​By now you’ve stored most of the holiday decorations and your living room is back to its “old” self, but why stop there. Start the New Year with a room makeover that refreshes your space and gives you a new look on the coming year.
A simple refreshing of a room can have a positive effect on you with little or no expense at all.  Here are a few things to making your room feel new and refreshed for an optimistic year ahead.

Rearrange the Furniture
 
You can transform the look and feel of a room simply by rearranging the furniture. If possible, start by removing everything out of the room to create a clean canvas. Banish the unnecessary, stow the clutter then move the furniture around until you have a visually pleasing grouping. Keep in mind the flow of traffic, the function of the room and the focal point. 
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Add Color
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Paint is trans-formative, and easy to apply. Use it to add color to walls, update flea market furnishings, refresh tired floors, and showcase a room's architectural features. Choose a wall color that promotes a mood and that complement your furnishings and personal style.
If painting is not an option then add some pops of color with brightly colored pillows, a rug, or curtains, it’s an effective way to completely change a room. To get more inspiration check out Sherwin-Williams how to tutorials. 

​ Add Texture
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Apply texture and color to walls with easy to remove peel and stick wallpaper, decorative wood panels or decals. Relatively inexpensive, they can add depth and interest to an otherwise flat and dull wall. Add it for a stylish accent to one wall or to the back of bookcases to create interest. Check out stikwood.com for some wood inspiration and wallpops.com for wallpaper or decals. 

Shop Your Home
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You can make a striking change to a room by simply using things you already own. Bring in furniture and accessories from other spaces.  If you have wall to wall carpet, layer it with a rug from another area.  Switch out your night stands with end tables. Swap out lamps from other spaces or simply update your white lamp shade with one that has color.

​Style your accessories
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Whether it’s bright Fiesta ware or Chinese vases, collections conveniently highlight a theme and introduce colors and patterns, while creating interest. Knickknacks have the greatest impact when grouped by color, shape, or subject matter. Vary the height of object to create movement and interest. Stack books and display collectibles on trays. Finally top off the styling with plants or flowers that make the room come alive.  (Check out my blog on styling for more tips) 

​With these few simple steps you could shake up a room for a fresh outlook in the new year. 
​Happy rearranging. 

​One of my favorite buildings is the beautiful Palacio Postal adjacent to the Palacio de Bella Artes and designed by the same Italian architect, Adamo Boari. The building is still used today as the main post office.  The architectural design is highly eclectic and is categorized in a multitude of styles. The exterior is covered in decorative details such as iron dragon light fixtures, carved stone and highly polished brass.

After several days of exploring the city’s historical center we ventured out to the neighboring communities of La Condesa and Roma.  Both linked by Paseo de la Reforma a main wide boulevard that runs diagonally across the heart of the city. It was designed and modeled after the great boulevards of Europe. Situated on and along Reforma are Mexico's gleaming glass towers and monuments to people and events in Mexico's history. 

​The Boulevard contains beautiful architectural and sculptural interests, situated within the avenues lush gardens as well as on the buildings themselves. 
An initiative dubbed "Via Verde" or Green Way incorporates existing structures and more than 700 columns on the freeways around Mexico City to house the installation and maintenance of vertical gardens. This is in an attempt to cut air and noise pollution as well as reduce temperatures. 

​The Los Angeles Design Festival is an annual citywide celebration of artistic talent that honors LAs' design community and celebrates its status as a global design capital. If you live on the West Coast of the United States LA Design Festival is definitely a must-visit event in the month of June. The Design Festival organized programming around four areas, Culver City, La Brea, Silver Lake and DTLA. Each district features a hub where guests could pick up information about the Design Festival; attend programs, events, shop and explore.
 
I chose to concentrate my weekend around the hip DTLA area, it’s a tapestry of creative neighborhoods form South Park to Chinatown that houses countless architecture offices, art galleries, amazing shopping, and much more, it’s a challenge to condense all the creativity into one weekend of programming. Here is a glimpse of my few days of design.   

​(Click on the images for a better view)

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SOUTH PARK -  Dwell on Design

The festival events started by taking advantage of Fridays design trade day at Dwell on Design held at the Los Angeles Convention Center in downtown LA's South Park district. The weekend long event hosted over 30,000 attendees and invited the participants to “step into the pages of Dwell” (magazine) and not only experience modern design but the hottest design innovations of the year. Every year there is something new and exciting to discover. While exploring over 400 exhibition spaces I found a few new favorites.
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​Loved these chandeliers made from recycled bike chains by Facaro. 
Below left - GRAVY wall sconce swivel head shines light where you want it and comes in a wide selection of finishes.
Below right - these stackable wooden and concrete planters make a great statement.

