Palm Lakes Estate Apartments

The apartments at Palm Lakes Estate are starting to take shape. On a site visit this week I decided to take some photos of the progress. Jossi Design worked closely with the architects, DZM Space, in the interior design of these apartments. It is therefore very exciting to go to site to see the progress of both the apartments and the Estate as a whole.

The furniture, lighting layouts and electrical layouts were put together by Jossi Interior Design together with DZM Space and the Developers at Royal Palms. We also developed the boards showing the finishes for each apartment.

There are 3 schemes for the owners of the apartments to choose from: The Classic Theme; The Contemporary Theme and The Rustic Theme. Therefore the tiles, paint colours, finishes for the kitchen and built-in cupboards, granite and formica samples, and cornices were all put onto 3 boards that represented the different looks for each apartment. The owner can then choose the combination he or she likes best.

The site visit was therefore very interesting for me as I could see the progress and outcome of all the hard work in the apartments now being constructed. The Estate is taking shape nicely, the second showhouse is almost complete as the curtains are due to be installed this coming week, once the landscaping is complete this showhouse should be opened to the public. The first showhouse has created wonderful attention for the Estate, showing the quality and style of house that can be achieved, and we have received great complements about the interior decorating.

Interior views of the apartments at Palm Lakes Estate

Jossi Design Travels to Escourt and Southbroom

Craig and I took a drive out to Escourt to meet with a possible client early Thursday morning. There was a fire in their house and the kitchen has been completely destroyed, with some damage to the lounge and dining room. The smoke has also caused some damage in the bedrooms as everything is coated in a black soot.

It is amazing to see the damage that fire can do to a house. It could have been alot worse for the couple but not a nice experience to go through at all. The builders are starting work on Monday, therefore Craig and I were briefed to provide a quote to redecorate the house.

Exterior View of Southbroom House

This week I also attended a breakfast networking meeting where I met many interesting people. I have been encouraged to join a networking breakfast to promote Jossi Design. So far I have enjoyed the experience and look forward to further breakfast meetings.

Lounge at Southbroom House

On Friday Bronwyn and I took the almost 2 hour drive to Southbroom to snag the holiday house we completed just before shutdown last year. The client put together a half page snag list which was emailed through to me. I took the office camera and Bronwyn and I met with the client to go through all the snags taking picture which we will then email to the relevant contractors.

A Bedroom at Southbroom House

The house is looking really beautiful and the client is very happy with the whole look of the house. Jossi Design was briefed by the client in the beginning of the project. The brief entailed 'Happy Colours' to be used in the Decorating. This is a brief which took me out of my usual style of design as I enjoy creating moody interiors. But I am extremely happy with the outcome and so is the client, which is the most important thing.

A New Year at Jossi Design

Jossi Design is now back in full force for 2008. Last week was rather a quiet one as all the contractors and suppliers were still on holiday. Therefore this week should be starting to heat up again with phone calls and meetings. It was good to have a quiet week to catch up on all the admin in the office that gets left to the last minute.

Exterior View of House in La Lucia

The house we are working on in La Lucia is going to look awesome. At the moment we are getting the fabric cuttings for each room of the house to finalise the schemes, together with the wood samples, supawood samples, paint colours, wall papers etc. Ceilings have been skimmed in most areas of the house, the lounge has proved difficult though as the aircon ducting has affected the ceiling design quite a bit therefore this has resulted in alot of amendments to the drawing but I think we will get the best result out of the changes at the end. We are now busy with the Decorating side in order to have all the furniture and curtaining etc. ready for installation when the construction work in the house is completed. This part of our job is also challenging but very exciting as the house is starting to come together.

Working on staircase in La Lucia House

We are also working on a house in Zimbali which is going to be a fabulous job, and is also very exciting. This job has taken longer than we had all hoped due to the amount of rain we have been having in Durban, and then of course the builder's holidays over Christmas. We have completed our electrical layouts and lighting layouts that were needed for the final casting of the slabs. These drawings should be signed off this week and issued to the architects and builders for construction. The next step is to finalise the sanware specifications and lighting specifications which can then be priced by the relevant suppliers.

Jossi Design is also working on an advert which will go into one of the Interior Decorating Magazines hopefully in the February/ March edition. This is quite exciting as we have never advertised in the past but thought we would try advertising this year to see the response.

Jossi Design will also have the new website up and running hopefully by the end of January. We will keep you posted on the progress. In the meantime the old website is still up and running on www.jossi.co.za