Pure Style Home

Kitchens on the Brain...

2012-01-31T09:12:00.001-05:00

I'm working on a few kitchen projects at the moment and for the past couple of months, I've been collecting images. One of the easiest places (besides a physical binder) to collect images is pinterest.com. One of the kitchens we're working on is for our clients who absolutely love to cook and they're drawn to simple, functional beauty that feels timeless & as if it's always been there with a tad of a European edge.

{House Beautiful,,, I looooove these leather chairs!!!}}

And not that we're doing garden mazes in the kitchen, but although a bit more formal than what we're going for, I want to bring a little bit of that traditional garden- conservatory-vibe into the house... But in a more relaxed way...

{image via rkw.blogspot.com}

We're looking at going with a beautiful French range by LaCanche:

{Kitchen by Mary Evelyn McKee via elementsofstyle.com}

...Except in stainless steel w/ brass accents:

They needs lots of space in the sink for washing large pots & pans & so we're considering a deep, wide farmhouse sink. I love this laundry style sink:

{via moderncountrystyle.blogspot.com via Brooke Giannetti}

I haven't come across any 1 image that perfectly embodies the feeling we're after but Ina Garten's home is definitely in the mix:

{One of my favorite houses EVER, featured in House Beautiful}

...We just want it to be a teensy bit less "fresh" and a little more aged. The house is also not a rustic one & so we really don't feel that the beams would be appropriate, although we love them.

We're using a mix of finishes in the kitchen, many of them unlaquered brass and if you haven't already read this post last week by Brooke Giannetti about mixing metals in the kitchen, then you need to hop over to Velvet & Linen to read it. Along with Ina & a few others, the Giannetti's aesthetic has also played a big part in this particular kitchen design. When I first met with my client & she showed me inspiration images, so many of them reminded me of Brooke & Steve's Patina Style and when I mentioned them, my client said she was an admirer.

{countryliving.com via Brooke on pinterest}

We're striving for the perfect mix of old & new, beauty & practicality.

{An old wooden tabletop... I can't remember the source, but how amazing is this timeworn finish?!!}

I also love the baker's racks that Darryl Carter uses in many of his projects. They're so gorgeous & functional:

We're planning on incorporating a pair flanking the range hood.

We're looking at doing plaster one similar to this (below) but with more of a curve to the front and back:

{HGTV.com by Jane Ellison}

Anyway, as we make more progress, I'll be sure to share updates.

Because it takes a lot of this....

{image from investorspot.com}

and this...

{kitcheninteriordesign.net}

before you get to this...

{image from wonderingfair.com}

If you'd like help creating a home you absolutely love, contact me about our design services.

Bits of Blue

2012-01-27T10:18:00.000-05:00

Happy Friday!! Maybe it's the unusually warm weather or that it's one of my favorite colors, but I've been drawn to touches of blue lately. We just presented a plan to a client with a blue painted buffet in a dining room & here are a couple images that I looked at.

I love what the shot of blue does in this neutral dining room:

{I think the homeowners are the founders of Wisteria}

I've had this image for a while (and have posted it more than once) but I looooove this Gustavian piece:

{The mix of the blue with the old door is perfection. I can't remember the source for the image- sorry!!}

And finally (yeah, it's Friday, this is a short one ;) this past summer I found this cool old blue trunk at an atntique store and put it in my dad's almost-finished lake house dining room:

{It's great for last-minute mess stashing.. Curtains are in my Live Paisley in Antique Beige and Boys are by Lauren & David Liess ;}

Anyway, I'm off for the day but have a great weekend!! It's SO beautiful & warm here today that I can't believe it's January!!!

If you'd like help creating a home you absolutely love, contact me about our design services.

Designer Showhouses- Do or Don't?

2012-01-25T12:45:00.001-05:00

One of my favorite things to do is working on textile designs. I always have a list of designs in my head that I want to do, but sitting down & finding the time to sit down & draw them is another story. Sometimes it just takes some good motivation. The DC Design House has started up again this year & so I've been busy drawing. I've seen the new house - along with all of the other interested designers in the DC area- and have been working on a design to submit for a space. (First everyone sees the house & then we have a couple of weeks to create a design, which is then submitted for review by the Design Committee. )

I've gotten a few emails & phone calls lately from designers asking if I thought it was "worth it" to do the Design House last year. And the answer is, I'm submitting a design again, so YES definitely :)

{My room from last year.. And just to warn you, something is wrong with blgoger and it won't let me upload any other pics so this is a pictureless post from here on out. sorry!!}

I have to say though... it's really up to each individual designer to decide if it's "worth it" for herself or himself.

First of all, Children's Hospital is an amazing cause & each year, I try to do something special to help people through our design work, so I think that's an important "pro" for doing any charity design showhouse.
Being involved in the Showhouse makes you feel like you're part of this big team & it's a ton of fun. I can't say it in any other way other than it just makes you feel special. (It kind of reminds me of doing plays in gradeschool :) People are generally really supportive of one another and in our showhouse, we had a great PR person (Sherry Moeller) who sent so much press everyone's way, so that was amazing. You get to work alongside amazing designers and see all these beautiful spaces happen up-close. It's really nice & exciting to be around so many people in the industry.
One thing that has to be taken into consideration is the cost of doing a room in a showhouse. Both time/ opprtunity costs & money. A showhouse is different from other projects in that you are working around a lot of other people and there are certain times when you have to get things done. The schedule is very compressed & there's a lot of pressure to get things finished much quicker than you would in an ordinary project. (For example, if you're doing COM upholstery, a typical lead time for a sofa could be 8-10 weeks or even more depending upon your fabrics & availability. Well, with the compressed showhouse timeline, you might only have 7 or so weeks to get everything in. Last year I was on pins & needles waiting for all pf my pieces to come in on time.)

As far as money goes- things start adding up. I tried to get as many donations & loans as I could. (I am forever grateful to companies like Peter Dunham Textiles & Michael Smith, and Stark Carpets and lots of others who donated their goods to make our room happen. And The team of people I work with was also right there for me, donating labor & time, which I never could have afforded on my own.) But expenses still add up & there lots of things you just have to purchase (sometimes custom ones for example) and you do end up spending quite a bit of money.

But I think being in a Showhouse really gives you the chance to show others that you're there. It puts you in a place to get noticed & to help make a name for yourself, and as anyone in our business knows, that's what keeps your business going.

Another question I get a lot is- "Did you get clients from the Showhouse?" ... My answer is a hazy one. We had lots of inquiries into our services, but not many that panned out into full projects.

We received lots of inquiries for consultations but unfortunately, due to our workload & staffing, we're only able to take on full-service projects. The one project we did take on that was related to the Design House was with a client whom a previous client had already referred to us & who was already considering working with us before the Showhouse. I think seeing the space we created in person convinced her & her husband that we were "right" for them. I would say if you're doing a showhouse because you expect to directly get clients from it, then you might be disappointed. Go into it thinking you won't get any clients & if you do, that's a great perk, but don't count on it for your finances.

Other people have asked about getting Showhouse rooms published in shelter magazines. It's another thing I would say to not go in expecting. Typically, certain magazines will shoot a showhouse for an upcoming issue. Home & Design Magazine (our local Design Magazine) used photos of every room of the Showhouse (I think) last year & so that was great for everyone. And Traditional Home also typically shoots the DC Design House, so of course everyone is dying for their room to get chosen. It seems like the more public/ larger spaces are typically shot for this like the living rooms, master, etc. but you never know- it coule be you! Last year, we were lucky enough to have our room photographed for an up-coming Better Homes & Gardens Magazine issue (coming out in April!! :) and I'm so excited about the article because it really focuses on the design decisions made & how to go about creating a room with that type of feeling.

And another thing I would think anyone submitting a design for a showhouse agonizes over (I know I do) is which room to pick to submit a design for. When big, talented & established designers do showhouses, I would think they pretty much get the spaces they want to do. When you're new to the industry & haven't yet quite made a name for yourself, deciding on a room can be really worrisome. Last year I chose a smaller bedroom space upstairs for my design. I didn't get the bedroom I submitted a design for & was moved right next door to a very similar bedroom so I could keep my general design. I felt sooooo lucky. I loved my space and was happy with my decision to start small. ... Now what do you do if you decide you want a more prominent space? (Spaces on the first floor of showhouses are really desirable and I think they are generally harder to get.) I honestly don't have a good answer here, as this is the big question going through my head right now. Part of me says, "play it safe. If you're newer or have never been involved with a showhouse before, just choose a space you think you might actually have a shot at and play it safe." The other part of me says, "Go for it. What do you have to lose? Be true to yourself and if you think you can create an amazing design for a space, then do it, regardless of who you are." No guts, no glory, right? (But that's not exactly true in a showhouse ;) ;) If you aim too high, you could just miss it altogether or you could be rewarded. You never know.

Anyway, those are my thoughts. I'm sure other people have other ones though, so if you've participated in a Showhouse before & have any advice, I think everyone (me included!) would love to hear it.

One last thing- Never let fear of rejection keep you from making the Showhouse decision. Don't even let it weigh in. Rejection is scary and kind of makes me sick, but I think it's something we all experience & know we (eventually ;) get over. I was sooooo nervous last year & I'm surprised to see I'm even more nervous submitting a design this year, and that rejection fear is very real for me, but I'm fighting it because the risk is worth it.

If you'd like help creating a home you absolutely love, contact me about our design services.

Extra Extra- Thanks!!

2012-01-23T10:01:00.000-05:00

January is always a little crazy in this business. (Ok, let's be honest, what months aren't in anyone's life??) But anyway, we've been busy shooting projects, working on new ones, and thinking about & planning for the the Springtime which brings on design showhouses to visit, more projects and.. a baby!!! (due in May:)

{Yes, I know how scary this 3D pic of our Baby Liess looks... All of that tissue looks like hair!! My 4 year-old looked at it and said, "Oh... it's a girl because she has all that hair!"} Ah vell.

We've also had some really nice mentions & magazine features lately.

Thanks so much to Victoria Magazine for including me in their Special Entrepreneur Issue!!

The article I was featured in focuses on women who have created businesses out of their passions. (I'm honored to be included among them.) I'm feel so lucky to be working in a field I love so much, but owning your own business puts you not only in your field of work, but also into the "entrepreneur" category. It's a hat you sort of put on without realizing, and it was really interesting to look back for this article & talk about how I got my start & the business going.

Before the article, I was unfamiliar with Victoria Magazine, but I was BLOWN AWAY by some of the homes featured in this month's issue. (and flowers!!) Serious eye candy & I'm hooked.

I was also thrilled to be included in Washingtonian Magazine's new blog column of before & afters by DC area designers. (click on the link aboce to view it.) I can't wait to check out the next ones!

And thank you so much to Cassandra Lavalle for including a snippet of my bedroom in this month's issue of Rue Magazine!! It's a great little page that shows unique ways to store your magazines.

{I keep my current ones in this massive old bowl}

So be sure to check out Rue --- I am in love with a photo collage one of the rooms in there this month!

And finally... we've been working on our back office some more. Our desks & chairs came in- yay!!

{Don't you love my Christian Patrick Liess originals hanging on the wall above my computer?? - left}

We're doing inspiration boards along the entire wall above our desks & my assistant, Meghan, has been gathering hers up for a while now. The other walls are full of shelving which is making life soooo much easier.

Anyway, I'm off for the day but have a great one!!

If you'd like help creating a home you absolutely love, contact me about our design services.

Interior Design Business- Tips for Getting Productive & Reducing the drudgery

2012-01-19T11:32:00.003-05:00

Thanks so much to everyone who commented & sent emails about the last post & the "glamour" of interior design.

Something that came up was different programs designers can use for accounting, project management, etc. In our office we use Quickbooks. There is NO WAY in the world we could function without a program like this (& our accountant!!) There are lots of options out there but Quickbooks works really well for us. It's great for making estimates for clients, then turning those into invoices, and also for placing purchase orders, writing checks, viewing profit & loss statement, etc. While Quickbooks works for my interior design business, it isn't perfectly tailored for the type of interior design software we're looking for. I'd like to find something that assists more in creating design plans and also in the implementation of them.

{A system we tried a while back of having every client's To Dos on the blackboard... We started getting lazy and not filling in the sheets on the board & just doing ones in our client binders instead. We may go back to this... I'm not sure.}

As many of you know, when you get into a design project, there is a lot of work of course involved in coming up with the design, but a HUGE amount of the work is actually in implementing & managing the project & keeping it going when there are hiccups & product delays. (And there always are.) There is a timeline you need to work from and every little thing needs to fall into place at the right time. SO much effort & time goes into this process, and you really need to have it nailed down in order to run things smoothly for your clients. I find this to be the most challenging part of this business because you can have everything in place and then something doesn't come through for you & it's your responsibility to make it right. Right now we do all of this manually, which is extremely time-consuming.

Here are some tips we received from readers, along with some of my thoughts on them: (and no more pictures, sorry!! )

-A few people wrote in about strictly defined hours. I couldn't agree with this more. We work 9-5 and if you own your own business, I think you need to impose rules on yourself. Now, if you do own your own business, you clearly know that you don't work a 9-5, but I think at least trying to enforce the rule makes it better than not doing it at all. When you work from home (the way I do) it can be really difficult to shut your office down at the end of the day & on weekends. I have been really good about the weekend rule lately & it makes my familly much happier. I think most successful business owners probably have workaholic tendencies but -especially if you have a family- to lead balanced & happy lives, I think we need to fight those tendancies a little.    I used to meet clients at night & on the weekends & realized not only was it hard on me, but that it was hard on my family.

-Delegate!--- This has worked out really well for me.   At first, delegating & handing over responsibility can be like teeth-pulling (from yourself!) but once you can learn to let go & give some resposibility to others and learn what jobs you should & shouldn't be doing, you will be waaaaaay more productive & you can handle more projects & clients. I would never be able to go back to life without my assistant (Meghan) and finding people you trust is key. Think of everything in your business that requires you and only you, and attempt to delegate the rest.  From a strictly business point of view, you should try to delegate almost everything that isn't directly bringing money in the door.   Spend your hours doing billable things that include important decisions like designing and meeting with clients and finding the perfect piece for a room. (not that I do this at all, but it is my goal... It's very easy to get sidetracked and start doing things that you should be handing over :)

-Accounting- We have an accountant and my husband does the bookkeeping. Again, there's no way we'd be able to take the workload we do without this help. (this sort of goes back to delegating)

-Virtual Assistants-- has anyone had any experience with this? My friend Amy Meier loves the company she uses, Designer Advantage, and they do A LOT. It looks awesome.

-Outsourcing Floorplans-- I think this is great. One of the first things I hired my assistant for originally, was to do floorplans. You can still decide where everything will go, but have an assistant draw them out for you by hand or in some type of CAD program. This saves everyone time & benefits your clients because it takes less of your time/ costs less.

-Filing & doing paperwork every day VS Letting it Pile up- There seemed to be two categories of people here. It seems that some people actually like having it pile up and doing it all at once while others like to do it a little at a time. In our office, we try to do a little every day, but of course that doesn't always happen and it can pile up. I really never like for it to pile up over a weekend though because I hate being greeted by a mess on Monday mornings.

--Katherine wrote in "Before you shut the door each day, make a list of what you need to achieve the following day & definitely tidy up / put everything back in it’s place so you feel refreshed when you return in the morning."-- I think this is a GREAT idea, I try to do this but it doesn't happen every day. I feel much better on the days when I walk into an office that's ready to work than one that's littered with our mess from the day before.   I like having a To Do list for the next day ready & waiting for me.

-After reading my last post, my dad wrote my a {super-long} email about his "spiral notebook" of To Do lists & notes. I'm a bit old school like that too, like I mentioned, I always have a clipboard with my current To Do list on top of it with important info behind it. It keeps me on track.  I even write To Do Lists for my assistant (which I'm sure she loves;) to help me clear my own mind.

-Eileen @ A Creative day wrote in that in her office they normally try to block out at least one day a week from client meetings to stay in the office and get paperwork done, so they can stay on top of it and not get buried! --- I think this is SO important. At our office, I feel like we need a good 2 days in the office (at least) to get everything handled properly. Your meeting & shopping days are your busiest with running around, but I find that we really get everything handled & do the majority of our work on office days. (the work sweats days... ;) They are the most productive.

