Thursday, June 04, 2009
Friday, April 03, 2009
Saturday, March 14, 2009
Sunday, February 22, 2009
Saturday, January 10, 2009
Monday, December 15, 2008
SIMPLE VALANCE in BRIARCLIFF MANOR
The before picture featured above. The after photos featured below.
This window treatment was a simple design to give the room a little "umph" without getting all nutty. This Nanny's bedroom was part of a complete basement renovation. We wanted a neutral palette so that we weren't forcing a look upon anyone. Crisp, clean & soft. We installed simple painted wood blinds for privacy & outfitted the window with a simple valance featuring a subtle paisley. Love it, love it, love it!
CUSTOM MUDROOM in BRIARCLIFF MANOR
Simply FABULOUS! This is another little ditty that my husband Jason worked on. Constructed from the highest grade of plywood, this custom cabinetry project was the perfect solution for this client's mudroom. It was measured & designed by yours truly, with some important input from hubby, but I had no idea it was going to look this awesome. The seat area was custom stained & french polished by Jason for an incredibly durable finish & an outsourced painter took care of the rest. It's organized storage at its best & beautiful to boot! We like that!
Sunday, August 17, 2008
NORTH SALEM RESIDENCE: DINING ROOM "BEFORE"
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I met this client when I still had my boutique. She came in all excited about the possibilities of browsing through my collections to dress a table for a baby shower she was throwing. She exudes a happiness that is infectious. When she called me to help her ith her dining room, I was more than happy to help. She showed me a picture of a dining room from a Martha Stewart Catalog. It was sunny,golden & glowy. The room featured a striped grosgrain ribbon tacked with decorative nailheads in the chair rail as well as a warm grasscloth paper pasted below. We looked to the resources section of the magazine & ordered the supplies. Then the nightmare began!
The crown molding, chair rail & base moldings were all installed and made a huge improvement. The grass cloth paper was installed & I chose the perfect sunny yellow paint. I chose the window treatment & trim which was the perfect compliment to all the other components. BUUUUUTTTT...when the ribbon came in I gasped! What the? This couldn't possibly be the one featured in the magazine..but it was. Oh, and did I mention is was made in PORTUGAL?? I asked the company to send more swatches that were similar...all of them were wrong. THEEEEN, I was told I could send the drapery trim sample I chose so they could make a match. Months passed with shipping delays & then the package went M.I.A. C'MON! When the trim came in, it was uneventful. SOOOOO, I got out my colored pencils & literally illustrated the trim I wanted..thread by thread, but they didn't get it right. At this point I had torn out patches of my hair, but I attempted it one more time & BEHOLD!!!, a couple of months later, the perfect striped ribbon arrived. That only took a year!..literally.
Check out the after photos below!
NORTH SALEM RESIDENCE: DINING ROOM "AFTER"
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All the stress??...Worth it! The room looks twice as big & matches the size of this client's personality..sunny & bright! But I can not leave out this last crafty detail. When selecting the hardware the size pole & finish we selected could not be fitted with the finial we wanted. The finial belonged to another collection offered in other finishes, however, it did come in an unfinished resin as well. So guess what?? I painted the finial to look like the wood finish of the pole? Can you tell? Thank goodness for Color Theory Class 101. I don't often toot my own horn, but I gave myself extra points for that one. The dining room is my client's favorite room in the house now. :)
Wednesday, July 09, 2008
Monday, June 30, 2008
BRIARCLIFF MANOR RESIDENCE: EXISTING KITCHEN
When my client moved into her new home in Briarcliff Manor, the brand new kitchen wasn't exactly her style. It was more contemporary than her taste. When we first started picking paint colors for the house, the kitchen was a bit of a challenge. Just like white paint, which often gets a bad rap of being boring (not to me), beige can sometimes seem unimaginative to most. However, it was best to follow the original concept of the kitchen by balancing the almost stark contrast of beige and blackish brown, than trying to recreate the wheel & end up with a mess. (Make that a "hot mess"!) Those of you who are die hard Project Runway Fans will appreciate that term. :)
BRIARCLIFF MANOR RESIDENCE: KITCHEN
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For this Briarcliff Manor resident's kitchen, the goal was to minimize the overall contemporary style of the previous owner. With pale almond cabinets & dark cocoa granite countertops, we decided to keep the stark contrasts in finishes but create a more modern country feel. All the brushed nickel hardware was swapped out for oil rubbed bronze, as were the lighting fixtures. We added a rustic farmhouse table from Crate & Barrel, Ebony side chairs & bar stools with rush seats from Pottery Barn, and created a window treatment that was simple in design & further exemplified the cream/cocoa/black color scheme. A soft creme fabric with a dark brown embroidered foral/vine motif was banded with a chocolate linen with embroidered chocolate polka dots. It is a favorite style treatment of mine, not too much fuss, but still keeps it a little fun.
