BUNNIES!!!!!

I don't know whether you all noticed in my last post...THE BUNNIES in the dining room!  The hopping bunny wallpaper.  Well, it HAD to go!  This wallpaper was inherited by my clients when they bought the home....so there were no tears shed when it was removed!  Not only was it a little creepy...large hopping bunnies surrounding you as you eat a family meal, but it was dark, and dreary, and did NOTHING for the room.  I do have to wonder what was on the previous homeowners mind when they exclaimed "oh, my gosh that is the PERFECT paper for my dining room, I must have it!'  You certainly have to have that kind of love and conviction to put something like this up.

I DO have to admit the first time I saw it, I was a little intrigued, the graphic quality of it was kind of interesting, but the more I thought about it, the more I found it.... just odd.  And not knowing that my client's weren't the ones with a a bunny obsession, I said "oh, look at the bunnies..that is so cool!"  You never know who you are going to offend, and if you can't say anything nice, don't say anything at all!  But once it was clear that it wasn't their decision, the bunny bashing began!

Here are the befores of the dining room.

This was right before they started the move.

looking into the kitchen...you can see the little eating area we removed.

First things first.... We decided on a beautiful blue.  It is Benjamin Moore Blue Haze 1667.  It really is a pretty, in a North facing room with lots of light,  it translates into such a nice clean blue...and doesn't turn green.

TADA!  Doesn't it look huge???

I added the cornices, A.) because the husband did not like the feeling of being draped in.  And B.) the beautiful buffet goes from window frame to frame and if there were drapes, there would be a just a sliver of light coming thru.  And then on the opposite window...the one you see when you enter from the  living room, we added beautiful drapes in a Robert Allen Print. A successful compromise, I like to make everyone happy!  The banding on the cornice and on the chairs is a really pretty yellow hounds tooth.  Doesn't this room have an elegant comfortable feel with lots of Southern Charm??

Still deciding on a rug....seagrass?

New Chandelier and inserts on the chairs.  Everything else was there before...even the candlesticks!

Can you believe this artwork was there before...it sings in the room now!

Isn't it amazing that the same furniture and artwork looks brand new paired with a new paint and fabric.  Many times people think the furniture is the problem....and in some cases it is, but in this case they just needed a new beautiful blue back drop.

So..... there you have it folks, all we had to do was banish a few bunnies to make this room one that will stand the test of time.

Happy Hump Day!

New Kitchen and Keeping Room.

So.... I know that I have spoken before about my first clients....the kitchen/dining/bathroom/keeping room renovation that we began back in January.  Well the actual renovation was finished in May, and we have been finalizing the decor, rearranging furniture, etc.  I zhushed a bit and brought in the pillows, and slipcovers while they were on vacation last week, and ya'll it was so much fun!

I would like to share the results with you....a little trip down renovation lane...from conception to completion.


Here is the kitchen before...

the demo day...one of my favorite stops on renovation lane.

This small eating nook was to become part of the kitchen

The beginning of the project started much like projects do,(at least I am assuming, this was my first...what do I know!, HA!) with a dream of my client's and me with the eyes and vision to see it through. (and they took a chance and trusted me to help with it:)  It started with an elevation sketch, a drawing of what I thought the kitchen could be.  Ya'll a picture/drawing is worth a 1000 words.  I knew I was on the right track when the husband called me and thanked me for making him excited about a process that he was otherwise dreading...he could fiinally SEE what his kitchen MIGHT look like.  Now I know my drawing skills are not perfect by any means, but it was just enough to show that it could be something far from what it was.  AND there is just something about a hand drawing...nothing like getting out a ruler, tracing paper, and grid.

BTW: They were the best clients to work with, were able to make decisions easily, and knew what they liked and didn't like (which is sometimes half the battle)!   I was told they wanted light and bright and airy....updated traditional.

Here is the space down to the studs.

You see that beam...couldn't go, so we COFFERED the ceiling...YAY!  Nothing like letting  a home speak to you. That was the beam that seperated the eating nook from the kitchen before.

walls came down, a bedroom was made into an eating room, and keeping room, and the bathroom door was relocated.

To THIS....

Tada!

The beauty of custom cabinetry, we were able to have side lights put in the glass cabinets.  A window was lost (where the microwave cabinet is) and I thought this would help filter the light throughout the space.  Sometimes custom cabinetry is not out of the realm of possibility.  Custom doesn't always mean MORE expensive!

Doesn't it look so big...light and bright!

This galley kitchen looks so much bigger than it did before.

