Art and Dreams

Friend of Mae Skidmore, Laura Baran lost her beautiful brother Jeff to suicide and founded Arts & Dreams as an antidote to hopelessness. "I created Arts & Dreams workshops with my friend Patricia Geremia to inspire and empower children. We have since branched out to work with teens and adults as well. In an Arts & Dreams workshop we make art that encourages us to feel enthusiastic about our worth and our place in the world. I share my experience with depression and losing my brother Jeff to hopelessness in 2000. In his goodbye letter, Jeff wrote that it wasn’t the depression that felt the worst, it was the hopelessness. I wanted to prevent this from happening to others." This is a relevant post this week as the horrible tragedy in Connecticut is in all our hearts and thoughts.

An Arts & Dreams workshop is 2 hours of expressive art projects, partnered with meaningful discussion about how to love and accept yourself. They teach practical tools like affirmations, breathing exercises, and mirror work. And we make art - paintings, drawings, collage, and more. Tonight's Holiday Affirmation Painting Party was one of Arts and Dreams successful events. SMMS is proud to promote another female partnership. Please visit Art & Dreams' Blog for more information on upcoming events.

Laura Baran is an award-winning professional painter (Society of Illustrators, New York) who earned a BFA with honors from the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York. She serves on the Board of Directors for the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention - New York City Chapter.
Patricia Geremia is a certified Reiki healer and professional photographer, and an event planner and fundraiser. She completed coursework towards an undergraduate degree at Hunter College in New York and has served as a youth mentor in NYC since 1995.  Her line of photo greeting cards and prints is called PatriciaG Photos.

So sweet En Suite

SMMS Design recently consulted on the addition of an en suite bathroom to a master bedroom. At first look, it did not seem as if the master bedroom had enough space for a bathroom. The entrance to the room was one of the obstacles. We moved the doorway leading into the bedroom over a foot which made room for the toilet area. 

The vintage inspired hexagonal Italian marble tile and true vintage pedestal tub are the highlights of this space. Every morning the sun dances off the white marble to create patterns on the surfaces of the bathroom!

Another happy SMMS client indeed. A big thank you to Catskill Coydog Carpentry who completed every aspect of the vision and a special thanks to Smita, lead designer at SMMS, who encouraged the use of natural woods, for which the homeowners are thankful.

Happy Thanksgiving!

In between the turkey and stuffing, football and sleeping, small talk with uncles and much too long talks with moms... we thought it would be nice to take a minute and be thankful for lovely things and well designed moments. Thanksgiving is a time to spend with family and loved ones and we found some beautiful ways to add a little gobble gobble to this great day of feasting.

1: At the bottom of each spoonful of yumminess a nice message by Milk and Honey Luxuries 2: You don't have to be Martha to create an amazing tablescape, checkout how at Apartment Therapy 3: Organize the madness by sending out invitations with the menu on the back so your guests can pace themselves or take a load off and have a potluck. Check off the side dish, on the back of the invitation, each guest should bring so you don't get 10 green bean casseroles. Invitation by Fixing it Fancy 4: Best uni-tasker ever! for those of us non bakers. A mini pie maker, any good hostess should have one, available at Williams-Sonoma 5: My new found passion in life, needle felting. These tiny pumpkins were created by our friends at Lil' Chick, order 10 today!

Treasure Hunting

A few weeks ago, SMMS Design joined Catskill Coydog Vintage in hunting for treasure. It was the first time, for the SM in SMMS, to hunt for vintage pieces for the Brooklyn Flea. CCV is pulling together some fantastic pieces for their growing clientele. Lessons learned:

1) there's a lot of stuff on display so give everything a second look

2) consider the piece in context, most treasures are sitting amongst a whole lot of furniture so try and single it out away from the clutter

3) not everything is as it seems, think about repurposing the item into a new function

4) bring a friend, this way you have another perspective and more ideas, plus you'll need help getting that treasure chest back home

LIKE Catskill Coydog Vintage on Facebook to see all their new treasures.
Even better, if you're in Brooklyn stop by their booth to get some booty!

It's beginning to look alot like...

We've officially had our first snowfall and that's sign enough the holidays are upon us. The busy elves at SMMS Design have been hard at work creating beautiful new jewelry just in time for the gift giving season. All our new pieces are sparkling and frosted and ready for purchase.

 Join us at the 4th Annual Craft Show on Saturday, November 17th, 2012 from 10am-4pm
George G. White Middle School

120 Magnolia Avenue

Hillsdale, NJ 07642

We'll be sharing a table with our good friends at Lil' Chick Jewelry

Hope to see you there!

Happy Anniversary!

October is a sort of Anniversary for SMMS Design. It was about 2 years ago we put pen to paper, or more like jpeg to coding, to create our website smmsdesign.com. The concept for the website's layout was quite simple, SMMS at work. The opening view is us at our desk with our portfolio open and full of ideas. If you look up you'll see all of our inspiration; out the window to our clients, navigate the map for all our travels, above for a quote, and notes on our dartboard to links. Check out the website and click around to experience SMMS at work and to learn all about us and what we can do for you.

Thank you to James at www.inkholedesign.com for all your amazing work in creating the site

No Kitchen is an Island

SMMS Design recently consulted on a kitchen remodel with the owner of Orr Media. The plan was to create a well-designed and function kitchen layout, tying together an efficient sized kitchen and adjoining dining room. Initially Orr's want for a kitchen island outweighed the space available so a creative solution was to use a bar height table in the dining room, which worked beautifully in the end. Orr's contractors, Tooth-N-Nail Builders, came in and executed the designs brilliantly. With the completion of the kitchen, Orr is renting the house to families attending Saugerties Horse Shows in the Sun (HITS) events.

Kitchen rendering by Sketch Up/Completed Kitchen photo featuring custom cabinetry and stainless steel appliances

Orr rendered and completed photo of Kitchen pass-through window with handcrafted bar ledge

Orr Media is a Video and Audio Editing, 3d Animation, and Recording studio. Please visit him at www.OrrMediaCompany.com