-Scheduling is one of those things that can end up taking a lot of time. Sometimes there's a lot of back-and-forth when trying to coordinate dates with contractors or clients so we've been working on me doing less of that in our office so I can be freed up to do other things.

-Sarah from Sarah's Fab Day wrote that "One thing that always worked for me and kept me on track was keeping on top of those crummy "easy" jobs (you know the ones that aren't so easy when you let them pile up?). I would always dedicate a time block to those jobs in the morning and then my afternoons would be free to tackle the jobs that would take a good amount of time." --- We do this in our office every day. The real design work typically never happens until after 12 or so (on a good day) because I like to get all of the little thigns & loose ends out of the way so I can concentrate on the big stuff. (A while back, I realized I really needed help & better systems when I wasn't getting into the real work until around 4 or so... Then I'd end up working all night & it just wasn't fair to my family.)

-Katherine also wrote in that she believes the most essential thing to a successful business is making your workspace .. well .. “you” .. surround yourself with things you love & you will feel like you belong in the space = you will be sure to succeed.   --- I think this is to true too. Most of us are in this business because we believe that our surroundings have a huge effect on us. I'm much happier working (or doing anything really) when I like my surroundings. I feel more productive when everything is organized & has a place to go to. Also, if you do work in an office with other people, everythign being in its place is key to staying on track because everyone needs to know where everthing is.
-One reader (Allumer Decor) recommends buying & reading THE BUSINESS OF DESIGN by, Keith Granet and she loves it.-- I definitely want to check it out. I have a few business of design-type books but can't think of the titles right now.

List of software/programs that can help:
-Quickbooks
-STUDIO IT
-Studio Webware
-Design Manager
-Specify-- This is the one I'm trying out right now. Has anyone used it? When I figure it all out, I'[ll be sure to post. It has a monthly fee vs. a one-time fee.
-A few people wrote about Google calendar. They can add others to their calendars so they're all on track ----- Oooh I'm definitely going to try this!!

ps- when I mentioned my office looked "lovely," what I meant was that it never looks that good :) On any given week day, there's stuff EVERYWHERE. It was made to look "pretty" for the photoshoot. (I do put it all alway on the weekends though.)

The paint color is Midwest Spring by FreshAire Choice, the No VOC paint brand @ Home Depot.

..As far as all of the design software programs go, I would love to do a roundup post one day with people's thoughts on the different programs. This week is crazy but I will try to do that soon.

**UPDATE- Just one more thing to add- If you're a newer business and you're not using Quickbooks or some type of accounting software or service, switch over to one ASAP. Your business will start to grow quicker than you can imagine and you will need that system in place for when you're really busy!! (It's much easier to learn & convert over when you're a smaller business than when you have lots of different projects going on.) And, even if you plan on taking things smaller, it will free up a lot of your time. :)

If you'd like help creating a home you absolutely love, contact me about our design services.

The Glamour of Interior Design

2012-01-16T08:43:00.001-05:00

I think it's sort of a common stereotype that the job of a decorator or interior designer is a glamorous one: Meeting with clients in beautiful homes, looking at pretty fabrics & swatches & tiles in a perfectly organized office, Shopping all the time, presenting beautiful design plans, networking at parties, doing magazine shoots, creating inspiration boards, showhouses... all of that.

{Doesn't my office just look lovely?!... This is the office made to look pretty for our Piccola Magazine photoshoot. Photo by Maya Wechsler}

Well, yes, these things do happen, but they are done between the many days & hours spent doing paperwork, billing, emails, FILING, driving from showroom to showroom in search of a parking place, running out the door like a crazy person, meeting deadlines, backordered items, talking on the phone to try to get damaged items repaired or making returns, coordinating shipping & delivery, chasing down & coordinating contractors, creating quotes and preparing budgets, trying to fit waaaay too much stuff in your car, making timelines, scheduling meetings & jobs, and generally just always needing to do more than you could possibly do in one day.

{The carting tons of stuff around part}

Lots of days, I wear my "work sweats." (This is my fancy term for sweats... I always say that in a Nacho Libre voice: "I need some sweats!") I've told my assistant that she too can wear work sweats, but she rarely takes me up on it. (So I'm guessing maybe this is not as normal as I wish it was... A client stopped by a couple of weeks ago unannounced & I definitely regretted my choice of work sweats & no makeup that day.)

{Nacho/ me on the work-from-home days}

I always feel a bit like I'm the only one who has it this unglamorous, but in talking to friends in the business, I don't think I am. (I do think I take the glamour down a few notches more with the work sweats though ;)

I'm always analyzing my business & how we can get things to run more smoothly, make the experience better for our clients and for us, and to make the most of our time. I'd love to find more ways for my assistant & I to spend more time doing the fun stuff and less time doing the business side of it, but the unglam stuff is typically even more important than the fun, creative part in this business and only having the one side of it just isn't reality.

I recently just found some new interior design project management software & I think it's going to cut out a lot of our "business" time. I'm so excited but want to wait to share with you until I can be sure. (I'm doing a free trial right now & will keep you posted.)

So I'd love to know- If you have your own business (any business)- How do you maximize the creative part of the process and reduce the drudgery? Got any tips? Programs? Systems? Schedules? Would love to know! If we get enough comments, I'll be sure to compile them all together in a post later on in the week. Thanks!!

If you'd like help creating a home you absolutely love, contact me about our design services.

Congrats to a friend!!

2012-01-13T08:04:00.000-05:00

Happy Friday- HURRRRRAYYY!!!!!

My good friend, Elise Seidita, recently opened her new design center- The Design Center of Northern Virginia! I'm so happy for Elise & she's created a super-functional to-the-trade showroom for designers where we can view fabrics, wallcoverings, furnishings, lighting and even one-of-a-kind accessories & artwork. To kick off the new year, Elise is having a sample sale - on everything- on the showroom floor.

The showroom is located in Herndon, Virginia, and the sale will be open for one week for designers only (Jan 16th-27th) and the second week to the general public (Jan 30th-Feb 3rd) and they will be offering trade only items at 10% less than designer's net price. (!!!)

{I COVET that old factory table you see in the background... would be such a beautiful island!! ahhh no one buy that please ;) ;)

Elise has stocked the showroom with lots of cool one-of-a-kinds and some great upholstered pieces like sofas & chairs.

{How fun are the lanterns?!}

(On the showroom floor, they have sofas/chairs/case goods by Vanguard, Hickory Chair, Nichols and Stone, John Richards, lighting by Ralph Lauren/Visual Comfort and Currey & Co, plus one off pieces and accessories. The Madhatter chairs I used in the DC Design House last Spring are also there and they are an insane deal right now!)

Elise has been so supportive of me from the day we met (2 years ago) and has really encouraged me to follow my dreams & to dream even bigger ones. She is a really special person who is extremely driven & determined, and sees no limit for potential & I really admire her. So many things could have stopped her from opening the showroom but she never gave up & kept on trusting that she could make it happen. She has worked tirelessly to get the showroom up and running and her business has grown so much - even in this tough economy- and I'm so excited for her. So, if you're looking for the perfect piece to fit somewhere at home or for an amazing deal, please be sure to stop by the sale!!

DESIGN CENTER OF NOVA SAMPLE SALE
Designers' Week-Jan 16th-27th
General Public Week- Jan 30th-Feb 3rd
(9:30 AM- 5:00 PM every day)

If you'd like help creating a home you absolutely love, contact me about our design services.

#2 I'm Shopping for... The Perfect Rug

2012-01-11T10:23:00.001-05:00

This week's "I'm Shopping For" is about finding the perfect rug for a client of mine. (FYI- I'm patting myself on the back right now for doing an "I'm Shopping For" two weeks in a row.) My client, Ashley, is young & stylish and lives in a beautifully redone old condo in DC. Her style is sort of an updated traditional. She's drawn to rooms that have an interesting mix of patterns with furnishings on the traditional side and bolder, more vibrant colors. She's collected some pretty antiques over the years- both family pieces & on her own, and her place has great bones. When I first came to check out her living room, it looked great already. (And I'm thinking- are you sure you need me?! ;) She, of course, wanted to keep her antiques & we decided on using a few other pieces she already owned that we loved for the new design - one of them being a patterned soft pastel area rug- and I got to work.

{We immediately decided the coffee table was staying. The sofa too, and the slipper chairs could stay or be reupholstered.}

When I first dig into a design for a new client, I pour over their inspiration images, noting similarities and patterns in the various pictures. With Ashley's pictures, I was a little stumped though. I wasn't seeing the connection between what we were working with in her current living room and where we needed to be feeling-wise. The one thing I noticed in Ashley's inspiration rooms was that they had bold mixes of patterns & colors and some of them had that sort of laid-back "undecorated" feeling so many of us strive for (vs. a more refined, planned out one) yet they still contained some more formal & sometimes glammy pieces mixed in with more casual ones. There was an energy about the spaces she loved. And one recurring element I noticed: many of the rooms had antique graphic-patterned rugs. The rug Ashley & I had decided to keep (above) was beautiful, but the more I got into what I thought was "her," and what she wanted out of her new living room, the more it seemed the washed pastel rug wasn't right for the design. I initially tried to work out a scheme that felt like "Ashley" out of soft colors that were beautiful with the rug, but it just wan't quite jiving with what she wanted.

As a decorator, I feel that it's my job to push my clients a little out of their comfort zones so that I can create spaces they'll really & truly love & be excited by, but not to push them so much that they're unhappy or really uncomfortable with anything like budget, style, etc., so it's sometimes hard to know when to speak up and say something that might possibly push your client too much. Anyway, I got in touch with Ashley and she was very open to moving the rug to her bedroom (which btw will be perfect in there with its soft blues- yay!) and trying out a new one in the living room (= dream client! ;) She totally got what I was saying about needing to go a little bolder with our colors & style and I was able to move forward on the project in the right direction. Thus began the hunt for the perfect antique(ish) graphic rug.

Rugs can be tough because you're looking for the perfect style, the right feeling and colors that work. In some cases I found rugs with great patterns but their colors weren't right for what we needed or vice versa.
To find the perfect rug, I look through hundreds of rugs, but I'll only share the ones that caught my eye for the project. Anyway, here's the story of the rug hunt:

I came across this little beauty from French Market Collection, but it was still too soft-feeling for what we needed. I did like the central pattern though:

This rug (below, also at FMC) is definitely going to have to go somewhere for someone whether it's me or a client. I looooove it:

.... It still wasn't what I was looking for though.

I loved the graphic pattern of this David Easton rug but this wouldn't work for our colors:

I'm also gaga for this rug by Megerian, but again, the colors weren't right for the project:

{must find a home for you my rug love!!}

I started getting more into the neighborhood of where I wanted the rug to be when I came across this one, (below) but it just didn't quite have that teensy edge I was looking for and is a tad too "pretty" for what I wanted:

And then I found this beauty also by Megerian (my new obsession btw):

{It is perfect!!! Absolutely perfect!!}

I presented the design plans to Ashley yesterday (she loved the rug) and we're tweaking fabrics this week & should be ready to roll by next week. I can 't wait!! I'll be sure to share more when I can!! :)

Does anyone else know of some great rug sources for rugs similar to this one that they'd like to share? If so, just be sure to leave a link in the comments section :)

ps- If you have any questions, be sure to check back in the comments later, because that's where I'll answer them :)

If you'd like help creating a home you absolutely love, contact me about our design services.

SOS- artwork help!

2012-01-09T10:52:00.001-05:00

A client of mine recently moved into a condo that was converted from an old Church, St.Monica's. It's pretty amazing & the architects did a beautiful job of incorporating details from the original church into the house. Her kitchen island is the original altar & the place has sort of a modern-Gothic feeling. (Don't worry, the altar was deconsecrated first!) My client fell in love with the house & its history and she was thinking that it would be special to have a prayer to St.Monica hanging somewhere. We need an oversized piece to float above some low shelves in her study/ dining room so we were thinking it could be the perfect spot for the prayer.

{something like this piece above... Room by Muse Interiors}

I was thinking even that if it could be hand printed/ painted in a sort of edgy printing it might look cool too. Here's what's going on in the house furniture-wise:

{The page to the left is for the study/ dining room and the others are the living room.}

So.. my S.O.S to you is- do you know anyone who does this sort of thing? (Can make an overscale handwritten piece of either wood or canvas?) I know so many of you know great artists on Etsy or some of you are even artists yourselves, so if anyone has any course, I'd love the help.

Thank you!!

Anyway, hope you had a great weekend!!

**UPDATE*** Thank you so much for all of the emails & comments with info on artists! We've gotten over 50 leads so far & we will be reviewing and passing on the information to our client who will be making the final decision. I'm blown away by all of the help & all of the talented people out there. I can't thank you enough!! (And I have NO idea how we are going to make this decision with all the beautiful choices out there now!!)

If you'd like help creating a home you absolutely love, contact me about our design services.

I'm Shopping For...

2012-01-06T10:19:00.001-05:00

Yesteray I was thinking about how difficult it's been for me to find time to blog lately and how so much of my time spent at work entails looking for the "perfect something" for a project. We look at sooooooo many different pieces before selecting the actual piece to present in a plan & eventually install in a room. I have been having a bit of trouble keeping up with blogging lately because of life/ work and was thinking if I could show you more of what I'm doing at work and get some work done in blog posts (and let the blog posts do double-duty! ;) then I could be around a little more & share more with you.
So... I was thinking of yet another very irregular blog series I'd like to start called "I'm Shopping For..." where I can share what I'm currently looking for. (I'll try to post these once a week aroudn the middle of the week, but you prbably know me well enough by now so don't hold your breath every week;) When I posted the pics of my boys bedroom the other day, a lot of you asked about the swing arm wall lamps we're using so I thought I could start with that one.

So in the first "I'm Shopping For..." is swing arm wall lamps.

I wasn't even looking for the lamps when I came across this image on pinterest from Domino Magazine a couple of months ago:

I knew I ~~needed~~ wanted something pretty much exactly like this somewhere in our house. I had been thinking about doing wall lamps in our new office or in our boys' room above their beds...

...so I got excited and started "shopping."

I didn't have to look long at all & found them on my first stop. We bought a pair of these by Visual Comfort:

{The Boston Functional Library Two Arm wall Light}

{I loooove Visual Comfort and they also sell all of their lighting retail at Circa Lighting. }

We got them in the hand-rubbed antique brass finish:

I do like to look around for other options before making a purchasing, just in case I find something better, so I also looked at these from Shades of Light:

{Shades of Light}

It's pretty in their "Olde Brass" finish:

**Update- my friend Paloma from La Dolce Vita (who is also the Director of Marketing for VC) let me know that these lights are in fact the Visual Comfort lights being sold retail. (I had thought they were just straight up copying!!! hahaha)

Anyway... I was definitely looking for the pivot to be on the vertical, but here (below) is one with a linen shade. I thought about switching it up to a textured linen one:

{Found at lampsbeautiful.com by House of Troy}

...But ended up sticking with the Library Lamps from Visual Comfort.

I also came across this pic just now which shows them (or something just like them?) above a bed in brass & I love it:

{www.atticmag.com}

...And now I can't wait to get them up!!

Since I found the piece I was looking for at my first stop, this was a fairly quick "shopping trip" but as you'll see in future posts, I'm not always so lucky!

**UPDATE*** I had another thought... if anyone knows of similar products, it would be great if they could list them with links in the comments section for people who are searching for similar products. Laurel-Dawn of Abode Love just used some similar fixtures by Rejuvenation in a beautiful salon project recently! (be sure to check it out!!)

Hope you enjoyed and have a great weekend!!

If you'd like help creating a home you absolutely love, contact me about our design services.

Progress in My Boys' Bedroom

2012-01-04T11:37:00.002-05:00

Over the holidays we did a little bit of work on our boys' (Christian-4 and Justin-2) bedroom. We moved Justin to his "big boy bed" and it's been a bit less than smooth at nighttime. He started climbing out of his crib a little while back & after whacking his head on the floor a couple of times, we knew it was time to switch him out of the crib to a bed.

