Featured in Chatelaine

I am excited to announce that my mom's popular stair redo has become even more famous, with international notoriety! My mom's chevron painted stairs that I first blogged about HERE was part of an article Chatelaine put together for how to style your staircase. Chatelaine is a leading Canadian lifestyle magazine and web site. Here it is on their amazing web site...

Congratulations, mom! Her stunning stair transformation first made major publication news when it was featured in Woman's World magazine. If you missed that, I blogged about it HERE. I just keep telling her she's going to need to start a blog of her own with these great projects! If you want to see more stylish ways to transform your stairs, make sure you check out the article!

Before and After {Foyer E-Design}

A love a great before and after, don't you? It always amazes me to see how a space can transform with just a few changes! I have a great before and after to show you, today. My wonderful client and I have been working on several rooms throughout her home and she has been a pleasure to work with. Her and her husband have been plugging away at each of the spaces and are truly doing a wonderful job seeing the design vision through. Here is the foyer when we began working together...

Before

We wanted to bring some pattern and texture to this space and make it a fun welcoming area to look at upon entering her house. A foyer is a very important room to consider, since it sets the stage for what's to come throughout a home. I created the foyer design along with the living room, since they are really one big space. Here is the design board I came up with, the foyer design towards the left of the board...

Design Plan

I wanted to create pattern on the walls with a new stencil. This helped to separate the foyer from the living room, while still making it feel like one design. To unify the spaces, we painted all of the walls in both the foyer and living room the same gray/white shade. That really helped to lighten up the spaces and allow the accessories to shine. Here are the afters of her foyer...

After

The stencil and the lighter walls really make the space, don't you think? I also love the way a room changes with just some paint. The door and trim looks amazing painted black! I love the way she pulled this space together. And thanks so much to my client for allowing me to share these photos here on the blog. :)

The Foyer is Almost Done... You've Gotta See This!

I am so thrilled to show you this {almost} reveal, that I couldn't wait until all of the pieces were in place. My client and blog friend, Anne, moved into her newly built home and is doing a fabulous job making it her own. The finishes and pieces she has chosen so far have made this house an incredible work of art. She contacted me to help her put finishing touches on the foyer, dining room and living room. I originally wrote about the foyer here, but let's re cap...

Here is Anne's foyer before...

Stunning, right?!? Here is the design plan I came up with to add a touch of modern glamour to the space and complete the look...

The Design Plan...

And here is the {almost} reveal of the foyer...

That stencil is seriously everything!! Anne did an amazing job with that project. It adds fun texture and pattern to the space and is a great way to introduce the home's style as you enter through the front door. The Beach print from Furbish brings together the home's color palette and is a whimsical accessory to the foyer. Here is a close up of the amazing print...

Sandwiches on the Beach

We will still add a couple of accessories and an ottoman for putting on/taking off shoes. But I just had to show you the progress. Amazing job, Anne! Thanks for letting me share your gorgeous space!

E-Design - A Client's Foyer

I love it when I am working with a client that loves design and gets just as excited about the project as I do! One of my recent e-design clients who is also a blog friend, has contacted me to help her pull together the foyer, dining room and living room. In my last post, I shared the plans and progress of the dining room. My friend and client, Anne, has an open floor plan on the first level and we are making choices that all work well together and create continuity and flow. The color palette will remain the same for all spaces... mixing grays, blues and corals for a modern and fun design! Here is a snapshot of the foyer we are working with...

Her Foyer Before

As you can see, we are already working with a stunning space. This girl knows design very well! We will keep the pretty wall color, rug and chandelier. Anne recently bought the console and already had the hexagon mirror. We are incorporating it all into the plan. Here is what I came up with to bring this space together...

The Design Plan

We will add a stencil to that one wall, create a fun gallery wall using her mirror, add an ottoman for putting on and taking off shoes and include some chic accessories to the top of the console. I cannot wait to see the space come together and that stencil up on the wall. It is already a stunning space!!

Make sure to check back next week, as we move onto the living room! The 'before pictures' are gorgeous on their own!

Picture Outtakes from Woman's World Magazine Feature

When Woman's World magazine contacted me about including my mom's stairs in a spring feature, they asked if I could reshoot the pictures to include yellow flowers. The article was about a black + white + yellow color scheme and we were missing the cheery yellow color. So after picking up pretty yellow spider mums from a local florist, I went crazy taking a bunch of pictures and trying out a few different pots and vases. I wanted to make sure they had plenty of options to choose from! The editor mentioned choosing a fairly neutral pot, so the stairs and color scheme would take center stage.

