CasaSugar

Is Antonio Your Choice For Design Star?

CasaSugar — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 11:00:08 -0700

Last night, Antonio was announced the winner on HGTV's Design Star, after he and Dan battled it out in the final challenge. Do you agree that Antonio deserved the win, or were you a Dan fan?

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Design Ideas to Steal From This Season of Design Star

CasaSugar — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 09:00:51 -0700

While not all of the designers this season on Design Star have been standout visionaries, there have been some very cool ideas featured thus far. Find out what ideas I've loved, and how you can use them in your own home!
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Casa Interview: Vern Yip

CasaSugar — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 08:30:47 -0700

Designer Vern Yip is a household name for many Casa readers, thanks to his judging on Design Star as well as his hosting and creativity on his tear-inducing show Deserving Design. Vern is currently contributing his design expertise to two very worthy community organizations, the Tenderloin Family Apartments, which are home to 4,000 low-income San Francisco families, and the West Oakland Boys and Girls Club, which has been serving youth in this neighborhood for over sixty years. I was thrilled to talk to Vern about his design renovations for these two community spaces.

CasaSugar: I’ve been out to both the Tenderloin Family Apartments and the West Oakland Boys and Girls Club, and they’re very excited about their renovations.

Vern Yip: This is such a wonderful and amazing opportunity for me. The renovations are being funded by Bank of America. This is part of their celebration of renovating their 118 Bay Area banking centers, so as part of the celebration they’re renovating two spaces for two Bay Area non-profits. Having been there, I’m sure you can tell that these are two organizations that are really deserving and could really benefit from a facelift.

To read more of the interview, read more.

CasaSugar: What's happening with the Boys and Girls Club?

Vern Yip: The Boys and Girls Club is providing such a huge service and a lot of these boys and girls would not have a space to go to otherwise. We’re giving them an activity room facelift so they can have a beautiful, and functioning place to hang out. That’s a really great thing. I’ve been talking to some of the people involved with the boys and girls club and gauging what they need . . . Initially I was looking at the floor in pictures and thought it was nice, but apparently it’s really worn, so we’re doing a top to bottom renovation including new flooring, new lights, and of course great new paint colors and a new space plan so this space can work much better with a new layout. We’re also going to do some really functional things like a new check-in desk and a new media corner. We’re going to use really durable materials so this facelift will hopefully last a good long time.

CasaSugar: I was reading up a little bit about your plans for the Tenderloin Apartments. What are you excited about with this project?

Vern Yip: You know, the really great thing about this space is that it’s used by the entire community. Everything happens in that space, from weddings to birthday parties to meetings and movie nights. So you want that space to really pull people together and feel celebratory. Right now it doesn’t feel celebratory. It’s a little dour and office-like, so I was talking to some of the Tenderloin Family Apartments staff trying to gauge who lives there and what are there needs. And it’s really a wide array of people, a mix of Russian, Asian American, Chinese, African-American, and Hispanic people.

I was doing some research to determine what were some key colors that represented all of those communities, and oranges and reds are two colors that are represented in all of those groups. So we’re putting in a new floor that’s going to be beautiful and patterned, but it will be made of VCT [vinyl composition tile], so it will be really durable. We’re going to do a custom mural on the wall that’s a tree with a large canopy done in a white silhouette on top of these wonderful warm orange walls, so it’s really going to stand out. A tree to me is really symbolic of bringing community together, it’s that life force. Another issue was, just like the boys and girls club, the residents didn’t feel safe hanging outside, so I thought, if we can’t bring them to the trees we’ll bring the trees to them. And then we’re hanging these incredible George Nelson lamps in a series, in two shapes, in a saucer shape and a cigar shape. We just want to make a space that the residents can be in and enjoy. That’s the goal and the purpose. I’m really excited that Bank of America made all of this possible because certainly these two non profits definitely deserve it.

CasaSugar: Definitely. And of course without outside funding they could’ve never done such an extensive renovation. Is this renovation going to be on Deserving Design?

Vern Yip: No! I wish it was. I wish we could fly our whole crew out and shoot this. I do hope it will be an inspiration to the show and network to tackle community-oriented spaces. We’ve been focused on individual spaces, and we’re just starting to branch out to community spaces. As you can imagine, it’s pretty cost-prohibitive to renovate such a large space. It really takes someone like Bank of America stepping up to the plate and saying, “We’ll do it as part of our renovation celebration.”

I’m very excited about this. My whole show and my heart and soul is all about giving back to the community through design, and the power of design to affect people’s lives. This is such an amazing opportunity to affect so many people’s lives in just two spaces.

