Clients' Master Bath Before & After

In the clients' home I shared with you last week, I also mentioned that we did their master bathroom.  I took some photos of it to show you the "before & after" of the construction.  We're in the process of adding towels & accessories & things to the walls so I'll be sure to share when it's truly finished. The original bathroom was large but my clients weren't loving its functionality (or lack or it) or the materials.  Here's what it looked like before: 

{The tub butted up to the side of the shower, which had a glass surround with a thick chrome frame.}

{My clients didn't need a sitting vanity area but preferred his and hers sinks.  We also saw that there was a big chunk of wasted space in the corner between the counter tops.  My favorite thing about the original bathroom was that the toilet was in its own room & we kept it that way.}

We decided upon a palette of pale blues & creams and worked with our friend Mike Carr of CarrMichael Construction to design the new cabinetry & layout. We settled on timeless fixtures and I was thrilled when our clients said "yes" to painted shiplap walls.

Anyway, here's the bathroom now:

The shiplap walls add so much warmth and texture to the bathroom.  It feels so much more substantial now and has that slight coastal eel that my clients love.  We had them painted the same color as the ceiling.  The pale blue floors are made up of 4x4 tiles which we had laid in a brick pattern.  

I'm a tad obsessed with their new soaking tub:

The polished nickel hardware is just so substantial and pretty in 'real life.'  (I took this photo before we hung the natural woven shades, which add a warm wood element to the room I love...  and more importantly, privacy ;) ;) 

The shower surround is now a frameless glass one (our clients selected clear glass) so it takes up so much less visual space in the room.  It was tough to get a good photo:

When I'd originally presented this design, we were planning in having a percentage of cream 4x4s mixed in with the pale blue ones.  I'd done something similar before & had loved it but when the tiles arrived and were laid out in the bathroom for approval, it just wasn't right because there was too much contrast between the creams & blues.  It looked a crazy person had designed it!! (Which I guess is true ;) ;)  We quickly ordered more blue tiles & of course the project was held up slightly because of it.  I felt really terrible but my clients were very understanding.

For metals, we used a combination of polished nickel & antiqued silver.  I like to mix metals so that rooms have a bit more interest & are a bit more relaxed feeling.  I think rooms with mixed metals just look a bit more effortless & stylish than ones where everything matches perfectly.  

I'm in the process of scheduling photographer (and good friend!!) Helen Norman to come & photograph my clients' home because she will do it so much more justice than I did!! :)  As soon as I have those pics, I'll be sure to share them so you can see the difference. But I hope you enjoyed what you did see!!  Have a great day & stay cool.   (AC broken here = really fun!! ... But honestly makes me feel very fortunate for being able to have AC.)

To view the rest of my clients' home, go here.  

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

Luxury at Home

lux·u·ry  

/ˈləkSH(ə)rē

n. pl. lux·u·ries

1. Something inessential but conducive to pleasure and comfort.

2. Something expensive or hard to obtain.

3. Sumptuous living or surroundings: lives in luxury.

Synonyms: luxury, extravagance, frill

[Middle English luxurie, lust, from Old French, from Latin luxuria, excess, luxury, from luxus.]

{Simple Luxury: House Beautiful}

Luxury is a word that seems to get thrown around a lot. It seems someone's always asking, "What is luxury?" or telling us what's luxurious.  I think luxury has become something other than what it was once thought of...  It used to be more associated with money and expense rather than simplicity and comfort.  In the above definition, you can see its different meanings.  The first definition is the closest meaning to how I view it now, but reading further down the list, the definition goes back to money and "extravagance" and excess, all of which are typically viewed fairly negatively in our culture, even if it's what people really want.  (Meaning, if you're a billionaire and you don't spend a lot of money and live modestly, people commend you....   if you "waste" it and are a drunken sailor about it, or surround yourself with extravagance and "excess," it's not very respected.)  These days, luxury seems to be more about small details and comfort and quality and time.  The phrase "the luxury of time" has been around a while so we have always put value on that but I think the idea that "luxury" can be simple and meaningful has really taken a hold of our society.  Also, I've noticed that when people are asked what "luxury" is to them, "luxury" seems to become more about what it is they want most...  the best part of their lives: the unexpected details and wonderful things that pop up & happen.  In an Australian Vogue article I was reading recently, one person interviewed said the best luxury was when a friend picked her up from the airport with a bouquet of fresh picked flowers.  It was an unexpected surprise, but really just one of life's simple pleasures that made her feel pampered and special.  

