PROJECT REVEAL | FLOYD HILL FAMILY ROOM
A few weeks ago, the first room from the Floyd Hill project was finally completed! I shared with you all the details about the space in a previous post. I also mentioned my clients' love of brown; as you will clearly see from the photos below. =) To freshen up all that brown and make the space feel a little more current, I added touches of poppy and tangerine orange, leafy greens, and sprinkles of teal blue throughout. Here is another look at where we were when I began.
BEFORE
The most exciting thing about this room was all the natural light it received from the big, beautiful windows. Everything else was pretty drab, wouldn't you say? Well drab no more!
AFTER
Although the largest elephant in the room is still there, adding a few key accessories and custom window panels really made a huge difference. I kept the coffee tables a little sparse because the family doesn't like a lot of busyness on surfaces they use daily. I also added a more contemporary soft, gray wool area rug underfoot. It makes for cozy, warm feet on the often cold hardwood floors. We still have to tackle a few things in the kitchen to complete the whole look of these two spaces. That will come in the next round I hope.
BEFORE
The sectional also needed a little bit of love behind it. When floating furniture in your room, consider using a console table to add some interest to the back of your sofa. The console can serve as a more visually interesting divider between two spaces. It can house some of your treasured keepsakes and also be used as an additional space for food and beverages if needed.
AFTER
Mixing in some new things with items my clients already had created a well-rounded look. Adding the pops of orange and teal with the brown they love so much helped to liven the brown and separate the brown of the console from the brown of the sectional. The color also adds a bit more interest to the room.
BEFORE BUILT-IN BOOKCASES
The built-in bookcases are my absolute favorite in the entire space. You can see from the before picture shown above, they were just standard bookcases void of any character or anything special. The changes made to the built-ins are by far the most dramatic change in the room.
AFTER
A beautiful Thibaut, soft gray grasscloth wallpaper was added to the back of the bookcases. It looks very much like a linen texture. Super Yummy, right!!! We also installed can lights in the top of the bookshelves to highlight the grasscloth and illuminate the bookcase at night. Seriously you guys...my favorite thing!!
We also swapped out the wooden shelves for tempered glass so the light could shine all the way through. One thing to note - I would have loved for the shelves to be thicker, but that extra thickness drove the cost of these six shelves super high. The clients did not want to bust the piggy bank any more, so they opted for these. When selecting accessories I had to find things that would not weigh heavily on the shelves. Thankfully, every beautiful accessory these days is not super heavy and a little creative thinking goes a long way. *wink, wink*
CUSTOM WINDOW PANELS & ART
For the space we also had custom pleated window panels made. And I painted a little something special for them to bring the whole space together.
NIGHT SHOT VIEW
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I really hope you enjoyed seeing the update as much as I enjoyed creating it. Thanks so much for stopping by!!
Making Home, Home!
Kathleen
NEW PROJECT | FLOYD HILL
Hey everyone!! I hope you are doing super! Today I wanted to share with you a project that has been in the works for about a year. Yes...a year! If you follow me on Instagram you have seen a few sneak peeks of the Floyd Hill project. Here is a quick recap! And I will try to make a super long story short.
I met with my clients around this time last year. They asked me to help them with three rooms on their main level. We started with the family room. They wanted me to add some life into this room - make it feel fresh, a little more updated, and add of course, some color. My clients tend to like things on the warmer side which seems to stop at brown. They have a huge brown leather sectional as proof and tan colored walls in this room! They wanted to keep the wall color since they recently painted it (before they hired me) and the sectional because it was custom made for their space a few years ago.
We ended up hatching out a really good design plan. After a few changes were made and approved, a few items from that plan were no longer available. Geez!! The fabric I selected for their custom drapery panels was no longer available too...anywhere. I even contacted a local fabric dealer to find out if the fabric was still being milled and it was not. Sigh!
The fabric selection was the crowning jewel for the design plan, and pretty much everything was designed around it. So back to the drawing board! BUT LET ME TELL YOU...missing out on that fabric was the single most important factor and the best thing that could have happened for me as a designer and for their space. It forced me to push my creative juices and come up with an alternative that would knock their socks off.
After sourcing many, and I mean many selections, I knew she was the one when I laid my eyes on her. She was colorful, yet had subtle quality; had a beautiful bold pattern that would serve as a nice back drop to the sectional; and although weighty would add that richness to the space that my clients were after. And guess what?!!! They were SOLD on the fabric! PHEW!!!!!
The Plan - Floor Plan & More
Due to their seemingly love of brown, (which I tried and tried and tried to convince them otherwise with the additional furniture selections) I could not get them to budge on other furniture colors. I know, a designer's nightmare with a bunch of brown everything. But this designer knows when to bow out gracefully and adjust, and keep the project moving. So I just embraced it and decided to punch the room with texture and color in all the art and accessories, and add a few shiny finishes.