{Putting together the new beds}

The boys' room is teensy and we recently reduced the size of the closet so that we could fit two twin beds in the space. We have no room for extras in here, and instead of dressers, both boys have drawers for clothes under their twin-sized trundle beds from Ikea:

The closet is directly to the left of where I was standing when I took the pic above and it used to take up more than half of the left wall. You can see in this before pic that the chaise could just fit sideways in the nook:

The room feels so much bigger now and here's a pic of how Justin's twin bed fits in the new larger nook:

{right now the bedding is just in cream & I'm adding Euro shams and quilts at the end of the beds for some color... }

The striped rug just happens to be in here right now & we plan on replacing the carpet with seagrass because there is a hole in it from where we removed the old closet. (Justin's bed hides it nicely in the meantime.) I'd like to layer a big cowhide in here for a soft play spot.

Below is Christian's bed on the other side of the room. The art is up over here and I wrapped fabric around a Euro sham (in my Filigree Chevron in Autumn} & tossed fabric (Fern Star in moss) at the end of the bed to get an idea of how it will feel with the pillows and quilts.

I did a lot of thinking on the Ikea beds. Christian originally had a similar black Ikea bed in his other bedroom and we really liked the clothes storage & trundle bed feature. (They can get their own clothes out & help put away the clean ones because the drawers are right on the ground= awesome.) Christian's black bed took up a bit more space (both visual space & physical space) as it had side & back rails and two of them would really cramp the new bedroom. The two new beds together were also $100 less than the 1 black bed with rails so we ended up saving too by not having to buy another black bed. (It took all day to put them together btw... we love Ikea's wordless directions ;)

I've thought about adding upholstered headboards to the beds in my filigree chevron fabric (and leaving out the Euro shams) but the arrggggg window isn't centered so the headboard would overlap the window. I'm playing with ideas for shapes that might suit it better but I'm not sure it's worth the hassle... That left bed does look especially lonely though.

We're installing these fixtures (by visual comfort) above both boys' beds so that will help:

...Except they're in burnished brass:

...And artwork & color on the bed will do a bit more to add interest... I think I'll wait & see how it all looks installed before I make any headboard decisions. The globe mobile is a Christmas gift to the boys from my good friend Elise, who also owns the Design Center of Northern Virginia.

{Justin is thrilled to be hanging out on his big brother's bed while he's at preschool... ssshhhhh!}

We keep their toys & books in this oragngey-reddish piece I found years ago (for around $27) at a thrift shop:

{Again, I love how they boys can clean up on their own - okay with me telling them over and over and over- and we have baskets for toy storage underneath.}

...Anyway, there are still a bunch of details to finish up before I'm really in love with it, but the boys are thrilled with their new room for now. We're hanging the rest of the artwork & lighting this week and I'll be sure to keep you posted!

If you'd like help creating a home you absolutely love, contact me about our design services.

If you are interested in any of the fabrics mentioned, please visit my online fabric store http://www.purestylehome.co/

The New Year...

2012-01-03T09:08:00.000-05:00

Happy New Year! Hope you had a great time over the holidays... We relaxed as much as possible and it was amazing. We took a last-minute trip to Williamsburg & Christmastown at Busch Gardens and the hilight of the trip was hanging out in our suite overlooking the river with a fire & my husband, while both kids took a nap at the same time. Heaven.

I have to be honest, that I am not ready for the real world to start again. :)

But cheers to a wonderful 2012 to us all!!

If you'd like help creating a home you absolutely love, contact me about our design services.

Merry Merry

2011-12-22T19:57:00.003-05:00

I can't believe Christmas is almost here!!!

{our Christmas tree... my mom has given me an ornament every year of my life

& now I have a treefull! ...thanks ma!}

.....And I swear I'm not 200 years old.. I've also been given many others & bought some myself over the years ;)

We finished up the work year with a condo installation today and are now totally ready to veg. Tomorrow is our last-minute shopping day & I'm also hoping for some downtime reading & cuddling by the tree (if at all possible) before the holiday rush of parties. I'm off for the night, but: a very merry holiday - whichever it is you're celebrating!!- to you & yours!!!

Big hug.

If you'd like help creating a home you absolutely love, contact me about our design services.

If you're interested in browsing &/ or purchasing my line of textiles, please visit purestylehome.co

Blogger Secret Santa: Who are you???!!

2011-12-21T09:25:00.002-05:00

This year I'm in a Secret Santa exchange with some blogger friends -arranged by Stefanie of Brooklyn Limestone- and I have NO IDEA who my {AWESOME} Secret Santa is!!!

Here is the list of possible culprits:

My Santa seems to know me so well!! (Or maybe I'm really obvious to figure out???? hahaha) But, really, when my first package arrived I was thrilled. She's the best. It was an itunes gift card (yipeeeeeeee- I love to dance in the kitchen - or anywhere- to new music) and the most adorable little box of GREEN notecards.:

They'll stay in my kitchen where I'm always scrounging around for a piece of paper for grocery lists or notes. (It's so funny but I can't believe how having this little box of pretty note paper has made life easier for me... I know it should be common sense to keep paper in the kitchen but I never wanted to because I never had any that was pretty enough to keep out. All the rest always felt like clutter. So no more running around through the house looking for scrap paper to make lists for me!!)

Anyway, I was all happy thinking that was it. But THEN, another package arrived. ( !!! ) I tore open the package like a six year-old.... (getting gifts in the mail is awesome.) It was a beautiful Stella & Dot box...

{I'm using stella & dot as a clue... I know some of those Santa culprits above are stella & dot ladies so I'm narrowing down my guessing pool.}

And this is what was inside:

{Seriously Santa??? You are amazing!!! I LOVE YOU!!}

How did she know??!! It's perfect and with green being my favorite color, I am going to wear this baby all the time. (It is more green in person than in the pic if that didn't make sense ;) It's so beautiful and (maybe it's the pregnancy hormones) but it made me a teensy bit teary. Santa, thank you for being so generous & thoughtful.

So... now that you have seen the list of Secret Santas, any guesses as to who sent me my package? Also, I sent a little Santa package myself over to one of those Santas... You can click these posts below to see the other gifts & make guesses. If you follow the link to Brooklyn Limestone, you can also enter a contest with your guesses. Have fun & I would really love some help as to who you think sent me mine so be sure to enter a guess in the comments section!! :)

4 men 1 lady *** brooklyn limestone *** bryn alexandra *** emilyaclark *** house of smiths ***

the inspired room *** isabella and max rooms *** la dolce vita *** making it lovely *** you stir me *** thrifty decor chick *** tenjune *** lovely little details *** young house love

Thank you again to my Secret Santa.

If you'd like help creating a home you absolutely love, contact me about our design services.

The Holiday Whirlwind

2011-12-19T12:04:00.001-05:00

I guess it probably seems like this every year, but this year seems extremely whirlwindish in terms of the holidays coming up quickly.
At work, our past month (or 2) has been jam-packed with client installations & presentations and it has floooown:

{mid-installation day in a living room}

{a dining room}

{sneakity peek of the adjoining living room}

{a master bedrom}

{a sliver of a family room}

{the neighboring breafast room with kids' art gallery}

{an almost-finished master bedroom... will be sure to post a new pic with artwork, styling & new bedding}

...And there are a few more that I just can't post quite yet... but it's been ca-razy. (And thank God for my assistant, Meghan.)

At home though, we've tried to take it easy and we've been leaving our weekends fairly open so we have time with each other. I've been coming out of the first-trimester pregnancy coma and am almost halfway there till baby arrives. (NOT that I'm wishing this time away... I know this is the probably the easiest my life is going to be for a loooooong time ;) But we've been slowly adding Christmas around our house. One of my favorite simple ways to make the house feel festive is to put ~~hack~~ cut white poinsettias & place them in containers around the house:

{I mentioned last year that I'd seen it in an old Better Homes & Gardens article & it really is sooo fast & pretty. It's the perfect 1-minute centerpiece.}

We also strung up COLORED LIGHTS outside our house. I know, I know. But the kids love them... And I sort of do too. (shhhhhhhh ;)

I'm extremely behind on Christmas shopping, as always.

..And... we celebrated Justin's 2nd birthday last night with my parents & grandparents.

I can't believe how big my baby got!!

{This is a picture of him just after triumphantly annoucing to the table "I'm two!"}

Above, that's his Pop Pop/ my step dad Tom is making sure he doesn't dive off :)

We celebrated with a caramel cake sent to us by our friends at John Rosselli in Georgetown. My mom topped it with rice krispy treat snowmen- oh my:

{As you can see, it's tough to have to blow out two whole candles.}

My little sister, "Auntie Morgan," is on the left holding Christian.

Anyway, I hope you're enjoying your own whirlwind. I've realized that life never really does seem to slow down so you have to make your own moments to savor. We've been trying ourselves & I hope you've gotten some in at your house too!!

If you'd like help creating a home you absolutely love, contact me about our design services.

The House in My Head

2011-12-14T09:51:00.003-05:00

I always have a dream house or "future" house in my head. I keep a file with floorplans that I've drawn of it and exterior & interior inspiration pics. I always find myself thinking about what would make a house perfect for me & my family. I think about it more frequently sometimes than others. When I lived in my parents' basement with my husband & our first baby a couple of years ago (to recover financially from buying a townhome at the height of the market & selling almost at the low) I used to think about it so much my heart would literally ache. (Honestly I thought about ANY house at that time, but my dream house got me excited.) This was a bit what it looked like: (from Cottage Living)

But after we moved into our 70s bilevel fixer-upper, my idea of our dream house started to change. (Don't get me wrong, I'm in looooove with the house above, but it's not where the house in my head is at anymore.) I started to appreciate & crave a more modern feeling for my dream house yet I still wanted the charm of an older house. I love the walls of windows in our house now, and wish they were even bigger. I know that I now want glass walls leading straight outdoors all over my future house. Even though my 70s house is architecturally uninteresting, I started to appreciate its "plain box" qualities & have reimagined how I might have something similar in a new home one day:

{Our "box" before we moved in.... It feels like we're almost outside or in a tree house.}

I also love the easy living of its floorplan. All of our main rooms are on one level and our addittional spaces like family room, office & guest room are all on the lower level. I love this one-floor living and definitely want to keep this easy way of living in our new place. (In our townhouse I used to leave piles of things at the top and bottom of all the stairs to go up & down... I used to feel like keeping the house neat was a series of moving things up and down the stairs.) My husband, who used to be super-traditional is now craving something simple & modern. (more than me!) He loves the Cullens' house from Twilight. (I made him watch it ;)

Every once in a while my husband & I will read a book that makes us think about architecture & we talk about what we want in a house & how we can make our own house better. When we read Bobby McAlpine's The Home Within Us I really started to think of architecture a bit differently. I started realizing that it didn't have to be something we'd seen before & that we could one day make something that was really "us." The thatched roof idea is one I can't shake.

I recently read Ayn Rand's Fountainhead and it really got me excited about our "dream house" again so I decided to hit the drawing board with all of the ideas that had been floating around in my head, unformed, for the past year or so. I haven't quite finished working out the floorplan but the main living areas are all on the first floor and the back of the house U-shaped and almost all steel floor-to-celing glass windows & doors opening to the yard. I want the front of the house to have a crazily-pitched roof that swings low onto the front door & windows & I want more privacy in the front than in the back. And I want the look of a thatched roof:

{We did a little research on thatched roofs & probably will never be able to have one. They're hard to insure (due to perceived risk of fire) and expensive if you live in an area where they're not done.} But I'm open to other materials that I can get a similar look from. I want that old, natural & quaint feeling but mixed with a modern & seamless edge.

{Bobby McAlpine's first home built by his firm... I can't get over it or its roof. I think maybe it's slate & even though it's not thatched, it has the feeling I'm after. I wonder if you can encourage moss to grow on your slate roof without it hurting anything?? **** UPDATE: Greg Tankersley of McAlpine Tankersley Architecture let me know that the roof is actually handsplit cedar shingle, and yes, moss does grow on it!! Thanks so much Greg!! }

Like I mentioned before, I want the back of my house to be almost completely open so it will definitely be a challenge to mix these two styles without making a total mess.

{love this feeling - oh my goodness!!!!}

I want it to feel as if you're almost outside when you're inside.

I know these two styles are totally different but I think "where there's a will there's a way" and I have a LOT of time to figure it out before we can actually have a dream home anyway. ;)

... The windows in most of these modern homes are mostly glass without the interruption of the steel...

But I'm thinking I like the charm of the paned windows and I'd like a sort of modern conservatory-feeling...

{crazy over the steel windows & doors in Jill Brinson Sharp's home}

It's one detail (of many) I'm still thinking on... I don't know if we'd feel caged with an entire back wall in them or if it could work for what I want. I came across this house when searching for inspiration images:

I'd never seen anything like it & am definitely intrigued. It's not what I'm looking to do but I think it's really interesting in how it combined what reminds me of a barn with a glass contemporary house.

I was floored when I came across this thatched-roof house:

{image via klikk.com}

...It is so close to what I want in style. The back is all open just like I'd envisioned and it even has a thatched roof!! The feeling I'm after is a different though. (This is so pretty & fresh & white & modern-feeling whereas I want a more textured, natural, aged feeling. If you look to the right where you see a more private space with smaller windows... I like that a lot. I definitely want some "cozy" & private spaces towards the front of the house.)

And finally, I came across this old house which combines my windows with the thatched crazy-sloped roof & this embodies a bit more of the feeling I'm after:

{I would probably want it a little more seamless -without the diagonal bars btwen the roof & windows- but I think it shows how the glass walls can actually work beautifully with a low roofline.}

Anyway, by the time we're actually able to build this house, I'm sure it will have changed considerably, but for now, I'm really excited about getting this house in my head all figured out. (Or as figured out as it would need to be before getting an architect involved ;) I'm always happiest when I have a dream.

What about you: Do you have a house in your head or a dream house that you think of? (And if you've written a post on yours, be sure to link to it in the comments section!! :)

If you'd like help creating a home you absolutely love, contact me about our design services.

ps- I found all of these images on pinterest & listed original sources where I had them.

AND... I wrote this entire post yesterday (which took hours) & when I hit "Publish" on blogger, the WHOLE THING DELETED.... ahhhhh!!!!! :)

Bungalow Dining Room: Before & After

2011-12-09T10:29:00.001-05:00

A client of mine purchased an adorable bungalow in a great neighborhood around here & I have been so excited about her project. We're just finishing up the main level. She's young & single and has a really great style: relaxed & fresh yet cozy with a tiny vintage-rustic edge. After talking with her about what she was looking for & pouring over inspiration images, we decided on a mix of woods & aged finished with fresh, happy turquoisey-blues.

{The gorgeous paisley is by Raoul Textiles available through John Rosselli}

We installed the dining room & final rouches in the other rooms earlier this week so I wanted to share a couple quick {unstyled} shots of the dining room. My camera battery died on installation day (boo hoo!!!) but I will definitely be back to share more & pics of the other spaces. My client entertains frequently & I can't wait for her have some guests over to enjoy the finished dining room! Here it is a few days after she moved in. (You can spy moving boxes)--

...And here it is now:

The artwork is a set of 3 oversized prints (out of 16 total) made out of an antique children's game where the kids could mix and match the landscapes to create different stories. It's hard to see in this photo but the landscapes line up and we chose a tree, a mountain and a crumbling old building flanked by a super tall pair of alabaster lamps. The curtains (which are sadly so hard to see in this pic!!) are in a Raoul Textiles linen paisley and I want them.

The host chairs are slipcovered in a robin's egg linen and I love their lines. I'll be sure to share close-ups eventually, but the vintage-styled spindled side chairs are in black with oatmeal linen seats. The reclaimed wood parsons table is custom by one of our favorite companies -The Lorimer Workshop - and its finish is incredible. (If you're looking to for the perfect table, I can't recommend them enough. The owner, David Ellison, is so helpful & knowledgable & you will end up with an amazing piece. Check it out here.) The sideboard in the background is a painstaking reproduction & it has the most incredible rat-tail hinges. (by Sarried Ltd.)

Everything is simple & functional and I know my client will serve up some amazing gourmet meals in here. (She loves to cook & could write a blog on entertaining/ creative meals & drinks:) I can't thank my client enough for such a fun & rewarding project. (I don't want it to be over!! ;)

I'm off for the day but have a great weekend & good luck if you're braving the stores for Christmas shopping!! I am going to try to get a fire going this weekend!

If you'd like help creating a home you absolutely love, contact me about our design services.

