Inspiration Board - Home Office

I've been working on a fun side project with a super fun "client" - my sister, Candace! She recently accepted a new job where she will be working from home and needs to get her home office set up ASAP!

She plans to turn a room in her house into a home office that will meet all of her utilitarian needs while still being pretty, chic and happy. We figure if you're going to be spending the better part of your waking hours in a room, it makes sense to really think through the contents of said room to ensure the finished space will be enjoyable to hunker down and work, day in and day out.  Obviously there are options galore for an office, so to get this party started I did what any designer would do...I made an inspiration board. These boards are a great tool to visualize and organize your thoughts.

Here's where we landed:

A smorgasbord of fun, eh? Let's dig into the details...

1. We plan to keep the walls nice and neutral to create a pretty, tranquil backdrop. Our color of choice - Benjamin Moore's Calm OC-22. It's a nice creamy gray and will go with pretty much anything.

2. The room is carpeted, but we want to add some texture and interest with a rug. The plan is to keep the rug neutral in color with a fun pattern.

3. There is a big window in the room we plant to jazz up with floor to ceiling drapes. We could go a zillion different directions with the drapes - large pattern, solid pop of color, neutral color, etc.. but right now we are thinking of a color block with the primary color being a nice neutral with a pop of navy.

4. To add some pizazz to all of the neutrals we have going on, we wanted to bring in some unexpected color to liven up the space with the chair. The chair we chose is from Charish. Charish is a great website full of used furnishings and accessories for you to peruse and purchase to your heart's desire. It's like an estate sale online, meaning it's like crack for designers. So many beautiful pieces, with new items added all of the time. Everything  is unique and approved for quality and authenticity by their curators. We chose the Coco Chanel Style pink velvet chair for this room because we loved the traditional lines of the chair mixed with the vivacious pink fabric. Pink is a bold choice, yes, but we figured with all of the other major items being more neutral, a pop of color was just what the doctor ordered to take this space from good to great.

5. We plan to remove the ceiling fan and replace it with a flush mount light. Ceiling fans are very "bedroom-esque", while a decorative ceiling mount light is much more chic' and will really help make this room feel more like an office. The light on the board is from Circa and is soooooooo dreamy.

6. The floor fan is not only industrial and cool but will come in handy when my sister  inevitably remembers she removed the functional ceiling fan in favor of a decorative light on the hottest day of the year. She will of course recall this being my suggestion and I don't want her cursing me as she melts away, so a floor fan feels like a good idea.

7. For art Candace came across these fun motivational quotes on Etsy. We loved the gold lettering with the thin gold frame. She plans to buy a slew of them and hang them in one concentrated area for impact, maybe a cluster of 9 or 12. Some days I could use 12 different motivational quotes to keep me from slaying someone.....I kid, I kid.

8. I'm not sure it's possible for tape to look more adorable than it does when housed in a golden weenie dog. Nate Burkus has designed a collection of fun, affordable office accessories and Candace has already grabbed up a pair of golden scissors, the weenie dog tape dispenser and a golden stapler. Her desk is going to be so shiny and happy.

9. And last but not least, a fiddle leaf tree. Because no space is complete without some greenery. It's good for the soul.

Well there you have it....our brain explosion. Of course these are just ideas, but i think we have a pretty good grasp on the direction we want to take this space. The one item we are still blurry on is the desk. We just haven't been able to find anything that speaks to us. I guess I will take one for the team and search Charish for hours looking for the perfect piece. Who knows I may just happen upon some goodies for myself! :)

Check out more Vintage Accent Chairs from Charish here!

This board was created with Olioboard - to see more of my boards click here. 

The Little Bathroom That Could

I'm happy to report another room in our house is COMPLETE! 

The lucky space?? Our downstairs Bathroom!

This little bathroom is a pretty big deal... With the master bath upstairs, this space serves not only as our guest bath, but our powder room for visitors. Given the central location of the bath, and the number of people that would frequent this space, we knew this little bathroom needed to pack a big punch, aesthetically and functionally. I really wanted the space to feel classic and a bit dramatic, despite it's petite size.

Great things come in small packages, right!??!?! 

Dear Lord let's hope...