When asked what my "greatest luxury" is, my first answer is automatically "time with my family."  To me, it's something that I don't get enough of and it makes me happier than anything else.  

{Me with Justin, photo by Vy Koenig} Along with having the time, part of what helps me enjoy being with my family is simple, good living.  An ease to daily life.  Not being surrounded by "stuff" and things that take my attention away from life and enjoy being with my family at home. A comfortable house.  Good simple food.  (Does Whole Foods count as a luxury??)   Just simply enjoying life with the people I love...  

See how "luxury" seems to become what it is a person wants most?  I'm not sure the definition of luxury includes "little things that make life feel special" but it really does seem like that's what it's becoming, or at least how I've started to view it: Clean Sheets on a newly made bed, open windows, fresh flowers on the nightstand, time with the people you love, an unexpected note on nice paper, space, al fresco dining, a place for everything, reading leisurely, an exceptionally comfortable sofa, a mudroom, a fire in the fireplace, a simple yet beautiful meal, candlelight, an organized closet, time, time & more time.

{Linens drying on a clothesline...  image via pinterest} To me, a life with "luxury" would be a life where things are uncomplicated and simple yet exciting.  Special little somethings come into it and there's really just a general ease of life.  Waking up and feeling free and ready to go.  Rested.  Having the time to hang with the ones you love before the craziness of the day begins. Going into your closet and seeing everything at a glance and easily pulling together something that's already pressed and ready to go and looks perfect.  (Doesn't happen for me!! ;)  Leaving a clean house and getting into a clean car.  (My ride of choice these days is either a milk-encrusted minivan or a pick-up truck with over 300,000 miles on it and no AC!! That's luxury baby!!  ;) ;)  It really is the little things though.  Things that make you feel more comfortable, both physically & emotionally.   Since my work is about home, I find myself thinking about how "home" can be luxurious, in the simple, comfortable context.  Redoing my home from the ground up has been eye opening.  I wouldn't have done what I did without having lived in my previous homes & having observed so much while we were there about how we lived.  A lot of what I do is "decorating" but in the past year or so, we've started taking on more & more projects that involve new homes, renovations and space planning.  When you get to really think through what's going to be where, you can plan a home so that it is exactly the way the people who live there need it to be for the easiest living, the most simple (or most "luxurious") living.  Things can be where they need to be and special little details can be incorporated that don't cost much but that make the home feel luxurious to the people who live there.   In our home, we enclosed a small, unloved rocky area just outside of our master bedroom and created a private special little garden patio with an outdoor shower.  We shower outside every day and to me, it's one of those "luxuries" that isn't about money or frills, but just about enjoying something small but incredibly good.  I get to look up at the sky and just think while I'm showering in the morning.  In the evenings, I can rinse off before bed and really appreciate being outside in the night when it's quiet.  Outdoor towel hooks are just where we need them to be.  There's a pair of chairs out there where Dave & I can sit and talk.  The boys love showering out there too- even the baby.  It wasn't hard to do, but creating this little secret garden in our bedroom has made such a difference in our life.   

{Not our outdoor shower.. image via pinterest} As I plan our home (and the homes of clients) I try to think about how to design & decorate a home so that it works for us...  So that things are where they need to be and there's just enough space to do what needs to be done... and I try to think about where unexpected little things or luxuries that can be added to make the house special: shelves for books, a window seat, a place to display collected treasures, a massive sofa outside...  For some people, it's an extra sink in the kitchen for washing garden vegetables, french doors that open to the outside in every room, curtains blowing in the breeze, a bathroom where everyone has enough room, a meaningful photograph displayed prominently, a large nightstand in the bedroom for storage, a porch swing, a place to hide the mess, a sentimental painting, a perfectly worn farmhouse table in the kitchen that doesn't need to be worried about, a soaking tub in their bathroom, a fabric that brings on the memories, an herb garden in the kitchen, the perfect reading chair, or a guest room large enough to fit a slew of grand kids.  It's different for everyone.  

