Coral Floral Guest Bedroom

Hi friends! Welcome to 2017!

Kicking it off with a design board I did toward the end of last year. My client Karin had a guest bedroom with two twin spindle beds...and that was about it. Unsure where to go, I steered her toward pale lilac walls, punchy coral Tilton Fenwick fabric, and scalloped bedding, all anchored with some neutrals and dimensional lighting.

Need to freshen up a room this year? Let me know and I'll hook you up with one of these snazzy boards.

Hope this year is off to a good start!

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Lake House Bedroom

Many moons ago, I had the pleasure of working with a client on a design for a bedroom at her lake house. The room needed to pull double duty as her adult daughter's bedroom as well as a guest room, when needed.

She wanted the vibe comfortable, traditional, and punctuated with color. And here is where I landed:

You don't know how much joy it brought me to mix red with lavender in a room with two beds. And I owe the color combo to the scrumptious print for the wall above said beds: At the Lake, by T.S. Harris.

I was so pumped to recall this print because it had everything I was looking for - something feminine, great colors, and on-theme in a whimsical way.

From there, lovely soft lavender headboards, punchy red bedskirts, powder blue linens, a blush lamp and some bold, gutsy mirrors all pulled themselves together to create a space I wouldn't mind lounging in on vacation.

As with all design boards I do for clients, I don't share the full source list as the sources are meant only for the lovely people who paid me for my time to track them down. But I am ready, willing, and able to do one of these snazzy boards for your own space - just email me!

It's almost the weekend...

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Nursery Design Board

I know I've explained snippets of the nursery, but here is my design board that encompasses a lot of the look and feel of the space:

A disclaimer that not everything on this board is actually in the room...I chose some look-alike pieces to give you a good idea of how the whole space is shaping up. Here are links for pieces that I can actually point you to...if no link, then the item is vintage or a hand-me-down or I just don't have a resource for it...

Brunschwig & Fils Le Lac Fabric
Jenny Lind Crib & Changing Table
Pink and White Buffalo Check Fabric
Lilipop the Frog
Yellow Pillow
Block Print Rug
Paint Color: Haven by Sherwin-Williams
Laundry Basket
Etsy seller for watercolor art

The board makes it look a little busy/crazy...but as we put the finishing touches on the room it's turning out exactly how I had imagined. It's colorful, girly and full of Chinoiserie with traditional elements sprinkled throughout to make it feel classic.

I know you all want to see pictures...and I promise to deliver those at some point!

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Yellow + Gray + Pink Nursery

I am once again designing a nursery! This time for my dear friends Katy and Brian (there is something in the water in my inner circle). Their baby girl is due in April and we're creating a slammin' yellow, gray and pink nursery.

Katy really loves the look of sophisticated gray paired with sunny yellow, but she also loved the idea of a pink nursery. So why not use all three colors! Yellow and gray will be our primary palette, but we are adding bits of blush here and there to keep the nursery feeling very feminine.

I'm happy to report that much of the room is already coming together, but I thought I would create a designBoard to show you some of our inspiration pieces. We haven't stuck exactly to these items, but the board was a great way for me and Katy to start pulling together the room.

And, BONUS, I created an ideabook with these products (and more) over on Houzz with an explanation of how I would use them.

» Click here to check out a list of resources and links 

p.s. The only item I think is missing from my ideabook is the yellow bookcase, available at Urban Outfitters - here's the link.

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designBoard: Kimber's Office/Living Room

Today I have the last "installment" of designBoards for Kimber's house. This time around, Kimber was looking for help pulling together her husband Tem's home office, which also doubles as the living room.

Kimber had several pieces she was already working with, including some awesome chairs recovered in our beloved Chiang Mai:

LOVE those chairs. Here is the board:

I think one of my favorite pieces has to be that light fixture. I love the finish and its sculptural take on a classic drum shade. I hear the room's true client, Tem, liked the choices.

So, that wraps up my work on Kimber's house (for now). She is working hard making it all happen and has promised to share pictures.

