Before and After: Contemporary in Jersey City

Well hello there!

What a busy month it has been.  Last week was my girls' Spring Break, and we headed to our old home, New York City.  The impetus for the trip was photographing a project I finished a while back in Jersey City, but then we almost didn't shoot it!  I'm so glad we made the time in the end, even if it was a very quick venture and I didn't do as much styling or get as many details as I usually would.

Ready for the tour?

The space is a tall and narrow brownstone which got a modern update but kept many original details intact.  My clients planned the major architectural changes on their own and brought me in to help decorate the entry, living/dining room, powder bath, master and guest bedrooms.

I shared some of the design boards and floor plans along the way:

Guest Room
Living room/ Dining Room
Master bedroom

Now for the before and after!
(A major caveat: these clients have great taste.  They had JUST moved in so everything is VERY unfinished in the before photos.  Lucky for me--the "Afters" look that much better!)

Living space before:

From the front entry, you looked at this stairway; the door to the left looked into the living room.  That whole wall got opened up.)

And after:

(We flip flopped the layout--living room went to the front windows and dining room in the middle, next to the kitchen.)

(I can't believe I didn't take my coat off the hooks in the front hall for the photo!  And missed an angle that shows the chartreuse wall color in there.)

Before again, looking towards the front of the house:

And after:

 Living room before:
(you can see the fireplace at the left edge of the photo for reference.)

Now the dining room:

This is such a good example of choosing carefully in a space with few pieces--the special items like this leather-front sideboard and the fabulous chandelier can really shine.

GUEST ROOM

This is the first space we tackled, on the top floor of the house.  We used the existing bed but put it on the window wall.  I had them take the accent wall color on to all the walls.  From there it was all about textiles and texture!

Before:

After:

MASTER BEDROOM

This one was the most challenging.  Obviously these clients love color, but they wanted a calm, soothing retreat for the bedroom.  The trick?  It couldn't be boring.  So we chose pale neutrals and brought in interest through the details--wallpaper that makes a quiet statement, studded lacquered bedside tables, a fabulous mirror, etc!  

After:

Before:

After:

Let's see a close up of that fireplace:

Before:

After:

I also love that wool geometric runner that runs up both flights of steps.  Great pattern, but subtle, as it is tone on tone.

POWDER ROOM

There's no before, as this space is brand new-- carved out under the stairs.  It's teeny tiny and SO cute!

We used the same cement tile here as in the entry.  We should probably look at that again, no?

One funny thing about this project--though complete for a while now, this is the first time I saw it with all the changes and selections we made!

I love all my projects, and have enjoyed sharing some more traditional spaces lately.  But this one is closer to my own style, making it that much more exciting.  Sometimes I do this weird thing where I think about which magazine a space would best fit it, if it were to be in a magazine.

I think this one is SO domino.  Don't you agree?

Before and After: Traditional!

We keep plugging away, shooting past projects.  It's fun!

This is another project that came together very slowly over time.  My clients had last decorated in the 80s, in a previous home, and they wanted to keep the sense of femininity and tradition that they had had before, but get a thorough update.  The open living room/dining room feels a bit like a formal front room, but the house is a one-level 70s ranch, so we didn't want to go too formal.

Here is the before:

Since we were purchasing almost all new furniture, we had an opportunity to play around with the floor plan, and after looking at several options we settled on this:

Which, as we sourced the actual pieces, got tweaked to this:

So again, the before:

And after!

(One of my favorite finds--a cache of vintage paintings of Paris, found at Clarabel vintage in Minneapolis.  I wanted original art in here but thought the budget couldn't stretch.  Turns out, they spent a lot of time in Paris so the paintings felt special to them.  I had them framed floated on linen in a mix of vintage feeling gold frames, and love the result!)

This is DEFINITELY the most traditional space I have done.  I mean:  curved, tufted, skirted sofas!  Chinese ginger jar lamps!  Chintz!  Chandelier shades!  A skirted corner table!  A mirrored buffet! Gilded tables!  Ribbon trimmed lumbars!

That said, I tried to use a light touch in the details.  The shapes are pretty simple and graceful, the drapes are a straight pleat, no frills, and lots of dolis neutrals keep it all pretty grounded.

I also had a hand in their kitchen renovation.  When they started three years ago, a major renovation was outside my skill set, and I recommended a childhood friend and fantastic kitchen designer to work with them.  While she is full service design, the clients wanted me to have a hand in the finishing touches to keep with the feeling of the other rooms we worked on.  I selected the backsplash over the stove, hardware, art, chairs, and had the custom roman shade made.

A pretty big transformation, all in all.

Do over: new photos of an old before and after

Now that we are taking such nice photos of spaces I have worked on, I CAN'T BELIEVE the horrible quality of what I have shared here in the past.

So, while it's not as exciting as a brand new "after," I do feel compelled to share images that do this space justice.  This is a tween girl's room I finished almost 2 years ago!

Before:

After:

Before:

After:

Before:

After:

Before:

After:

 Details:

I loved selecting artwork for this room on a "swim" theme for this committed swimmer.  The pieces are all about girls swimming, but they aren't "sporty" and are varied in their feeling.  One of my favorite things about the room!

(Also feel compelled to point out that I did not style the bulletin board.  I love how she has it--real, casual, and personal.  This shot was an afterthought--Dave caught me taking a photo like this for instagram, and came back to shoot it for real even though we had moved on to other spaces.  It turned out to be my favorite shot from the day!)

(Love this: the wallpaper hanger used the leftovers from papering the cove ceiling to do the inset panel on the back of the doors!)

If you want to read more of the process, go back to this post and this one!