Living with what you love

I'm sure you've heard the buzz in blogland about Monica Rich Kosann's new book Living With What You Love, but if you haven't, here's my take.  The book's underlying philosophy (Living with what you love) goes hand in hand to me with creating a home.  We see so many beautiful images of homes every day, but how many of them seem personal and special to the homeowners?  The ones that speak to me the most are the ones that feel real and loved like a "real" home.  (vs a showhouse)  The book addresses  such a simple but core issue in a hands-on way that makes you want to get to work on your own home right away.

{How adorable is this?  I might have to stuff my parrot and keep him there.. haha totally kidding!}

Ove the years, Monica, a portrait photographer found that her clients were also looking to her to help them find special ways to display the beautiful photos she'd taken.  Her "job" expanded and not only does she help families take photographs but she helps them fit them into their homes in ways that are personal & beautiful. 

It's the final layer, the accessorizing, where we can very easily inject ourselves in our homes.  I have so many photos I've saved over the years "to be framed" or "to be hung" or whatever.  Monica's book inspired me to finally get around to doing something with them.  Her book's full of creative ways to display family photos and special items.  I love the little pages of a photo album casually piled on the table below:

Living With What You Love was so great to sit down with and inspired a few projects in our own home that I can't wait to get started with...  One of them being a hallway full of kids' art projects and family photos.  The hallway leading to our bedrooms is & has been totally blah since we moved in.  We addressed most of the main areas in our house& now it's time for the hallways, and smaller spaces, which can make all of the difference.  I'm going to take my time with this one and I want it to grown over the years almost like a huge inspiration board.  

What about you?  Do you live with the things you love?

If you'd like help creating a home you absolutely love, contact me about our design services.

You can click here to buy the book :)

The Beads

After I put my new profile picture up last week, I got a few emails asking me about my wooden beads.  They're by Kayce Hughes, one of our super-talented sponsors, and are my absolute favorite.  I wear them all of the time and they always get compliments.  I wanted to let you know that Kayce's having giving away the beads on her blog!!  Click here to enter.  If you don't know Kayce yet, make sure to read through her beautiful blog...  She's a successful fashion designer, mother to 7 beautiful kids and has a seriously stylish home... You'll love her. 

If you'd like help creating a home you absolutely love, contact me about our design services.

Teensy Peek of a Client's Project

Remember this design plan for my clients Aimee & Dave that I showed you last week?

Well, the upholstered pieces arrived and look so awesome!!!!  Now, in a perfect world, everything arrives undamaged and flawless...  well, in real life, sometimes there are issues.  Aimee & Dave's custom sofa arrived with some damage so I'm working on getting it fixed with the manufacturers delivery company.  Have you ever heard the saying, "There's no such thing as a design emergency?"  Well, I have and for the most part have to agree...  no matter what, it's not a life & death situation and shouldn't be stressed over... BUT in this case, I have to admit that I totally felt sick to my stomach.  Luckily, Aimee's really understanding and was so excited with the look of the pieces that she sent me some pics. 

We still have to finish flushing out the plan with curtains, pendant lighting, pillows, art work, rugs (potty training right now ;) and accessories but I had to show you what it's looking like. Here it was mid-construction:

And here it is now:

I just LOVE the orange Thibaut fabric!!!  Oh my gosh.    I can't wait to see all of the soft goods in place!! 

Have an awesome weekend!!  Today is Dave's & my 5 year anniversary.  We're celebrating tomorrow. 

I can't believe it's been 5 years - it went by so quickly- and yet it feels like it's been forever in another way.  We met when I was 20, my junior year (his senior year) of college in English class.  He was this cocky guy from New York and I fell for him. hahaha  But seriously, any guy who can take this like a champ is my hero:

We've become "grown-ups" together and I couldn't imagine any of this without him. 

.... maybe not quite grown-ups yet...  but honestly, does anyone ever feel like one???

If you'd like help creating a home you absolutely love, contact me about our design services.

