen.com/grc-brackets-3216671.html

http://www.homedit.com/20-best-diy-kitchen-upgrades/corbel-kitchen/

http://www.pacificstone.net/product-category/corbels

Ravenna scrolled side table-http://www.ebay.com/itm/140951604905?ssPageName=STRK:MESOX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1561.l2649#ht_1756wt_949

Hand-Carved Mahogany Corbel-NapaStyle

http://indulgy.com/source/restorationhardware.com/from/197824090063

Materials and functions have varied from medieval castles to modern-day homes. Wood, gesso, plaster, resin or even steel have been carved, bent, twisted or shaped into submission according to the wishes of the ruler of the moment.

Today, they have become more simple and straightforward with the purpose of decorating modern houses already quite simple in their shapes, except a few décor ideas that want to give the appearance of being important.

I encourage you to be different and to try something new. My black corbel sometimes holds a candle, or a picture and some other time my friends’ glass of wine. Ciao,
Valentina
http://www.valentinadesigns.com

Valentina Cirasola transforms and creates spaces realizing people’s dreams in homes, offices, interiors and exteriors. She infuses your everyday living with a certain luxury without taking away a comfortable living.  She offers design consultations on-line through Skype and the traditional in-home visits, helping people with their design challenges anywhere in the world.

As an author of three books, she is now a public speaker and teaches style, colors and image. Find her books on
Amazon: http://goo.gl/xUZfk0
Barnes&Nobles: http://goo.gl/q7dQ3w