The Non-Emergency Design Emergency

Tomorrow is our final installation day for the DC Design Showhouse. We have almost everything installed except for the custom concrete parsons table (which I've just been informed is non-existent due to it breaking into pieces). SO my assistant and I are off to the design center today in a mad dash to find a replacement table.

Wish us luck that a showroom manager takes pity on us, because we need this piece TOMORROW!

Ps. I truly stand by the belief that there is no such thing as a design emergency. (That is, unless I come home tonight emptyhanded ;)

We'll be twittering during our search today!

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

Little Victims... Photoshoot Prep

Since Spring isn't really doing its thing quickly enough for me, I am seriously craving green:

I love what plants do for rooms.  Sometimes when I look at magazine rooms and cover up the plants/ flowers in them, they seem pretty lifeless.  There's something about a pretty explosion of green (no matter how small) that I just love.  

 

Our house looks like a greenhouse right now because I picked up a ton of plants for the DC Design House and some upcoming photoshoots I'm doing with my good friend & photographer, Helen Norman next week.  This little orange tree will sit in a kitchen I recently finished with a vintage-styled green subway tile backsplash & dark walnut cabinets:

I found this cool pot at Merrifield Garden Center and filled it with this pretty little guy (I already forgot his name) for my room in the showhouse:

Love these moss pots:

And this gardenia is staying in my office for a while because it just smells like Heaven:

I picked up a bunch of herbs  & topiaries for another kitchen:

I truly love plants.  But I'm not very good with them.  They tend to die here.  My house is sort of like a plant hospice. 

...BUT...  the other day my assistant Meghan said I had a "green thumb." 

I have played this compliment over and over in my head since then and even relayed it to my husband who argues she must have been being sarcastic. 

I'm hoping I can change.  I'm really trying. 

There are plants in my house that have been here since September.  Yay.

ps- loved all the comments from yesterday about vines.  It's so fun to see that dialogue between the "romantics" and the "practicals."  I definitely fall on the romantic side, but it's sort of like eating cookie dough...  I'm sure once I got my first case of salmonella, I'd be done with cookie dough. 

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

Climbing Vines

I've always wanted climbing vines on my house.  I remember reading a book when I was a little girl that pictured a red brick house covered in ivy and how I wanted it.  Yeah, I know, it's bad for the house, but I love it anyway.  There's something so incredible about a wall of green and vines growing up a home. It blurs the line between the home and the land, which is something that the houses I truly love all have in common.

{Betsy Burnham}

I attemped to grow jasmine vines up a trellis in front of our house last year but they died in a harsh winter storm.

{image from 123rf.com}

Now I'm holding out for an evergreen clematis, which I grew up all over a fence in our old townhome and really took a beating.  I'm having a hard time finding it again though.  The last garden center I stopped at asking for it looked at me like I was nuts.  :(

{image by Cassie Lee}

I would go nutty for this on my front walkway steps:

{image from bigstockphoto.com}

I might try it although I'm not sure if the treads on my stairs are deep enough.

{Image by Galen Frysinger}

Climbing vines give buildings a sense of permanance. 

{image from 123rf.com}

I love it when they completely take over like this:

{image from trendr.tv}

And I cannot get over this ivy-covered turret:

{image via ehow.com}

And, finally, here's a secret garden:

{image by Gap Photos}

What I wouldn't give for a secret garden.

If I could completely wall in my backyard with hedges & vines, I would.  I'm a pretty social person but I do love private outdoor spaces.  

I am soo ready for March's lion to give way to the lamb. 

It's time.

Come on Spring!

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

The Mad Hatter & a question

The Mad Hatters arrived today for my room in the DC Design House and I am in love:

{My first Mad Hatter Wing Chair with a taupe velvet in front.. remember flash makes furniture look bad but people look better ;)  }

I had recently seen pictures sent from the factory of the chairs and knew that they looked exactly as planned but didn't know until I sat in them that they'd be exactly what I wanted.  They are sooooooo comfortable...  And they're big and they surround you and make you feel seriously cozy.  (Can you see how tall the back is?? And I'm a tall person.)  You can sit in normally and really easily snuggle up with a kid or pet, or you can turn sideways & pull up your feet and it's perfect. 

