Living Room Progress

I was going to wait to post pics of our finished living room, but realized it might be years before I get anything posted at the rate I'm going.   So here is what our living room currently looks like:

Things to do:

1.  Finish the gallery wall (i.e. add art to the frames)

2.  Make throw pillows, with the following fabric I have from Tonic Living:

Bella Porte, Citrine 

(yes it's the same print as Gate Citrine from Robert Allen for Dwell Studio)

Flatiron, Black

Stanford, Orange

3.  I have to do something about that ceiling fan...

Though it's unfinished, here are a couple photos of the various phases this wall has gone through since we bought the house.  I need this as a reminder of how much we actually have accomplished.

when we bought the house...

after a fresh coat (or several coats) of paint and some major cleaning (before the nasty carpeting was torn out):

the ksl sofa find I HAD to have, and grew to despise shortly after:

just a few weeks ago, gallery wall in progress:

My Dining Room

I've posted dining room photos before, but not since I got my incredible wide-angle camera lens.  So I wanted to share this with all of you.  It's definitely my favorite room in our house, for now.  The gallery wall in the living room is still in the works (though I can assure you that progress has been made!) but I'm hoping my room allegiance will shift to the living room eventually, since that's really where we spend all our time.  Yes, I admit... our coffee table is our REAL dining table.

On another note, I'm off to KBIS (Kitchen & Bath Industry Show) this week!  

I plan to post photos and comments about all the great new products I see on the enzy design facebook page, so check it out if you're interested!  I'll also follow up in the next couple week with KBIS blog posts.

A Familiar Light Fixture

On March 10, Design Sponge featured a book called "Undecorate: The No-rules Approach to Interior Design" by Christine Lemieux (founder of Dwell Studio).  Yes, it started a little rant in my head about the difference between interior design and interior decorating and how I really wish the titles were not used interchangeably, as decorating is only one of the many aspects of interior design, and though I'm all about breaking the rules of interior DECORATING, there are rules in interior DESIGN that are detrimental to the health, safety, and well-being of people and therefore should NOT be broken.  Okay, I'm stepping off my soapbox now...

The reason I'm posting this is because the floor lamp in this photo from the book caught my attention:

Does it look familiar?  Have you seen it before, maybe in my home?  Hanging from the ceiling (on a still-frayed cord) in my kitchen?

Yes, it appears to be a floor-lamp version of the exact same fixture!  How cool is that!  I wish I knew who designed it...

Living Room Color Palette

I've been so busy lately there's just been no time for posting. I'm meeting with new clients, finishing up with older clients, and right smack in the middle of working with other clients. It's crunch time for so many people - needing to get everything done before birthdays, new babies, Thanksgiving, ski season, whatever... they're all in a rush. AND I'm going to be in Madison, Wisconsin next week at the Sub-Zero / Wolf headquarters, learning everything there is to know about cooking on their products. So, life is crazy!

Rather than a big long post, I'm leaving you with a photo I absolutely love, which has now become our inspiration for our living room color palette. Grays, natural woods, and bright pops of orange and yellow. Perfect. The new grasshopper chair fabric, which is on order, will fit beautifully with this color scheme.

Have a great week everyone! I'll be better at blogging once the rush is over.

More Backyard Progress

Slowly (very slowly), but surely, our backyard is coming together.  We've spent a couple recent weekends on the construction of a retaining wall / planter box in an area where there previously had been an ugly chain link fence lined with some plastic ribbed material, which was supposed to be doing important work like holding the neighbor's fence in place.  We pulled the chain link out and started over.   We found a bunch of inspiration photos using really modern and fun materials for retaining walls, but then realized we didn't have the budget, and it just wouldn't look good with our 1899 home.  A major backyard overhaul would be in order, and that just isn't going to happen.  We compromised by using standard cedar that matched everything else in the yard, with aluminum c-channel support posts that had been salvaged from a construction site (thanks Drew!).