{Bunk room via pinterest}

There are so many simple opportunities for us to inject a little luxury into our homes, even after they've already been built.  I'm finding that it's becoming one of my favorite aspects of my job: Figuring out what that little something in a home or room that makes the people who live there and visit there feel special & comfortable...    A little bit of luxury.   The simple kind. How can you add a little in your home?

If you'd like help creating a home you absolutely love, contact me about our design services. *Definition of luxury from dictionary.com

Client's Den Before & After Sneakity Peek

It has been absolute MAYHEM over here lately.  I guess it's kind of good mayhem because were getting lots done on our house, Christian is graduating from kindergarten and work has been great, but I'm definitely feeling a little crazed.

{The good kind of mayhem}

One of my favorite parts of all of the mayhem though- besides my boys-  is always project installations!!  Installations really bring on the pressure... Ours aren't typically as crazy as the ones on TV with the family driving home for the big reveal as the last accessory gets placed, but they can come close to that.  It's the day where so many little details need to fall into place so that your plans can be fully realized.  I want my clients to walk home to "home" and be in love with it.

Last week we installed a couple of rooms in our clients' home and today I wanted to share the husband's den with you.  Before I show you the pictures, I have to tell you what an awesome couple (and parents!) my clients are.  There's just so much love between them and they're just so cool.  Seeing them together is like seeing people you just know are meant to be together.  I don't often work closely with both a husband and a wife (it's usually the wife) so I've really enjoyed getting to know them as a couple.  Anyway, there's a small den off of the foyer that the husband has been dreaming of turning into one of those great old causal, masculine rooms where he can relax, read, have drinks with a friend, etc.  I loooove projects like these because it's different from what we often work on and in this case, we got to really have some fun with it.  Here's what the den looked like before:

We were keeping the sofa and the leather chair (which is a recliner)  but we got to change pretty much everything else:

{an mid-installation pics I snapped}

We wanted the room to be a warm, cozy & darker space that sort of cut you off from the rest of the house when you were in it.  I wanted the walls & ceiling to sort of cocoon you when you were in there.  We started the plan with a plaid wallpaper on the ceiling:

It's hard to see from the above pic but there are actually green lines running through the plaid alongside the light line so we did the walls in a rich green-gray. I love how the blue of the sofa looks against the warm green-gray paneling.  The room is fairly tiny so in lieu of end tables with lamps we did a pair of brass & white glass lamps on either side of the sofa to flank art we'd collected.  The first piece is up...

{An antique hunt print we found soon to be joined by other things my clients collect} ...and we've got a few more to go! My client is going to take his time collecting things for the room and I can't wait to see it when it's finished!!  When we go back and photograph it, I'll share the rest of the room with you, but hope you enjoyed the sneakity peek! :)  Have a great day & fingers crossed for us because today is the day we put a fifteen foot wide hole in our house to get ready for the massive window in our upstairs loft!!  It's going to be hot and  really messy for a while here.  I'm in the process of finding more things for our place so we can be DONE.  (As "done" as people like us let things be ;)  I'll keep you posted!!

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

Clients' Traditional Living Room Before & After

Last week we installed a couple of rooms our clients' home so I thought I'd share a few afters (iphone/ instagram  pics) I snapped.  I met our clients years ago when I first started out decorating.  They'd given me a call to do a consultation in their home way back when.  We got along really well and I was so happy to get a call a few years later after they purchased their new home.  My clients are a young (incredibly sweet & happy) family who love a traditional-feeling home that feels fresh and a tad fun.  We usually throw in a little preppy streak too for good measure. Here is their living room when we first started out:

{They had JUST moved in at this point FYI}

They already had a beautiful rug that we all decided should stay, and the paintings over the mantle are actually of my clients' farmhouse on their wedding day.  If you look in the paintings, you can see my clients and their families & friends having a blast.  (There are even fireworks in one painting!!!  Wish I'd known them sooner!! ;) ;)  So, of course, those were staying!!  We also had a tan sofa to work with (not pictured) and we built the room around these things.  

