Company Picnic

Summer has finally arrived, and that can only mean one thing: It’s time for a company picnic. So we packed up our Frisbees and lawn chairs and headed up to Laurelhurst Park for some fun in the sun. Here, SRM’s employees and friends are enjoying the bounty of food and Michael holds our most junior partner, baby August. So cute!

Solution of the Week: Kid-Proof Pillows

Let’s face it: kids are messy. And they tend to get their mess all over the house--especially on our most delicate, stainable, and expensive possessions.

Many parents sacrifice having a stylish home while their children are young. But one of our clients refused to wait until her children outgrew their grubby-hands phase to design the living room of her dreams. She needed a room with a double life: in the daytime, a play area for her kids, and in the evening, a space for entertaining guests. So SRM came up with a solution.

We designed unique pillows for the living room couch, a place where both children and guests spend the majority of their time. One side of each pillow is fabric, and the reverse side is leather. When children are playing in the living room, the leather side faces out. Spills and dirt are easily wiped away, so she doesn’t have to worry. When guests arrive, she flips the pillows over to reveal the chic fabric pattern.

Stupid Paint Color Name of the Week

Helena's Going Away Party

All good things must come to an end, and last week, we had to say goodbye to our interior design intern, Helena. She’s been with us since January, but is now heading back to school in Kansas. She was an incredibly valuable member of the team and we miss her already! Best of luck Helena!

Solution of the Week: Highboy

This piece sits in the entry of the French Tudor house of one of our clients. While much of the home’s interior design is of a traditional French style, some of the rooms are more contemporary. As the centerpiece of the entryway, this highboy needed to fit with both design styles.
The space is small, which presented a bit of a puzzle for us. How could we design a tall cabinet that wouldn’t make the room feel crowded? One part of the solution is its metal legs, which make the highboy look like it’s almost floating, and creates more space in the small room.

Super Star Vendor: Amy Caplan

Amy Caplan is the owner of Caplan Art Designs, and she represents local Portland artists. We love working with Amy because not only does she have exceptional taste in art, but she always goes the extra mile for our clients. She regularly brings art to our clients’ homes so they can get a feel for how the pieces will look before they decide to purchase.

Amy recently opened a gorgeous new showroom in the Pearl. Check it out at 1035 NW Lovejoy.

Visit Caplan Art Designs at: www.caplanartdesigns.com

Molly’s Fund Butterfly Takes Flight

It’s a bird! It’s a plane! It’s… a plastic butterfly?

These large butterflies are for Serving Up Style, a benefit for Molly’s Fund Fighting Lupus, one of our favorite charities. These butterflies will serve as canvases for 10 of Portland’s most talented artists, who will transform the butterflies into unique works of art. The finished butterflies will be auctioned off at Serving Up Style, with proceeds going towards lupus research.

Our fabulous intern Helena designed these 3-dimensional plastic butterflies. She worked closely with Fullbore Innovations, Inc. to turn the concept into reality. Creating these butterflies was no easy task. This type of plastic usually does not lend easily to dimensionality, so they had to come up with a creative solution to achieve the bubbled look. Fullbore used a two piece injection mold, which created the dome of the butterfly wings and brought Helena’s design to life.

Stay tuned for more information, videos, and pictures of the Molly’s Fund butterflies.

For more information about Serving Up Style please visit: servingupstyle.org, mollysfund.org, fullboreinnovations.com.