Saturday Spaces

I really like this house designed by John McInroe for the Palmer family in Dallas. The New York Post article describes it as going from "spec to spectacular" or something like that. Only super rich people would complain about a mansion having no personality and being a "spec house". Once you get past that annoyance, though, there really are some lovely details...
E

What a slow process

Wow - for people who have never decorated a space from scratch, let me tell you - it takes forever! The second home of my clients is coming along nicely... the tv is being moved over this fireplace today - but there is still tons of furniture and accessories to come. Also, the bedrooms and back house which is a super traditional space, have yet to be completed construction wise, so we just put in furniture where we can to make the space enjoyable for quick weekends. I really cannot wait for this final product. Hopefully only around six more months to go... I know it seems very stark with the white upholstery, but it is Sunbrella so easy to care for!
E

tv equipment piece, accessories and art to go here

still have leather/ebony french chairs coming

large velvet tufted ottoman going under piano

Kitchen Roundup

For some reason in the last few days of the year I am drawn to posts about my faves ever. The other day was fave wallpapers, now here are some of my fave kitchens  ever. I love so many different styles of kitchen, I actually don't know what mine would turn out like if I were able to design it from scratch! But I am always drawn to open shelves, interesting materials, and the color gray... and my dream would be to have a glass front fridge! Here are some of my top picks - what is your favorite thing in a kitchen?
E

Love the color of this tile and cabinetry

Open shelves - Nate Berkus

Black done right

This white stove is bangin'

My fave wallpaper and white oak? Yes,please. Jeffrey Alan Marks

Rustic and cozy - Kristen Buckingham

Most blogged about ever for a reason - gorgeous!

fave wallpapers ever

So this is still a design blog, believe it or not! hahahah One of the biggest reasons that I would like to buy my own place next year is so that I can do whatever I want to the walls without repercussions. Wallpaper, baby!
My fave wallpaper of all time is the koi paper in silver by De Gournay. Hand-painted on silver leaf, so what's not to love?

In Jeffrey Alan Marks' kitchen

Close up

In Sara Story's office

My second fave is this zebra running across silver leaf. It does not have arrows and the zebras are huge, so I don't think it is the classic zebra paper by Scalamandre, but if anyone knows who it is, please help a sista out...

My fave bedroom wall by Oitoemponto

I know silver leaf papers are extremely expensive so my cheaper choice has always been the Asuka paper by Osborne and Little. But I am not truly a floral girl, and it has been used a lot...

Here are a couple of other metallic wallpapers that look great showcased in smaller spaces, like guest baths.

And don't forget Flavor Paper (which used to be here in New Orleans, but is now in Brooklyn) makes tons of metallic papers! Which is your favorite wallpaper of all time?
E

a magical christmas

Last night my great friend Jamie and her daughter Ellie asked me to join them at the Nutcracker. I haven't seen this ballet since I was a child, and it was such a wonderful night. I used to be obsessed with ballet, reading books on it and watching Baryshnikov dance on tv. My mother took me to the ballet every Christmas, and last night watching Ellie's face and seeing it through her eyes brought back that magic for me.

The Louisiana Philharmonic doing the score by Tchaikovsky was absolutely the best part. We don't realize how much this music is in our daily lives, and in movie soundtracks all the time, too. Hearing just a few bars of these songs can make you feel Christmasy, scared, or passionate. Is there any music in history more romantic than the Grand Pas de deux? For those of you who would like to watch it, I have imbedded it below, with the amazing Baryshnikov dancing the male role (The Grand Pas de Deux starts at 1:38).Or, this will really show my age, but does anyone remember the 1982 movie Six Weeks - about the girl who only wants to play Clara in the Nutcracker before she dies of leukemia? What a tearjerker!

I hope all of you have a magical moment this weekend, be it alone or with family and friends. We are so lucky to be alive and my wish for you is that you see and appreciate the miracles that are all around you. Especially the miracle of the joy on a child's face when they see something beautiful. It will take your breath away.

Merriest Christmas, and a very Happy New Year!
E

Looking forward...and back

I was just reading some of my posts from last year, especially the one from December 28th, when I made my resolutions for 2011. I can't believe that the year flew by so quickly, and that I actually fulfilled my goals. I am really happy about this past year. I blogged five times a week, got new clients (including my biggest project to date), finished my MA degree, and saw my family as much as possible. I also lost 30 pounds and got into the best shape I have been in for a decade!

I am realizing that on January 9th it will be two years that I have been blogging and it is certainly difficult to come up with new posts all the time. It is hard to stay motivated when you have only a few constant readers, but because of this blog I feel like I have gained some really good friends and also stayed in touch with all of the latest and greatest in design. In 2012 I hope to keep blogging and gaining more readers, but I will not be focusing to produce new blogs five times a week.

