Tuesday, March 31, 2009

April Food Day


As many of you are probably aware, there is a drive underway this April 1st, for bloggers to unite and donate to the organization Feeding America and Food Banks Canada. April Food Day is asking all those who write blogs and those who read them to donate $1.00 in April. One dollar is such a small amount, yet it equates to ten pounds of food, or seven full meals! If you wish, and are able, you may donate any amount. Please help us fight hunger.

April Food Day April Food Day
Click to Donate to Feeding America / Click to Donate to Food Banks Canada

Visit April Food Day for more details.
Thanks for being a part of April Food Day! Together, all of us can make a difference.

Patricia Gray writes about 'WHAT'S HOT 'in the world of Interior Design, new and emerging trends, modern design,
architecture, and travel, as well as how your surroundings can influence the world around you.
© 2007-2009 Patricia Gray Interior Design Blog

The Search for Home: CONTRACT SIGNED!!!

I KNOW how scary this place looks right now... and I need help!!


We finally got the contract back signed today and are scheduled to close in a month if all inspections go well. (!!!! craziness!!!) :)



If anyone has ideas for me on the front of this house, I'd LOVE them. (please! please!!) Here are some details: the siding is vertical cedar, the window screens/ storms you see in the top windows are dark brown vinyl. (I'm not very happy with that but know we won't have it in our budget to get new ones.-- is painting an option??) The cable cord you see will be going. yuck.

The windows themselves are aluminum & I actually like them.

We'll be painting (haven't decided upon colors yet so I'm up for suggestions) and I'm thinking about pulling out a dark rich gray from the stones and going white with the trim. (Now, you KNOW how much I want a white house- but do you think that would be totally weird with the stone??) My husband is planning on adding a pergola along the front right side sort of as a porch but with a patio underfoot. Basically like what you see below (similar color too! :) but extending along the whole front right side of the house:
Kind of like this (below) but in all-white:



Eventually I'd like to add some more Craftsman elements to it and it would definitely need some more rooflines but that is SOOOOOO far in the future it's not even funny. (And a tin roof!!)

Anyway, we're SO excited but I'm staying a but grounded because things have been so strange with this whole deal and I won't be able to totally relax about it until we close. I know how talented & creative you all are & I'm really in need of your ideas so please send them on!!!!
xoxo,
lauren

check this out


here

spring green

1970s victorian

stupid bitches

u've been served

eew

luxury or bad taste?

Monday, March 30, 2009

The Evolution of a Room: The Extra Bedroom

I was looking through some old pictures on my computer & I came across some before & afters of the extra bedroom in our old townhome. It was just so interesting to see the progression of the room over the 3 and a half years we lived there. [Warning: these come from my pre-design-obsessed days so please bear with me!!! ;) ] Here is what it looked like when we first moved in. (I painted it white because it was a terrible brown-beige):

It was my office and also the room we cared about least. At the time I was working for my family business (a company that manufactures locomotive components) doing PR. I put the chaise lounge we already had in there and we purchased a little black desk with a hutch on top from Luckett's for around $270. The rest of the things were trash-picked, garage-sale items or thrift store finds that we just sort of would come accross. The mirror below, was given to me by a friend of my grandmother's, an award-winning teen author (Bebe Faas Rice) and I painted over the blue wood for white. It was inset with black glass. (That now too is painted)



Here's the black desk & hutch we found. I wasn't in love with it but was in dire need of a desk & it was sturdy & I liked the lines (and price!!). I filled it with moss balls (leftover from our wedding) and other accessories to be switched in & out on a whim.



I used 1 iron rod with white panels to save on not having to buy 2 panels & because it also saved space. (The chair seriously KILLS me now but I found it to be taken out for trash & didn't have one so I quickly brought it in & painted it white :) ... I LOVE trash-picking.


After living there for a bit... and not being happy with the room, I decided it was time to actually do something with it. I chose this gray-beige and used blue accents with greenery. It was an odd color-combo but it worked. I loved the jolts of blue and it gave me some place to put the blue items I owned that didn't work anywhere else. I actually found a lot of comfort in the room as it was in this stage. It had an earthy quality & was sunny enough to handle such a thick color.


I used this folding table (below) as an extra workspace for projects. I recovered the seat of the file cabinet bench (ikea) in a blue & white stripe because I was in a serious nautical mood. (Notice the striped pillow on the chaise too--- I couldn't find large enough stripes in a fabric I liked so I cut strips of blue fabric & sewed it together with a natural twill.) I had plans of replacing the handles on the closet door to a nickel but we never got there. :)


Below are some of the blue bottles I'd accumulated. I like pretty little things in window sills in the warmer months. It just reminds me of simpler times for some reason. My grandmother often has a little vase of flowers on the window sill in her kitchen.. maybe that's why???


