Clients' Family Room & Dining Room; "Before" & 2 years "after"

A couple of years ago, I met Aimee & Dave and wrote about their design plans & project here.  With life being so busy for me (& them! :) I never ended up taking pictures of their finished space.  It's always been one of my favorites because they were willing to take some BIG design risks!!!  We finally got together & I snapped a few quick pics to share.  We started working together when the home was still under construction & looked like this:

 
Now, a couple years later & lived in and loved, it looks like this:
 
 
 
The orange floral sofa was thought about - long & hard- by all of us.  It was a really bold move by Aimee & she is still totally loving it so I am so glad she took the risk!!!  Walking into the room with this sofa in it made me smile instantly.  It's soooo much fun and just so pretty in person. 
 
You might remember the design plans & the VERY rough skectches I made, helping Aimee & Dave visualize what their space would feel like:
 
 
This is how the actual space looks now:
 
 
They've kept the center of the plan fairly open for the kids to spread out & play on the floor.  We still have plans to swap out the sunburst mirror with an Audobon print and move it to the bedroom.
 
Here's a close-up of the super-comfy velvet chairs with a peek into the dining nook in the kitchen:
 
 
I didn't get a good pic of the 19th Century barley twist table with original needlepoint insets that I'd found for them but here's an old photo I took of it before it went in.  THIS THING IS INCREDIBLE:
 
 
It sits between the two velvet chairs.
 
 
I love the lamp by Haeger Potteries atop the media cabinet:
 
 
 
And then here's the kitchen dining nook when it was under construction: (hey! looks like how we're living at our place right now!! ;) ;)
 
 
And here it is now, truly being used:
 
 
 
The custom parsons dining table is by The Lorimer Workshop in Rhose Island.  (They're amazing.)  I loooooove the kids artwork collection simply taped to the wall!!  (You may have noticed a few other artwork walls in the other shots too ;)  They can add the collections whenever they want. 
 
And finally, here's one last pic of the family room with Aimee & Dave in it.  (They are STILL the cutest!! :)
 
 
I'm so thankful to have such wonderful clients like them who have let me into their homes & lives!!
 


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

A Client's Home Office Before & After

Since having Luke (our 5 month old) and unexpectedly selling our house & moving to a new one a couple of months ago, I've felt like time has truly been passing at the speed of light.  It's been a whirlwind.  I don't think life ever really slows down but I think it might calm a little once our house is through construction.     Since being in such a busy phase, I haven't had the chance to take many photos of finished projects to share...
 
Before Luke was born, I began working with a client who occasionally works from home and wanted to have her office redesigned.  The project was installed when I was around 9 months pregnant & when I was able to visit afterwards, I had my brand new baby with me so there wasn't time to take pictures.  I received the sweetest thank you card in the mail from her last week that she'd made from photos of the office & I just had to share! 
 
Here's what the loft office looked like when we started:
 
 
My client has very defined tastes and she's a minimalist.  I think she's also the neatest person I've EVER known.  (I'm seriously envious of how perfectly she keeps her home/ office.)  She likes her spaces to feel clean & open & airy & natural and loves a warm modern feeling.  We decided to reuphoster a pair of her existing chairs & to change out pretty much everything else. 
 
Here's what it looks like now:
 

We used a glass table between her reupholstered chairs so that the view from the new daybed to the living room below would be unimpeded.  To make the daybed exactly as my client wanted it, she & her (SUPER-handy!!) husband actually cut down the legs of the daybed for a lower/less traditonal vibe and painted the feet.  We used some of my fern star linen for throw pillows on it. 


We used a lot of glass & metal throughout the space but the live edge desk is one of my favorite pieces in the room.  We had it made by the Lorimer Workshop. It's a live edge top on metal legs.  I love it juxtaposed against the white leather & chrome chair.


I'm off for an installation (so be sure to check out instagram where I'll be posting photos of the project) but hope you enjoyed & thank you so much to my client for sending me the photos!!




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

Fern Star Baby

This weekend was amazing in that nothing really happened at all.  We veg'd at home and enjoyed being outside & having a grill to cook with.  (We sold our house with the grill since we'd built a countertop around it & it fit perfectly so we have been eating TERRIBLY since we moved to our new house without a kitchen.)  I cannot describe how HEAVENLY it feels to eat good food again.  (Even if the "good food" consists of grilled meat with microwave rice.)

 
When I was little, my mom used to lay a blanket out in the yard for us and now it's one of my favorite things to do with my little guys.  I couldn't resist putting Luke's head in the center of one of the fern stars on the quilt and taking some pics.   It's definitely the little things & it's in the moments where I'm thinking of nothing else but that moment that I feel the most connected to & invigorated by life.
 
Hope you had a good one! 



