Public Toilets...

Today I met a friend for a quick bite to eat at Panera Bread.  While I waited for her to arrive I took a quick trip to the ladies room.  While I appreciate that their bathrooms are clean and don't have that terrible public restroom stench of dried urine and sometimes worse, I would like to address a very important topic.

I do not consider myself an exceptionaly tall or short person, but really nestled right their in the middle as average.  And let me preface this with, I would almost rather wet myself than have to use the public restroom and those of you who know me, also know that I have small issue with germs and really what could be more germ filled that a toilet that millions of people use....gross.  So really, I thought if I was going to enjoy my lunch, I would need some relief, so, how bad could it be, I mean it wasn't really late in the lunch hour but early so really not too many people had used it yet that day, assuming that it was cleaned within the last few hours/days. 

I go into the available stall and start to prepare for the traditional squat method...Yes, in this situation I am a squater...not a toilet paper the seat kinda girl...that is a task for going home to the privacy/cleanliness of your own toilet, unless its an absolute emergency.   And by the way that is too close a proximity to a body oriface and a million germs that I do not want to come in contact with....

Well, I drop draw and prepare my aim when low and behold I realize the toilet is about a foot lower than expected...HOW IS THIS POSSIBLE...there are rules, LAWS that govern the height of a public toilet.  I am in shock and awe and have to readjust in order to not pee all over the seat, floor and backs of my legs...

FYI here it is the actual Code for public toilet seat height.

Toilets

“Undercut” bowls are preferred. The height of the toilet seat is perhaps the most

critical factor. The height of toilet seats must be 17" to 19" above the fi nish

fl oor. Moderate heights of 17" to 18" work well in standard compartments, while

heights of 18" to 19" work best in the 36" wide walk-in compartments

Patience...well you know!

I bid a job back in January of 2010 for a developer I do work for from time to time.  I have revised the proposal at least three times and thought it would never come to fruition.  The job consist of a small amount of demo, custom millwork and all new furniture and accessories for an apartment building clubhouse and business center in New Hampshire.

Well, here we are, a year later and the job has finally been approved and needs to be completed PRONTO!!!  I am so happy that I stuck it out, because so many times when that phone would ring, or that email would come in, I thought, here we go again, more changes with no end in sight, and no money.

You see, I have bid many a job for this developer, and I am up against some very well known and respected Design firms/Staging Companies across the country.  I can't always bid where they want me to because I am one person with a Part-time installer who helps me.  Those of you who know me, know that this very trusted bull of a man is my loving Brother in Law Len.

Well, needless to say, Lenny and I went to New Hampshire.  The craziness started the day before, with me getting a truck that was too small to fit all the furniture and accessories I had stored in my warehouse (garage) and having my wonderful husband say, I knew it was too small, you do it every time...what was it that Ralph on the Honeymooners used to say.."the moon Alice..."  Anyway,  as punishment he was forced to meet Len at the Uhaul place and trade trucks...which meant transferring everything that we already packed (about 15 huge baxes-70lbs each) to the other truck. 

In hopes that my 2 rather large pieces of glass for table tops would not break. we set out the next morning at 6:30 a.m. for N.H.  Lenny driving the truck, me driving my Volvo full of accessories.  We made it with no speeding ticket and no major breakages.  We worked tirelessly all day only stopping for bathroom breaks and lunch and finally completed the job at 11:30 at night.  We then hit every single garbage dumpster on the property to rid ourselves of a truck load of cardboard before hitting the road at midnight.  We did it and were slightly fired up at how well it went. 

All in all, this is truly my favorite part of the job.  The install.  The true challenge of it all is working with existing situations that may not be ideal...in this case we had to keep the existing flooring (ugly carpet in both rooms) and only the Clubhouse and Business Center were done, not the corridors that lead to it.  The client was happy, NY developer happy=Me very happy and paid finally!!! 

Cleanliness is next to Godliness

I have clearly been procrastinating...actually, I couldn't decide what to write about next!  I had so many ideas and started writing a few and scrapped them.  Then I woke up this morning and could only think about getting my shit together and really getting organized, and then it came to me...Organization and order.

So, needless to say, I spent all morning getting organized, and really this is not a difficult task for me, I love when things are neat and tidy and put in their place.  It gives me a sense of  calm.  Its the strangest thing that something as simple as having all your ducks in a row can really bring peace and harmony.  It is such a stressful thing to know you have ten different piles of things to do and no time or energy to sort through them.

Everyone has a baseline for what is and what isn't orderly.  My baseline tends to be pretty neat and clean.  I like that fact that at any time, I am ready to entertain.  A quick wipe down of any surface and few chips and wine (always wine) and I am ready.  For the most part I can thank my parents for this.

My father was military all the way...all his drawers were color coded, he had an entire tallboy dedicated to socks.  Yellow ones, brown, green, navy blue, light blue, black and oh yes, white ones too, they all had their own drawers.  You see, this is the foundation, he was a little OCD with it, but taught us well.  My mother is very stereo-typical British,  and would basically walk around with a white glove.  If things were not perfection, then she would freak out and you'd have to start all over, meaning she'd rip the room apart!

