Bedroom Boards for a 60s condo

I'm working with new local clients who are moving from their family home into a 6th floor condo with light and views.  The only problem?  It hasn't been touched since the 1960s.  They are mostly managing the gut renovation on their own, but I get to decorate!

One of the fun things about this kind of move is getting to move cherished items to new contexts.  Case in point: they had a persian rug in the living room that they loved, and a pair of brown leather chairs that were fairly new and quite nice, but they didn't want the brown palette in the open living/dining space.  So into the bedroom they go!  To modernize the brown and cream and tie in to the other spaces, we went with a deep jewel tone for the walls.  We wanted to offset the warm tone with something cooler.  Green felt too 80s, plum felt too 90s, so we landed on blue.  As I look at these design boards I realize the color is reading much more teal than in reality--it is a deep blue, but with a little less green in it.

They found nightstands they love from CB2 which went perfectly with the slight deco influences we are bringing in elsewhere.  The big thing with the bedroom was that everything had to be in stock or short lead time so they have a bedroom when they move in!

Look 1: Masculine and clubby

Look 2: Feminine and organic

How do you feel about brown?  (It's definitely "my" neutral, so I'm happy to see it making its way back after years of grey!)

Which look would you choose?

Tomboy to teen dream: how to decorate so your kid won't outgrow her room

I recently did some boards for a seven year old self-proclaimed tomboy.  She had been sharing her room with various siblings most of her life, and she was getting a room of her own for the first time.

When I first saw the space set up for her, she had star wars sheets and posters.  Her furniture was odds and ends from other rooms.  She wanted green walls.

Mom wanted to give her new pieces (her sister just got this makeover.)  Right now she wants "boy stuff" but in a few short years, she will be a tween.  (It's crazy how time flies!)  She may hold on to her tomboy ways for ever, but she may find herself drawn to girlier things.  So, how do you decorate for her wants now and plan for the future without replacing everything?

A neutral base.

Here's the room we decided on:

The bigger, more expensive items (rug, furniture, window treatments) are all in the same gender-neutral palette: white, navy, and a sort of greige on the headboard.  The bedding, lamp, desk chair, and paint color satisfy her taste today. (She can also keep the star wars sheets in this design!)

Later, those same items can be changed out to a more feminine (and more grown up) vibe.

I went pink, because it is (for better or for worse) classic "girl," and because I happen to love pink and navy together.  But lavender, yellow, coral, aqua, or chartreuse could all be employed to similar effect.

Paint and bedding have a lifespan anyway, and could use refreshers after 4 or 5 years (and I reused the quilt, which gets less skin contact and gets washed less frequently.)  I added a mirror over the dresser and a pinboard, which reflect changes in how a girl might use her room.  The upholstered, swivel, rolling desk chair is more comfortable for an older adolescent who may have more homework.  So when it comes down to it, these are changes that would happen for practical reasons anyway.  I guess the big luxury is changing out the lamp!

There are tons of great options out there these days that can work for both genders.  Big retailers like PBTeen and Land of Nod unfortunately separate everything into "girls rooms" and "boys rooms," but don't be afraid to cross over!  You may find the perfect rug or quilt (etc) for your girl in the "boy" category.

Sexy bedroom, girly dressing room

I love these fearless fun clients!

Here's the direction for the bedroom:

Those marbled ceilings!!!!

We just decided to go all out drama with the black walls and white curtains, above, though we also considered a softer look with white walls, ombre curtains, and some pink.

Meanwhile, across the hall a small bedroom is getting the dressing room, treatment.

Pink stripes?

Or go all the way with busy hummingbirds?

Nope, a little pink on pink instead:

We tied in to other spaces by including some of that high-contrast black and white against the pink.

All in all, dreamy....

Can't wait to get this all installed!

The Office

Just before the holidays, I signed a lease on a small office space.

I had been thinking about this step for a long time.

First, buying a piano displaced me from my home office.  (Both my girls play and the keyboard wasn't doing it anymore.)  I moved to the basement, which is unfinished but has good sized windows.  I thought I would hate it but with a rug and a little decor, it wasn't so bad.

But then, I started thinking about getting an intern.  I conducted some meetings with my contractor at my kitchen table.  I wondered if I wanted a street level space (walk ins!) or a shared loft (photoshoots!).  I fell in love with the Ivy Arts building.  I continued to work from the basement, in straight view of monkey bars and a man cave.  (True story.)

And then, we got a puppy.

It became both more necessary and more impossible to work from home.  One day in December, I went on craigslist and found a small but charming space with tin ceilings, hardwood floors, and reasonable rent, just a few minutes (and directly on route) to my kids' school.  I met the landlord, also a mother of two girls, also teetering on middle age, also in a newish career.  I hemmed and hawed, but much less than usual.  I signed the lease.  We went to Texas for Christmas.

I forgot what trouble it is to move, even a small move, and if I am being honest (I am being honest), a month after I took possession I am still moving in.

Right now it is lovely, despite the card table I am using as a temporary desk.  Lovely, realistically, because all of my mess and piles and tangles of fabric swatches are still in my home office space.

