Let's talk shop

The ongoing joke with our book club was that nearly half of the members are designers or design students. Our group was sort of randomly assembled through the friend of friend method so we thought it was funny that our dynamics aligned in that there is a similar interest for such a creative career.

image via shelter

Now I have some stats that explain that coincidence because the other day I stumbled upon the website for The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (yes, sometimes I randomly peruse government websites, a girl has to stay informed). The site provides information on what the workforce in your state looks like, it has everything from Occupation Titles that are segmented by industry, to average hourly wages, annual mean salaries and the number of individuals employed in each field.

The section on Interior Design presented lots of great facts and statistics about the industry. The most surprising fact to me was that Arizona, Colorado, District of Columbia, Florida, and Georgia have the highest number of interior decorators and designers per capita. California and New York are not on the list, does that seem weird to anyone else? It seems every other featured home/company/designer in magazines, websites, and television is from one of these states.

Apparently there are about 72,000 interior designers in the United States and about 1,200 of those are in Colorado. The majority of those are focused in specialized design, next up are those that fall into the architectural/landscape services category and then lastly is a small but significant group who specialize in furniture/home furnishing stores.

If you want to learn more definitely check out the site, the numbers are about a year old (from 2009) but if you are contemplating a career change this is a great resource to get the basic information that people might not tell you in an interview or inquiry.

Featured: Colorado Expression Magazine

And now for a little PR plug, Hudson Baby Design was the subject of an article in the Profiles section of Colorado Expression Magazine for the August/September 2010 issue.

Making room...

So were you picking up what I was putting down this week?

Brittany is broadening her brood. By two. Twins are on the way for the Hanlon family!

Yep, Hudson is gonna be big brother to two little munchkins.

Pop Totsx2

Holy Mole! Celebs have been baby C-R-A-Z-Y for the past couple of years and there have been a mind boggling number of twins born to these public peeps. Patrick Dempsey, Julie Bowen, Lisa Marie Presley, Molly Ringwald, Roger Federer, Jason Priestley, Ricky Martin, Marcia Cross, Rebecca Romijn, Jennifer Lopez and Marc Anthony, Sara Jessica Parker and Matthew Broderick, Charlie Sheen and Brooke Mueller, and Brad and Angie are all proud parents to twins.

Here is JLo and Marc Anthony's absurd and over the top nursery. The child safety expert would have a field day writing up the violations in this room.

Brooke Burke's nursery is for a boy and a girl.

These two crazies had twins. I won't even go there.

They have (had?) a cute nursery though.

Miss Marcia and her husband Tom are parents to two girls.

This lavender concoction is theirs.

These two just look like fun. Rebecca Romijn and Jerry O'Connell with twin girls Dolly and Charlie.

Couldn't find a picture of the actual nursery but here is the supermodel picking up some Dwell bedding at a children's store.

Ricky Martin and his two boys Valentino and Matteo

Martin's Masculine and Modern Nursery

And look! Jen Aniston is expecting twins. The woman should have like 172823 children by now according to the tabs, good for her.

Twice as Nice

Probably should have done this in reverse and posted this at the beginning of the week, oh well! If there is more than one babe on the way then figuring out the proper configuration can be daunting. Everyone says the first thing you should do is make space. Easier said then done in most cases. Here are some examples of well executed nurseries for twins. Notice that the furniture plans are varied because sometimes the room will dictate how it will be without consulting you with an oddly placed window or door, short walls and awkward angles, in the words of Stephanie Tanner "how rude!"

For the twinny twins:

Hudson Baby Design

image via here

image from here

Project Nursery

images from here

Bunkin' It

Bunk beds were the best when you were a kid. Of course there were always safety issues but the worst was when we arrived on site to discover that the kids rooms had stacked racks. That meant a mad dash to the room and tons of elbowing and shoving to jostle a sibling out the way to claim the best bunk. The result - soured feelings and a possible bruise or two.

As adults we think about functionality and bunks serve as good alternative to twin beds set side by side. Short on floor space? Build up!

These look pretty cozy, like cubbyholes to steal away to with pillows and blankets and books. Bunk beds have come a long way, most of these look way more sophisticated the the flimsy wood or metal structures I remember from camp and the dorms.

Notice all the amenities: lighting, clocks, art work, storage, ladders, nets, privacy curtains and tons of clearance for your head so that nothing goes bump in the night. Changing the sheets with bunks beds is a task that requires a little more time and effort than the average set up, so consider yourself warned.

Here is a wider shot that shows there are actually four beds in this arrangement. P-A-R-T-Y!

Doubling Up

For many twin beds conjure up images of the 1950's television shows and movies, like Leave it to Beaver and practically any Doris Day movie (that was probably more 1960's though) when married couples and their children were shown slumbering in the same room but, separately, of course. Those days it was used to "uphold moral standards" on television and film. Well guess what, the Jersey Shore cast mates are sleeping off hangovers in twin beds so I don't think that same moral message is holding true these days.

Anyway, twin beds have always been a popular choice for children's rooms so that siblings can share or for the ever exciting sleepover! Twins beds are also often used in guest rooms as a way to accommodate two people who might not want to bunk in the same bed. These days there seem to be a rise in well appointed rooms that feature twin beds. For your viewing pleasure, and no the beds from Jersey Shore did not make the cut.

Three Men and Lady