Replacement Value

We've been selling a bunch of things on Craigslist, as the basement has become a disaster and we desperately need to reclaim it.  I thought we would hold a garage sale to move everything out, but I wasn't up for another major project before the weather turned.

One of the first things we bought for this house was a set of 9 original herman miller fiberglass side chairs that I happened upon, yes, on Craigslist.  You can read the whole story here.  We use 8 of the  chairs, and I finally put the ninth up for sale.  Guess what?  Someone made me an offer on the whole set.  A decent offer that means a profit.

I don't think I ever showed you the photos of the dining room from the shoot more than a year ago now.  It might be my favorite room.

photos by Melissa Oholendt

Of course, it's always nice to think about making a little money on a lucky purchase, and my husband is tempted.  Before I got the number on the offer, I considered what it would have to be for me to part with them, and I realized two things.  First, I may not be willing to let them go, period.  (Isn't this the kind of thing that winds up in your kid's first house some day?  Clio in particular has said we can sell them all--except "hers.")  And second, I'm pretty sure I couldn't replace them with anything I would like half as much, with the money being offered.

These chairs were part of what solidified the vision for this house, and bringing in that painting and the moroccan jute rug really brought it home for me. The blue connects to something in pretty much every room (like my favorite WALLPAPER peeking out of the bathroom in that last shot!)  and I'm having a hard time imagining any chairs that would work as well.

It also seems clear that this kind of design classic will always hold value.  If I don't sell them today, it's likely I will be able to sell them on any number of tomorrows.

What about you--are there pieces you would never part with?  Any that took you by surprise?

Big Art in Context

I rounded up some big art the other day, including a giant portrait that I would totally snatch up for my dining room if I wasn't already set in the giant portrait-in-the-dining-room department.

So I put together a little dining room design using other items that have caught my eye lately, without the right client to foist them upon.  This hearkens back to my Kathryn Ireland obsession (patchwork!) , with maybe a little Peter Dunham inspiration throw in.

A daybed layered with ethnic textile pillows, a farm table, patchwork kilim (remember this patchwork product round up?), and 1970s style leather director chairs.  Not to mention a mid-century inspired, sort of serge mouille but not serge mouille chandelier.

Aaaah.  Me likey.

My latest obsession

I have been looking for a large painting for my dining room wall.  (More on that to come.)

In addition to open studios and local galleries around town, I have been obsessively searching Saatchi online.   Unlike the proliferation of on-line print shops (many of which are wonderful in their own right), the Saatchi gallery offers tons of original works, by artists all over the world.  You can filter by many factors, including size, medium, price, style, and orientation.  After inputting my parameters, there were still over 5,000 works to consider, which is either impressive or daunting, depending on how you look at it.  My husband jokingly asked last night if I had viewed them all yet.  Okay, he was serious.  But I "only" looked at about half of them before cutting myself off and admitting that I am, in fact, slightly insane.

But this is normal, right?

Oh, just some printouts of pieces I am considering, taped to the wall.

Totally, completely normal.

Dining/ Office two ways

Folks, I am in one of those "something's got to give" moments, and clearly it's the blog that is taking the hit.

My volunteer commitments are out of control at the moment, and my family is making their discontent known.  This weekend my five year old delivered an envelope (addressed, by the way, to Hethr, not "mommy") with a wrapped drawing inside and a note that read as follows: "Dear Mommy, I think we should do more things together."

It will be so.

Right now I am very lucky to be working on one space in an amazing 1970s home, filled with light from enormous windows and all sorts of quirky layouts and interesting features.  The room is technically a formal dining room, but used as a homework space for the kids and sometime-office when mom works from home.

We talked about looking at options for a round table with 6 chairs or a rectangle table set up like a desk, with one big comfy "executive" chair facing a pair of more kid-friendly chairs.

Here's what my client did not choose:

Similar palette, similar vibe, different layout and all different pieces.  Both honor the home's vintage while still feeling current.

What would you choose?  Hopefully I will share my client's choice, if I get the a-okay.

Oh, and did you miss me?

Say yes!

So how did that impulse rug work out, anyway?

I'm kind of cheap, did you know that?

It's true.  For myself, I think I would rather "get a great deal" than "pay for the perfect thing."  But.  The more I work towards a finished product around here, the more I realize that it pays to wait.  It's the lesson I refuse to learn. 

