Cozumel View: Got to Love It

View from Palmar Condos 8th Floor 

This was our view today from the 8th floor of a Cozumel condo while my husband, Moises, took measures for blinds. It just doesn't get much better than this. 

A few days ago, I had to travel to Playa del Carmen. Whenever I sit outside on the ferry, watching Cozumel get smaller and smaller, I reminisce of the times I toiled first in a cubicle, then in a small office and later in a large office with windows - at the design firm. Guaranteed my view never looked like this.

When I worked in South Florida at the design firm, for years we were not even allowed to wear pant suits, only skirts or dresses. I always wanted a job where I could wear jeans. Now I even wear shorts some days. I love my job. :)

The Magic of Design: We Do Model Homes

Penthouse Model Master Bedroom at Palmar Condominiums

We are more than just a furniture store. The Magic of Design provides interior design service included with your purchase. We make drapes, represent Gabin for roller shades, roman shades, vertical and horizontal blinds. We do reupholstery. 

Furniture, mattresses, bedding & lamp provided by The Magic of Design

Entry in Penthouse model Palmar Condominiums

 We provide furniture for models. We furnished models in Las Ventanas de Cozumel and four in Palmar Condominiums.  We have completed over a thousand design projects, providing everything from furniture to lamps, rugs and accessories ... and sold furniture to thousands of customers. We even help clients pick their paint colors.

Oldie but goodie ... Showroom 2010

The Magic of Design 2nd story location in Cozumel

Last but not least, we want to say thanks to the people of Cozumel! Hope to see you soon. We are located at the corner of 2nd Avenue and Pedro Joaquin Coldwell (30th Ave.) on the upper level, across the street from Covi Liquors and next to the license plate bureau. Visit our website for additional information:


The Magic of Design Furniture & Interior Design

How to Successfully Furnish Your New Condo or Home in Mexico

Penthouse model in Palmar condominums

You’ve made a dream come true and bought a great vacation home in Mexico, Bravo! But you have no idea how to go about furnishing it. Maybe you’ll rent it and have a management company, or you want it all to yourself to enjoy – either way you are ready to get started but don’t know where to turn.

 You work all the time in the United States or Canada and only get a few quality weeks a year to go away with your family. The last thing you want to do is spend the entire two weeks of your vacation driving from Cancun to the Riviera Maya or crossing on the ferry to shop the mainland. It’s your vacation time you want to enjoy your place in Cozumel and go diving! 

Showroom of The Magic of Design 2011

Freeing up your vacation time and allowing you to shop from your home in the US or Canada is where an interior designer’s service (like ours) comes in.  Here is how it works:

1.       Let the designer know right off the bat what type of furniture you like. Do you like modern, clean lines? Do you want traditional furniture? Do you want rattan or wicker? Cut out some photos of things you like, scan them into your computer and email them to the designer.  Tell the designer what you are interested in. All the best furniture manufacturers’ catalogs are available online, for the lines we represent, so you could also look through a few catalogs online to see what is available.

2.       Just because you’re in Mexico doesn’t mean you need to order things only made in Mexico. It is a global economy today. Furniture is made all over the world, so you should have access to anything you would like. We import furniture from all over … rattan and hardwood with veneer from Indonesia, China, the Philippines, Vietnam and Mexico. Upholstery from the United States with a comfort level unmatched around the world. Rustic style furniture is available in Mexico and it has its place, but if you have a small-scale condo, it may just be too big and bulky.

3.       So now the designer comes in armed with choices. You show us your plans. We make suggestions and work closely with you to bring your ideas to reality. If whoever is making the design decisions can come to Mexico and meet with the designer, that is the easiest and simplest way. But I have worked with many clients whom I never meet until the day they walk in their place when it is completely furnished.

Client's living room accent table & lamp

4.       Work with someone who is in Mexico full-time. If the designer you are working with is in the United States or Canada, how will they be able to coordinate the shipments? They need to check the items as they come in, deliver and install them. All the beds will need to be assembled. Most dining tables and chairs are shipped unassembled, too. Assembling a house of furniture is not something you want to do when you arrive.  You want to be able to put your feet up and sip a margarita, not figure out if you have enough screws to put everything together. If something is broken, the designer in Mexico can return it or replace it. We install everything so we know if a part needs replaced.

5.       By working with a designer, you don’t have to worry if something will fit. We measure your place and if something doesn’t fit or looks oversize, we can arrange to return the item for credit  and get you something else. When we don’t like the way something looks, we will tell you. We are professionals. That is why you hire a professional and guess what – it costs you nothing extra.

6.       Don’t pay everything up front. I hear horror stories of clients who go online, without a designers help, and pay 100% up front for furniture they have never seen. When they arrive, the furniture doesn’t look like they thought it would. A sofa is delivered when they ordered a sleeper and nobody is there to help them straighten it out. We require a 60% deposit and balance before delivery. We live in the Riviera Maya/Cozumel area full-time; you’ll be able to find us, so we can help if a problem arises. 