Here's a quick overview of how it happened (note that I say "we" below, but Mike was most of the muscle behind all this):

1.  We measured, dug a trench, and dug the post holes.

2.  We prepared and pre-drilled the aluminum posts.

3.  We set the posts using redi-mix concrete.

4.  We installed the cedar and added some extra bracing inside the box.

5.  We filled it all in with dirt.

The yard isn't even close to being finished, but considering it used to look like this...

I'd say we're making progress, wouldn't you?

Now, anybody know anything about pruning vastly overgrown rosebushes?

Cabinet Hardware Dilemma

Our kitchen cabinets don't have any hardware.  Sometimes in kitchen planning, doors and drawers are back-beveled or routed so hardware isn't necessary, but that's not the case in this kitchen.  For a year now I've been stressing about finding the right hardware.  Here's the problem:

(our current kitchen, still without a finished tile backsplash)

As you can see, the cabinets and doors are very traditional.  Not to mention UGLY.  But replacing the cabinets (or even painting them) just isn't going to happen as soon as I'd like.  The traditional style and exposed hinges (not even sure what color to call that - dirty bronze maybe?) make it pretty much impossible to use the more streamline modern stainless pulls that we are typically drawn to.  I love modern pulls, but they'd look terrible in this kitchen.

I finally found hardware I like, that I think will look good enough in this kitchen.  These are from the Mirada collection by Jeffrey Alexander (by the way, this is a great line to look at for affordable hardware options that don't scream Home Depot).  They have softer yet modern lines, so they work with the door style, and the finish (called Bright Nickel Brushed with Dull Lacquer) actually works really well with the exposed hinges.

All the pieces are sitting in a bag on the countertop.  I have high hopes for installing them soon, though I'm guessing they'll remain in that bag for quite some time due to all the other projects to finish up on our list.

I LOVE Eames

Our "new" dining chairs.  Need I say more?

Chalkboard Paint

I know, the whole chalkboard paint craze is sorta overdone.  I'm definitely not the first person to paint a wall with chalkboard paint.  But it's so fun, and sometimes fun just has to overrule fashion when it comes to design.

We wanted to add a little character to the wall in our kitchen, next to the laundry closet (which you'll notice still needs doors).  I'm honestly usually not a big fan of accent walls, but in this case, this one vertical black stripe did amazing things to the look of our kitchen.  The already-tall ceilings seem even taller.  I love it.

So I will continue to love this trend of chalkboard paint.  Especially now that it's available in fun new colors from places like Murobond:

More Fun with Spray Paint

I wanted to add a little whimsy to our dining room, so I bought a table on KSL's classified ads and we spray-painted it with Valspar Glossy Mediterranean spray paint from Lowe's.  

Here's what it used to look like: 

Boring, right?  It's amazing what a little spray paint can do.

Backyard Progress

Our backyard is slowly starting to take shape.  We've still got a lot of work ahead of us, but at least we can now sit on the deck and enjoy a meal or morning coffee without getting overly distracted by every remaining item on our to-do list.

When we first moved in, the deck area looked like this:

And our old potting containers looked like this:

And now, after a lot of weeding and planting and pruning and spray-painting, (not to mention a lot of bargain shopping at places like ReStore, consignment shops, World Market, Big Lots, Ikea, and KSL classifieds) it looks like this:

And it will look even better once the plants fill out and the flowers bloom!

The Difference a Bulb Makes

A few weeks ago I posted about the "new" light fixture we inherited.  I used the photos of the standard white light bulb, which was there because it was the only extra bulb we had.  Well, we finally changed the bulb to something more fitting - a simple clear globe.  Obviously the fixture looks better, but what really surprised me was the sudden dramatic lighting effect created with the clear vs. white frosted glass.  Our Kitchen has become a disco.  Not really, but the lighting effect is pretty amazing.  So for everyone who suggested the clear globe bulbs, here's a pic for you.  Please ignore the frayed black cord (which will someday be replaced) and the horrific mini-blinds (which should probably be higher on our priority list than they are).

Home Tour ~ Laura Trevey

Here I am, up close and personal in my home! Please come take a look around. I love fresh flowers and beautiful floral arrangements. They give me such inspiration in my paintings. All artwork seen in these photos are Laura Trevey originals.

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{all photos and more home shots on my flickr page}