The Colors of Panama

I just returned home from vacation today.  We spent a week in Panama visiting some friends and spent some great time on the beach! 
 Here are a some of the memories I captured through my camera lens.  
The entryway to the house we stayed in Punta Barco.  I can't wait to share the inside of this home with you! 
My favorite spot in the house.  Absolutely breathtaking!
The view I had each morning as I drank my coffee and ate my fresh papaya and pineapple.
My friend and I literally had tears in our eyes when we saw this view for the first time.
Shells the kids collected during the week.
The walk down to the sea.
Tropical flowers EVERYWHERE!
The place to "be still"
The sound of the crashing waves is like no other sound! I can still hear them in my mind.

We had 8 kids that enjoyed this refreshing oasis.  I love the sound of kids having fun!  We adults sat underneath the thatch umbrella and caught up with friends.
The market shopping in Panama City.  All my favorite colors.
Molas handmade by the Kuna Indians.  Such incredible embroidery work made into throw pillows.
Hand carved wooden bowls, flat enough to fit into a suitcase!
The view of downtown Panama City.
Old city Panama.  Architectural buildings that tell such a story.
Amazing textures!
The Zoo in El Valle.  Gorgeous animal.
The sound the Toucan makes is so cool!  Such a jungle sound.
Nothing like a vacation and nothing like coming home renewed!  A vacation blessing I'll never forget.  The rich time spent with family and friends will always be etched in my mind!

(All of the above photos were taken by Ruthie Staalsen)

Tired as a Grizzly Bear

Do you ever feel like you could just collapse beside a tree and sleep for days?  I feel like that right now and am so tired I feel like I could easily turn into a grumpy grizzly bear.  
I so look forward to spending a week on vacation with my family for Spring Break.   I'm excited about focusing on one thing and one thing only.  It's time to stop running from one thing to the other and let my brain and my body catch up with each other.  We all need to stop and "be still" once in a while.
REST and RELAXATION is calling my name.
Putting my vacation hat on!
I'll be back soon renewed, rested and inspired!
Ruthie
To see before and after pictures of my work, visit DecRenew Interiors

"Cut and Drop" Florals

I  just got back from Los Angeles mid week after attending the Design Bloggers Conference.  What a blast!!
  
 I met lots of new friends and some of my favorite design bloggers too!  So much fun to meet them in person after reading their blogs for so long.
My only regret is that I didn't get my book signed by Jan Showers
Thank you Jan Showers for being our keynote speaker and for being so transparent and genuine.  Tobi Fairley did the perfect thing by encouraging you to be our speaker!! It was awesome to meet Jan's husband too, always interesting to meet the man behind a successful woman!
I've been playing catch up this week.   One hat goes on, taken off and then the another gets put on.  This weekend I'm wearing my "mom" hat with pride because my oldest is having a birthday and we LOVE birthday celebrations around here!  My husband tells me that I milk the birthDAY into a birthWEEK.  I'm training my girls to do the same!  Nothing wrong with that!
I absolutely adore roses!!!   I thought it would be fun to have roses as a surprise for the birthday girl.   Pink is her favorite color and flowers always make a girl feel special, right? 
I so wish our area had an outdoor floral market "close by" where I could pop in and choose what flowers I desire that day or week.  We have a farmers market but it's in Dallas and it isn't convenient to get to.  I'm a stop at the last minute and get it kind of girl.
Choices and more choices, that's what I'm all about!!!!
Spring color everywhere!
Tom Thumb Grocery

