shawn michael ohara

I am in love with new new website from Overstock called Eziba. As they describe it’s “a member’s only website for exclusive sales on home décor, furniture, accessories, and more – at member’s only prices. New sales on the brands and products you want start at 11am ET and are only available for a limited time. Eziba members also enjoy world-class customer service and $2.95 shipping on every order.”

I haven’t purchased anything from the site yet, but there have been a few things that I been tempted. You do have to be quick, some of the sales go fast, but you can check the up coming sales so you know whats coming up.

Check them out at www.eziba.com

I think that I searched just about every inch of every furniture store here in Binghamton looking for a bedroom set that I truly loved, and could afford. But no luck. So I took a chance and ordered my furniture online, even our new mattress! I found a review over at Unplggd.com for a new mattress company (Create-A-Mattress) that allows you to create and order your mattress online. I was impressed by their findings, and thought that I might as well give it a try, especially when I saw the price of the mattress I created! The mattress that I created online came in a couple hundred dollars less than a comparable ones I had been looking at around town. Plus Create-A-Mattress offers free white glove delivery to our apartment! Can’t beat that! And you get to create a custom label for you new mattress ;) The process of creating the mattress and delivery usually takes about 14 days from order to door. But since Binghamton is considered a remote location (their words not mine) we should expect a 24 day turn around. But for the price, I’ll wait.

For the furniture I went with CB2. I love their products, and we had said that when we made it to Seattle, we sere going to furnish our apartment partially with their stuff. The bed I selected is the Alpine Gunmetal bed, particularly for the full metal headboard. With 2 cats I was concerned with them scratching a wood bed. I also liked the slight angle of the headboard. With Anthony spending all of his time in bed, I wanted something that allowed him to sit up, and still be comfortable.

As for the night stands and dresser, they were a bit more difficult to choose. ultimately I went with the Century Low Dresser, and Century Night Stand. I love the mid-century look and feel and that their legs mimic the angle of the beds headboard. I wasn’t sure if the wood was going to go well with the metal of the bed frame, but they were recommended as a good pairing. So why not trust an other designers suggestion? Now the fun part of waiting for the delivery trucks, and assembling my goodies :) I’ll let you all know how it turns out!

I have been inspired by Apartment Therapy’s Scavenger Roundup for sometime and thought I would like to do something similar for the Binghamton area. Below is my first attempt, and given more time, I’m sure I’ll add many more awesome finds from other places around the Binghamton.

1. Round Table

2. Cow Hide Rug

3. Antique Sofa

4. Wool Rugs

I have no idea who might be selling these items, and I can not account for their condition. I thought they looked cool, and could be some great pieces for someones design project :)

Happy Designing!

-Shawn

Next week Anthony and I will be moving into our new apartment here in Binghamton, New York. I will be the first to tell you that six months ago if someone asked me where I would be in August, Binghamton, New York is not what I would have said. We had made well-intentioned plans to move to Seattle after I graduated this past May. But as life does, it happens. We had sold our first home, and most of our belongings and had started creating our itinerary for the cross-country drive. We debated how long we should drive, and what states we wanted to stay in, and how long we thought the whole trip would take. But the trip never happened. Instead we moved to Binghamton to be close to family while we figured out what was happening with Anthony’s eye, and allow time for him to recover.

Well it’s been about two months since we came to Binghamton. Anthony is stable now, and the pain from what we now know is Trigeminal Neuralgia, is mainly under control. But he is still can not use his eyes, and spends his days in bed resting, while we wait for an appointment with a Neurological specialist to discuss our options about his condition.

But as we start our second month in Binghamton we are excited to be moving into an apartment of our own. And I am very excited to take the blank slate of the space and create a new home for us. Since we sold most of our things, we are starting over mainly from scratch. New living room furniture, dining table and maybe for the first time a real bedroom set. I’m not sure how long Anthony’s recovery will take, but I have come to believe that we will staying in Binghamton for sometime. And as he does get better, I want a comfortable and inviting place for that to happen. So stay tuned as I post my adventures in designing our new space.

So things in my life have taken me and my partner Anthony on a little detour over the last several months. Back in May we had big plans to sell our house, and all of our belongings and head west out to Seattle to start a new life on the west coast. Well we sold the house, and all of our belongings, but never made it to Seattle. About a month before we were to head west, Anthony became ill, and we were unable to make it to Seattle. We closed on the house at the end of June, and have been staying with my sister and brother in-law and our niece in Glen Aubrey New York, about 15 miles outside Binghamton New York. It is very beautiful here, and having family around has been a godsend helping me cope while Anthony slowly recovers.

The month after graduation was pure hell. I was trying to work, pack and sell our stuff, and get the house ready for closing, all while trying to care for Anthony while the Doctors tried to figure out what was going on with him. They never did, not in Rochester. I was able to get things all squared away with the house, and the closing went with out a hitch. I was able to get Anthony to my sisters house in Binghamton, and found some great Doctors who are taking really great care of Anthony’s condition.

What we know currently is that he is suffering from Trigeminal Neuralgia, a very painful inflammation of the facial nerves. It’s considered one of the most painful things to experience in the world. There were several times it seemed like the end of the world for both of us, especially after the forth ER visit in two weeks. But with the help and love of our family and friends, we have made it to a place where Ant seems to be out of the woods. He had been in bed since the end of May, but in recent weeks has been able to walk around the bedroom, and come out to the dinning room table and have dinner with us. They seem like small little steps, but I will take any I can get. I will keep you all posted with our progress. In the meantime we are adjusting to our  little life detour.

As I write this post, I am now a graduate from the College of Imagining Arts and Sciences at Rochester Institute of Technology, with a BFA in Interior Design, and a minor in Art History!

As seniors our last design project for our program was to research and design a cancer center. Considering it’s a large project, we broke into teams of 4 designers to be able to accomplish everything that the project required. The building that we designed had 4 levels so our team decided to divide the work up by floors. With each of performing all the research and designs for our floor. I selected the ground floor consisting of the radiation suites and vaults, the ultrasound suites, CT scanners, several exam rooms and the parking garage. The project was very intensive and took most of the 11 weeks of the quarter to complete. But in the end I feel our design was very tight, well thought out. I would have to believe out professor thought so as well, we received an A ;)

AS part of the presentation we were required to produce a design prospectus book that we left with our client, in our case our professor. Below is the cover that I designed for the prospectus. To see the whole presentation check it out in my portfolio under the Health Care page.