The sight and feeling that greets us upon entering our house strongly affects our experience of arriving home, as well as our mood and comfort as we settle into and live in our space. When a front door enters directly into a living room, as in this project, it's very important that the room be arranged with sensitivity to this factor, as well as to its overall comfort, function, and beauty.

The previous layout of this room "welcomed" its guests and inhabitants with the back of a couch, giving way to a table of clutter, finally settling onto the TV cabinet -- not the most inspiring array. My client was complaining about feeling 'stuck' in her home and life. I set out to help her by transforming this room to feel wonderful, positively affecting her experience of arriving and being home.

By flipping the room layout around, people and energy now flow through the front door and into a cozy and lovely "conversation area," a place to truly relax and revitalize. To support this, the TV went to live on the opposite wall, clutter was given a home, and lighting and accessories were optimized to support the new vision.

These changes instantly transformed the look and feel of the room and of the overall home experience. My client tells me that not only is she in love with the changes, but that her home has become a nourishing space for her guests. What a gift for everyone!

It's amazing what re-thinking your existing things can do for your home and life...

I'm proud to announce that the new and improved SpaceTransform web site is up and running. It's got a new look and feel, refined message, and enhanced layout of project photos. Please check it out, and send me your feedback. Also note that there is now a box on the "Contact" page to sign up for my shiny new email newsletter, which will be coming soon. Enjoy!

A couple of months back I ran into my friend Dominic at a coffee shop and he told me what he was working on: a website where business owners could offer services during otherwise unbooked hours for "dibits" instead of dollars, and other business owners on the site could purchase those services using dibits that they had earned. Brilliant! It wasn't long after that when Dibspace was launched, and I became a happy member offering my services in interior redesign and feng shui.

Dominic asked me if I'd be willing to get some press on one of my dibbed offers and of course I accepted; the first of these pieces is an article in the Seattle Times today. Enjoy!

I was lucky enough to spend one month exploring Thailand this winter. What an amazing journey it was... Thailand is a tremendous place to travel -- friendly, warm, colorful, delicious, and inexpensive -- and being away from winter and worries was incredibly rejuvenating.

I split my time between Bangkok, the beaches in the south of Thailand, and Chiang Mai -- a city in the northern hills. Each was very different, and very wonderful.

I spent a significant amount of time visiting Buddhist temples, of which there are 20,000 in Thailand -- they are everywhere. Ornately designed, filled with Buddhas and altars, smelling of incense, with monks in their bright orange robes... sacred and stunning.

Thailand has a bustling market culture... there are daytime markets and nighttime markets, where vendors set up stations to sell delicious food and beautiful wares. Wandering amongst these vibrant scenes was a favorite pastime of mine, which always involved eating, and often included a stop for a market-side foot massage (30 minutes for under $2).

Time on the beaches was relaxing and balmy... and gorgeous. Stunning cliffs rising out of warm emerald green water. Tropical, alien-looking fish. Staying in a bungalow perched in the jungle. I lost track of time and days. I read and napped and swam. I watched sunrises and sunsets. I ate fresh mango and pineapple every day. I breathed deeply...

I returned to Seattle feeling chilled out and inspired... happy that spring is finally here, happy to keep expressing myself through my work and art, and happy to be back to my amazing friends and clients.

Please enjoy looking through my Thailand photos.

Sawatdee!

"Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover."
- Mark Twain

I just returned from an amazing month in Thailand. Pictures and stories to come. Stay tuned...

Last week I gave a presentation on Feng Shui to The National Association of Professional Organizers (Seattle area chapter). They had invited me to talk to their members so that I could share my expertise on an issue that has relevance to their services.

Professional Organizers help people get their surroundings under control, especially when it comes to clutter, storage, organizational systems, and the like. In this modern day when we are constantly bombarded by stuff that needs to be put somewhere, more and more people are looking for help in this area. A Professional Organizer can come in to a home or office and objectively make sense of better ways to process the work and life flow and places to store things, and then can actively help implement the systems to make that happen.

At this meeting I met several amazing people from NAPO, and recommend their members to anyone looking for a little organizing help.

My year of good press continues. A couple of weeks ago I did a redesign with a Seattle Times editor and photographer observing. The article and photos from that project are in the paper and in the online version today. Check it out!

Seattle Times article: "Redesign at the ready"

When I started SpaceTransform, I set out to offer design services in a way that dealt with more than just the surface appearance of homes and offices. I understood that our wellbeing is intricately related to that of our environments, and so while I intended to apply the skills and principles I'd learned in interior design school, I also wanted to incorporate Feng Shui and considerations of the energetics of our homes. I wanted to help people find harmony in their homes, so that they could feel peaceful and uplifted in their lives.

I had no idea how profound this work would be! It is incredibly moving and rewarding to be invited into peoples' homes, to get a glimpse of their lives, and to lend assistance and inspiration by creating supportive and comfortable spaces, by teaching and encouraging, and by infusing their environments with intention and energy. It has turned out that my *design* work is also *healing* work. I am honored and grateful for that; this services is enriching on many levels -- for my clients, and for myself. I am happy to strive to offer the best of my self in order to help people live more beautiful lives.


"We shape our buildings; thereafter they shape us."
-Winston Churchill

Burning Man this year was as usual an intense mix of beauty and challenge, work and play, natural and unnatural phenomena. The Tree Spires installation that I participated in was, ultimately, more successful than not. Here is a photo showing one of the four steel trees we created, holding lanterns that I designed, during a magical sunset.

I'm about to make my annual pilgrimage to the Burning Man Arts Festival, and this time I'll be bringing sixteen sculptural lanterns that I made as part of the Tree Spires art installation. I and my fellow Tree Spires crew, who go by the name "Iron Monkeys", spent the summer constructing four 15'-tall steel trees with benches built around the bases, and the lanterns which will hang in the trees.

For those of you who don't know, Burning Man is an event which takes place at this time every year in a remote location outside of Gerlach, Nevada. The festival, which calls itself an "experiment in temporary community," gathers tens of thousands of participants from all over the world who co-create "Black Rock City" together. The city, raised on the blank canvas of an ancient seabed, is devoted to art, and all forms of personal expression. It functions as a gift economy; there is no vending or advertising. It is pure human creativity, ingenuity, generosity, and interaction. After Labor Day the event ends and all traces of it are removed. At least the physical ones... Burning Man is a powerful cultural force which has transformed many lives, including mine. It encourages personal empowerment and creative expression, provides a community of inspired people from all walks of life, and infuses a sense of joy and wonder at the possibilities that exist. I highly recommend visiting the web site, reading a bit more, and looking through the image gallery -- a picture is worth 1000 words!

I look forward to installing and sharing the art that I and my friends have created. I will share pictures after I return! Happy end-of-summer!