The power of styling

Just a quick post today (but look at me: two in one week!)

I'm always amazed at how simple, pretty pieces can be totally transformed by styling.  We ordered this console for a sunroom/ office project (styled two different ways by Pottery Barn):

It happens to be in my house right now, and I was playing around with proportion before selecting lamps for the client.

Same piece, totally different vibe!

My family loves coming home to a completely different furniture.  Especially when it doesn't belong to us and isn't staying.

This pieces ia making me want a slightly larger scale in the entryway.

Occupational hazard all over again.

Where did July go?

July is the shortest and the longest month.  In addition to the Fourth holiday, this year we had two kid birthday parties (for our kids), two family birthday parties (for our kids), several installs, a trip to San Francisco, and tons of shoot prep for a shoot that has been rescheduled!  I'm exhausted, in the best possible way.

Whenever I take an accidental blog hiatus I don't quite know where to start when I return.  So I will start with the present: yesterday we bought a dresser for the master bedroom.  For the past ten years we have been using a pair of Ikea dressers that I spray painted in our Brooklyn basement.  (I wish I had a photo of the very country before: knotty pine with black iron hardware!)  they were great in our Brooklyn bedroom flanking the bed:

And they have been functional side by side in Boulder and now here.  But this is how much I don't love them anymore:  when I had scouting shots done of my house in the fall, I had the photographer skip that side of the room altogether and focus on pretty detail shots like this.

To give you a sense of it, the large photograph in the photo below is sitting on the dressers, pushed together on a long wall.

(Don't you just love photographs that show you the inside from the outside?)

Long story short (too late!), I have been sort of keeping an eye out for a long 9-drawer dresser for years.  So when this one popped up on the instagram feed of Retrowanderlust, one of my favorite local vintage shops (the source for the tree!), I jumped on it.

Just in time for the rescheduled photo shoot.  Maybe I will allow a wider shot of the bedroom this time.  Of course, who knows what dominoes may fall from this.....

Next up

Can't wait to reupholster a client's pair of rolled arm, rolled back loveseats in coral.  And so forth.

Traditional Bath: before and after

A while ago, I wrote about a bathroom where I needed to create a "design language" that blended the previous design choices in the client's kitchen and bath.  That full post is here.  The bathroom is just about done and looking great!

Here's the before:

And the after:

The biggest problem in this tiny bath was the overscale, dated vanity that took up most of the room.

This little guy solved that problem and made the room feel much bigger!

Having a smaller pivot mirror separate from the vanity unit also helps.

This room is 5x7 and nearly impossible to photograph (and of course, my phone camera is not the best), but I think the results are charming.

I should also say that I wouldn't often do grasscloth in a bathroom, but this one is very infrequently used, and the texture makes a hug difference in the feeling of the space.

Cute, right?

New project: can't wait!

YES, we will be doing a plaid wall treatment, a barn door, AND a floor to ceiling vintage tennis racquet installation!