If you follow our blog, you may have noticed we’ve been a bit absent lately. That’s because we’ve had the honor and great pleasure to be included in a showcase event sponsored by California Home + Design Magazine at The Hollywood Lofts.

If you’ve never been to a showcase, it’s where a group of designers is asked to get together and each designer does a different room (or in our case, outdoor room) how they see fit. As you can imagine it’s a lot of fun for the designers but sometimes the effect can be a bit disjointed with everyone going crazy on their own space. However in the case of our group, the effect was fantastic. We’re not going to show you the whole loft because you just have to go see if for yourself, but we wanted to share our two spaces so you could see first hand where we started and how we got to where we ended.

I love before and afters, so here’s a progression of one angle of the main outdoor patio from first viewing to concept to completion to party…

This is how the patio looked when we first saw it. It was bland and beige. We began our design by using blue tape to lay furniture out to get an idea of layout, etc.

After doing much research, we came up with the basic design we wanted and did a conceptual drawing.

After installing we realized that the Modfire looked better in the spot where we had planned the Tree Aloe and vice versa. Always be prepared, then be flexible. Sometimes things just don’t look the way you think they will.

Then we really got to enjoy the space for the opening party and see it as we imagined…as an amazing entertainment patio. With the flickering flames from the Modfire and the illuminated crystals from the Cleveland Art Firelight and the beautiful bronze Moroccan fixtures from Badia Design, the space really came to life.

The little balcony had a privacy issue as you can see in this before photo.

We solved that problem with a Ficus Nitida hedge in some lightweight planters. In the long term the hedges would be kept trimmed to block out the lower unattractive view and raise your eyes up to the beautiful views above.

The lovely fuchsia Fermob Bistro Set was chosen to match a recurring theme of hot pink that ended up running throughout a lot of the loft. It really tied things together as you can see from the stunning living room designed by Christopher Kennedy (this is the only tease you get of the rest of the space!)

Our initial inspiration for the space came from a tile designed by our good friend Tracey Reinberg of Kismet Tile.

Tracey and Annette at the CH+D opening party.

Using a traditional Moroccan design, Tracey punched up the blue to a point that took our breath away.

Potted Tile Table using Kismet Tile. 24″ Bauer Canoe in Chartreuse on top.

Probably the biggest decision for the space was our colors. They have definitely drawn a lot of attention and quite a lot of thought went into them. We knew we needed a pallet that would evoke a bit of nature since the harsh sun conditions in our space made it a bit difficult to have too many plants and we also knew we wanted drama.

We did a lot of tests before we came up with our choice of “Dark Lime” for the top and “Carolina Gull” for the bottom, both from Benjamin Moore.

With the bold white line, this choice really helped us to make our space crisp and modern and also helped us to define the built-in bench we had to incorporate into our design. I really wish people weren’t so afraid of color because paint is the least expensive, most amazing way to totally transform a space.

A beautiful view of the “bench.”

The other major obstacle of our high rise getaway was the major heat the enclosed box generated with no covering. Not wanting to cut off the view, we designed a pergola that, thanks to the geniuses and all-around great guys from Warner Brothers Studio Services, went up in no time.

And they even helped us to hide the eyesore that was this service door to the AC unit and the first thing you saw when you came out on the patio.

This is much nicer to look at, don’t you think? And it just hangs on a french cleat that easily comes off if you need to get into the AC unit.

As the saying goes, the devil is in the details. Here are some “details” we wanted to highlight up close and personal.

The Lucy Chair by Bend in white. Looks pretty fabulous on the Diamond Black & Ivory Dash & Albert Rug, I think.

That rug makes everything look even better.

On the main patio, these olive trees will be kept trimmed as shrubs to block out the unattractive lower views but bring your eye up to the amazing Hollywood Hills beyond.

Okay, this is not technically an outdoor light (on a covered patio it would be fine), but we could not resist the hand blown glass from Cleveland Art. If you’ve never been to their downtown showroom or their new showroom on La Brea, you really have to go. Not your everyday run-of-the-mill lighting, I’ll tell ya.

This mirror is from Badia Design in North Hollywood. They have everything Moroccan and are extremely wonderful to work with. Most of the upholstery was custom (another thank you to Warner Brothers) except the ever popular grass pillows by Firmly-Planted which are always available at Potted.

Most of the tabletop will be available in the store very soon and includes these beautiful cut glass champagne flutes.

The Circle Pot really popped here in orange with the white accents.

And finally, we used this opportunity to release our newest version of the City Planter in crisp, modern white. We were thrilled with how they turned out. That’s also an Orbit Planter on the console (also from Badia) and those are Constellation Lanterns and are also available at Potted (as is most everything is our installation).

And if any of these items have caught your fancy (like the Kismet Tile Table, which is one-of-a-kind) or the Modfire which will be available at a discount as will a few other items, One King’s Lane will be featuring these and many other items from the whole loft in a Tastemaker’s sale in January. Check our Facebook Page (or better yet, “Like” us) and we’ll keep you posted.

The California Home + Design “Small Space Big Style” Showcase house is running now through November 18th. Click here to get all the details and tickets. The event benefits the A + D Architecture and Design Museum so it’s a very good cause.