Curtain wire art and photo wall, a pretty fabric and wedding preparations ...

Prepping and planning ...

I am in full wedding mode this week. I have the first of 3 weddings I am styling in just 10 days and the second less than 2 weeks after that. I am busy working on seating charts and names tags, painting signs and also playing around with table settings and vignettes. In between, I am still trying to work on a few design projects.

I selected this fabric (Windsor Smith for Kravet) to go on two Bergere chairs and met with a past client to begin a new kitchen remodel. They are a fun couple and I am excited for the ideas we through around for their new kitchen. I also took some time today to hang an art "clothesline" for a client's daughter. We re-designed her room quite a few months ago but never finished hanging the clothesline and today was the last day to hang it so it will be done when she returns home from a mission trip in Africa. 

This girl likes things clean and neat and I love that she chose her wall color herself. She is seventeen now and was over her pink and orange "little girl" room and was ready for something more sophisticated. 

I used Ikea's DIGNITET curtain wire system which I am in love with. 

IKEA | DIGNITET Curtain Wire

These are not the easiest things to hang - they don't come with any hardware and because you have to pull hard on the wire to get it tight, it is important that they are anchored securely to the wall which always stresses me out when I have to add drywall anchors. They also don't give you a template, and to make sure they are level and lined up with each other is quite a challenge. Not to mention their instruction booklet is super confusing. 

When I installed these for the first time, for my granddaughter's room a few months ago, I didn't get them perfectly tight. But once they started hanging art and fun stuff from the wire it really didn't matter. 

This time I was more successful at getting everything tight and level ... and could probably call myself an expert at hanging these things now. 

My client put up a few photos to finish it off and sent me this photo to thank me and let me know how much she loved it. I hope her daughter loves her new surprise when she gets home!

Wedding preparations

What a week! I knew it would be a busy one but didn't expect it to fly by so quickly. I am juggling quite a few balls in the air right now and this week they all stayed up nicely. 

In between my regular design projects, I am stretching myself to do some crafty DIY projects for the upcoming weddings. I picked up a new chair at the Flea Market last weekend and painted it to match one of the wedding colors. And I painted some frames.

I also painted some of the furniture that I had used for my daughter's wedding four years ago ... it was a breeze with Annie Sloan's Chalk Paint. I used French Linen. A new knob from Anthropologie finished it off.

And do you remember this chair?

I found it on Craigslist ... it was in pretty bad shape.

I stripped it down ...

And painted it French Linen too ...

And then sent it out to have some blue velvet put on it.

It came back yesterday all dressed up and ready for a wedding. Happy Friday Everyone!

A room for Legos

Yesterday was the final install day for the two boys' bedrooms I have been working on. The goal of this project was to give each boy his own room with adequate storage and play areas. The client requested a desk for each boy and stressed that they had a lot of Legos. The budget was $5,000 for both rooms.  The design was an easy process ... getting everything else done was not. It took a while to coordinate everything with the client (she is one busy lady!!!) and then everything that could go wrong with the deliveries, did (delays, wrong pieces, more delays...). But finally all the furniture is in place and these boys have bedrooms to sleep and play in.

I went up to supervise the bed delivery and assembly, and took my new intern (thank you Ashley!) to help me install the new FLOR rugs that the client had purchased. I had specified different tufted wool rugs but the client opted for these FLOR rugs instead. I think they are a good compromise. I love that they will be easy to care for and I think she did a great job selecting the colors and patterns. 

I designed both rooms with identical furniture and my plan was to personalize each room with different paint colors and accessories. The client decided that having the same paint color in both rooms was easier and will be neutral when they sell the house in a year or so. The room was designed to maximize storage capacity but also give the boys as much play area as possible:

All of the furniture was from Ikea (to keep the costs down) except for the storage beds which were from Pottery Barn Teen. The beds will give them a little extra storage now and even more when they move. Because of the small rooms, the beds are up against a wall and they cannot utilize both sides of the bed storage, but the client was willing to sacrifice that for now.

PB Teen Beadboard Storage Bed

Ikea Hemnes 8-drawer dresser

The large dressers were an important part of the room design. They add a lot of storage and will double as a nightstand. My goal was to put all of the boys' clothing in the drawers, and use their closets for large toy storage. 

To remind you, here are the inspiration boards for the room:

I was hoping they would let me finish the rooms off with fun accessories, lighting and artwork. But the kids did their own styling. They were not kidding when they said they had a lot of Legos!

 They have only been in their rooms for a week and they are already using their desks to full capacity!

Here are a couple of photos of the room they shared before:

And one of the rooms now:

I am glad these boys finally have an organized space to design and create. It kind of makes me want to go get a box of legos to play with myself!

No monkeying around

Happy Monday! Be productive (I say to myself!). Have a great week everyone :)

Life is short

"Teach us to realize the brevity of life,
    so that we may grow in wisdom."

- Psalm 90:12

I attended a funeral this weekend. Funerals are never easy, but this one was particularly hard. It was for a wonderful woman whose life was cut shorter than one would expect. Or hope for. Afterwards, a friend of mine said he thought funerals are a way for those of us left behind to examine our own lives. I felt the same way. I wondered while I was listening to all the accolades and beautiful stories and wonderful ways they described this person, "What would people say about me?" I want to be the kind of person that someone would say, "She never said a harsh word about anyone," or "She loved unconditionally."  The thing is, I am not those things ... I am flawed and imperfect and struggle through life like the rest of us. I have made mistakes. And will make many more I am certain. But then I am reminded that life is not about perfection. It is about love. And grace. 

I recently read an article written by a nurse who worked with patients who knew they were dying. When she questioned them about their regrets, these were the most common:

1.  I wish I'd had the courage to live a life true to myself, not the life others expected of me.

2.  I wish I didn't work so hard.

3.  I wish I'd had the courage to express my feelings.

4.  I wish I had stayed in touch with my friends.

5.  I wish that I had let myself be happier.

The article made me think back to a number of years ago when another young woman, a very good friend of mine, was dying and how we had talked about the importance of living a life with no regrets. That is not an easy thing to do, I think. But something to strive for. 

Thanks for making this world a better place, sweet Mimi.

May the love you poured out onto all of us here on earth be remembered forever. 

Images: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8