Krystal Reinhard

Krystal is designing for PAWS

Founded by designer and artist Krystal Reinhard, Old Soul is a boutique interior design studio located in downtown West Chester, PA.

Company/Designer Bio:
Old Soul is a boutique interior design studio located in West Chester, PA. We partner with like-minded souls to design interior spaces that foster artful and functional living. Founder and principal designer, Krystal Reinhard is a life-long creative and self-professed “old soul.” As a child, she was constantly rearranging her room; spending her pocket money on décor to make her space more beautiful. She grew up in New York, as a child of immigrants who worked in carpentry and painting. As a result, she values hard and honest work, and is highly knowledgeable when it comes to the more technical aspects of home design and building.

Krystal has a professional background in fine art, design, along with a degree in art education. Shortly into her career, she switched gears to enroll in grad school at The Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. Today, she partners with her clients to design their interiors, and sees her clients’ four walls as her new artist’s canvas. Krystal brings a unique perspective to the interior design world with her fine art and design background, and her advanced knowledge of
craftsmanship and home development. If you’re building or redesigning a home or space, Krystal is the ideal Swiss-army-knife of designers to have on your team.

INSPIRATION:

1. What inspired you for making the Designer Dog House?

1. The dog house is a shrunken down recreation of the Tudor Style houses in Lower Merion's English Village neighborhood. When I was a kid, my family drove past the neighborhood, close enough for me to see the houses' tips and rooflines above high hedges. I was in wonder. The half-timbered construction seemed of another, long-ago time. My dog house for Benevolent Hound and Lower Merion Conservancy is my tribute and thanks to the English Village.

2. What is unique about your Designer Dog House?

2. We feel there are many things that are unique about our Designer Dog House! Collectively as a team we are artists, designers and builders so when we were designing our dog house we approached it like we would a real house. We thought about our clients needs when using the house like functionality, warmth, lighting, comfort and hydration. If we had to pick one thing it would be that we used the ancient Japanese technique called Shou Sugi ban which translates to "burnt cedar board" for our siding choice. The action of burning cedar board preserves the wood against the elements eliminating any type of chemical sealer. We wanted our house to be as organic as possible. Not only is the process unique, but the outcome is as well creating beautiful textures and grain patterns.

Dog House Description:
Our dog house design concept was inspired by architect Frank Lloyd Wright with a dash of the Hobbits Shire. We approached this design build like we would any other client project thinking about our clients’ needs such as functionality, warmth, lighting, and hydration. Sustainability was also important to us while designing our dog house using a large portion of leftover materials from various design projects. One unique aspect of our design is that we used the ancient Japanese technique called Shou Sugi ban which translates to “;burnt cedar board” for our siding choice.

The action of burning cedar board preserves the wood against the elements eliminating any type of chemical sealer. Not only is the process unique, but the outcome is as well creating beautiful textures and grain patterns. All of our roofs were waterproofed using zip tape first. Our primary
roof is covered with super moss giving it an organic look, juxtaposed against our modern brass standing seam secondary roofs. The inside walls are insulated using rigid foam board covered by luan plywood, and faced with decorative 3D pvc geometric wall panels. Additional decorative accents used throughout our dog house are peel and stick stacked carrara marble tile on the front and back facades, artificial garden grass as our floor covering, slate name
plate, and battery powered led copper strung lighting along with 4 hanging lanterns. Two of our favorite dog house accessories are our inset water bowl, and our “expawlorer” bubble window. Our dog house embodies Old Soul’s mission designing artful living spaces with both function and soul.

Philadelphia Animal Welfare Society (PAWS)

Website: https://phillypaws.org

Instagram: @phillypaws

PAWS is a 501 (c) 3 non- profit organization dedicated to saving Philadelphia’s homeless and at- risk pets. PAWS is the city’s largest rescue partner and provider of affordable, basic veterinary care for pet owners and rescue organizations that cannot otherwise access it. Each Year, PAWS finds loving homes for thousands of animals in need and enables thousands of families to keep their cherished pets. PAWS is working to make Philadelphia a no-kill city where every savable pet is guaranteed a home.

As Philadelphia’s largest rescue partner, PAWS saves at-risk animals from the city’s animal control shelter, provides all the veterinary care they need, and finds them loving homes. PAWS focuses on populations least likely to survive: adult dogs, cats with treatable illnesses, fragile kittens too young for adoption, and animals with injuries or other special medical needs.