TGIF

 

Since I am like the only person who does not care about the royal wedding, I share with you some things that make me happy on this gloriously sunny Friday. Anna Spiro's shop window (Black and Spiro), the tile floor in this bathroom is my all time fave, the best pic in the last few online mags, and the bedroom from the Kips Bay Decorator Showhouse. I forget, is this Amanda Nisbet? Anyway, I love Marilyn Minter photography and the wallpaper the designer did custom, the brass mirror and the fur throw. Perfection...

Happy friday, dudes.

E

Almost Perfect

I never say that a picture of a space is perfect for me, and this one is not quite, but it is the closest I have seen. I could very well live happily here. Put a bed in the top loft and change the extremely baroque gilded mirror for modern art or a simpler mirror, and I would stay happy for a long time...Love!
E

Changing Lanes

We finished my client's entry and I think it looks great. It is the most traditional thing I have ever done in terms of color, finishes, shapes, and accessories. To my eyes, it is almost completely tame and colorless, because design is like porn and violence, the more you see of it, the more you are numb. But to my client, who is new to design and just discovering her "design voice", it is colorful and bright and not the calm and soothing look she was going for. So the whole back corner with the round table and the moth prints is going to be scrapped. We will try something completely new. That's why this is a lifelong process, and not a two day race. I always say your home should look like you, not your designer. This entry doesn't look like either one of us. Back to the drawing board!
So since the entry will look completely different eventually, I can show you these pics of the way it is now. I also include a pic of the dining room, which still has to have accessories, and a host/hostess patterned chair. But we love the ivory chairs we did and the chandelier with the leaves in iron.
 What do you guys think?
E

Glam bam thank you ma'am

I saved these pics cuz I loved them. Or something about them. I love marble. I love metallic wallpaper. I love modern shapes mixed with traditional things. I love furniture chests used as sink counters. But now looking at them I don't know that I could live with it. I like the smaller guest baths like this but for myself, for the master bath, I just want something simple and clean - that doesn't look like it would take two hours to clean. What do you think? Too fussy? Or glam and fabulous?
E

Still learning about myself, AKA The Charlie Experiment

  Well, in my Easter post I mentioned the puppy I adopted from the pound. I need to explain. I am passionate about one thing - design. Furniture, pictures of interiors, art, accessories, styling homes, shelter magazines, fashion magazines, anything that has to do with color, design of any kind, etc.. is my jam. My bestie Leslie is passionate like that about animals. She has more than her legal limit of pets and happily cleans up after them every night. I have never had a pet (except when my ex or a roomate took care of one) and I do not think that animals and humans should occupy the same space. I cannot stand cats, especially, although they are drawn to me like crazy. I am a Leo and need to be the only cat in the room :) I do love animals when they are outdoors or live in a barn- I grew up riding horses and I love my client Jamie's dog so much that it made me think I wanted a dog just like him. 
I researched the breed and found an adult in my area that fit many criteria that I thought would be perfect for me. I went to see her with Leslie at the SPCA but she was no longer there. While we were there we decided to play with the puppies and we fell in love with Charlie. He is the best puppy I have ever seen. He is only two months old but so smart and bonded immediately with me. However, after only one night my apartment  felt so dirty and I felt so itchy and anxious that I could not take it anymore. I thought that Charlie would help me not feel alone, but the fact is that I am more passionate about my interior space than I am about having a companion, and I need to be honest about that.
I think that people encounter problems when they try to do and be what they are not. I got married young because I wanted to prove to my family that I was mature and could make it work, and I couldn't, and should not have gotten married. I am now in my thirties and set in my ways and like being alone and I wanted to prove to myself that I am not selfish and cold and could take care of a living thing. The fact is that I CAN, but I don't want to. I realized that I am perfectly happy by myself in my routine. I was trying to do something that is not right for me and it chafed like ill-fitting shoes.
Charlie is the most amazing dog I have ever seen, and if I were going to have one, he would be it. But the simple truth is that I am not passionate about animals nor do I have to have one to be a good person. I AM nurturing and loving and I think that I would be a good parent; I simply like my orderly life the way it is now. I am glad I had Charlie for two days - it was a beautiful experience...I hope I continue to learn about myself and from this experience and I hope that I will not do anything in the future that is not me just to try to prove something to myself or others. I want to be true to who I am.
Have a great week!
E

Giveaway Winner/ Happy Easter!

I am off to Jackson, Mississippi today to spend the Easter weekend with my beautiful family. I am so thankful for them and for everything good in my life. Thanks, God! I also adopted an Easter baby (Australian Shepherd) today. His name is Charlie - will post pics next week!
Oh, and the winner of the beautiful box, chosen completely at random is: # 12 - Kara!!

True Random Number Generator

Min: 1
Max: 22
Result:
12
Powered by RANDOM.ORG
(If someone knows how to imbed the thing that does this, please let a sister know...)