The moment I opened the package for this rug, I knew it was not going to work.  The colors were brighter/cleaner/ sharper than they had appeared online.

But of course I unpacked it anyway, and moved all the furniture, and tried it out right proper.

And: nope.  Still didn't work.

It's actually pretty cute in the room as seen here, but in an open plan house that's just not enough, and it fought with the living room.  Like, dukes up.

And it would have been cats and dogs with the leopard print chairs I just bought.

Yup, I will leave that one hanging.

Spotted: "My" Indian Artwork

Remember when I took a wee step back to re-imagine my dining room?  (The accidental rug arrives this week, by the way, and I am afraid I will hate it.)  The clear favorite of the artwork options in those new dining room boards was a pair of large-scale Indian figures, themselves re-imagined from tiny paintings.

Last week I was looking through some inspiration images with a new client, and I spotted the prints!

Traditional Home, House of Windsor

Layered over my very favorite--leopard print--no less.  And with trimmed out walls.

Gah!

And who is the genius behind this room?  Peter Dunham, of course, my other style idol (as witnessed here, here, and here!)

At first this made me want the prints more.  But then it made me want them....less?

What do you think?  Are you okay with prints, or do you only want originals around you?

Oops...I bought a rug

Here's what happened.

I thought this was the perfect rug for my dining room

(save for the $6000 price tag).

I recently decided this one would work well, especially in keeping with my new found Kathryn M Ireland obsession.

(if only it was wool and not cotton.)

I had the sample floating around the dining room for a while, feeling like it had just the palette I was after. My price for a 9x12 was going to be under $400...not bad at all.  But I didn't pull the trigger.

Yesterday, I was alerted by the blog Kiki's list that One Kings Lane was featuring Stark rugs.  I headed on over to take a look for a client.  (No really, I swear.)

I spotted a striped wool flat weave with the green of my curtains and the blue of my chairs and the brown from around the house and the red (or orange) I was hoping to add.  Just, alas, no yellow.  It was available in several sizes, and the posted price range went up to around $1550.  I clicked through, even though that was way more than I was planning to spend.

But no.  The 9x12price popped up: $149.  Where's the other zero?  I thought.  I put it in my cart, convinced the error would be corrected.  Nope.

And so, in a month (why a MONTH?)  I will have a 9x12 Stark flatweave wool dhurrie for the bargain price of approximately 95% off retail.

With colors that, now that the thrill has worn off, I have to admit will probably not...quite...work.  But who knows?  Also...returns accepted within 14 days.

Do you make impulse purchases when the numbers are "too good to pass up?"

Re-imagining

Are you sick of hearing me talk about process in my own house?
I know that's what I love about the blogs I read, but I am also aware that I have a shocking amount to say/think/process/do on the topic, and that perhaps it is getting just a little bit.....boring?

Well.  Sometimes, you just have to take a step back.

This is the challenge with both incremental decorating and the "collected" vibe: I have been working so hard to find the one piece that makes everything "work", I didn't really stop to consider if I like what's going on.  I'm pretty sure this is a common phenomenon.  Some call it "throwing good money after bad."

So I did what one does.  I made a design board.  Of my own dining room.

But first I asked: what do I love, what stays, what goes?  (I'm a professional, but yes, you can try this at home.)

What stays: vintage blue eames chairs (someday: upgrade to dowel bases); church pew; chinoiserie cabinet; sale block print pillows from Pottery Barn; ceramic hex tile backsplash in the kitchen

What goes: the temporary art and the rug that I love love love, but which also represents where I was at 15 years ago.  Turns out, these two pieces are majorly bossing around the palette in this room.

Could go either way: While I feel that the Maskros light is "over," I actually simply love it.  It stays.  And the chartreuse curtains?  Well, I am not averse to swapping them out for some plain white Ikeas, but really, why?

And here's what I got.

Is this for everybody?  Hell to the no.  In fact, I may lose clients just posting this.  That is A LOT of color and mish mash.  But this is what I want: happy color, bold but worn in rugs, big, strong art, a slightly exotic feel, pieces with stories.  A home that says: yup, we are interesting.  Disheveled, but interesting.  That's just what I want to come home to.

So....I'm curious.  Which scheme do you hate the least?

Those Indian Mughal portraits at the top, quick: love or hate?

(Love.)

Cafe chairs

I am a big fan of what I think of as the "frenchy cafe chair."