The project is shaping along nicely. I'm actually almost finished with this room and it is looking even better than what I envisioned. I can't wait to share with you the final reveal in a few short weeks! Stay tuned and thank you for stopping by!
Making Home, Home!
Kathleen
PROJECT UPDATE | STARGEN PREP
A few weeks ago I shared with you Stargen Prep. A boys bedroom with a preppy, Polo Ralph Lauren meets classic boys club kinda look and feel. I have actually been working on it for a few months and things have shaped up nicely and are now winding down. The reveal will be in a few short weeks. I cannot wait to share it with you! In the meantime I have a few sneak peeks to share with you.
One of the easiest and most cost efficient ways to add architectural detail to a room is adding board and batten, bead board, or moldings around the room. For this project I choose board and batten. The boards are the horizontal strips of wood (MDF can also be used) and the battens are the vertical strips of wood. Although it's a wee bit hard to tell, the lower half is painted a beautiful rich indigo blue - Indigo Ink by Home Decorators.
If you search board and batten on the web, most of the time you will find the lower part of the walls painted white or a lighter color and the upper part painted another color. Because the almost preteen that inhabits this space is quite active, my recommendation was to paint the inverse. We are beyond thrilled with the outcome so far.
To add organization to this space and maximize the floor space for play, we decided to remove his chest of drawers from the room (it had seen better days =)) and add that function into his closet system. LOVE IT!!!
From the image above you can also see that the old carpet was removed and replaced with hardwood flooring (well it's actually vinyl flooring that looks like hardwood). If you didn't know it, you would not even be able to tell. We added a super comfy and plush wool rug. It feels so good underfoot and it grounds the space nicely. More furniture that what was there before has been added into the room and believe or not, the space feels so much larger.
As you can see things are moving right along! The reveal will be happening in a few short weeks. So stay tuned! Thanks for stopping by!
Making Home, Home!
Kathleen
PROJECT REVEAL | HELLO LOVE EVENTS
Hey everyone!! How are you guys? I hope your Labor Day weekend was fabulous! Besides a little bug my daughter and I had to start the weekend off, it was great!
Now I know it's has been a while since I last posted, but I am here today! Yayyy!!! Ok, bare with me because I have to catch up. About two weeks ago I received some of the best news - an office I designed in total collaboration with my beautiful client Lacoya Heggie of Hello Love Events, was going to be featured on the spectacular Style Me Pretty Living. Little did we know it was going to be featured so quickly. Lacoya called me on Friday with an "OMG...the office is being featured today" and I was like "Wait...what, today!!" Totally unexpected and totally caught off guard. In case you missed it, be sure to click through the virtual pages of Style Me Pretty Living, Hello Love Office Tour. And...Yayyyy for the Friday feature!!!!
A little back story - I met Lacoya through my lovely friend Terri Baskin. I have written about Terri here and I am sure a few other places on my blog. Terri passed my information on to Lacoya because she needed a little help with her home office. Lacoya is the owner of a wonderful weddings and events planning business in northern Va - Hello Love Events. Isn't she as cute as a button!! #loveher And she could be a hand model too (see the intro pic)! *wink*
Note: To my design friends and future clients, and those thinking about the designer they love so much, but isn't local - please don't let location stop you. The amazing thing about technology (and transportation), is that it is mobile and accessible. You would be amazed at what can actually get done even if you (the designer) can't physically be there. Lacoya and I corresponded by phone, text, and lots of Skype.
By the time Lacoya contacted me, she had painted her office a bright white, and purchased the bookcases, and desk. She was already headed in the right direction. She just needed a more solid plan. Lacoya was clear about the look and feel she wanted. Her words during our first conversation - Timeless, Contemporary, Clean, and Organized. I was happy to oblige. She also has an over-the-top obsession with Kate Spade (LOL), so I knew Kate (first name basis like we are friends, hehehe) would also serve as a major inspiration for this space.
Here is the design plan after a little bit of tweaking. And after she fell in love with a few other items she spotted and some items not being available by the time she was ready go all in, we had to tweak things again.
Can I tell you guys just how seriously in love with this space I am. And Lacoya - every time I speak with her, I can still hear (yes hear) the sparkle in her eyes and the pitter patter of her heart. A designer's dream is a happy client! Thank you Lacoya for being that happy client!
Here is a before pic after Lacoya installed the bookscases and her desk.
And here are the amazing after photos! Fresh, Functional and full of Style!
To see more don't forget to stop by the Style Me Pretty Living, Hello Love Office Tour.
Thank you Style Me Pretty Living for the feature! Thank you Andrea Pesce for taking all of these amazing photos! Thank you Lacoya Heggie for welcoming me into your home and allowing me to twirl my magic decorating wand!
Making Home, Home!!
Kathleen