Dreamy Sanctuary Retreat

I've had fun the last few weeks creating a Sanctuary Retreat for an amazing couple.  With 4 very young children and both doctor's, they needed something spectacular.

We often forget that our master bedroom is a special place for a husband and wife to relax and enjoy being alone and a place to rejuvenate.

BEFORE

Here are some before pictures of the room that we wanted to make inviting and comfortable.  The client and I discussed that she wanted it to be casual, sophisticated, comfortable, not too feminine and not too masculine.  I always try to make sure that the master bedrooms that I do have mix of both femininity and masculinity.  We don't want too many flowers and fluff and we don't want too much leather and heavy furniture either. 

 

The client had the room painted recently and really loved it.  She also wanted to use the existing artwork because they both loved the colors.  So there you go, my inspiration was the artwork along with the wall color.  

AFTER

My goal was to make it look collected over time. If you hire a decorator, their job is to put all the details together for you so it doesn't look like a "bed in a bag" room. I selected each piece individually just for this bed. It took me about two months to put it all together and I made sure the scale, colors, textures and shapes were perfect for the space.

I LOVE the paisley duvet cover and the striped blanket together.

I added the blanket to give them the option of lighter covers and also thought it added SO much texture and sophistication to the bed. 

I bought the European pillow shams and added a decorative leather & velvet braided trim to frame the square and to help coordinate with the draperies I've shown below.  Of course, I used goose down fills so they are wonderful to sit up against.

BEFORE WINDOWS

AFTER WINDOWS

I placed panels on each side of the window so the drapes wouldn't interfere with the plantation shutters.  There is also a gorgeous view of their acreage in their back yard. The sun was shining in so we couldn't get a good picture of the back yard.

The drapes have a feminine and masculine feel to them.  Beautiful silk striped drapes with an animal print added to the top.  I hung the tassel on the end of the rod to bring in all the colors of the duvet cover.  The stripe really makes the ceilings feel taller.

BEFORE

AFTER

What a great oasis to come home to after a long day's work.

BEFORE

Notice how small these lamps were.  Totally off scale.  We made that right and look how much better that looks.

AFTER

Don't you just love the crystals hanging from these lamps?

This is the feminine touch.

I'm sure this couple will be having a nice glass of champagne tonight.  I left some chocolates under their pillow too!

I added these new towels to their bathroom as well.

This pebbled mat is fabulous! 

Had their towels monogrammed.  I love the chocolate brown with the Terra Cotta, don't you?

The client was VERY happy because I was able to "use what they had" and incorporate additional accessories and my special touches to the design. I felt satisfied to get it all out of my head and into place!

The Joy of Spraypaint

Every woman loves instant gratification.  I was given this LARGE sconce by my sister and brother in law about 6 months ago.  They found it at a garage sale and knew that I would call it a treasure!

 This weekend while sorting through my storage unit getting ready for my Master Bedroom Installation this week, I rediscovered this sconce.  It's so beautiful that I had to haul it out right away.  I got totally distracted from what I was originally doing and got my spray paint out to give it an INSTANT tranformation.  It's in my blood....kind of like animal lover's that pick up stray dogs and cats.  I feel that I have to renew a treasure that has been sitting on a shelf for a while ignored. 

The sconce wasn't too bad before but it had some gold in it that I didn't like and gave it a dated look. 

AFTER

I wanted a fresh new look.  I thought maybe I'd add an umber glaze to it but am contemplating leaving it as it is.  Your thoughts, comments?

Love the spraypaint with the new nozzle.  Doesn't ruin your nails and for big jobs it's so much easier on that pointer finger.

I always keep plenty of spray paint on hand, it does wonders!  It's so much fun to watch the changes before your eyes!

Happy Monday!

Color Pulse 2011

COLOR PULSE 2011

I recently went to a seminar at The World Trade Center here in Dallas regarding Trends for 2011, presented by Fran Mooney (Design Specialist for Benjamin Moore).

Benjamin Moore has done much research regarding how trends evolve and how they forecast what colors and textures are going to be in style for the next years to come. They gather their information by the influence of what’s on the runways in fashion, lighting & accessories.

