But First Coffee- Inspiration for living a creative life, is a series I created to share ideas and inspire you to live a meaningful creative life. In this episode, I decided to bring you along with me for my morning walk along the primrose path and to take time to be present in the moment. It is so easy to get busy with our day to day lives and forget to be present in the moment. So this week I thought it would be good to take a morning stroll with this in mind. I hope it inspires you to take time to be present in the moment today. ​

Here is a quick little time-lapse of me painting the shutters for the farm, up at my Uncle's factory. This is my first time using the paint-booth. Teaching my self a new skill while refurbishing these 30 year old shutters. 

Bar cabinets are a fun way to add a little fun to your space. There are so many great solutions available that have a statement piece quality and offer a cool way to store and display your bar-ware. 

But First Coffee- Inspiration for living a creative life, is a series I created to share ideas and inspire you to live a meaningful creative life. In this episode, I will be discussing the importance of connecting with nature. ​There is so much we can take inspiration from when we connect with nature. It also helps to reduce stress. Who doesn't want to be less stressed and inspired!! ​

This week I have put together a special Valentine's Day edition of  Furniture and Finishes Friday. Designing for romance can be a fun way to add to the holiday, whether you are spending it with someone or just celebrating the joy of having your own peaceful relaxing evening. 

​Valentine's day is not about what you give and what you receive as gifts from a romantic companion. It is about spending quality time with people who are important to you. These design tips are great for those who are spending tonight alone, with friends, or with your sweetheart.  

But First Coffee- Inspiration for living a creative life, is a series I created to share ideas and inspire you to live a meaningful creative life. In this episode, I will be discussing the importance of Stepping out of your comfort zone. ​

A good morning this week's video is all about stepping out of your comfort zone. Stepping out of your comfort zone can be pretty tough. If we get too comfortable in the things that we're doing life can get  boring, and it can create a lot of fears in your life. As a result, you tend to not try to do as many things.

This week, I want you to think about things you have really wanted to do, but haven't because you've been afraid. Or they can be things that you've wanted to try, but haven't. Think about what the benefit of you doing those things would be and what are the road blocks that keep you from taking the steps to do them?

This year, one of the big things that I'm working on is getting in front of the camera. I do not like being in front of the camera. However, it is a necessary evil for some of the work that I'm doing. I decided to challenge to myself by creating this video series. One, to make myself get in front of the camera on a regular basis and two, to share a little bit more about who I am. When I put this series together, I decided I really wanted to not only share the things that I'm passionate about, but also to invite my students and my clients, and people who don't know me yet, to get to know who I am.

This is one of the tools that I am using to get over something that I am not quite as comfortable doing, in order to grow. I've done this many times in my life. There was a time where I was really interested in learning how to get into set design.

​A friend of mine had just been in that movie, The Hunger Games and so I thought, Well I'll ask him what he was doing. And so he gave me the number of this casting agent, and I thought, okay, well I give them a call.

Low and behold, I ended up getting cast in the movie Insurgent, as one of the Amity faction.
Once I got there, I was amazed with the set design.  It was unbelievable what they do to create every detail in the movies. There was real food cooking the vegetables growing in the gardens where unreal, incredible architecture that was was build was so cool. It was a life-changing experience for me as a designer but it also taught me that I did not want to be a set designer.

Sometimes you have to do those things to figure out what things do I wanna do?
 
Ironically, I did get a set design job shortly after that for a show in California, The Valley Girl Show, which is a show that is about new companies and products in the tech industry. I took the risk to do something that was very out of my comfort zone and it taught me a really valuable lesson that helped me make some great connections. I decided this wasn't for me, but it guided me towards things that were a better fit for me.

I hope that you will take time this week to think about some of the things that you want to do and haven't. The worse that can happen is you can decide, this is definitely not for me. However,  you may end up finding out it leads you to something that is perfect for you. So, use these opportunities to grow. Don't be afraid to step out of your comfort zone. Make yourself do things and hold yourself  accountable. Set goals, so  you have something  encouraging you to move forward with it. That way it doesn't just become something  on your wish list that you say "maybe one day I'll try this," because let's face it, you only have so many maybe one days. 

I hope you have a wonderful week and I hope that you will share things that you've tried. Certainly, I'm sharing with my own journey, I love hearing about what you are doing, so please do share.

Try to step out of your comfort zone this week..

For more videos in this series. click the link below.

Kitchens are a place where people tend to congregate. No matter how big or small the kitchen is, there is something about them that brings people together. Naturally they are a great place to consider adding a functional seating solution. Banquettes are a multi-functional design solution, as they provide additional seating and storage. They also add an additional design opportunity to add soft fabrics in a space that is usually filled with hard surface materials.

If you look closely at the walls you can see the plaster that is coming off the walls. 

Good morning. This week I am talking about being your authentic self and taking time to reflect on who you really are. What are the things that are important to you, and what are some of the things that you want to be remembered for? Why take the time to think about this? Because many times we don't do this unless we are forced to. By that point, it could be too late. I make a point to do this pretty frequently and I do it because I want to make sure that I'm on the right course.