Saturday, February 10, 2007

Top Design, Episode 2

As a design blog, it's only natural that we would post a re-cap on the most recent episode of Top Design. We thought about it for a minute or so. Yet the fact is, many other bloggers are already doing it better and, quite simply, we're just not that quick. But I'll ante up my two cents about the design.

Although Matt seemed the most nervous about transitioning his room into a child's room, I think he nailed it.

He didn't pimp it out to some adolescent theme that would soon bore the young client yet the room is far from generic. It's not an amusement park and it's not a museum. This room is pretty enough to delight a girly pre-teen but also mature enough to usher her into her formative years. Matt's choice of subtle color and classic trim, as opposed to loud paint and impractical construction, not only won over the girl but, I believe, would also win over her parents. After all, in the real world, the child can give input, but the parents are the true clients, and they don't want to come home to anything too crazy or poorly done. Finally, as a DIYer myself, I was most excited that Matt used simple work lights, recessed into the wall, to form those three rows of "Hollywood" spot lights.

On a side note, Captain Vellum sat down with me to watch this episode of Top Design and, as the opening credits rolled, he shouted out, "I know that guy!" Matt, designer of the beautiful room mentioned above, went to college with Captain Vellum! In fact, Matt even lived with one of Vellum's good (and current) friends so perhaps we'll find out some dirt. But this prior relationship has no bearing on why I think his room rocks. Just look at it; it rocks!

Lastly, I am terribly excited about the newly announced Top Design Online Challenge! This is our chance to show off our design skills and win Todd Oldham accessories! The first challenge, announced on Wednesday, was for us to send in photos of creative ways to display collectibles. I visited the web site today to send in my own example and realized that they already closed the challenge. Boo. But you can vote on the over-achievers who did enter. Online Challenge #2, however, is already up (and the deadline is Monday)! It seems that these challenges have very short deadlines so you must act quickly to make a name for yourself. The new challenge is to make a creative pillow covering. The winner receives a Todd Oldham disco ball vase so hop to it!

If you miss the challenge deadline, send your photos to us. We'll post them, have our readers vote, and we might even be able scrounge up a prize!

3 comments:

Eric R. Rickert said...

oh my. LOVE that disco ball vase.

Eric R. Rickert said...

also, i would be really terrified that those work lights would catch fire if they were built into a wall like that. but it does look chic.

Cardboard said...

True, about the lights/firehazard. I also wondered how they turned on/off. A big ol' surge protector with nine cords hanging out of it would not look so chic against that pretty pink.