Guest Blogger: Emily of emmarie Web Design

2011-12-07T07:20:00.001-05:00

When I started the process of looking for a web designer to do my online store, I looked far & wide. I was nervous and totally got what it felt like being on the other side of things. (A client looking for a designer = kind of scary) I know NOTHING about web design and was looking for someone who could translate my style into a website which is no easy task. My language is interiors .. but web design??? I had no idea how to get "me" into my website. It was a long search to find "the one." (Emily!) Even once I found her, it was hard for me to covey to her what I wanted because I didn't quite know what it was, but she helped me get there.

Emily's visiting today to talk about inspiration & how gathering it in unexpected places and using points of reference can get us to our final goal of creating whatever it is we're creating. I didn't even know quite what she was doing when she did it but am so glad she did!!! :)

-ps- I am dying laughing out loud right now because when I first wrote this post I typo'd and wrote "online sore" ... a very sweet commenter let me know. thank you so much!! :) (you've probably noticed, but I don't proofread the blog so don't look too closely or you will definitely find more!! ;)

=========== Emily of emmarie Web Design:

I have always been a sucker for good design. Typography, interiors, graphics. You name it, if executed well, I will drool.

My favorite thing about designing is gathering inspiration. My favorite thing about gathering inspiration is gathering it in places you would never expect.

When working on designing Lauren's online shop, Lauren sent me inspirational pieces in the form of interior shots. She was showing me her style, and I was actually able to take these images of rooms she's designed (and her rooms definitely make me drool) and turn them into a website with the same style.
Don't get me wrong here; designing a room is far from designing websites - goodness knows the mess I've made of my own living room (though I do love my bedroom - pat on the back) - but it is very possible to pull inspiration for graphics from non-graphics.

And this works in every way possible, which is something that I think creatives sometimes forget. Designing a room? Thumb through a wedding invitation catalog. Designing a rad new typeface? Visit a fabric store for pattern overload. I'm an adamant enforcer of "get out of your studio so you can get some real work done!" Reach out of your design-y comfort zone and pull inspiration of less likely places. You might find yourself to be oh-so surprised at what comes of it.

Where are your favorite places to find inspiration?

Emily is a web designer and developer for her own studio at emmarie Web Design. You can also find her on her blog, teaching the basics of starting and running an online business at Indie Shopography, sharing small business showcases and resources at Piccola Mag, and on Twitter, where things sometimes get a little funny.

Thanks so much Emily!!!

If you'd like help creating a home you absolutely love, contact me about our design services.

Before & After: Happy Kids' Art Wall

2011-12-05T09:30:00.000-05:00

This past Summer, a client of ours moved into a large newly-built home. There were so many areas to address (we're still going) but one of the most important areas in making a house feel like a home is the kitchen. Our client had collected a ton of her children's artwork and so we thought it would be great to make a focal point in the kitchen dining area out of it. My client's style is bright & happy & fun so the colors were perfect. We started out with this:

And we ended up with this:

We had so much fun creating this collage!!! In the evening, the sconces create the prefect glow around the artwork. We still have to do a bit of styling to do (a zebra rug was in our original plan & we need to put something pretty on the table- I'll be sure to get a final professional pic!) but I am loving the vibe!!! The curtains are this great red medallion pattern that's happy, fresh & graphic.

This is something I've been meaning to do forevah for my boys & so my client's project gave me the get-up-and-go I needed. It was super-easy but had such a big, personal impact on the space. (I love easy high-impact projects.) We picked up frames this weekend for house & I'm now scouring my house for the boys' artwork. (I'm not as organized as my client with my kids's stuff! ;) I'll be sure to share pics when we're done too!

My clients kids are so proud to have their artwork displayed in such a prominent spot in the house. (They now even have plans for more walls!! :) If you've got a spot for it, I think it's one of the coolest things you can do to make your kids feel like they've been included in "decorating" your home.

I'm off for the day & hope you have a great one!! :)

INFO:

*The paint color remained the same... it's the difference btwn cloudy & sunny & cameras.

*Curtain fabric is by John Robshaw

*Pendant & Sconces by Visual Comfort}

If you'd like help creating a home you absolutely love, contact me about our design services.

Progress in the Guest Room

2011-11-30T10:07:00.001-05:00

A couple of months ago we took our scary storage/ workout room....

...And turned it into a guest room. We started by tearing out the drop ceilings & then having the walls & ceiling re-drywalled. A closet door was also added to hide the massive storage closet/ understairs storage. We took our old guest room and turned it into another office for me & my assistant, Meghan. (We are still waiting for our furniture to arrive in the office but I'll post pics when we're finished!)

The guest room is pretty much a hodgepodge of things we already had, with the only new item being the linen curtains I had made out of my new Thistle fabric. I used the vintage wooden dresser I found a while back & truth-be-told, it's stuffed with off-season clothes. My wooden lady (who is super-heavy) makes me happy:

We're still missing one of the most important elements in the room- the headboard!!- so I have to warn you that the pics really don't look that great, but I'm excited about the progress we've made & wanted to share. (The pics are also really grainy- sorry!!!) It's a very tiny room so just room for a bed with a small trunk at the end. (Which I couldn't even fit into a picture) I used white/cream bedding we already had & have been having fun layering the bed with different quilts to suit my different moods. Right now I wanted sort of a Fallish-Bohemian feeling so I used a couple of old vintage quilts. Here's a blurry pic I snapped of the half unmade bed this morning:

{The quilts are vintage and the 2 boudoir pillows are in a Peter Dunham linen}

I used my favorite pair of massive glass lamps on either side of the bed & was able to just fit in our pedestal table along with the dresser:

{The window isn't centered in the room so we had to go with two totally different sizes of end tables... Since we were using pieces we already had, the pedestal table is a bit shorter than I'd like so I raised the lamp up with some books to make it more even with its mate.}

I have a collection of old mushroom prints on one wall and wooden printers' trays that the boys & I are working on filling with natural objects on the other, so I'll be sure to share overall pics when we're "finished." I'm planning on doing a headbaord upholstered in warn oatmeal linen that will stop right at the window sill. I'm debating on on its shape because I am still to excited over my curtains to cover them up too much with a straight headboard so it will either be rounded or I'll cut out the corners.

Here's a close-up of the curtains in Thistle in Sepia & I'm pretty excited to see them in there:

{I chose them because I could mix them with just about any colors I wanted when my moods change}

Anyway, I'll share more when there's more to see. I hope you liked it & that you're having a great week!! I also took a few more photos the other day of one of our most recent installs & will be sure to share. My client's bedroom turned out beautifully & is really different from this one, so I'll try to post soon.

If you're interested in purchasing any of my fabrics, you can visit my online store here.

If you'd like help creating a home you absolutely love, contact me about our design services.

2011-11-28T10:33:00.000-05:00

I'm back from Thanksgiving break and it was soooooooo great to get to just relax & hang with my family. (And eat, of course!) I was thinking about it... and isn't it funny that for this one day a year, almost all of us Americans are eating pretty much the exact same thing? How weird would it be if we all did burgers on Tuesdays or pesto on Fridays? ... the grocery stores would be pretty profitable. Random, I know.

{We braved Black Friday - not bad at all, very odd- and found these cute little boots from Gap Kids}

We finally finished raking our yard and I got in a few pics of the boys:

{Christian, 4 and Justin- almost 2!}

I took a complete break from work, which was really nice, but I couldn't help going back to look at pics of some of our recent installs from last week... Here's a mid-stage pic of one of my favorite rooms as we were moving everything in:

(The curtains are LL Textiles Live Paisley in Gold and I wish the were in my house :)

My client made a last-minute color switch on the walls & they turned out to be too pink. We're going back to our original color which will be a cream. {She had a color from one brand reproduced in another brand and it didn't come out perfectly to match the swatch... } {I'd love to hide all of the not-so-smooth details from you to make it all seem perfect, but just keepin' it real & hopefully it'll help someone with being exrta careful about switching paint brands/ paint matching.} This room is definitely going to be one of my favorite rooms we've ever done when we're finished. My clients have the coolest style (she's traditional, he's a bit more edgy- so the mix is perfect) and I'm in love with the room.

Anyway, I'm off for the day to a master bedroom installation. I'll be sure to share some peeks!! Hope your Thanksgiving was special!!

If you'd like help creating a home you absolutely love, contact me about our design services.

I can't wait...

2011-11-21T09:11:00.000-05:00

...For Thanksgiving.

{Barry Dixon}

I am so ready to relax with my family & eat some goodness!! We have a few loose ends to tie up at work and then we're off on Wednesday for the holiday.

{Image by Lisa Cohen: From lisacohenphotography.com }

I've been collecting Fall & Thanksgiving images for a while on pinterest so I figured I'd share a few that really make me happy.

{Image via soderbergagentur.com}

I am so excited to wrap up in a blanket by the fire and hang with my husband & some good music. (I have to admit that Christmas music DID get played this weekend while raking. I have a problem :)

{From casa-diseno-blog.com}

Anyway, hope you have a great last few days of work before vacation!!!

If you'd like help creating a home you absolutely love, contact me about our design services.

Family Room Redo: Sneekity Peek

2011-11-18T18:24:00.000-05:00

To say this week has been crazy would be an understatement. Installations are really the most fulfilling part of my job because it's like surprising someone with an awesome present. I love seeing & hearing about my clients' reactions when they see their finished spaces & there's nothing better in this job than making them happy. This week we installed for a few clients: a family room & some common areas, a living room, and we placed the final pieces of art in another favorite project of ours. We get the chance to work with some of the sweetest, most amazing clients and I feel so lucky.

I just wanted to share a little tiny peek of one of my client's family rooms. I particularly loooove her slipcovered linen ottoman and the rug she found on One King's Lane. We had a few delays this week which were tough, but in the end it will all work out. I'll be sure to share more when I can... the photos I took were all pretty grainy so I need me some Helen Norman. :)

Enjoy this beautiful weekend!!

(And thank you to my amazing clients if you're reading-- you are really all the best!)

If you'd like help creating a home you absolutely love, contact me about our design services.

A week of installations!

2011-11-16T08:10:00.001-05:00

We have a big week lined up here with a few different client installations happening. I'm so excited!!!! I love installation days (or in this case, weeks) because your clients finally get to see the design plan fully realized. And, more importantly, they get to live in and love their new spaces!! The holidays are great deadline-makers and so we've got a bunch lined up just before Thanksgiving. As I mentioned a while back in this post, we do our installations pretty much all in 1 day. We have a team of people who inevitably work together on every project. Having an amazing team is the key to successful projects and it has taken me a few years to put it together:

Before we can even get to installation day, Mike Carr and his team from CarrMichael Construction usually get the space in move-in condition. They handle any painting & electrical that needs to happen along with pretty much anything else.

On installation day or a day or so before, Tolvin & his people from the Carpet Customizer deliver the rugs when the room is empty:

{Tolvin, on the left & his great guys on the right. My husband, Dave, often makes an appearance at installations to help with a thing or two... or fifty.}

I bring over a car full of one-of-a-kind accessories & smaller items that I've been gathering for the project so that I can try different things out:

The whiteglove delivery service comes with all of the furniture:

My {awesome} assistant Meghan -whose picture I don't have because she is so photo-shy.. oh wait, here's here Halloween pic:- runs around "getting it done" and making the day better. She pretty much just makes things happen.

Paul & Nancy Johnson of Paul David Design come & hang the window treatments they've made and bring all of the pillows & reupholstered pieces they've done. They help hang art too. I can't dig up a good picture of them right now but suffice it to say we couldn't do it without them. Our electrician also comes on the day-of to install the fixtures which has such a big impact on the spaces.

Once everything is in the house, we scramble to get it all into place & make it look perfect before our clients come home for the big reveal. It's both exciting & a little nerve-wracking because everything needs to be just right & there are so many pieces that need to fall into perfect place to get it all done. I've noticed that since I've been pregnant, I've been more forgetful with bringing things for installations (part sleepiness, part preggo brain) so I'm really hoping I remember everything today so that we don't need to drive back to the office. :) We have the most amazing clients who really trust us with everything, and making them happy is honestly the most rewarding part of this job.

Today we're working on this space:

and we're installing a variation of this plan:

..And then we have a few more for the rest of the week.

...SO, wish me luck that all goes smoothly (or ends well... there are always hiccups ;) this week!

If you'd like help creating a home you absolutely love, contact me about our design services.

Expired by Food & Stuffed Tomatas

2011-11-14T09:49:00.000-05:00

I cooked a lot this weekend. My college volleyball friends and I started a food club and we had our first official "meeting" Saturday night. It's called the "Expired Food Club." (I'll explain... we don't eat expired food. :) When my friend Kat (the one who painted the magnolia fabric design) and I were talking about how much we loved eating one night (ah yes, we have such erudite conversations!) and how we should get together to eat, I was so excited and talking so quickly that I tried to say "I'm so excited & inspired" but instead I just burst out with "I'm so expired!!" She was like whaaaaat??? And then I explained & we now have the "Expired Food Club." The theme for the first meeting was "Stuffed" and we all brought stuffed foods.. mmm mmm amazing. I brought stuffed peppers & the other food was all sooooooo good.

But I was so in the "stuffed" mood that I also made tomatoes stuffed with curry chicken salad for my book club the next day. (It's very weird.. I really don't think of myself as a "club" type of person but I actually had two of these very girly-club things planned for the same weekend.) Anyway, my book club was cancelled last-minute, so I am LIVING in stuffed tomatoes and chicken salad. That's okay with me. I am crazy for these things. They fill you up in such a good way. I feel satisfied but not "stuffed" (there I go again) after having one:

It's really easy. I'm not a measure-it-out type of chef, but here are the ingredients if you're up for it:

For the chicken salad:

- A pre-cooked rotisserie chicken--> dice the chicken into small pieces

-Approx 1/4- 1/2 a red onion

-fresh crushed garlic clove (or 2!)

- a few celery stalks, finely chopped (how "cookbook-like" do I sound?)

- a teensy squirt of lemon juice

-salt & pepper

-Sour cream & mayo --> add both of these in until you like the consistency

-Curry powder--> add to taste but I usually keep adding it until it's a pretty shade of yellow

-walnuts and/or anything else you like to add to your chicken salads

-Stir it all up and add more whatever until it looks & tastes good to you

Then carve out the tomatoes like you would a little pumpkin & fill them up with the chicken salad. Top with scallions and add a few lettuce leaves on the side. It's also yummy served with fresh steamed basmati rice on the side.

If you're in the mood, I promise you, this food will make you so happy. I can't WAIT for lunchtime already. mmm mmm mm!

If you'd like help creating a home you absolutely love, contact me about our design services.

LL Textiles Giveaway Winner!!

2011-11-11T13:15:00.000-05:00

We have our giveaway winners! Each winner gets 2 yards of a fabric. I used a random number generator and the first winner picked was Terri from Windlost who also happens to be one of my first blog friends! (Terri is somehow related to Abe Lincoln and my husband is somehow related to him too so we say we're cousins... And I promise there was no nepotism involved in the giveaway!)

The second winner is from B&E Friske and she wrote one of the nicest (and funniest!) posts about the fabric line. (There wasn't a blog header to steal but she is a gorgeous & adorably pregany wife with a fun blog. :)

I hope you both enjoy the fabric!

Also, some people have asked how to view the fabric "stories" and lifestyle shots. (like the one above) If you go to the online shop here you can then go to the LL TEXTILES page and start clicking on the fabric pictures. You'll see a little description of each fabric & then you can click on thumbnails to enlarge them to see the photos we took with our good friend & photographer Helen Norman at her farm.

We've had a great response to the fabrics already at the online store so keep your fingers crossed that it keeps up! Also, I really wanted to thank everyone for the kind comments, emails, tweets, facebook mentions & blog posts about the fabric line. I'm overwhelmed in a good way... You have all been so supportive and I am so thankful for you.

Have a great weekend!!

If you'd like help creating a home you absolutely love, contact me about our design services.

Price Points & Fabrics

2011-11-09T10:28:00.000-05:00

Well, it's been 2 days since we launched the online fabric store and I just wanted to say thank you so much to all of you for your kind words, comments & all the fabric orders!!! I'm really blown away by all of the support and appreciate you all so much!!

I received a comment about the "sticker shock" one reader got when she headed over to the Pure Style Home Shop to view fabrics & she asked me what I thought about the price point & using it in my own home and in clients' homes. I have to say that I really appreciate this commenter's honesty and of course, with a price point of $120/ yard for our fabrics, I knew this would be an issue and have mentioned it serveral times before on the blog, but I thought now that the fabric line has actually launched, it would be a good time to talk about price points & what all goes into it.