Let's start with the Before:

This bathroom was once the one and only of the house, so while it is not very big, it does have a full shower/bath that sits directly across from the vanity/toilet wall. While the room is small, the natural lighting is really nice and the space as a whole has great bones. All tile is original to the house and something I was excited to work with. 

Paint was the first item on the to-do list. I really wanted to paint the walls a dark color, as I said before I was looking for drama and nothing says drama like dark walls. The space is small yes, but I knew no amount of light colored paint was going to change that, so I decided to go for it and paint the walls Navy. Martha Stewart's Wrought Iron to be specific.

With the painting underway, it was time to figure out how to increase the storage capacity of this little space. With a tiny vanity and a mirror that doubled as a medicine cabinet, there was really no where to go but up from where we were.

In 2012 I posted about a bath remodel we did at Brent's old house. We were working with a similar medicine cabinet situation in this space. To up the storage and the aesthetic we removed the medicine cabinet and built custom shelves and added a mirror that slid from side to side with cabinet guides. 

We were so pleased with how well this approach turned out before, we decided to do it again in this space. Brent popped the old medicine cabinet out, framed up a new one, added guides and hung the mirror. 

For the mirror, we brought the one used in Brent's old house because it was his Great Grandmother's and has beautiful detailing. We went back and forth about what color to paint the mirror but ultimately decided to paint it Wrought Iron as well so it would blend with the walls. I love interest layered in through texture as opposed to color. 

For the vanity I designed a custom cabinet through the company I work for, Bell Kitchen & Bath Studios. We needed this cabinet to be as functional as possible so we made it as large as we could to allow the door to still open and close past it.  I designed the false front drawer to flip down to optimize storage capacity. 

We picked a beautiful remnant piece of white marble for the countertops from Construction Resources. In order to increase counter space we had the top banjo, meaning extend over the toilet to the wall. Not only did this increase the usable counter space but it elongates the room, making it feel deeper.

During this update whirlwind, we replaced the toilet (Home Depot), light fixture (Rejuvenation), faucet (Kohler) and sink (Porcher). We also added fluffy white towels and a soap dispenser (Target) as well as a fun shower curtain (Crate & Barrel). Things were coming together quickly and we were able to get the bulk of this space completed before we moved in, making this one of the most finished spaces of the house for a long time. 

The above photo represents how the bathroom looked for over a year. It was taken by photographer, Barbara Brown when she was at the house shooting the kitchen.

As much as we loved the space, there was one giant item standing between us and calling this bathroom complete....The window treatment. We loved the natural light that flowed in but for some reason our guests were averse to a bare window you could see straight through. Can you say high maintenance??? ;)

We needed a solution that would allow light to come in, offer privacy and be visually pleasing. Once we really thought about it we knew the answer was a stained glass piece. It just so happens Brent's Mom is a stained glass artist, nay genius. She is the name behind Cindy's Glasswork Designs and she does custom work all over the Southeast; in fact, she made the window we hung in the bathroom at Brent's old house. For this space we wanted something totally different and Brent came up with the perfect concept. He sketched the idea out and talked through the vision with his Mom/Cindy. 

Once the idea was transferred, things moved pretty fast. Measurements were taken, glass options were presented and the frame finish was considered.  A few weeks ago the piece was finished and Cindy brought it up to Atlanta to install.

 

Three panels were designed to virtually float between the frame. The panels are suspended from from springs, giving the piece an industrial - modern vibe. The frame was stained dark brown to tie into the vanity color.

It's unbelievable what an instant impact this stained glass window had on the room. Not only is it a bold focal piece, but it allows light to pour through (so much so that it's hard to photograph) and offers privacy - everything we were looking for and more!

We are so happy with how this space turned out. Not only do we love how it looks, but we feel we optimized every inch of functionality we could and really helped this little room be the best it could be!

Unless otherwise noted all photos are my own. 

Spotted - City Scope Magazine

Well, I got a pretty exciting text from my Mom the other day...

Mom: "Isn't this your kitchen?"

:::Below image attached:::

Photo from City Scope Magazine's website.

Me: HEY!!! It is!!

Recognize this space? It's my Chattanooga Kitchen and it's featured in Chattanooga's City Scope Magazine! Each year the magazine puts out a Home & Design Edition and I was so excited to find out a kitchen I did was included!

The spread on this house was centered around the total transformation of the home and highlights the interior decorator that assisted with the decor. However, I was thrilled to see a full two page spread on the kitchen full of Bell Cabinetry!