First, let's look at the picture that did make the cut...

And here is a sampling of the many, many pictures I took over the course of two days...

See- I told you I gave plenty of options! You would be shocked to know how many other pictures there are, too! Sometimes, you only get one chance to make a good impression, so you might as well go for it and do the best you can. It's so fun being able to share this magazine experience with my mom, since we have loved design together for so long. A huge thanks to the hubby for surprising me with a new camera a few days before, which made this all so much fun! I loved trying out the new camera, as you can tell. :) To see my post about the magazine feature, go here.

A Woman's World Magazine Feature!

I have to pinch myself a bit to actually believe this just happened, but I'm mentioned in this week's issue of Woman's World Magazine!! It is all just so surreal.

I'll back up a bit and explain how this all came to be. It all started when we were at my mom's house over Christmas. She had just completed these amazing chevron stairs, and I wanted to write a blog post about it. I posted about it here {on Christmas Eve} and used the pictures my brother had taken with his phone. The pictures started to move around pinterest, which is how the magazine's home decorating editor found out about this project. Jodi Kahn, the amazing editor I worked with, reached out to me and asked if they could include my mom's stairs in a spring issue about a black + white + yellow color scheme. The only problem was the original pictures had beautiful poinsetta plants on the stairs, which is a winter flower. They were looking for a spring look. So they asked if I wouldn't mind taking the pictures again with some bright yellow flowers. I got right to it and found some gorgeous spider mums at a local florist. {My first 'photo shoot'!} We tried out a few different vases/planters, and they chose to include the milk vases you see above, for the magazine. {They were a great find at Target, by the way!}

I would like to give a huge thank you to my mom for allowing us into her home  and giving the go ahead for this project to be included in a national magazine! And a huge thank you to Jodi Kahn, the home decorating editor for Woman's World, who was so great to work with!

I will be back soon with a gallery of picture outtakes from my 'photo shoot'!

Just Some Updates...

I purchased the curtain tie backs for the foyer panels and hope to have that installed today! But I do have some new updates to show you for now... I finally put a down filled insert into the foyer pillow. I can't say enough about how important it is to use down filled inserts whenever you can! I am guilty of this too, but have seen the error of my ways. I was being lazy and cheap, thinking I could just throw a poly filled insert in and be done with it. I thought I was saving money, when actually, they're about the same price! Jo Ann Fabrics sells 20" poly filled inserts for about $18 when not on sale. That's exactly what I paid at Pottery Barn for the down filled! The look is so much better and more inviting! Here is the pillow with a poly fill...

Before

And here is the same pillow, but with the down filling...

After

 
So much better! I also want to add how much better a photo can look with proper natural lighting. It brightens up the space and looks so much more cheerful when you can take pictures on bright, sunny days.

While at Pottery Barn picking up the insert and curtain tie backs, I came upon this lovely turquoise accessory. I have had my eye on this for a while, but didn't want to pay full price. When I saw it on sale a while back, I still wasn't convinced. Then, I thought it was sold out for a while, until I hunted and found a bunch on clearance for $13! It was meant to be and proudly sits in our living room...

The coral that was once there is now on our secretary desk in the same room. I needed something to fill this space in between our lamps, and this pop of color was the perfect choice. I pulled this color from our suzani print pillows in the foyer. Sprinkling the same palette throughout the home unifies the spaces. It also makes it easier to move accessories from room to room when you are bored with the current location!

Have you made any new updates to get you ready for spring??

{Before and After} An X Bench is a Better Fit

I recently posted about my pom pom fringe curtains, and as I was looking at the pictures, I noticed the bench was now a bit too long. Well, I actually noticed it when seeing it in front of me, but the pictures drove the point home even more. It was time for the bench to go somewhere else in the house and this spot needed a smaller seat. Here is what the foyer looked like about two days ago...

Before

The curtains were being pushed to the side by the bench. Once we install the tiebacks for the drapery panels, I think it would be that much more apparent. I love the bench and its new home. It is now in the guest room, where it be a great spot to place towels, small suitcases, etc. And here is the new option...