Hope your week is off to a great start!

designBoard: Kimber's Dining Room (Two Ways)

Kimber and I are BFF. It started with the designBoard I did for her bedroom. We then moved on to the family room and now, here's the dining room.

Below is the board (two ways) I put together for Kimber & family's dining room, complete with one of those great silk screens I posted about:

Our starting point was fabric that Kimber had - Robert Allen Vintage Plumes in Jade:

Kimber is a Chinoiserie lover, so we kept the elements true to her style while working in some gorgeous color. Don't you love her china pattern (Old Avesbury by Royal Crown Derby)? I think Kimber is well on her way to taking the ideas from this board and making them her own. 

Did you notice the difference in the boards? One has a green painted sideboard from Wisteria, and the other has a more modern IKEA console. Which would you choose?

designBoard: Kimber's Family Room

Well, Kimber and I are just having the best time decorating her house. After working on her bedroom, Kimber asked me to put together some ideas for her family room.

The print fabric was our starting point since she already made some fantastic curtains with it - and from there, we mixed in some David Hicks La Fiorentina for her ottoman, a crazy good driftwood table from Crate & Barrel (shocked? I kinda was when I found it) and some neutral items to bring out the khaki and brown tones in the fabric.

Next up on the agenda - her dining room. I loooove dining rooms!

Want a designBoard with the AO touch? Email me.

designBoard: Kimber's Bedroom

A couple of weeks ago, one of my darling readers Kimber emailed me about helping her with her and her husband's bedroom. She had her main furniture pieces, as well as her paint color picked out, so she just needed help with the finishing touches and a color scheme.

Thought you might enjoy seeing the pink and green Chinoiserie bliss I put together for her:

The paint color she has is a beautiful gray blue, and the bed and armoire are very rich, dark pieces (which help turn this quite feminine designBoard a bit more masculine). These pieces help to brighten the room and bring in some punchy color at Kimber's request.

The star of the show is the Chinoiserie fabric - Folie Chinoise in Rose by Suzanne Rheinstein for Lee Jofa. It ties all the pieces together and brings a lovely dose of sophisticated whimsy to the bedroom.


p.s. The window treatment photo is from Susie of Maddie G Designs, who used the fabric in her living room paired with a pink silk sofa!

designBoard: Emma's Dorm Room

A month ago, Emma's mom, Tenia, contacted several of us bloggers about putting together some ideas for her daughter's dorm room - a great idea! I know that when I went off to college, I definitely wanted a cool room, but stuck to the regular big box store offerings since I didn't know any better.

And although big box standbys are great for their price (and thus can handle some dorm wear and tear without guilt), mixing them up with fun fabrics and accent pieces can really give the room a unique personality.

A tour of Emma's board:

1) The main fabrics in the background were the inspiration point. The green fabric is Robert Allen Les Fauves in Grassland, and the yellow fabric is Robert Allen Cats Cradle in Sunshine. I would keep dorm bedding clean and simple in white, but give the bed a bit of color with a big pillow made with the green fabric backed in the yellow fabric. I would also use the yellow fabric for some very simple curtains. Curtains go a LONG way in a dorm room! (even if you just install them with a tension rod)

2) For the desk, I would choose a classic Parsons silhouette. This one from Walmart is a great price at $50, and I would prime it and paint it a glossy lavender shade, like Plum Dandy from Sherwin WIlliams (don't forget to buy the $5 sample pot, which will be plenty to paint the desk). I would suggest searching on Craigslist for a traditional dining chair, and then painting it and recovering the seat in a green stripe fabric, or perhaps more of the yellow accent fabric. I would finish off the desk with a colorful gourd lamp in green or another bright hue - these lamps can be found at places such as HomeGoods or TJMaxx for around $50.

3) I'm a big fan of white bedding, as I've mentioned, so I would do white sheets and a white down comforter, but I would add color with the decorative pillow from #1, a blue cotton blanket used on top of the bed's flat sheet, a colored throw in a contrasting color and a couple of ikat toss pillows. I lived with white bedding in college, and it worked out great. If anything, I could easily bleach it and not worry about it if I got anything on it.