Chattanooga friends - I hope you will grab a copy of this magazine and check it out!

Unless otherwise noted all photos are my own.   

Blue Willow Swoosh

Y'all, we had a cloud parting, angels singing moment in our dining room last night.

It all happened pretty fast actually, let me fill you in... 

So, last week I shared how we had installed an additional 6 corbels/succulents to our dining room wall. While we were loving the way the space was coming together, it still felt as though the wall overall was missing a little something on the far right side by the dining hutch.

I didn't concern myself too much with the thought because I figured we'd just add a few more corbels/succulents to that wall and call it a day. Then, out of nowhere we had a thought....what about adding a cluster of Blue Willow China.

I Inherited the most beautiful pieces of Blue Willow China from my Grandma and had been looking for the perfect place to display them. I had a mixture of saucers, small bowls and two larger plates, all of which have been crammed into my dining hutch just waiting for their day in the sun. I've long admired Blue Willow, mostly because of the gorgeous blue and white coloring, which I knew would work so well with the white walls and green succulents.

As we considered the layout, we  knew we wanted to stay away from typical symmetrical patterns like vertical or horizontal arrangements. While those looks can be beautiful, we felt this space called for a bit more funk. We envisioned a fun cluster mix, something with movement - a curve...a curl.......a SWOOSH!!!!

We got all of the pieces out and started playing with the arrangement.  We took measurements of the wall and used a tape measure and paper to form our boundaries on the countertop.

We wanted the plates to be installed close together with some overlap for depth and interest. Once we finalized the pattern, Brent got to hanging.  With each plate that went up I ooo'ed and ahh'ed until the swoosh was complete, at which point I ooo'ed and ahhh'ed some more. In fact, I'm still oooo'ing and ahhh-ing 24 hours later. I'm in love...

The whimsical curve of the plates mixed with the vibrant blue make for such a fun statement.

I love that we found a fun way to display these pieces that are so special to me in a way that we can enjoy everyday. Not only are the pieces beautiful, but they belonged to someone that I look forward to thinking of each and every time they catch my eye as I pass through the room.

Soooooooo with 9 corbels, 10 succulents and a 13 piece Blue Willow swoosh, I'd say this wall of our dining room is complete!

All photos are my own.

Our New Toy & 10 Succulents

Lord knows we've painted all over our house. The walls, some furniture, the floor, heck even the ceiling! A few months ago we finally broke down and decided to buy a paint gun. The idea that with the simple pull of a trigger, paint could be evenly and effortlessly applied to our desired palette was VERY intriguing and exciting.

We went with the Husky Gravity Feed Spray Gun from Home Depot. It was around $80 and worth every penny.

We had a couple of projects in mind we'd like to tackle with our new toy, like painting the white picket fence and our outdoor shutters. But before jumping head first into those bigger undertakings, we thought we would do a little test run on a smaller, more manageable project to get our bearings.

You may remember last year I added four corbels to our dining room wall to hold succulents.

Ever since I've had this reoccurring thought - if four corbels are good, wouldn't 10 be better!? Once I convinced Brent the answer was YES, I got busy collecting cool, inexpensive corbels at antique stores and got them prepped for the big spray.

The whole prep was pretty straight forward. Brent thinned the paint with 10% water and then poured the paint through a strainer into the reservoir.  It's a gravity fed pneumatic spray gun which is basically a confusing way to say it uses compressed air to spray the paint.

With the gun full of paint I went to town and sprayed my little heart out. 

In the blink of an eye the corbels were painted and we were so happy with how surprisingly easy, fast and relatively mess free the whole process was.

Brent got busy hanging the corbels, which was also a pretty quick process, as we just eye-balled the placement. There is definitely a time and place for major contemplation, but this wasn't it. For this project, the more random, the better. With the corbels hung we purchased new succulents, got them all situated in their pots and before we knew it, the wall was feeling more and more like the entrance into a secret garden.

I mean really, who doesn't want to walk through a doorway dripping with beautiful, leafy plants everyday? It's like a fabulous jungle and I'm very much enjoying it! I might just need to add even more......Stay tuned..... And don't worry, the news of more corbels won't frighten Brent too much... Thanks to our new toy, projects like this are easy-peasy.

All photos are my own.