Happy Friday. TGIF, seriously! We are headed up to Santa Barbara for 2 days and I promise to share photos of our road-trip.

I have been wanting to share some children's art that I recently launched. It was created out of my love for children's spaces and bright pops of color. I had this idea for a round graphic color wheel print in my mind for some time before I created it. I envisioned a piece that could be used for a children's room or as a colorful accent to a gallery wall or modern office space. 

When designing the piece, I began by using tissue paper to delicately create each colorful slice of the wheel. First, I drew a large circle in pencil. I cut, measured and outlined each piece. I had to carefully slice and trim each color with an X-Acto blade, this one with a built-in light would have been insanely helpful for precision! Next, I arranged and collaged the tissue paper pieces.  I decided to include all 12 colors; 3 primary and 3 secondary, plus 6 tertiary colors. 

It is a colorful graphic that also teaches color mixing! ​

Now it is available in multiple sizes as a fine art print. I am experimenting with choosing the frame that I like the best. I think a simple white frame allows the color wheel to be the focus. 
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You can visit my original blog to see how I taught making a color wheel collage with kids and if you are interested in seeing more art projects made with kids, you can follow my Instagram where I post artwork created by children in the art studio.

Wishing you bright and colorful summer days ahead! 

I hope you all had an amazing weekend! We spent Memorial Day weekend in Palm Springs and will be headed up to Santa Barbara in the coming week, so I will have some good travel stories to share.

For now, I wanted to share some tips from the first full kitchen design that I ever tackled. I love a good kitchen. While our own apartment kitchen in Los Angeles leaves us with a lot to be desired, a few years back, I restored 2 distinct kitchens for our single family rental properties in Louisville, KY. Both times, I developed and tweaked a basic formula and approach to the renovations. 

I would like to share some highlights from that first kitchen renovation in Louisville, Kentucky. My approach, aesthetic, and budget has evolved over the years. It is fun to look back at that first kitchen we did back in 2013. Later, we would complete the second one in 2015. 

To begin visualizing the results, I pulled lots of inspiration and made a few boards. I knew that we wanted white cabinets paired with open shelving or glass uppers, subway tile, along with warm wood countertops. So, I collected and arranged photos that I found inspiring! 

Since the home would become a rental property,  I focused on finding affordable, modern and timeless design trends. We selected:

• double farmhouse sink
• recessed LED lighting 
• old-school semi flush mount pendant light
• butcher block counter tops
• stainless steel refrigerator, similar stove, and dishwasher
• open shelving 
• windows for natural light

We decided on an L-shaped kitchen as a part of the open concept and to leave space for a dining table or island to the right, if desired.