Client Makeover That I'm Totally Stealing!!

But can you really call it stealing I ask?! I think not!:) I love working on all my client design boards because they allow me to step out of my own design tastes and really try to capture their personal style. Sometimes that can be hard for several different reasons and some have never really gave much thought to their likes and dislikes so they may not have a strong preference for a specific style. 

But I could tell from the start that this client was a style savvy girl who enjoyed keeping up on the design world. She made reference to design blogs she follows and whipped out her House Beautiful & Domino magazines to give me some inspiration! The ones she happened to pull out were among some of my favorites too and when I win the lotto and get our second home I will maybe turn a tad more traditional in my weekend home! When I asked her what her go to store was she said West Elm which is typically more modern. Ah ha!! A hybrid client who likes a meeting of the best pif both worlds...just like me. So we took the classic and traditional look she likes and mixed it with a more modern twist by adding some things you just may see at a store like West Elm! Here she goes and of course I will break it down in what follows...

The brown sofa is similar to the one she has in the room and one we need to use in the design. I always ask clients what pieces need to stay so I can make sure to plan everything else around what we have. 

Below are the couple favorite mag cover looks she showed me as inspiration...

Here is the room (also under trim work construction) as it currently stands. The plan is to paint the trim work and the fireplace detail a warm but bright white. This picture is awful as it was a phone pic but if you can tell, the brick around the surround is dark and my suggestion would be to paint the brick the same color white as the trim and surround. The main thing I wanted to do was bring down her ceiling height a little by adding something above the fireplace that creates height and drama. 

I loved the idea of using three long rectangular mirrors and hanging them horizontally to create this look! Then I thought we could add some cool traditional sconce lighting on either side to illuminate the drama and create some mood! 

Here are some other images I found on Pinterest of using floor leaner mirror on their side in a group of three! The nice thing is that these mirrors are oftentimes very inexpensive! Everybody likes that, right?!?

 Via: Pinterest, not sure of original source

 Via: Pinterest via Olga Polzzi 

Via: Vincent Wolf Blog

Their TV is currently sitting on a sofa table in a nook that will be right across from where we position the couch. Here is a photo of what it looks like now.

And below is what I am proposing. I think we can fill in the space between the table top and bottom ledge with baskets. Typically you see a TV on a media console that has some kind of storage underneath, drawers and cabinet doors etc. Since this table style is more open and narrower in width I propose hanging the TV on the wall and scooting the table out off the wall just a little. The baskets below can be styled with firewood, blankets and pillows or they could serve more practical storage for games, toys etc. Then we fill in with decor!! 

So there you have it! I am excited to see how this one turns out and hopefully we can do a big reveal when its all together! We also picked a fun pop color for all her lower level doors so I am excited about that too! 

I am close on being able to share the final results of a dining room makeover that turned out so good! If you recall the dining room plan with the sage green china cabinet we painted black and stenciled way back?!? This is the dining room!! And I am working on some very cool side tables for our own front room! Did I mention my emerald green couch came in for the front room project?!? And lastly I am working on lots of new photos for a  Home Tour feature coming up in a couple weeks! Stay tuned....

Cheers!! {Laura}

What's a Playroom without Toys?!?

Time to reinvent the playroom again, this time eliminating the toys! I have been faced with this situation a couple times now with clients and their growing kiddos and now even in my own home. Does this mean I have officially gotten old (don't say anything, just allow the silence)?! It all happens in a blink. All the sudden I catch my oldest hauling his Lego table into his little brother's room and I am like "what are you doing, take that back to your room, sit down and build something"! When we have a "playroom" we try so many years to create the perfect setup for our kids. Even from baby to toddler we have to reinvent the space several times as their play changes. My newest client has three girls and they are entering the "tween" ages. Well, all except for the littlest one and she will probably be ushered into tween hood early as a result of having 2 older sisters, right?! (I can say that being the youngest of three girls)! The request from my client was to turn their playroom into a space with some kind of desk/lap top area and a seating space for reading and lounging. Here is where I went with it! 

THE LAPTOP BAR 

(the only kind of bar they are allowed to pull up a stool to!) 

I love the look of the reclaimed industrial wood and metal tables! And many also have the casters at the bottom making them roll in case they need it to pull it to the center of the room for extra eating or craft space. An added bonus; they are indestructible and they give that urban coffee house look! Although I don't recommend mixing coffee and tweens! If you look on Pinterest you will find lots of versions of these industrial style tables, with and without casters. They are also known as "pipe tables" and you will find many DIY tutorials like this one below over at "Cafe Carolina"! Very cool!

Via: Cafe Carolina

 Below is one with the silver pipe look and a lighter bleached top. There are many ways to configure the pipes at the bottom depending on how you want to use the table. I have also seen versions with a wood shelf at the bottom too for extra storage, maybe a printer or even just a plank as a foot rest if you are sitting at it as a computer bar. 

