T + T on Trends

Over the past few weeks, we’ve been sitting in our studio drinking cocoa spiked with cinnamon and cooking up ideas for our blog. In between installations and design meetings, we decided to do a trend series over the next few months and couldn’t be more excited about it. Although we touched on trends in our International Furniture & Accessories Market recap, this upcoming series will be much more in-depth. In each post, you’ll find tips on how to incorporate these new elements into your home or business, along with plenty of eye candy.

We’ve developed a great line-up with our thoughts on wallpaper, steampunk and pattern to start. That being said, we will take breaks from trends occasionally to talk about other time sensitive, world threatening issues, like master bedrooms for Valentine’s Day or outdoor spaces this spring. Things will get pretty spicy.

At this point, you’re probably thinking, “I don’t want to miss a single installment of this exciting series.”

Well, you don’t have to. Look for new post announcements on our Facebook, Twitter and Linkedin pages, and feel free to drop us a line. We can’t wait to hear your favorite trends and insightful musings.

Cheers!
Jill & Carmen

Guest Blog Post: Fashion and Furniture

We’re excited to share our first guest blog post with you! It covers two of our favorite topics, fashion and furniture.

The fashion and furniture design industries have become so intertwined that it seems, at times, furniture mimics fashion. We see this especially in the color-blocking and animal print trends. Patterns that have always been prevalent on the runways of Paris and New York can now be seen in the latest interior design ideas. The trend has even gone so far as to include fashion designers along with interior/furniture designers. Even more recently, however, furniture has literally begun mimicking fashion design. From little black dresser drawers to a corset-ed chair, let’s take a look at just how furniture has been mimicking fashion. Read more »

Rolling Out the Red Carpet

As the holidays approach, many of us are inviting friends and family to stay in our homes. While preparing for a guest takes a little effort, there’s something really chic about making someone feel completely at ease in your house. There is nothing like the feeling of knowing someone cares about you and is thrilled (and prepared) you are there.

To make a guest’s room really special, we’ve found the key is in the details. That being said, you should start with a gorgeous room, not one that’s serving as a storage space for left over furnishings and boxes. We suggest you begin with fresh bedding; clean, fluffy towels and new, pretty soaps. At this point, we invite you to turn up the volume with:

• Cotton swabs and cotton balls
• Feminine products
• Shaving cream/razor
• Shower products
• Ibuprofen, Tums, Melatonin, etc.
• A plush robe and slippers

Read more »

Holiday Decorating – No Elves Required

With Thanksgiving behind us, we’ve started the mad dash of the holidays. It often feels like we’re running from place to place crossing items off our to do list, instead of really enjoying all the season has to offer. One of our favorite ways to celebrate is to create a safe haven at home. Arming yourselves with a few decorating tricks and lots of hot chocolate will help keep you in the holiday spirit. (At the very least, the cocoa always seems to do the trick for us.)

Read more »

To Market, To Market

This November, we went to the International Furniture & Accessories Market in North Carolina to scope out new trends and collect pieces for our clients. Walking from booth to booth, we chatted up furniture, accessory and rug designers to get a clearer picture of how the industry is doing, where it’s going and what is fading out, along with what’s coming down the pipeline. Think of us as interior designers and detectives. Sitting on our favorite vendors’ pieces and touching all of the new items tells us more about how something could work in a client’s home than any number of pictures could.

Every year, we learn a lot at market, but trust us, it’s completely earned. For five days, we spend our time scouring miles and miles of home furnishing offerings. In addition to some killer calves, we always come back with tips on what is hot in home interior design. We’re so excited to share our finds with you and won’t even make you walk a mile first. Here’s our top 16 trends:

1. Steampunk

2. Wallpaper is hot, hot, hot, and it is nothing like what you might find in your grandma’s home

3. Ikat fabric/patterns were everywhere. Houndstooth, zebras, chevron, fret, damasks, quatrefoils and burlaps are still in too.

  Read more »

Q&A with Carmen

A partner at Tran + Thomas Design Studio, Carmen began working with Jill in April, although the two formally announced their partnership just last week. Respected for her work as a commercial interior designer, Carmen brings a fresh perspective to the firm. Below, she answers a few questions about herself and her style as an interior designer. Read more »

The Secret Is Out

For the past few months, we’ve been keeping a pretty big secret at Jill Tran Interior Design, and I’m so excited to share the news with you! I’ve added a new partner, Carmen Thomas, to the firm. Carmen is a long-time colleague and fellow award-winning designer specializing in commercial interior design.

We began collaborating a few months ago, but have been waiting to publicly announce our new firm, Tran + Thomas Design Studio, LLC, until we could get everything in line. Balancing the flood of design work and figuring out all the details have kept us on our toes over the last few months. As you can probably tell, we spent most of the time figuring out our company name.

Although we’ve been tackling more commercial projects lately, our firm is continuing to design residential spaces. We feel that by joining forces we’re able to offer our clients more versatility with our complementary styles. Basically, we like to think of ourselves as some sort of interior design super duo, who’s ready to conquer the world.