And here's the chaise lounge with (a much skinnier!!!) Ashby:


Below is one of my mushrooms prints ($1!!) scored from Goodwill. (I lost them over this Christmas when I hid them away to put up my feather wreath & have now forgotten where I stashed them!! arg!!) hahaha I love the white against the walls and also the little glass knobs on the drapery tiebacks.
And finally, when the little addition came to our family, the room was once again transformed. By this time I had my business up and running and had a much clearer vision for the room:
I won't go into much detail about the nursery since I've posted on it before & if you're interested you can read all about it here. But as you can see, the chaise stayed, as did my striped pillow. I stuck with coastal (STILL not over it ;) and the baby got a ship painting & a porthole mirror.

One thing I want you to check out is the carpeting change. We originially ripped out the old carpeting (it was yuck!!) an attempted to sand down the plywood & stained it with an ebony stain. I know how crazy that sounds but I saw it in a resturant & it totally worked. (And we were really trying not to spend!!!) Well, it didn't work for my house. Our dog is white & the floors never looked clean!!! Anyway, we recarpeted and I LOVE this carpet. (Shaw's "sisal touch" in fawn) It looks very much like sisal but is a fairly soft burber.

Anyway, I just thought it was so interesting (and funny!! :) to see how rooms evolve and how we evolve as decorators/ homeowners. I think it's really important for people to be okay with not having it all completed at once. In the real world we often have tight budgets & can't have it all right away so it's vital that we learn to work with what we've got. It's also important to spend wisely & really get to know yourself and your style before you start spending. Fortunately I didn't have a budget for decorating when I first started out or I could have done some serious damage!! eeeeek

I hope everyone had a great weekend & just a quick update on the house--- they have verbally said they will accept our offer but haven't signed the papers yet. (what is going on?!!)

xoxo,

lauren

how much?

there r alot of designers reading. how much do u charge? a percentage of things purchased? a flat rate per room? a flat rate per job? and clients, how do u like to be charged?


a good thing gone bad

what happened here?

what's behind ur couch?


beige rage

city beige
cottage beige


rustic beige

granny beige

DIY Canopy Beds

DIY Canopy Beds

Blakes Hotel London Canopy Bed

Canopy Bed Canopy Bed
Left: Dominio Canopy Bed Right: Anthony Todd Canopy Bed

To achieve the above DIY Canopy Bed treatment - mount curtain rods on the ceiling and hang your choice of draperies

Canopy Bed Elements of Style

The above drawing is from Blogger Erin at Elements of Style and this is her directions for creating your own Canopy Bed..... "You'll need two drapery rods and a very long length of fabric. If you feel up to it, I like the idea of sewing together a solid on one side and a pattern on the other (for the under side). install one bar right above the head of the bed and one at the foot and run the fabric behind the bed (you can tack it to the wall near the floor so it doesn't move). I think it's a beautiful and cheap way to create a very romantic and dramatic look for your canopy bed." Thanks Erin.

Canopy Bed Canopy Bed

Dominio Canopy Bed Photo by Simon Upton Dominio Canopy Bed Photo by Paul Costello
To achieve this DIY Canopy Bed: Screw 4 small hooks in the four corners of the ceiling above the bed and hang a length fabric. Canopy Bed

Fancy up plain mosquito netting for a fun & whimsical canopy bed.
India Hicks photo by Arthur Elgort as seen in Vogue, 1998 via Style Court

 
 
 
Other posts you might be interested in:
White Bedrooms
Chic White Bedrooms
Another White Bedroom

Patricia Gray writes about 'WHAT'S HOT 'in the world of Interior Design, new and emerging trends, modern design,
architecture, and travel, as well as how your surroundings can influence the world around you.
© 2009 Patricia Gray Interior Design Blog

Sunday, March 29, 2009

well said granny doonan

is anybody sick of these 2 old grannys yet?
seriously, my granny has the same kind of furniture.
why does everybody luv his over priced over rated last century mash up?
sheep syndrome? baaaaa.

carpet tile. yes.

What are you going to do with your week?

If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader." - John Quincy Adams

Patricia Gray writes about 'WHAT'S HOT 'in the world of Interior Design, new and emerging trends, modern design,
architecture, and travel, as well as how your surroundings can influence the world around you.
© 2007-2009 Patricia Gray Interior Design Blog

overpriced & ugly

what is it?$15K coffee table here

mrs. srephanopoulos decorates






kids stuff. don't quit ur day job. read more here.

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