4) I would also take a trip to HomeGoods (or I hear Big Lots) to find a porcelain garden stool in an accent color - extra seating is always nice for study nights. And, it doubles as an end table for books or a perch for a dinner plate. A golden pouf is also a great place for friends to crash to watch a movie or chat.

5) Curtains and rugs are two items that aren't often used in dorm rooms, but can really bring a lived-in feel to a cinder block room (at least, mine was cinder block). The black zig zag rug is one of my favorites from Nate Berkus' collection for HSN and adds a nice graphic punch to the room.

6) Other accessories include some hip vintage horse head bookends and an original abstract painting - both can be found on Etsy. Skip the Twilight poster and buy some colorful art to bring all of your room colors together! 

Good luck at college Emma! Hope you find some inspiration to get you started!

p.s. Several other bloggers are participating in this fun inspiration board today, so keep your eyes open for some other ideas!

designBoard: Our Dining Room

Now that Azalea has joined the family, putting together my designBoard for our dining room was a breeze.

I already had many of these items and once I decided on lavender as a color, I picked up a few more (on a budget, of course). I'm thrilled to see that Azalea fits in perfectly with all of her friends - they will make a lovely little ensemble.

Cue the board...

Let's start with the paint. Carter and I really like how the stripe turned out. The paint colors are Hearts of Palm and Rice Paddy by Sherwin Williams (HoP is what we used in the main area of our house, and RP is what we painted the kitchen).

Here's a view of the current state of the dining room (sorry for the photography):

Table is a beloved hand-me-down from Carter's family - chairs are a Craigslist find (haven't gotten around to painting that last one) as is the china cabinet (which will be getting a paint job - probably a glossy black). You can see a faint hint of the tea cart in the right corner that houses our bar.

Those are the ivory drapes that will be replaced by Azalea (the current fabric is actually great, but bland for this room).

I picked up the solid moiré fabric you see in the board at the fabric shop this weekend. It was a 2-yard remnant in the perfect shade of lavender...I'm thinking about covering the chair seats with it.

One thing I of course had was my beautiful wedding china - Derby Panel Green. That was probably the starting point for the whole room (and possibly my house!) Shown here is the salad plate. And those to-die-for octagonal bamboo chargers are from Caspari (I a-d-o-r-e Caspari...sometimes I want to use their napkins as wallpaper). They were a splurge, but I had some birthday money to play with :)

To complement this place setting, I asked for some linen napkins monogrammed with our initial in lavender for Christmas. And that little plum rosette I found on fabric.com for $3 - I ordered enough to make some napkin rings (by attaching them to ribbon).

The dining room would be lacking without some touches of Chinoiserie.  I found the Chinese silhouette print and the adorable pagoda salt and pepper shakers on eBay. The coral pierced urn (from HomeGoods) also has a Chinoiserie flair and will inject the room with a little pop of color.

The chandelier in the picture of our dining room was here when we bought the house - I really like it, but the scale is a bit small for the room. I will be replacing it with one that is similar to the one on the design board (ours has ten arms) that I found on Craigslist for $30. My plan is to paint it...color TBD.

The wild card is the greek key trim. I might let loose and use it as trim on my drapes.

And there is one more little decorative accessory that I have not shared on the board...I'm saving that one for tomorrow.

designBoard: Our Living Room

I am knee deep in decorating the house.  The past few weeks, I have been picking fabrics for the living room and dining room.

Sometimes I see something and I just KNOW. Like my bedroom fabric.

Sometimes every option seems like a good option. And I have a bit of a problem with commitment.

This is one of the latter situations. I have gone a little loopy thinking of all the combinations for the living room. The room is a completely blank canvas...especially since the furniture is white.

Below is where I currently stand...the product of weeks of rumination.

I love our paint color. It is Hearts of Palm by Sherwin Williams. It is a golden green in the apple family with a lovely chameleon nature depending on the lighting. It was my starting point as I selected it when we moved into the house.

We have LOTS of white in our living room. Literally every piece of furniture is white, and we have lots of glossy white trim, as well as a pair of french doors painted white. So the room has a bright, preppy feel, which I enjoy.