ARTS DISTRICT - Walking Tour

 
Before Saturdays’ official design events started we had time for a quick breakfast and a self-guided tour of the Arts District.  We began with some coffee and a bite to eat for fortification at the popular homegrown coffee and tea cafe, Groundwork. Then we headed off to explore the areas shops and boutiques.

​LITTLE TOKYO - Art Tour 
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The official design events started in the afternoon with a tour in downtown LA’s Little Tokyo’s pop-up at Brunswig Square. Show +Tell is a Pop-up art and design concept store and project space for special events and collaborations. Artist Taidgh ONeill and Shoshi Kanokohata shared their experience of creating an installation that unites fine art, architecture, and design, showcasing Kanokohata's pottery and ONeill's beautiful furniture. 

ARTS DISTRICT - Art Tour
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​The tour continued at Hauser Wirth & Schimmel, in the hip Downtown Arts District of Los Angeles, the gallery occupies the restored Globe Grain and Milling complex, a collection of interconnected late 19th and early 20th century buildings and internal outdoor spaces. The exhibiting collection of women’s sculptures spanning the years 1947-2016 traces ways in which women have changed the course of art. The exhibiting spaces were as inspiring as the art work many of the buildings characteristics where kept intact adding a cool factor. 

​​Next stop on the tour, Califia Farms restored airy, modern space designed by Rachel Allen Architecture. The new DTLA Arts District headquarters for Califia Farms is not your typical warehouse conversion. An existing bow-truss building of approximately 7000 square feet with twenty-five foot ceilings was fit with a perimeter of private offices and an open mezzanine. Rotating chalk art adorns the office walls with the current one being of the goddess Califia.  To top the tour off we enjoyed several custom Califia Farms cocktails.

​CHINATOWN - Art Galleries
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Saturday ended with the closing party to the Los Angeles Design Festival which was held in the middle of Chung King Road’s galleries in the historic Chinatown, Los Angeles core. The event feature exhibitions exploring design in terms of visual, scent, sound, touch and taste. 

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WAREHOUSE DISTRICT -  Market
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​​Wrapping up the weekend's design events on Sunday was Smorgasburg Los Angeles, a weekly food + design market. Smorgasburg is held on the five-acre site of the weekday Alameda Produce Market and is fashioned after the popular Brooklyn weekly event. You can find dozens of exciting food vendors, plus sophisticated shopping from the realms of design, craft, style, vintage, wellness, and more. The weekly event is transforming the vast site into a new node in Downtown LA’s growing scene, and a unique destination for the region.  

​BUNKERS HILL - Eye Candy

A weekend in LA wouldn’t be complete without a quick stop in the historic core before heading home. The new iconic Board museum is open and the lines were around the block. The beautiful structure is designed by world-renowned architectural firm Diller Scofidio + Renfro, with its innovative “veil-and-vault” concept.  Next door is another icon - the Disney Concert Hall designed by Frank Gehry.  While in the Bunkers Hill area the historic Angels Flight is an incline railway and a landmark in downtown. At the foot of the incline is another must do, the Central Market Place. 

At a young age, while living in the Caribbean with my grandparents, I developed an affinity for color and intentional design. Our neighborhood streets were alive with brightly painted homes in vibrant hues, and tropical plants climbed out of ornate pots adorning doorways. Perhaps it was this exposure that first influenced my appreciation of bright and rich colors. I am still affected by that Caribbean neighborhood today, as I use bold design concepts and multicultural influences in most of my projects. As a designer, that early influence created a hunger to see more unique settings and put me on a course to explore the world.

As I travel the globe I'm constantly seeking inspiration. Whether I'm in the heart of Europe, Asia, or the vast U.S., searching for inspiration is always a top priority. Through the eyes of a trained designer, I see purposeful beauty crafted by man in every corner of the globe: hardscapes and their architecture, emerging neighborhoods, at weekend markets, or at local museums. Each community, region or country I visit has a distinct and eclectic style all it's own that can be used as a catalyst for upcoming work.  Download the full article.