Friday, March 30, 2012

Sneakity Peek: Client Apartment

We recently finished up with our clients' gorgeous condo & I have a couple of pics to share.   My client has amazing taste and has amassed lots of collections of beautiful objects over the years.  She was ready for a fresh start design-wise & has a very defined style.  We wanted light & textural and we used a soft pallette of whites, creams, grays, aquas & taupes.  

This (below) is the view down one of the hallways & we went with a horizontally striped rug, which visually widens the hallway:


The apartment has the most beautiful light and the views are incredible.  I'll save the rest of it for when we have it professionally shot but before I go, I do want to share a few of Maureen's collections with you:


{old pulleys}




{I can't remember what this thing is but it is soooo gorgeous!!!  She found it at a thrift store, like many of her treasures}



{Her collection of vintage trophies is incredible.  I love them just piled together like this.}




{One of my favorite collections she has is her collection of glass & crystal bottle stops that she keeps at the drink station...  so beautiful.}

...Anyway, I'll be sure to share the rest of the apartment when I can!!  Thank you so much to my clients for letting us be a part of your redesign!!

xoxo, Lauren

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

Thursday, March 29, 2012

Home Sweet Home

Hello and welcome to Home Sweet Home #60!  I have been outside a lot this week and when I wasn't outside I was sewing.  I did manage to get my pansies potted in a vintage galvanized bucket.   It makes for a nice cheery arrangement to greet you as you walk in the front door.

I found Mr. Gnome at Walmart.  Isn't he fun.  It is a plant pick that is only 2-21/2 inches tall.  There were several different versions of them and they had just about sold out of them.  I thought he was cute!   

Now I would like to highlight some of the posts that caught my eye last week at Home Sweet Home.

 Emily at The French Hutch knows the best places to shop.  Go visit her and take a virtual visit to Boxwoods Home in Atlanta.

Need some Easter dessert ideas?  Martha of The Kitchen Cookie posted a Dark Chocolate and Key Lime Cheesecake that would be perfect!

 Housepitality Designs created a mantelscape around this lovely stained glass window her husband got her.

  Lorrie at Finding Secrect Treasures  created this beautiful stencil on an old window. 

Porch Sittin' Time for Scooby has an Easter tradition of creating these little bunnies with her family.  Aren't they cute!

What a great party last week!  So much creativity!! 
Thank you to all who join me at Home Sweet Home!   It is wonderful to have you here!

Sherry
I will join these ladies today:
Vintage Inspiration Friday at Common Ground 
Feathered Nest Friday at French Country Cottage
Show and Tell Friday at My Romantic Home
Open House Party at No Minimalist Here
Rooted in Thyme Simple and Sweet Fridays
Pearls and Lace Thursdays  at Faith, Grace, and Crafts
Guidelines for Home Sweet Home Party:


Attention: To link up with inlinkz you must have a permalink back to this party in your post or they will not allow you to link.  
Link up anything in your home or garden.  I love seeing neat shops too!
My button is on my sidebar for the party, if you want to use it.   If you are new here I hope you will become a follower. Please don't link up more than two posts.  No Etsy link ups or direct advertising, please.  Please visit some of the other blogs and get some great inspiration.  Thanks.:)
Now let's see your beautiful homes!

Purple

Everything seems to be blooming now...   (yay!!!!)   I took these photos in our yard last week & I can't believe how much greener everything's gotten between now & then.


{our wisteria}

A lot of what's blooming in the yard (and what I love in our yard- lavendar, wisteria, crocus, violets & even the weeds) seems to be purple.  And purple's not a color I really think of as liking very much for interiors...  But I did come across a few spaces where I think it's really beautiful & I think I seem to like it most when in small doses (vs all over, like on walls...  although I could probably be convinced ;) in a room.


{Elle Decor...  just a single shot of purple}

My violets (below) remind me of when I was a little girl walking around the neighborhood picking violets to press...


I loooove the purple pillows in this room:  (and the entire room to be honest)


The amethyst on the coffee table is beautiful. 

Here's another pic of our violets.  My favorite are these white & purple ones:


{I love getting violet bouquets from my boys}

And below, this room feels really good to me.  I think that when I typically think of purple, I think of it in connection with teenage girls' rooms  or cold-modern rooms and I imagine it in "flatter" spaces without much depth and that feel a little "plastic" to me, but after finding these few "purple rooms" I'm realizing that I really do love it when it's an accent in a room full of texture & interest. 


..And I think this applies to pretty much any color.  Of course I have favorites (no- not green!!! ;) ;)  but I also love the challenge of working with colors that aren't my favorites & making beautiful spaces out of them.  And I really appreciate seeing rooms where designers have done this & they make me love a color I wouldn't normally think of as even liking.   ( I wonder...  could this even be possible with burgundy for me???!!  probably.)

So, thanks Flowers, for opening me up a little & making me reconsider purple!

ps- We caught a bug in the house this week & it has seriously been one of the worst ever...  some sort of crazy chest pains along with all of the usual cold stuff.  (Even my assistant, Meghan, is out sick)  I'm definitely backed up on emails & will get to them as quickly as possible!!  It's looking like I might be on the up today!


xoxo, Lauren

*images via pinterest*

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

Tuesday, March 27, 2012

The Easiest Pie

I forget about making strawberry pie, but it is the easiest pie in the world.  Right now the strawberries are in season and there isn't a better time to make it.  
Ingredients:
1 lb. strawberries, washed, hulled, and chopped up
1 bag of strawberry pie glaze
1 ready to use pie crust
 whip cream (optional)

Just add your strawberries to your glaze in a large bowl and pour it into the pie crust.  Top with a dollop of  whip cream if desired.

