Room of the day

Sometimes I see interiors in shelter magazines or on blogs and wonder "does any body really live there?!" You know what I mean, the furniture looks like it's never been sat in, the light colored rug looks like it's never seen shoes (or kids, or dogs, etc.) I feel like my person design aesthetic over the last several years has gravitated from "picture perfect" to a more lived-in style. Take for example this room below. It's oh-so-chic but it really does have that feeling like someone actually lives there, like you can imagine someone curled up on that sofa reading a book and wrapped up in a blanket. . .

via Lonny

Last summer an old friend came to our house for the first time. After walking around our small but cozy home, she said to me "your house is decorated so nicely but it's still so comfortable, I'm not afraid to kick my feet up." I felt like that was the greatest compliment I could ever receive!

What about you, do you lean towards "picture-perfect" or is your design style more comfortable and laid back?

Nov. 2

Wow, can you believe it's November already?! I sure can't. . . I've been a busy little bee lately (as you can probably tell by the lack of posts here on the 'ol blog) but I think it's great when life stays pretty fast paced. Much better than being stagnate, right?! As I mentioned before here, I'm working with an online client in Savannah, Georgia. I finished up a couple of designs for her and I thought I would share them with you here today. First up is the entry;

 

 

My client loves traditional pieces but wanted to mix things up and give it sort of a twist. As you can see I selected an Ikea wardrobe to provide extra storage in the space. I used her existing wood console table but spiced it up a bit with some fun yellow lamps and a modern sunburst mirror. The lattice wallpaper and hanging lantern are my favorite elements in the room and the small foyer table definitely gives the space a formal, traditional feel.

Next up is the living room design. I had a lot of fun pulling together my clients ideas (I kept telling her she really knows what she is doing when it comes to decorating!) and adding a few extra layers to help tie everything together. Here's the floor plan and design boards;

We had to work with her existing sofa and leather club chairs (which I actually didn't mind, both were nice, neutral pieces of furniture.) The artwork framed in gold above the fireplace was also existing, I just suggested adding a couple of other pieces of art to create some dimension. I selected this rich blue paint color (Hale Navy by Benjamin Moore) which will make all the white in the room pop (ie; desk, shelves, fireplace, drapery panels, etc.) My client found two cute bamboo side tables at a consignment shop and I suggested painting them a navy blue color (since they will be situated in front of the white drapery panels.) The fabrics I chose for pillows are all from Schumacher and the cozy rug, parsons desk and lamps are all things she selected herself. I really love the traditional-eclectic feel of all the rooms in this house and it was such a fun project to work on! I'm looking forward to receiving 'after' photos once the transformations have taken place.

If you are interested in my online-design services, you can find out more info here!

Have a wonderful weekend and I'll be back next week to share some more projects I'm working on :)