At a recent house call, my client handed me a photo of a room from her childhood home. When it was taken, the shelving concept was not the subject matter. Instead the grainy snapshot from the 1980s was focused on a group of happy, good-looking people, sitting together in a family room on what might have been a Sunday evening after dinner.
As she looked at the photo and talked about adaptations to the design, she was suddenly overcome with emotion and we were both a little surprised when tears came to her eyes.
Read moreWhether your are an accomplished gastronomer or someone who catches meals on the fly, a kitchen that functions smoothly and pleases the senses is probably at the top of your design wish list. What design tactics should you follow - beyond the ‘work triangle’?
Read moreAfter almost two decades in design, I have become an expert at intelligent space planning, but as the owner of a modest home, the tricks I've learned for making the most of tight spaces are particularly close to my heart.
Read moreIn the coming days, we wish you happy holidays and plenty of time with loved ones. Here we humbly offer our year in review, that these magical transformations will spark inspiration and make your next turn around the sun the most joyful, honest, and fearless one yet.
Read moreWe all have them, those unfinished projects that accumulate because we ran out of steam for one reason or another. Waning house projects, in particular, add to the figurative clutter in our lives.
Read moreWhen I ask clients how I can help, they most often tell me they need my vision to pull things together. Whether you are starting from scratch, working with a fair amount of things you already own, or as is most often the case something in the middle, your primary concern is how does it all jigsaw together to become one cohesive look.
Eclecticism is a term designers use to describe a mix of furniture periods and styles, trends, colors, and textures. From the proud victorians to a relaxed present day style, eclecticism is by no means a new idea…
Read moreAs a new homeowner and a designer, I can tell you that good interior design is all in the details, but these nuances can often be addressed with simple, cost-effective changes.
Read moreMaybe your home is older and the kitchen was small from the beginning. It might not be in your budget to expand the space or doing so would steal too much space from another area. Or maybe, like me, you’ve just come to realize that a big kitchen is not necessarily a good one. Here are some helpful ideas for making the most of a smaller kitchen.
Read moreI can still remember spending days as a child in our den with the windows open, the sunlight and cool breeze flowing over me as I read, using my very large golden retriever as a pillow. We spent many days joined at the hip. I remember Chancey as part of our daily activities.
So when I meet our clients’ furry friends I know how important it is for us to consider them in the design of our client’s homes. We’ve compiled our top tips to help you include your four legged companions without sacrificing style worth showing off.
Read moreImagining your dream home is fun; building it is not. As an interior designer with a background in project management, I know just how intimidating it is for homeowners to face a new home build or home renovation with all the decisions, timelines, and the bottom line hanging in the balance.
Whether you want to avoid design choices you’ll regret or costly fixes near the end of construction, your project should start with a way to stay on track without fear.
Read moreUp until very recently, when I thought about a house with ‘good bones’, I came at it from a place of how the home looked to me.
I asked my colleagues Leesa Mayfield of Leesa Mayfield Architecture and David Logan of Vintage Building what the phrase ‘good bones’ meant to them. In our third installation of our A Home With Good Bones series, we discuss the construction techniques and next-level choices homeowners can make whether they’re starting from scratch or renovating any age of home.
Read moreUp until very recently, when I thought about a house with ‘good bones’, I came at it from a place of how the home looked to me. I asked my colleagues Leesa Mayfield of Leesa Mayfield Architecture and David Logan of Vintage Building what the phrase ‘good bones’ meant to them.
In our second installation of our A Home With Good Bones series, we discuss the literal ingredients of a fine house, the materials that provide for lasting performance in both old and new homes.
Read moreUp until very recently, when I thought about a house with ‘good bones’, I came at it from a place of how the home looked to me.
I asked my colleagues Leesa Mayfield of Leesa Mayfield Architecture and David Logan of Vintage Building what the phrase ‘good bones’ meant to them. In this first installation of our ‘A Home With Good Bones’ series we start, like the professional nerds we are, with a conversation on the principals of design. Specifically, scale and proportion.
Read moreFor anyone who grew up with a lot of it, or even just a little bit, but it was not their taste - or certainly for anyone who has ever stripped it on their own - wallpaper can be viewed with a little skepticism. Yet it has never been more relevant, more transformative, or varied.
Here is my advice for picking wallpaper that will please your senses year after year. But, first, the things you need to get over.
Read moreAfter almost two decades in design, I have become an expert at intelligent space planning, but as the owner of a modest home, the tricks I've learned for making the most of tight spaces are particularly close to my heart.
Read moreDespite having already met one another, on the first site meeting the client is sometimes a shade nervous. They might say, "Here it is. Don't judge."
There are a lot of myths about what it’s like to work with a designer. Read on for a no-nonsense look at how we operate from introduction to installation.
Read moreThis blog is not about what kinds of rooms or how many should be included in a large house blueprint. The one piece of advice I always pass along to my clients is to build their home not for future owners or by any standard but their own. Choose your spaces because you think they will enrich your home life, not because other houses in your neighborhood have them.
This blog post is for people who want a large luxury home where every space is useful and all of the details and proportions make the right statement.
Read moreAs a seasoned designer with diverse clients, I am often either helping a family decide how much to add to a home they are outgrowing or I am figuring out how to put unused rooms to work in a house that is a little too big for its owner.
Generally my opinion is that less house is better than too much house, but my skills and vision afford me the opportunity to create impactful designs no matter the scale of the project. For the homeowner who is trying to decide the size of their next home investment, there are a number of ways to evaluate what will be the perfect fit.
Read moreInterior design makes spaces look great and function optimally. Thoughtful consideration of lighting, space, color, and organization can improve our quality of life and our mood. Yet many people choose not to seek professional help for a myriad of perfectly understandable reasons.
Read moreEclecticism is a term designers use to describe a mix of furniture periods and styles, trends, colors, and textures. It is not new, although it really took off about the time I started in design.
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