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

Client Living Room Before & After & During

One of my favorite parts of my job is the day we install everything into a room for our clients.  It's rewarding & so much fun to see it all come together.  We just returned back to the office today from a living room installation & I thought I'd share a few pictures from the beginning of the process (months ago) to the final end results. 

This project actually began while I was on maternity leave with my {amazing} design assistant, Meghan, meeting our client.   Our client's style is traditional and she loves a natural feeling with punches of color and is crazy about animals :)  She loves tufting & pretty details but didn't want anything overly fussy.  The design was presented, tweaked, agreed upon & ordered and this morning, we met with our whiteglove delivery team to install everything. (wahooo! :)
 
We walked into the empty space (which had been cleared for the installation day) & got to work getting it ready:
 
(ignore my stylin' outfit please ;) ;) 
 
Next came the seagrass area rug to add some natural texture & warmth to the living room:
 
 
 
Then the vintage overdyed rug was layered on top of the seagrass & the guys brought in the furniture:
 
 
 
At the same time the furniture was being moved in, Paul Johnson from Paul David Design- the BEST custom workroom evah!!-  began hanging the curtains:
 
{Cream & green embroidered linen with green banding}
 
We used our client's existing curtain rods & a few of her furnishings as well.  Our clients have some great maps & artwork, so once the furnishings were in place, we got to hanging it with Paul's help.  I styled all of the surfaces with our clients' things...
 
{We need to find the perfect mirror for above the entry table}
 
And so one last 'before' pic:
 
{Derrick & Franklin unrolling the first rug}
 
..And here's the living room now:
 
 
One of my favorite touches is our clients' adorable needlepoint pillow with the jack russel on it....
 
 
The velvet settee is super soft & you just want to touch it when you see it.  We used a pillow in one of my fabrics -Live Paisley- on the sette to add some color & to lessen its seriousness. It's hard to see in the photo but the paisley is green & pink, so we pulled out a little more of the pink with the throw on the chair.

 
I looooove the bird study we found by Peggy Macnamara for Natural Curiosities:
 



We still have a few more things to add to the space but I hope you enjoyed seeing the process so far!
 
 
ps- I started this post this afternoon and am just now hitting "publish" at 6:30 PM... Between computer & internet kircking out issues, I am smoked. ahhhhh!!! :)

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

Guess Where I am???!!

...I'm in my new office!!  (Which I think sounds way cooler as "studio" hahahah)  The paint was barely dry last  night when Dave & I started moving things in.  Luke (our almost-5 month old was sleeping- thankfully- so we were able to get a ton done.)  I CANNOT BELIEVE this day is here.  I'm soooooo happy.  (And my left eye is twitching from lack of sleep.)
 
We have a central work/ conference table for projects & meetings:

 
Almost all of the walls (& ceilings in our home) are in "ancient ivory" by Benjamin Moore.  It's ivory that feels neither too warm or too cool with our things.  I love it against all of the modern black window frames in the house. 
 
Here's where I'm sitting as I type:
 
 
{my desk...  I love the old blue but I think I'm having it stripped for more natural wood}
 
 
That's a pair of massive fig trees outside my open window.  Many of the windows in our house are fogged up (the seals are broken) but I'm still crazy about them.  (We'll be replacing them as soon as we can.)
 
Here's where I'll honestly get the majority of my work done: 

(It's a vintage faux zebra... please don't email me!  ;)

 I love working from a couch...  It sounds weird, but I like to get all cozy when I'm working on projects.  I think its where my creativity seems to flow best haha...  I've come up with at least 75% of my textile designs while sitting on a sofa with a blanket.  (Most of the others were done in the car on road trips ;)

We have lots to add to the space- art, curtains, shelving, boards, etc., but it feels so good to be out of the garage and into the house!!


I'm off to go pick up some shelving from our storage unit so we can finished getting set up.  Fingers crossed the rain holds off or the shelves will be getting a bit of a "weathered" finish!


wahoooooo!!!


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

Come to Your Own Conclusions


With our new 70s house under construction & down to the studs, I am loving getting to make so many decisions about our house!!  We've been able to take control of the floorplan & many of the architectural details, which is so exciting.  Every little detail needs to be determined & even though time is of the essence, I'm trying to think clearly & make the right choices.  (Right now I've been doing most of the designing for my own home at night & on the weekends because I've got my clients' designs to figure out during work hours...  It's made for some foggy late-night decisions that I hope work out the way I'm expecting them too! ;)  I'm sometimes tempted to just let something go...

{Our living room...  Justin often flips his arrm through his short like this...  He says he's a "pirate."}

But in this line of work I've come to learn that the best results come from making your own observations & coming to your own conclusions.  You should always know why you made a choice and you should also know that there is a choice in almost every design decision you make.    (Due to budget & other contraints, you might not always get to make the choice you want to make, but it's good to at least know why you're making the decision the way you are.)