First question- Do I have fabrics that cost this much in my own home? Yes.

Do I use them in client's homes? Yes, in pretty much every single project.... BUT, my client's budgets determine where the fabric will go. For example, right now in a tight budgeted living room we're working on with a client, we are using a $275/ yard Ralph Lauren fabric in the room but it's going on a pillow so we need only 1 yard.

{Some Schumacher Fabrics mixed in with my Live Paisley in a client's living room}

Statement fabrics play such an important role in creating a vibe & a mood in a room and showing a family's personality, that for me they're really one of those "splurges" that we typically recommend making in a room. We may use pieces from Ikea or Target in a room but the little shot of the perfect fabric in there (whether it be $25 or $250/ yard ) is what brings the room up and makes it personal & right. We often use the most expensive fabrics on the pillows to keep the budget down, while still getting that perfect fabric in our rooms.

Do I love it when amazing fabric can go on the curtains? Yes!! But is it always practical for the budget? Nope.

{my house}

In my own house I have off-the-rack cheapie curtains from Ikea along with curtains I made myself out of inexpensive white linen, but I have awesome pillows ;) Some of my favorite pillows in my house are $200+/ yard and some of the others were $10 thrift store fabric finds... The cost isn't the determining factor for me because if it's pillows, you only need a yard.

It's all a matter of what's important to you & what you value and where you decide to put your money in a room. And beautiful rooms can be created at virtually any price point. No one needs decorative pillows to survive, but most of us have them anyway.

The next question that I've just learned the answer to myself through this crazy process of creating a line of textiles is: Why do fabrics cost what they do? I often wondered why I could buy a Duralee print for $30/ yard and then buy a Schumacher for $120/ yard?  Was it because the Schumacher people were just making waaaaaaaay more money?  But there's so much more that goes into it than that.

I've learned about mills & jobbers and open textile designs and exclusive textiles designs and the difference in mass-produced and smaller companies...   I'm still learning and it's kind of confusing but this is what I've gotten out of it all so far:   There are companies out there who make "open" prints. They mass-produce fabrics and sell them to as many textile companies as they can. Kravet, Duralee, Fabricut, Calico Corners and others can all buy the same prints and sell them under their own names. The prints cost less because the print is "open" and anyone can buy it. It's basically up for grabs. This is why you might see Kravet and Fabricut carrying the same fabric.

There are other mass-produced designs that the big textile companies buy that are "exclusives." They buy the design (maybe for just a period of time in some cases) and they are the only ones selling it. This is good for them because they don't have competitors selling the same product. Lots of times these exclusive designs are by certain designers and they also have rights to use the designer's name on the fabric collection. This of course, adds to the cost because the designer has to get paid royalties too.

...Keep in mind that all of these instances deal with fabrics that are massed-produced in huge quantities. These big fabric companies are carried all across the US in showrooms and retail stores and are very popular. Because they are producing & selling so many yards of fabric, the production and materials cost per yard is very low so that it's still low by the time it gets to the general public.

For boutique and smaller companies (like me!) the production costs are much higher. If you are producing in smaller runs and have a smaller market, it just costs more to produce per yard. Add high quality linen & printing procedures and you have a more expensive end product. I could never have afforded to do a mass-produced line. It's been a while since I got the information, but if I remember tallying up what it would cost to set up 1 design in 1 colorway and print a certain number of thousands of yards, it was something like $20,000- $30,000!! (Ending up with a fabric collection that would have cost me a cool 1.5 +/- million in investments. ouch! But just not possible. We've invested a lot to create our fabric line, but nowhere close to 1.5 ;)

If you are buying mass-produced items, you get the price benefit of everyone else's dollars combined with yours to make a less expensive item. If you're buying items from smaller companies, with smaller markets, you don't have that benefit, but you are receiving something that not as many people have, so it's a bit more unique. Pros & cons to both. It's a bit like Home Depot vs. your local hardware store or Superwalmart groceries vs. your local grocery store groceries. Walmart's stuff is cheaper because there are Walmarts everywhere. The local grocery stores selling items at higher prices aren't making more, they're just paying more so they have to sell their goods at higher prices. It's up to you which way you decide to go where you spend your money. I don't think either is right or wrong, but some people have very strong opinions one way or the other.

{image from here}

Another thing I've learned is that fabric (or any product really) passes through many hands before it reaches the end consumer. When we buy things from a retailer, they are marking it up. They have to. It's how they stay in business.

There are lots of different ways that fabrics are sold & the internet is often making a direct connection between fabric companies & the end user, but in general, this is what I've noticed the exchange of goods normally looks like:

Production Cost --> Fabric Company --> Fabric Showroom --> Decorator -->End user

Production Cost--> Fabric Company--> Retailer--> End User

{The Washington Design Center is filled with fabric showrooms; image from dcbydesign.blogspot.com }

There are retail prices marked on many items & typically, you can find things at just below retail on the internet, in effect, creating a new, slightly lower retail price. But basically, the real retail or the lowered retail price is the price that most end users pay for fabrics whether they buy through a retailer or a decorator selling at those prices. (Decorators all charge differently & have different contracts so this isn't always the case.)

So when the final retail price for a fabric is determined, it's based upon:
first, giving the showroom a price
next, creating a trade-only price
and finally, determining the final retail price

or just going from retailer to final retail price. (If you think about it, retailers are getting a very good price from companies, but retailers typically have more overhead than showrooms and designers because retail rents are usually fairly high, so they need to mark up more to stay in business, ending up with that same retail price everyone else is selling at. ALTHOUGH.. A lot of online stores are putting retailers out of business now because they don't have that overhead but are still getting those prices from wholesalers... world's a changing!)

{image from here}

As I just mentioned, the internet has provided a direct link from companies to the end users, but in order for companies to remain loyal to the people selling their product and not, "cut them out," companies need to be sure not to undercut their distributors (ie showrooms, decorators and retailers.) It would be very easy to cut out all the "middle men" from the equation, but in the end , then they would have no one but themselves selling their products & depending upon their business model, it could be difficult to stay in business.

I thought long and hard before deciding how I wanted to sell my fabrics. I thought about just selling online retail myself. I thought about taking my designs to a large company & selling them, virtually having no fabric company but getting paid for my designs and trying to keep my name attached and being able to retail my fabrics online at lower prices along with anyone else who wanted to retail them. And I thought about selling through showrooms and select retail stores...

{I thought about what was best for all of us}

It took me a while to make the decision, but I finally decided that I wanted to keep control of my line &
my designs and the company itself. In the end, because of this decision not to go mass-produced, my fabrics will not be as affordable as I wish they could be and not everyone will be able to buy them. It's a fact I wish I could change and I would looove for everyone to be able to afford yards & yards of them. I truly do. But it's not reality.

It's also important to me to support & protect those companies & people selling my products because they are the ones really getting it done. As a decorator myself, I appreciate companies that offer trade pricing and I wanted to be able to do the same for decorators who want to use our products.

And I know there are those out there who are not in the interior design trade who think that they should get wholesale & trade pricing on everything they buy, but I don't think that's very fair. Designers buy thousands & thousands of products per year and build relationships with the companies they work with to get the trade pricing they have access to. It's how they make their living. I think it's unfair for someone in an unrelated field to expect that they should be able to get the same price that a distributor of a product gets. (Don't hate me if you're one of those people please!! :)

I want a deal as much as the next person, but when I buy my clothes from say Macy's or Nordstrom, I don't get employee discounts because I don't work at either of those places. And I don't expect one either. It's the same thing when buying goods for the home. When a decorator buys something from a company for a client or a showroom purchases something, they are selling a product for that company and they get that discount / they get paid for selling the product.
And the fact is that almost everything you buy passes through multiple hands before it reaches yours. (Most companies just don't lay it out the way I just did because it can scare people away... I hope I didn't scare you away though!!)

Anyway, I'm still learning and it's all very new to me. But this is what I've gotten out of it all so far. I hope this explains how we've determined our price & I hope it makes sense to you. It's so important for me that anyone who buys our fabrics feels that they are worth what they are paying for and that they're happy with their decision.

Anyway, I'm off for the day but don't forget to enter the LL Textiles giveaway if you haven't already! It ends Friday & click here to eneter.

If you'd like help creating a home you absolutely love, contact me about our design services.

Lauren Liess Textiles Launch & Giveaway!

2011-11-07T08:34:00.005-05:00

I'm so excited- the Pure Style Home online shop is UP! wahooooo!!

If you have some time, I'd love for you to check it out: http://www.purestylehome.co/ (And be careful because it's ".co" not com. ) And, going live later today, if you click on the top right "SHOP" link at the top of this blog, it will also lead you to the store. If you're reading this in email form, and you want to access the shop from the blog, just go to the blog itself (http://www.purestylehome.blogspot.com/) and click on the top right SHOP link.

Included in the shop in the FAQs and POLICIES sections, you can read all about the fabrics & their uses, how to open a trade account if you're an interior designer, and how to order. (it's easy! :) On each fabric page, I described what I was thinking when I designed the fabrics & a little bit about what's behind them.

An important thing to think about when looking at our fabrics is that I washed many of the fabrics in the photos to give them a softer, more timeworn look. I created the designs with this in mind & it's how I envision people using the line, but it's really up to you whether you wash the fabrics or not. Some people like a crisper look, while others prefer the softer look with a bit of patina. I have used them both ways for different clients, depending upon their preferences. Washing the fabric, softens it and slightly fades the patterns. Many of my patterns have been intentionally mottled to give the feeling of age, but washing them adds another layer of that timeworn quality, which I love. It changes the patterns with darker backgrounds the most because the fading is more apparent. For example, I washed this fabric below, multiple times on the "heavy" cycle of the wash with towels to roughen it and left it wrinkled to give it this look:

Those patterns with light backgrounds aren't as "aged" by the wash and it's hard to even tell the difference between washed & unwashed:

I'm thinking about doing a duvet cover for out bed in one of the fabrics with the light backgrounds... The fabrics do not come washed so that part is up to you.... Just something to think about.

ANYWAY, to celebrate, we're doing a giveaway!! There will be two winners and each winner will receive 2 yards of a fabric of their choice each. (A $240 value each) I decided upon 2 yards because it's good amount for a couple of pillows, a body pillow or for framing fabrics like I did in this project a while back.

{Filigree Chevron in Blue}

To enter the giveaway, just head on over to the Pure Style Home shop and come back to the blog & leave a comment in the comments section saying which is your favorite fabric pattern. Be sure to leave your email address too so I can get in touch with you if you win.

You can get extra chances to win the giveaway if you:
-tweet about it or
-mention it on facebook
-or mention it on your blog.

(For a total of 4 possible entries) Just make sure that if you tweet / facebook / or blog about it, you leave additional comments in the comments section for your additional entries. :)

I'll announce the {randomly chosen} winner Friday.

Good luck and thank you so much for coming along with me on this journey to getting the fabric line up & running. I never would have had the confidence or energy to do this if it weren't for so many of you, encouraging me & just being there. I really appreciate it & just knowing you're reading does more for me than I can even describe. Thank you.

Here's the link to the new shop: Pure Style Home Shop

photos by Helen Norman

If you'd like help creating a home you absolutely love, contact me about our design services.

Thank you so much to my amazingly patient web designer Emily Thompson of Emmarie Web Design who worked with me to create the shop. If you need help designing your website or blog, check her out; she's awesome.

Lauren Liess Textiles Launch!!

2011-11-04T11:51:00.000-04:00

The Pure Style Home online store is finally finished!!

We are launching the shop itself and my new textile line on Monday so be sure to stop by!
(Yes, as my mom has pointed out, the logo looks like a dirty paper bag. I'm okay with that. Actually I love it ;)

The shop is made up of four parts: my fabrics, my upholstery line, rugs, and "uncommon finds." The fabrics will be the only section launching Monday & the other three are on their way.

{a peek at some of the fabrics... I think I've shown most of these before}

For the upholstered line, we have a couple of pieces finalized & ready for production, but I'm waiting to sell the them online until the first collection is finished. (I'll keep you posted- fingers crossed!)

{The Madhatter Wing Chair will definitely be included!}

I hope to have the rugs up in the next couple of months- they are mostly new although some are vintage-

{Washed & Faded-looking Rugs like the one I used above in a client's living room}

...and the "Uncommon Finds" Shop will only be open for select sales throughout the year. It's made up of mostly vintage & antique finds with some new pieces & artwork. The criteria for anything going into the Uncommon Finds Shop is that it's only made up of things that I'm absolutely crazy about & don't want to part with. I'm trying to get everything photographed in time for the first sale in December.

{The "Fog" Collection- LL Textiles}

I'll also be doing a giveaway of a couple yards of one of my new fabrics. (Winner's choice)

Thank you so much to my wonderful (and extremely patient!!) web designer Emily Thomson of Emmarie Web Design who made the beautiful site. I'll be posting more about Emily on Monday!

Enjoy this gorgeous Fall weekend!!

If you'd like help creating a home you absolutely love, contact me about our design services.

ps- All photos in this post by Helen Norman

Baby #3 & Halloween

2011-11-01T09:23:00.001-04:00

WARNING: Total mom-post / pretty much NO design stuff

Halloween is one of my favorite days of the year & it's even better with kids.

My children are now both throughly sleep-deprived & coming down off sugar highs.

{Batman & Robin... I swear they both have two eyes.}

They drove the Bat Mobile around the neighborhood and then we had to abandon it because getting in & out took too much time:

I am also sleep-deprived and have a slight stomach ache from the disgusting amount of candy I consumed. Ah vell.

...And now onto our Baby #3 news: We're having another baby!! He/ she's due in mid May 16th & I have about a week or so to go left of first trimester. {anyone who has kids probably remembers being completely exhausted during her first trimester... I literally go to sleep between 7 and 9 every night... If I even make it that late. -- I think my husband is actually more excited than I am for my second trimester. He's the best. --

{Exhibit A}

...And if you haven't had kids, be prepared for complete & utter exhaustion. Like falling-asleep-sitting up-tired. Add in some nausea/ dizziness & you get the idea. But of course it's all completely worth it.}

We're so excited about the new baby, but I have to admit, with two already in the house, I sometimes forget I'm pregnant. {until I fall asleep at 7 PM.} I'm pretty sure it'll be another boy & would love to have 3 of what I've got, but of course I would also love to have the experience of having a girl. So we'll see. (we're waiting until baby comes out to find out) I did save all of my Barbies just in case.

{Peaches & Cream Barbie was quite possibly THE BEST.}

So far I've had pretty great pregnancies & labors & I'm hoping for the same with #3. It's been interesting to notice the differences in my pregnancies though. For example, with the 3rd baby, my baby bump has popped SO MUCH sooner. I guess the belly's just more pliable eh? But I have to admit, I am scared of how big I might get. I gained 60 lbs with each of my babies. I'm already up at least 10, which is right on par. {eeeeeeeek!} My grandmother talks about when she had her babies, how she walked out of the hospital wearing her pre-maternity pants. HA! If only I could!

Watching my boys develop a relationship & play together probably makes me happier than almost anything else. I took Justin (my toddler) to Christian's (4 yrs old) preschool last week for pumpkin-carving and Christian was just so excited to show off his little brother & introduce him to all of the kids. He held his hand and stayed with him the whole time. Seeing them get along like that literally makes my heart melt. (At home, half the time they're hurting each other & the other half they're laughing.) SO, I'm really excited to bring another little one into the picture. The boys are already talking about how they're going to take care of the "new baby." (By "take care" I know they mean be really sweet at first and then start running him/ her over once they get used to him. ;)

Anyway, I'll keep you posted. We don't really have any names picked out yet, but I've got ideas of a soft blue & yellow nursery.

{Fern Star in Yellow, one of my newer textile designs... I'm pretty sure it's happening in there.}

ps- On the online store/ fabric line launch front: we are launching any day now. My web designer just got back from vacation & I'm having her take a look at the site to make sure everything's up & running properly before we launch it. I can't wait for you to see it!!

I've decided to keep control of the textile company myself (vs selling designs to another large company & going the royalties route) & to approach showrooms across the country about carrying my collection. I'm in conversations with some showrooms right now, so I'll let you know if any of it works out. Suffice it to say I'm squealing inside because I'm so excited to even be considered and insanely nervous/ anxious because of how much I admire these companies.