(as shared on instagram)

I spent more time than usual there today, and as I was leaving, I had this flash of what it should be.

When people say things in magazines like "I work with color all day, I want my office to be devoid of it!"  Or, "I need to come home to white so I can breathe!" I may, in the past, have scoffed.  But guess what?  Today I felt how calm and pretty the office was, and how utterly destroyed that sensibility will be the minute I bring in the half dozen crazy colored rug samples that are currently in the back of my car.

For once in my life, I truly get the appeal of neutrals.

Maybe tomorrow (or soon) I'll talk about what it actually IS and why.  And what we (or at least I) can learn from it.

Weekly blog post? Let's do this

Is Thursday a good day for a regular weekly post?

Over the hump, kinda bored, but we're not into the Friday wrap-up yet?

You tell me.

Anyway, this is a quicky.  Right before the holiday, a beloved client asked if we could refresh her eldest daughter's room as a Christmas present.  Well, you know I LOVE doing girls' rooms.  So I met with the 11 year old (and her mom), and we decided on lavender walls and green as one of the secondary colors.  She already had a white jenny lind bed and side table.

Here are two of the sketches I sent their way.

When you are skipping custom things, you're at the mercy of the market for color palette.  Luckily I found plenty to work with.

This scheme gets its fun from the bright rug.  I pulled the chartreuse for our green then mostly neutrals and a little pop of hot pink.  They have a pair of small sclae tufted chairs already that will move out of the living room as we bring that project into being.

But I wasn't sure how girly my client wanted to go.  she is also a hockey player, after all.  I gave her this version, with lots of green and some hits of teal.  Still feminine, but a little tougher around the edges.  Love that suzani chair, too (an overstock find.)

Apparently the first one was a hands down winner, and I can't wait to see it all done!

So tell me: do you like "design sketch" posts?

Aftermath

I'm having a very strong nesting urge.

Maybe it is because my house has been torn asunder by a 9 pound puppy named Auggie.

Maybe it is because all of my projects seems to be "in process," where it is more about trouble shooting than inspiration or results.

Or maybe it is a deep seated need to restore order in my small corner of a world that feels upside down since election day, never to be right again.

(drama queen)

We have lived in our house for 6 years, the longest I have ever been in one place as an adult, and we have reached that state where every drawer and closet and cupboard needs to be turned inside out and given a good scrubbing.  Honestly, that's a bit what my whole life feels like.

As cabinet positions are names and liberties (already!) threatened, decorating has never seemed sillier.  Yet I still believe in the comforts of home, and if I didn't live in a blue city in a (barely!!!!) blue state, I think I would be taking cover.

So what will I do around here next?  I have a little money set aside for house projects.  I am at a point where

a) I want things to work better for our family and contribute to our happiness or, at the very least, ease of living , and

b) I don't want to fall into the trap of temporary solutions

So I will probably have to make choices to stay on budget. The area of focus?  Our entry.

It has been a bit of a revolving door!  For a while it happily looked like this, until that desk went to the girls.

I had this vintage x-base desk (which I love) in the guest room, and wound up bringing it into the entry in a pinch.

But really, it's not working for us.  Not enough storage, and not enough free space beneath to add baskets.  (not that baskets are any solution with a puppy on the loose.)  I'm convinced that we need a dresser for storing gear: in the winter, hats and gloves etc; in the summer, sidewalk chalk and butterfly nets and jump ropes.  I had something in mind like this:

But guess what?  I mentioned it to my husband and he has an opinion.

He thinks we need a bench for people to sit on to put on their shoes.  (although--  We used to have that and I don't think anyone ever used it.)  So then maybe something like this:

Except in reality we probably aren't going to add a pendant light....and again that doggie likes to steal shoes (and gloves and socks and shirts and underwear) out of baskets

So we'll see!  Maybe I'll luck into some perfect vintage dresser and find myself with enough money left over to put a runner on my stairs.  It will be much better for the dog that way.

This is one of my more rambling posts, coming together over a week or two, but I'm hitting publish!

Tangletown Traditional: Living room sketches

I shared some sunroom sketches for this house the other day.

Today I've got some living room design sketches for you.

I have to say, despite my personal funky-eclectic taste, this sort of "fresh traditional" scheme is a real comfort zone for me, and I love to use it in older homes.  My approach in this case was to choose pieces whose lines felt traditional but not overly fussy or formal, and fabrics that feel young enough for the family that lives here.  The color palette comes in part from other choices we've made, like the tones in the wallpaper in the entry.

The living room opens to the right off of this foyer, with the dining room directly across the way.

I wanted to pull in the brown, coral, and blue in different combinations

The client and I are both loving the first option.  

What do you think?

Sunroom Sketches

Pretending  things are business as usual today.

It's been way too long since I have shared any work in progress!  We are working on early concepts for the sunroom in this house, which will likely include a wall to wall built in banquette, terra cotta or cement tile floor (though more French in feeling than Moroccan), and a table or tables for homework and dinner party overflow.  Also natural grasscloth on the walls and blue paint on the ceiling.

