The warm interior compliments the natural stone in such a harmonious way. I can hardly wait to see how it feels to be inside these magical spaces.

An example of organic architecture, Falling Water was designed as an extension of nature and the surrounding landscape. The house is literally sitting on top of the waterfall and the sound of the water can be heard throughout. In the living room, the fireplace hearth is made of boulders that were found on the site. The details that connect the house to the site are numerous.

Wright’s strong Japanese influence is eminent in the wood frames found on the windows and the ceiling of the interior.

I’m hoping to get some great photos of the house while I’m visiting, even though they are predicting rain tomorrow. I’ll be sure to post my experience next week. Have a great weekend!

It’s not hard to imagine Dick Van Dyke, or even a modern-day hipster, picking up a rotary phone to dial a friend, but can you imagine rotary phones in your average American household…in 2011?  It is common to see antiques scattered throughout homes to add a little flair. And vintage is always in, but this is getting serious…

It is now easy to purchase vintage refurbished phones and typewriters. For example, Anthropologie has begun selling restored vintage rotary phones.

Will we really see modern teens calling one another on these?

I also stumbled upon the Kasbahmod website where they are restoring and reselling vintage typewriters to look ever-so-chic.

Any character on Mad Men would die to type away on one of these.

With these outdated, yet timeless, technologies being manufactured and made readily available to the public, it seems we may begin to see them more and more often in today’s American homes. My opinion is that our cordless, limitless lifestyle with constant world wide web interaction is getting old. Our society is screaming for more human interaction. Simplifying our lives a bit and taking a step backwards may just be what we need to do that. Perhaps our world of iphone5’s and hand-held Facebook is taking a turn…

As many of my close friends and peers know, I’m a little design-obsessed with bridges. There’s something so majestic and breathtaking about them; I just can’t get enough of ‘em. As promised, here are some photos and facts about the four bridges in Memphis, Tennessee that span the Mississippi River.

The first bridge built to carry the railroad over the Mississippi River, connecting Memphis to West Memphis, Arkansas, was the Frisco Bridge.

When completed in 1892, the Frisco Bridge featured the longest span of any US bridge and was the most southern bridge over the Misssissippi. It was originally named the Great Bridge at Memphis, nicknamed the Memphis Bridge, as it was the only bridge in Memphis. When the Harahan Bridge was built in 1916, the name was changed to the Frisco Bridge, to avoid confusion and because it carried the Frisco Railroad. It is a cantilevered through truss bridge, made of open hearth steel. The bridge is still used by BNSF Railroad and is a historic Civil Engineering Landmark.

The Harahan Bridge was the first bridge that allowed for both rail and car traffic between Memphis and West Memphis, Arkansas.

Having opened in 1916, the Harahan Bridge is also a cantilevered through truss bridge; carrying two rail lines over the Mississippi River. When the Memphis & Arkansas Bridge opened in 1949, the Harahan Bridge no longer carried motor vehicles. In February of this year, Union Pacific Railroad, the current owners, agreed to convert the car traffic lanes of the bridge, no longer in use, into a pedestrian walkway. The planned addition is awaiting approval from the mayors of both Memphis and West Arkansas, as well as the Critterden County, Arkansas officials.

The Harahan Bridge is on the Right

Referred to as the “Old Bridge”, the Memphis & Arkansas Bridge carries car traffic via Interstate 55 and US Highways 61, 64, 70 and 79, between Memphis and West Memphis.

The Memphis & Arkansas Bridge, opened in 1949, before the Interstate Highway System’s Interstate Highway Standards were enforced, and did not originally have the concrete barrier between the two directions of traffic and was later added. The bridge was built with a sidewalk on both sides of the roadway, outside the steel truss girders. The bike and pedestrian path is part of the Mississippi River Trail and experiences many bicyclists; it is the only bridge in the area that allows bicycle and pedestrian access.

Named for the 16th Century Spanish explorer, Hernando de Soto, who explored this stretch of the Mississippi River, the Hernando de Soto Bridge is a through arch bridge made of steel.

