Published!

Last weekend, imagine my surprise when I was browsing the latest issue of 405 magazine and I found published on it's cover and inside a house for which I created the interior design.

Jennifer the home's owner needed help fast. She was going back to work and moving into a brand new house and needed her living room furnished and other rooms completed using furnishings she already had. When I got this mag in the mail... I thought it looked familiar but it wasn't till I got to the inside article that I realized it was a house I'd done.

 This is an article about suburban home building. I'm not sure how Jen's house got in this issue and unfortunately, she said she didn't have the opportunity to share my name or the builder's name.

 In this room which is the children's craft room - she already had furniture but I suggested the art over the bookcases.

 This was the original plan for the living room furniture. As you can see I did this while I was working as a designer at Bassett Furniture.

 This is a mock up I did placing furniture in the room. The house was still in construction at this point. The giant fireplace was the biggest challenge of the room. The tall cathedral ceiling with beams made sense with the fireplace but it was giant and dwarfed everything else. The other side of the room has a large open white kitchen with marble counters. I suggested the two matching consoles that would provide much needed storage and would make the scale of the fireplace make sense. I suggested artwork but Jen chose to spend time looking for things that are special to her. Which I will not argue with. Art should be personal. But even now 8 months later, her walls are still bare. She'll eventually fill them.

 Here is a photo I took after delivery. I did the chairs and table in the breakfast nook too but didn't take a photo for some stupid reason.

 And this photo shows the consoles in the room. Sofa bookcases/tables still have lots of space to fill.

I texted Jennifer the day I saw the article and she was kind enough to send me the professional photos. This is the craft room. I didn't do anything in here but artwork.

 In the dining room she already had everything from her old house. I suggested the mirror over the console to bring a little modern in over the traditional console.

 Another shot of the dining room.

 This is the entry. I searched for just the right bench to put in this space. We wanted something modern but something that hasn't been seen everyday. This one was just right and Jen decked it out in a nice mix of pillows.

 Here's the living room with a few more accessories. Still no art over the consoles and it really needs it. They stained the mantel dark. I would have left it a wood tone as it was when I first saw it. 

The view out the doors/windows is lovely. A country lake with an urban pool in front of it.

A beautiful spot just out the back doors. 

I wish I had a photo of the front of the house but I don't.

It's kind of Modern European Farmhouse...with emphasis more on modern than farm house.

It finally cooled off here and now feels like fall. All of September was hot.

I finally started getting pumpkins out. 

I know everyone else has been doing fall for like a month and a half but it was still summer here.

 

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A Modern Townhouse

So this is what I worked on last weekend.

My client who lives here and needed help accessorizing her townhouse.

She'd bought most of her furniture already but needs help pulling it all together. 

I'd helped her at the furniture store one day when she came in trying to pull together her dining room wall and buy some lamps.

She came in with some little gold starburst things she bought at Hobby Lobby and wondered how to use them.

She liked them but didn't know what to do.

She had three.

I immediately thought of the starburst mirror we had that would look great with them and suggested she go buy six more of the starbursts. I had her send me a photo of her dining room. It has these cool navy stripes painted on one wall. She wanted something to sparkle and add to the splendor of the room with its baby grand piano.

This was the mockup I did for her in power point at the store. The only program I had to work in at the store other than a floor plan program.

This is the after as I photographed it when visiting her home a couple of weeks ago.

 It did turn out to be just the right thing for her wall. This led to her asking me to come accessorize more of her townhouse. 

Starting with the entry. That's the before.
She likes to shop online because she works full time and does not have time to go around town shopping. So I picked out everything online. Mostly Wayfair. I looked other places but Wayfair had what we needed! Isn't that their slogan?
Wayfair We Got What You NEED!


Here is my mockup done in photoshop of what she should buy to add to the space.
I sent her links to everything and she ordered on Tuesday.
I can't wait to see for real photos.

Living Room Before

 These are living room before. As you can see she has the basics. I helped her with that lamp a couple of weeks ago. She picked everything else.

This is all Lazboy furniture. That sofa reclines but doesn't looks like it does.

 And here are my suggestions for accessories and a cocktail table. She has already ordered the cream colored glider with my approval. She has a new grand baby, so she had to have.

I did several layouts with different tables but these were our favorites. I still don't know which she will go with. She has not decided.

I suggested these shallow gold shelf/boxes for the walls in this room. I've seen these in person and they are really nice. Understated and gets pretty things up on the wall. 

 And this is her Thomasville sideboard from her old traditional home. She is doing everything modern in this house but didn't want to get rid of this. 
I suggested painting it gray and adding a little gold leafing.

The lamps I helped her pick several months ago...bringing some modern onto the traditional piece.

I love having just a splash of gold leaf on the corner like this piece below.

 Or if she wants to play it safer...a gold dipped look.

We'll see if that happens. 

I also did a few things to the baths and the master bedroom. 

And gave lots of suggestions for remodeling the kitchen. The kitchen is very nice but it could be amazing with a little work. 

When I would do presentations to clients at the store I always included accessories in the mood boards. Because accessories make the room. 

I'd be busy cutting and pasting from the internet. It always helped the client visualize how it actually would look in real life.

Today I am having lunch with some of my favorite designers that I used to work with.

We always have a good time together. 

But I'll be back here working after lunch and this coming weekend.

Still hot here but Fall is coming I know it is. Really it is.

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