Hidden Spaces | By: Valentina Cirasola | Interior Designer Sunday, Jul 1 2012

Consumerism has put a great need in our lives to accumulate things (useful or not).
We are seeing more boxy container furniture with dual functionality to make up for the lack of space, providing additional storage and serving other functions as well, such as seating arrangements. Many corners in the house are now utilized to the fullest of their potential with various creative solutions. Lot of them are showing up in up on my Pinterest board.
http://pinterest.com/vcvalentina/

This means that many people are thinking about this problem and finding solutions anywhere they can. I will point out some good solutions to emulate and others not as good to copy.

Wet Bar – It is a perfect idea to utilize a dead space under the stairs for a wet bar in an informal basement or family room. However, I would not like to see kitchen cabinets style, appliances and plumbing fixtures in an elegant space such as living room. With state of the art Italian technology, a faucet can be hidden behind moveable walls and doors. Take a look at this video, you will be surprised to see how beautiful technology can be.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ag-J9R8DtTU

I would disguise cabinets and appliances with panels made of the same wood style and colors of furniture present in the room. The wet bar will not look like a small kitchen cramped under the stairs.

Library on Landing – Great use of both spaces. Stair landing are usually treated as transition areas with little importance and often left undecorated. At times even lighting is not adequate to travel that route. In this digital era, it is sad to see the lack of books in homes. For me, adding books around windows, doorways and landing together with a comfortable seating area, show that anytime is a good time to stop and read, even when doing the laundry upstairs.

Craft and Hobby Room – Nice solution if everything needs to be in open view. A standard base cabinet is 24” deep, there is enough space to make a slide-out cabinet from the back. After accounting for backings and sliding mechanisms, the two base cabinets might be reduced to 8-10” each. Furthermore, keep in mind that a little bending down might be necessary to reach that back slide-out cabinet.

First Step – That first step must hold the full weight of a person. To make parts moveable and operable for storage it is necessary to reinforce the tread (where foot rest) of the first step, otherwise it could cave in.

Banquette – Filling a window area with something useful such as a banquette and storage underneath is always a good idea to use as seating and storage for extra china or linens.

Stairs Drawers – Of the two examples, I prefer the drawers, but both are good use of the under stairs space.

Kitchen Cellar Stairs – I would have to say a big wow to this idea. Sure it is nice to go down below to get a bottle of wine while cooking, for me at least, but the building code requires the stairs tread (horizontal part) to be at a min. of 11” wide and at least 7” high for the riser (vertical part). Big pain! The idea is nice, but the stairs as they are built appear to be dangerous.

Implementing these small solutions can only improve the life of the people living in the house. The expense is only paid once, but the reward is immense, you get more space, a better-organized life and value added to the house.
Like what you read? Sharing is caring. Pass it along to someone who’d benefit. Ciao,
Valentina

Copyright © 2012 Valentina Cirasola, All Rights Reserved

Valentina Cirasola, is the principal designer and owner of Valentina Interiors & Designs. She is a trained designer and has been in business since 1990. She works on consultation and produces drawings for remodeling, upgrading, new home construction, décor restyling and home fashion. Valentina was featured in Italy on: “Vogue” magazine and many prominent publications in California. She also has made four appearances on T.V. Comcast Channel 15.
RED-A Voyage Into Colors, her new book on colors is about ready to be published.
Find her books on 
Amazon: http://tinyurl.com/9agl5v9
Barnes&Nobles: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/c/valentina-cirasola

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Happy Cooking with Jacques Pépin | By: Valentina Cirasola | Interior Designer Thursday, Apr 19 2012

Never in a million year I would have thought of meeting my culinary idol, the legendary French Chef Jacques Pépin at KQED T.V. in person and face-to-face and never thought I would have one of my idols in the kitchen business.

Cooking has been my Italian way of life, not as science, not a subject to study. Cooking to me is an essential skill to secure me a good health and a happy face. Never had considered it a sophisticated art I had to have in my résumé of life’s achievements. At least up to a certain point. I get up in the morning and think of what I am going to eat for dinner and plan accordingly. However, I had to learn cooking at one point if I wanted to eat food well-made as I was used at home with my parents. My grandmother and my family were great inspirations and silent teachers, they cooked the food and us kids ate it without fussing, or else we starved, but watching Jacques Pépin cooking on T.V., my cooking became an art and all of a sudden, even though I knew how to cook, I felt he took my knowledge of food to a higher level. He taught me the chef’s language, which I really needed, taught me how to use and present simple and less expensive food in an elegant way and of course he expanded my horizons into history of food and food of other countries. In the meantime 20 years have passed learning from the master on T.V. and reading all of his books. He was the biggest contributor in my decision to write cookbooks so many years later I had learned he existed.