Via: Pinterest

For the stools there are a few options I like! There are these industrial looking stools I found at World Market. We have the ones below in our playroom and I love them as you can swivel the seat up and down depending on your height.

I also would love the look of an acrylic clear chair at the desk! Since some of them can be pricey, Ikea has a version of the ever popular acrylic chair too and they have it in clear and a smoky grey color.  

For the lighting I saw this very cool DIY hanging bulb. Of course there wasn't a source listed for where it came from but there are many types of wall brackets you could use for this and light and cord kits you could tie up around the bracket. And the best part is no wiring! They plug in to the outlet!

Via: unknown, Pinterest

If you aren't in any way into DIY, you can find ones similar to this (loving the Edison bulb) on Etsy (the destination of all things cool and unique, in my opinion) Check out this one from Iron Clad Industrial!!

via: Etsy, Iron Clad Industrial

The Seating Lounge 

I used a bookcase type piece to replace a side table in between the chairs so the girls have room and shelving for books, magazines, I Pods etc! I also love the idea of having baskets and boxes tucked away on the shelving for craft things or whatever else they are into. Then almost as important as filling space I left a huge area in the center on the rug for... nothing at all! If they decide to put a TV up in there this space could be used for floor pillows or bean bags. The corner of the room and one wall were left open in case there is a need for a chest or shelf with some of the toys/items they can't part with quite yet.  I love the idea of the room being a girl's lounge area but also a stylish extension of the house. You will notice I used splashes of "girly" colors but it by no mean screams, "teen palace"! Parents welcome here! That's how I run my house:) After all we do foot the bill, right?! If you don't want hot pink walls, we should be able to come up with a compromise, yes?!

Refresh on the Adult Office, Why Not?!

My client also has an official adult office space off the kitchen and mudroom area.  In this case they already had a large built in wrap around espresso desk and overhead cabinet similar to the one you see below. They also have a big carmel color leather sofa they want to keep in the room similar to the one below. My recommendations for this room are to change out the carpet to a lighter color as the build in and overhead area and carpet are all a similar tone of brown and it makes the room feel dark and small. They currently have a wall of frames behind the couch which I am going to recommend they organize on 2 to 3 shelves overlapping them to create more dimension and interest. I also added gallery lights up over the gallery wall. If you don't want to wire lights like this, there are plug in options you could run the cords behind the leaning frames, which is another plus to having the frames not directly on the wall. You could also lean other objects like a small mirror or wall clock on the shelves as well.

They currently have a wallpaper they are sick of between the wall cabinet and the desk and I am loving this grown up fun version of polka dots for a classic but sophisticated office look. 

Below is another shot of the paper behind a bookcase wall. Sophisticated but fun and the pattern does not overwhelm any larger pattern and color plan on the pillows or any rug she decides to use down the road! On the gallery wall I am thinking of a light gray or white to make the focal point the pictures themselves.

Source unknown, Pinterest

So what do you think?! You ready to clear out the toys yet or breathe a little life into your own working space?!?  Change is good! Don't be afraid of patterns...THE END

Cheers!! {Laura}

Preppy Modern Client Refresh

I met with a client a couple weeks ago to come up with some options to refresh their living room; new pillows, a rug and window treatment to start. They mentioned liking a "preppy" look and some items they recently scored from "C Wonder" so I took that and ran in three slightly different but also very interchangeable directions to give them options for switching out colors and patterns. 

So how does Preppy play out in home decor?! The style is easily recognized in fashion by it's color scheme and graphic patterns and the look is very much to use any and all interchangeably. 

You recognize these preppy colors, yes?! Really the sky's the limit as far as color goes but these classic colors seem to make their way into the look even if they may vary slightly in tone. 

Pattern Play! I love that the look is created using a careful mixture of what we think of as "preppy" patterns. In design these patterns play out most popularly as trellis, Ikat, polka dot, stripe (both pinstripe and wide) and Greek key, just to name a few.

Obviously with such an array of potential colors and patterns there are many directions I could have taken these design boards but the biggest consideration was the color they already had going on in the room. Because their sofa is espresso leather, the floors are brown and the wall to wall build ins are painted in a chocolate tone we needed to bring in some lighter neutrals with our color to break up the dark and add pattern to create interest and depth. They just redid their kitchen (open to living room) with light gray cabinets and a white marble island so making sure white was in most of the living room accessories was something I took into consideration both to lighten up the dark living space and to visually pull together the kitchen space with the living room. The wall color in the living room and kitchen are a very light warm gray (Worldly Gray, by Sherwin Williams). Because of the gray walls I used more whites and beige tones as my neutrals rather than gray and charcoal tones which would have been too blendy (and yes that is not a word and my husbands hates that I put a "y" on any adjective) He might just be too lawyery to get it! (only kidding D) I should also add that my client wanted me to stay rather conservative with the color and I tried to honor that wish with the neutrals and the navy blue tones as I consider that to be a more conservative color. I did play with pattern but kept my color scheme rather simple. Also many of the pillows and rugs from option to option are very interchangeable so that they can play around with the style too. Let's do it...