Halloweeeeeeeeeen!

2011-10-31T10:14:00.000-04:00

We are having a costume party here in the office today. There are only two of us. And we're having a contest.

{I am Pumpkin Head}

..And yes, that is a torn open bag of candy that I got into...

...And yes, I am pregnant...

And Meghan...

Is a ghost.

We're taking votes.

The winner will take this beauty home:

No, I'm just kidding. I'm not giving Meghan my dog.

But the winner will get THIS:

Happy Halloween!! Feel free to cast your vote in the comments section.

ps-
If you'd like help creating a home you absolutely love and you are not frightened away by this post, contact me about our design services.

pps- We just moved offices a week or 2 ago & are in the midst of redoing it. Will be sure to post pics as soon as we have them!

Terrariums- Why Not?

2011-10-27T10:06:00.000-04:00

I saw a couple of interesting terrariums at High Point Market that I just loved. You might remember that although I love plants & flowers, I have a black thumb when it comes to indoor plants. (Although there is 1 plant in my house that has been alive for a year now!) I've always liked terrariums and have never given them a shot. After seeing some "easy" (according to their owners) beauties at Market, I think I'll try them out.

{Europe 2 You's terrarium filled with a gorgeous oregano that looks like flower blossoms- who knew??)

Here's a more modern version filled with succulents & tropical plants:

{At Bevara Design House}

I love this one:

{image via Design Sponge}

...And I can actually do moss. Sort of.

This one is whoah:

{image via theoptimisticmuse.blogspot.com}

...And this little ferny fern I could maybe handle:

{image via weegohome.com}

My window boxes are half dead ( I have plans to add in some mums to replace the ferns I killed) and maybe when I've finished with that I'll get some terrariums in the plant hospice (my house).

Have a great one!!

If you'd like help creating a home you absolutely love, contact me about our design services.

Home from Market

2011-10-25T14:35:00.002-04:00

Whew! We're home from a whirlwind few days down in High Point North Carolina for the Furniture Market. Before I was in this business I had no idea something like it even existed. High Point is literally a little city of showrooms. In the 3 days we were there we didn't even see half of it. But we did get to my favorite restaurant, Printworks Bistro, at the Proximity Hotel:

{Seriously the most gorgeous restaurant ever: light, airy, fresh & completely unexpected (see the Louis dining chairs in chartreuse toile??) They have curtains separating the dining areas and hanging boxwood balls and textural drum shades add interest. The colors are perfection (go green!! ;) and the food is HEAVEN.

We found some really amazing new-to-us companies & artists:

{Owen Mortenen creates works of art out of the natural things he finds on walks. }

I'm crazy about his Golden Raintree Studies made out of seed pods found from a tree that grows in Utah:

Natural & organic-feeling yet totally modern. To read more, click here.

I loved this sconce by Luna Bella:

Some of the showrooms had the most amazing displays:

{Luna Bella}

{Spicher and Company}

The next few are of the Karen Robertson Showroom:

I loved seeing so many of these detailed pieces jam-packed on the walls. Totally jaw-dropping and they made me want to do a beach house STAT.

and switching up to...

{Halo Styles}

As far as showrooms/ booths at Market go, I really love going into the "more is more" type showrooms that are jam-packed because they feel like trasure troves. Even if they're not at all my style, I appreciate them. Check this one out:

{Genesee River Trading Co.}

And another view of the same showroom:

I loved some of their old games tables & kitchsy things.

The best part is, I was with my partner in crime pretty much the whole time sans-kiddos. (Although we did really miss them!!)

And we got to see some of our favorite people!!

{Me & Michele of My Notting Hill. Michele was one of a group of bloggers invited to Market to see all of the lastest & greatest. She sweetly invited me along with her to an Architectural Digest party as her "plus 1" where we saw lot of big designers & industry people including one of my favorites Margaret Russell. I also met Bunny Williams (more like stalked her as she was leaving the party and she seemed to be one of the kindest, most genuine designers I've met. She asked what my name was & where I was from (go VA! If you know about Bunny, you might know she's from Charlottesville, VA) and } and was just very nice.

{scaaaary red eyes on me with my friend Paloma of La Dolce Vita & Visual Comfort. Paloma is also an old blog friend & I've loved watching her career evolve. She's now the director of marketing for Visual Comfort, one of the best lighting companies in the industy. }

{Roxanne Lumme, one of my good local design friends. We ran into so many people from home!!! }

{Me with one of my first & closest design buds, Eddie Ross. My camera ended up going out on me that night and I didn't get a group shot Dave & I with both Eddie & Jaithan. We're always all pretty much laughing the entire time we hang out. }

I also got to see bloggers (but didn't get pics with- arggg!) Erin of House of Turquoise, Stephan of Architect Design , Jen Sergent, and Traci of Traci Zeller Designs. We got to hang with Traci for a while at a party one night & it was so good to catch up. At a Hearst Magazine party we saw our good friend Matthew Talomie of Elle Decor & got to meet the team from Elle Decor Magazine, who were all really sweet & down to earth. We also ran into a bunch of DC Designers & friends throughout the weekend: Patrick Sutton, Erin Paige Pitts, David Mitchell, Victoria Sanchez, Barbara Franceski and Sally Steponkus. It was SO much fun.

We got a TON accomplished at this market. I found so many new great sources for projects that I can't wait to use. Even though I'm exhausted right now I'm feeling pretty charged design-wise.

If you'd like help creating a home you absolutely love, contact me about our design services.

10 Things to Do to Cozy up your House for Fall

2011-10-19T10:18:00.001-04:00

When the seasons change, I get a little excited (ok, sometimes a lot excited) & have the urge to bring that feeling into my home. I think most of us who really love our homes do. And if you think about it, when we're little kids, we pretty much start doing this right away in preschool. Every year I remember doing crafts with leaves in the fall and making cheesy things out of pinecones at Christmastime & so on.

{image via http://spaceforinspiration.blogspot.com%7d/

This year has been particularly crazy for our family with work & time (& the lack of it) and I haven't gotten the chance to really do much around the house, so I thought a little refresher list of 10 easy things to do might get me in gear to make some small changes around the house for Fall.

{a tree in our neighborhood, last year}

So here they are:
1. Switch out throw pillows to ones with warmer tones & cozier-feeling materials

{Image via pinterest & I couldn't find the original cource}

2. Add more throw blankets around the house or switch out existing summer throws to thicker, cozier ones. I really love my faux fur throws, especially for napping and bringing outside onto the back patio at night.

{image from homedecorators.com}

3. Even if you don't have time to bake, you can fake that Heavenly smell with candles and/or diffusers. I have pumpkin pie-scented candles & diffusers all over the house (and vanilla cake too!) and I want to eat them!!!

{image from Country Living}

4. Have healthy seasonal food around for the munching. (so you don't eat your candles} Bowls of walnuts or apples in the family room and/ or kitchen invite everyone to enjoy seasonal goodies. I'm always more likely to eat something when it's within reaching distance.

{my vintage peanut stocked with almonds}

{little bowl of walnuts}

5. Art & Accessories: There are certain places in my house where I'll switch paintings around or swap out accessories. The mantle is one of the easiest places to do this because you can just prop artwork & don't have to put holes in the walls.

{our mantle for Fall}

Bookshelves are another good place for this. Before I had two kids, I used to really rearrange our books by color seasonally.

{Some of my old "fall"-colored books... My English teacher husband doesn't approve of my seasonal genres.}

(I know it sounds like I must have been on crack, but I really kind of miss the book rearranging. ) In the Fall, I'd make the orange & browns & golden books stand out more by placing them most prominently and in the Spring & Summer, I'd pull out the blues & aquas. Now I'm lucky if the books are even on the shelves.

{our super-crammed living room bookshelf... not much rearranging happening here these days... I've now realized that by the time I have the time to do that again, I'll probably be missing my kids.}

6. Bring in leaves & branches from your yard. (or your neighbors' yards! ;) ;) hee hee. I found these cool orange-needled branches last Fall: (I told you I hadn't gotten much done this year ;) I love going on walks with the family & collecting things from outside.

7. Pumkins & gourds: They usually last a really long time & I pretty much always have pumpkins & gourds leftover from Halloween on the Thanksgiving table. Piling them on your porch and around the house makes it really feel like Fall. Kids love them too.

{Last year's Thanksgiving Table}

8. Have fires when you can. With a toddler in our house, our fires are a little few & far between but when we do have them, I'm in Heaven. It just seems to lead to good family hang-out time. On Fall nights, we love doing fires outside & roasting marshmallows.

{mmm mmm I loooooove s'mores!!}

9. Bedding: In the Fall we add extra blankets to our bed including a down comforter & a throw blanket for napping at the foot of the bed. It's been a fairly warm Fall so I do end up kicking them off a lot of the time at night.. maybe I made the switch too early this year??

{I love the faux fur blanket on Tia Zoldan's bed in this pic}

10. And finally... (you know I'd have to include some real eating in here)- Soup! We try to make weekly batches of soup or pasta sauce in the Fall & Winter. It feels so good on a cool day to be warm & toasty inside eating soup. My mom makes an amazing pumpkin curry soup in the Fall:

{I'll have to get the actual recipe from my mom but the amazing-looking pumpkin soup pictured above is from Sweet Peas Kitchen and you can view the recipe here: http://sweetpeaskitchen.com/2011/09/16/harvest-pumpkin-soup/ }

Anyway, would love to hear about the changes you've been making in your house for Fall. I'll keep you posted on my progress!!

If you'd like help creating a home you absolutely love, contact me about our design services.

Sneakity Peek- Vignette

2011-10-17T10:20:00.002-04:00

(ignore me in the mirror ;)

Here's a little pic from an install we did this summer... I'll be sure to take better pics when the artwork is installed in the next couple of weeks but I thought this little {unstyled} vignette sums up the style of the rooms pretty well. These particular clients have been a dreeeeeeam to work with and the results are very personal & comfortable & natural with the teensiest hint of a modern edge. I want to go hang there and am slightly obsessed with the soft, comfy braided jute rugs we used. :)

The dining room is beyond the living room and you can spy a bit of the green grasscloth on the walls.

**update** I've received lots of emails about the jute rugs. We had these custom bound and the jute itself is from Stark Carpet. Thanks!! :)

If you'd like help creating a home you absolutely love, contact me about our design services.

Happy Fall Sunday

2011-10-16T09:04:00.000-04:00

{image via http://nolongerdreaming.tumblr.com/ }

Hope you're loving this perfect Fall Sunday!!

(And I guess that would mean not reading this until Monday!! ;) ;)

It's crisp & cool here and finally dry. We've been loving our lazy weekends lately... hiking, laying around & eating. (Is that bad?? ) Today we're headed to the Renaissance Fair in Maryland for some turkey legs and steamed artichokes.... oh yeah, and to see costumes & such.

Have a good one.

If you'd like help creating a home you absolutely love, contact me about our design services.

Patina Style

2011-10-13T10:32:00.000-04:00

I've been meaning to write about this book for a while now. When I first got it in the mail, I pretty much devoured every page & picture. Patina Style is written by my good friends, Brooke & Steve Giannetti, and is one of the most beautiful, insightful, honest design books I've ever read.

Patina Style is all about Brooke & Steve's unique design & lifestyle philosophy. It's about celebrating the imperfect, appreciating the marks that time & age leave on your home & on your things, and juxtaposing masculine & feminine, curvy with straight. Their look is full of soft muted colors that just sort of surround you rather than call attention to themselves.

I first discovered Brooke's blog, Velvet & Linen, around the same time I started blogging & reading blogs. I was seriously drooly over it & all of their work. Everything the Giannaetti's do is just beautiful & has a soulful quality. Brooke is a designer and Steve is a renowned architect & together they own Giannetti Home, a shop in LA. We visited them & their kids last Winter at their home & it is one of the warmest, most personal & "real" feeling homes I've ever visited. (Of course they are too! Leila & Nick were so good to Christian and put up with him tirelessly chasing them around with toy cars. ;) ;) But almost everything I touched just had a solidarity & a history about it.

In this day & age, it's sometimes hard to get people to see that imperfect is beautiful. (Read about creating "imperfect" spaces here.) So many people out there want shiny & new and don't understand how beautiful pieces with history & patina are. One of the first things I did when I got the book was show it to my dad. If you've been reading my blog for a while, you might remember that we butt heads design-wise a LOT. We're almost finished restoring my grandparents' old cottage and it's been a tug-of-war the entire time. He watches a lot of HGTV and sees them constantly adding granite countertops, buying new furniture, etc. and is constantly wanting to go there. Showing him Patina Style was a breakthrough for us. He started to get that there is beauty in the imperfect, that floors don't have to be shiny & new, and sratches & dings are okay. (He is always telling me to get out a table cloth so we won't scratch the kitcen table- gah!) But after looking through Patina Style with me, I got no more nagging for table cloths on the table and I think it made him a bit more open-minded about what we can & can't do to the house.

{I love their aged natural pine floors}

Brooke & Steve definitely think outside of the box & love repurposing old things into new ones. One of my favorite examples of this is the dining room light fixture made out of an old industrial metal fram lined with linen:

The book is basically a manual on how to create the Patina Style look & incorporate it into your own home, making it personal. It's full of real details and specific sources for things like paint, materials, shops and furnishings. One of the things that has always struck me about Brooke is how willingly she shares information & how she genuinely wants to help others love their homes. She's been a great friend to me & constantly inspires.

Congratulations to Brooke & Steve on a perfect (-ly imperfect! ;) book. Love yas!!

To order the book, go here

If you'd like help creating a home you absolutely love, contact me about our design services.

My Happiest 6...

2011-10-11T20:05:00.000-04:00

... Have been with this guy:

Happy anniversary to the person who knows me like no one else.

Before & After Master Bedroom

2011-10-07T08:45:00.000-04:00

We just finished up with a master bedroom installation so I wanted to share 'before' and 'afters.' There's still some art to be hung but you'll get the idea. My clients' bedroom is pretty large and we loved their tufted headboard. My clients kept their existing dressers, nightstands and bed, and we added the rest. Their old room felt a bit dark and didn't seem to fit with my client's personality. She's so sunny & cheerful and is drawn to warm colors and light so I wanted to create a space that suited her. She was looking for warm & fresh & relaxing. Here's the room before:

And here it is now:

The bedding is by Les Indiennes and I want it. A hand blockprinted quilt overlays a blockprinted duvet cover in a smaller pattern. I had so much fun making that bed!!! We replaced the original sconces with iron ones from Pottery Barn and had the walls painted a soft cream. I topped the nightstands with vintage yellow vases and leaves from outside.

I love the ruffly linen bench at the end of the bed. It adds just the right amount of femininity to the room.

Here's the window nook before:

And here is is now:

I love the idea of two chairs and an ottoman in a master bedroom. (The perfect spot to read books and play footsie! ;) ...Or more likely in real life, the spot to cozy up with the kids or to throw clothes on. Ah vell!

You might recognize the yellow magnolia linen on the chair pillows from my new fabric line. (And of course you can catch my repeated vintage vase on the garden stool- oops! Never said I was a stylist! - (In real life it's empty for a drink or a book. ;)

I had so much fun with this redo beause I think it shows how much palette & soft goods & lighting can change a room. The main pieces of furniture like the bed & dressers stayed the same but the room now has a completely different vibe. It feels like my client now.

Hope you enjoyed!!

We have 4 more installs in the next month or so and I'll be sure to share before & afters when I get pics. (I still have a few from this past summer that I need to get pics of- very behind- but I'm trying to catch up!!)

If you'd like help creating a home you absolutely love, contact me about our design services.

Exciting News for Friends!

2011-10-06T15:51:00.003-04:00

Have you seen that One King's Lane is partnering with 9 design bloggers to do a tastemaker tag sale starting tonight? Some of my favorite girls are in this great round-up & be sure to check it out!!

Also, did you watch Million Dollar Decorator? (looooved that show.) If you did, you probably loved Kathryn Ireland. She's one of those people you just immediately want to be friends with. She is hysterical & insanely good at what she does. This summer I read one of her books, Creating a Home, and it got me itching to find some crazy cool rundown house and make it gorgeous the way she did. Anyway, she's also having a tastemaker tag sale on One King's Lane this Saturday with items from her archives, collected from her summers spent in France along with her brand new bedding collection. Check out One King's Lane to shop.