I find so many similarities between my grandmother’s cooking and Jacques Pépin’s food. In Puglia, the southern Italian region, where I come from, Normans (French people of Normandy) invaded that part of Italy from 999 up to the year 1200, leaving behind a trail of their language and food culture. It is often said the if people from Puglia don’t speak French can easily travel to France with no problem, just speaking Puglia’s dialect will be sufficient to get them understood.
Jacques food is just the same as my Puglia cooking with the exception of butter and creamy sauce, which we do not use.

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During the brief evening hours with Jacques Pépin at KQED’s reception for donors and supporters of Public T.V. was a delight to learn aspects of his life I did not know.
He is a television personage, but not only that. I learned he refused a position as a chef for the White House and went to work instead for Howard Johnson, an American Hotel chain.
In 1972, he achieved a master degree in French Literature from Columbia University. In 2010, during the christening of Oceania Marina, Pépin was named an honorary commodore of the Oceania Cruises fleet, for which he serves as Executive Culinary Director.
Pépin serves as Dean of Special Programs at the French Culinary Institute, in New York City. He is also an active contributor to the Gastronomy department at Boston University, where he teaches an online class on the cuisine and culture of France. Jacques Pépin co-starred in the 1999 PBS series Julia and Jacques Cooking at Home with Julia Child. The program was awarded a Daytime Emmy in 2001. The tribute video was created to honor Jacques Pépin and was shown at the 4th Annual New York City Wine & Food Festival Tribute Dinner on October 2011.
The first tribute of its kind ever. http://youtu.be/l6PN6sf0P8Y

There is so much more to Jacques that I can possibly mention. It is hard to describe in all facets a successful and a renaissance person like him. His latest T.V. series “Essential” http://youtu.be/0WQiFRe5Sfg is now showing on PBS.

Well, I was in seventh heaven a couple of nights ago at KQED. Finally, I met the man behind that T.V. screen with an open face I have followed for 20 years. I talked to him as he was an old-time friend, he signed his book Jacques Pépin’s Table I brought along with me, he is witty, very friendly and looks in person no different from as he looks on T.V. I asked him to tell us how it was to work with Julia Child and the episodes he recounted were so hilarious.
Most chefs are nervous and dictatorial people, Jacques Pépin cannot come in a sweeter and more mellow version. If he didn’t exist, we had to invent him. Ciao,
Valentina

 http://www.Valentinadesigns.com  

http://valentinaexpressions.com

Copyright © 2012 Valentina Cirasola, All Rights Reserved

Valentina Cirasola is an Italian Interior Designer with a passion for kitchens and cooking. She operates in the USA and Europe. She loves to remodel homes and loves to turn unattractive spaces into castles, but especially loves to design kitchens and wine grottos, outdoor kitchens and outdoor rooms, great rooms and entertainment rooms.

She is the author of two regional Italian cookbooks on
Amazon: http://tinyurl.com/9agl5v9
Barnes&Nobles: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/c/valentina-cirasola

Valentina’s third book RED-A Voyage Into Colors is in production and will be coming out soon.

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Keep It Festive | By: Valentina Cirasola | Interior Designer Thursday, Dec 29 2011

Every year most people get the beautiful Christmas decorations up and functioning soon after Thanksgiving festivity. For more than a month we get used to live with shimmering colored lights, many different colored decorations, scented candles, crystal items and silver flatware. Everything looks so lucent and elegant. We do need all of this as a way to reward us for a year of hard work and to celebrate in style the passage into a new year with renewed hopes, dreams and goals, but as soon as we are into the new year the trees and decorations go down and the shimmering lights are turned off. I keep all of my Christmas decorations until January 6th to celebrate Epiphany Day. This is a Christian commemoration of the Magi or Wise Men’s visit to baby Jesus, which marks the end of all December festivities. Kids get another present, just like Jesus received incense, myrrh and gold from the Magi, the Christmas tree is taken down on that night with all the beautiful lights and decorations, Christmas markets close, holidays are over and officially the year starts.

