Before and After: A Client's Family Room

I started working with my client from Philadelphia last year and we recently progressed from working on her family room to working on her kitchen.

When we started on her family room, her budget was tight.  We had to work with her existing furniture and there was not a huge allowance for new fabrics, pillows and such.

We've also changed directions in regards to the design of this room……in the end, she found her style and knew what she wanted.

The biggest impact areas I saw were changing the wall color and investing in window treatments.  She did both.

She painted her entire great room a new color and actually sewed the window treatments for her large window wall.  Can you believe that??

She wasn't sure about installing woven shades, but after some convincing, I'm glad she did, because they make all the difference.  She loves how finished and cozy the room now feels.

Client's Photo (not professional)

Above, you can see how the room looks like today.

She recently told her husband that she finally feels comfortable in their home and how much she truly loves it.  They are a young family with two toddler boys.

As part of my design consult, I recommended that she:

1. Invest in a new media console
2. Hang her flatscreen on the wall
3. Place a sofa table behind the sofa (against the window) to add some depth/interest to the window wall
4. Purchase large gourd lamps to go on sofa table
5. Add a round end table to connect the two sofas and break up the hard lines.
6. Lots of light colored pillows to break up the leather sofas which she did and chose all by herself
7. Paint walls lighter and brighter color
8. Add window treatments and woven shades

She has done an amazing job!!  And, just to emphasize where we started.  Below is the before picture when we started working together.  Notice the large blue painted window wall - so happy that no longer  looks like that!

She has come such a long way and has been such an incredible client.  I can't wait to show updates on her kitchen when it is all said and done!!  They say the greatest form of flattery is when a client you love working with asks you again to help them with a new space! I couldn't agree more and am certainly grateful!!

If you need help decorating a room, feel free to contact me!

Affordable Pillows at Pier 1 Imports!

The other day I was browsing at Pier 1 Imports and I have to say I was impressed with their pillow collection.  They had some great solid, striped and ikat pillows in various blue colorways and you can't beat the price!!  If you're looking for a new pillow for your home, I would check it out!

Here is a round-up of some of my favorites….

L to R: Solid, Floral, Striped

L to R: Solid, Ikat, Medallion

L to R: Paisley, Striped, Medallion

Striped Window Panels

Happy Weekend!!

New Scenes around our House

I finally joined instagram!  Come follow me here!!  I can't get over it……it is a whole different level of stimuli and inspiration.  It's pretty insane….I have no other words for it.

Around the home front, I have been making strides in certain areas of our home.  I am very excited for the kids to start school next week and hope I can start making faster progress, but here are some snapshots.

Our Entry - in progress

We are painting our entry this holiday weekend.  The entry is already primed and I am still undecided on the hall color - see swatches on the wall.  I am leaning towards the color swatch on the bottom row third from the left.  When I asked my husband what color he liked, he responded, 'leave it as is (primed), it's cheaper'.  Typical! :)

BTW, the whitewashed mirror is my latest find at World Market.

Our family room - in progress

Earlier this summer, I bought Serena and Lilly's outdoor/indoor 'captiva' pillows in chambray.  It's more of a summer look, and I've enjoyed the change from my original pillows (which are more for the fall).  See below picture.

Do you have a preference?  Excuse the wrinkled linen!! :)

E's room - in progress

My daughter's window treatment is finally up!  Love, love, love it.  It completely makes her room.  I am so close to finishing her room, I can hardly stand it!!  See previous updates here.

I have more home updates on my instagram account so hop over and follow me here!!

Well, I do hope you all have a lovely and safe long weekend!!  See you next week!

Some Great AFFORDABLE Buys

The month of April is a crazy one for us - family visiting from out of town, baseball/swimming/tennis starting, Luke's birthday, Easter, etc.  So, the past couple of weeks, I have been working hard to get the house somewhat presentable.  I'm happy to report progress is being made (slowly, but surely).  I promise I will have some reveals soon.  At any rate, I wanted to highlight a few purchases I've made that have hit the mark (from a style perspective) and have been real easy on the wallet.