To keep up with other changes at the firm, learn about interior design trends or hear our random musings, please visit our Web site, Facebook page or start following us on Twitter.

Antlers In The Mountains And Your Living Room

I am an animal lover.  Love the deer…don’t shoot me.  They are gorgeous creatures.  I hope many of you agree with me.

With them shedding their antlers naturally, it is wonderful to find them for your home and make them as striking as when they crown a buck.

Some ideas?   See more of our thoughts below in the fabulous Kansas City Star’s House + Home section, written by Stacy Downs.

See more photos on facebook

Have you heard?  The secret is out!  Jill Tran Interior Design is now Tran+Thomas Design Studio.

Best Bath Remodel, Award by KCH&G Magazine, “Before” and “After” Photos

“Sexy.”  That was the direction I was asked to take the design of this bath remodel (See the “BEFORE” below).  “Clean, white, bright, and some bling!” is what she asked for.  It was to have great storage and some unusual elements.  Our aim was clear.

Once again, Clay Lyon of Lyon Construction did a fantastic job with his crews at applying all of the finishes I chose.

"BEFORE" A small, dated and awkward layout of 2 closets and 2 bathrooms.

"BEFORE" A small, dated and awkward layout of 2 closets and 2 bathrooms.

I give you...Sexy.

The tiles I chose were so fun to design with.

Many people don’t understand what a designer does for a remodel or new construction.  For example, on this bath, I chose each tile’s style, color and size, where it was to go and how it is to be installed.  We chose the cabinets, size, color, finish.  We found the legs and had those installed.  The shower…what doors was it to have?  To the ceiling?  What faucets and shower heads?  Where in the shower?  What should we do on each wall?  What type of lighting should be enough and where should it go?  What type of tub, faucets, counter top, sink, their faucets?  Etc…

I love the wallpaper in the above shot.  It is glass beads on vinyl.  I had the wallpaper hanger split it in half length-wise and hang it horizontally for a unique look.  Under the cabinets, we has lighting installed as a “night light” for safer trips in the middle of the night.

Can you see the beading on the wallpaper and the subtle metallic flecks in the counter top?  Gorgeous, but not too much.

After a job well done: Myself with the contractor, Clay Lyon of Lyon Construction.

A briefing on the project by KCH&G magazine.

My Lifetime Achievement Award In Interior Design!

I cannot express how humbled I am to be awarded the lifetime achievement award from KC Magazine.  Thank you, thank you….

When people ask me what I do, it really is an easy answer;  ”I help people.  I help them to be happy!”   To get my clients to that point is a tremendous amount of work.  It is a delight to have all of those hours, weeks and months recognized by not only my clients every time we finish a space, but by such the wonderful and amazing staff at KC Magazine.

A big “Thank you!” too, to the article’s author, Kaitlin Motley.  I think you nailed it…even I couldn’t pin my style down!

EDWARD TANNER AWARDS – Lifetime Achievement In Interior Design

             Profile by Kaitlin Motley (as seen in KC Magazine, July 2011)

“If the Edward Tanner Award for Interior Design were to recognize achievement for a lifetime only as long as that of our Design Excellence Awards themselves, Jill Tran would still be an indisputable frontrunner.  A talent honored by the awards program all four years, Tran has established herself as a designer with a knack for transforming houses into homes.

Paying strict attention to her clients’ personalities, interests and sometimes hard-to-articulate desires, Tran has achieved what is perhaps the oxymoronic goal for every interior designer’s portfolio:  constant variety.  Armed with myriad influences and emotions suggested by her clients, Tran scours the world for unique pieces that bring everything together in nuanced harmony.  Often quirky painting or sculptures, the pieces add personality to a room and act as jumping-off point for conversation.

The anticipation of the activity and daily life that will take place in the finished rooms could be what inspires Tran to search far and wide for the eye-catching details that often punctuate her work.  She visualizes the way her clients and their guests will interact with a room to be sure no detail is overlooked.  Such was the case with this year’s winning design in the Children’s Room category (not pictured).  ”[A] custom upholstered bench was brought in to allow the little girl to climb into bed by herself like a big girl, without having to utilize a side stool for Mom nad Dad to trip over, ”  Tran says of the project.

If wedding multiple influences and personalities is the challenge for Tran, the other part of interior design seems to come naturally.  She has a trademark flair for layering interesting textures and fabrics and setting them off with bursts of color.  Tran adopts her clients’ visions and maintains their requests, but she leaves an inimitable signature behind.  In regard to Tran’s winning bathroom design (a collaboration with Lyon Design, LLC, above), DEA judge Kim Tucker notes:  ”I am in love with this vanity–and those silly, sexy legs.  The bathtub styling says:  Jill Tran.”

Tran has crafted her brand into design that is quintessentially both her own and her clients’, leaving a bit of legacy behind–just like this award’s namesake.”