3 great things

I see a lot of great things while I am shopping for clients. Some I can resist and some I can't. Here are a few that caught my eye today:

A teal zipper ... just for fun:

The Pillow Studio Shop | Etsy | $70

Color your storage:

Shop Blue Chest | CB2 | $399

Wake up your walls:

Britt Bass Turner | $300

3 great things. Happy Wednesday everyone!

Artwork and a master bedroom update

We are making progress on this master bedroom. The rug was delivered and installed and the new dresser arrived as well. While we are waiting for the new floor mirror, my client and I visited my framer to get some new artwork ready to hang. 

Matthew Tischler | Untitled #9 | 20x200

This gal and her husband love art and always surprise me with new things they want to hang. She bought the piece above from the art website 20x200. We found a very interesting frame for it that will look fantastic in their beach house.

I think they picked this one up while on vacation and it will hang next to the new mirror in the bedroom.

The new rug is perfect and the dresser will give them much needed storage as well as a nice piece of furniture to anchor the TV that is mounted on the wall above it. To remind you, this was the inspiration board:

I should probably wait to show you the final reveal as my quick iPhone photos do not do the changes justice ... but I am impatient. So here are some "in-progress" photos:

The rug was from Barclay Butera and although you can't tell in my iPhone photo - it makes the room look twice as big. The new lamps are gorgeous. We put one on each side of the bed.

Winnie Mirrored Glass Table Lamp | Lamps Plus

You can see the old lamp(s) these replace in this "before" photo. 

And even though we aren't done, we were successful in lightening up and adding some sophistication to the room. 

I can't wait for the final reveal!

A thoughtful gift

My birthday was last month and my sweet and always-so-thoughtful daughters gave me a gift card to Etsy. What a great gift idea ...

I had no idea what I would use it for until one day last week when I came upon Emily's Etsy shop ...

Color Study # 10 Emily Rickard | Etsy Shop

Thanks girls! I love it!

 

 Did you notice anything else new?

I found a pillow at HomeGoods that had my name on it. I had it in my office for a while but it kept moving.

I'm loving the burst of color in my white room.

We are having some much needed rain these next few days ...  I think I will sit in here and read a good book. Hope you have a great weekend too!

Hey you, thanks!

I love getting packages from Etsy ... 

 They are always packaged so nice ...

And I love the sweet little notes they include.

You just know when you open it, it is going to be exactly what you wanted.

Can you tell that I am getting ready for Thanksgiving?

I purchased the chalk pots on clearance at West Elm today ... I have a little project for my Thanksgiving table in mind. And the beautiful illustration came from here. Thank you Jolie ... I love it!

A few small changes brings great results

The family room in this beautiful coastal home didn't need much. The client wanted to replace the area rug and the side lamps. But the first thing I noticed when I came into the room was that just outside the windows is a gorgeous pool yard. I wanted the room to reflect that the house sits near the ocean and to also bring in the beauty of the pool. 

Here is what the room looked like before:

The rug was too small and the colors felt wrong. The first thing we did was replace the light blue pillows for some that had a little more color and contrast to them. We also replaced the too small rug with a Dash and Albert indoor | outdoor rug that would hold up to the foot traffic and the dogs that like to lounge in this room. 

Diamond Black and Ivory Rug | Dash and Albert

The lamps were replaced with a couple that I had in storage; bringing in the polished silver brightened up the room:

The existing artwork wasn't working with the new color scheme and so I commissioned my sister to take a photograph of the ocean. We started with a simple photograph of the Huntington Beach pier but it felt too plain. And so we selected one that had a bit more life to it. 

It came out beautiful ... 

And the result is perfect!

Before:

After:

By adding a few new pillows, the new artwork, a little editing and some updated accessories the room has a completely different feel. 

Some unexpected bargains

It is still un-styled but we added a few more pieces to my "tight-budged-princess-with-champagne-taste" client's home today ...

The media cabinet is one of my favorite pieces. We went to pick it up from HomeGoods today and came home with a new leather chair and rustic side table as well (that place is dangerous!). 

The leather ottoman, the lamps and the nesting tables and artwork were all purchased last week from HomeGoods. We will definitely be working on replacing / adding pillows to the generic sofas and need to bring in some personal touches but it is getting closer to being move-in ready.

We also added a few more things to the playroom ...

The best is a couple of pieces of art that my client's 10-year-old daughter created. We need to get them framed but I think they are just perfect! I LOVE children's artwork and this is one creative little girl - we used her art previously in her mommy's psychology offices ... you can see her earlier artwork here.

The rustic desk is another of my favorites. We picked it up from Living Spaces. Seriously. I was expecting the worst when we went into the store but it was an inexpensive option where we could get some furniture quickly and honestly, I have gone to worse places. [Did you know that once I went to a gas station in South Central L.A. to purchase a sofa out of a container? Oh yeah, I did. It was for a client who has a gorgeous home but her nanny told her she could get a sofa for a couple of hundred dollars and asked me if I would help her select the fabric.] Anyway, I was pleasantly surprised (and very relieved) when we walked into Living Spaces and they had an entire section of one-of-a-kind vintage finds. Who knew?

With human eyes

"Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see."

-Hebrews 11:1

Gray Malin - St. Tropez

I was helping a client frame some artwork a few weeks ago and one of the pieces was a large print of a photograph by Gray Malin. If you are not familiar with Gray Malin's gorgeous photography, you can see more of his work here - you really should check it out if you can. And if you have a chance - read his success story here (it is really quite inspiring!). I particularly love his aerial beach scenes. They remind me a lot of the Christian Chaize photographs that are so popular right now.

Gray Malin

 ‘A la Plage, A la Piscine’ series

The piece that my client purchased is one of his beach scenes and is to go in their master bedroom:

Nude Beach

I am not an art critic by any means, but I do love art and understand enough to know that one of the purposes of art is to communicate or evoke an emotion or a feeling. And with that being said, art will be different for everyone. I loved this piece purely for the colors and the textural quality. The movement of the white sea foam and the large rocks on the the sand juxtaposed with the colorful beach umbrellas and towels are stunning. For my client, it may remind them of a special place they have been and when they see it, it makes them happy. We had it framed in a simple white frame and mat to let the photograph shine.

I am not sure the story behind why they chose this particular piece, but I do know that it was purchased online. And so when they viewed it it was small and not full sized as it would have been if they had seen it in person and there were things in the photograph they didn't see. When it arrived, they were quite surprised to find that not only were the people on the beach all nude ... but they were also all male. And not that that is a bad thing ... but probably not what they would have chosen for their master bedroom or possibly even for their home. But what a great conversation piece, right? I think that it is such a great story and I am certain it will make them smile when they walk by it. And if their friends happen to venture into their bedroom and see it, I know it will make a wonderful conversation piece! 

And it made me think about how things are not always as they seem. Now this may seem like a stretch to you, but oddly it is exactly the way that my brain works ... and I thought of how we often get upset about things that we think are true and turn out not to be and how we spend time worrying about things that never even materialize and that we have a hard time believing in the things we don't see but are promised that they are true. Like this:

"No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him." 

-1 Corinthians 2:9

And I think that is what I would remember if that photograph was hanging in my home.

"Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal."

                   - 2 Corinthians 4:16-18