One Room Challenge - Dining Room Reveal

Well, it's a wrap. 
Not a total makeover but a good old-fashioned refresh.

To do list:

New lighting - purchased new lamps. Contemplated more modern chandy and sconces. Didn't get that far:)

New carpet - ordered but not in so I borrowed the chunky one from my family room. Totally works.  Most likely will like it better than the one I ordered.

New mirror- check.
Paint furniture - did that.
Bar cart? - borrowed from living room but its staying.
New art - yep. not sure if its staying... jury's still out.
Host chairs- ordered not here yet but did borrow these two Lee Industries chairs and they look fab:)

I installed the wall covering about 4 years ago but I wanted to paint below the chair rail the cool blue/minty green found in the background of the paper to wrap my room in that fabulous color. Probably should have painted crown and base boards???

And the star of the show... the window treatments. Thank god they made it and were hung last night.

Feel of the room that I was shooting for?
Pretty, classic and tailored yet bright and cheery!

So check it out below...

 

The pillows you see in this shoot were not fabricated for this space... they're actually for a client but they looked so good in here that I'll drop them to her tomorrow! Thanks L! xo
 

 
Window treatments are a two-step cornice box with lined panels made of 100% silk and trimmed in a 2 1/2 inch wide, bright orange trim.
This is the only delicate material in the room. I placed benches in front of the windows too keep dog noses and kid's hands at arms length.

Bar cart is Bungalow 5.
 

 

 My furniture was professionally painted in high-gloss revere pewter from Benjamin Moore. Tip: This is the perfect neutral  paint if you want to keep your room and furniture light and airy... looks much lighter on furniture than it does on walls and I LOVE it!!

 

 

 

 

 

This is what the room looked like before I started.... not horrible but unfinished.

And Now

 

By the way I love these window treatments so much I find myself staring at them constantly smiling inside:)

So there you have it!!

Thanks for reading!!

Thanks to my girlfriend Joanne Posse photography who took these pictures! LOVE her! And to Steph Shaw Designs for her advice and support and NB for the ice bucket! HA!

Check out the rest of the linking participants here! I'm heading over now:) Thanks to Linda at Calling it Home to compel me to finish this space~ xoxo


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Scenes from week 5 of the One Room Challenge

Furniture has been tweaked

 

 

 

 

Art has been selected

 

Still waiting on window treatments, lamps, carpet and host chairs...

 

Not sure if they're going to make it but hey that's life! Stay tuned to see finished project.

 

I'll be honest I have NEVER done a room in 6 weeks. Never. I just can't. Wish I could. But almost done is just as good in my book, don't you agree???

 

Go here and you can check out the other participants!

Raindrops on Roses and how to pick the perfect paint color

Paint color is the last thing you choose when decorating a space so "they" say and I totally agree.

 

It's best to have a jumping off point like a fabric, carpet, a piece of art or better yet all of the upholstered pieces or bedding in a space before selecting a wall color.  

 

But in some cases it's just not possible as in the case of my client who is renovating an entire house and taking everything down to the studs.

 

Here are some pictures after the drywall and trim went up. Fireplace still needs new trim.

 

With the construction going on and major decisions to be made like flooring, cabinetry, countertops etc. it's hard to decide what furniture will stay in your house and what will go. In a perfect world we would have every new piece of furniture selected prior to reno but that just ain't happenin.

 

In this case the client will be purchasing all new furniture for the first floor but she wants to take her time and make smart decisions on the purchase of these new pieces especially her sofa... the workhorse of the first floor family room.

 

We know we want a sectional that has spring down cushions (usually an upgrade found on custom sofas) because it's important that her sofa won't be "mushy" and she won't have to constantly "fluff" up the cushions so the sofa looks presentable.  This is a complaint I hear often from clients who have all down cushions.

 

We also know we want a performance fabric one that will stand up to her two small children and "someday" dog:) So a good sofa is a smart investment in her mind and I whole-heartedly agree
"Buy the best and you'll only cry once" -- Miles Redd

 

The builder however can not wait for us to try out every sofa in town and select the most perfect fabric and he wants to keep on schedule so we are selecting paint colors now.

 

So how do you go about selecting paint when you don't have everything in place?