Epiphany day was a fun day for kids. On that night of January 6th, my parents organized a tree dismantling party and invited other kids with their parents. Our Christmas tree, as most people did, had chocolate decorations hanging among all the other Christmas decorations.
With a draw, one kid at a time had to find the chocolate decorations as a price, whatever object the kid touched first, that was the item he/she had to take down first. If a chocolate decoration was found first, the game moved over to someone else. Another kid’s name was drawn to give everyone the chance to dismantle the tree and to find the chocolate pieces. Kids fought, laughed or exchanged items, according to each of their tempers or level of vices. This game lasted for hours, before all the decorations were down on the floor, but the tree game was the excuse to get the adults together for another eating feast. My mom and her sisters prepared the last treats of the holidays, generally it was panzerotti (small size stuffed calzone), or home-made pizza, potatoes coquettes, or arancini (rice balls), lot of vegetables, sweets, biscotti, pies and prosecco. This custom is now gone forever as Christmas is more of a consumerism event than a celebration of life, light, spirituality, love and New Year’s good intentions.

Whatever you do to take the Christmas decorations down, it remains the fact that at the start of the year the glitters and glamour are gone and that corner where the tree was is now in the dark. Some people suffer the blues after Christmas is over as they settle into winter, cold and short days. What do you do to avoid that? Redecorate, move furniture around or thinking of Spring already? In some parts of the world Spring may not come until late April, that’s a long time to stay depressed. For me it is easy and simple, as I have adopted a simpler life.

I keep some Christmas decorations around for the next three months. I choose to leave out the not so obvious Christmas decorations, but only one special item for each room, one with an attractive shape or color. First thing to do is to illuminate dark corners with some light decorations, hang something with a visual impact from the ceiling, embellish a doorknob, or a lamp. Glass balls or ornaments generally have interesting shapes and nice colors, I like to keep them in bowls on coffee table and furniture mixed in with other textures. I also like the idea of filling lanterns with colored balls and create an arrangement of three. After the holidays nothing will look Christmassy any more. Take a look at the photos to get an idea and perhaps you have some of your own you want to share with me.

The ornaments will keep my house festive through some cold days while surprising some of my friends. In the meantime, while I am waiting patiently for Spring, I will think of new ways to redecorate and go through the process of cleaning out closets and cabinets. As it happens every January, there will be someone new who wants to take the renovating journey with me as their designer to guide them. It will be a new adventure just right for the new starting year. If you are ready to take that journey with me, do not hesitate to leave your name in the box.
Happy New Year, may all your wishes come true. Ciao,
Valentina
www.Valentinadesigns.com

www.Valentinaexpressions.com

Copyright © 2011 Valentina Cirasola, All Rights Reserved

Valentina Cirasola is an Italian Interior and Fashion Designer, working in the USA and Europe. She blends fashion and interior well in any of her design work. She loves to remodel homes and loves to create the unusual. She is also the author of RED-A Voyage Into Colors, the forthcoming book on the subject of colors and the author of two published book on Italian regional cuisine, available on Amazon, Barnes & Nobles and various other locations.
http://outskirtspress.com/ComeMiaNonna
http://outskirtspress.com/SinsOfAQueen

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Music And Space | By: Valentina Cirasola | Interior Designer Sunday, Nov 20 2011

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(Interpreti Veneziani website photos)

The sweetest Italian Baroque music ever made filled Le Petit Trianon Theatre of San Jose last Sunday evening. Interpreti Veneziani, a group of musician from Italy, played the best of Venetian treasures from the classical music composed by Vivaldi, Scarlatti, Boccherini, and Cimarosa. What a performance it was!

The dialogue after the performance between the audience and the artists revealed the artists’ personalities. They are very enjoyable, witty and funny musicians. Interpreti Veneziani made their début in 1987, immediately gaining reputation for the “youthful exuberance and all-Italian brio characterizing their performance”, becoming an attraction for the local Venetians and the tourists visiting the city.

When someone in the audience asked them how it feels to play in San Vidal Church in Venice, where Vivaldi played, one of the musicians responded that it feels like playing in a giant bathroom. San Vidal Church has huge spaces, large naves and aisles where people can hear the reverberation of any sound in an echo effect. Just this answer alone inspired me to write this article on noise pollution.

Noise pollution is an ensemble of noises coming from outside into our living spaces that causes disturbance to our sleep and human activities. People exposed to noise pollution could be affected with psychological problems, stress and high blood pressure.

To eradicate noise pollution coming into our homes from outside, or to muffle the sound of the musician playing in your home (lucky if you have one) it is simple enough to know that a few solutions, such as cork floor, fabrics, wood and acoustic walls can aid in keeping all noises out. Knowing the distinction between noise and sound will also help making a choice of material to use to either balance sound or block noise.