After

I have had my eye on this X bench for a while. It was finally on clearance at Target, and I scooped up the last one! Originally on sale for $69 and I bought it for $41!! I love their Threshold line of accessories and small furniture pieces. Yet again, Target is brining their 'A' game! The seat is actually much deeper than the black bench, so it will be much more comfortable when taking off shoes. We will actually use this one! And if I ever feel the need to move it around, X benches are one of those versatile pieces that will work anywhere. I love seeing two under a console and at the foot of the bed. Since I have only one, it will also work great as a side table, with the additon of a small tray. You may have noticed that I also switched out the pillow for the suzani print. I brought up this conversation on instagram, and my blog friend Holly liked the suzani option here better. I would have to agree, so here it is! In my last post about my master bedroom, I mentioned that if you keep a fairly consistent color scheme throughout your home, you will easily be able to switch out accessories from room to room. I was mainly referring to this pillow. Since I have had this suzani print pillow, I have been pulling colors from it and sprinkling it throughout the home. This new bench has the same coral color as in the pillow, the living room wall color has the same brown, the secretary desk lamp has the same turquoise, etc. This way, I can easily shop around my home without worry if it will work in each room.

Still to do... add the curtain tie backs and replace the polyester pillow insert with a down filled option. Always a better alternative! Oh yeah, and paint the stair railing black! And that door in the last picture, too. So much to do, so little time!

{DIY} Adding Pom Pom Fringe

When I {or I should say my husband) installed a curtain rod above our front door, I chose the same drapery panels that are in our kitchen and family room. I wanted to do a little something more to them, so I decided to add black pom pom fringe to the edges of the panels. I am happy to report that this was super easy to do! It took about 20 minutes one night to get both panels finished!

After

Here's a little step by step if you are thinking of adding a little pizazz to store bought drapery panels...

The Materials

You Will Need

1. Black Pom Pom Fringe cut to size
2. Aleene's Fabric Fusion
3. Drapery Panels
4. Scissors

I had the lady at Jo Ann Fabrics cut the pom pom fringe to size for each panel. She was great and added an extra few inches, which I cut off after the project was complete. It was nice to have that extra bit of fringe in case one side had an unfinished edge.

First, I layed the fringe in place to make sure I liked the way it looked. When I knew I had enough and it was just the way I wanted, I moved the fringe to the side and started to add fabric fusion to the panels. I love this stuff! I have used it to attach trim to lamp shades and now this! The fabric is washable after 24 hours and can also be dry cleaned! I don't have a picture of this step, since I was using both hands, but I applied the fusion about 1/4 " from the edge of each panel.

I started this project on the carpet, and then realized I might be getting permanent glue on the carpet! Not good. Luckily, I didn't... but I came up with another way to do this project just to be sure-

I decided to place an old sheet under the panel where I was working. Both are terribly wrinkly, but nothing is perfect during the process, is it??

I waited about an hour to make sure the glue was secure to the panels. This stuff is amazing. It adhered so well and I could tell it wasn't going anywhere. I decided to add a little fabric fusion to the top and bottom of the fringe, to prevent fraying. The lady at the store said I could stictch the edges to prevent fraying, but this girl doesn't sew! So, the fusion will also work like a charm. I was too excited to wait until the next day to attach the panels to the curtain rings, so I went for it!

Next up, is painting the stair railing black! One of these days!  :) Oh, and of course adding drapery tie backs and steaming those panels. Is it ever done???

{Before and In Progress} Curtains Are on the Sidelights!

A while back, I mentioned that I wanted to add a decorative option to cover our sidelights. When we first moved in, we had stationary sidelight panels, but that didn't give us the option to move them during the day. I wanted a more modern approach for covering these windows, that would also be moveable and let the light in. When I came across these inspiration photos, I knew this would work for us...

Source: jonesdesigncompany.com via Amber B Interiors on Pinterest

Source: southernliving.com via Amber B Interiors on Pinterest

Adding drapery panels was such a clever and stylish way to add privacy. My walls are wallpapered and busy, so I knew I didn't want patterned drapery panels. I decided to try my own take on this project! Here is the before shot of our foyer...

Before

And here are the afters in progress, with the curtaind rod and panels...

After

I say in progress, because I still plan on installing some sort of tie backs for the panels. I ended up using the same panels that are in our kitchen and family room, but I added pom pom fringe for a special, fun touch. The curtain panels are from Target and are the Farrah Curtain Panels in Cream. They can be found here. I ordered the panels in size 54x95 so I could hang the rod high and near the ceiling. I think it helps to draw your eye up and create more space when you can mount your curtain rod as high as possible. I will be back next week for a full tutorial on adding the pom pom fringe!

To all who are celebrating Easter tomorrow, have a wonderful, special day!! We plan to do just that!