My new dust jacket

I had such a great time at the Darryl Carter book signing today!!! 

{Darryl & me}

My supersweet friend Rachel James (below) invited me today and I'm so glad she did!!   My partner in crime was Michele Ginnerty of My Notting Hill and we (once again!!) forgot to take a picture together.

So...  Do you remember how yesterday I wrote that I was a little embarrassed about the condition of the dust jacket on my copy of the book.? (I've had it for almost 2 years & it's gotten a lot of use... I didn't want my messed up dust jacket to give the impression that I didn't care about the book.)  Well, today when I brought my weathered & worn copy of The New Traditional to the book signing, there was a new dust jacket waiting there for me with my name on it.  They'd read my post yesterday and gotten me one!

There's no other way to say it other than that I just felt so special.  It was such a simple thoughtful gesture and it made my day.  Darryl Carter is truly all that he seems and it's so awesome to find that someone you've set on a pedestal is deserving.  He's warm & fun and has this great energy about him.   He dresses just like his rooms too; he's got such a handle on his style in every way.

There are so many projects brewing with him & his company and I cannot wait to see everything unfold.  If you haven't read it, you will love the book.  My mom gave it to me for Christmas almost 2 years ago and I remember reading it cover to cover right away.  But then I kept going back to it...  sometimes not wanting to really think, just perusing the eye candy, other times devouring & digesting every line and image, making mental notes and figuring out why I loved something & how I could incorporate it somewhere. 

I'm off to bed but today was just so great.  When I went to pick up the kids at daycare today, the director of the daycare (who's pretty serious with me for the most part) said, "How are you?"  when he walked by me in passing and I just heard myself say, "AWESOME."  hahaha he totally didn't laugh which made it even better.  But it's true, right now, I'm still pretty excited.  awesome.

If you'd like help creating a home you absolutely love, contact me about our design services.

Darryl Carter

Meeting THIS guy tomorrow:

{Darryl Carter & his German Short-haired pointer...  well, sadly not he pointer, but hopefully Darryl}

I'm going to a book signing!!  (And embarrassed to show him my slightly destroyed copy of the book which has a torn & messed up dust jacket...  It looks like I don't care about it but it's really the opposite--- I've read it too much and messed it up!!  Dust jackets just aren't made for people like me.  ;)

{in Elle Decor}

{Elle Decor}

I could go on & on posting pictures but I'm not going to because I know you've probably already seen & drooled over most of them before.  (In case you haven't, check out his website here.)

I have the tendency to creep people out when I'm a fan of theirs & I first meet them so I'm really going to try to reign it in at the book signing.  (It's @ the tabletop Trade Show in Vienna!)  I get a little excited (no, seriously,  crazily, giddy, blabbery... ) because I feel like I know them.  I've had conversations about them, I've read their books, I've devoured their portfolios and philosophies...  I wonder "what would Darryl do?" haha yes, see?  first name basis.  

  SO,  I'm not sure if my plan  to chill out will work or not because I am

SO.  FREAKING. EXCITED!!!!!!!!

Will let you know how it goes & hopefully I can get a picture.

ps- Grandmother, if you're wondering who he is, he's the guy you showed me in the Washington Post waaaaay back when I was just getting interested in decorating & designing.  You thought I should try giving him a call to see if he needed any help so I could learn from him.  :)  I love you.

If you'd like help creating a home you absolutely love, contact me about our design services.

Fall's here!!

 Fall just might be my favorite season.  I love it.  I love the feeling in the air, the clothes, the boots, the smell of the wet leaves right now (been raining a lot) and I love that cool tinge of excitement it gives me every year...  Here are a few pics that call it to mind..

{Our mantle}

{image from Country Home}

{Honey bear last year}

{Our entry viewed from lower level family room}

{our living room}

{Mm mm mm!! Stone Soup "how to" here}

{Christian last Fall...  me behind the camera: " Hold the pumpkin!  Smile!!  Good boy.  Yeah now put it on your head! Say cheese!".. poor kid}

{Country Living}

I can't get enough of it.  Today's perfectly gloomy weather has me in a thoughtful mood. 

