Top Design - Emerging Portfolios - Signature Styles

We're down to three designers and two more episodes. Andrea, Carisa and Matt have outlasted the rest of the competition and proven that they have the design skills and mental fortitude that keeps them in the game.

They've also all shown that they came to the competition with big egos.

(paraphrasing)

Andrea: "I'm going to win, because I always win".
Carisa: "It's Top Design. I'm the Designer. Listen to me".
Matt: "Everyone has their own unique individual style. Mine just happens to be better than the rest".

Each has won one individual challenge and one team challenge. Additionally, Andrea won the design-only part of the challenge for Episode 5, Garage Band, which I put in a different category, since it was for the preliminary design only and not the final outcome.

So, they really seem pretty evenly matched going into the last two episodes. Collected here are each of their designs through the first eight episodes. Clearly, there have been hits and there have been misses. As in all reality shows - some contestants are popular, some aren't. But, popularity isn't a reason to win a competition. None of the folks has been malicious or devious. Nor have any shown themselves to be Mother Theresa. They are human, warts and all.

Beyond the personalities, beyond the bitching, there is the work. Hard work.

Who do you want to win? Who do you think will win? Who do you think should win? These are different questions. The third question is after all the photos. Who do YOU think SHOULD win?

Andrea Keller, 36

A1 (team)

A2 (individual)

A3 (individual)

A4 (team) Winner!

A5(team) Winner! (for plan only)A6 (team)

A7(individual) Winner!

A8 (individual)

Carisa Perez-Fuentes, 26

C1 (team)

C2 (individual)

C3 (individual) Winner!

C4 (team)

C5 (team)

C6 (team) Winner!

C7 (individual)

C8 (individual)

Matt Lorenz, 32

M1 (team)

M2 (individual)

M3 (individual)

M4 (team)

M5 (team)

M6 (team) Winner!

M7 (individual)

M8 (individual) Winner!

Who do you think SHOULD win?
	Andrea
	Carisa
	Matt
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Top Design - Judging the Designs Episode 8

"Metropolitan Home Hotel Suite Challenge"
Individual Challenge: Design a hotel suite for Metropolitan Home magazine that is based on one of the earth elements of: Fire (Goil), Air (Matt), Water (Carisa) and Earth (Andrea).

Budget:
$1,550 fabric, paint and lumber
$30,000 memo furnishings from Pacific Design Center
$3,000 bedding budget from McGary & Co.

Winner receives an editorial spread in the November 2007 issue of Metropolitan Home

Guest judge is Linda O’Keefe – Metropolitan Home director of design and architecture.

Time frame: 3 days for entire challenge. 30 minutes to sketch, 1 hour to shop at PDC and the rest of the time to build.

I have an early breakfast meeting tomorrow morning (and I am NOT a morning person!). So my detailed analysis will have to come later. But, I will leave you with photos and this, my first impression:

Matt won the challenge, but I think it was a toss up between he and Carisa. Matt's space was filled with beautiful things and the wall color was stunning. But, it looked like a design center showroom display, particularly the seating area. Beautiful, but not original. Carisa's room was sharp and vibrant and she had a unique and original take on the concept of air - how it flows and what it flows through. So, I was happy with either winning. Andrea was on the chopping block and Goil was sent home. I think I would have had it go the other way. Andrea's room was not cohesive and the colors were blah. Goils room was vibrant (maybe I just respond to red better?) and he had some amazing concepts, although his bedding was definitely not luxurious and he again didn't fully render his vision well. So, more on this later.

(3/29 later on - amended to add - see my additional thoughts posted under comment)

Meanwhile, here are some photos:

Jonathan Adlers' Parker Palm Springs Hotel





Kelly Wearstler's The Viceroy Hotel:









Andrea's Earth room:

Carisa's Air room:



Goil's Fire room:


Matt's Water room:


(3/31/07 amended to add) I was at the Boston Design Center today and this is the Webster & Co. display window. As I said above, Matt's design was beautiful, but not original. Incidentally, the blue wall color is Pratt &Lambert 's "White Smoke".

What do you think?


Click here for all Top Design posts.

Top Design - Viewer's Guide, post Ep. 8

The current rankings based on the first eight challenges are:

Matt (21)
Andrea (20)
Carisa (18)

Matt won this challenge and Goil was sent home. Carisa came in a strong second and Andrea was on the chopping block. The rankings are bit unnecessary at this point, but I started it, so I'll see it through!

Each of the top three have now won one individual challenge. Check out my Emerging Portfolio post (to follow) to see photo montages of each of their projects to date. See if you can pick the Top Design!

Out are: Goil (15); Michael (13) ; Erik (11) Ryan (5), Felicia (9), Elizabeth (6), John (1), Heather (0), Lisa (0)

My per episode point system is: 4 - winner; 3 - top ranking(if different than winner); 2 middle group; 1 - bottom ranking; 0 - if "latered".



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Top Design meets Travel Tuesday

Tonight is Episode 8! We're down to Andrea, Carisa, Goil and Matt. They are charged with creating a hotel suite for Metropolitan Home. Themes are Earth, Air, Fire and Water (respectively).









Hotel rooms provide some of the most mundane to the most beautiful and creative decorating worldwide. I've been running a reagular feature called Travel Tuesday where each week I profile several hotels in a particular city that are beautiful and unique. Here are a few images that I particularly love. Click here to see the rest. And come back after the show for my weekly mid-night (meaning middle of the night) recap!

Room for Improvement - choices and progress

Click for more information on this series.

Met with the clients today and great progress has been made! A WHDH film crew was out at their house this morning to film the "before" footage. Photos here.

The Headboard

The fabulous Walter Heller of Heller Furniture in Norwell, MA dug into his bag of tricks and came up with an orphaned king sized headboard frame that he is generously providing to the project. So, all we have to pay for is the actual upholstering and fabric. It amounts to about 50% off the retail price, so thank you Walter!

This is the fabric we'll be using on the headboard. It's a soft nubby chenille.

Rocky Road in Surf


The Bedding

I found this nice little duvet and sheet set at Homegoods that fit into our color palette perfectly. We'll also be adding in a simple box pleat bedskirt.

Window Treatments

At the outset, my clients expressed a desire for a fresh, contemporary and calm space. I thought tri-colored panel window treatments such as these would fit the bill perfectly. I'll be making these out of the following three solid fabrics:

Mayfield - Sea

Mayfield - Palm

Filamena - Mineral

Here are some additional fabrics that I'll be using to make custom pillows, which are a specialty of mine. Some examples of my pillows are here and here.

Silk Blooms - Ice

Ash Flats in Oasis


Rocky Road in Palm

I was hoping to be able to fit in a cute little wrought iron bench seat that I'd seen in a consignment shop (see previous post) but between the price of the bench, plus custom box cushion and pillows to make it comfy, we decided that it wasn't worth the hit to the budget.


Next up: artwork and accessories...

Click here to see all "Room for Improvement" posts.


All my interior design clients receive their own pages on my company website where
we keep track of design plans, products and resources. Take a peek here.