CasaSugar

Your Favorite Male Interior Designer of 2008

CasaSugar — Mon, 22 Dec 2008 09:00:09 -0800

As part of our Best of 2008 polls, you named Vern Yip your favorite male interior designer this year. Thom Filicia came in as a close second in the polls, but Yip takes the cake in my mind for his work renovating two very worthy community organizations for low-income families in San Francisco. I'm impressed with his attention to detail and covet the sense of warmth he brings to his clean-lined interiors. And, of course, I also enjoy his charismatic presence on HGTV's Design Star and Deserving Design.
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Vern Yip's Transformation in the Tenderloin

CasaSugar — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 16:00:31 -0800

Vern Yip and Bank of America recently teamed up to transform a worn community center at an affordable housing complex into something much more vibrant. You can see the before shot here. To see how the space was transformed, check out the slideshow.

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Before and After: Tenderloin Family Apartments, Transformed

CasaSugar — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 16:00:19 -0800

Remember when I told you about how Vern Yip was teaming up with Bank of America to transform two Bay Area nonprofits? Well, this morning, I was fortunate enough to attend the unveiling for the Tenderloin Family Apartments. Managed by the Chinatown Community Development Center, it's a safe, high-quality affordable housing property in the heart of the Tenderloin district, one of San Francisco’s lower income neighborhoods challenged by issues such as homelessness, safety, and drug use.

Renovations of the community room were just completed, with the reveal and ribbon-cutting ceremony taking place this morning.

Here's how it looked before Vern worked his magic:

To get a sneak peek of the transformation, read more.

Here's how the room looked for the ribbon-cutting ceremony. There's so much about this room I adore, from the George Nelson Bubble Lamps to the renovated kitchen space and updated flooring. Check back on Monday for more photos of this great space!

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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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Casa Capsule: The Week That Was

CasaSugar — Sat, 27 Dec 2008 10:30:56 -0800

A cool crib in California is a vision in white.
Vern Yip is your fave interior designer this year.
I tested an Amy Butler Birdie the Cat pillow pattern.
I showed you how to DIY your own teacup candles.
I created two living room looks with one zebra rug.
Here's five cozy reading chair and table pairs.
I found Michelle Branch's rug.
My industrial red TV stand got a makeover.

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Before and After: Real Simple Meets P.S. 346

CasaSugar — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 05:00:44 -0700

The folks over at Real Simple (70 of them, to be exact) recently took part in New York Cares Day, and volunteered at the P.S. 346 elementary school in Brooklyn. In just five hours, they assembled 37 pieces of new Ikea furniture and applied their design expertise to an uninspired multi-purpose room. At the end of the day, the room had been transformed into a stimulating space that looks contemplated and composed. To see the after photo, read more.

Be sure to head over to Simply Stated to hear more about the project and see another photo. Wanna read about more deserving design makeovers? Be sure to check out this slideshow, post, and interview with Vern Yip about his facelift of two Bay Area community centers.
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Nice and New: Bubble Lamp Shade

CasaSugar — Fri, 24 Oct 2008 13:00:34 -0700

In 1947, George Nelson decided to create his own collection of lamps, when the silk-covered Swedish hanging lamp he coveted was out of reach financially. The resulting collection, known as the "bubble lamps," became an iconic one, still used prolifically by interior designers today (in fact, Vern Yip is using them in his reno of a community center). The lamps, made by coating a steel-wire skeleton with a plastic coating, were first produced by the Howard Miller Company in 1950. The collection includes a range of pendants in various shapes and sizes, as well as several sconces. Unfortunately, the most demanded type of shade - a table lamp shade - was never produced by Nelson. Thankfully, though, Modernica, the official manufacturer and distributor of the collection for the last 12 years, has recently released a table and floor lamp shade based on Nelson's original designs. The Bubble Lamp Shade ($225 and up) is available in three sizes, and will fit most traditional bases. At long last!

"Design Star": And the Winner Is...

CasaSugar — Mon, 17 Sep 2007 09:37:45 -0700

Who caught the finale of "Design Star" last night? All 11 designers were brought back for the final episode of the show for a look back at memorable scenes from the season (somewhat like the Reunion episode from "Project Runway.") Still, it was sweet to see all of the designers again and to hear how hard it had been for judges Martha McCully, Cynthia Rowley, and Vern Yip to eliminate one designer every episode.

So who won? To find out, just read more

It was Kim!

Kim seemed to be the favorite not only with the American public, but with Casa readers as well. Are you interested in applying to be HGTV's next "Design Star"? Then apply for season three here. And make sure to stay tuned next spring for Kim's new design show!

"Design Star" Finale: This Sunday!

CasaSugar — Fri, 14 Sep 2007 08:30:13 -0700

Have any of you Casa readers been keeping up with the HGTV series "Design Star"? I've been pretty riveted, even though the designers' drama has sometimes overpowered their designs. You just never know how a project is going to turn out and how judges Martha McCully, Cynthia Rowley, and Vern Yip are going to weigh in on the challenges.

In the season finale (airing at 9 p.m. EDT/PDT this Sunday) the contestants have been whittled down to Kim Myles and Todd Davis, who've really had to shine to beat out the other nine designers for the coveted final spots. I was really sad to see the classy, talented, and humble Will leave after Challenge 6-he has such a big heart and it really shows in the thoughtfulness of his designs.

I'm rooting for Kim, a hair stylist who describes her style as "global-urban elegance." She's just had such spirit and drive throughout the show, and I love that she doesn't have any formal design training. I'm also impressed by her understanding of color, and I think she usually marries function and style pretty successfully.

Todd has had some good designs this season, though the fact that his dream project is designing lad-mag Maxim's headquarters isn't really my idea of dreamy. And I just can't trust that my house will be properly designed by someone who dresses himself in white socks, Keen shoes, and leather pants.

To see some of these designers' work, just read more

Here's the before-and-after picture of Todd's last challenge, which was to turn an outdated Hawaii hotel room into something more contemporary and cool.

And here's Kim's take on the same challenge.

And here's a bigger image of Kim's project, just because I think it turned out so well.

Now that you know who I'm rooting for, will you let me know who you think should win?