And, my friend Nadia Subaran of Aidan Design and her partner John Schmiedigen are opening a lighting division at Aidan Design this October!

Nadia also designed a room in the DC Design Showhouse this past Spring (see gorgeous kitchen above! the Apt Therapy Event mentioned in the pic was from last spring; sorry for the old news ;) and she is one of the most talented, kind and genuine people I've met in the industry. Congratulations Nadia!!

And finally, today we installed a client's master bedroom and I can't wait to share pics. (tomorrow or tonight!) Here's the 'before' & I'll give you a hint that the we kept the bed and the 'after' has Les Indiennes bedding- mm mm mm!:

{My client's bedroom BEFORE}

ps- Is anyone going to Market in High Point this Fall? I'm heading down for the weekend & Monday so hope to see you there!!

If you'd like help creating a home you absolutely love, contact me about our design services.

Peek at the Boys' New Room & Plans

2011-10-03T10:09:00.000-04:00

Our boys are now sharing a bedroom and so we've been doing some rearranging. Christian moved into Justin's nursery and we reduced the closet so we could fit two beds. I loved Justin's dark navy nursey while it lasted, but with two in the room, it needed lightening up. Here's a pic of Justin's nursery as it it was. Dark & cozy & perfect for sleeeeeeeping:

I had the walls & ceiling painted in a soft gray-green-blue. (The color's called 'Contemplation' by Behr and we had it color matched in Benjamin Moore Aura paint.)

With these pretty blue walls, I want to be sure that the room doesn't get too sweet and I want to bring a bit of an earthy- curious vibe into the space. We have a lots of cool collected artwork & Christian (my 4 year old) and I picked out a few of his favorites for above his bed. It was so fun laying in bed afterwards, telling him stories about the pirates in the ships & the monkies that turned into men. (yeah, I'm pretty sure he'll get a much better explanation in science class one day ;)

The black trundle bed is going to my new office so I'm having custom twin headboards made out of Filigree Chevon, one of my new fabrics, for the boys as soon as Justin's ready for a "big boy" bed:

Up-close you can see that it's a rusty red with olive green leaves:

It's one of those very "off" fabrics that isn't at all what you'd call "pretty," but for some reason I just love it. (Especially mixed with the blue-gray-green, which shouldn't work, but does.)

I'm doing big Euro shams on both beds with a mossy fern star placed right in the center:

And we're doing these are going over the beads in antique brass:

{Visual Comfort}

Anyway, I'm off for the day. We're presenting a plan that I'm so excited about to a new client for her condo!!! Will keep you posted.

If you'd like help creating a home you absolutely love, contact me about our design services.

Please Excuse me...

2011-09-27T08:05:00.000-04:00

...While I load photos.

Lauren Liess Textiles from top to bottom:

Queen Anne's Bouquet in Black & Oatmeal

Fern Star in Olive

Filigree Chevron in Black & Oatmeal

Ticking in Beige

Live Paisley in Gold

Happikat in Olive/ Aqua

happikat in Cocoa & Oatmeal

Live paisley in Antique Beige

Ticking in Black & Oatmeal

Like I mentioned, loading the photos of the fabrics onto my online store is taking foreverrrrrr. (Yes, I'm complaining ;) But I'm almost done and as soon as I am, we can launch!! (All fabrics will be available for purchase online.) I'll keep you posted but I'm tying to spend as much time as possible on the website so my posts may be short for a little bit.

Have a great day!!

If you'd like help creating a home you absolutely love, contact me about our design services.

Milk off the Shelf

2011-09-23T09:18:00.001-04:00

THIS is what happens when your house is under construction, you make dinner with the kids and your spouse is working late for the night:

...Was wondering this morning how in the world we could have finished off a whole gallon of milk yesterday? (The kids got oatmeal with water for breakfast.)...

...Until my assistant came in and asked me why the milk was on the shelf???

(I really didn't even notice it there.) Ah vell.

Off to the grocery store!

ps- I'll be sure to post a few progress pics of the rooms we had redone! (Undecorated as of now)

Lauren Liess Textiles Shoot

2011-09-21T07:56:00.001-04:00

I have pictures back from our photo shoot at Helen Norman's farm!! Helen & her assisitant F.J. are still working on the photos (we're going for a sort of vintage/ edgy vibes for the photographs so it takes a lot of processing afterwards) but I though I'd share a few peeks - some without the processing.

Our goal with this photoshoot was to show the fabrics in a variety of settings, both with and whithout people. We wanted to show how the fabrics move and look and feel. I washed some of the fabrics before the shoot to give them a bit of patina and I really love how they turned out. Some of the photos and fabrics come across as fresh and happy & fun, while others are earthier, moodier or softer. We wanted to show the variety of feelings & moods that couls be created with the line. (55 fabrics in total with 14 different designs.)

Here's part of our gold/ yellow collection on a beautiful antique daybed with little Grizzly taking a nap to show they really are comfy:

{Fabrics pictured: Magnolia in Yellow, Live Paisley in Gold, and Fern Star in Yellow}

Our boys were sooooo good and put up with so much. Here's an outtake of them, totally at the end of their ropes:

{Pretending to nap on a blanket in Magnolia}

I love this photo with the mist on the door to the porch:

We woke up super-early and got some cool pics with fog in the background:

{me with a Wild Chicory blanket}

I looooove this outtake... Did you ever play this game with friends when you were little?-

{"Super tall 4 year-old.. ie Christian on Daddy's shoulders. And Kelly Green Cape in Happikat}

{Laundry Line with: Thistle in Sepia, Live Paisley in Antique Beige and Squircles in Fog}

...Anyway, I have so many more pics to share (I think 85 total?!! We took over 1,000!) but I really want you to see them once they have that processing I mentioned. I'm finishing up loading the plain fabric photos onto my online store and will then go back & add in the lifestyle photos & then we'll be ready to launch. We're all moving as quickly as we can!! :)

I can't thank Helen & F.J. enough for the photos & their time, and of course thank you to my family. (I know two of you can't read yet, but I love you more than anything and one day you'll get what a big deal this was to me.)

If you'd like help creating a home you absolutely love, contact me about our design services.

Construction over here

2011-09-20T14:25:00.000-04:00

Remember how I mentioned we were refinishing a room on our lower level? Here's a pic of the room after we did the demo:

Our contractors from CarrMichael Construction came over & are in the midst of drywalling the walls & ceiling:

Originally we'd planned to use the small room as an additional office space for me & my assistant Meghan, but two days ago I decided we were better off taking the bigger room (the guest room) for work and using the smaller room as the new guest room. Here's a shot of our complete mess-of-a-future-office:

Nothing you see is really staying... not even the curtains. I haven't decided where I want to go in either of these rooms yet because the project came on so suddenly, but as soon as I have design plans, I'll be sure to share. {shoemakers' kids with no shoes syndrome here}

Also, the guys are reducing the closet in the boys' room so we can fit two twin beds in there. Again, I'm pretty undecided on what I to do but I think I'm going to have headboards made in one of my new fabrics.

If you'd like help creating a home you absolutely love, contact me about our design services.

WOW: Marie Hines

2011-09-19T16:02:00.000-04:00

I am so amazed right now & totally tearing up. I just got a supersweet email from singer/ songwriter Marie Hines about her latest song/ video from "Better From the Living Room Sessions" and I clicked on her link to see the video.

{Marie, if you're reading this, I'll be honest, I really had no idea what to expect.}

But I was blown away. Really blown away. I definitely teared up. She has such an incedibly beautiful voice, IS so incredibly beautiful, and you can just see that she is seriously passionate about what she does. I'm instantly a new fan & wanted to share it on the blog because I thought you might enjoy her songs too:

http://www.mariehines.com/

Marie decorated her living room featured in the videos herself & styled it beautifully with a million candles. You'll love it.

Thanks so much to Marie for sharing & you have got it GOIN on!!!

If you'd like help creating a home you absolutely love, contact me about our design services.

Yay for a Fall Friday

2011-09-16T17:12:00.000-04:00

I am so happy it's Friday. I really am. It's 5:00, there's a little fall chill in the air and it's a bit overcast. I made a batch of rice & potato soup this morning and it's been simmering for hours. I'm ready to put on cozy sweats and hunker down... watch movies & read & eat. And of course hang with my family.

(I wouldn't quite fit in here in my sweats but it suits my mood ;)

I love this time of year... both indoors & outside. I love coming in with a chill and warming up and I love being outside, crunching acorns on the sidewalk when it'c ool enough for a scarf but not cold enough for a coat. I made my kids wear hats today pretty much because they looked cute in them. (I pretended they needed them and it thrilled me to no end.}

{Not our apples... photo by Mikkel Vang via dress design & decor}

For the past few days I've been busy loading images of my new fabrics into the online store. I'll be honest and say that it's a kind of torturous process. It takes FOR-EVA. Like Forrrrreverrrrrrrrrrr. BUT---- I know it'll be worth it in the end, and the previously empty online store is starting to look good and take on some personality.

Here's a sneak peek at one of my newer designs, Fern Star:

Last weekend for the photoshoot, I experimented with washing some of the fabrics to give them a bit of patina and I loooove how they turned out. They're so soft & vintage-feeling and now I'm dying to redo my house. Definitely doing some bedding for the boys new room in them.

Anyway, hope you had a great week & enjoy your weekend!!

If you'd like help creating a home you absolutely love, contact me about our design services.

50 Big Ideas for Small Rooms

2011-09-15T09:47:00.000-04:00

Thanks so much to Terri Sapienza & the Living Team at the Washington Post for including me in today's article "50 Big Ideas for Small Rooms." Terri interviewed 17 local designers (some good friends & colleagues!! :) to compile a laundry list of ideas dealing with designing small spaces.

If you're local, just check out the Local Living Section of today's Post. If you're not, click here to read.
Enjoy your day!!

If you'd like help creating a home you absolutely love, contact me about our design services.

Back from Star Bright Farm

2011-09-13T09:35:00.000-04:00

We're home from a fun weekend at my friend & photographer Helen Norman's farm- Star Bright Farm- where we photographed my new line of fabrics. Saturday afternoon, we loaded up the car with fabrics, props and luggage and headed for the farm:

{Ashby checked out the goods before we left}

When we got there we planned out our shot possibilities and even got a few photos in that evening before the rain storm. Helen & her husband Mark made us THE MOST AMAZING PASTA EVER for dinner. {Chard from their farm sauteed with peppers, garlic & bacon over pasta --- mmm mmmm goodness!! I had it again for breakfast on Sunday and I made it when I got home last night (they sent us home with a bunch of fresh veggies from the farm) and just had it again for breakfast} We stayed in Helen & Mark's AMAZING guest house and I just couldn't get over all of the beautiful details in their homes. Everything is so authentic & solid and "real." It's truly incredible. Their house was recently featured in Country French Magazine. (with photos by Helen) Here's a pic of their living room with one of my Madhatter chairs in white linen:

{please excuse the bad scans}

Here's a photo from Country French Magazine of her potting room:

{loooove this soapstone sink}

We had a crazy loooong day of shooting (up at 4:30 AM) with Helen & F.J. (her assistant) and our whole family and the photos turned out so well. My goal with this photo shoot was to use the fabrics in settings that portrayed a feeling & a mood. The fabrics and colorways are all so different from each other (55 in all) so it was so much fun to use them in varied settings for completely different vibes.

As soon as I have pics, I'll let you know. The online store with the fabrics is almost up!!

Thanks so much to Helen & her amazing family- we had so much fuuun!!!!!!

If you'd like help creating a home you absolutely love, contact me about our design services.

Fern Window Boxes

2011-09-08T11:41:00.000-04:00

This past weekend we added window boxes on a whim. I've always wanted them and they were on sale at the garden center so we went for it. I loooove quick projects and this one was simple. (Especially for me watching while Dave was up on the ladder ;) ;)

So far, I've been caring for them through the windows and I went with ferns because they do so well with the moisture from that air. I'm completely blanking out on the other plant I chose but I loved it's almost flourescent color & white blooms.

The plants are so pretty from the inside too. You can see them from the window and it feels like they're in the room with you. We recently switched the boys' rooms so now they're sharing a bedroom and the second bedroom is a playroom. (Over the summer when we stayed with my dad they got used to sharing a bedroom and wanted to keep it that way when we got home. I love seeing them so excited to be together.) Christian's "job" is watering the plants because he knows mommy runs a plant hospice.

Over the next few months we taking down a closet in the boys room to make room for a big boy bed for Justin. I'm planning on doing duvet covers out of one of my fabrics, "Filigree Chevron" and I can't wait to see how they turn out!

We're going to my friend & photogapher Helen Norman's farm this weekend to shoot my new line of fabrics. The crazy amount of rain we've had has but a bit of a {literal} damper on our original plans which included lots of field shots, but Helen's property has so many beautiful spots I'm not worried. My first textile collection is completed and I have 14 different designs with multiple colorways in each pattern for a total of about 60 different fabrics. I plan on adding a few new designs seasonally. I've pulled a ton of inspiration images and can't wait!! love the idea of stacking the fabrics inside a piece of furniture like this one:

{image from theselby.com}

Enjoy your day!!

If you'd like help creating a home you absolutely love, contact me about our design services.

Oh My... Must Try

2011-09-06T09:36:00.000-04:00

This weekend was a good cooking weekend. With a bit of Fall in the air this past week, I craved soup. I love {attempting when there's time} to make weekly soups during the colder months so I pretended it wasn't going to be 95 degrees on Sunday. I broke out an old cookbook I bought in college full of yuuumy simple recipes. (It's called "Quick & Easy.") I tried out the Lemon & Chicken Soup and it is Heaven...

{Seriously Heaven.... I try really hard to take pretty food pics but I just don't know how people do it. I promise it's waaaay better than it looks. }

The kids loved it too.

I also must really love you because I'm literally typing out the whole recipe here. ;)

It's that good.

(I made a few teeny changes)

Ingredients:

4 tbsp butter

8 shallots, thinly sliced

2 carrots, thinly sliced

2 celery stalks, thinly sliced

1 1/2 cups precooked chicken.. ( I used some grilled drumsticks we'd just made)

3 lemons

2 quarts chicken stock

Angel hair nests (you can do angel hair if can't find the pasta nests.)

2/3 cup heavy cream (I'm sure you could substitute this if you were trying to be healthier but it is good.)

salt & pepper

Fresh Parsley & Lemon Slices to garnish

Directions:

1. Cook the shallots, carrots & celery in the butter in a big pot.

2. Thinly pare the lemons & boil the lemon peels in water for 3 mins. Squeeze the lemon juice in a bowl.

3. Add the lemon peel, (Ok this is so new to me! Yes, you can eat lemon peels once they're blanched!) lemon juice and chicken stock to the veggies in the pot. Bring it all to a boil on low heat and simmer for 40 mins, stirring every once in a while.

4. Add the pasta and let it cook (this is why I like the nests... they take 3 mins) Add salt & pepper to taste and add the heavy cream. (mm mmm mmm) Heat through but don't boil once you've added the cream or it'll curdle.

5. Pour into bowls, add the parsely & Eat!

Seriously, I love this soup.

ps- I found this cookbook at the grocery store in college and it's full of the easiest & tastiest meals. (So many soups & pastas, which I love.) It's called "Practical Cooking: Quick & Easy" by Parragon Publishing.

Peeks from Yesterday's Installation

2011-09-01T17:41:00.001-04:00

Yesterday we installed "phase 1" of one of our clients' homes. The day started out like this...

...With a truckload of furniture for the house. Our clients completely and completely renovated their home so it could better suit their family's needs without increasing its footprint at all. They were able to remove an unneeded living room to increase their kitchen & dining rooms and the family room is now their main living room. They moved out for the summer while the renovation took place and have just now moved back in.

My client looooooves color and wouldn't you know her favorite is also my favorite:

{This is an old coffee table that our client's mother turned into an ottoman a while back.}

{The original piece}

We had our workroom -Paul David Design- create a new beautiful mitered top out of an indoor-outdoor fabric for the family room.

She loves green & was looking for a comfortable, happy and FUN vibe in her home. Her husband is more traditional while she leans a little more towards the modern/colorful end of the spectrum so we ended up with a sort of "funky" Traditional that's perfect for the family. Our clients fell in love with their home because of its large big-treed yard, so we really wanted to bring all of that green inside and kick it up a notch.