Sound is measurable information, which travels on a wave. The perception of a sound is very personal based on the emotional state of a person. Interpreti Veneziani’s music, last Sunday, emitted a pleasant dreamy sound, but my neighbors who plays marching band music at least once a week on a loud-speaker is noise to me. A sound becomes noise when we are driving and hear something wrong with the car, a malfunctioning machine, a loud T.V., appliances in motion, noisy air conditioning or weed whacker. These examples and many more are sounds of a negative perception, therefore we define them as noises.

Noises can cause anxiety and nightmare, difficulty in falling asleep, frequent waking up while sleeping, changing in sleeping patterns from deep sleep to light sleep, just to name a few side effects. To assure a good quality sleep, the noise level in the bedroom should be between 35 and 45 dB (decibel) and no higher.

Noises travel through the floor and bounce from the walls. Isolating the floor is the first thing to do to sound proof an interior space from noises. Noise travel 12-15 higher through stone floors and cement than in the air.
Acoustic walls can be constructed of styrofoam, polyester or polyurethane, even egg cartons are excellent material for sound barrier. Acoustic walls and ceilings must be flexible and not attached fixed to the primary walls. This way the sound will travel through the secondary walls and not on the primary walls and will be better dissipated.
Window treatments, bookcases, rugs, pictures without the glass, upholstered furniture, hardwood or cork floor are all the other elements that absorb well all the noises around us.

The historic Le Petit Trianon Theatre in San Jose, California, built-in 1923 is an adaptation of Petit Trianon in Versailles built by Madame Pompadour in 1761. It is a dainty, small theatre seating 350 people with an unsurpassed acoustics.
“It is an artful expression of sublime simplicity, pleasant surrounding of beauty and balance” (…) says the home page website of the Theatre. Interpreti Veneziani felt they were playing in a cozy environment and not “playing in a giant bathroom”. Their live performance sounded so great and intimate as if it was made just for us, the audience.

I am so grateful to have had the opportunity to enjoy their beautiful music and seeing them so closely. I saw their performance twice in San Vitale Church in Venice, but nobody gets closer to the artists there. Talking and get to know them one by one even during the reception was as if I had reacquainted with old friends, but they took back a piece of my Italy with them. What a beautiful night it was!

You too can experience great sounds in your home. We can have fun together designing your acoustical walls for the entertainment room, home movie theatre, basements or anything else that strikes your fancy. Leave your name in the box below and let me know in which are you need my help. Ciao,
Valentina
www.Valentinadesigns.com
www.Valentinaexpressions.com

Copyright © 2011 Valentina Cirasola, All Rights Reserved

Valentina Cirasola is a trained Italian Interior Designer in business since 1990. Being Italian born and raised, Valentina’s design work has been influenced by Classicism and stylish, timeless designs. She is a designer well-known to bring originality to people’s homes.

As an Italian designer and true to her origins, she provides only the best workmanship and design solutions. She is the author of two Italian regional cuisine books and the author of the forthcoming book on the subject of Colors, due to be released in the Spring 2012. Find her books on

Amazon: http://tinyurl.com/9agl5v9

Barnes&Nobles: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/c/valentina-cirasola

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Animal Attraction | By: Valentina Cirasola | Interior Designer Saturday, Sep 17 2011

Year after year, I am fascinating with the “animalier” look, even when animal prints were not so much the vogue, I have always worn at least one item in those prints. I believe my attraction comes from the visual rhythm in the movement an animal pattern can imprint in my mind, more than the animal magnetism I might feel.

Animal prints can stir feelings of vulgarity, just as much as feelings of elegance. In the ‘50s the elevated elegance was to wear one or two strings of pearls around the neck and only one small garment in animal print, perhaps a bill box hat, a pair of gloves, or a pair of ballerina shoes and never all together.

Today, animal prints are over used and produced in all colors. Being aware of how to use or wear them will put us on the path of elegance. Animal prints when paired up with a sober look, will give an extra touch of highly seductive femininity. In fact, today the animalier prints are a symbol of high-class fashion, no longer for sexy bombshells that want to make a lasting impression. Ethno-chic and retro styles are the rage in this year 2011 fashion, just as much they have been in past collections.

Pop animal prints spotted in blue, green, or red (confess it, you have one of those too), are fun to wear, but bordering vulgarity is easy to do when the pop colored animal patterns are matched with sequins, bright shiny stuff, or with the wrong colors.