First, E's rug.  The great thing is that it is soft (chenille) even though it is part jute.  I would definitely feel comfortable using in a nursery/children's room.  And, I got a 5x8 for $114.00.

Next up, have you checked out Ikea's bedding lately?  They have some very cute options.  I picked up the Emmie Land Duvet and Shams for $19.99!   Plan to use it in our guest room.  

I love how this blogger used it in her bedroom.  

And, this blogger.

Next up, new lamps I purchased for our family room.  They are SO much better in person.  And, I got them more than 60% off at the outlet so it was a no brainer.  

Suzanne Kasler's gourd lamps in Camel.  They are beautiful - I've bought a lot of lamps in my life and these just scream high quality.  I know I will have these a long time and I love the neutral color.  Ballard Designs is holding a 20% everything sale right now.  

Do you see Luke's artwork in the background above?  I have a budding artist on my hands.  

Excuse the wrinkled linen pillow and the non-existent drapes.  One thing at a time…..:)  Hope you have a wonderful start to your week!  

Porthole Mirror

I am happy to report that I am alive and well after an on-slought of illnesses in our home (that lasted about 10 days).  When it rains it pours - stomach viruses, sinus infections, etc.

Luckily, neither my husband or I got the stomach virus and we were able to celebrate his birthday this past weekend.  We went to Edward Lee's restaurant 610 Magnolia!  I highly recommend it if you've never been or are visiting the area!

So, lately, I really like porthole mirrors.  Kinda of a strange thing to fixate on....but,  if I had a a waterfront  home in New England, I would fully embrace it!  

I love the above vignette from Hudson Interiors.  If you like porthole mirrors, you could pick up this one (pictured below) from Target to create a similar look.

Since I might get a lot of questions as to why there is a porthole mirror in our entry (being that we live in Louisville and well, water is nowhere in sight), I might settle for something a little less obvious, but that has a similar feel.

I really like the mirror pictured below (of course, all the blue and white porcelain helps too!).

It has a similar porthole look and I like the black frame.  I recently picked up this mirror from Target (see below) and I have to tell you I really, really like it.  In fact, I like it so much, I went back and purchased another one.  Thinking of painting it and using it in my daughter's room.  

The frame is slightly distressed and I like how it sits deeply into the frame making it feel more like a porthole.  This black mirror works nicely in our entry against our white walls and I like how the round shape breaks up all the lines from our entryway walls and console.  So, if you're on the hunt for a great round mirror - this might do the trick!  I hope to have pictures of our entry soon!

Slow Unveiling

I didn't want to send you into an anaphylactic shock by showing you my tag sale booty all at once! :)

The booty breakdown: yellow ginger jar lamp ($4), parakeets ($4), oil painting ($1), lamp bases (two for $6) and artichoke ($1).   I can't wait to find a home for it all.  

The brass lamp bases remind me of the vintage wheat-sheaf lamps and sconces I keep seeing in the magazines.  I remembered I had just bought these black lamp shades (with gold interiors) at another tag sale over Mother's Day weekend. 

Brand new shades with the original price tag for $35 each, the very nice lady sold them to me for $3 each.  So, I paired them up and I think they were made for one another.  What do you think?

I plan on fixing up the bases a bit, but overall I like how they turned out.  For a total coast of $6/lamp (including a brand new lampshade), I'd say that isn't too bad!  I hope everyone has a fabulous weekend.  I'm signing off until next week.  Happy tag sale shopping!

Bargain Hunter - Bamboo Mirror

It's that time again when tag sales are popping up all over the neighborhood!  I love a good deal and I'm somewhat of a tag sale junkie.  Mind you, I am never the 'early bird', but if my schedule allows it I try to hit 1 or 2 sales over the weekend.  This past weekend I scored several treasures.  Treasure #1 - the faux bamboo mirror.

Only $8!  I'm going to have to paint it, but for $8 I couldn't pass it up. Here are some inspiration pictures:

Lonny 

Grace Happens 

Go Antiques 

Mark Lund 

Simply Seleta 

Stay tuned...more treasures to come.