Here's the living room palette:

The furniture is a mix of new upholstery and casegoods mixed in with family antiques & vintage pieces.

We had lots of fun taking risks and I looove their apple green front door:

We did a massive pair of botanicals for high-impact in the dining room:

I hung family photos in a gallery wall and Paul & Nancy (of Paul David Design) handled the larger items like the mirrors and botanicals. Meghan (my assistant) ran around like a madwoman (in a good way :) helping to get it all done in time. Our client was out of the house for most of the day and at 5:00 we toured it with the family for the big reveal. It was so much fun!!

In the end we were all thrilled with how the house turned out. I'm insanely lucky to have the all of the wonderful clients I have and this family is really incredibly special. The kids were already breaking in the chess table we found for them.

...And Lizzy was breaking in the chairs:

{I can't handle her}

When we're completely finished & Helen takes photos, I'll be sure to share "after" pictures. Hope you had a great day & thanks so much to everyone for all of the great childcare advice. We're in the process of finding a nanny now so I'll keep you posted!!

And also thank you so much to my clients!! (You are amazing.)

If you'd like help creating a home you absolutely love, contact me about our design services.

Thanks for the Hug

2011-08-30T07:59:00.001-04:00

I laughed out loud when I read my friend Linda's (at Lime in the Coconut) comment about the "group hug" I'd received though the comments to yesterday's post. She's so right. Thank you all so much for the kindness. When I wrote the post yesterday, I was feeling as close to tears as I've felt in a really long time (I joked with my assistant Meghan that I was going to jump in her lap for a good cry.) I honestly didn't write it looking for anything... In a way I use this blog as a journal, usually keeping off the drama/ boring / too personal stuff, but there are times when it comes out anyway. (After I hit "publish" I thought I sounded like a whiny complainer.) But I did end up getting something. So many of you are in the same boat and somehow knowing that we're not alone- faaaaar from it it- makes me feel better.

Thanks for the hug.

{pic via pinterest via piccsy}

And there are so many different sides to it. Many commenters are in completely different careers and it seems they still struggle with the same issues. There are those moms who do decide to stay home and love it although can't help wondering "what if" just the way moms who go to work wonder "what if? There are stay-at-home moms who feel like people think they are on easy street. (Can I just say I can' disagree with this more?? Staying at home with children to me is the toughest job. (I'm sure it's very rewarding but it is exhausting and those parents deserve a LOT of credit.) Then there's the guilt that seems to be associated with all sides of motherhood. One commenter raised a really interesting issue that in her workplace history, there has always been a "mommy" who she felt used her children as an excuse to get out of things and put more work on others. Another mother commenting mentioned that she realized she had judged those decorators without children. thinking about what would happen to their careers once they did have kids. I also realized I was judging the people who judged the "mommy" decorators. (And just to clarify for any of those who asked, this isn't something imagined, I've actually heard of specific decorators using these terms in reference to others in a very negative way.) My mom (who was a single parent for most of my childhood) said that childcare was always one of the toughest part about raising kids.

{pic via pinterest via http://joannagoddard.blogspot.com%7d/

When it comes down to it, I think we all have insecurities and questions ourselves sometimes. I find that when I get really frazzled/ upset about something with my kids (such as the daycare situation yesterday morning) I start to question myself. On normal days, things roll off my back & I'm even able to laugh or roll my eyes when I hear about haters, but when I'm emotionally charged like that, it all seems like it's tumbling down.

With Justin's case yesterday, I took him back to his existing daycare, which had turned over most of its teachers & its director over the summer. We were less than thrilled to be taking him back to the center as we didn't love it last year & were planning on using it temporarily until we could find Mary Poppins, but when I got back to the daycare yesterday, it was worse than it had been the previous year. The two ladies we looved -who had taken such good care of Justin- happened to be coming in later that day and those that were left seemed unconcerned that Justin was crying for so long. I'd fully expected him to cry, I just expected he'd be picked up and comforted.

Anyway, I have two kidinkies up right now so we're off for breakfast, but thanks for the shoulders yesterday. I promise I'll get back to good stuff later this week.

{NOT a picture of our breakfast - i wish!!- image from the Awkward Bird}

On another note, we are installing a new project tomorrow. (Thank goodness for my mom babysitting!!) My clients' house underwent a major renovation and all of the pretties are going in tomorrow!!

If you'd like help creating a home you absolutely love, contact us about our design services.

"Mommy" Decorators

2011-08-29T11:12:00.001-04:00

This morning we planned to have our kids start back up at daycare & a new school. As you might remember from last year, it's kind of a tough time. Our boys are 4 years old and 20 months old and finding the right kind of care that's best for us all has been tough, both emotionally and on the wallet. This morning I went to drop Justin off (our 20 month old) at his old daycare and after I left the room I watched as he stood there and wailed for 5-10 minutes. The caregiver had set him down the second I left the room and as I waited to fill out forms in the main office I could hear my baby crying his lungs out. I peeked in and still no one was holding him... I watched as a woman picked him up for a minute or so and then I came back again and he was standing there, balling alone. They were crazy busy and I could see that there was so much going on, but still, it just felt wrong in my gut. I told the director as much and left. They tried to be nice but it just didn't feel right.

...SO now I'm at home with Justin and no childcare, the day off, and a search for Mary Poppins.

{Oh Mary... we need you!!}

Being a working parent & having your own business has its own set of challenges. I've actually heard people (without kids) talk down about working-designing-moms as if their businesses are somewhat of a joke. I'm sure you're familiar with the terms "mommy decorators" or "mommy bloggers." Does being a parent truly take away some sort of credibility in the design world? Or does also being a blogger in addition to being a decorator mean that you don't deserve to be where you are? (Clearly I don't think so, but sadly I've heard about people making this implication in general... )

It's at times like this though- when I'm dealing with childcare issues and sit typing with a toddler on my lap- that I honestly start to wonder if these people are right??? I feel lucky to have gotten a shower in & to be dressed in normal clothes. It's sometimes hard not to lose all confidence and wonder what in the world I'm doing or trying to do. Am I just a "mommy" decorator faking it in the real world of suited interior designers?

I'm clearly in a low spot right now to be even going on this rant, but I wish anyone thinking this way knew & understood all of the effort it takes to be where they are at 9 AM. They might show up fresh & ready to rock, whereas the parent has been up for hours, having fed, bathed & dressed her kids for school and dropped them off and that's if everything went smoothly. What exactly am I asking for? No it's not sympathy, but maybe a little understanding. Because anyone who has to have someone else look after his or her children so he or she can go to work, is very serious about his or her career. I think it's easy to quick-judge people and put them in a box. (it's CLEAR that I am ranting.. running from one working parent issue to the next. please forgive me... But I have to say, it is making me feel better ;)

Anyway, I'm off to go pick up Christian from his new school. Fingers crossed all went well. Sorry about the sort of down & out post.
I'd love to hear your thoughts though as bloggers & readers on the "mommy blogger" / "mommy decorator issue." Has anyone experienced what I'm talking about?

If you'd like help creating a home you absolutely love, contact me about our design services.

My Dad's Dining Room: Finally {Almost} Finished!

2011-08-26T09:56:00.000-04:00

You might remember this project from way-back-when but my dad's dining room at the lake cottage started out looking like this:

The room was actually taken down to its studs prior to this picture being taken but I don't have any shots of that.

Over the years, we added the table & light fixure & built-in cabinetry. It's finally almost totally finished (with the exception of maybe a rug for the cooler months and shades on the windows) so I wanted to share a few pics I took:

{The boys use the table more than anyone for coloring & projects and of course eating (ie making a HUGE mess with food for Justin.)

I wanted the kitchen & dining room to feel simple & practical and carry a bit of nostalgia for my Grandma (who died 20 years ago but is still somehow a driving force in my family) with it. It cleans up so easily & there's no stress with messes. (Crayons came right off of the chairs- don't worry Dad!)

I used my Live Paisley linen in dusty blue on the curtains because of the colors of my Grandma's china (now displayed in the built-in cabinetry)

Here's a very crooked picture of the cabinetry:

{I forgot to get a straight photo of this spot with the new hardware on- oops!- atleast you get the idea}

This cottage has been in our family since 1958, with the dining room & open kitchen at its heart. So many meals have taken place here and for my family, eating is a BIG deal. In reality, any room is just the backdrop for the life that's going on there, but it makes me so happy that the backdrop here finally feels right. My Grandma & Nanoo loved this house and truly made it into a home. My Grandma had a very disctinct style: She loved flowery details and was pretty frilly, but also a very simple woman. Function & practicality were always first. I like to think of the house as an updated, tiny-bit-more-masculine version of my Grandma and I think she'd love it if she could see it now.

{Queen Anne's lace on the table thrills me to no end... seriously.}

One of my favorite things about visiting the old house is picking flowers from our field and bringing them inside. My grandma always used to ask me to pick flowers & bring them in when I was a little girl. It's such a simple thing, but when we go out & pick flowers, I'm in Heaven.

Also, I've received a lot of questions about my textile line & how to order, so I just wanted to clarify a little bit. In September, I will be selling the fabrics online (in my new online store - Pure Style Home) for those who don't live in Virginia or those who don't have access to the Design Center of Northern Virginia. It's an online store where you will be able to view all of the fabrics & colorways, and purchase sample memos & yardage right there at the site if you need to. (I'm waiting until September to debut the line because the fabrics have not yet been photographed so without, pictures, there's no way for me to really sell them online. My good friend & photographer Helen Norman and my family & I are doing a photoshoot at Helen's farm for the fabrics in a couple of weeks and I can't wait to share them with you!! Not only will we be photographing the fabrics themselves but we're putting them in lifestyle settings that embody the feeling I hope that the fabrics convey: classic fresh, simple & carefree, and in some cases a little vintage or bohemian.)

If you are in the DC metro area, you can view my fabric line at the Design Center of Northern Virginia.

Thanks for the support & have a great weekend!! (Can you believe summer's almost over?? wa wa wa)

If you'd like help creating a home you absolutely love, contact me about our design services.

Queen Anne's Bouquet

2011-08-22T10:28:00.000-04:00

I've got more pictures of my new fabrics/ curtains! (I'm sorry if you're sick of them by now, but I am so insanely excited that I can't stop.) In my bedroom at the cottage (my dad's) I decided to hang my newest design Queen Anne's Bouquet on either side of the doors to the balcony:

I had them lined in blackout lining although I typically prefer unlined linen or a light lining for an airy feel, but the sun streams straight through the doors in the morning & we wake up around 5:30 or so every morning because of it, so function over form won out here.

Here's a close-up of the fabric, which is a "bouquet" I drew of one of my favorite wildflowers:

The room is very much unfinished. Although I do have a pretty white quilt I and a pair of lamps I love. I had the ceiling paneled in pine and I haven't yet decided what I want to do with it. My original thoughts a few years ago were to try out some type of limewash, but now I'm really undecided and have lots of thoughts floating around about it. I do think I want to keep the walls white (a new white though) as for my own personal bedrooms, I really prefer white. (It goes best with all of my colorful clothes strewn about! ;) ;)

{Yeah, I know the recessed light kind of kills it, but like I said, I didn't win every battle here.}

As we make more progress here I'll be sure to share.

And many of you have asked about when the fabrics will be available for sale & how to buy them (thank you!)... I am truly working as fast as I can to get these babies available. There will be about fifteen different designs in the first collection with 2-7 colorways per design. (For a total of 60 or so different fabrics.) I am still working on the final designs and we're photographing the entire collection at the end of the month so I plan to have them online soon after. Like I mentioned before, I was a little surprised when I first started looking into the cost for the fabrics. I've learned that high quality linens are much more expensive to make when they aren't mass-produced and we've priced the fabrics accordingly. (Approx $120/ yard) In my own home I have my fabrics on pillows only right now ;)

When I first started designing textiles, I really had no idea where I wanted to take it. I began more on a whim just because it excited me. I have to say that I am now head over heels for it and am gaining more confidence with it. I originally thought I'd have artists do the designs but now I've started doing them myself and it's really satisfyling. I'm not an artist by any means and drawing & painting doesn't come naturally to me AT ALL, but I have actually been able to create some things that I really love and that speak to me. I haven't quite decided yet how I want to sell these fabrics or where I want to take it, which I know sounds like an odd way to start a business. (And I agree.) I normally set very concrete goals for my self & my business and follow planned out steps to get there, but not this time. The textile industry is very new to me & until I can figure out how I want to navigate the waters, I'm taking it slow. There are those who design patterns and sell them to fabric companies for money (which is sooo not where I'm going... these designs are really personal to me and I am so not disattaching myself from them) there are those who do books for other companies (for example Windsor Smith's collection for Kravet) and then there are those who sell fabric under their own company and have their collections sold in showrooms (Kathryn Ireland for example also sells her fabrics at John Rosselli Showrooms) and then there are a tons of small companies who sell on their own. I really haven't decided where I want to go with this or which way is best for me/ my family.

The fabrics are currently only being shown & sold in one showroom in Virginia. (And if you're a designer in Virginia, you can contact the Design Center of Northern Virginia for trade pricing.) Like I mentioned, thery're being photographed at the end of August, so until then, I have no way to sell them without any pictures. I will be sure to post as soon as they're online.

If you'd like help creating a home you absolutely love, contact me about our design services.

Lake House Peek

2011-08-19T09:44:00.001-04:00

We got the curtains up in my dad's lake house this week and it made such a difference. We still have a lot of work to do but it's really starting to feel good. Curtains always seem to make a house a home. It suddenly feels warm & lived in (in a good way.) As you might remember, I had curtains made from my new textile line for the house and for some of these patterns, it was the first time I'd actually even seen them.

My dad's a fisherman & I played around with a few of his things on the walls:

{Sometimes I like a touch if kitcsh and I hung my dad's old wooden fish on a nail}

I used my "Live Paisely" linen in antique beige for the living room curtains. My dad built a fireplace out of massive stones and I brought the curtains right up to fireplace to soften it a bit and create a little more drama:

{Sorry for the grainy pictures... The room was dark when I took these pics.}

Like I mentioned before, my dad's renovation of our family's lake cottage has been a sloooow process but it's now almost finished. {Let the decorating begin!!} The main areas are done and just need paint (I'm going a little bluer in the living room above and some walls have never even been painted} and the new basement is being drywalled this month. The existing living room furniture is headed down to the new basement (sometimes I think basements are where furniture goes to die) and I'm bringing in new upholstery. I think I'm most excited about adding new lighting to replace empty sockets & builder grade fixtures.

Like I've mentioned before, my dad and I have butted heads like CRAZY on this house. He wants me to design it but deep down inside he thinks he's a very gifted decorator and fights me every step of the way. He has a little old Italian lady inside him (maybe my grandma??) and mixed with his macho man attitude, it makess for very over-the-top more-is-more granny decorating: Crown moldings can never be large enough (even when the proportions are wrong for a room) and everything needs to "POP." Shiny is always better and any sign of age on something means it's junk. (aaaaaahhhhh) We fought like cats & dogs about the massive $10,000+ oak Thomasville media untit & bedroom set he owned & bought in the early 90s. TVs don't even fit in the hole anymore but he refuses to part with it because he spent so much on it. (The piece is now in storage... another place I htink furniture goes to die. ;)

My dad is my toughest client by faaaaaaaaar. Anyway, he's always thrilled when I do something to the house & I think (hope!!) that he's finally starting to trust me & won't undo everything when I leave this time. It always ends with "you were right," but decorating this way can be kind of expensive because I have to undo a lot. (Why not just give up you ask? I really don't know... I guess it's because I love this house so much & it has so much potential.)

He finally agreed to paint over the newly installed knotty pine beadboard on the front porch ceiling and to tear down the Victorian cobwebs he'd added to the {very simple} house. He also finally let me paint the porch spindles solid white instead of white with gray beads the way theyd' been for years and even though they "popped" so nicely. I removed the new red gingham cushions on the wicker furniture and replaced them with simple tan and put out an indoor-outdoor rug I'd bought years ago and I couldn't be happier:

{And my dad's happy too.}

This house has definitely been a labor of love (and war!) but it's all worth it in the end. I'll take pictures of the other rooms & share soon!!

ps- love you dad even though I complain. You're the best!

If you'd like help creating a home you absolutely love, contact me about our design services.