Here it is now:

{We layered the sofa with some of my textiles:  Queen Anne's Bouquet & Pierced Porcelain in Blue}

My clients love green and blue so I used the shades of green & blue that were just barely there in the rug to make the color scheme more to their liking.  We added a seagrass rug to layer under the existing wool rug because it was too small for the room.  (We use this trick in at least half -if not more- of our projects because it allows you to use rugs that might not otherwise fit the space perfectly and it creates another natural layer of interest.)  

Here's the view from the foyer when we started:  

And here it is now:

{The foyer rug also has some green woven into it...  We did a massive family gallery wall going up the stairs.}

The curtains and natural woven roman shades really made this room for me.  They softened it and made it feel lived-in.  We used a little trick to save on the shades:  They're only about 3 feet long even though the windows would have required that they be 70-some inches because my clients don't plan on actually using them.  Instead, they just serve to add a little natural warmth to the room.  

The green & white striped swivel chairs really added the energy we needed to the room.  The slipcovers were fabricated out of a very soft, washed linen which feels more casual than what normally might have gone into a room like this.  We wanted the living room to feel more formal than other rooms in the house so they could host parties & get-togethers with friends, but we still wanted everyone to feel like they could snuggle up, put their feet up, and relax.

It was important to us all that the home feel like it was put together over time and we incorporated some vintage & antique elements, which is really my favorite way to decorate.  We recovered a pair of tall old cane backed chairs with blue seats and placed them in front of the windows on either side of the fireplace...

...which is just the type of age & layering we were after.  

My clients have collected some beautiful oil paintings over the years and I hung two of them on either side of the doorway to the sun room above a pair of mahogany dressers topped with concrete mossy urns.  Here's a photo of one of them: 

I was so excited when my client said she was up for a little animal print in the room (!!)  and so we brought in a leopard bench. (below)  The bench was supposed to be six feet wide but came in at only three feet wide (don't you love it when that happens?! ;) but I did take pics with it in the room because I loved how the fabric looked in there so much.  (A new one is being made now)

For this project, my clients opted for an accessories "package" as we call it, where they gave me an accessories budget and I went shopping with it.  It's so much fun and really yields the best results because I can get great things when I see them without having to get them approved (by the time you often get small things approved, they're already gone) and things look so much better when they're in their intended places so it makes sense once a client sees it.  I also bring more than I use and then get to leave only the things that look best,   (The urns, the antique plaques on the left wall, the fiddle leaf fig, the mantle arrangement and a few of other things are from the accessories package.  The dinosaur on the coffee table- the piece de la resistance in the room- however, was already there. ;) ;)  
I'm off for the day but will be sure to share some more before & afters this week!! Hope you enjoyed!!


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

Dining Room Before & After

If you've been reading my blog for a while, you probably know that I love before & afters.  (And if you're new to it, I love before & afters.)  There's something so satisfying about them with their instant gratification.  You get to see the meh "before" and then scroll down a little and the room is finished.  

{Before}

{After}

In my mind when I'm planning rooms, one way I look at them is by thinking about each wall and each view or "elevation."  I think about how it will look from the camera's eye.  When I'm finishing up a room or accessorizing it, I often take photos myself of rooms to make sure I'm happy with how the space is looking.  The camera helps me be more objective & more critical.  

The dining room I'm sharing pictures of today was the type of room that I can see with pretty much crystal clarity in my mindseye as I'm creating the plan.  It was easy for me to envision because it was a fairly square room and had an important focal wall that is seen right when you walk into the house.  I worked with my clients throughout the first floor of their home (It was their family room I showed above, and you can view the full family room here) but the dining room was actually the first room we did, because it was empty. My client wanted a relaxed yet elegant dining room that made her go "ahhh." (And that's a sigh, not a yell ;)  Like I mentioned in my previous post about this client, she & her family love to spend time on the water and she loves nature.  

