Thursday, January 31, 2013

A Bob Marley Kinda Day


Woke up this morning with some Bob Marley music on the brain and have been playing his albums all morning. If you've been following this blog you should know that I have a thing for Mr. Marley, and in fact skipped school on ocassion to go hang out at the Bob Marley museum in Kingston, Jamaica. 
Any who, Bob's music never fails to clear my head and put me in the best of moods.  
Among my faves:
Three Little Birds
Concrete Jungle
Is this Love
Zimbabwe
Chances Are
No Woman No Cry
Soul Rebel 
Stir it Up
So Much Trouble In the World
Jammin
Stir it Up

Cue em up in your playlist and see for yourself. Cheers to a fabulous Thursday aka Thank God it's Almost Friday!

Wednesday, January 30, 2013

Inspiration to Reality - Behind the Scenes Secrets of the Design Process

Back in the day when I started in this biz, I spent hours and hours cutting and pasting fabric swatches, paint samples et al to a massive board to present design concepts to clients. 
Now thanks to wonderful design friendly sites and tools like Pinterest, Houzz and Olioboard, those days are long gone. *Cue here for my hallelujah dance!
We now save inspiration rooms/photos to Pinterest in lieu of cutting and storing a gazillion pages from a magazine, I also share an Ideabook(a collection of rooms by style or function) on Houzz to get a sense of a client's likes or dislikes. Once that's all done, we move on to create an inspiration board, on Olioboard, a wonderful design program that allows you to virtually cut and paste your project ideas, and then print or email to clients. The basic program is free but there is a small monthly fee to upgrade to the professional level so you can access paint swatches, budget tools etc..
Here are some of projects usually we recently completed that first came to life as an inspiration board.




 


There you have it, some behind the scenes secrets of the trade that you too can use to make your design life much, much easier. 
P.S. the amazing Emily Henderson recently shared some killer design friendly apps over at her blog. If you're using a friendly online design tool please feel free to share with us as well. 
Now, go forth and make your lives so much easier. Happy Hump Day ya'll. 

Friday, January 25, 2013

TGIF! Favorite Furniture Fridays With Tiffany Leigh Interiors

Happy as punch this morning to be chillin with Tiffany at Tiffany Leigh Interiors for Fave Furniture Fridays.
I've been enamored with Tiffany for a while. Smitten indeed with her passion for design, her commitment to pursuing her craft even when it meant giving up a lot. She's a true inspiration to many about following your dreams.
Head on over to see what I'm saying about this fancy pants piece of furniture.


p.s.
Hooray for Friday and for a mini escape with the 'lil man this weekend. I'll dish about that adventure when we return. Stay blessed. 
  

Thursday, January 24, 2013

A Seductively Sexy Master Bedroom Reveal


This femme fatale of a master bedroom belongs to our very own client fashionista, Ms. Janeka. Remember we chatted about her fabulous tufted sofa here
Well, we just wrapped up her master bedroom and bath this weekend and it was a doozy, as in a major whirlwind with even Xavier pitching in to help (more of that to come next week)!
This should have been one big reveal to include the main floor of her home and her bedroom and bath, but she had a bit of a rough patch to endure last week and so I decided to fast track the bedroom reveal to lift her spirits and surprise her when she returned from the inauguration festivities. And I do mean fast track, as in expediting delivery on some key items which THANKFULLY arrived a few hours before we finished installation. Huge shout outs to Fed EX and UPS for taking my pleas via Twitter very seriously!
Anywho, here's where we started:

