Though they inspire romance, dining rooms gets very little use. For some people, the dining room represents an old-fashioned ideal, harkening back to an era of fancy dinner parties where aspic jiggled on fine china and women wore pearls.
Read moreDesign 101: Perfect Drapery
Every night as we prepare dinner, my husband and I move through the house and pull the drapery. It is a cherished ritual. While we live in a fairly secluded neighborhood, we both find that drawing the panels gives us a sense of coziness. Our stone house has thick walls and tall oak trees, features that we love, but which limit our natural light. Because of this, we do not like for the fabric to cover the glass during the day. Luckily, I am a seasoned designer and know the perfect scale to make the drapery hit all of our requirements. I also know that custom drapery is one of the most impactful changes a person can make in a room.
To help demystify these treatments, here are the factors I keep in mind as I design drapery for my projects.
Read moreWhen To Hire An Interior Designer
Ten years ago, a client of ours purchased a prize lot in a beautiful neighborhood along the river. She always imagined the great room in the home she was building to be filled with sunshine and views of the sparkling water.
If only her architect had known.
Read moreCreating A Joyful, Honest & Fearless Home
At a recent house call, my client handed me a photo of a room from her childhood home. When it was taken, the shelving concept was not the subject matter. Instead the grainy snapshot from the 1980s was focused on a group of happy, good-looking people, sitting together in a family room on what might have been a Sunday evening after dinner.
As she looked at the photo and talked about adaptations to the design, she was suddenly overcome with emotion and we were both a little surprised when tears came to her eyes.
Read moreDesign 101: Kitchens
Whether your are an accomplished gastronomer or someone who catches meals on the fly, a kitchen that functions smoothly and pleases the senses is probably at the top of your design wish list. What design tactics should you follow - beyond the ‘work triangle’?
Read moreDesign Solutions: Furnishing Small Spaces
After almost two decades in design, I have become an expert at intelligent space planning, but as the owner of a modest home, the tricks I've learned for making the most of tight spaces are particularly close to my heart.
Read moreUnsticking Your Home Transformation
We all have them, those unfinished projects that accumulate because we ran out of steam for one reason or another. Waning house projects, in particular, add to the figurative clutter in our lives.
Read moreCreating Your Zoom-Perfect Setting
The one role in your professional life that you may not have been prepared to take on is that of movie producer, but those skills are important now as we navigate new norms that have us opening up a virtual window into the private sanctity of our homes.
Read moreHow To Stay Put During A Renovation - If You Must
I have had more than a few clients who wanted to stay put during a big renovation and in every case, there was a minimum of ever-growing frustrations and, in one memorable instance, a complete meltdown that was damaging to the working relationship between the homeowner and contractor. I’ve never had a client say they were glad they stayed put, but I’ve heard many say they would never do it again.
Read moreThe Magic Of Beautiful Rooms? Pull Up A Chair.
Beginning in March, I was spending a lot more time at home. Zoom meetings with clients, colleagues, and collaborators helped normalize the new strangeness of working from home. It began to really sink in for me that another hard worker in my home was the upholstery I had invested in almost twenty years ago - as well as a few beloved pieces that had been in my husband’s family. The solidly built frames were more than able to serve us for decades to come, but the fabrics needed a change. My taste have shifted over the years, rugs have come and gone, and our art collection has only become more dense, offering new inspirations for texture, color, and pattern. Recovering just a few pieces this summer breathed new life into my home - and reminded me that a question client’s often have is about whether or not to reupholster their own pieces.
Read moreHow To Create Transformative Eclectic Style
When I ask clients how I can help, they most often tell me they need my vision to pull things together. Whether you are starting from scratch, working with a fair amount of things you already own, or as is most often the case something in the middle, your primary concern is how does it all jigsaw together to become one cohesive look.
Eclecticism is a term designers use to describe a mix of furniture periods and styles, trends, colors, and textures. From the proud victorians to a relaxed present day style, eclecticism is by no means a new idea…
Read more5 Smart Upgrades To Give Your Home Love A Boost
As a new homeowner and a designer, I can tell you that good interior design is all in the details, but these nuances can often be addressed with simple, cost-effective changes.
Read moreThe Small & Stylish Kitchen, Part Two
Not all kitchens are equal, but size does not have to be a limitation. To be honest, I am a big fan of smaller kitchens, which is tantamount to treason in some areas of my profession. I have tried larger ones on for size and they work against my instinct for tight organization. Maybe you also prefer an intimate and efficient work area for creative cooking. Or if you are a cottage dweller like me, you might be limited by the scale of your house to a modest kitchen. I can’t promise to make people who don’t like cooking into enthusiastic home chefs, but with my professional insights, I can make your small kitchen into a room you’ll love. In this second part of my Design 101: Small Kitchens blog series, I will get into all the nerdy details of good proportion, good lighting, and how to use pattern.
Read moreThe Small & Stylish Kitchen, Part One
Maybe your home is older and the kitchen was small from the beginning. It might not be in your budget to expand the space or doing so would steal too much space from another area. Or maybe, like me, you’ve just come to realize that a big kitchen is not necessarily a good one. Here are some helpful ideas for making the most of a smaller kitchen.
Read moreDesign Advice With Your Pet In Mind
I can still remember spending days as a child in our den with the windows open, the sunlight and cool breeze flowing over me as I read, using my very large golden retriever as a pillow. We spent many days joined at the hip. I remember Chancey as part of our daily activities.
So when I meet our clients’ furry friends I know how important it is for us to consider them in the design of our client’s homes. We’ve compiled our top tips to help you include your four legged companions without sacrificing style worth showing off.
Read moreA No-Nonsense Way To Manage Your Home Construction Project
Imagining your dream home is fun; building it is not. As an interior designer with a background in project management, I know just how intimidating it is for homeowners to face a new home build or home renovation with all the decisions, timelines, and the bottom line hanging in the balance.
Whether you want to avoid design choices you’ll regret or costly fixes near the end of construction, your project should start with a way to stay on track without fear.
Read moreA Home With Good Bones : Construction
Up until very recently, when I thought about a house with ‘good bones’, I came at it from a place of how the home looked to me.
I asked my colleagues Leesa Mayfield of Leesa Mayfield Architecture and David Logan of Vintage Building what the phrase ‘good bones’ meant to them. In our third installation of our A Home With Good Bones series, we discuss the construction techniques and next-level choices homeowners can make whether they’re starting from scratch or renovating any age of home.
Read moreA Home With Good Bones : Materials
Up until very recently, when I thought about a house with ‘good bones’, I came at it from a place of how the home looked to me. I asked my colleagues Leesa Mayfield of Leesa Mayfield Architecture and David Logan of Vintage Building what the phrase ‘good bones’ meant to them.
In our second installation of our A Home With Good Bones series, we discuss the literal ingredients of a fine house, the materials that provide for lasting performance in both old and new homes.
Read moreDesign 101: Wallpaper
For anyone who grew up with a lot of it, or even just a little bit, but it was not their taste - or certainly for anyone who has ever stripped it on their own - wallpaper can be viewed with a little skepticism. Yet it has never been more relevant, more transformative, or varied.
Here is my advice for picking wallpaper that will please your senses year after year. But, first, the things you need to get over.
Read moreDesign Solutions : Furnishing Small Spaces
After almost two decades in design, I have become an expert at intelligent space planning, but as the owner of a modest home, the tricks I've learned for making the most of tight spaces are particularly close to my heart.
Read more