Whether you are heading to the beach,lake or your club, these stylish bags  will organize your children’s stuff. Made of canvas, but not too heavy.  A great gift that can be personalized. A favorite for the baby gift registry.  We love our club bags!

A waterproof bag for all the little stuff that can get wet ..

Happy fourth of July!

See you…

Christina

I stopped into Studio Four Showroom in NYC for research.  A boutique showroom filled with Indie designers. It was inspiring to see a showroom that is so different.  So very interesting…

Wallpaper of different varieties…

We will be using this one for a little girl’s bedroom that will be decorated in  pink and yellow.

Beautiful fabrics..

You can custom color some of their fabrics…

A new rug collection just came in from Denver..

I took away many ideas..

See you…

Christina

Today I met with a client at her home to work on her two boys’ bedrooms.  I sometimes ask to see the rest of the house to get an idea about my client’s tastes.   We went into a space that is specifically designed  for hanging out with friends. Kind of a den..  Kind of not.  There was a huge collage of Bruce Springsteen in concert  on the wall. Made by Lynn Goldsmith,  andpurchased   at an art gallery in Chelsea, it is the center of attention in the room.  I recognized the photo immediately. It is actually comprised of many tiny photos put together.

A close up of  the collage…

A moment of sadness came over me and my client at the same time. Clarence Clemons died last week. The E Street band will never be the same.  A little piece of our life had changed.  It was nice to commiserate with another fan of the band.

See you…

Christina

A month or two ago, I received a call from a high school student. He wanted to film a segment of  a short film he was creating in the shop. I asked how long it would take. He said 2 hours.  Since he is a local student who was very polite,  I said yes. Well the filming happened on Friday morning. Ofcourse the kids were running late and went well over their allotted time. I should have figured that, given my own kids concept of time.   I expected to see a few student actors, a kid with a camera and maybe a kid holding up a light.  I was wrong. The student hired a camera crew, sound, lighting and makeup and adult actors.  He even presented me with a waiver against future claims.  I guess, in case the film hits it big, I would have no right to earnings? I didn’t even asked to be paid a location fee.   I thought this was a high school project.  Boy was I naive. Live and learn…

I appreciate my very accommodating customers.

See you…

Christina

There are times  a designer misses the concept of what a client is looking for. This is a fine example. I thought the customer would be as excited as I was about this concept. Great clients. Wrong concept.  It mixes touches of blues and oranges with a neutral cappuccino  color. The carpet in this NYC apartment is a Stark neutral. It will remain. The customer is pretty firmly traditional, but would like a more modern nursery.

The carpet looks like this..

I wanted to use a grasscloth wallcovering  that had  a delicate orange  trellis.

After I chose it, I saw it was used in the Kips Bay showhouse, in a very large room. As you can see the pattern is not overwhelming.

I designed this long changer finished in white lacquer. It had closed storage on the right  side, drawers in the center and a hamper on the left side. Each piece would come apart and be completely painted. This would allow for future flexibility.  Later on, one could use the hamper and dresser in different parts of the room, for example.

On top of the changer we would affix this standard tray.

The crib is very clean, but  still maintains it’s traditional roots. It would be entirely in white.

The glider is the classic glider that I have in the shop slip covered in a linen. The bedding would have dashes of blue and orange. Pic of the side of bumper is below.

Fabrics would be a thin orange stripe piping and ties  with white matelasse  and Annette Tatem soleil orange fabric that is separated by a large ric rac lace.

I wanted to use a 7′ round rug that would achor the room.If the baby was a girl it would be this one.

A boy…

Possible artwork.  Vintage educational posters…

Although the client decided not to go in this direction. The ideas will remain in the Cici Crib library….

See you…

Christina

Last Monday I was driving down 30th street from the west side highway to get the kids to fencing. Rising out of  a grimy, dirty  silent spot on the far west side  was this island of colorful madness. What was that! I had to go back. So yesterday I returned to the crazy island.  It just opened in celebration of  the new extension of the  High Line. Well it was  almost 100 degrees in NYC when I finally got to check out.  It was simply too hot to take a nice walk along High Line.

But what was great fun was this island. It  is called Rainbow City  created by Miami art duo FriendsWithYou.  The sculptures move with the breeze and some are even  interactive. It is made especially for children in mind. Kids can crawl into some of the large inflatables…

My favorite guy..

So great. It made for a perfect afternoon when I saw one of my favorite food trucks. Ok not really a food truck. But they have the best ginger mint slurpees! I was looking for Kelvin earlier in the day around their usual Union Square spot. Well they moved here for the next month, along with other food trucks. There is  a huge picnic area set up.

The installation runs until the end of June.  Go if you get a chance.

See you…

Christina

A mom asked me for help in finishing the decorating of her daughter’s room. She already purchased the furniture and some fabric and wallpaper. Now she asks me to make it all work. This can be a very difficult task and  sometimes it can really work out smoothly.

Her new furniture  is fairly modern, but the new wallpaper is pretty traditional. Here are her items. The top piece is the wallpaper and the fabrics below the wallpaper  are all very raspberry.

I chose some  fabric, trim and carpet to pull it together. The new carpet to me is so very important. The client is  unfortunately on the fence about it.

I would really like to use this lamp that I did for another customer. This client loved the lamp. She described it as a girl in a ball gown..

I chose some additional pieces that would complement the client’s pieces.

A great ball chair…

And a nice bench for the foot of the bed…

There is a dressing room that is sandwiched between the bedroom and bathroom.  It is somewhat small and has a built in vanity with a green marble top.

It is a great little space that right now looks so ordinary. I want it to pop. Like opening a jewelry box of fun little  trinkets. I want it to to be Dorothy Draper inspired. I chose this crazy fun  wallpaper..

I love this Frances Elkins chair

It’s definitely an interesting and challenging project.
See you…

Christina