Three words for all this: blah, blah, blah. Let's just say the space had zero personality.
I knew off the bat that I would need to infuse her fashion sensibilities in the space. She did after all, have a rolling rack smack dab in the middle of the room with her favorite jackets and clamored for a dress form mannequin to display some of her favorite outfits. She also wanted it to be vintage glam, with lots of mirrored furnishings and a bed that made a bold yet feminine statement.
Debbie and I sourced all over but Janeka and I got lucky on our shopping excursions as we found many amazing pieces in the clearance room of City Furniture. Word to the wise, stalk the clearance rooms and be nice to the folks who work there. They'll sometimes give you a heads up to what's about to hit the floors.
Some more background: we weren't hired until after the home had been painted so I also knew that while the grey walls were fine I needed to add a punch of color. The coral color we used was a color match of the bathroom towels my dear friend Tamisha and I spotted one Saturday afternoon while we were out sourcing for items. It would become a key color throughout the space.
Okay, enough chatter, here is the full reveal:

This room was a fun opportunity to showcase how to blend various patterns and textures: a houndstooth rug, striped wall and curtains, herringbone lamp shades, floral pillow, geometric shapes on the nightstands, tufted bench (similar bench), a headboard lined with nail heads all topped off with a sparkly vintage inspired chandelier. Similar chandelier here 
I'm a big fan of using personal art in a space. In this case, Janeka had taken some flirty photos which she knew she'd want to incorporate in the space. I emailed the images to Kinkos, picked em up an hour later and framed them with these inexpensive black frames from Target.

Playful pillows and pillowcases from Anna's Linens, Overstock and Target add some fun and color to the bedding.That amazing hat, jacket and jewelry were pulled from her closets, notice I said closets!

 

Well, you all know how I feel about fake flowers so of course I had to add some fresh flowers in the bedroom/bath. Tulips were just the soft floral touch needed here. Grabbed a few bundles at Target, I swear I love that place, what don't they have?


Every fashionista needs a fab full length mirror. These mirrors can be pricey but we again scored this one at City Furniture. I gotta say that they have really stepped up their game in their furniture offerings and they are hella budget friendly. However not be upstaged by the mirrored chests, similar options here and here 


We were on a tight budget with this project and therefore couldn't do much with the master bathroom. To bring some life to the space, I decided to frame the mirror and paint it in the same coral color we used on the accent wall in the bedroom. It immediately takes your eye away from the other shortcomings such as the outdated lighting and faucets, all of which can be replaced at a later date.





And there you have it folks, another whirlwind transformation done in the nick of time. 
As usual, I was not there for the reveal. I think I mentioned to y'all that I've been shying away from that in recent years. When Janeka asked why, I told her it was simply too stressful! Honestly it can be a bit. But most importantly for me I think not being there allows the client/clients to soak in all the changes and make an honest assessment without me hovering nearby. 
When she got home that night and saw the transformation she admits to "bawling" like a baby. After waiting over nine months to purchase her home, it was everything she'd dreamed it would be and it was extremely emotional and guess what? She was glad I wasn't there to see her completely unravel! Thanks again Janeka for allowing us to transform your home into everything you'd hoped for. Can't wait for round two, which we'll complete in a few weeks.



Monday, January 21, 2013

Historic Moments

Sometimes a photo says it all. 
Thank you gentlemen for changing the course of history in so many ways. 


Thursday, January 17, 2013

A Black Wall, Some Shimmer and Voila, a New Home.


This amazing living room is the end result of a whirlwind project completed just days before Christmas. Here's the background:
I got a series of calls from this client,Chaunte, in early December. She is the best friend of the daughter of my client Debbie whose home we transformed here and here. She was in a bit of a panic. She was closing on her new home in a few days and desperately wanted it to be fabulous for Christmas. Er, this Christmas, 2012? My head was spinning. I wanted to wind down for the holidays and a rushed project was not in my forecast. She pleaded. Her best friend called as well and pleaded. Sigh. Okay, I'll come take a look. 
It was a fabulous home that clearly needed some wow. The budget was also tight so we would need to work in phases, starting with the main floor. Three weeks to pull this off? Lord help me but under contract we went. 
Here's what we started with. 

 Bare walls throughout as you enter the foyer, living/dining rooms. The round mirror you spy on the floor is one of three that we'll re-purpose and use in the final design.

