Big Girl Bedding
/My little girl will be 17 months old this month, and I've started thinking about what her room will look like once she's out of her crib and in a "big girl" bed. I'm fortunate enough to have some gorgeous antique twin beds passed down from my great grandmother that I'm going to get to use in her room. They have beautifully carved headboards with matching footboards, and I want them to be the show stoppers in the room.
Even if I had different beds, I think I'd still want to keep the bedding pretty simple though. There's something so sweet about predomimently white bedding with a pop of color for a little girl. I know I want to use a white coverlet with a folded fluffy duvet at the foot of the bed. I'll keep the sheets a simple white with a colored scallop detail like these.
For the pillows, I'm thinking of a sham with a matching color border like these, also from Crane and Canopy.
To finish the look, I envision a decorative pillow in the front. Here are a few of my favorites at the moment.
As you can tell, I'm really loving floral block prints right now. There's just something so sweet and feminine about them. Here are all of the sources:
1- On sale for $29.99 and the back side is beautiful too.
2- This watercolor print is also currently on sale for $31 at Layla and Grace
3- A favorite from Serena and Lily for $68
4- I love the muted colored in this kilim option from Etsy -$69.95
5- The priciest of the bunch at $100, this handmade option is gorgeous
To finish off the room, I'd hang this beautiful painting. I've admired it since I was a little girl and saw it hanging at my grandmother's house. Impressionism is by far my favorite art movement and the colors in this piece are just so stunning.
I can't wait to see Auden's room to come together this year. I hope she'll love it as much as me!
Before and After : Tree House
/Located in Michigan, this home belongs to a couple and their two young boys who were looking for the perfect vacation home. The previous owner was an arborist and left a few design challenges for the new owners. As you will see, this before and after is a good example of how a can of paint can transform a space.
The home's exterior was lightened up using Benjamin Moore's Grant Beige.
The living room was very rustic and had wall to wall forest green carpet.
The carpet was ripped out and to help unify all the different materials, everything was painted white. Both the fireplace and mantle were painted White Dove by Benjamin Moore. When in doubt, paint it white.
The owners had planned to remove the vertical beam that was made to look like a tree growing out of the floor, but it is was determined they couldn't because it was structural.
So, they painted it white along with the cabinets. Surprisingly, the kitchen turned out very beautiful. The tree along with the backsplash tile and stone countertops gives it a sophisticated organic quality.
The dining room before.
After.
The dated master bath got an overhaul. Instead of replacing the awkward French doors, they improved them by replacing the glass with mirror.
Job well done. To check out more, visit House Beautiful for the full article.
Mid-Century Modern Dining Room Options
/A recent client of ours recently moved from a small apartment into a modest, but nicely restored 60s ranch with her husband. She already had a love for mid-century modern furniture, and has some collected some great pieces here and there for around her house. But she had zero dining furniture. They had been using barstools up until that point.
Moving to a house with a real dining space can be exciting and also daunting...because dining furniture adds up and adds up quickly! Collecting a chair here and there is easy. A couple hundred dollars, perhaps, here and there. But even if you find a great deal on some mid century furniture, a dining set will cost you well over $1000. When you've just bought a house, this is not easily digested. Hey, I've been there (still there...)!
So after several failed antique store and craigs list attempts, she contacted us to help her put together an affordable dining room to go with the rest of her home. A great opportunity for E-design!
Here are some inspiration photos she sent us:
image via the D pages
image via apartment therapy
image via a cup of jo
image via a cup of joe
This was fun for me to work on because I also have a love for mid century modern. It's my favorite design style/era, so I've kept tabs on where to find inexpensive replicas and inspired pieces. Keeping her budget in mind, we sent her some options before starting the full e-design in order to set the stage for the rest of the room.
Each chair is under $100 and each table is under $300. She wanted to be able to purchase 4 chairs but be able to pull up two other arm chairs from her living room to seat 6 if needed.
Here are her options. Which would you choose?
If you find yourself in a similar design dilemma (even with completely different design taste), this is a great option to get your feet moving. One of the many flexible aspects of E-Design.
Now I'm going to go stare at my old dining set and wish it was something as cool as those images above! ;)
Until next time!
California Layered Living Room E-Design
/A couple of months ago, we launched a survey for our clients and readers. One of the questions we asked was "What room in your home would you most likely redo using our E-Design service?"
Even with nine other room options, the Living Room won out with over 50% of the results.
It makes sense. This is the room where people typically spend most of their time at home. It is the center of the home. So naturally, you'd want that room to feel the best, right? You'd want it to be stylish, comfortable and most importantly, like "you."
We recently completed a living room design for a family in California. They had some great pieces (and style) to start but needed our help with some big ticket items, paint and accessories.
We created a relaxed, layered look to go with their eclectic style and love the way it turned out. We started with a large sisal rug to anchor the space and topped with a softer, more colorful dhurrie. We brought in a classic sofa and some large textured lamps for the iron console. We added some more color and pattern with new toss pillows and a throw.
lamps // mirror // paint // lattice pillow // stripe pillow // console // throw // side table // sofa // sisal rug // dhurrie rug
I fell in love with the leather topped side table when I first saw it in the Manhattan apartment of Casey Smith on Domaine Home and have been waiting for the perfect home to get to use it.
I think the design turned out to be a pretty cool space that I would love to hang out myself, and hopefully this family will get to enjoy their living room even more now!
If you have a space in your home in need of a little help (it doesn't have to be a full makeover--that's the beauty of design), drop us a line. We'd be glad to help!
