Hill Maternity, Newborn, Announcement & Nursery Decor

I've been so excited to blog this session, but in classic HAD&P style have found myself behind on the social media aspect of business!! Lauren & Chad Hill welcomed their precious son, Hudson Hill, into the world in August. Lauren trusted me with their maternity pictures, newborn pictures, baby announcements, and some fun wall art in their nursery. I love when I get to work with someone on so many aspects of a project, because it really makes for a more consistent end result. This sweet family is so precious and I enjoyed working with them on every step of the way!! Welcome to the world sweet baby Hudson.

Lauren & Chad Maternity:

Hudson Hill Newborn:

Hudson Newborn Announcements:

Hudson's Custom Wall Art:

I drafted the custom damask shape from Hudson's bedding into CAD and had it extracted with a laser cutter. We painted and glued it together and displayed Hudson's cute name underneath it for a totally custom look!

life is a flash, capture accordingly.

it's not just about photography.

Lately it seems I've been so busy with photography that I've neglected my inner designer.... Well, truth is I do just as much interior design work as photography, however each design project takes so much time and labor, that there are less opportunities to blog those topics. Also, with design, each part of the project goes through certain phases that aren't ready for public critique. I've learned with photography and especially design, that even though you have an image in your head, it doesn't mean anyone else understands the same projected outcome until it's complete. THAT my friends is why, I will always wait until a project is completed before I blog it. Design is like art.... it goes through a lot of messy phases, before it becomes a piece of distinction. With that being said, here is one of my most recent custom furniture pieces. The client wanted something custom because of certain size requirements that the space demanded in her bedroom. The piece is to have a flat screen TV mounted above it, and each of the upper "drawers" (which are really hinged panels that allow easy access to the TV's components) have wiring capabilities  for the digital technology required for the television. Also, the components to the TV are nicely screened behind poultry wire, which still allows a signal to pass, but camouflages the not-so-attractive cable boxes within the piece.

I designed this piece using my autoCAD program and had it built locally. Then when the construction was complete, I custom painted it to work with the client's new bedding, which was designed by All About Looks here in Lubbock.

Design is such a fun and innovative way to explore new possibilities for every aspect of our homes. Most say that form follows function, but I think it is imperative that they remain equal in mind when designing a custom piece. Without proper form, what good is function? Think about it.

Completed Custom Piece

Custom Piece Under Construction

Drawing of Custom Piece

Dimension Plan of Custom Piece

Life is in the details, design accordingly.

Vacationers

Call it fast friends or call it fate, but my family fell in love with the Miller family on our last Cruise to the Bahamas. We met randomly at lunch one afternoon when my brother, husband and I all found ourselves hungry for the Royal Caribbean lunch buffet at the same time as everyone else on the ship.... with no luck finding a table of our own, we were invited to sit with a sweet couple (hibachi style) at their table thinking, "ok we will make this quick and painless, let's just eat and run"... An hour later we discovered we were fellow Texans and that we had much more in common than we thought. They invited us to watch the water show from their private suite that evening, and in true Thames family style, we didn't decline. The rest was history, and I mean that.... the cruise was a blur from then on! We were sad for the trip to end, but they invited us to join them in Las Vegas for Kim's 40th birthday the following October... and once again, the Thames family didn't pass up a good time and we graciously accepted.

Vegas came and went as fast & furious as the cruise, and it just confirmed our friendship even more. I know for most of you this sounds very Dateline meets eHarmony, but if you knew this family (and ours) you would know that it was just a perfect act of fate and new friendships.

Mark is the CEO of an amazing company, Miller & Associates , and dreams up the kind of stuff you see in the movies.... he's basically a genius and Kevin James all rolled into one. On the cruise we were discussing his business and what programs they use and Auto CAD came up! (to those of you that don't know, this is the program that I spent 2 years of my college career learning- it's a very love/hate relationship, but it's the program I use for my design drafting). Mark's company of course uses the program to design things like you'd see in Avatar or CSI where as I make kitchens look real pretty.

Kim is a major work out girl and health guru. She is the author of a fabulous new blog: http://kimsfitandfab40s.wordpress.com/ check it out and show her some love.

After the cruise, Mark & Kim called to hire me to design their new kitchen in Dallas! It has been such a fun project, partly because it gives me an excuse to go to Dallas and see Kim, and also because they have amazing taste and I'm getting to think outside the box! The project is in the works, and I will of course be sharing it with everyone once construction roles around. As for now I'm posting pictures from our last visit before Christmas. Kim asked me to take some fun pictures of her family, as well as some senior shots of their daughter, Angela. Enjoy!

Life's a flash, capture accordingly