I was a bit shocked when I saw how long its been since my last post. But things in my world have been a little on the busy side and some things have had to be put on the back burner. I hope to try and get back in the swing of things because I have a bit to follow up on. Happy Fall!

happy fourth of july

Happy Fourth of July 

Cheers! Just returned back from a wonderful trip in Mexico! Just in time to celebrate the fourth.
I'm trying to regroup and get back to reality. I've got a lot of new things coming up. But I'm going to enjoy the day and get back to this another day. Hope you enjoy your day and spend time celebrating with family and friends.

sneak peek of tiles

I was so anxious to see my clients back splash up in her kitchen, here is just a sneak peek. The tiles hadn't been grouted yet when I was there to take pictures so I will wait to show the whole kitchen all completed next time I go and take some great photos of their beautiful kitchen all finished.

The tiles we choose were such a great choice with the granite and really tied everything together. The main field tile are a honed carrara marble with a small slate blue mosaic cut in on an angle. Over by the bar area, as you can see below, there are 5 accent tiles that were added. These were some tiles that my client picked up on her travels to Italy a couple months back and she wanted to incorporate them in the somewhere.

Below is the focal point of kitchen behind the range. These tiles are framed out in the same honed carrara marble and then the tiles on the inside are a beautiful wavy, almost hour glass looking tile. The framed out tiles really tie all the colors in the kitchen together, between the field tile, and even the blue tones in the granite and the gray tones in the super white granite used on the island. It's framed out so nicely like a piece of artwork.

I can't wait to show all the final pictures and how everything has come together. We just ordered some great upholstered pieces and the fabric we picked is so beautiful. I will post all of those and show how the whole house has really come together and is getting close to being done! 

idea of the day

I love this idea in the new issue of This Old House. How clever are these two chairs turned into a very pretty bench.

This Old House

They even give you the step by step on how to do it. What a fun and creative way to refurbish some old chairs!  Here is the tutorial on how it's done, This Old House .

kitchen sneak peek

Here is a little sneak peek at the beautiful custom piece that is in my client's kitchen. This piece creates such a great visual from the kitchen to the back sun room where the kitchen table will be. Also, it will serve as a nice storage cabinet and provide easy access for table linens etc. During the course of planning out the kitchen I had come across a few ideas that had inspired the look for this cabinet. I think it looks beautiful and offers a great way to end the space in the kitchen but also giving it such an interesting and nice area to display some of her ceramic and glass pieces.

Here are a few of the inspirations.....

Traditional Home

Houzz

Pinterest

Below is a picture of the kitchen still in progress. We went the other day and picked out the tile for the backsplash, which you can see stills needs to be installed.

Here are the tiles we picked out. The beautiful mosaic tile will be framed out in the crown molding (to the right of the mosaic tile) and installed behind the range. On the right side below, is the field tile and then the 3 x 3 tile sitting on top, is going to be used as an accent tile mixed in with the field tile in the bar area. The 3 x 3 tile is one of a few tiles my client bought during her recent trip to Italy.

The finishing touches are all coming together, I can't wait to see the tiles all up.

house progress: part three

If you have been following along with my latest posts, here is the next reveal on the progress of my clients house. You will see that the photos are really different from my previous post. These are the latest pictures I took the other day. The kitchen is a huge change, can't wait to go back and see the granite now that it has been installed. Love all the space they are going to have in their kitchen and the beautiful island will give them an additional surface for eating, entertaining and prepping.

kitchen

The first coat of paint has been put on the walls, it really transformed the space. The dining room is painted a really pretty shade of navy. With all of the white trim, wainscoting and columns, it really gives the room a dramatic punch of color. The majority of the rest of the walls are painted a neutral tan which compliments the navy really well.

dining room looking into living room

dining room

This is the back sun room below, where the kitchen table will be on one end and the TV on the back wall. The walls here are painted with a real calming grayish, blue-green shade, it really balances the navy in the front of the house. The open ended knee wall was a great way to divide the room but still separate it enough from the living room, while remaining open and great to access the room on both ends.

sun room

This picture below is the upstairs hall bath, the tiles are neutral but was paired up nicely with a really pretty onyx and black border tile that pulls the colors from the granite on the vanity.

hall bath shower

hall bath vanity

Below is the master bath shower, still in the works. A creamy white tile was used with some marble accents, the border and the floor, adding to the very pretty elegant space. I can't wait to show pictures of the beautiful glass crystal chandelier that will be hung up in the bathroom.

master shower

I hope to go back this week and can't wait to see all the finishing touches coming together. Stay tuned for a follow up post.

progress is good: part 2

It's amazing the difference a couple weeks can make. I was so surprised when I went to my clients house last Friday to see how much progress has been made, they are doing such a great job and they move fast. Check out the first post on the house here, you will see the big changes that have been made from that first post to the pictures below. Amazing what dry wall can do!

kitchen

dining room

living room looking into the sun room

living room looking into kitchen

master bedroom looking into sitting room

Stayed tuned for more pictures. I was there just yesterday and can't wait to share how different everything looks. They got all the trim done, most of the kitchen put together and the paint on the walls, tile up in the bathrooms, so it definitely moving along. The lights are going to start getting hung and the granite installed by the end of the week. My client has been away so can't wait to see what she thinks when she gets back. Check back for the progress.

