One of the most difficult things I find about blogging is naming each post. I wonder if other bloggers struggle with this as well?

We are well into the new year at this point and I am finding myself struggling with the fact that it is a new year. 2018 passed like a flash and I feel like we should just be entering into the season of fall. I keep trying to make myself look ahead and plan for the new year that is definitely here, but I keep looking back on 2018.

The past year has been one that was good to me for a large part. I am thankful to it and perhaps that is part of why I am struggling with not wanting to leave it. I like to have intentions for each year to help me move forward  with some semblance of purpose. That challenge of setting goals is proving to be a bit difficult for this new year, so I think I will borrow some of my unfinished goals sets from 2018 to help me move along.

Somewhere along the way of not keeping up with blogging on my own home I had decided I wanted to also share some professional projects. So I begin this year with reflecting back, and also moving forward into this new intention of sharing more for 2019.

This job spanned almost all of 2018 and included most of this person’s home. They were victims of the terrible flood in our area in 2016 and were just getting back into their house and were ready to move forward and make it feel like home again. I was touched that they trusted me with this undertaking and also heartbroken that they had found themselves in this position in the first place. But together, we got their home back by the end of the year 🙂

The Entry

When I walked into the house for the first time I could see the owner’s had gotten the framing of the house back in place. It was a livable space, but was just missing the finishing touches that make a place warm and welcoming. That’s what I was called in for.

The entry was a blank space when I first got there. The walls were the palest of greys and there was a single antique chair that had a gold patina on it and was upholstered with a beautiful charcoal grey velvet. There was no art work up yet, but the owner had quiet a collection of beautiful pieces that would be used throughout the home.

When I asked what the goal for the room was, the owner just told me she loved grey. Which, when you see the rest of the house, will seem a little surprising. With her love of grey in mind, I found this beautiful embroidered, warm grey fabric. I loved its easy dressiness for the house. It had personality to welcome you into the home, but stayed pretty neutral to flow with the rest of the house that had some strong punches of color.

The Office

I love how this room came out. This bold blue was already on the walls when I got there and I just loved it. I love when people take a chance with color and this certainly paid off. To keep the room dramatic but not busy we decided to put a really lovely, creamy linen on the walls. It just popped against that bold blue and set the artwork off beautifully.

For the hardware we choose a simple gold rod. I personally love that gold finishes are coming back in. I find they add a beautiful warm touch to a space. Gold hardware was a no brainer throughout this house though. All of the previous light fixtures and framing of art work were gold. A good rule of thumb when choosing hardware finishes is to work with hardware you currently have (knobs, frames, and light fixtures) or work with furniture finishes.

The Dining Room

Another bold color choice here! And again, I love it. According to color theory, a rich tone in the dining room is suppose to increase your appetite. So I particularly love a good, strong color in this space!

This room was a little trickier to get right. The owner had a gorgeous rug that she was able to save from the flood. I absolutely loved it, but she was a little tired of it but didn’t want to purchase a new one. What I read from her being tired of the rug was that she was scared a recreating the old look she had, which I assured her we would not do. She had heavy draperies with swags before and wanted a fresher, lighter look. She wanted to do solid cream linen again (like the office), but I thought she needed something warmer and little more dressy to fit this space. We found this 2 tone embroidered linen that I think keeps the space modern and dressy at the same time.

We matched her hardware to the office space to keep consistency in a semi open floor plan and because it also looks good with her gold accents in this room as well. The finishing touches were getting her mirror and art work up on the wall to add that personal touch.

The Master Suite

Ahhhh. I just love how this space turned out. What we had to start with was the paint color, the bench at the foot of the bed, and the goal of getting the bathroom mirror faux finished in gold/silver.

For the bedroom, there was a lot of blue in the room with the walls and the bench. I love blue. A lot. But I felt like it was well represented and needed some space to finish off the bedroom. I found this gorgeous swamp toile. The second I saw it I fell in love and knew it was perfect. It was a cream background to give a break from the blue walls, but incorporated soft grey and blues in the print.

For the bedding, I suggested we find a cream matelasse to breakup the color a little more. When working on bedding, I love to incorporate the drapes onto the bed, which is exactly what we did here. We added just 2 queen shams to marry the space. To finish the bedding off we added this rich grey blue linen bedskirt and accent pillow.

The bathroom had been completely gutted and redone in all white. To soften all the hard white, we put an embroider white sheer on the windows. It added some texture with the pattern, but kept in theme with the color palette. It also worked with the fabrics we had chosen for the master bedroom. I always want spaces to work and flow together!

Its  funny to hear what customers are most excited about, because this customer was looking forward to her bathroom being finished the most. I would have thought her bedroom or maybe one of the spaces that visitors would see, but I guess it makes sense that the bathroom is where we start our day- showering, makeuping, fixing hair- so you would want a nice space to do that in.

The Kitchen

This space was another all white redo. We went back and forth on this room deciding if she wanted to add anything to it or not. Eventually she decided she wanted something to cover her window that would just disappear and be cleanable. No small feat for a kitchen space. We added a polyester roller shade that had a linen like texture, but was actually wipeable for cleaning with a lightly dampened cloth. It really added more of a finish than I could have thought.

The Guest Bedroom

This is the room that started this whole project, but ended up being one of the last things to go in. This is the bedroom her adult daughters sleep in when they come home to visit. She wanted it done nicely so they had a nice place to come home to. If that isn’t adorable, I don’t know what is. She had a lot of different things already happening in this room, a patterned rug (so pretty though), painted furniture, and covered window seat (not shown), and we just needed something to anchor the space. I again suggested cream matelasses for the bed (my general love and go to for building a beautiful bedroom), and then I wanted to incorporate a small pattern to show some intention with everything going on in the room. I find that when you start working with just large solid blocks and big patterns it can make a space look less thought through. The owner was a little nervous about throwing another pattern in the mix, but I convinced her to do a small animal print in a soft taupe to help bring the space together. Our compromise was a solid taupe linen for the bedskirts, with the animal print as a small accent pillow on each bed. This room was installed the day before her daughters arrived and she let me know that they took notice of the update and really enjoyed it! Win!

Thus completes our tour of this home! It was such a joy getting to work on this space and see it come back to life over the past year.