Here's the side view which shows off the insanely gorgeous Michael Smith / Jasper Fabric called Grace (in Willow).  (Available through John Rosselli in DC) 

I could take a nap in this chair: 

Our curtains & pillows will come in on Monday and I cannot wait to see the Peter Dunham fabrics!!  I'm also mixing in a few of my own along with some others so it should be pretty collected-feeling. 

We hung art work today and I've been looking at the photos, wondering if what I selected is too disjointed?  I approached the room as I would have a room in my own home, so instead of choosing pieces that work perfectly together, I went from my gut with pieces that I loved.  Looking over the photos tonight, I can't tell if it looks like a totally crazy person did it or if it has that only-slightly-crazy Alice-in-Wonderland-feel that I love...   I am toying with the idea of swapping out some of the more random pieces for ones that fit a little better (it is a showhouse after all)...  or keeping it real and a bit off the way I typically do in my more personal spaces. 

Any thoughts???



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

Move-in Day!

We move into our room at the DC Decsign House today!!  I CANNOT WAIT to see the Madhatter chairs from my new line in person.  (They're covered in the most beautiful Michael Smith floral.)  They arrived at our shipping warehouse this morning at 6:45 AM, just in time.  They are our first prototypes.

{sooo excited}

Our Stark rug is arriving along with the chairs and we're hanging the paintings & prints today.  The custom concrete piece I'm having made BROKE last night when it was being moved at the factory so we're in a bit of a pinch to get it finished in time.  eeeksters!! 

We'll be doing twitter updates today- first time ever so we'll see how it goes- on the process.  To follow, go here. 

Wish us luck that nothing else breaks & have a great day!! 

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

German Favorite Antiques

This weekend I headed to one of my absolute favorite antique stores- German Favorite Antiques in Leesburg, VA-  with my best friends from college visiting, to pick up some items formy room in the DC Design House.

{Gorgeous wooden angel...  not in the DC Design House room }

They have the most interesting things- many of them found in Germany & sent over by the container.  I picked up an incredible antique drop-leaf table with the most beautiful patina to sit in the showhouse room along with some paintings, etchings and books.

{There're always interesting collections of every day objects a German Favorite Antiques.}

Most items in the entire DC Design House will be for sale with a percentage of the proceeds going to Children's Hospital.  All of the items from German Favorite Antiques in my room will be for sale.

I found the cuckoo clock for my baby Justin's nursery @ German Favorite Antiques:

And his old mushroom chart:

..And honestly waaaay too many things for me to recount.  I love this place.

Evelyn is always in to help you pick out that perfect something:

...And if you're in Leesburg shopping (which is such a fun day in this nice weather!) check out the restaurants!  I always forget the name of this one but it's one of our favorites.  It's something like Old Leesburg Inn or Pub or something like that. (If anyone leaves it in the comments I'll be sure to update :) 

{me & my "cheeses" as we refer to one another because we love each other as much- no definitely more- than cheese: muenster, chedda (me), feta and prov}

I'm not sure it gets better than best friends, shopping (without paying... the items are on loan) and eating.  (Our husbands & my kiddos were with us too...  and all were very patient.)  I had one of the best weekends I've had in a long time and I'm still laughing thinking about its ridiculousness.

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

Happy St.Patrick's Day!

I bought these shamrocks (above) a week or so ago from Trader Joe's and they're hanging in there!  I covered the dirt in reindeer moss which I can't get enough of.  (It doesn't die...  Or maybe it's already dead??  anyway, love it.) 

