The Muenster Mash

At Owen's Bagel and Deli, the home of the amazing steamed bagel sandwich, there is no elegant menu board organized by type of meat or bread - the menu is about 50 8.5" x 11"ish homemade signs made by employees, customers, whoever hung randomly wherever there happens to be a space. This deli has a great fun, funky vibe and certainly isn't trying to impress you with fancy decor, but ironically, this is what impresses people. People feel at home, they write all over the walls, and interact with the employees and each other. It's such a fun and unique place - and the food is great!

So, here is my addition to the OBD menu, the Muenster Mash. My delicious vegetarian sandwich with hummus, bell peppers, onions, meunster cheese (of course), lettuce and tomato on a bialy. mmmm! It's the Muenster Monster!

Porch Bench - Now with Flair!

We were given this old park bench from a friend who was moving. It has served it's purpose just fine as a stained wood bench, but since I can never leave unpainted things alone we now have an outer space bench for our porch. I was inspired by the 60's artist Peter Max and his fun whimsical, almost trippy art. The stars are painted in a metallic silver so they sparkle. Now, I'm just not sure if I actually want people sitting on it...

Art Card

This is an art card that I made for Max Arledge, an Anderson SC painter. He needed a card that patrons could take away from exhibits to contact him and be reminded of his work. I used four images of his work to create the card and featured two quotes of the artist discussing his style and background. Below is the front and back image of the card.

35th & McDowell Development

YSS was contracted to assist with the client selections and design of the ten home 35th & McDowell project located in NoDa here in Charlotte. I worked with the new home owners while their homes were under construction to guide them through the processes of exterior selections (paint, stains, brick, stone, lighting, etc) as well as interior selections (paint, granite, appliances, tile, plumbing fixtures, lighting, cabinetry, etc). I also worked with the contractors to coordinate scheduling and ordering of products and completed invoicing. It was a great experience to step into the role of project management.

This home did not have an owner when construction was started so it became the show home for the development (until it sold shortly after completion). With no home owners input, it was open to our own design devices... within reason. For the exterior, we wanted to do something other than the typical white trim so we went with a dark charcoal gray for the siding and a nice gold beige for the door and window trim.
Here is the back view of the house and a glimpse of the neighboring house which I also worked on.
The open floor plan of this house made the kitchen very important. It is the center of the home. The cabinets are two toned to add more interest - a nice taupe color for the main cabinets and a ebony island each with black granite. The lighting became important and was a bit of a challenge because of the high vaulted ceilings, we had to make sure that it could hang low enough. The is a pot rack over the island with lights, and clear pendant lights over the peninsula and sink. In the dining room, there is a Capiz shell light that I spent entirely too much time altering! It was three separate lights that I reconfigured to make one large light. Had I known what I was getting into, it may not have happened. But it turned out very cool and was a unique light for the space that coordinated very well with the stone fire place so, I'm glad I did it.
Here is the living room with the grand stone fireplace. The walls are a nice warm gray that give the space life and color, yet is still neutral enough for a home on the market.
This is the formal living room located just inside the front door. Painted a nice golden beige with an awesome brick tile fireplace. The tile has a very subtle stripe similar to linen.
And the guest bathroom with bright white cabinetry, black granite counter tops and translucent blue vessel sinks to coordinate with the wall color. Not a bad place to send your guests!