OPTION 1: navy on the rug but neutral on the windows! This board I did as a more a concept board to show them what it would look like to add some more furniture; i.e. the nice big round ottoman and the sofa table/ console that I would envision behind their sofa with some decorative items and lamps. 

OPTION 2: Lets add in some more color and a bolder pattern on the floor for a slightly different look?!?

OPTION 3: We use more neutrals and we get a little sassier with the prints (perhaps an animal print ottoman?!?) and then we do a very traditional white curtain and banded cornice board treatment to bring it back to classic! I also kept the pillow patterns fairly simple to marry them with the classic banded window treatment style! I love the kelly green added in and think that this color is stunning as an accent to any of these designs (notice the emerald green lamps on the first layout)!

What I love about all these options is you can add in accessory colors like green and aqua or even fun colors like coral and fuchsia and plum. So, which one will they like?!? Which one do you like?! How do you feel about preppy patterns in your living space? 

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Thanks for your support!

{Cheers!!}
Laura

A Modern Buffet Makeover Inspired by a Bangle

Well you have to inspired by something, right?! I had stared at the buffet I got for a steal at Midland Antiques (a local Indianapolis favorite) for almost two years before deciding how to redo it! And since we are in the midst of my front room/dining area makeover, read more about it HERE, it was go time or curbside it would have gone for this piece! Here was my inspiration... an old bangle bracelet given to my daughter in a bag full of play jewels!

If you have been following along, my adjoined rooms are headed toward a mostly black & white look with pops of yellow gold and emerald green. As a refresher here is my inspiration board.

If you recall this is what my buffet looked like...

BEFORE!

It has a missing piece off the bottom which we replaced with scrap wood from the trim project on the wall and it also had lots of nicks and chips that needed to be filled in with wood putty. The snow storm brought some elves to help me prep my piece. I was actually very impressed with my daughter's putty knife skills....for some, pride comes in high marks and athletic ability but have you ever seen your kid spackle and sand with proper technique?!? Melts my heart!:) 

So basically we filled in our gauges with wood putty and sanded them smooth. We started out running the steel wool over for a light sand and it was more necessary to use on the thin wood detail on the front but the top and sides ended up getting a once over with the power sander, which by the way, is such a great alternative to hand sanding. You get a way smoother finish much much faster! 

Then I decided to use oil based paint on this project because I love to get high when I can squeeze it in... No really, that wasn't the reason. But it is very stinky so open your windows if you can! The benefit of using an oil based paint is that it glides on smoother and gives more that spray painted look. Sometimes the latex finishes show more brush strokes and don't give as smooth of a look. And when you use oil based paint you must use oil based primer!! Water based latex or enamel paints will not stick to an oil primer. 

Oh and next to the primer...That's my coffee as I decided to stop drinking Diet Coke (will save more on that for another post describing why I could probably donate my body for research on rat poisoning) Like any addict I am not sure how long my strike will last and like any addict I may talk myself into why the FDA would not hold back on the public but in all honesty I know for sure they prolly would! So we shall see. For now, coffee..... 

Back to the makeover! There is my son, being exposed to the toxins I just mentioned in oil based paint:) Look at that smile, will ya?! Just kidding:) He just rolled the top then I kicked him out! Don't call child services yet!

And without boring you with the taping off details and the step by step process of rinsing brushes and swapping out paint to get the three tone look I wanted for it, I will instead just show you!! That's what you want anyway, right?! You can figure that the steps that got it from primer through two paint colors to finished product were just a mix of patience and a steady hand on the brush!! 

OK so recall the BEFORE...

AFTER, A mid century modern buffet meets an art deco style room make over and a black white and brown bracelet for inspiration!!  And hopefully, if I know at all what I'm doing, it will all mesh! 

In a nut shell, I used a black oil based paint, just the pre mixed black they have in the section of oil based paints in Lowes. I used the black on the top and sides and then on a piece at the bottom (see later pictures for details on the bottom). Then on the trim pieces around the mirror I used the white pre mixed can in the same section. I left the original stained wood then for the area that angles in and surrounds the white trimmed out mirrored area and also some at the bottom. As a final coat, I used a gloss finish brush on polyurethane to protect the finish. 

So what do you think?? Will it fit in with my decor in the room?! I have 2 side tables that are next to finish for either side of my emerald green sofa and I have two cain back chairs that I need to finish spraying before we reupholster them!! I am so excited about this room!! It feels good to have gotten this piece checked off the list!! 

Cheers!!

{Laura}