It is not good to mix or match all the prints together, just because they are the same theme or color. One of model wearing Giambattista Valli’s collection has the right color shoes, picking up two of the colors in her animal print dress, but the other model (right) wearing different tonality of zebra print in the dress and in the pochette portrays a confused and not very elegant look.

I am constantly searching for artists in different mediums and subjects, from furniture to fabrics, to paintings that can complement my design work. Through social sites, I got to know Angel Ray’s fabric art. She is a professional silk painter and I love how she describes her scarf:
“The colors of amber, browns and sunset oranges are perfect for autumn, and for any special occasion to add a little ROWR to your wardrobe! A definite conversation starter, throw on this beauty to immediately add bold glamour to your look”.
http://www.etsy.com/listing/82032427/leopard-lilies-hand-painted-silk-scarf

I find her Leopard Lilies to be striking elegant, if it is worn under a total dark brown ensemble, a ¾ length jacket and a short skirt just one inch above the knee. Perfect for a daytime business lunch, or an early afternoon cocktail before 5:00 o’clock. This is my suggested idea, let’s see what she thinks of it.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/musesilkpaintings/sets/72157627255484577/

Angel, with a bit of advanced notice, is able to produce fabrics for interior décor too and I am very happy. That same Leopard Lilies striking elegance can easily change from a scarf to decorative pillows. Picture a cream color sofa, or a brown, black leather sofa with pillows painted in her Leopard Lilies mixed with pillows of the solid colors in the scarf. In each case, they will change the mood and the feeling of the décor, which can swing from contemporary to traditional.

As an interior designer it happens often that I am attracted to animal prints in home décor. Leopard printed carpet was so appropriate for the masculine game room in my photo, but I didn’t try to match anything else to it risking to produce a vulgar space. In fact, the large hand painted mural on the wall takes a center stage and the animal carpet print almost disappears on its own.

If I am voluntarily breaking some accepted decoration rules is because I want to provoke and create some strong emotions, as I did when I designed the zebra ottoman for a woman with a strong personality and bold taste. It is not zebra skin, it is printed leather and it looks so real! The ottoman found its place in the client’s white bedroom with dark cherry wood paneling and grass fabric area rugs.

In my next interior the client is a young woman with a super traditional taste. It took a lot of convincing to mix a racamier seat dressed in animal print in her very traditional living room furnishing. I wanted to lift the heaviness of the rest of the room by adding a new dimension with one contemporary piece and a contemporary throw rug. An extravagant piece, as she called it was too scary for her, but it turned out her favorite piece in the entire décor. I am glad she saw what I saw.

Animalier prints have conquered thousand of women because it is young, transgressive, elegant or….less pretentious; it is a good fit for any age, or in any décor and above all it is fun for any occasion.

I am here to help if you need to lift the image of an area in your home with animal magnetism. Ciao.
Valentina
www.Valentinadesigns.com

Valentina’s design success story
http://youtu.be/pOKI6LkOkkA

Copyright © 2011 Valentina Cirasola, All Rights Reserved

Valentina Cirasola is an Italian Interior Designer since 1990 and a former Fashion Designer, working in the USA and Europe. She blends fashion and interior well in any of her design work. She loves to remodel homes and turn unattractive spaces into castles. Fashion designing has been her first career choice that made her happy in her own fashion company for fifteen years before settling in the interior designing business. Find her books on

Amazon: http://tinyurl.com/9agl5v9
Barnes&Nobles: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/c/valentina-cirasola

 

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Going Eichler | By: Valentina Cirasola | Interior Designer Thursday, Jun 16 2011

In about a couple of weeks, I will be filming many California homes for an Italian T.V. station, in Italy.

The producer is looking for homes of all types from extravagant to traditional, from elegant to casual and definitively homes that are not Italianate looking.
The idea of the show is to highlight California living and to show to European audience how people live in these parts of the world.

American homes are characterized with large open spaces, rooms communicating with each other, high ceilings, grand foyers, lighting effects, exterior vegetation, 3 to 5 cars garage, all features so very different from European homes. In fact, not by accident the title of the show will be Dreaming California.
Some of the homes I designed for my clients will be filmed too, but there is one particular home I am interested in featuring, the Eichler home owned by one of my friend, an art painter. This style of home is the perfect setting for an artist, vibrant, modern, open and transparent.

Eichler style architecture was designed by real estate developer Joseph Eichler between 1950 and early ‘70s, as a post war innovative architecture, affordable for the mass and all races. GIs returning home after WWII needed to create families, thus building homes fast and cost-efficient was a high demand of the market in the ‘50s.

