Susan Chambers' Creative Interior Design

Canton Festival of the Arts

It's been forever since I've gone to an arts festival... but this past weekend, I had the opportunity to attend a festival in Canton, Georgia, hosted by the Cherokee County Arts Council.   

The morning started out a little bit rainy, but the rain was gone by around 10am.  The rest of the day was perfect for an arts festival:  cloudy, cool and no rain.  The festival included artists, musical entertainment, some pretty good food, a youth art exhibit and a hands-on area for kids.

 

Just 45 minutes from downtown Atlanta, Canton offers the charm of a historic river town with a view of the north Georgia mountains. The festival location is in Canton’s newly revitalized historic downtown district.

To see photos from the festival, click on the flickr photostream below...

www.flickr.com susanchambers.com's Canton Festival of the Arts photoset

Going Green means Going Shopping

There's a lot of talk these days about living the green lifestyle.  I'm much more in tune to it now days because I'm working on a design project for a green show home.  When we think about what it means to live a green lifestyle, most of us are probably thinking... okay....I bring my own bags to the grocery store.... I purchase sustainable products when possible...I recycle cans, glass containers, plastic bags....  But, while recycling is good, reuse is even better. 

And reuse also means saving money when it comes to clothing.  For years, my Mom has been shopped regularly at upscale consignments shops for children's clothing for her grand kids.  So I decided I'd give upscale consignment stores a try for myself.  I was amazed by what I found.  As a mother's day gift this year, my husband took the kids to a movie and sent me out shopping for myself.

This is one of the tops I purchased for half the cost of a new one at Unique Boutique. 

Susan meets Alexis Veremakis of ecoEMPORIUM

While working on the Greenhaven Show Home project, I've had the pleasure of meeting several designers lately.  One of which is Alexis Veremakis, designer and Assistant Manager of ecoEMPORIUM, an Atlanta eco-lifestyle store.

Founded by local Atlanta residents Carol and Bruce Held, ecoEmporium is located at the intersection of Howell Mill Road and Marietta Street in the BricksWorks commercial center.  They offer earth-friendly, organic, and non-toxic products for folks wanting to live a greener lifestyle.

I visited the store recently and here's what I found....

Susan Joins the Greenhaven Team of Designers

I am thrilled to announce that I have been asked to join the team of deigners participating in the Greenhaven Show Home. http://www.greenhavenhome.com/

Pace Homebuilders has formed a team by of 20 Atlanta designers, each with a fresh and unique perspective on eco-friendly design.  Each designer is challenged to adhere to the guidelines of the LEED program and work closely with industry-leading local vendors to transform the Greenhaven into a widely recognized model for designers, builders, and homeowners.

The Greenhaven Show Home will open in May 2009 in East Cobb County, Georgia.  For directions, click here.

 

Tulips Add Color without Adding Cost

Winter is almost over and Spring will be officially here in a week.  And, I'm definitely getting Spring fever.  Today was a gorgeous day in Atlanta (around 70 degree F), so I decided to start celebrating Spring early with a bright bouquet of tulips.  

Tulips are a quick and cheap way to brighten the kitchen table.  I bought three bunches of violet tulips for $6.99 each at Publix.  I selected the tulips with the closed buds so that I could enjoy them longer when they open up.

Color

Color is a really cool thing.  It's the most emotional of all design elements.... and it's one of the cheapest.  Compare the cost of a few gallons to paint to the cost of a new sofa, new side table, new accessories or new window treatments. 

Color is an amazing tool that can do many things including: make a small room feel larger, make a large room feel smaller, make a room cozier, make a dark room lighter, create a mood in an entire home and link rooms within a home. 

To understand color and the role it plays in Interior Design, let's start with the basics.... the Standard Color-Wheel Theory.  This theory is based on three primary colors (technically, we should call them hues), yellow, red and blue which are placed equidistant on a color wheel.

Between the primary hues are secondary hues:  red plus yellow makes orange, yellow plus blue makes green and blue plus red makes violet.  Next comes intermediate hues which are created when we mix a primary hue with a secondary hue.  Red plus orange gives us red-orange, and yellow plus orange gives us yellow-orange (notice that the primary color is always listed first).  This continues around the color wheel for the other intermediate hues, and we end up with 12 colors.  These 12 colors can be mixed in various amounts along with white and black to give us an unlimited number of hues.

If we draw a line across the circle cutting it in half starting between the red and red-violet and extending to the other side between green and yellow-green we've divided the circle into warm and cool colors.  The colors on the red and yellow side are considered warm hues and the colors on the blue side are considered cool hues.