I recently used Serena and Lily's riviera chair in this client's kitchen.

(There will eventually be a blue, skirted, backless bench on the window side of the table.)

I just noticed these new cafe chairs from a very affordable source.

It's the "Almsta" chair from Ikea!  $99.  I would love to see a bunch of these at a table paired with a built in banquette, kind of like this.

Someone go ahead and snap these up!

Bohemian Dining Room, two ways

Ahhh.

Happy to share some design boards today!

This client actually had a baby on Saturday night and emailed me today to move forward with some fabric choices for her kitchen.  Amazing.  This is the house with the slightly bohemian-modern vibe (see her living room looks and her bedroom looks.)  The dining room will probably wait for a while, but I threw together some ideas to get her thinking about direction.

She wanted bohemian farmhouse with a smidge of beach, and we wanted to carry in the metal finishes from the living room as well as the bleached-out wood.  The first look has a table with an amazing hammered-steel top on a driftwood-colored farm table base.  (the table itself encapsulates the whole look!)  Bohemian rug and drapes, beachy chandelier and head chairs, and farmhouse side chairs in a modern color: bam.

I actually changed this next board from what I showed her--just keeping it fresh around here!  You know I love a frenchy cross-back chair, and these are METAL.  Love them.  They also act as the perfect foil to the beachy modern vibe of the plank dining table. Throw in a bohemian trellis print in beachy denim and loads of texture on the drapes and rug, and I'll move right in, thank you very much.  (Because you know I love jute rugs, big ball chandeliers, and, surprisingly, red and blue together.)

What do you think: do you prefer one to the other?  Want me to design your dining room now?  You know you do.

Client dining room

There's nothing quite like getting photos from afar that depict a room you put together all put together.

  Remember this New Jersey dining room? I gave them three looks, but this is the one they chose: 

Well, the room pretty much looks JUST like the design board.

The red roman shades, farm table and bench were existing.  We brought in a rustic armoire for storage (and to ground the space), a transitional chandelier, a natural rug banded in red, and a set of fabulous mustardy-camel dining chairs with a modern, graphic trellis print.  My original plan suggested painting out the yellow walls for more of a cream ivory, and while I do think that would make everything a bit airier, I sure don't mind the yellow in the end.

It never ceases to amaze me how a room can come together with just a few well-chosen pieces.

Next up: starting in on the basement!

Playing around with a jute rug

I love the layered look.  Love it.  Escpecially in a house like ours, which has simple, clean lines and little patina.  Sometimes the problem with layers is that it means A LOT of individual items that may not be strictly "necessary", and that can add up to the big bucks.

In the small guest room, where I have a beloved turkish rug in the small area of free space at the foot of the bed, I have long thought that a natural woven rug underneath would add texture, depth, and a soft place to step in and out of the bed.  But the room didn't "need" it, so I wasn't going to buy it.

And then.

Then I found a rug that I FORGOT THAT IT HAD.

Is that weird?  (I know there are all you hoarders out there who are shaking your head: no, not weird at all.  In fact, I just found a dining room set in my storage locker.)  But for the rest of you, I know.  But it can happen.

The rug is a 6x9 jute rug from World Market that we bought in Boulder for our dining room (above).  When we first got here, I put it in the dining room, too, but that room is big.  (BIG: It now has a 9x12 rug).  Apparently, when that didn't work, we put it in the loft above our garage, a dark scary place that I never ever venture, until the other day when I thought maybe my husband's bike was stolen and went up there, hoping against hope that he had just stashed it for the winter.  (He hadn't.  Stolen.)  Silver lining?  Jute rug.

First, i used it to test out whether I REALLY want a natural rug in the living room what with the arrival of the new coffee table.

The verdict?  Probably, yes.  (But what do you think?)

Then, I realized that because it is the wrong size for anywhere in this house, and because I own it already, I can layer it up.

What do you think?

P.S.  sometimes the posts I think are quick posts end up being the longest ever.  My brain just makes these circuitous connections and I want to tell you the WHOLE STORY.  My husband is trying to cure me of this but so far, no dice.

Client Dining Room

This week has been B-U-S-Y as I dig in on everything that slooooowed down over the summer, while the kids were with me a lot more.  I just sent off some dining room designs and thought I would share them with you, too.