The Eichlers were the first track homes constructed with standard material in a remote location and shipped where the building sites were. For the very first time this innovative concept was applied to home’s production, just as in the car industry assembly lines. Prefabricated homes in different styles are still produced.

The indoor-outdoor concept of these homes was for the first time featured on brochures and marketing materials of the ‘50s, something we have returned to like sixty years later.

The indoor- outdoor concept is so much part of today’s living, feeling that inner peace that only nature can provide is well recreated today with large windows, sliding doors, mirror reflections, outdoor rooms, or even operable walls. Exactly how the Eichler home was conceived then.

The particular features that sold these homes were open floor plans, flat roofs, interior atrium, post and beams, large glass walls, radiant heating, cork flooring, wood paneling. The builder’s goal was to offer to everyone the same details of elegant homes with affordable and eco-friendly material. Ah! This is want homeowners want today too!

Living in an Eichler today doesn’t have the same meaning that had in the’50s, it seems that this very particular style of architecture attracts people with certain traits, it fits the artist’s profile and any person in a creative field.

The interior décor cannot be any different from modern, colorful, vibrant, eclectic, or even extravagant, it’s a must, otherwise will not fit the linear and simple architecture. A traditional décor will totally clash.

The owners of an Eichler home who lived in it since the ‘50s are now tired and are selling these beautiful properties, giving a good inventory to the real estate agencies.

Unfortunately, this architectural style marked an era, the Eichler home has become almost historical architecture and no longer is considered a ‘track home’ for the mass. With a higher status label comes the high price too. I know my friend the artist will never leave her Eichler. She selected excellent furnishing by herself, accessorized it tastefully and added some travel memorabilia pieces for a touch of whimsy. She changed it into a small, but pleasant paradise and of course, to feed her soul, she created a colorful vegetation, she can enjoy from anywhere in the house, but especially from her studio while she is painting her art.

If you want to know more about it the Eichler style, or if you want to buy or sell one of these homes, I work with many realtors I can refer you to, but if you like to decorate and furnish one, you have fallen in the right place. Leave your name and contacts info in the box below and I will answer in 24 hours time. Ciao,
Valentina
www.Valentinadesigns.com

http://www.youtube.com/user/affluentliving#p/u/2/eC2LVXANG5U
http://www.youtube.com/user/affluentliving#p/u/0/kWuB7I8uJjg

Copyright © 2011 Valentina Cirasola, All Rights Reserved

Valentina Cirasola is a trained Italian Interior Designer in business since 1990. Being Italian born and raised, Valentina’s design work has been influenced by Classicism and stylish, timeless designs. She will create your everyday living with a certain luxury without taking away your comfort. She loves to restore old homes, historic dwellings and she focuses on remodeling. She is the author of three books available on

Amazon: http://tinyurl.com/9agl5v9
Barnes&Nobles: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/c/valentina-cirasola

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From Royal Hats To Garden Hats | By: Valentina Cirasola | Interior Designer Tuesday, May 24 2011

It is so refreshing to see hats completing women’s attires again. I believe this year has marked the advent of a new era for hats. We have seen many extravagant creations on the stage of the British Royal wedding last April.

Some hats were awesome, some not so quite and some others puzzled me how they stood up on women’s head in a perfect balance, but they all had the goal to shock and amaze. After all it wasn’t a common day for business as usual, it was the day of the royal wedding, every guest had the license to overdue.

A couple of weeks later, at the Orticola Trade Show in Milano, I was happily surprised to see so many women in hats again, but this was a garden show, a place where vendors were showing their green novelties in gardens and orchards, flowers, bulbs, vegetables and the latest in garden technology. I truly loved the display of floral hats in all shapes, forms and colors, a display of elegance and femininity returning on earth. Women are feeling comfortable in their own skin again, no longer having the need to mimic men in any of their life expressions.

This year the trend of artificial flowers in communion with artificial food fetish is showing up everywhere too, in jewelry, on hats, in dresses and even in the way stores display their fashion merchandise. A casual summer dress this year looks very flowery and colorful. The lightweight lends itself to the games that a soft wind might play between the fabric.

Artificial flowers made of silk and papyrus with a hint of perfume were already known in Egypt around 3000 B.C., also used by Greek and Roman women. During the Middle Age artificial flowers became so fashionable in upper class circles of France that Paris and Lyon became well-famous for manufacturing the most stunning creations of accessories with flowers, fruits and ribbons destined to embellish the already extravagant ladies’ dresses.