Now, ya'll I LOVE this stuff.  I loved EVERY minute of this process... My clients thought I was a bit crazy, "you get this excited about Granite and drawer pulls?"   And,  I think that they might have started to see just a little bit of how it didn't have to be a totally dreadful process. 

Seeing a design come from my head to this, is just the best!  I tell my husband that he likes to Mountain Bike and go really fast...well, design and renovation is like my endorphine rush, it is my mountain biking....without all the sweat! (well, maybe a little bit of sweat:)
Tomorrow I will show you the all of the dining room and keeping room decor.

Happy Monday!

You can have her for $529!

Those of you that read the blog know that I am into revamping old things. When I saw this chair I knew it would be a gem all fixed up.  I mean it is REALLY heavy, and has those good bones I love to talk about. 

Since I can't keep all of the chairs that I save.....It is now in The Collected Home, ready for a new home.  I actually kept this one all wrapped up in the plastic until I moved it into the space, for fear I would want to keep it for myself!

Isn't the green honeycomb fabric super chic?  I am kind of in love with this fabric.

And ya'll I have some exciting news that I am just going to have to sit on for a couple more days...but I am bursting!

just a little tease...read more for the full reveal...

For Another chair(s) makeover.


I had theese done when I had my Happy Chair was redone...I call these my Princess Happy Chairs.  

I found not one but TWO of these jewels at an auction a few months ago for $25 apiece....I bought them to sell, and then.... as so often happens, I fell in love and had to keep them for myself.   There is somewhat of a princess feeling when I sit in them....and it gave much needed height to my living room.

These chairs in their former life....ho, hum, yawn....so sad.

I had 2 yards of fabric that I  had been keeping for a while for just the right thing...I thought to myself...this might be it.   I wanted the chairs from the front to feel demure and soft, and fitting for my living room decor...but from the backside I wanted a bit of WOW!  And boy did I get it!  This is what you see when you walk into my house....

This updated damask has all of my colors in it, and sets the tone for the rest of the house....traditional with a twist...I have always wanted to use contrasting fabrics on my chairs...and this couldn't be more appropriate.  Also, if I get tired of it it won't be a problem to replace....always thinking ahead!

 and this is what you see when you sit in the living room.

notice that I had them delete the tufting... just because a chair is tufted before doesn't mean it has to be tufted after!

Oh, and did I mention that the front fabric is DROPCLOTH!!!!  Washed and bleached a few times to give it a softer hand. Trimmed with a chartreuse linen that I have had for a while. Since I didn't spend an arm and a leg on fabric, I won't feel as bad if something gets dropped on it......it is dropcloth after all RIGHT????? (at least that is the thought anyway!)  I am a huge fan of using drop cloths...notice the curtains...those are drop cloths too!  People almost fall OFF of their chairs when I tell them....I should just let them think I used linen...but this girl can't keep a secret...especially when it has to do with decor that doesn't have to cost an arm and a leg.


Just in case you are disappointed that these chairs aren't for sale...No worries there will be more chairs for sale when The Collected Home gets in full swing the beginning of the New Year!  Great things to come....

I won't be posting until the New Year....so I guess I will See ya next year!

Linking up to a drop cloth party over at Cottage and Vine. Where you can see a ton more drop cloth love. 

My "Happy Chair"

 As I said in my last post I have been up to a few things.   Mainly Chairs....giving old chairs a new look.  Now, I have attempted upholstery in the past...and have decided that some things are better left to the professionals.  And boy am I happy I did.  Here is my one of my FAVORITE new additions to the household decor.  As my mother said it is our "Happy Chair!" 

The tufting was old fabric scraps I found from a bag at the bottom of a pile in the closet... I thought "I Have GOT to have this coral color somewhere!!!...and I did...thanks to my mother in law who gave me the bag!

This was dropped off the day before Thanksgiving....It just made my day!  (so not only was I cooking, I was zhushing the house because of the new chair(s)!)  The plates were added to the wall as well.

It just adds a wow factor to the living room.  I fell in love with the Ikat fabric because it brings in the chartruese of my dining room wing back chairs, and the turquoise that is in bits around the house.  It just brings the whole downstairs together...in one nice little package!  You are probably asking 'why in the world did she paint the chair that coral color????'...well, I was perusing blogs the other day (the same day I was to drop off the chairs) and happened upon Live Like You and Marmalade Interiors by Jill Sorenson and I fell in love with her style.  And her moxi to just do it, add the color, you just never know! I LOVE color too, and thought "this chair was a side of the road find YEARS ago, and why not just try it?"  Sooooo, I did.  I am so happy that I came upon her blog that day, because otherwise this chair would have been white...pretty, but not the same....

Another day of "interior serendipity...my new favorite word!

