2013 Home with 4 Bedrooms, Part 3

This series is about a real living room in a home that is on the market somewhere in the US.  I keep the city confidential for the privacy of current and prospective owners.  Today I am making an inspiration board for what could go in this particular living room to make it look super good.  I'll have to invent the personalities of the prospective homeowners that I would have as clients, because this home is not currently occupied . . . We'll make the husband a dentist, the wife a graphic designer and passionate party thrower who loves children's literature.  Let's say they have a very young baby and are hoping to have more children in the future.  The room needs some color--especially if a graphic designer is going to live here.  Also, let's accentuate her love of parties and children's literature by doing something like this:

Here is what we are starting with:

What I'm Decorating at My House

This week I've been working on gathering art and accessories and window treatments to make some of our rooms look much better.  Here is just one image that I have created to know what I want to buy (I took this picture while my 4 year old was on the computer!):

I still have doubts about the art, the fabric on the roller shade, and the light fixture.  BUT I can't WAIT to but this together!  I want to install  it all together on a day, just like I do for my clients.  The feeling of such a big change in a small amount of time is such a kick for me!

Have a good weekend!

1980 Home with 2,000 Square Feet, Part 3

Today I will show how to take this room from bland to dynamic!  Here is what we have started with:

front room; home built 1980, about 2000 square feet

This is my inspiration board, without changing the paint color OR flooring.  In fact, by selling the extra furniture that the homeowner doesn't need in this room, they could easily pay for these inexpensive Ikea bookcases, Ikea curtain panels, and an Overstock.com rug.

Isn't this an amazing turn-around??  Without even painting, the room looks better!  Just assemble some bookcases, add colorful things to the shelves, roll out a colorful rug, and hang up some bold curtain panels!

Tomorrow I'll break down where the furniture goes and what to buy . . .

Mountain Style Decorating

In trying to understand how to blend my classic traditional style with the style of our 1960 ranch house, I've been taking a look at decorating styles that I usually pay attention to.  One of these is the "Mountain Style".

Mountain style can also be mixed easily with a "cabin style" and a "pioneer style".  The thing to add that kick a "pioneer" or "cabin" style into "mountain" is pine boughs and animal skins.  Because I've been volunteering all summer with my boys at our local pioneer park, I've got the pioneer style in my head every Friday after being in the "Charles C Rich Home" and giving tours, and these styles are very close to each other.

To get the mountain style, you need these ingredients:
1. pine boughs
2. animal skins

3. wood floors

4. walls with texture (like logs, plaster, or v-groove wall board)

5. rock texture either in fireplace or a rock wall

6. rough beam ceiling, if possible

7. simple wood furniture

8. very very little upholstery furniture

9. if furniture is painted, only a few; "chippy" preferably

10. baskets

11. firewood

12. Navajo rug and textiles

13. just a few Victorian elements: blue and white platter or ornately framed black and white photo

14. candles

15. iron metal elements: fireplace accessories or candle holders or light fixtures

17. simple plaid or stripped fabrics

18. very little color

This will not be the style that I decorate my modern house with, but I'd like to mix a little of this style into my home because we live in the Salt Lake Valley, shadowed by the Wasatch mountains.  The mountains are part of our lifestyle.  We can drive to several canyons for a hike or cookout within 10-20 minutes.  Giving our home part of this look will give people a sense of place when they visit us.

Next, I will be looking at the Prairie Style--which is the progenitor of the Ranch house movement.

House Color Combinations

Sue and I are cousins by marriage.  We met a few years ago when Jon and I took the boys to see where his mom grew up on the east coast.  Because Jon lost his mom to cancer when he was 15, we are eager for any connection with her family.  We were so lucky to have Sue taking us around Branford Connecticut telling us about the family and summers that she spent there with Jon's mom.

Sue is a master seashell finder!  Here we are with seashells from beloved Short Beach near Branford (above).  This is in October, but wouldn't it be the best place to laze away a summer afternoon?  Sue said that parking is horrific here in the summers, and the beach is only for homeowners who live nearby.  We were lucky to come in the off-season.

Sue's dad and Jon's mom's dad are brothers.  Can you tell??

Here my son is playing near the Yale Yacht Club which happens to be located on the same Short Beach that Jon's mom grew up playing on as a young girl in the summers.

The boys loved the beach!

We are so happy for Sue because she is getting ready to retire, and has found a home in Florida to buy.  I was excited when Sue asked me for advice with how to paint the new home's exterior.  Right away I copied a picture from the real estate website into my program, and got to work making up different color combinations.  Here is the house they bought:

With that classic red brick and the charming arches in between each porch post, we knew we could make it look great.  Here are the four options that we tried:

grey with blue doors/shutters

brown with white doors/shutters

grey with red doors/shutters

yellow with black doors/shutters

Sue and her daughter chose the grey and blue.  I think that it will look fantastic!  Congratulations on the house Sue!