We started with this blank slate:

And ended up with this:

I was so excited about this plan when I presented it to my client.  I typically work with my clients throughout almost their entire homes so the first presentation meeting for the first room or set of rooms is really important in setting the tone for the home  and for determining how we're going to work together.  As much as I love designing a home in its entirety, I also love for clients to get the chance to experience a room entirely through from conception to completion because after that, the trust between us is incredibly strong as we go through the rest of the home.  Decorating a house can be worrisome for lots of people and so having this trust is key.

When I started working on the plans for this room, I knew I wanted to do a painted blue sideboard and a wood-topped table.  I love a mix of painted and wood furnishings in a room and thought blue would be perfect for my client's coastal leanings.  All of my client's inspiration rooms seemed to have slipcovered parsons chairs so we decided to go with those and I had them made with simple linen slips that didn't reach the floor, to keep things casual.  I thought adding a casual striped dhurrie would bring the formality down another notch and relax everything a bit.   The branch chandelier was one of the most important elements in the room to me & when I presented it to my client (at our first presentation meeting) I really wasn't sure that she would go for it.  (I'll be honest, most clients wouldn't go for it.)  I think I probably hugged her when she said "yes" to it like it was really no big deal.  (Thanks Colleen!!! :)

{Custom Side board & Windsor Chairs by Furniture from the Barn} 

For the artwork, we found these big black herb prints to go above the blue sideboard that would really create a dramatic focal point.  We've used black accents throughout the room and I liked the idea of doing a big jolt of black in the middle of the room.  We flanked the artwork with some gorgeous sconces by Julie Neil.  We had curtains made in my "Live Paisley" in a custom brown colorway to bring a little bit more organic movement into the room.  

 And, although it doesn't look like it, we did repaint this room.  The color we chose (my favorite go-to ivory, Benjamin Moore's "seashell" just had the slightest bit of glow to it that the original paint was missing.  It's something that doesn't necessarily show in photos, but when you get the right light neutral up on a wall, it makes a room sing.  It was that trust I mentioned that really made this project so special and such a pleasure to work on.  The Bamboo Windsor Chairs initially made my client a bit nervous because she thought they might feel a bit too traditional, and so we held off on them. Once the room was installed without them though, my client was ready for them.  They're one of my favorite elements in the room and that little addition of warm wood was just what it needed.

I'm off for an installation in DC, but hope you enjoyed!! I'll be sharing our clients' foyer soon too. And thank you, especially, to my client, for being so open-minded about everything.  (She's the one who is an artist and doesn't know it yet.  See here.  She's said she's open to doing more paintings, so if you're interested, send me an email.)  Have a great day!!




If you'd like help creating a home you absolutely love, contact me about our design services.
*All after photos taken by my insanely talented friend, Helen Norman

Our Patio Before & After

Today's the day our patio makeover is up on The Home Depot blog!! We started with our backyard looking like this...

...And decided to add a patio there because we wanted a sort of outdoor family room where we could hang with the kids & entertain.  Home Depot gave us a sectional that we added to in order to make a massive  hangout area.  Our good friend, Mike Carr - of CarrMichael Construction- had the stone patio built.  And now we've got this: 

 I layered the sofa with some of my own fabrics and added in some vintage chairs so it would really reflect our style:

I took a TON of photos of the space and explained each and every little thing in the Home Depot blog so if you have some time, check it out here.

I'm off for an installation but hope you enjoy the post!!  Have a great day!!



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

Client's Family Room Before & After

We've had a busy week so far over here & I just got photos back from my good friend & photographer, Helen Norman, who photographed a couple of our finished projects on Monday.  I'm so excited to share the before & afters with you!!  My incredibly sweet client is very laid-back and relaxed and wanted a home that felt calming, pretty, comfortable and relaxed.  She & her family love spending time on the water and when we looked through inspiration photos together, she was mostly drawn to coastal-feeling homes.  Her kids are older now and she was ready to completely redo her home and get it exactly as she'd always wanted it to feel.  Here's how the family room looked before:

And here it is now:

I really love my client's style... she loves natural materials as much as I do, so I used lots of them which makes it feel really textural and natural- seagrass, linen, burlap, jute rope, driftwood and raw woods mixed with metals...  My client really trusted me in the space and I was so excited when she decided to take a risk on the rope chairs!!  They're one of my favorite things in the room and they are sooo comfy & fun!!  The curtains also really change the feeling of the room-  they're a soft watery ikat comprised of blues & greens & chartreuse.  We had them hung above the arched windows which simplifies all of room's the lines a bit and makes it feel more classic and architecturally-pleasing.