That's it!  Spring into summer with an easy pie!
Enjoy!
Sherry
I will link this to: 
Wow Us Wednesday at Savvy Southern Style
This Chick Cooked at This Chick Cooks
Friday Food at Mom Trends
Foodie Friday at Designs by Gollum
What's It Wednesday   at Ivy and Elephants  
Thriving on Thursdays  at Domesblissity
On the Menu Monday  at Stonegable

Summer Styles

source: Julia Turley via Sherry on Pinterest 

I have much anticipation for summer now that spring has whisked in so early.  Summer styles are so fun and the living is easy.   I have really been noticing a lot of uses for head scarves on the internet, isn't this a cute look for the beach.




A head scarf can be great for boating, riding in a convertible, or yard work.  What ever the occasion Jackie O always looked chic in her head scarves.  
 
 I was needing to use up some fabric I had so, I sewed up a variety of "shabby chic" style bandanas this weekend and they will be in my Etsy shop for sale.  Much of this fabric is Rachel Ashwell's Shabby Chic fabric, 100% cotton.  The bandanas are 21 inches square.  Check them out for summer hair.
 
Sherry
 
I will link this to:
Monday Marketplace at Common Ground

Monday, March 26, 2012

Our Nurseries from Babies Past...

Our future baby's nursery has been coming together...  For months we just piled all the baby stuff in here & I waited to attack the room.  Its plain white walls & cream carpeting were pretty much a blank slate.  I added a modern crib in a hazlenut finish by Muu Kids (amazing to work with btw) and am still working on the bedding.  (For now it's just our basic sheet set which I'll use in combination with some pretties.) 


I've done different things with all of my babies' nurseries.  In our old house, over 4 years ago, Christian's nursey was a bit coastal with tone-on-tone pale blue stripes in semigloss & matte paint...

{My cousin & I made the seashell mobile & I sewed the quilt} 


This old man thrift store painting (below) goes everywhere with us and is now in our living room...


In Justin's nursery, 2 years ago,  I wanted to go dark  & be bold.  I'd done the sweet thing before & was ready for a change.  I wanted a dark room for sleeeeeeeping.


My husband & I stencilled a dropcloth with an allover pattern and made a canopy over the crib. 
 I used the nursery walls as a gallery for artwork that we'd collected & inherited over the years.


...Most of the pieces are pretty moody and I used lots of foresty type things in there. 
You can see how we used the same pieces on both rooms but ended up with 2 really different looks...


Justin's nursery was featured on Design Sponge and I'll never forget that some of the commenters thought the room was creepy and one of them even said it looked like "Rosemary's Baby's Room."  It cracked us up at home and so we called it that sometimes :)  (I have to say, I do have a dark side & loooove scary books & movies ;)

And now...  we're onto the new baby's nursery.  And of course, I'm ready for more change :)  This time (which we are thinking of as our last, although I'll never say never until we're sure)  I decided that I just wanted to go with all of my favorite things.  I've always known that nurseries are for moms & dads (and mostly moms because dad's don't usually care very much) and so this time I'm doing a total "me" nursery.  Selfish?  Yeah, I know, but I'm okay with that ;) 

I'm starting with my Live Paisley in "mojito" for the curtains:


{I'm constantly experimenting with colorways in my fabrics and this is definitely one of my favorites, designed specifically for this room.}

And last night my husband painted the walls a paler shade of the same chartreusy-green...


{It's Sherwin Williams "Rice Paddy}
I'm working on the bedding now and a swivel glider in by Lee Industries should be arriving any week now...



{Sorry for the blurry pic...  picture it in a warm oatmeal linen}  I'm SO pumped for this glider.  We thought about getting one with every baby and finally decided to do it.  Our babies are not good sleepers and so I'm banking that we'll be gliding many a night on this new chair. 

The dresser/ changing table is in the closet so we have as much floor space as possible for playing.  I'll be sure to share pictures when we get it finished.  (Which should be in the next month a half!)

And finally, here are a couple of belly pics from yesterday...  The boys have taken to walking up to me and hugging me/ my belly saying "BIG BELLY!!!!"  or "SO BIG!!!!" in their deep little voices.  (It makes me feel so petite ;)


A month and half left... eeeeeeeeeeek!!!



xoxo, Lauren

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

Saturday, March 24, 2012

Fashion Solutions to Allergies


I don't know how the rest of you are doing, but allergies have took their toll on me this year and last.  The Dr. Oz Show this week addressed this issue with this video clip which you can view.  Click the picture above and it will take you to my Pinterest page and then click Dr. Oz's picture again and it will take you to the video clip on his website.   Dr. Oz interviewed an allergist with some smart strategies for managing this allergy season.  I was surprised to find out that a simple solution is to mechanically block pollen from your face and eyes with a wide brimmed hat and large sunglasses.  


When you refer to big sunglasses the first image that comes to mind is Jackie O.  She always had such a timeless style and wore the signature large sunglasses.

 Here Jackie is again with some large sunglasses and hair scarves that almost would mechanically block pollen. 


So it is no surprise that starting last spring the wide brimmed hat and sunglasses began to make their way back on the runway.  

 So we don't have to be celebrities to be sporting our large hats and sunglasses anymore, we just have to suffer from allergies.  (Ashley Tisdale)

So go ahead and grab a big hat and sunglasses.  It's the latest trend and it's practical.  (Stylist Rachel Zoe)
Are you suffering form allergies too?
Sherry
I will join:
Say G'day Saturday  at Natasha In Oz
 Seasonal Sundays at The Tablescaper
Sunday's Best Party  at My 1929 Charmer