From the rural influences to urban application, BALANCE is supported by 4 themes for COLOR PULSE 2011. The Farm, Order, Escape, and Tribe. Here are some the notes I jotted down and I though you would find them informative and interesting. You can order the book COLOR PULSE 2011. 

Click here for more information on Benjaman Moore Webinars too. The class I took is available on these Webinars and I hear they are fantastic, the first one is already sold out!   I've got my book on order and know it's going to be a fantastic reference.

FARM – Back to the basics

At the forefront is self sufficiency and the elimination of waste. Make do lifestyle, hands in the soil, organic crops, farmer’s markets, rooftop gardens, growing our own herbs, inside gardens, tea stains, tie die designs, basket weave (including macroma if you can believe that).

Remember Macroma?? I thought it was gone forever!

Knitting, crochet, quilting, patchwork. Colors of hay, organic fruits and vegetables.  (Glad I know how to knit).

If you look down the produce isle, all the prominent colors of orange, green, red down to the soft earth tones of the mushrooms, etc. The greens of a farm and all the berry colors.

ORDER – Less is more

Geometry takes center stage with circles/dots, triangles, squares, stacked linear directions. We will all be taking advantage of our spaces, putting them in order. We will see geometric effect with sculpture. Irregular shapes/abstract and linear. We will see lots of stripes in general. As we see now, there are a lot of abstract patterns in the fashion world already. Patterened nylons and patterned legs are back.
 Polka dots, circles and pattern on pattern. Black and white is at the forefront of this. Lots of grayscale and color blocking. Grey gives a great foundation for color. Grey will be mixed a lot with yellows. Red and black are also all over Europe right now. Feminine is much more prominent, with soft pinks. Heals and hats are much more architectural and color infused.

My friend just sent me a picture of these shoes she bought! 

Find these at Zappos.com

ESCAPE – Departure from reality.

The whole idea of angelic and floating. Layered with transparencies, halo’s and wings of expression. Clound like structures; white, soft and fluffy. All mysterious, not what it seems. Steamy, misty environments. In fashion, the mood ring. For lighting, free floating designs. Pearlized and glistening describe ESCAPE. The shape being petite and the scale becoming smaller. Lots of photo images on fabrics. Colors being light and transparent. Soft whites, corals, peaches, light violet, pink. Black being the strong sophisticated color.  Kind of out there for me but some may love this!

TRIBE - Cultural home for center and communication with others.

Very rich culture influence. Being responsible for animals in primitive ways. Hopeful sign of renewal. Lots of communal tables and gatherings. Interacting with others. Pattern on pattern. Accessories with tribal, text and stick figure designs. Human body being used as design inspiration.

 Back to personal communication, personal notes. Gathering of people. Words and language in fashion. Respect for nature is at the forefront. Tortoise, alligator and snake are in. Colors; organic brights, spicy mix of colors, color blocking, bright berries, crimson/scarlet, paprika, fuchsia. Earth brown/black. Golds from the earth. Bronze will be the main metal. Teal is at the forefront.

Go to Benjamin Moore for more information on Color Pulse 2011.

The book comes in a cute little burlap bag to go along with the "Farm" theme.  For those of you that LOVE design, this book is a must have!

Pictures courtesy of Benjamin Moore.

Ruthie

Simple Changes Speak Volumes

I have clients that I work with that hire me to do "walk-thru" consultations where I spend 2 hours with them and give them ideas to change up their space.  Some of those clients choose for me to take the ideas that we discussed during that consultation and finish their project.    Above is the before of a fireplace that needed a serious transformation.  The trick is that we were on a tight budget and couldn't take out the brick.  The color of the brick dominated the space and the lines in the brick made the space busy. 

AFTER

We neutralized it with a textured paint in a soft grey shade.

It immediately eliminated the lines and made it simpler.  We added a new mantel and some accessories and it looks so much better and now it's too scale as well.  (the sconces on the fireplace next to the urns go in their kitchen but happen to be resting on the fireplace when the picture was taken).

Wow, this room almost gave me a heart attack when I saw it.  Yes, is a single man that lives here.  That's why he hired me, he knew it looked terrible.  He was stuck and didn't know how to start.  We did have a limited budget to work with so we had to be creative.  He really liked the brick and didn't want to get rid of that so I worked with him on this one.  The ceiling slanted down to the brick and made it such an eyesore.