It all worked out in the end.  I took with me, an ability to be highly organized and achieve a sense of harmony in my home and workplace.  I think, that if nothing else, we all need a little peace and harmony in our lives and this can so easily be accomplished by simply arranging the things around you in an orderly and consistent fashion. 

Yes, you can clean and it feels good for that day.  The kids come home or you husband, and things get thrown off.  The BIG idea is to keep up with it and have a "place" for everything.   It all needs a permanent home.  This is not to say that you can't have a junk drawer, but really try to keep it a little organized, so its not a disaster to go into.  The whole idea is to make your life easier and to know where things are when you need them.

When organizing a linen closet for instance, I like to have all my bath towels on one shelf.  I like them all to be folded the same way  and have them all stacked with their folds going the same way, so it looks like a nice neat pile.  I keep all my wash clothes and hand towels stacked on another shelf and so on and so forth.  It so much nicer to open that closet and see it orderly than to have things falling on me as I open the door. 

I have a few friends, you know who you are, who are absolute slobs!  I have no idea how they get anything accomplished being so disorganized.  I hope this will inspire you to get rid of a pile or tackle a closet and try to bring a little peace and harmony into your home or office.  Good Luck!!

My First Blog!

Here we go!  I am very excited about this.  I have watched my friends and family write very witty blogs over the past few months and have decided to give it a try.  My objective will be to give you a blog about design related things and keep it very honest. 

I will try my best to not mispell everything-as I am known to type too fast thus, misspelling everything and creating an unreadable text. 

I want to start by giving you a little background about my professional experience.  Most of you who know me know, that I am a big goof ball, very rarely serious about anything and always willing to help out anyone with really anything.  Well, I am actually a trained professional and have been know to quote a movie/commercial and say "Don't try this at home" or "I'm not a doctor but I play one on TV", so please, try to remember I am really serious!!  just kidding.

I went to Drexel University, in Philadelphia, PA  and when I wasn't busy working as a waitress(making boat loads of money) I was actually working really hard at getting my Interior Design Degree.  Drexel is a coop school so at some point in your Junior year you have to take 6 months and get a job in your profession.  I got a job at an Architectural firm called Burt Hill.  I loved this job and it solidified my future in the design community. 

I loved everything about it, the design library - just like a library but filled with fabrics, paint samples, wallcoverings, flooring samples etc. I loved drawing on the computer in Autocad-lets face it, I can't draw for shit, so drawing with a computer really allowed me to express what I was thinking and designing without having to do another comic strip looking drawing. 

After my coop was up, I stayed on partime and stayed at Burt Hill until graduation.  By this time I was married, I know, I got married very early, that's another long story...maybe even a different Blog!  Anyway we moved back to Jersey and I got a job at Gensler in New York.

This is what I really wanted.  Gensler is THE BEST architectural/design/engineering firm in THE WORLD!!  They have been on the top 100 list every year for as long as I can remember.  I loved being in the city, I even loved the commute, I loved working in a fast paced studio environment with tons of creative people everywhere.  It was thrilling and incredible. 

If you haven't figured it out yet, there are different types of designers.  There are the ones who go to school and get a 2 year associates degree...not me.  There are those who go to a college and get a 4 year bachelors...me... and then there are some who get a Masters too...not me...

There are also those who pass themselves off as Decorators-now these you can split into a few categories.  The people who have taken classes and maybe have some type of certificate and know the basic...I have to say I am not even sure that really exists.  And those woman who think they have a knack and call themselves a decorator but really have no training whatsoever! 

Anyway, a short segway there, but now back to me!

Shortly after starting at Gensler, I got pregnant...yes, I was young, 24 to be exact,  but really why wait!  Anyway, I had a high risk pregnancy and my doctor didn't want me so far from home and ordered me on "home rest"!?  Who even knew that existed.  I did actually see her at the mall one day and she really reamed me a new one for being out. 

Anyway, That next day, I went to the office and asked my boss if he would let me work form home so I could abide by my doctors orders, he said no and basically told me I had no rights because I had only been there for 5 months so I had no recourse and after the baby is born I can reapply.  I think I cried from that moment on until I got home.  My dream job out the window!!

A long story short-the man who initially hired me-Jay Lebow one of the VP's at Gensler, had recently left and gone over to GHK and called and said, I am sending a techie to your house, you can work for me as a consultant and that started my career as an interior design consultant.

There is a lot more history,  but this is the long boring basics of how it all began!!  I promise to write again, and make it more fun and interesting...good and bad storied of design.

I leave you with one last piece of advise.  If you hire a designer to come into your home or office and give you design  advise...and it is truly a trained professional (see above), when they tell you something looks like shit, then it most likely looks like shit and you should let them help you do something about it.  Do not be offended, it is what you hired them to help you with!

b.