 

Take the fixed items in the room that won't be changing anytime soon and pick a neutral from there. For example for the kitchen we used the flooring, countertops, backsplash and cabinetry and kept in mind our potential feel for the space.

 

Also the whole first floor is open so we decided to carry the same color all the way through the first floor.

 

 Now my client knows she wants to use purple in some of her furniture on the first floor and was looking at selecting a pale lilac paint color. I actually discouraged her from doing this because every room she paints a different color would be an upcharge and who knows what shade of purple her furniture/fabric will be and lord only knows that there are so many pretty pale purple wall colors out there and also who wants to match there furniture to their wall color??? Your better off paying to get the room painted the exact shade of purple you want when you have the other elements in place. And who knows purple may be passé by then or maybe pale purple walls will not be the right decision if she falls in love with purple chairs... get my drift?

 

So what did we select? For the first floor we selected Nimbus taking into consideration the dark hardwood floors, white high-gloss trim, marble, white cabinetry and grayish backsplash, it will be a stunner!

 

 

For her son's room we used the furniture and bedding in selecting our paint color. We were definitely thinking blue so we tried palladian blue, woodlawn blue as well as a few other paler blues but felt they were too babyish or too much like her son's current pale blue. In the end we decided to go with a color he can grow with which was Hale Navy. And it matched the current bedding perfectly.

 

 

 

And for her daughter's room we chose raindrops on roses by Benjamin Moore. In this space it was the perfect combination of pale pinky/purple that will go with her current bedding and furniture. Here it is on the wall which brings me to my final point on paint colors... you must put them on the wall in your space and look at them at different times of day and different light. Just because raindrops on roses takes on a lilac feel in this room it doesn't mean it will in your space too!!

 

 

 

So there you have it ... keep checking back as this project gets completed!!

One Room Challenge: Week 4

A scene from week 4 of the One Room Challenge

 



 Because that's all I have!

What's in the works:
Window treatments
Furniture tweaking
Carpet
Table lamps
Styling

Hopefully I'll have more pictures next week!

Check out the other linking participants here:)
 

Client Before and After

I am working on a first floor design project with such a fun, smart and amazing couple in Bluebell! I totally adore them and their crazy dog:)

 

Here's where we started

 

 

Kinda of man-cavey, no?

 

Here's a sneak peek of where we are now

(still needs art and accessories)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Kitchen was installed by builder without my client's participation. I think she would have chosen an all-white kitchen.

 

What to do when you can't have the dream kitchen you always wanted?

 

You put in the most fab pendant lighting ever!!!

 

 

 

I also don't hate this gorgeous new chandy in the Dining Room.

 

 

Here's a glimpse of what was there before:(

 

 

 

I don't mess around when it comes to lighting and it goes without saying we are working on cleaning up that fireplace:)))))

 

Stay tuned for more progress on the Bluebell house! It's such a fun design project:)

One Room Challenge: Week Two

Pathetic Progress

Here's what happened this week

 

 

 

Yikes. Not good.

 

But here's some forward progress

 

 

 

I think I've settled on the right shade of silk and trim for window treatments.

 

I've spent a lot of time and measuring and re-measuring for these window coverings. I do a lot of measuring ... walk away.. re-measure. make a prototype. Measure again. My brain is fried with this window project....but I think it'll be worth it in the end! It's basically the star of the room:) 

 

That's all I've got. Like I said pathetic. Now do yourself a favor and go check out these talented people who have made more progress than I could even dream of... here!

 

 

 

 



Blue and White Bash!

 

I'm over at the Pink Pagoda participating in the Blue and White Bash!! Go here to check out other participants.

I'm a huge blue and white fan. I love how it makes any room come alive.

So many of my designs are grounded in blue and white.

Here is my latest room in progress...

 

The jumping off point of this room was the middle fabric from the South Seas collection from Thibaut.

 

 

These chairs were the first purchase for the room. The pillow will be monogrammed in a black script because honestly my client and I are suckers for a good monogram!

 

 

Here are a few more images

 

 

 

 

What's next for this room? Accessories, art, etc.

 

Thanks for reading and go check out the rest of the blue and white bask at the Pink Pagoda here!