Ryan's room

Over the last couple days I have been busy at one of my clients painting a mural. It was for their son Ryan. Of course being a boy, he loves anything that moves so I thought how fun to paint a big car on the wall behind his bed. I tried to keep the room a little more grown up so he won't grow out of it in a year. 
The room has has a lot of primary colors, with his plaid quilt and window treatments so the colors in the signs and car were a great match. I painted a street sign named, "Ryan ST",  a stop sign and traffic light.  Below is the car painted behind his bed. To personalize it I painted a license plate with his initials on it.

Here you can see the part of the two walls, the car and then the street sign.

The canvas next to the sign is so cute, it's from Pottery Barn. It looks great with the new sign. 

A close up of the traffic light    

The stop sign is at the foot of his bed on the opposite wall

It was a fun job and glad that I could be a part of making his room complete.

Design challenge room reveal!

I'm so excited to be posting the design challenge room before and after pictures. Remember this from back in the fall? I went to the house yesterday. I hadn't been back since we had gone over the ideas and options for the room and was so thrilled with the results. During the process we went over all the ideas and I gave them my suggestions with the paint, layout and other ideas to bring the room together. The rug, for example, was a big design element that really inspired the colors in the room. But what was so great is they took all of that and went a step beyond to really add their own touches. They did an amazing job! (you can check here for the original post on the room and see the progress post here).

before

after

The room felt a little small and crowded. By moving things around a bit it really opened things up, as you see in the before pictures. and I love what she did with the wall above the sofa. Liz has a great collection of local artwork of scenes from the town she lives in and grouped them together with some different sized mirrors. It now looks so inviting and cozy.

                               

before

after

By flipping the chair with the sofa and armoire, it really balanced out the room and feels so much bigger. The only thing taken out of the room was a smaller chair you see in the first picture above and the small bookshelf that was hidden behind the door. Also as you see Liz painted the armoire. She used Annie Sloan Chalk paint - I think I may have gotten her addicted to it! But it looks great and helped out by lightening up the piece and eliminating another wood colored piece in the room. 

As you may remember one of the decisions that she was struggling with was whether to paint all of the wood on the fireplace wall. After talking through things we both decided it would be best to take baby steps. The wood is so beautiful, so as a compromise, they painted the mantle and the brick surround which really makes it pop out now. We talked yesterday and said that a next step could be, if she still feels like it's needed, to paint the bookshelves below. But again it may not be needed with all the changes that were made. 

We had discussed ways to bring more light into the room and Liz found this great mirror that looks beautiful and reflects so much light into the room. It made a huge difference. Also notice the panels by the windows that really soften up the room and make it seem so cozy. We talked about the lamp by the window which still needs to be replaced.

before

after

You can really see from these two pictures above how cramped it was in the room before. It was a very tight space in front of the fireplace because of how the chair and ottoman where right in front. Now it is so much more spacious. 

after

after

I love all the pillows Liz picked out and how great they look with the rug and wall color. That pop of the orange is so great with the silvery blue and grays. 

Here are the touches I love- how great is this dog! And the mercury glass she found to go with her mercury glass lamp is perfect.

This is the piece that was her grandmother's - it's so pretty. The lamp on it still needs to be replaced and possibly the glass vessel below may be turned into a lamp to take it's place. Again the orange color is so great.

I love the fun whimsical details she brought in

 Liz found this old bench. We talked about how fun it would be to paint this a shade of orange.

I really like the subtlety of the fabric on the panels. They are just enough to balance out the room with out being overwhelming. Below you see how much the rug really was such a great influence for all the color in the room.

rug from west elm

It was such a fun project and Liz was so nice to work with. It's great to hear that the family really enjoys the room and likes spending more time in there. I'm so glad that we did the project and it was great to see the room from start to finish. And again it was inspiring to see how they took the space and really made it their own. Thanks Liz! 

personalized chocolates

You know the saying, "you are what you eat", well I have now officially eaten too much chocolate! Who knew you could be on an M and M, designer chocolates!

I may be a little late on sharing this, but I just had to stray away from my typical posts and share these great personalized M and M's. My husband ordered these for Valentines Day, not your normal $3 bag by the way, they are a little pricey but so thoughtful and fun. As you see there on the one, it is actually a picture of my husband and myself. We were at a fundraiser the other week and had our picture taken in a photo booth, Mardi Gras hats and all. He had one of the pictures put on the M and M, {yes as I said, I have eaten too much chocolate}. He also had an "I Love You" one made for each of us, I thought this was such a great and surprising way to say I love you.