CasaSugar: It’s going to make a huge impact. Thanks in advance for flying out and making such a wonderful contribution on the Bay Area community.

Vern Yip: I’m thrilled for the opportunity and thrilled that Bank of America brought me on board to do it. It’s a wonderful opportunity to change people’s lives.

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Cool Idea: Deserving Designs For Families in Need

CasaSugar — Mon, 13 Oct 2008 09:15:33 -0700

Remember when I told you about the Boys and Girls Club in West Oakland that Vern Yip, host and designer of HGTV's Deserving Design is renovating? I've been so curious as to what Vern might do to improve the space.

In one episode, Vern makes over a garage into a game room for a military family's children. He cleans up the space and stocks it with interactive games, spaces for gathering, and lots of kid-friendly storage space. I think that this design might be a good indication of what the deserving kids in West Oakland might get.

To see the video, read more.

Stay tuned for my interview with Vern, as well as the after pictures from this community center!

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Before: A Community Center in Need of Renovation

CasaSugar — Mon, 13 Oct 2008 07:00:50 -0700

Years ago, I lived in the same neighborhood where this Boys and Girls Club is located. Community resources are few and far between in West Oakland, and the Boys and Girls Club is a welcome refuge for kids who need a place to hang out after school. The center, though, is in need of some renovation. Luckily, a very cool designer is soon going to transform the center. To find out who's going to renovate the center, check out the slideshow!

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In the News: HGTV's Angelo Surmelis's Before & After Kitchen

CasaSugar — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 07:45:35 -0700

Design show hosts have gotten used to entering into contestants' homes, but for once the tables are turned. HGTV's Rate My Space host Angelo Surmelis recently played host to the LA Times, who interviewed him about the renovation of his 1920s Los Angeles bungalow. Well aware that "no matter how splendidly you've decorated the rest of your house, guests always end up in the kitchen," Surmelis took three weeks and $20,000 to transform his eyesore of a kitchen ("a jumble of scruffy cupboards, wood paneling, a broken stove and grimy old linoleum," shown here gutted) into a modern-meets-vintage splendor. All it took was a little rearranging, new IKEA cabinets, an antique hutch, Carrara marble counters, and some cork flooring . . . oh yeah, and the fact that he's a design expert might have come in handy. To see the transformation, read more.

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This Just In: The Obamas Tune in to HGTV

CasaSugar — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 08:30:40 -0700

Entertainment Weekly recently quizzed the two presidential hopefuls on their pop culture preferences and routines, and found that the Obama household favors HGTV when it comes to what's on the tube. Here's an excerpt from the interview:

EW: So neither [you nor your wife, Michelle] are fascists when it comes to the remote . . .
OBAMA: If I tell her, "Sweetie, we've got game 5 of the NBA finals on," she's willing to give me a little slack. Most of the time, though, the TV is on HGTV, and I suffer that silently.

Whatever your political persuasion, you know I've got to give a thumbs up to Obama for watching one of my favorite networks — even if he "suffers it silently."
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Before and After: Matt's Hurricane Katrina Makeover

CasaSugar — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 15:00:25 -0700

Yesterday, I asked who you thought should win Design Star. You can still vote online through Wednesday. To make the most informed decision, I figured I'd show you some photos from each designer's makeover (check out Jen's makeover here). Both designers worked with a New Orleans family whose home had been destroyed by Hurricane Katrina. Matt's family, the Oleagas, wanted a comfortable, minimal, and modern space.

To see what the home looked like after Matt redesigned the space, read more.
Are you a fan of Matt's renovation?

View 9 Photos ›

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Before and After: Jennifer's Hurricane Katrina Makeover

CasaSugar — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 13:00:55 -0700

Yesterday, I asked you who you thought should win Design Star. You can still vote online through Wednesday. To make the most informed decision, I figured I'd show you some photos from each designer's makeover. Both designers worked with a New Orleans family whose home had been destroyed by Hurricane Katrina. Jen's family, the Gowlands, needed a space that accommodated both their love of cooking and their big family.

Before Jen showed up, the family had very limited furniture and a raw, unfinished space, as they concentrated on rebuilding their home.

To see what the home looked like after Jen flexed her design muscles, read more.

Are you a fan of Jen's renovation?

View 6 Photos ›

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Who Should Win Design Star?

CasaSugar — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 16:00:25 -0700

Did you catch last night's episode of Design Star? The final two designers, Matt and Jennifer, headed down to New Orleans to design new kitchens, living rooms, and dining rooms for two deserving families that haven't been able to stay in their homes since Hurricane Katrina. Both of the designers did a great job, but only one can win. Who do you think should be the next Design Star?

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