Kara, send me your address so I can get the box out to you!

Hope you and your loved ones have the most beautiful Easter ever!
E

Wallpaper Wishes

Sorry for the corny alliteration. Thinking about a neutral wallpaper that would be good for a tiny laundry area. Of course my all - time fave paper is Asuka, by Osborne and Little. But I think it is great for a single gal's home, not for resale purposes (keeping things gender neutral). I think Cole and Son's Woods paper, Hick's Hexagon, or the now classic Imperial Trellis could all be a better fit in a tiny laundry. Most of the room will be covered with the washer/dryer and a shelving system. Flowering Quince is so organic and mysterious. I have always loved the strength of the Volte Face (zig zag), too. And if it was affordable who wouldn't want the hand painted fishes on silver leaf paper? Ooooh, choices! What do you think?
E
P.S. Entering last 24 hours of giveaway - winner announced tomorrow afternoon!

Grateful

As we approach Easter, I am so thankful for my family, my health, my friends and job. I have a beautiful life. When I was in design school, I was on a team that designed a classroom for handicapped kids. All of the children are in wheelchairs, and so could not have traditional desks. They couldn't have carpet on the floor and they had to have a fold down cot so the workers could change them. There were many stringent rules and restrictions for the design, and we were ecstatic when our design was chosen to be implemented by Extreme Classroom Makeover. Almost nothing came out like we planned and it was an insanely good learning curve for us as new designers. I hope those kids are still enjoying that classroom. I hope that I have done something in my life that makes someone else's life better. I hope you all have, too.
E
P.S. You still have time to enter the Giveaway!

Book/Art Ledges

Today I received another call about the nursery I did for my bestie in San Diego. This call (and 99% of all calls received) was about the book ledges. It has been super popular and is a great idea for any nursery, child's room, or art wall.
The ledges we did were custom, but they were based on Pottery Barn's Holman ledges.

We took the height and depth of the Holman ledges (3.5" each) and then made ours the length we wanted (about 100" long). The most important thing about choosing the length is to make sure you can get that long a piece of wood down your hallways and to turn into the room! Then we took this picture to Home Depot (you can use Lowe's or any wood worker) and had them cut the ledges to our measurements. Then we painted them the same color as the wall. I like my shelves to be 14" apart to allow for the height of most children's picture books, so I took the height of the ceiling (in inches) and divided it by 14 to see how many rows I could do to fill up the entire wall.

Use a chalk line to make sure your lines are straight, then apply the ledges to the wall on your chalk lines. We drilled them into the studs, filled in the drill holes with wood putty, and painted the spots.

Sounds like a lot of time and energy, but it saves a ton of money!

If you go for it please send a pic so we can all ooh and aah over your hard work... :)

E

P.S. Only 2 days left before the Giveaway winner is announced on Friday! You still have time to comment...

Just another manic Monday....

Got a lot going on this week - the light fixtures for one of my clients came in and we styled her entry.  The other client has a long, bare white hallway that is super scary because it is so sterile. It reminds me of The Shining! My design has gorgeous wallpaper in the hallway, a modern dhurrie runner, and two industrial pendants hanging down. It is going to be a huge improvement. Here are three hallways that have made great use of the space. Since you only pass through, and don't have to sit in a hallway, it is an opportunity to do something fun and different, like a guest bath.
Also, you still have until Friday to sign in for the Giveaway!
E

To paint or not to paint...

So here is one of the apartments that I am looking at buying. It has three separate rooms with exposed brick walls. I do like the color of the brick, since it is grayish and not too red, but I absolutely love white painted brick - especially with high ceilings (these are 14' high)...Tom Delavan's work inspires me...
What do you think? Would you paint these brick walls or leave them natural?

And if you haven's commented for the giveaway yet, you still have a week! I am shocked how few have signed up - a higher chance for those of you who have, I guess!
Have a great weekend!
E

Maybe Elizabeth Sullivan

Tom Delavan for sure

Crazy Insane Ridiculously Good Giveaway

Many of you know that I collect boxes and goodies from R & Y Augousti, among other things. They are a French design team who make the most delicious furniture and accessories from exotic materials. I happen to sell them in my showroom and I lust after every single piece they produce! Well, I want you to start a collection, so I have chosen a stunning box to get you started. It is a large desk box of palmwood, covered in two colors of stingray, and inset with shell segments. It sells for $575!
All you have to do is make sure you are definitely following this blog on the left, liking it in Facebook if you can, following me on Twitter if you so desire, and texting me all day long if you are bored at work. Just kidding about the texting part. But do leave a comment here with your first name and how much you love Augousti!
Good luck - winner announced next Friday!
E

White on white on white on

If I do end up buying a tiny apartment, I think a great way to make it look bigger is to paint the floors, walls, doors, and built-ins white - and to have white furniture. I love all colors, but it seems like I always come back to the warmth and freshness of white.  These spaces are really inspiring me today...
E