Colorful pillows and painted furniture

I spent part of the day working on a couple of new projects ... 

This was a quick inspiration board for a darling young family that needs some color added to their family room. I like to give a client a general idea (and a good visual) of the direction I am going before I spend to much time specifying individual pieces. For this room we will be adding a media cabinet, ottoman coffee table, side table, a large area rug and lamps and pillows.  I am using the charcoal rug to tie in with their new kitchen's subway tile. 

I also shopped Etsy for some pillows for another young family that I am helping long distance ...

Kassapanola | Etsy

Motif Pillows | Etsy

I love this Chiang Mai Dragon fabric by Schumacher. I found it in a couple of shops ...

The Pillow Studio Shop | Etsy

AriannaBelle | Etsy

For $40 this pillow in Celerie Kemble's Bleecker (Peacock) is a better price than I could do myself if I picked up the fabric and had the pillow made. One thing you want to make sure when ordering a pillow cover on Etsy though, is to check to see if the fabric is on both the front and the back of the pillow. Often they put a plain white fabric on the back. I don't mind that look sometimes, but for the pillow above, I would want the fabric to be the same on both sides. Some shops will give you a choice. You can also change the size of the pillow. I generally use a 20" pillow. You will want to get a down insert that is 2" larger than the cover. 

Pediatric Clinic Project | 2011

The colorful pillows will go in a family room with a plain brown sofa that needs some livening up. We are going to add some Ikea Ribba frames in white (like I used in the pediatric clinic) behind the sofa to add some lightness and tie in their white mantle across the room. 

Young House Love

John and Sherry from Young House Love put the Ikea frames over their sofa too. My client will put photographs of her young children in the frames. They are on a tight budget and these few pieces will make a big difference in the room for a small amount of money. 

And speaking of color ... have you been to HomeGoods lately?

They had two of these orange cabinets. Please someone call me and let me design a room around those!

It took everything I had to resist these barstools. Well, it helped that I had no place to put them. 

Felix Barstools | Crate and Barrel | $129

They reminded me of these from Crate and Barrel and honestly, I like the $79 HomeGoods stools better.

And this Blue and White umbrella stand is a beauty. I can see it in Mary Ann's new San Francisco home, can't you?

The beginnings of a fresh new family room

I am working with a long-distance client who used to live locally but now lives about 500 miles away. She asked me to help re-decorate her family room and was going to be in town so we could meet to plan and to start purchasing furniture and fabrics for the new room. She only had one day she could spend with me so I knew we needed to maximize our time together as there was a lot to accomplish. 

We have worked together many times before and have finished several rooms in the house she lives in now including this living room (the wall color has been changed to a bit more gray since these photos were taken!). The family room is the one room in this beautiful home that still has the furniture and decor from the home they lived in before and it is time for an update.

The bookshelves in the family room - I posted about them here.

The day before we were to meet I picked up some fabric samples to show her. I was hoping to find an inspiration piece to start with. I knew that I wanted  the room to have some of the same elements of the living room (some blue) and also I am well aware that this is a gal who likes a lot of color. 

Pindler and Pindler | Hazelton 

We both loved this fabric for the crispness of it and the greens with a pop of red. And although it didn't have any blue in it, we thought it was worth trying it as our starting point. 

Room and Board | Ian Leather Sofa

With the fabric swatch in hand, we began looking for the furniture we knew we wanted to buy. First, we chose a couple of simple but very comfortable leather sofas.

We added two swivel chairs that will be covered in a gorgeous indoor/outdoor black and white houndstooth fabric that will add some sophistication and a nice statement on the third side of the seating arrangement. 

We found a very tall "wing back" chair to go in the corner next to the built-in wall unit. A light greige  100% polyester "linen" will dress this chair and a large square ottoman coffee table will be covered in this:

Pindler and Pindler | Bryson / Pebble 

With the basics of the room finished, we went looking for some companion fabrics for pillows and to bring everything together ...

We found some additional pillow fabrics ...

We found a few potential accessories too ...

 The fabrics:

The red will be the contrasting welt for the yellow and white ikat pillows. (Do you want to know how to pronounce ikat? Click here!). An area rug, a couple of end tables, new paint and some wall decor and lamps will finish off the room ...

I put together an inspiration board to help my client visualize what the room may look like when it is finished. I chose a light blue/green wall color to tie in the living room. It will be a couple of months at least until all the furniture is in place but I love the direction it is going. I hope my client will too.

A family room inspiration

Today I am working on a new family room for a lovely couple who live in a beautiful house on the water. A couple of years ago we remodeled the kitchen and dining room (I posted about it here and here and here) and now they want to turn their current pool table room into a family room where they can relax as a family and watch TV.  

When we did the previous remodel I used a lot of blue to bring in the view from outside:

And I would like to do the same in the new family room ...

A few ideas for the new room...

It is an interesting room and there are a few features that make this project a bit challenging. One side of the room has wood paneling wainscoting (that thankfully we painted white when we did the kitchen remodel - it was so dark before). The ceiling makes the room look "ship-like" and there are wood "corbels" that protrude onto the wall. 

I think the ceiling is really interesting and I am 100% for leaving it as is. But it is the other side of the room that challenges me.

The fireplace wall on the opposite side of the room is floor-to-ceiling brick. And not just "brick" but brick with a lot of "character". I tried to talk the clients into doing something with the brick on the other side of this wall (paint it white, I said!) when we remodeled the kitchen, but they wanted to keep it as is. They would like to mount their TV above the fireplace and they would also like some bookshelves. 

via

Something like this would be ideal ... but I am not getting my hopes up. I will be meeting with them this week to present my ideas and take them shopping for the key pieces of furniture. 

My inspiration board

The inspiration board is an easy way to give them an idea of what the room will look like (especially since my rendering skills are close to non existent!). 

It is always exciting to start a new project and I am looking forward to hearing what the client's input are when they see my initial ideas. 

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. 

A couple of mood boards

I was playing around on Olioboard (I am still in the learning phase) ... I wanted to give a new client a better idea of what I was proposing. You know what they say, "a picture is worth a thousand words".

We are redoing both the family room (above) and the living room (below). The client already has the leather sectional in the family room and a "man" recliner. She asked that the living room be less formal and along the same lines as the family room so that when she entertains people will feel comfortable going into both rooms. I didn't realize that I used the same rug until after I was finished ... I guess I am consistent with what I like, haha.

Everything in these rooms are just "conceptual" and will all be adjusted when I meet with my client but it will give us a good place to start.  If she likes what she sees, it will be easy to replicate these looks with actual pieces. I will keep you posted on our progress :D