On her wish list: a black wall. Her husband Kevin gave us a scowl but she was undeterred. My design juices were peaked. I'd forgive the rush on this project because I'd been dying to find a client bold enough to welcome such a color in their home. She'd in fact purchased a can of black paint a year ago to use in her previous home, but just didn't have the guts to go through with the plan. Sweet. Here's what we ended up with after a whirlwind few weeks of sourcing, shopping and installing - just three days before Christmas.

Remember that mirror? Well, we painted it white (along with two others) and they are now a great addition to the family's new home. The starburst mirrors were also a dull gold when I purchased them and they were fab, but I spray-painted them silver because I needed them to pop a bit more off that black wall. That can of black paint did its thing as well. I saw a few skeptical faces when we first painted it but I think we made a believer out of a few folks. Hooray to Chaunte for daring to be bold.

While we were still negotiating a contract, my clients went furniture shopping. I had a panic attack when I learned this because well, I like to select key pieces in my design work to keep in line with the overall plan. Luckily they selected a sofa and two chairs that were fab. I did end up nixing their dining table and chair selections in favor of this glass top beauty. I'd also selected white chairs with nail heads, but learned on delivery day that they were on back order for several weeks. Arrggghh. Always have a plan B in mind. I'd also loved these other chairs and thankfully they were readily available. Problem solved and guess what? She forgot all about the other chairs once she saw the final reveal.  
We found these amazing rugs on Overstock. I gotta say their rug selections are on fire these days and the prices are freaking bananas. The glass side tables were a bit of a splurge but I so needed that shimmer in the room. I had a mild heart attack when the sales clerk told me they'd sold out but leave it to super sleuth Debbie to track em down in five minutes. I hauled ass and drove 45 minutes to purchase them pronto.

Tricks of the trade: pull elements together when you can. Notice that the Nate Berkus Chevron urn on the side table, is mimicked on the rug? The legs of the table are also similar in shape to the lines on the rug.
 

I'm never afraid to mix finishes, so blending gold and silver for this table scape was a no-brainer for me. It's a setting that lasts way beyond the holidays and I've encouraged her to add fresh flowers when she can to mix things up a bit. I also often use multiple runners run width-wise instead of length-wise just to add additional layers/texture to a table.

Chaunte loved this light fixture in another shape but I convinced her round was the way to go here to balance out all the angular lines in the room. Tip: Dining table lights should be hung roughly 30" to 36" above the table (for standard ceiling heights of 8 feet) or about 40" and more for ceiling 10 or more feet. 

The foyer was not to be outdone. To play off the black wall, I selected a black accent chest for use as the foyer table. It offers great storage for miscellaneous items. Since it had an amazing pattern, I kept the decor simple. Fresh flowers or a simple orchid, to me, are a must do on foyer and coffee tables. 




 All the accessories were budget friendly finds from Target, Home Goods and Ikea. Ditto too on the curtains which were all from Ikea. I simply used curtain rings to give them the pleated look of more customized curtains. I also always hang my curtains floor to ceiling, it simply adds height to a room by forcing your eye upward. Floral arrangements shown here are a simple mix of hydrangeas from my local florist, and some plants from the clients front yard.


That's all folks. I was not there for the reveal. I try not to be there these days, don't ask me why. I guess I really want them to have the time to take it all in and speak candidly amongst themselves and not have me hovering around. Designer friends, are you always there for the reveal? Clients, what do you prefer?
I do know from an amazing phone call, texts and email that they were ecstatic and proud to show off their home over the holidays and beyond. I was also happy they took the time to write a pretty amazing review over on Houzz. Humbled as always. We'll tackle the powder room next and other phases when the budget allows. 
Kudos again to Debbie and the team for pulling out all the stops to whip this together in record time, and thanks always to Shaggy of Circle Ten Media for his amazing photos.
Holla, holla, holla. Do you have a favorite element in this design? Would you ever do a black wall?



















 

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