Fresh flowers adorned women and men’s body as well all through different historic periods.
During the Middle Age girls in age to be married decorated their head with a single wreath of fresh flowers, an indication of virginity.

During the Rococo’ and the French Empire Era women decorated their voluptuous dresses with fresh flowers and ribbons, while men’s final touch was to wear a gardenia on the lapel, a custom men continued well in today’s dressing: a gardenia for a tuxedo and a carnation for an evening suit.

Earlier, I mentioned how creative some trendy stores are treating the display of the merchandise in their windows this Spring. The usage of fruits, vegetables and some beautiful insects like butterflies instill harmony and peace in the shopper’s view, it doesn’t really look like they are selling. Selling is a real art, when selling with nature in mind, it feels good and inviting.

I am loving the soft look of Spring and Summer collection this year, it is spiritual, organic, sexy and it is calling for love. You will find it also transported in the interiors of eclectic homes where natural fabrics and colors mix and blend with bricks or distressed wall finishes. Get the inspiration from one of my earlier blog entitled: http://valentinadesigns.wordpress.com/2011/01/10/i-prescribe-bohemian-style-by-valentina-cirasola-interior-designer/
When in doubt, call the expert and I shall be here for you. Please leave your name in the box below. Ciao,
Valentina
www.Valentinadesigns.com

www.youtube.com/user/affluentliving#p/u/2/eC2LVXANG5U
www.youtube.com/user/affluentliving#p/u/0/kWuB7I8uJjg

Copyright © 2011 Valentina Cirasola, All Rights Reserved

 

 

Valentina Cirasola is an Italian Interior and Fashion Designer, working in the USA and Europe. She blends well fashion and interior in any of her design work. She loves to remodel homes and loves to create the unusual.
She is the author of three books available on 

Amazon: http://tinyurl.com/9agl5v9

Barnes&Nobles: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/c/valentina-cirasola

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A Rustic Fascination | By: Valentina Cirasola | Interior Designer Monday, May 2 2011

I have always made claims that kitchens look like soldiers lined up for a parade when cabinets are all the same size, when the look is uniform, when there is no change of colors, wood, nor striking details.

My idea of a fun kitchen is exactly the opposite. I like to see cabinets with different heights, some accent colors, some accent wood species, I like to see fenestration with glass and interior lights and especially I don’t like granite counters. So many varieties of stone material, why limit the choice to granite?

The primary characteristic of the kitchen is to store cooking and serving equipment. That function remains in any style, whether it is modern, classic, country, elegant, or funky. If the kitchen function is utilitarian and of service then why not design it with style in mind, with cabinets which give movement and rhythm to the space?

I love to add unique details to coordinate with a personal taste. I love to create warm and refined atmosphere, with quality and robust material that will last in time, thus break the monotony of “all alike and uniform” cabinets.

I am a big believer in savings, even when designing kitchens. I am showing here a new way Italian manufacturers design kitchens in the walls. They are beautiful, stylish and made to save even without the typical exterior sides.

Basically the kitchen is made only of solid wood doors, interior shelves are also made of wood, but the interior walls are made of usual sheet rock and painted to taste. Cabinets are recessed and flush with the walls, so they don’t stand in attention. The interior is as spacious as you like it to be, no need to stay with the standard solutions 18”-24”-27” and so on, doors will follow the interior width.

The idea is to save on material and to attribute a feel of lived antiquity and rusticity while still having all the modernity of appliances and equipment. Of course the choices of style are endless, even contemporary.

The details on walls and hardware will beautify these kind of fitted kitchens, even an elegant chandelier, totally unrelated to the rustic style will look so appropriate, suitable for those people who love to surround themselves with beautiful and exclusive things.

The style of fitted kitchen has been seen only in Europe so far, but if you like to know more about it, or if you would like to install a kitchen in your home like these samples, I am here to help, just place your name below in the box. Ciao,
Valentina
www.Valentinadesigns.com

http://www.youtube.com/user/affluentliving#p/u/2/eC2LVXANG5U
http://www.youtube.com/user/affluentliving#p/u/0/kWuB7I8uJjg

Copyright © 2011 Valentina Cirasola, All Rights Reserved

Valentina Cirasola is an Italian Interior Designer with a passion for kitchens and cooking. She operates in the USA and Europe. She loves to remodel homes and loves to turn unattractive spaces into castles, but especially loves to design kitchens and wine grottos. She is the author of three books available on

Amazon: http://tinyurl.com/9agl5v9
Barnes&Nobles: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/c/valentina-cirasola

 

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The Art Of Selling | By: Valentina Cirasola | Interior Designer Thursday, Feb 3 2011

February 14th is the date accepted worldwide to celebrate love. However, success in life is not just about romance, it requires relationships of all types.
Without friends, family, staff, vendors, coaches, clients, partners, associates, students, teachers, audience, fans and others, you would not be able to achieve the goals or lifestyles and success you want.