Called the “New Bridge”, the Hernando de Soto carries Interstate Highway 40 car traffic between Memphis to West Memphis, Arkansas. At night, the bridge’s “M” shape is illuminated by 200 sodium vapor lights. In 2011, the bridge was dark for two months, during the Mississippi River Flood. This is because the electric transformers were removed to prevent flood water damage. It was re-lit on June 21, 2011 during a lighting ceremony.

I hope you enjoyed first post in my Memphis Series. I’ll be posting more Memphis Architecture & Design love soon!
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ICFF 2011 was stocked full of beautiful, unique furniture, lighting, and accessories. Here are a few of my favorites from the show:

From the Source’s booth was, once again, one of my favorites. This company creates all of their furniture out of reclaimed wood from Indonesia. The furniture is all hand crafted and stunningly beautiful, but I couldn’t stop looking at the booth structure, which, of course, was made out of wood from an old abandoned house in Indonesia.

LZF’s lamps stand out among the crowd of light fixtures at ICFF every year. Their Agatha and Link Chain lights (shown here) are organic and beautiful, yet simplistic and elegant. All LZF fixtures are reminiscent of shapes found in nature, and these lights are in season.

LZF’s X-Club floor lights and the Saturnia pendants caught my eye. Both are refreshing, modern, and unique. The X-Club lights are designed to create a soft ambient light, while obviously making a bold statement; the Saturnia pendants are sophisticated, yet playful in color and design, providing both task lighting and ambiance.

Aimee Wilder’s collection of colorful, fun wallpaper is so refreshing! Creating and filling their own niche, the company designs “wallpaper for modern children’s spaces as well as for the more adventurous adult.” This pattern is my favorite!

Philippe Stark designed this beautiful chandelier, with a funky twist, for Baccarat, the crystal & jewelry line. I love the idea of this chandelier; I also enjoyed how it was displayed. The chandelier appeared to be floating, as it was hanging from a lever, counter-balanced with weights on the other end, over rain boots below.

Made of mushrooms, the Eco Cradle is an innovative, sustainable way to package materials for shipping. Talk about reduce, reuse, recycle; Eco Cradle is compostable, its manufacture uses significantly less energy than that of its competitors, and it’s made of a continually renewable resource, fungi. It is phenomenal!

Dazian, a custom fabric supplier showcased some of their many theatrical fabrics and lights, some with lighting integrated into the fabric! The display that caught my eye was a panel of paper, with cut-outs, up-lit with LED lights. The LED lights are set in boxes, which are color-customizable and have many uses.

I left ICFF feeling inspired, renewed, and ready for what’s next in design!

I stopped by Berry Smart Studio tonight to check out what was happening.  What I saw blew me away. 

Jon’s father, Jon Berry Senior, has been acting as the contractor, builder, installer, woodworker, and painter. He has done a truly amazing job. The space is breath-taking. The colors on the walls and the ceiling are so rich and beautiful. The (faux) wood flooring looks awesome, better than I could have imagined. The custom desk is unbelievable.  The uplighting on the sunset walls is very cool, it’s a little bright, but we’ll work on that. I am in love with the sconces and the pendants lights.  It’s going to look so fantastic once we have all of the furniture in there.

Here are some photos of what the space looks like right now.

The uplit hawaiian sunset walls are stunning in person. 

Our solution to get rid of door number two!  The lightbox, which is literally a fluorescent fixture (which was previously on the ceiling) attached to the existing door (which is not used or necessary) with a wooden box built around it.  A piece of painted plywood with a cutout will be attached to the front eventually.  

The sconces on the wall where the TV will hang.  (The oversized, textured light bulbs have to go.)

The beautiful custom desk Jon Berry Senior made by hand.   

Looking into the storage room, which we opted to paint with a darker color (found in the hawaiian sunset).

Of course, we are not done and there are a few minor issues that need to be addressed. (But that’s my job, that’s why I’m the designer.) Such as: touching up the paint, putting the correct light bulbs in the sconces, drilling holes into the desk for wires, adding additional moulding pieces to the box on the floor in front of the hawaiian sunset (to block the bright light bulbs from view), and I’m sure I’ll think of some other things…..

Slowly but surely….Berry Smart Studio is coming to life!