Remember this living room?  We then did a little nook in the entry.  The living room and dining room open on either side of the entry, so elements needed to relate.  My client wanted to keep the existing dining room table and bench, and preferred keeping the red roman shades, though this was not a mandate.  We needed storage for kid art supplies, a rug, an updated fixture, and new seating.

I never seem to be able to stop at just one.  Or two.  The trick, for me, was balancing out the red.

The armoire has a similar vibe with the table, without feeling too much like a "set."  Bold patterned chairs, a simple rug with natural texture and a graphic border, a sophisticated chandelier, and little wall tiles for a fun play on scale.

Here we echo the red in dining chairs, offset by the soft casual feel of slipcovered captains chairs.   The quatrefoil shape of the pendant repeats in the rug, and a little striped jute trim elevates the romans. Ethereal art adds movement.

This last one has already been ruled out--I think too traditional for my clients--but I figured I'd throw it in anyway.  A bit softer overall with its white-painted schoolhouse chairs and velvet drapes layered over tortoise blinds, polished off by an unexpectedly crisp chandelier, I'm still kind of digging it.

What do you think: favorites?

If you want help falling in love with your home again, check out my services.

2-tone chairs in action

I love receiving dispatches from afar!
Just got this snapshot of a client's dining room in progress.

We had been waiting on the custom chairs.  (I shared some two-tone chair inspiration, here.)  Loving the mix of rustic and refined, and all those curves.  What do you think?

How to balance really low dining chairs

I love the look of sleek, low-back dining room chairs.  You know, the ones that barely kiss the table top.  Without any height around the table, though, a room needs some balance.  I love the way these spaces fill the void with overscale light fixtures and/or big, big art.

Source: housetohome.co.uk via Heather on Pinterest

Source: houseandhome.com via Heather on Pinterest

Source: lonnymag.com via Heather on Pinterest

Source: myhomeideas.com via Heather on Pinterest

Source: houseandhome.com via Heather on Pinterest

A more traditional take, with wood captains chairs and an overscale lantern:

Source: myhomeideas.com via Heather on Pinterest

If you can't go for a large-scale pendant, curtains can help, or flowers, too. It's all about the volume of space and filling the void from table top to ceiling.

Source: coastalliving.com via Heather on Pinterest

Source: housebeautiful.com via Heather on Pinterest

What do you think: would you go low?

Go Vertical

Let's forget, for the moment, about the "art wall."  It's a thing these days.  I know them and love them.

But there are lots (and lots) of ways to hang art for impact.

Do you remember this cover of Domino?



I have always loved the way it made use of that sliver of vertical space between the windows.  Those drawings are so simple, and the repetition packs a graphic punch.

Interestingly, when searching for this image in lieu of scanning it, I came across another version which leads me to wonder if the good people of Domino edited in those extra frames for impact.



Taking the arrangement to the top of the window treatments makes a huge difference, doesn't it?

You CAN try this at home.

Over Christmas break, I had a few days home alone, and I decided that the upstairs hallway needed some BIG art.  Like the 4 foot by 5 foot Smashing Pumpkins poster that my husband bought at a concert in 1993.  The six smaller frames marching down the hall felt a bit staid.  I knew they could have more impact somewhere else.

Like the dining room.  In a room with tall ceilings, a vertical column can add drama and emphasize the ceiling height--win/win, if you ask me.  For an added bonus, fill the frames with something small and intimate.  I love watching people get drawn in to these images, which are small scans of vintage African stamps that I (randomly) collected in Junior High.

Want further proof ?  I went digging for additional examples of vertical arrangements.  Here's what I found.

Formal: gold frames, stacked one on top of the next.

Source: homedesign.marthastewart.com via Heather on Pinterest

Modern: small, colorful abstracts in clean-lined frames.  Taking it to the floor makes it very modern.

[via Lonny]

Traditional: collections grouped in simple frames, evenly spaced for balance.

[via Arianna Belle]

Warm: a little movement within the rectangular perimeter takes the edge off, as does the eclectic grouping of images.

[via Arianna Belle]

Bohemian: mixed frames, rustic finishes, COLOR, and a haphazard edge take the edge of the structure here, giving it a little bohemian flair.

[via in your back pocket]

Gallery wall!  Okay, even the ever popular salon-style wall can work in a column!

[via in your back pocket]

See?  Works with any style home.  What do you think: are you ready to go vertical?