AFTER

I decided to pick a color for the walls that could also go on the ceiling, making the space warmer and allowing the fireplace to blend in rather than stand out.  I think it worked.   This picture isn't really good but I wanted to post it so you could see that by painting, replacing old furniture with neutral pieces and by adding a new mantel, made a HUGE change.  We purchased an armoire for his TV which we angled to make the room more functional.  The room was a walk-thru to other rooms so we had to make sure you could go through without bumping into furniture.

Notice how the walls look in this before and then below after.  The color of the walls makes the stairway woodwork more up to date.  We have to remember that we were on a budget here.  It still looks SO MUCH better than it did and the client felt like his home was now attractive and personalized for him. 

AFTER

 

He was an avid reader and wanted his books displayed.  Of course I had to add some other accessories in with the books.  I also created height with the vase and floral pieces.

This room above is a "stage to sell" house.  When you walked into this town home, this was the first room you step into.  We had to make it look like usable space as well as warm and inviting "using what the client had."  It was a challenge but we shopped all around the house and made it work.

AFTER

I'd much rather live here!  Wouldn't you?

The above home we painted, moved furniture around and added accessories (all on a budget).  Notice how just painting the fireplace surround made a DRASTIC change.  These are the kinds of things I love to be able to help client's with because it doesn't cost them a fortune. 

AFTER

I'd like to sit in here and have some coffee with these client's.  They were wonderful!  Love you Barry and Roxanne.  They were the client's that I decorated for and then when it came to sell their home it sold quickly because it looked beautiful.  Notice how the crown molding stands out now because of the new paint color. Makes the house look much more expensive now that the architecture of the house is showcased.   I call this the eyebrow effect!

This bathroom needed a window treatment so we decided to do a cornice board.  We painted the room too so we would have a great backdrop.

AFTER

We found a wonderful bold fabric and I designed this shape so the cornice would be more interesting.

Few changes here because of budget as well.  We painted a nice light grey for this client.  He didn't want anything too bold.  We changed out his blinds because the room felt really closed in with the wooden shades.  We removed all the "fuss" like hanging plants, etc. and put in a new "masculine" light fixture.

AFTER

Don't these simple changes make a huge change?  It's better than doing nothing because it costs too much.  I challenge you to do small projects and you will reap the benefit.

We repainted these cabinets in a nice light khaki and replace all the hardware.  He couldn't replace all his appliances yet but at least his cabinets look beautiful.  We added a matching roman shade like the one in the breakfast area.

I challenge you to not get overwhelmed with the big picture.  Get started on some small things that make a BIG change.  Slowly start tackling those projects and you will feel your home come alive.

In this economy we are all watching our pennies.  We can still have beautiful homes on a budget.  If you need help coming up with a vision, call me and I can schedule a "walk-thru" consultation with you to help get you on the right track.  You won't be disappointed!

Ice Present Tablescape

I've been going through some of my old pictures and found this photo of a table that I did for a Christmas dinner about 7 years ago.  I thought it would be fun to have an ice sculpture so the above table scape is ICE.  I had forgotten that I had done this so it was a fun discovery

Go here to see other tablescapes.

  I poured water into a plastic container.  Each night I put a new layer in the container.  The first layer I put dark blue food coloring in the water.  It froze overnight and then I did the same to the water only red next time.  I also added some jewels and ornaments to the water.  They had to be plastic of course so they wouldn't break.  I froze that layer overnight and then did a lighter blue for the next layer.  Finally, the last layer was just plain water with added jewels. 

I took it out of the freezer about 1 hour prior to the event so it popped out of the container easily.  Of course I had to put a tray underneath the ice so it caught all the water as it melted throughout the night. The red fabric is covering the tray.   Don't want all the your guests to get wet!

I tied a big purple ribbon around it and sprinkled sparkles on the ice.  It was a real treat and my guests were excited that they got to sit at the table with the ice!  What I learned is that the ice looked prettier as the night went on and it formed a gloss around it.  I had sparkly Christmas tree lights (battery operated) underneath the red fabric and it made the ice shimmer.

I may try a round ice box next time.  You could get all kinds of creative with this!  Hope it inspires you!