The built-in desk unit happened to have sat very, VERY low. No one's legs could fit underneathe with a standard sized chair. Very odd indeed. So I search & searched...and searched..AND FOUND this awesome country stool. With many choices of stenciled words, my client chose "Grand Central Station" which was perfect for a myriad of paper, notes & the art work of two children. While we still are working on the accessories for the window sill, we have already found the perfect clock & are greatly anticpating the arrival an old fashioned dough bowl for the center of the table.
Wednesday, June 04, 2008
BRIARCLIFF MANOR RESIDENCE: AFTER
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The inspiration for the living room redo for this Briarcliff Manor resident came from the little bit of kitchen tile behind the stove. It is a gorgeous blue with a little hint of periwinkle. The kitchen cabinets are a painted buttermilk color with a golden cast. Since the kitchen is open to the living room, we chose the gold & blue combination as our color scheme. Because of the openess of the floor plan & the amount of light that enters the room from every direction, it was important not to get too nutty with patterned fabrics. It was important that the pieces could hold their own, be simple, sophisticated, but warm & inviting. The biggest hurdle was to find a rug that we could use with our color scheme. I found one from Pottery Barn that could not have been more perfect. The golden upholstery was balanced with blue & chocolate pillows & a soft cocktail ottoman was used in place of a table since there are young children in the home. We are still waiting for a chair & ottoman to complete the room.
The windows were extraordinarily high but we only wanted to accent them, not cover them. So I created simple silk panels to dress the sides of the window frame & keep the view in tact. Also, instead of creating a dark line across the top of the window by using a long pole, I opted to use 2 smaller poles to accentuate the fabric, not the top of the window.
EASTCHESTER RESIDENCE KITCHEN
What is the last word a designer wants to hear besides "BACKORDERED"?? How about "DISCONTINUED"??
A few years ago, I created a window treatment over the sink of this country cottage kitchen. At the time, my client was unsure if she wanted to address the sliding glass door. Recently she called me up & said that the sliding glass door needed a little somethin'- somethin'. Since the fabric used a few years ago was...say it isn't so...DISCONTINUED!!, I had to come up with something that would coordinate nicely. So I found the perfect fabric..HOORAY..okay maybe not..that too was discontinued, BUT, there was still some stock available. So we reserved it while we figured out what else we could add to it. I found a great pasiley that had all of the colors the original valance had, so I added it to the green panel for a little extra kick.
Then I designed a few custom chair cushions & would you believe that the contrast gingham check was discontinued also??!! OH C'MON!!! What is this a sabotage? Thankfully there was a wee bit of stock left, so I was safe. All in all it worked out perfectly as the style of the kitchen is a combination of stained wood tones, painted woods & different tiles. What I love about the whole design scheme including the fabrics is that nothing looks too planned or too "on-purpose"..a delightful cottage style!
Saturday, March 15, 2008
PLEASANTVILLE RESIDENCE: WINDOWS" BEFORE"
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So I met this client as a referral from another (love those!) and right away she told me that she likes to find her own fabric. She is a bit of a stickler for the perfect one & knows it when she sees it. I explained that I was the same way, but would take a stab at it just in case she couldn't find what she was looking for. So of course the challenge was on. Bring it on baby...bring...it...on!
We were working around an exquisite rug with some serious color, so I brought her a pile of swatches...eh, nothing earth shattering. I went through all of my books. Determined not to give up, I thought, let me step away from the fabrics for a day & refocus. "Step awaaaay from the fabrics".
So a new day came & I thought I am going to go through all of my books again..there has got to be one that works. And so it happened...was it wishful thinking that for some crazy reason the absolute perfect fabric jumped out at me? I'll never know, but I brought a few other hopefuls, including this new one. When we laid them out on the rug, wouldn't you know, we had found it! My client, who happens to be very animated, gasped..I got my usual chills (which is my inner measure when I love something) & we spent a minute or two hitting eachother in the shoulder...we were both excited!
PLEASANTVILLE RESIDENCE: WINDOWS "AFTER"
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And here we have it...as per her request...a working London Shade...the incorporated paisley she wanted...and in the perfect color. A slightly masculine, yet feminine solution for this room. Exactly what she wanted! You can't really tell by these photographs, but trust me when I say that this fabric looks like it was made for this rug.
We are both very happy with the result.
YaY!!! :)
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