I don't have the luxury of a flower market so the above picture was my selection today at the neighborhood grocery store.  Big difference compared to the first few pictures isn't it?  Not much variety to choose from.
I decided to check out the floral refrigerator cabinet before I made my selection to see what was hiding behind those glass doors.
Nothing under $69.99.  Not the price range I was looking to pay for this occasion. Teenage girl really wouldn't appreciate it.
I know that these pink roses would have been her favorites though!
I finally made up my mind that I needed to create my own arrangement and went ahead and chose these light pink roses below. 
The floral department had a few vase selections on sale and I chose something simple. I can use this one again sometime.
The florist was making arrangements behind the floral counter.  I decided it wouldn't hurt to ask her if she could cut my beautiful roses down for me and place them in the vase I was planning on purchasing. 
 The less work I had to do when I got home at this point in my day, the better this whole "making my own arrangement" would be.  I really hate the cleanup after floral arranging and have learned to try to make my life LESS complicated instead of MORE complicated by adding to my "to do" list.
She offered to do a "cut and drop arrangement" for me and said it was free of charge.  Wow.... CUT AND DROP....who knew they offered that service.  That was easy! She literally cut them all down and dropped them in the vase.  Of course they don't advertise this service so that's why I'm letting you in on this valuable secret!
All I had to do is transport them home (a challenge in itself), add some water and give them a little tweaking.  When wearing many hats, one has to learn how to keep it simple, beautiful and easy.   
Gorgeous aren't they?  Smell amazing too!
She loved them!
I added some pink balloons to my purchase and headed to the party!
Happy Birthday my sweet baby! We love you and can't believe it's been 14 years since the day you were born.
Light pink roses represents happiness, joy and admiration.  You give us loads of happiness, lots of JOY and we have always admired your genuine, loving character!  Happy Birthday week my darling! 

  

Happy Hall Bath and Elegant Master Retreat

HALL BATHROOM BEFORE
HALL BATHROOM AFTER
Way more fun and perfect colors and pattern for teen girls.  Added new larger tile and brought it all the way up to the ceiling.  Painted the cabinets chocolate brown and added new cabinet hardware.  The double curved curtain rod gives them more space when showering and the decorative curtain adds height to the room.  There is another curtain behind this one that is used for functionality.
 
This color combination is one of the teens favorites.

BEFORE MASTER RETREAT

"Using the furniture the client had" to keep within their budget and adding new accessories, lamps, a rug and bedding made this room look like a retreat.  It's not always necessary to start from scratch!!  Unless of course, your budget can handle that.
AFTER MASTER RETREAT
What a difference!
I added mirrored glass to the top of the end table to dress them up a little (they are actually place mats-shhh).  These lamps are like artwork in the room.
BEFORE
AFTER
Didn't the wallpaper on the headboard wall turn out beautiful?  Thank you Lester!!!  I think it added such subtle elegance.  The beautiful painting was done by Mary Howe, a local artist in the area.  She created it just to go in this room with my color scheme.
See how the wallpaper and the sheets coordinate.  The rug is perfect with the draperies and adds a warm layer to the room.
BEFORE
AFTER
My client inherited the furniture from their family so it's special to them.

You can see the drapery panels in this picture.  Same fabric as the throw pillow on bed.

Love the etched flowers on the round mirrors, adds a vintage touch.

I added the cording around the European shams to coordinate with the bedspread color.  It married them well.  The lamps came with different lampshades, I found these and thought they added much more style vs. the plain ones they had before.
As you will remember from previous posts, this was my INSPIRATION for the overall feel and color palette for the room.
Here's how it turned out. 
"Similar, not identical" as my daughter would always say when she was about 3 years old.
This was a great project and wonderful clients!
Enjoy your weekend!  Hope you enjoyed seeing these transformations! 

Master Bedroom almost complete!

BEFORE
I'm working really hard this week trying to finish off all the loose ends so we can do the install this Friday for the above master bedroom. 
BEFORE
I'm really excited about it all coming together and it's going to be such a retreat for my clients.  We have a conservative budget so we are "using what the client has" and incorporating lots of new items to this room.  It will be fun for you to see how we make changes to a space using old and new pieces.   I bet you are curious now!  I'll post pictures on Friday night or Saturday so you can see the DRAMATIC difference!
Remember....this picture below was our inspiration as far as the color scheme and the overall feel of the room.   Click here to read previous blog post about this room.
To visit my website with large before and after pictures, click here.  I'd love to set up a consultation with you.