My focus for 2012 will be on my own personal life. I am 35 and I am certainly happy with all that I have accomplished, but I would like to make a difference in a child's life and get some personal fulfillment as well. My goals for the new year will be to prepare my life for an adoption. There are so many kids in the foster system who are needing families. If you have ever considered adoption, I beg you not to go out of the country, but to take in a child from your state who has been put into the system.

With that eventual goal in mind, I will be looking for a home to buy or a bigger place to rent, getting my health coverage in order, and deciding whether or not to start law school in the fall. I will always continue with my design work, as it is my passion and my joy. I hope that even if I am pursuing another career that I will always have one or two design clients. And of course I will always be renovating or decorating my own place and showing it on the blog and on my website. I guess that means that I will be staying in New Orleans for a while, as it is a wonderful place to live and I have a steady job here.

I hope that you all have accomplished your goals for 2011 and are as excited about the future and 2012 as I am! Happy Holidays to you and your family - see you next week!
E

Custom Bed Plan

 I love big beds with headboards and footboards that hold you in a cozy embrace and you never want to get up.
And you know I have a thing for La Wearstler and Deco/70's Glam channel tufting, like the king size headboard I just did for my clients, right? So in the new year I want to make a custom bed in faux stingray skin...

This is the style of bed for me....

bedroom combo - bed, bench, and snakeskin mirror

I also got a couple yards of this beige snakeskin to wrap a mirror with...love!
E

Great Ideas

I love how the backs of these chairs are different pastel colors. This is an amazing idea to steal!

Also, how gorg are these metallic cakes? What a great, glam idea...

Hope you are having a great week!
E

Chair reup

More deliveries and changes are afoot at Casa Elizabeth (aka Tiny Apartment). Here is the scary-ugly chair I got on Ebay in its original form...

And here it is with a fresh reup job...

Love it! It does not go exactly perfect with the french chairs that will be on either side of the desk in Kelly Wearstler's Bengal Bazaar fabric, but one day I hope to have room in a bedroom and will put it in there. I love the chrome arms. It is also the most comfy chair ever! Show me some of your reup projects...
E

terrified wood

This past week has been so full of deliveries..this morning I got my petrified wood stump!
Petrified wood is wood that has been buried under sediment and deprived of oxygen for so long that it has become stone. It has the hardness of quartz and sometimes you can see fossilized remains of insects in there that lived millions of years ago. While there are petrified forests in California and Mississippi and Arizona, I believe that it is illegal to pull the stone out of those. The ones I sell in my store are from the island of Java, and weigh between 400 and 800 lbs! The moving guys always call in sick when we need one moved.
Most people use them in interiors as side tables. But since they can be in the rain and are virtually indestructible, I would like to see one in a large shower, or set around a firepit outside as seating. I just plopped mine at the end of my bed for now, but when I find a good match for it, they will be on either end of my sofa in the next apartment I move to.
Do you like petrified wood?
E

My petrified wood stump - it's gorgeous!

Bachelorette Pad Part II

When I say that my apartment has a completely different look now, I mean it looks completely different. The colorful Bachelorette Pad has turned into Orglamic - which is what I will call it on my website...hahaha Here is a little peek - hope to photograph the entire thing and be done with it by February! Also cleaned up my website a bit - have a look see and let me know what you think...
E

color besties

My most fave color combinations for interiors are colors that are analagous, or side by side on the color wheel. If you choose to do this, it looks great to have one of the colors be primary and strong, like grass green, and the other color to be pale and soft, like blue aqua. That is the winning combination I chose for my sweet and sour nursery project. For Maddy's big girl room, I am hitting up the other side of the color wheel - pink to orange, red, and purple. I love color besties!
E

*Lots of pics from Paloma at La Dolce Vita and Lily at Gold and Gray...thanks for the inspiration, girls!

Shop til you drop

The last two weeks of my life have been a constant shopping blur. Between Christmas and trying to get things for my clients before the holidays, I am running around like a chicken with my head cut off!

I found this faux stingray leather, pearl gray channel tufted headboard that I wanted for myself but it is a king. Way too big for my room, but perfect for my French Quarter client's modern master bedroom...

And my other friend/client was inspired by the Pedro Friedeberg hand chairs in the Ashley Stark apartment from Elle Decor and asked me to get a price on one for her. Side note: when I lived in Mexico (where Pedro is from) in the late 90's, I worked at a store that sold these for 2k. No one wanted them then, and today when I called Craig Van den Brulle in New York for a price, I was told $30,000 NET! Shocker!

Also found these twin beds in the back of an antique store and they will be perfect painted in a french blue chalk paint for the back guest house of another client...score! Can't wait to see them painted...

Last but not least I picked up this suzani for myself. It is not the style that I am doing now, but when you see a steal that is big and gorgeous and cheap you just grab it, right??

Will store it away to one day make a headboard, or a chair, or a bench seat on a sofa, or pillows.... Happy shopping, friends!
E