For a while I have observed a new model of doing business, an intriguing new way of selling, which it really goes back to the basics I learned in my Italian roots and my Italian family.
I understand now why Europe is still called the Old World. Life over there might have changed along with the technology, but social behavior has remained quite the same.
In the Old World is very common for a person in business to ask for a helping hand to friends and family in running some areas of a business. Generally people don’t let down those who need help, they know the favour will be returned.
What amazes me is that after I learned all the core of marketing and learned from renowned master marketers, I am realizing that the simplicity of selling from the soul is an art and as all arts must strike emotions, be vivid, creative, colorful, pleasant and most of all sincere. Selling the hard way doesn’t work anymore and it will again.
I am so fortunate to have met the owner of http://gioiacompany.com/home a small company of Italian imports who is turning selling into a new experience for her American clients and this is story.

She organizes selling parties twice a month, generally towards the end of the week to which she invites all of her clients who in turn invite their friends.
The owner of Gioia Co. cooks the recipes from my two Italian cookbooks (incidentally, she carries my books as her products). Her clients come with pleasure, they know what is waiting for them. Kisses and hugs greets them and the aromas of all the food prepared for them. So far, there is no talk of sales yet.
People look around at all the merchandise displayed and spot the pieces to buy, but buying and sell happens later not in this scene. The owner’s attention is devoted to the clients as persons, their families and their lives while Italian music plays in the background.
After the greetings and talks of personal news, the selling event starts by offering gorgeous Italian appetizers, accompanied by various drinks, then a taste of a small Italian meal is served in the garden, Italian music is still going in the background to create a dreamy atmosphere of Italy, vacation, relax and dolce vita (as if this is all we do all day long in Italy, but we leave dreams where dreams belong to).

Finally, after everybody’s appetite and thirst has been satisfied and everybody is relaxed enough, like in a theatre, the scene changes from the proscenium of socialization into the selling mode stage. The process is a leisure activity, the client is really left in peace to think, look, making selections, try on some items and ask questions. Invariably the sell happens on its own, without push, comfortably and as the normal conclusion of a nice afternoon with friends sharing life experience, stories and each other’s company.

Now, what’s wrong with this picture?
OK some time have passed with only a hand full of customers, but these are happy customers, they leave with a smile on their faces. During the selling event they were cared for and not pushed into any sales or any marketing hammering. These are the clients who will tell the rest of the world about their experience at Gioia, eating from Valentina’s Italian books (one day they will hire me as their designer too), tasting drinks for sale, buying masks from the artist. A few companies and their products will benefits from one event and will be on people’s mind every time they will talk about us. This is one example of entrepreneurs helping each others without competing.

Every business has its own characteristic and this one might not be good for everyone to copy. Perhaps making millions of dollars each sale is not the answer, even though it would be nice. This business teaches us that selling is not a dirty action, it does not have to be a cut throat experience and that any business selling products or services can incorporate a little humanity, or social abilities in their system.

We buy from people we like and trust and we sell to humans, at the end what really counts is the human relationship with the customers and our ability of making them happy. Rest assure they will love to talk about us and will love to be back into our business.
Gioia Co’s tag line is: “We work to bring joy into people’s life”. It cannot get any better and this is our loving success. Ciao,
Valentina
www.Valentinadesigns.com

 

 

Copyright © 2011 Valentina Cirasola, All Rights Reserved

Valentina Cirasola has been in business as a designer since 1990. She has helped a variegated group of fun people realizing their dreams with homes, offices, interiors and exteriors. She is a designer well-known to bring originality to people’s homes.

She is also the author of two Italian regional cuisine:
Come Mia Nonna – A Return To Simplicity and Sins Of A Queen
Both books are available:
http://valentinaexpressions.com/
Amazon: http://tinyurl.com/9agl5v9
Barnes&Nobles: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/c/valentina-cirasola
http://gioiacompany.com/webshop/product/come-mia-nonna-a-return-to-simplicity/99/246

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