Client Master Bathroom

Right now I am helping a delightful couple to update their master bathroom.  I have been designing their shower, vanity, and tub into every corner of the space, which is about 300 square feet!  The choices are many--and this is a good problem.  Here is an example of my latest floor plan option:



Last week I finalized two different materials and finishes boards for my clients to look at.  The first one is more casual, white, and playful:



The second one is more refined and has more dark colors mixed in:



Once we finalize the floor plan and the materials/finishes, we can start hiring workers and taking the old bathroom apart.  Exciting!

Versatile Yellow Slipper Chair

Last month, my neighbor inherited two yellow slipper (Asian style) chairs from her grandmother.  I saw them sitting in her driveway the day she got them, and immediately jumped out of my car to tell her how beautiful they are.

Here are three different inspiration boards to show Robynne just how versatile these chairs can be--in their original bright yellow fabric!

1. Traditional/Conventional Style: Robyn's plantation shutters and blue carpet, light aqua ginger jar lamp with a white drum shade, espresso console table (this one is from Target!), "fishbowl aquamarine" Waverly fabric curtains, "cross section green" Waverly cotton fabric pillow, and a soft landscape framed in a dark frame.

2. Formal Style: French Directoire style side table, framed chinoiserie paper, red and gold distressed bullseye mirror, a palm potted in an urn, natural fiber rug/carpet, and tone-on-tone green stripped wallpaper.

3. Bohemian/Eclectic style: quirky wrapped canvas portrait, ikat fabric with warm colors for pillow and curtains, black and white geometric pattern rug, colorful West Elm "hive" vases, turned leg side table, "hoshi table lamp" in green apple from Wayfair with traditional white lamp shade.

Congratulations on the beautiful chairs Robynne!

The House We Almost Bought Last Summer

Talking with my friend this morning about all the yard projects we need to do reminded me of the landscaping we were going to do to a house that we were under contract to buy last summer.  I was going to go very modern with the interior, whitewash the orange brick, and the landscaping would have been more Mediterranean.  Here is the inspiration board that I made while we were sweating bullets trying to get our house sold:

the house we never bought

Because we hadn't sold our house yet, but still put an offer on what we thought would be a great diamond in the rough, ultimately we had to back out.  Now we feel that not selling our house in time to buy was divine intervention.  This house that we have bought is so much better for us in many many ways.  Better streets, better floor plan, better neighborhood, closer to my mom who is in a wheelchair, more secluded.

Here is the style for the living room, which had 2 8' sliding doors out to a wonderful back patio.  The idea was sparse decoration, white walls, dark metal stair rails and black framed window/doors:

the living room we never lived in

The funny thing is, the realtor and I spoke later, and she said that they ended up selling the home for even less than we offered, to more difficult buyers.  I have driven past the home since and there hasn't been ONE THING that has been changed!  So much potential there still waiting to be discovered.  Funny.

Pottery Barn Style

This inspiration board is for the style I call "Pottery Barn".  Most of us are somewhere near here--it is the most widespread style in the US and has been for a decade.  Here are the ingredients:

Wood floors

Asian-inspired rug with cut pile

Tall baseboards

Solid-colored paint on walls

Solid-colored sofa

Espresso-stained wood furniture

Storage furniture like armoires and hutches painted in light/white color or dark/black color with edges sanded

Wall with collage of framed images with big white matts

Glass-based lamp

Collections of candles, books, sea shells

Panel curtains in simple printed fabric

World Traveler Style

Here is my inspiration board for the world traveler look.  "Ingredients" for this look include:

Hard flooring

Stucco walls in light/white color

Fabric on the walls (tent look or some mosquito netting), lots of pattern in the fabric

Louvered  shutters for windows/closets/doors

Timbered ceilling

Rough carpentry doors and shutters painted in bright colors

Chinese/African/Indian wood furniture

Big leafy plants and orchids

Highly carved smaller furniture pieces with more than 4 sides

Animal skins

Flat weave rugs

Lantern lights with exotic metal carving

Urban Contemporary

Here is my inspiration board to explain another style to clients.

Urban Contemporary (and most modern/contemporary styles in general): straight lines, horizontal emphasis,  steel furniture accents, straight furniture leg, stained wood, simple door styles and trim styles, graphic art, spare fireplace mantles, very little pattern in fabrics, ceilings with structural elements exposed, lots of glass, lots of windows, floors are concrete or wood--but if there is carpet it is a low loop style.  No organic shapes.  Industrial feel.  Pops of solid color.

French Country Style

How to educate clients on the spot about different decorating styles??  Thanks to olioboard.com, I've started making inspiration boards to print out when I meet with people.

Surprisingly, French Country style has no toille.  What the style does have are: stone or wood floors, beamed ceilings, white-washed stucco walls, ornate doors and trim, windows that open inward like mini double doors with smaller square panes, limestone mantles, cabriole leg furniture, the classic bergere chair, and a crystal chandelier.  Throw in a trumeau-style mirror and you've got it!

Basement Bathroom Inspiration Board

We are so excited for this bathroom to come together!!  Here is the inspiration board that I've made as our goal:

Here is what we started with, as a reminder:

I've got to go buy the tile for the bathtub and the flooring, and get working on the vanity cabinets.  Right now they are three separate pieces that are a honey oak color from the early 90s.  Hopefully I can get them to look more like a piece of furniture like in the inspiration board!