Excited about this one.  Living room sketches coming soon.

Whoa, hello!

This summer and fall were perhaps the fastest on record!

I've mentioned before that a lot of my focus has been on one massive project in California, that has been in the works for more than a year.  We are approaching the home stretch, and the last several weeks have been a crazy blur of major decision making.

I realized the other day that I have shared virtually NOTHING of this project or process.  It's a great one, full of great vintage, statement lighting, tons of wallpapers, incredible colors, 4 bathrooms from scratch, incredible folding glass doors for that California indoor-outdoor appeal, and so on.  The process has been so fluid it has been hard to stop and post about it.  And I am saving the final choices for the big reveal.

But!  It occured to me that it might be fun to share some of the looks that we DIDN'T go for.

So today, the entry.

I love this first look, but I knew even when sharing it with the client that it wasn't quite right for her.

This was more on the money in terms of elements in the house, but she didn't love the idea of a brown wood credenza.

This was the only option without a vintage storage piece.  The mirror was vintage to make up for it!  It doesn't read well in the photo, but the front of that buffet has a beautiful hex pattern engraved in it, and we do seem to have hexagons popping up through out the house.

What do you think?  Which would you choose?

Teeny tiny bathroom

I wish I could call this a "before and after," but I forgot to snap photos of the before!
This is a shame, because while the "After" is pretty cute, the real transformation is in how much bigger this small space feels.

This is what I would call a bathroom "refresh."  We didn't move any mechanicals, and we kept the original tub.  But everything else is new--tile, lights, medicine cabinet, toilet, and most importantly, vanity.  The old one was huge and blocky and cut off the space.  The new one is slim and sleek but still provides storage.

I may have shared the design boards before, but here we go again (if I don't remember, you sure won't!),  I gave them 3 options:

Option 1: Classic/ Vintage
(I should mention that we were deciding between flanking sconces with the original wiring versus moving to one overhead sconce, so both options are in these boards--it was to be one or the other, NOT both.  We were also debating re-using their shower curtain versus a new one.)

Option 2: Coastal

Option 3: Rustic

After a little revision, we landed on this:

Before, the bathroom was painted a very bright green, with some real acidity to it.  We wanted to to keep the space bright but also calm it down.  White paint made sense for brightness, but it may have felt a bit unfinished.  The grey "wainscot" feel fresh and modern and finished without getting too dark or heavy.

One of the ways we saved was not moving any mechanicals.  The sconces are placed a bit wider than we might have chosen if we were working from scratch, but aligning the towel ring and towel bars with the light's centerline makes it all feel pretty deliberate.  I think it's important to know when you really have to spend the money and when it makes more sense to make it work.

 We did corner shelves instead of a tiled cubby in the shower--we wanted to keep the lines of the tile as simple as possible.  You can also see next to the window we added a porcelain robe hook for easy access to a towel while showering.

In a small space, little details make a big difference.  I love the porcelain cross handles with the hot and cold labels.

But my real favorite is the blue-green-grey matte penny tile.  It looks hand made and is so fun and pretty!

We didn't want to spend a ton in this bathroom.  We got a totally cute, totally functional space on a tight budget!

From nursery to little girl's room

Man, time flies.

I designed a tiny little nursery for one of my best friends' daughter about 4 years ago.  Since then, she moved in with her brother to make way for a new baby, whose nursery had to turn back into an office, and now it's time to move Lucy back into her own room and let the boys share.  Time for an update!

They never took down the custom pelmets (which, I mean, hooray!) and they still have a wonderful crocheted floral rug we selected from Serena and Lily.  My job: to make the most of an 9x10' room and bring on the girl factor.

This is the (tight!) layout:

The desk can double as a vanity, nightstand, and play or art surface, and will be the thing you see form the hallway.  (We wanted to tuck the clutter within the room.)  At the foot of the bed there is room for a pair of poufs to pull out for extra seating or a pair of floor baskets for extra storage.

I love how the shape of the pelmet is repeated in the mirror and headboard, and the little ribbon shape of the chair is repeated in the euro sham.  The palette is definitely girly, but the main pieces are not purple or pink--plenty of room for an updated palette in the future.

I always say girls rooms are my favorite to do, and this was no exception!

a pair of girls rooms

I shared some initial sketches for a San Francisco family room last week.  We are also working on the cutest pair of rooms for a pair of little girls.  I put together two looks, but both treat the rooms as a pair.  Currently one wall of one room is painted a very pale blue and the other has pale pale pink.  The blue room has a white full bed and a white swing chair.  The pink room needs everything!

Bright and bold

Soft and sweet

What would you choose?

San Francisco Family Room

I'm working on some e-design for a beautiful home in San Francisco, and loving the initial directions for the family room (open to a white kitchen and a TBD dining room).  These are making me wish that I was little more laid back and cool--oh, and that I lived in California!

While I generally love incorporating people's treasures, there is also something pretty liberating about starting from scratch.