 The AO Living Room (not a great pic...sorry)

But, I'd like to balance that brightness with the fabrics, to bring some depth and texture to the room...give it some interest.

We have one large window that sits behind the sofa. I thought framing that window with solid velvet drapes would instantly make the room a little more rich and sophisticated. And I knew I wanted them this teal/aqua color. If you remember my armoire vignette, the lamp is a shade of this color and I really like how it looks against the paint color.

For sofa pillows, I'm thinking Sassari Ikat from Lee Jofa. The deeper green tone will compliment the walls. I plan to make two rather large pillows for either end of the sofa.

The fabric that has given me the most trouble is the one for our cane chair (on the left in the picture above). I have been hunting for a great pattern to bring lots of colors into the room, but I have not found anything that I love (if you all have any suggestions, do tell!) But, I love stripes, and this Cadet Stripe from Greenhouse Design is just beautiful. I think it will be a good graphic pattern in the room. And it reminds me of the curtain/wall combo from this room in the domino book:

And finally, my designBoard has a Chiang Mai Dragon (by Schumacher) pillow. It would be the perfect touch to my room...but the fabric is pretty pricey, so I'll have to keep it to a pillow. I have a request out for a quote on the fabric (it is to the trade only), so we'll see if it works with the budget. It would definitely be a splurge.

This inspiration board isn't quite as set in stone as my bedroom one was. I'm hoping to make lots of decisions this weekend because I'm ready to get started with this room!

designBoard: Our Bedroom

When we bought this house, I had the opportunity to start fresh with our master bedroom. What used to be our bedroom furniture and bedding we decided to use in one of the guest rooms. So I had a blank slate...

I didn't start from total scratch. Carter and I have a set of bedroom furniture from our dear Mama Jo, Carter's grandmother. We wanted to use the chest of drawers and the vanity in our bedroom, although the bed (a beautiful four poster) is a double, so we have that tucked away for future use.

With those pieces as a starting point, I began brainstorming what I envisioned for our room. Here comes one of my design mantras...

Start small. Think Big.

Approaching a room can be extremely overwhelming if you think of it as a whole. I look for one or two small pieces of inspiration and use those to guide me in developing the rest of the design. Sometimes that inspiration is a fabric, or a color, or a picture, or an accessory...some little tidbit from which a bigger picture can evolve. That makes the task of designing much more manageable.

This time, my kernel came in the form of fabric. I was poking around on eBay and found a stunning Schumacher print for a steal. The yardage was enough for a large decorative pillow for the bed with some left over to cover a chair seat. From there, my task was to find things to complement it...

My designBoard:

I decided to go with a tailored brown stripe for our curtains and our bed "skirt" (it will be more like a boxspring cover, as it won't go to the floor). I thought the stripes would keep our bedroom from feeling too traditional...and stripes make me very happy. I use them throughout our house. I also think Carter is relieved that our room will revolve around brown and not, say, pink.

I chose a light camel for the paint color. The main level of our house is very bright and cheery - so I wanted to do something a bit more neutral for our room...something relaxing!

I had seen the bed in the Ballard Designs catalog - it features a beautiful cane-back headboard. Add caned furniture to my list of loves...you know, the list with wallpaper, chairs, china...

...and let's add white linens too. They always look so crisp and inviting. I found a fluffy, tufted white comforter at Target. I also found a very handsome khaki blanket to contrast with it.

While we're at it, let's put sunburst mirrors on the list. I would be happy to have one in each room of my house. I plan to have two in the bedroom flanking either side of the main window that will be dressed with the striped fabric.

And finally on my board is the beautiful celadon lamp. One of my favorite colors in my inspiration fabric is the greeny-blue on the ducks - the lamps will help accent it. Mama Jo's vanity doubles as my nightstand, and Carter has a small round table on his side, so we'll put a pair of lamps like this one on either side of the bed.

So that's the roundup of the AO master bedroom. We're working hard on the main level of the house, so I have yet to put my plan into action. I have all the pieces...I just need to assemble them. And I am very much looking forward to it.

Next time you're struggling with a little design dilemma, start small. Look for something you love...anything...and grow your idea from there.