Frame Anything

I've been getting more and more excited and interested in artwork lately. I'll admit when I first started designing, artwork sort of terrified me. I was always a little nervous that what I selected was going to be too bold, or too boring, or too generic and kill my beautifully designed room. I'm a lot more comfortable with it now and am a firm believer that you can pretty much frame anything interesting and turn it into art.

We're nearing the ending of the dining room design for my client in Huntington Beach, so naturally, that brought us to artwork. She showed me these simple, but cool, wine box tops and asked if there was anything we could do with them. I knew they would instantly become classy and interesting pieces of art once we had them matted and framed! We both were really happy with how they turned out and especially how they helped finish off the room.

{Before}

{After}

The room is almost finished, we're just waiting on the espresso hexagon wainscoting for the walls. Normally I wouldn't have hung the artwork up so high, but the wainscoting will start just a couple inches below the bottom of the frames, so it won't look so awkward once it's all completed. I can't wait!

Furniture Install

Friday was a fun day because we were doing a furniture delivery at a client's home in Huntington Beach. I had gone to the upholstery shop earlier in the week to check on the different pieces, so I knew everything turned out beautifully, but I was excited to see it all in my client's home and see if she loved everything as much as I did.

I posted about the preliminary design for her dining room here, but as almost all projects go, for a variety of reasons, the design has changed a bit from the initial presentation. Due to budget, time restraints, and overall function, we forewent the built-in banquet when my client fell in love with this Restoration Hardware table...


She purchased the table, and to keep things interesting and eclectic, we decided we would do a settee on one side of the table and keep her dining chairs on the other side. When finding the perfect style, size, and color of the settee proved impossible, and having full confidence in my upholstery guy, we decided to go custom and build one from scratch.

We took the arm style, height, and nailheads from this Restoration Hardware chair...


And the tufting, wood turned legs, and scalloped base from this Ballard Designs settee...

And came up with the perfect red settee to fit my client's new table and new dining room...

It's always a little nerve racking to build such a large piece of furniture from scratch, but we couldn't be more happy with how it turned out!

Next up we have a really fun before and after. My client had 2 of these antique chairs and was about to put a 'for sale' sign on them in the front yard when I told her that they would be beautiful if we refurbished them.


The wood finisher refinished the wood in a silver leaf, and then the chair was reupholstered in a cream and chocolate silk damask. I loved how this chair turned out so much that I was tempted to pay my client and keep it for myself. This chair is going to sit in a corner of the dining room that is a little separated from the rest of the space. The chocolate and silver tones of the antique chair will help tie that corner in to the rest of the room.


Last but not least, we had an ottoman custom made for the sofa in the adjacent living room. Her living room is pretty much complete, but after going back and forth with a few coffee table options, my client finally decided she wanted a dainty oval ottoman. All of the other pieces of furniture in the room are solid, so I thought it would be fun to add in some pattern. I'm hoping to have the whole room photographed soon, but for now, here's our cute custom ottoman complete with tufts and pleated skirt...

On To The Dining Room

This week I was excited to start working on the dining room of a current client who I posted about previously here. We're still working with coppers, chocolates and touches of red and we're using a lot of texture and a little bit of glam.

My client requested a built-in banquet on one side of the table. I loved the idea so we ran with it. Here are some quick drawings of what we plan on doing.


We're planning to build storage below the bench cushion for holiday dishes and other items that don't get used very often and then open glass shelving above for more every day glassware and dishes.


With all the espresso wood being installed with the built-in I wanted lighter drapery to add contrast. I fell in love with this silk fabric (below) and it inspired the rest of the fabric selections and color pallet.

For extra texture we're using this gold and chocolate grass cloth on the ceiling.

I'm in love with this dining table. The hammered polished nickel pedestal base is a perfect fit. The metal adds another texture and it's a pretty contrast to the dark rosewood top.

Of course, no dining room is complete without a chandelier.

Warming Up to Earth Tones

There are so many things I love about my job, but one of my favorites is working with different clients and meshing their design style with my own. As fun as it would be to design and decorate for myself all day everyday, I don't think I would grow very much as a designer that way. My clients' own personal taste and style encourages me to try new things, and many times in the process, I end up loving something that I never gave much thought to beforehand.

I've been working with my client Lynn for a few months now and she has really fabulous taste. She loves reds and browns and rich earth tones...something I've never been naturally drawn to ( I tend to gravitate toward brighter colors and lighter color palettes). I have loved working with her because she has become such a good friend, but also because through her project I developed a love of rich, dark earth tones with punches of red. Here are some things we started with and I hope to show photos of the finished product very soon.

I'm not the best renderer, but even quick sketches with a little bit of color help clients visualize their future space.

Our fabric and wall covering palette. We covered the entire living room and entry with a textured copper/bronze paper. It added a ton of visual interest to the space and when you use wall covering, it doesn't make you feel like you need to cover every inch of empty space with artwork, especially in a room with high ceilings.

She has a vaulted ceiling in her living room, perfect to hang this metal beaded chandelier.