{At my dad's house, he was able to put his stamp on so much of the house- like the coffered ceilings in the entry room.}
 
There are so many options out there that we think of as "standard" and that we often don't question...  but it's important to question the options & the "norms" and make sure that they are right for you & your home.  What type of woodwork should your home have?  Do you want crown molding?  (Although it's often hailed as the hallmark of quality, it's not right for every home!! )  What type of finish do you want on your floors?  (Polyurethane isn't the only option.)  Countertops?  (Nothing wrong with granite if it's right for you, but is it necessarily right for you?)  Appliances?  (Stainless steel is everywhere but why should it be in your kitchen?  It needs to be because it works for you & your home not because everybody's doing it.) 


{image from here}


Whenever you have a decision to make, it's an opportunity to make your home more "you."  Every little choice reflects your taste & personality so choose carefully.  Take a look at your decision from a variety of angles & do pros & cons if you need to.  Examine photos of rooms with the object you're working on so you can figure out what your preferences are.  Like everything you select and know why you like it.  Think outside the box & come up with new ideas if you aren't loving your options.  There's always a solution.  And forget about the "rules."  People can make things work if they want to badly enough.    I often find myself thinking of the old saying, "Where there's a will, there's a way."  If you want something, figure it out & go & get it.  (And I'm not talking about tearing everything out of your home to get it "perfect,"  I'm talking about the things that you need to change & have planned & budgeted for.)

{In the room we did for the 2011 DC Design House, rather than try to fit furniture in the awkward window niche that housed a radiator, we created a widow seat over the radiator under the windows, knowing that the heat would be turned off during the month-long showhouse and the installation would be removed when it was over.}

This is how I try to think when I'm designing in any capacity...  In many of my clients' design projects however, I'm often only involved in the "decorating" or "finishing" of rooms...  I don't often get to alter the bones, which is one of my favorite parts of the process & really affects the overall atmosphere of a finished space.  Even in new builds, many of the decisions have already been made by the builders and/or architects and so often the "shell" I have to work with is -for the most part- predetermined so it is insanely exciting for me right now to have such a hand in our home. 


I've also come to the realization that I have an opinion on pretty much everything.

{okay, maybe not that bad, yet.  image from here }



We have been really lucky that our builder (CarrMichael Construction) is so open to doing unconventional things.  Mike, the owner, may laugh at the fact that I want an old hose spigot as our powder room faucet, but he gets it and can make it work even though the threading doesn't fit with our piping & all of those fun awful details. 

{our master bath faucet, not an old hose spigot}


Finding the right people to work with is one of the most important decisions you can make.  It's taken us years to find the people we work with but it's the make-or-break of any project.  If you have people willing to go outside of the box for you & to take the time to do that, you can really create something special.  And this applies to any type of work you need done, even sewing.

{Dave & Mike, doing an "8th grade dance" pose...  why did the guys never smile or touch in pics back then???}

{a more normal one}


When our builder, Mike, asks Dave & I for a decision on something, sometimes I'll say "whatever" or "I don't care" and Mike's response is, "Yes you do."  ...which of course makes us laugh, but is soooo true.  I know that answered isn't allowed anymore, which is a good thing.

All of your choices should be "right" individually, but more importantly, they need to be "right" for the space as a whole.  Each decision affects the overall atmosphere of the space you're creating and there really is a yin & yang to everything so realize what your choices are doing to the final design. 

{A client's living room... we considered each & every piece & material going into the space... Everything is a movable part that affects the whole.}


The bottom line is:  if you're buying it, installing it, having it done or bringing it into you home, know why you're doing so.  If you've examined it from every angle, you should be able to come to the right decision for you.  (And if you can't, get help!! ;) ;) = unintentional shameless plug for interior designers but so true!!)

...And wish me luck as I plug away with decisions!!




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

The Beef

I am a meat lover. 
Pretty much always have been. 
I especially love meat cooked on a stick.  (Brazilian BBQ anyone??)

{image of Brazillian BBQ by Klaus}
 


When my husband & I got married, one of our favorite wedding gifts was the Showtime Rotisserie from my aunt & uncle.  (You know, the "set it and forget it" one??)  We use it all the time.

It makes these:


{image from here}
 
 
My dad's side of the family has a thing for meat...  maybe one of the reasons I do.  In the cooler months (and during lots of the warmers) we like to have a "beef" on Sundays.
 
 
(one of our favorite sayings...  said most of the time in all seriousnes ;)
 
Sunday's hot beef leftovers become Mondays sandwiches.  (If there are any leftovers.)
 
