custom designed dining table

Oh my gosh, I am thrilled to show you my custom-designed dining table. If I ever get a furniture line going, this will be the first piece I take to market. I designed this table based on a vintage piece:

But I wanted mine to have six sides instead of eight, and to be in solid cerused oak. I had the most wonderful artisan make it for me, and it is on its way to my house now! Here is a pic of my finished table:

I can't release any other photos or info because I hope to have it published and put the table into production, but I am so excited I couldn't help myself! What do you think?
E

my painting arrived

So thrilled! My painting arrived from Susan Dory and my bestie Leslie at Guthrie Contemporary. They conspired together to give me a painting for Christmas and I adore it! Susan has invented a new way of painting that looks like melted candy poured out. Some of the shapes are sheer and some are opaque. Photos do not do it justice. Also it is strong enough to be in a bathroom, which I love, because it makes the whole room!
Thank you so much Leslie and Susan - you have made my whole year!
E

What I have been up to

Hi, guys - it has been a crazy work week. Things are going great at the new job and so much else is going on...

These awesome Nate Berkus pillows landed in my house. They are so textural and boho - and only $30!

I have been cooking like crazy! I am 37 this year and that is the age at which Julia Child started cooking...I keep telling myself that in hopes I will be a good cook! I have made pork chops with mushroom sauce and dirty rice, sausage and green chile quiche, and shortrib cassoulet. This week I am going to do pesto burgers and fries. I just need to take prettier pictures of my results!

My client and friend got the Mouille knockoff that I have been wanting, but in white. It looks amazing over her dining table - excuse the dark photo! I recommend this light to everyone I know. It absolutely works EVERYWHERE!

Finally, I painted my bathroom in anticipation of the Susan Dory painting I got for Christmas! My bestie Leslie, who owns an art gallery, gave me this amazing painting by Susan, and Susan agreed to gift it to me. It looks like poured melted candy - photos do not do it justice! I will post before and after pics of the bathroom when I get the painting hung... it is the one on the right in this pic.

Hope you are having as great a week as I am! Talk soon...
E

New Year, new house

Happy New Year, everyone! I hope that you all had a wonderful Christmas and New Year with your friends and family. I traveled to New Orleans and Mississippi to see my loved ones and it was amazing. Except that my sister and brother in law were sick the entire time! My mom and I went out to look at a house that she had been eyeing online. We never met a piece of real estate we didn't like! She is really wanting to do a clean white farmhouse look, but this property is more adobe style. We loved it at first sight but I honestly never thought my stepdad would move on something over the holidays, or at all so quickly. We thought we were just looking for fun.

The day I left, she took him to see the house and they made an offer on it the next day. They got the house and close on Valentine's Day! I can't believe it but I am so thrilled for them. It is so unique for Mississippi, and though it needs a lot of work, we are going to make it a stunner! I have not designed anything in the modern adobe or hacienda style, so I cannot wait!

The best part of this house is the interior courtyard with the covered walkways going all the way around the house. I am in love!

Isn't it amazing? I will keep you posted on the changes we make. My stepdad is not a fan of painting wood or pulling out rustic elements, but I would love to clean it up and pare it down even more. Happy hump day!
E

the hand-crafted home

My mom and I have been working on a coffee table book that will feature interiors using handmade craft. This can be quite modern, since craft can be anything handmade, from a painting to a chandelier. My mother was the director of the Mississippi Craftsmen's Guild for years, so she has tons of talented artists and craftsmen at her disposal. I would like to photograph my dining room for the book, and I want to have a dining table custom made for the hand-crafted element.

Right now, I love everything except my table. I have a vintage mirrored credenza, hexagon brass table lamp, gorgeous (huge) photograph triptych of a dogwood branch, the polyhedral light fixture from Worlds Away and the vintage Milo Baughman chairs I recovered in a black zig zag chenille.

The room is super tiny and actually does not support a large table. The front door hits it when I open it all the way and you cannot see the credenza at all. I really need a round but I want to do something more interesting than that. This table has always been in my inspiration files, and I am hoping that something similar can be done in only a 48" size. It will probably have to be bigger to get a hexagon shape. I also want it to be black cerused oak so you can see the strong grain like this:

What do you guys think? I think it could be amazing!
E

my favorite room

I will admit that I have had a rough couple of weeks. Adjusting to a new city or situation can be tough, as many of you know. My mother is the best at words of wisdom. She says, "Go sit in the sunshine and breathe." So that is exactly what I am going to do today.