So, I'm off to eat soup and think ;) ;)  hahahah

  

Have a great day!!

If you'd like help creating a home you absolutely love, contact me about our design services.

Client Project Plans: Aimee & Dave's Open Plan Living Area

I thought I'd share another project I've been working on with you.  I started working with Aimee & Dave om their new house pre-construction this past Winter.   Here's a photo of the living room mid-construction:

Aimee & Dave are probably one of the cutest couples I've ever met as you can see from the pic below.  See the smiles on their faces as they check out their new place?

They have two cutie pies (not pictured) Eli & Lucy (right around my kids' ages) and are a young couple with a really fun sense of style.  They were looking for fresh, "coastal," fun, family-focused design.  Now since there's really no coast in sight around here, we had to make sure that we didn't get too themey-coastal and instead went with pieces that could work in Virginia but had that easy-breezy vibe.  Aimee knew she wanted aqua and from her inspiration photos we settled on aqua, oraange, and black & white for the general color scheme.

The kitchen is open to the dining nook and the living/ family room and Aimee & Dave wanted a place where they can cook, play with the kids, watch TV, eat, entertain, etc.  (Basically do it all)  Their house is new and open with classic details.  The rooms are a nice liveable big-but-not-too-big- sized-rooms and there aren't any wasted rooms in the house.   They will be literally be using every room of the house.  I love it.

After getting to know Aimee & her style, here's the plan I came up with.   (I typically do client plans in a 3-pronged folder, 1 for me and 1 for them to take home...  Samples are usually loose so we hold, drape on other things, tweak, etc.  I used to do large boards but have gotten away from it recently for the sake of portability...  they were fun though so who knows, I might eventually go back.)
  Anyway, here's the plan for the living area:

Here are the fabrics pictured above:

I'm a little bit in love with the sofa fabric which is the large-scale orange floral linen.  Aimee loved the fabric but took a long time deciding whether to do it on the sofa or not.  Doing a print on a sofa is a big deal.  For the past few years we've all heard the general touting: "Go neutral on your sofa and then switch up your pillows and acessories whenever you want," which I definitely think is perfect for a lot of us, but sometimes a pattern is so right, so timeless and so personal, that you know you'll love it for years and you don't want to switch things up all the time.  And that's how this orange fabric was.  We toyed with the idea of going neutral on the sofa and having pillows made out of it, but Aimee's style is realy fun & bold so she decided to go for it.  I am so excited for this baby to arrive!!!   We're doing it on this sofa: (which has just been finished this week and is ready for delivery!!)"

We're doing the modern wing chairs in a brown velvet with the black & white fabric for pillows, and then aqua pillows on the sofa.

Here are some of the other pieces we're using:

We're doing a large seagrass rug on the floors with the black & white Dash & Albert rug over it.  Remember the German antique barley twist table with inset needlepoint panels?

Yup!  It went to Aimee & Dave.

Here's the living area mid-construction:

...And please don't laugh, I'm not an artist, but the point comes across in this quick drawing:

 

The brown velvet chairs will go in front of the windows which will have aqua blue curtains and woven shades.

I made some optional pieces we could add in later:

Love that lantern pendant...  we're doing one over the island too.  And this guy's going above the fireplace:

Here's the dining nook:

Here's a super-quick brainstorming sketch:

 And here are the actual pieces:

Aimee & Dave have decided to go with all chairs (no banquette) for now and are having a custom table made.  They've also added chalkboard paint to the wall for Eli (who loves it!!) and eventually Lucy.  I'll keep you posted & can't wait to show you some "afters."  Thanks so much to Aimee & Dave for letting me help you with your project!!

If you'd like help creating a home you absolutely love, contact me about our design services.