Project Key Chandelier

Last fall I designed a barrette out of two keys. I have always thought keys were very ornamental and decorative, so why not wear them in your hair? The reactions I have received are funny and I often look at people and think "Did you really just say that OUT LOUD!?" But none the less the keys have become one of my signature hair pieces.

Bob and I were brainstorming different ways we could design a chandelier for my Al Beadle condo. One of my ideas was to stuff Voss water bottles full of all my headband making scraps (strips of ribbon, bits of pearls and charms, etc.) and have him then construct a metal base to hang them off of. Then one day while sitting at a traffic light I started playing with my key clip and the idea dawned on me to make a chandelier out of keys, I emailed Bob and he called me within seconds! He had the same idea dawn him moments earlier!!!!! WE were onto something! It was in the air. The two of us tend to have a lot of synergy when it comes to our design-art projects...

Here are the Sketch Up pictures he made for me of my "Key Chandelier". We are going to need over a 1000 keys and we would love to collect them from families and friends. We want the chandelier to have a story, to have depth and to have some soul. If you would like to donate any of your old keys we will gladly take them off your hands...message me...your keys can be a part of a larger art project.

-- The Key Girl

Al Beadle or Whitney Port?

In January Cassy Saba and I were walking through NY's garment district. We were leaving Laura Bennett's (3rd season Project Runway finalist) apartment on our way to talk to Laura's manufacturing company when Cassy spotted Whitney Port, MTV Reality Star. I was on my iPhone scrolling through an email that Heather Maclean (my real estate agent) had sent me. I was in the market for a new home and Heather had graciously been showing me homes since the summer.

I wanted something modern. I wanted to be in the Arcadia area. I was partial to Al Beadle homes and mid-century modern design. As I flipped through the MLS listing Heather sent me, my heart stopped. The Camelback Place Townhouse she sent me was PERFECT! It was in the heart of the Arcadia-Biltmore area, it was mid-century modern, it was an Al Beadle design and the price was phenomenal for a Beadle home at the golden intersection of 32nd and Camelback. Cassy grabbed me as she let out a scream and booked it down the street to run after Whitney. Cassy is a jewelry designer and she wanted to connect with Whitney to show her designs. I know the importance of having a celebrity wear your designs and the marketing impact it can create. But instead of chasing Whitney I scrambled to call Heather and tell her I wanted that HOME and that we should put an offer in! I had not even been inside the townhouse but I knew it had to be mine.

Three days later when I was back in Phoenix, Heather showed me the home and I put in an offer later that day. That was only the beginning of what turned into a very stressful roller-coaster ride! First someone outbid me, then a month later their offer fell through, so I put in another offer, then the appraisal did not match the seller's price and the lending piece got screwed up. One moment we would have great news and the very next, very deflating news, it was like Katy Perry's "Hot N Cold" song. Finally at the end of March I closed escrow and the deed was recorded. The place is finally mine!

It needs a good deal of work. But that is okay. I am hiring my friend Bob Wilkinson to completely remodel the place. We have a ton of ideas and we are going to create a masterpiece & turn this townhouse into one huge art piece. I am Bob's first official client since going out on his own and starting a design-build firm, Worksite.

So I may not have connected with Whitney Port but I got my "Beadle Box". And who knows, if Bob and I do an amazing-enough remodel, maybe we can be featured in a design magazine, and Whitney is no stranger to the world of high-end magazines ;-)