Another thing that always brings me peace is making my home look cozy and welcoming. Nothing makes me happier than fresh flowers or adding the perfect touch to a room. My favorite room in the cottage is the downstairs den. It was meant to be a second bedroom, but it is tiny, so I made it a tv lounge and I spend most of my time there working on the computer (doing this post!) or watching tv. It just barely fit my sectional and it has a ledge for my tv and art, and my favorite portrait of my grandfather watches over everything. I just changed out the builder grade glass bathroom fixture they had installed to this cool little star flushmount fixture, so I finally feel like the room is "finished"....  I am laughing as I type, because is any room ever finished to a designer?

I hope you all have a favorite spot in your home where you can curl up and think about your life, your goals, and to reflect on everything you have. I am so lucky to have my family, my friends, this beautiful cottage and gorgeous weather. Now to the beach! Have a great week, friends...
E

you know what my problem is???

Don't answer that. I know I have many problems. My main one at this time is that every time I see something I like, I want to build a whole room around it. Smack in the midst of my bedroom design conundrum I saw this screen for sale:

I know.. it doesn't really "go" with the cottage. But since I have to have a rolling rack of clothes in my bedroom it might be nice to have a screen to hide it. It makes me think of doing something of a mix between these two rooms:

With the screen, a steel poster bed, white bedside tables and my stacked lucite lamps:

I am trying to sell the lamps, so if I do I would just use funky sconces over the bed...here is a board with the pieces in the room:

Am I out of control or what?? hahahaha
E

yikes

Sorry I didn't post yesterday - I am totally frozen. I thought the bedroom would be the easiest room to do and it turns out that I am completely stumped. I love so many different things! I really want to honor the architecture and the pieces that I already have and love - my dogwood branch triptych and my linen sectional and mirrored credenza - but honestly I got into design because I love STUFF. I love switching it up often and doing different looks and I have done that almost every six months to a year for six years now. But in my new place in San Diego I don't know where I will be working and I don't think I will be able to switch it up so often. That is really freezing me because I know whatever I buy I will have for a while.

I still love the black bed from Ethan Allen and the acorn mid century modern bed from West Elm that I posted below, but I also like this upholstered bed:

And I have always loved the architecture bed and the portico bed from Room and Board:

 

I have never been so indecisive....ugh! Gonna take the whole weekend to think about it. Have a good one, friends!
E

Birmingham Fam Progress

Making some progress on my sister's house in Birmingham! We really hope to get the dining room drapes done by Christmas - it will be so dramatic and really make the front of the house - but the latest is this eat-in kitchen nook that I am super happy with. I did the silhouettes of my niece and nephew and they turned out great! What do you think?
E

Dining Room will have coral chinoiserie drapes!

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project progress

Lack of posting makes E a very dull girl, I know...but I am getting a lot done on various projects. My mom's house, which if you remember was a dark, cluttered mess of antiques and collections:

 ...has really transformed! The living room is super awkward because it has open walls on two sides and the tv is in an odd spot. We have painted the entire house white, totally changed the entry with a custom light fixture and bench cushion, and modernized the kitchen seating area. I thought the long, straight sofa above was too bulky in the living room so I got her a round coffee table and two curving sofas. A circular seating group has made all the difference!

Now we are working on art, side tables, etc, but we have come so far in just three months - I am so proud of my mother. She was once obsessed with antiques and all her collections - and she still insists that almost everything be hand made by her artist and craftsmen friends - but now she loves modern, spare design and we have had so much fun together working on her house. I will cherish this time forever.

My awesome client who I did this living room design for:

...is now ready to work on her master bedroom. It is a smallish room with a gorgeous, moody gray on all walls and trim. Of course she has some gorgeous deco pieces from her family - including a chinese deco rug and burl chest. I took over a ton of fabrics to make roman shades - they look so different with the light shining through them - you really can't see all the bold colors.

But that is what I am dealing with right now. Will definitely keep you posted... Have a great weekend!
E

logo love

Hi, gang - I know I rarely post anymore - what is wrong with me??? Well, I am a busy bee! I am trying to only post about current projects that I have made progress on, instead of constantly adding to the design blogworld with yet another post on a magazine article, etc... This past week I have been designing a long distance client's living room - hopefully we are close to final decisions and shopping time! I also got a huge peacock mirror for my bestie, but can't photograph it until the seller makes a repair. Stay tuned!

I also finalized my logo:

And made tons of changes to my website - please go check it out - I am especially proud of the wallpaper hallway pics I got with my client's gorgeous girls running down it:

I truly love children in photographs of interiors - they bring so much joy to them. But I am very careful not to show their faces in my own publicity material. I took lots of portraits showing their faces for their mom to have.

I have lots of things in the works, so I hope to have more pics for you soon!
E