The sea life prints are a mix of vintage and new prints that I've been collecting for a while.  Because my client's so trusting, she was comfortable with me finding all of the pieces over time and hanging them for her, sight unseen.  (This is always so much fun for me because I feel like I can stretch my "wings" a little and I can do things that might seem a little disjointed on paper but that look great in real life, which is more how I design my own home.  You'll notice that there are lots of different frames hanging up there and that they're hung pretty randomly, but I'm happy to report that she loved it. :)

And, my client is super-talented... unbeknownst to me until I saw this gorgeous painting she did for the family room:

{Pillow Fabrics: Pear Linen, "Tree of Life" by Jasper, and Squircles" by Lauren Liess Textiles}

She said she was "just fooling around" but if I could fool around like that, I'd call myself an artist!!!  I asked her if she'd be open to painting more for future projects and she said she would be, so I'm thrilled about that.  She used so many colors & there's so much depth to it... I love how it turned out.  

And, finally, one last pic of the whole room:

I hope you enjoyed this peek into my client's home...  I'll be back later this week with photos of her dining room and foyer!!  Have a great day! :)

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

DC Row House Main Living Room Before & After

If you are on Instagram or follow along with my instant pics on the sidebar of the blog, you may have noticed that yesterday was an especially rewarding day:  We finished another project installation.  This project was different from most of our projects in that it was implemented over time.  We created a full design plan for our clients a year or so ago (I think??) and as the project entailed a lot of time & expense, our clients decided to implement the project in phases.  What I love about this approach was that my clients didn't sacrifice anything.  They got everything they wanted exactly as they wanted it because they were really patient & willing to wait.  They began with the paint, the built-ins, and then moved onto lighting, curtains and rugs.  The final installation (of furnishings!!) happened yesterday and I'm so excited to share it with you.  Here's what the living and dining space looked like before:

My clients decided they didn't need the additional dining area (we've got a breakfast nook in the kitchen) and so we turned it into an additional seating area with a 4- chair arrangement for playing games, reading and chatting.  Here's what the room looks like now:

Yesterday, I styled the bookshelves with all of our clients' own things and got the room feeling nice and lived in...

The childrens' books are mixed in with their parents' books and their is tons of storage for games & crafts hidden throughout the built-ins.  

I connected the spaces with two overscale lanterns which you might recognize from my previous post.  (The Morris Lantern from Visual Comfort ;) ;)

Because there's a small nook for the sofa in the TV-watching end of the room and not much room in it for end tables, we went with pivoting wall sconces on either side of the sofa.  I was excited about showing off their pretty silhouettes against the hand-block-printed Le Gracieux curtains:

{I snapped this pic as we were hanging art}

My clients wanted a really warm, cozy and energetic-feeling home.  They are some of the nicest people I've ever met and I really feel like their home matching them in warmth.  My client herself looks especially beautiful in the house becomes it complements her hair and skin tones so well.

Here's a close-up that shows the coffee table, which I love:

{The pillow is in my "Filigree Chevron" in Autumn}

 Here's a "before" picture of the fireplace wall, which faces the TV:

...And here is is now:

{The oranges & yellows & pear greens were pulled straight from the rug}

My clients have the "go ahead" to collect more green pottery on their travels so we can fill up these shelves!! ;) ;)

We're putting a fiddle leaf fig in the right nook that will look like this:

This photo shows you how the TV fits:

The 4 chairs are all on swivels so if they want to, they can swivel around and become a part of the TV-watching area or enjoy the fire...

I'm off for the day and hope you enjoyed!! I also had to share this Instagram pic of me with Dave on the way home...  There's nothing more fulfilling than getting to work with this guy every day:

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