E-Decorating: After

I was so excited to see these images in my inbox this weekend! A little background before I share....

Typically when I send off a design board, I'll get a couple questions back and comments like "we love it! thank you!" It makes me feel really good to help people all over the country with their decorating needs, but I rarely see any "after" images.

The great thing about design boards are you could follow the boards exactly or you can use the board as inspiration/a starting point. These particular clients used my board as a starting off point and ultimately created a space that had the exact same feeling I was going for. Because no matter what materials, colors, etc you use... it's all about how you feel when you walk into the room. I wanted this space to be fun, happy, but also elegant. The clients did an AMAZING job at achieving this!

Here is my original design board:



I advised them to pull inspiration from their Chiang Mai pillows in the next room (I believe this print is so popular because of the vivid and beautiful colors):




Although they didn't go with the light blue and red from the print, they went with the black, white and turquoise.

Here are the afters!









They did such a great job! I love the wallpaper they went with and the needlepoint pillow on the vintage chair.

Sleep

I'm back after a weekend at Duke University. My brother in law goes there and we helped move him into his dorm (he's a junior). It's weird - I missed living in a dorm but at the same time I really didn't. I guess that's what it's like, growing up and being an "adult".

Anyway, I have lots to do so this post will be short and sweet (and late.. sorry!). I titled it "sleep" because I am very tired; I never sleep well in hotels. I also titled this post "sleep" because after posting my Master Bedroom Inspiration post Friday, ironically some inspiration hit and I thought - maybe I should walk away from the cream walls and go with something dark. I've had a dark bedroom since 2004 and I am a firm believer that it aids in good sleep. And looks good.

This is what I'm currently pondering:



The name deep space (by Benjamin Moore) describes it perfectly. A color that helps you imagine laying in warm grass and staring up at the stars... who couldn't fall asleep to that?

Now please excuse me while I get caught up on work and sip my second Coke Zero in a row...

Master Bedroom

I have complete designers block when it comes to our master bedroom. I know what elements I want and what furniture has to stay (our bed), but as far as the color, fabric, etc... I have no clue! Designing for myself is much harder than designing for clients. As Sarah Richardson says, I need to find a fabric that "speaks" to me and go from there.

In the mean time, here are some bedrooms that I've saved in my inspiration folder the last couple years. Maybe they will re-inspire me!

Hardware Love

Hardware can really bring in tons of personality to your home. For instance, I really hate this piece, but I love the hardware (I purchased at Anthro), so for now it's okay.





The less knobs you have, the crazier you can go with them. But when you have a project that has more than just a couple, stay simple. (You can still find "cool" knobs that aren't as "loud").

MIL and I are working on a project that requires 8 knobs... here are some of my contenders:

Polished Nickel Glass Knob

"Jadeite" Knob

And my personal favorite....

Cupboard Latch

Can't wait until this little project is done! :)

Entrance & Stuff

Yesterday MIL and I sweated it out while putting up new lights on our entrance. Remember this is what the house came with:



And these are the new lights:



Sooo much better!

You'll also notice I took the storm door off. While MIL was connecting some wires, I got a little trigger happy with the drill. But I think it looks so much better, don't you? And we didn't use the storm door.

I'm also getting an itch to paint the front door yellow....

[ real simple ]

What do you think? I worry what it'd look like on a dreary winter day...

Also, I saw these plants at a local outdoor shopping mall yesterday. Does anyone know what they are? I would love to have them by our entrance:





With plants this bright, I probably wouldn't need a yellow door....... (thinking out loud here).

And last but not least, some cute pictures of Charlotte:





Yeah, she's got some bad teeth. Don't judge!

The Current State of Our Address

Well it's almost September (!!!!) and the next 4 months will be full of festivities. In September I'm hosting book club, then comes Thanksgiving (we're hosting!) and Christmas (which will also be here). So this means I must get the house a little more put together.

I showed you the before's, then I showed you some pictures of us working on the house when we first moved in. I thought I'd show you some "during". Things haven't changed much, but I wanted to document the current state of our house since I anticipate things changing a bit in the next couple months (or at least I hope so!).

(this is only downstairs. & these are candid shots so excuse the random stuff).

FAMILY ROOM
What's new: finally finished painting the fireplace
What's coming soon: an ottoman + tray to replace that ugly side table
What's in the far future: a new couch, an accent chair, a new TV stand.




KITCHEN
What's new: put up the bamboo shades up
What's coming soon: (hopefully) new lights, rug under kitchen table
What's in the far future: new hood and in the waaay far future - granite and floors!




DINING ROOM
What's new: dining table, dining chairs
What's coming soon: new chandelier, wallpaper (where green is), paint, reupholstery
What's in the far future: window treatments, art, rug



LIVING ROOM
What's new: nothing (ha!)
What's coming soon: reupholstery on the chairs, painting the dresser
What's in the far future: furniture, window treatments




LAUNDRY ROOM
What's new: washer/dryer, does that count?
What's coming soon: finally strip wallpaper backing, paint, new light
What's in the far future: new floor?

Looks + Quality + Value

Our guest bedroom is a major work in progress, but I'm giving you a "sneak peak" to share with you a GREAT nightstand. It's the trifecta, it has looks + quality + value. What I'm talking about is the Chase nightstand from Cost Plus World Market:





The reasons I love it: you can see the wood grain (it's not vaneer/partical board). The stain is a beautiful mahogany color (it's showing more red in my photographs but in real life it's not red. Neither is my carpet.) It has beautiful sleek, modern lines but isn't too modern to put next to linen (like I did here). It's a great size.. one of my pet peeves is puny nighstands. And the best part....