 
...A tradition my Nanoo (Grandfather) always followed.  He's the one in the middle of his brothers & sisters in the photo above.  We all miss him and I often think of him most when I'm eating certain things.
 
 
The Maestranzi's are kind of a loud, energetic type of family...  Eating is one of our favorite things to do and everything is centered around it.
 
{some of us}
 
My cousin-in-law, Brian, (I think that's his right arm & half an eye at the edge of the pic) has said he's writing a book called The Beef, with a chapter for each Maestranzi.  He makes fun of how often "the beef" comes up in normal conversation.  "It's always about the beef with you people!!!!!"  
(But I think he secretly likes it.)
 
My favorite beefs were my dad's cooked in the open Faberware set.  He used to pour salt & pepper & spices on it and say "abracadabra!" and tell my that's why it was so good.  
 
{My dad in the Faberware days}
 
And me:
 
{"WHERE'S THE BEEF?!!!}
 
 
I now always say "abracadabra!!!"  when we do our own beefs in the Showtime rotisserie. 
 
 
I'm lucky that my husband also has a thing for the beef & enjoys getting nice cuts at the butcher and cooking them.  (I'm more the eating-type.)  The best thing about our rotisserie is that you can "set it and forget it."  It's prefect for our boy-filled life because we can just pop it in & come back an hour or 2 later with amazing yumminess waiting for us.
 
So, it's becase of "the beef" that I began searching for an range oven that had a rotisserie function for our new kitchen...   (You know those internet searches when you're just begging to find that thing you want and all along you're wondering why in the world no one makes it yet???)
 
I already had a round-up of attractive yet stll fairly budget friendly 36" ranges I was considering...  I wanted something clean & functional-looking for our house.  I especially like ranges that don't have any sort of rounded backsplash with buttons above the burners and I wanted square straight lines.  Here are some of my more budget-friendly finds:  (And "budget-friendly" is a relative term here because "professional" type ranges are more than the typical range.)
...
 
ikea
{Ikea's Praktful Pro for $2000...  made by Whirlpool}
 
 
Smeg:

{smeg (an Australian company): in the mid $2000s.. so pretty}
 
 
Bertazzoni..
(I read somewhere online that it has the same "guts" as the Ikea range but that the knobs are metal vs. plastic.  I think it's +/- $1000 more... It's a beauty!)
 
I settled on the Smeg because of its look, price and reviews.  (Although, have you ever read through internet appliance reviews?? It's all "Best purchase ever!!" followed by "Buyer Bewares"...  really always leave me wondering if I'm buying the coolest thing ever invented or a P.O.S.)
 
Anyway, I wasn't happy with spending this much on an oven (the smeg) when this guy (below) was going to be sitting on my counter every Sunday, cooking its little heart out while the new range just chilled, empty:
 
 
..So I kept searching...
 
I had of course found a few... Thermador makes a wall oven & a few other high-end brands make them too...  (GORGEOUSNESS!!) But I don't have room for a range (or an unlimited budget) & wall ovens so I  really wanted a rotisserie inside my range. I came across a list of the "top ten" rotisserie ranges...   some weren't even rotisseries (because you know how internet searches are) and most weren't so pretty... BUT!!!!  There was a SMEG on there that was beautiful!!  eeeeeeeeeek  Was it fate????
 
I started googling furiously and found out that Smeg did once make a range with a rotisserie.  Every time I followed a link to the exact model on online appliance stores, it came up as "discontinued."  (It looks like the lucky Australians still have the rotisserie option but that the US ones are gone.)  I called local places with no luck.  I finally decided before settling on a range without a rotisserie that I would call the internet appliance stores and give it one last go.  On the FIRST phonecall, I gave them the model number off the discontinued Smeg to the salesperson so he could see if he had anything like it and I could NOT believe it when after a pause for magic stock-checking I heard: 
 
"We actually have 1 of those left."
 
I almost screamed, but instead I calmy said, "The A1XU6 Smeg Opera 36: Duel Fuel Range???"
 
"Yes m'am."
 
"I'm so excited!!!" I yelled into the receiver. 
The guy said nothing.
But that's okay.
 
I was getting THE BEEF!!!
 
{The Smeg Opera...  Not exactly as pretty as the other smeg, but good enough in my book and it's what's inside that counts, right???  Especially if it's rotisserie skewers!!!}
 
This piece of wondefulness is in my garage now. 
 
I can't WAIT to set it and forget it.

 
 
ps-  To any appliance companies out there listening...  bring on the rotisseries!!!
 
**update** thanks so much to  Heidi who let me know that Smeg is actually an Italian company, GO FIGURE!!  (I was just perusing the rotisserie functions available in Australia!! hahaha oh this lovely world of internet shopping!! ;)

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