We sent the boys off to school today in my favorite color:

And I attempted to work on the split pea soup that my husband & mom started yesterday...  And the bottom dropped out of the blender which made my pup, Ashby, very happy.

{"Happy St.Pattie's Day to you too Mommy!!!"}

On a related note, the new cabinets are painted now:

I taped the fabric to the backs of the panels because we couldn't find our staple gun.  (The sad part is that now that they're up I have no incentive to search for the staple gun.)  Now I need to get that drywall handled and switch out the plywood top for a stone one. 

But plywood'll work for a little St.Pattie's Day bar tonight. 

Hope you have a great one!! 

 

ps- Thank you so much to everyone who made it out to Apartment Therapy Night last night!!  Desire @ Sukio was an awesome host it and was a lot of fun. Will post some pics on facebook soon!!

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

Our Kitchen/ Pantry Demo & Redo Part 1

You might remember that I have  had a pantry in my kitchen covered by oatmeal-colored painters's dropcloth curtains:

When we moved in it was a gaping hole that exposed a funny little pantry.  It held a LOT of stuff but in the most unattractive, unorganized, RIDICULOUS manner:

{scaaaaaary}

We've lived something like the above photo since we moved in almost 2 years ago and kept it hidden behind the curtains.

{more scariness}

We've planned since Day 1 to eventually tear it out & open up the wall above the closet and then add cabinetry up to the ceiling for intense storage.  Yesterday afternoon around 1:00 we were at Lowe's picking up some top soil and grass seed (our lawn is pathetic) and a pergola when we wandered into the unfinished cabintery aisle.  We knew roughly what our dimensions were and piled a bunch of cabinets into our minivan (kids-in-tow) and set out to demo the existing pantry:

We discovered some old wallpaper & even older linoleum and of course enjoyed Taco Bell & pizza, which we pretty much do every time we have a project.  My husband (Dave) is painting the cabinetry today to match our existing gray-green cabinets:

{Behr's "witch hazel" on our cabinets, photo by Helen Norman}

We need to get the drywall fixed and of course if we were normal people we would have had it done beforehand, but we got too excited to wait yesterday so now that's on my list of things to do this week. 

Here's an in-progress shot of what it looks like now

{very crooked pic- sorry!}

We're going to have small thin hidden doors squeezed on either side of the bottom cabinets and I'm going to cover the center panels in a pale oatmeal linen to break up the big expanse of green & add a little interest.  And hardware of course.  Although it's completely mid-construction and looks trashed I am LOVING the organization!!!  My favorite drawer is full of pasta:

{hello warm fuzzy slippers!}

And the sippy cup & bottle drawer is so easy to get to!!:

On a side note, the grass seed, pergola, and top soil are still in the car.

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

Wallpaper is up!!

The wallpaper is up in my DC Design House Room and I'm so excited!!   

This grasscloth by Seabrooke  is so natural & textural.  I am a bit in love with it.  The trim is painted in Farrow and Ball's Dimmity which is a beautiful soft cream.  (Farrow & Ball is donating the paint for the entire Design House!! :)

Here's what it looked like before in case you forgot:

"Before"

We still have a lot of work to do but right now we're waiting on furnishings to arrive so fingers crossed everything makes it in time!! :)

And one more thing--  I found this lantern at an antique shop a few weeks ago:

I am {fully} in love with this piece and it will be going in my DC Design House room.  Check out the handblown textured glass.  It's completely worn & aged and beaten up and I'm crazy about it.  I love the filligree at both the top and bottom.  I'm going to have to get it rewired and add more chain and fix it up a bit but I plan on keeping the finish as-is.

Thank you so much to wallpaper hanger Michael DiGuiseppe who so generously donated his time to install the seagrass and also to Blue Door Painters who also generously gave their time for the Children's Hospital Showhouse.  (If you're in the DC-area I highly recommend both of these amazing companies!!) 
The DC Design House will run from April 9th to May 8th. and I hope you can make it :)




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