It's only $99!

$99 at IKEA will buy you this:

While not bad looking, it's fiberboard and lacks in looks and quality.

And here is my "work in progress" room shot:



The Euros are from Isabella (the shop I work at 2x a week). They are linen and I love them! (email me if you want purchase information!). The swatch on the wall will be the new paint color, it's called "Vintage Linen" by BEHR (which is very fitting, since the Euros and bedskirt, not pictured, are linen). The lamp and green sheets are temporary. The glass candle holders are also from World Market.

And if you are curious, plans for this room include...

+ vintage white painted dresser
+ new white sheets
+ Windsor Smith fabric bolster
+ new lamps
+ window treatments (no idea yet)
+ throw or duvet at end of bed
+ awesome headboard, maybe something like the Colette bed by Crate and Barrel:


Or like this headboard from Serena & Lily:


This room is very special to me because both our family lives far away. I want them to have a beautiful retreat when they come to visit us (and someday future grandbabies!!)

It's all about the wallpaper

I created this design board for a really cute young family who has a great eclectic sense of style. I found this awesome wallpaper (which is Nina Campbell) and designed the room around it.



(Not pictured is the owner's current dining room table).

Man I love this wallpaper!

Fall Fashion Scores

Well, it's officially late August (wtf) and I'm ready for fall! Yesterday, I went to Marshalls/Home Goods* to return a lamp, and found myself in the shirts department. I love Marshalls shirts. They are my weakness. They must have just restocked because I really hit the jackpot.

(sorry they are wrinkled)

I love that each shirt has a little something extra/unexpected. And I feel like they all look like they could have come from J.Crew/Anthro/Banana, but were half the price.

My favorite details....







Every shirt or cardigan was less than $20.

If you are running errands this weekend, stop by a Marshalls!

(ps- they had AH-mazing boots, but I hit my budget limit so that will have to be for another day).

*There is a Home Goods right near my house, and it has a Marshalls attached to it. This is very very dangerous because I go to Home Goods very often for clients. But I somehow always wander over to the Marshalls side.

Industrial Feminine Living Room

In this board I mixed both masculine (industrial side table) and feminine (light blue chaise). It's one of my favorite things to do :)

Spray Painting Furniture?

What do you guys think of Spray Painting furniture? I've never done it before. Wait, I take that back. I have done it, but the furniture was wicker. But what do you think of spray painting wood furniture?

Jenny spray painted this gorgeous piece:



I googled "spray painting furniture" and came across this great, short-and-to-the-point video from Rustoleum:



It demonstrates the best way to do spray paint strokes.

I have two pieces I think I will spray paint. One being my silver entry way piece:



And another being an old vintage dresser for the guest room. I'll of course let you know how it goes!!

On a semi-related note, my (super handy and awesome) mother in law is coming into town next week and is going to help me with stuff for the house. I have a long laundry list of things for us to do while she is here. I'm excited to make some progress on the house again! Some things on my two do list are..

+ paint master bedroom
+ make bedside tables (this one will be an interesting project)
+ hang new porch lights
+ finish office

A Note About Comments

Before I post a "fun" post today I wanted to post a little "housekeeping" note about blog comments. I had an Anonymous commenter say:

"Am I the only one wondering why were able to leave comments and questions if they are not going to be responded to. I bet this comment doesn't even get posted."

I'd like to address this. Unfortunately blogger doesn't have a good comment response system (that I know of). Some blogs are able to respond to a comment right below the comment like a message board thread; I wish Blogger had this capability.

To assure your questions in the comment section gets answered, please:

- Link your email to your Blogger account. This way, when I get the comment in my inbox, I hit "reply" and it goes straight to your email.

- If you do not want to link up your email or if you do not have a Blogger account, please email questions directly to me at brynalexandra at gmail dot com. Any questions emailed to me will be answered.

I spend the morning writing my blog posts (around 7:30 am - 10 am) and then the rest of the day is spent on client work. I'm very lucky to be busy with my business, and I do not always have time to address questions in my comments. I love having my blog as an outlet, but I don't blog for a living so I cannot dedicate all day to the blog (I wish I could!). With that being said, I will always respond to any and all questions via email.

Again, my email is brynalexandra at gmail dot com.

Thanks for understanding!!

Two is (sometimes) better than one

Digging deeper into last night's post, there were so many things to love about Emily's room. One thing I'd like to discuss is her use of "two" coffee tables. One being the awesome brass vintage piece, and the other being the pair of trunks (Yes, I realize that is three.. but the two trunks acts as one vignette.) I love this because it breaks rules. Sometimes people get so caught up in rules when decorating their house, and I think working with a decorator helps break these rules. For example, I'm working with a client who didn't think she could put a rug in her living room because the fireplace surround jutted out into the living space. Well, I told her it's an easy fix - cut and bind the rug around the fireplace. She asked - we can do that? Of course!

Back to coffee tables. When space allows, sometimes two different coffee table options are perfect. Emily's is a great example - she has the space and went for it. And it works perfectly:



Here are some other examples:

[ katie ridder ]


[ Virginia MacDonald ]



[ carrier and company ]




[ zoldan ]


[ heather garrett ]

Some no fail pieces to create this look are....

Lucite Coffee Tables

Garden Stools



Ottomans


Sleek & Metal