Here is the chair when I had "tried" upholstering it years ago.

Oh dear!!!the SAD CHAIR...we lived with that chair for a LONG time... there were tacks in the back that my children loved to take out...thus the raw edges on the back.

I hope you love my chair as much as I do...there is more to come.....

the stairs

A few weeks ago we made the decision to put a runner on our stairs. Partly, because our poor old dog, Hampton, is having trouble getting down the stairs.  I mean the poor thing will sleep until 2:00, just so that he doesn't have to make the dreaded trip down the stairs of doom...more than a few times his poor legs have just slid out from under him and he has taken a not so graceful ride down.    The other part is, that I am sure it is just a matter of time before our kids take a tumble....(I fell down my parents stairs as a teenager with my baby brother on my hip and socks on my feet...socks no more on the stairs, and a runner went up in that case too!)

soooooo,

YAY!  I get to pick out something fantastic....Oh, NO....I have to make a decision, with all of the great options out there.  Luckily, I pretty much narrowed it down to one company, a go to, for me.  I mean they created rugs just for Dogs!  No brainer.  They have soooo many options, great colors, and pattern....Dash and Albert of course!  I love the DaBomb runner in my kitchen.


I narrowed it down to 3 options.  (A good rule of thumb when designing is keep your options to 3, much easier to decide) I know it looks like 4 options, the top green was an actual runner they had in stock to see how many I would need.

My local retailer, an amazing little shop Cottage and Vine, was so nice to let me take some samples to see what worked.

**(note, this is not the Cottage and Vine of my blogger friend Rene....that is actually how I found her!)**

Drumroll..... I chose option #1.  I wanted to keep with the black and white theme I have going on in the foyer.


Here are the details.

We chose the Indoor/outdoor diamond ivory pattern.

We had 3 runners (2.5' x8') installed for 14 stairs.  ($275 total).  A great return on a not so huge investment, and if we want to change (as will probably be the case in a few years, it is not like we spent a ton and would feel bad tearing it out!)

We DID have it professionally installed.  But after seeing the installation, I think it would be a good DIY project.  As a matter of fact, I there is a fantastic tutorial on the subject over at the blog.....What am I going to do when I grow up.  We had it installed upholstery style instead of waterfall. (upholstery is wrapped around the stair, a more finished look, and you don't have to clean behind the rug!)
On to the other decision.  I have had these brass stair rods for a while now, scored at an auction for $12!  (they retail for upwards of $30 apiece!)  I thought it would be a no brainer and we would install them, now I am having second thoughts...and would like your opinion on the subject.

                    With Stair Rods                                                                          Without Stair Rods

"Oh, you shouldn't have, a stair runner just for me?"

"Did you say breakfast was ready?"  See ya:)" (it was after a little bit of cajoling, I think the pattern was getting to him!)

I have been project slacker lately...just trying to keep up with the day to day.  Well, knowing that you have a few  old friends coming over for lunch, always puts a little pep in my project step.  So, I decided to do a couple very simple things to make the house feel a little better (to me anyway:)

First, was a little skirt on my desk.  I am tired of looking at the junk and wires underneath, and unfinished baseboard...So instead of cleaning it up, I decided to hide it!  I made a little skirt and attached it to an spring rod, with clip on rings.  (this way, I didn't have to be exact with my measurements, and could adjust the length....did I mention I was a lazy project doer too:)  I used left over drop cloth, and fabric from the upholstered inserts of my dining room chairs (I don't think I ever posted that project....will have to do that to:)

Here is the result.

Before, when you look down the galley into my little office.

much better...notice the skirt is gone on the chair..I destroyed it in the wash (oh, vell:)

Love my new hiding place for junk:)  And hides the fact I haven't painted the baseboard:) Oh, and that painting, is another masterpiece of my mother's.  I love them over my desk.

And the other project was new pillows for the living room...pillows make it ALL better:)  Seriously, this took me like 10 minutes.  The lazy pillow I call it....the "I need a pillow STAT"....pillow.  The "I am going to sew this standing up pillow, because I have dinner cooking downstairs but have to have some pillows!".....pillows.  That is why they might be a little overstuffed....the measurements were shall we say.....fuzzy at best!!!  Did I mention I was lazy....

very sad.

Much better....the chair is much happier.  (Mr. O and My little man might think otherwise...they think pillows have a special place on the floor!

I had some left over dupioni silk hanging around begging to be used....I think this view is pretty too, no?

There you have it....my lazy projects.  These little projects took me maybe 30 minutes total to do....and make me oh, so happy.  Now I am off to cook for my little luncheon, more on that tomorrow:)

Happy Monday.