7.       You’re in Mexico… work with a Mexican company. By working with a Mexican company, you are covered under Mexican law. People tell me all the time that they want to support the local economy. I know we buy furniture all over the world, but all our employees are Mexican except me, I am from the states, but our corporation is located in Mexico. All profits support the local community. We pay Mexican taxes, sales tax, rent, salaries, pensions etc. here in Mexico.

At The Magic of Design our goal is to make your new home or rental property beautiful to look at and comfortable to live in. We have been in business here in Cozumel for 8 years. But interior design has been my passion since 1987 when I worked for Carole Korn Interiors and other design firms in Florida. This business is what we do full time, it’s what pays our bills. So we are very customer driven and will work very hard to keep you and the friends you refer to us as lifelong friends and clients. We want your experience with us to be stress-free and fun. Furnishing a new place should be like Christmas morning all bright and shiny, or  like that feeling you get with the first whiff of new car smell.

So there is it is a nutshell. An interior designer is there to help you bring your ideas to reality. They have the pulse of what’s going on in the furniture and decorator markets around the world and they have your comfort at heart.

The Magic of Design is run by professional US interior designer Luh McDevitt. Luh has over 20 years’ residential and commercial experience in interior design, including 7 years as a Director at prestigious Carole Korn Interiors in Florida, USA. Luh has worked on countless hotel, resort, condo and restaurant projects. For more than 14 years she has lived in Mexico, where she has worked on over 1,900 projects to date and over 3,000 people have bought her products.

The Magic of Design Furniture & Interior Design  website

https://www.facebook.com/magicofdesigncozumel/

Galo Ramirez: artist extraordinaire

Galo posing with a 15 ft. painting he worked on in Cancun

Galo Ramirez is an old soul. He is also an incredible artist. Like a Renaissance man, he is a professional in many mediums - paintings, murals and statues for starters. He has worked in Cozumel for years and had many exhibitions on the island and elsewhere. Even though he is from Mexico City, he is a true Cozumeleño. Laid back, sincere and with a charismatic personality, it is impossible not to like him. I think he is terrific. I consider him not only an artist I like to work with, but a real friend.

Galo has a studio in his home at the corner of 25 and 1 South. Whenever the door is open, it signifies you are welcome to go in. He greets you with a handshake as if he has always known you, offers tea or a more adult beverage. He shows you with enthusiasm what he has in his showroom, but that is only the beginning. He also displays many of his works elsewhere. We have dressed models with his paintings. I especially love what he did with the Penthouse in Palmar Condominiums. I also have his paintings on the walls in our showroom, The Magic of Design.

Palmar penthouse model with contemporary art from Galo

Hall piece in waterfront condo

He has worked with clients of ours to finish the decoration of their condos. For example with our clients, Dr. Lourell and Lynda Sutliff, - once the furniture was in place, he went to meet them and together they chose five paintings that complement the interior furnishings. They are terrific.

Sutliff painting to complement the furniture

Jazz series painting that coordinates with the room

For Kandy Stahl and Chuck Long, they had some of his paintings in their home in the states they brought down. They also added more once they arrived to live here full-time. Kandy and Chuck are collectors of art and artifacts from many local artists. More about some of their other pieces in another post!

One of the most exciting projects I worked on with Galo was a painting five meters wide (about 15 feet) for a client of ours in Cancun. I worked on the furniture with the owners and we picked a beautiful, bright geometric print fabric from Germany for the accent pillows. This fabric then became the theme of the project. (I will try to dig up the sample to add here at some point.)

There were chocolate sofas, cream leather chairs, dark chocolate woods and red accent chairs. The geometric print worked to tie it all together. Sandy and Luis, the owners of the new 5,000 sq. ft. home, met with Galo and me to discuss their wall painting. They wanted it to be special. The couple flew from Cancun for the day and we visited the exhibition that Galo had at the Casa de la Cultura, some paintings he had at Playa Azul hotel and his studio. Luis loves jazz and Galo discovered this in conversation, and Galo has a jazz series of paintings that are super popular and impressive. 


From that, Luis and Galo met a few times to come up with the concept of the painting. I wanted a diptych or a triptych (split it up in to 2 or 3 paintings that flowed from one to the other,) but Luis insisted it be in one piece. This was a challenge as how would we get the painting to Cancun and in to the house? In the end, Galo actually built the frame in the living room and painted it on site. He spent six weeks in Cancun working on the painting.

Here it is in progress:

Work in progress

Here is the final product with Galo and the proud owners! You can see the scale of the piece. It is really incredible!

Final piece créme de la créme

 Galo's work can be found on his facebook page, click here