Design Destination: Neutral Rooms

Lately, I have been browsing through my inspiration files as I have been working on client projects and gathering ideas for my new home. I noticed that many of the spaces in my family room inspiration file are neutral. It's true, I love a well planned room with a neutral palette. The family room in my current home has a very neutral background with small punches of color dispersed throughout. Neutral rooms evoke such a calm and fresh feeling. And while neutral may be boring to some, a neutral room done with the right mix of textures and tones is anything but. Here are a few examples of neutral rooms that get it right!

traditional living room design by orange county design-build Spinnaker Development

contemporary family room design by atlanta interior designer Brian Watford ID

contemporary family room design by atlanta interior designer Valerie DeRoy Interiors, LLC

modern family room design by dallas design-build Ellen Grasso Inc

contemporary living room design by new york interior designer MuseInteriors

So what about you? Would you live with a neutral room or do you live and die for bold color?

Client Project: Traditional Den - Design Board

Last week I shared with you the "before" pictures of a den/home office I am currently redesigning for a local client. As I mentioned, she was excited by the green cabinetry she saw in her sister-in-laws new home and wanted to incorporate them into her own space. So all of the existing built ins will be painted a gorgeous sage color. Her style is very traditional. I wanted to make sure my design was in keeping with her style, but felt updated and fresh. I asked her to show me some pictures of spaces she was drawn to, and it was clear that she loved spaces with a neutral palette and soft touches of color. Here is the design board I came up with for her office...

The wallpaper has an ivory background with a subtle gold floral motif going through it. It is so beautiful in person. We will also bring in a bit more color when we accessorize the built in shelving. I am happy to say that my client loved the design board. The painting of the walls and cabinetry will begin in the next week. I'll keep you posted on the progress!

The Perfect Pair

As I mentioned in my last post, last Friday evening, a couple of my friends and I hosted a little get together for our cute friend, Melanie, who had twins just over two weeks ago. She had a boy and a girl and they are pretty much the sweetest little people you will ever see. We had so much fun putting this shower together. We used the theme of "The Perfect Pair", and incorporated the colors Melanie used to decorate the babies' nursery, hot pink and navy.

I made the banner with my mother in law's Cricut machine.

Cute balloon towers made by my friend and co-host, Rachel.

Jeni, made these darling utensil holders!

Cake pops

Customized water bottle labels

Pear shaped sugar cookies

Since it was an intimate gathering, we opted to do a dinner. Rachel made these individual chicken pot pies, complete with pear shaped puff pastry on top!

My cute co-hosts!

 Me with the Melanie

The sweetest twins ever!

The twins are actually children 4 & 5 for Melanie and her husband! They were a welcomed surprise to their family! We all had such a great time celebrating Melanie (she carried the babies to 38 weeks!) and the twins. It was so fun to throw a shower of sorts, because most of my friends are at the point where they are done adding to their families. Now, I can focus on planning my daughter's 8th Birthday party, her Baptism and Easter, all of which will take place next week! 

Online Fabric Sources

Like most designers, I am obsessed with fabric. Truly, I hoard it. I have yards of fabric sitting in my storage room with no particular place to use it. I see it, fall in love with it and then buy a few yards hoping that one day I will find a use for it in my own home or that I will find the perfect client project to dig into my stash. It is kind of a sickness, but I own every bit of it! :)

I often get asked about online fabric sources from people who don't live in major metropolitan areas and don't have access to fabric showrooms. So I decided to share with all of you a short list of some of my go to fabric sources on the web.

1.  Fabric.com

Fabric. com carries fabric for everything from fashion to upholstery. With fabulous price points and coupons readily available on the web, this site is a dream for the budget conscious. Check out this pretty quilting fabric that can easily be used to make some fun pillows. At $8.98 a yard, you can afford to switch out your pillows with every season!

Annette Tatum Boho Medallion Orange

2.  Lewis and Sheron Fabrics

Lewis and Sheron is one of my favorite resources when working on client projects. They have an amazing selection of fabric at very reasonable price points. I have ordered from them numerous times and have never been disappointed with the quality of the products or service. You can order fabric samples from them for $2.50 each and the samples are big...not just a tiny little swatch. Another reason to love Lewis and Sheron is their selection of trim. It is fabulous. Have you been looking for the ever popular Greek Key trim? You can find it here!

Athena Tape Blue

3. Decorators Best

Decorators Best is a great fabric resource for those looking for high end designer fabrics. Decorators Best also has an amazing selection of designer wallpaper from the likes of Scalamndre and Osborne & Little. The price points can get a bit lofty, but if you've been looking to add a little bit of Imperial Trellis to your home, here is where you can find it. And in the Raspberry color - way...yes please!

Imperial Trellis - Raspberry

Like I said, this is a small portion of the many online fabric resources I use. I'll share some more in another post. Right now I've got to finish making water bottle labels for a baby shower I am helping host tonight for one of my dearest friends who just had twins...a boy and a girl. I'll share pictures from it on Monday! Have a very happy weekend everyone!

Local Client: Going Green

Last week I met with a lovely local client who has asked me to help her update her home office/den. She has a beautiful home, but after 17 years, she is ready for a major update. My client wants to lighten and brighten the space and give it a fresh new look. Here is what it currently looks like.

As you can see, her office has gorgeous built in cabinetry, but the golden oak finish is definitely dating it. We have decided to have the cabinetry professionally painted, but instead of going white or cream, we have decided to have it painted a beautiful hue of green. My client recently visited her sister-in-law, who had installed green cabinets in her new home. She immediately fell in love with them and knew she wanted to incorporate green cabinets into her ow home. I am so excited about this! We plan on making the cabinetry pop by painting the walls a soft, neutral linen color. We still have not picked out the exact color the cabinets will be painted, but we are well on a way to selecting a general color palette for the office. I'm excited to update you on this project as it progresses. Until then, here are some inspiration images of gorgeous green cabinetry...

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What do you think? Are you a fan of green cabinetry?

Paint Colors in My Home

I have had quite a few requests to share the paint colors in my home. Sorry it has taken me so long to get them to you all, but honestly, I had to go digging for the paint cans in the storage room to get the exact brands and colors. For those of you that have asked and have been patiently waiting for me to answer, here they are...finally!

Family Room and Kitchen

Crisp Khaki by Kwal Howell

Kitchen Cabinets are painted Balsa by Pratt & Lambert

Dining Room

Simple Gray by Valspar (Lowes)

Master Bedroom

Serenity by Olympic @ 50% (Lowes)

There you have it! Do you have any fun plans for the weekend? We will be spending the weekend trying to purge and pack...good times!

My Kids' Rooms and NEWS!

Thank you for all of the well wishes on my little television gig. I had a wonderful time doing it, even though most of the time I felt completely out of my element. I was told that the show with my segment in it will air next week! I am both excited and a little leery about seeing myself on TV! 

I have shared so many of the rooms in my home with all of you, but I have yet to let you peek into the rooms where my cute kiddos lay their pretty little heads at night...until now. I had planned on completely making over my two girls' rooms this year and had also planned on giving my little guy's room an update when he transitioned into a big boy bed. Now that we are selling our house, those plans have completely gone out the window, so I thought it would be fun to show you their rooms as they look now. Please forgive the quality of the pictures. I took these with my point and shoot camera a few months ago and quite frankly, I'm feeling too lazy to get out my new DSLR to take some better shots! Sorry! 

I'm already dreaming about design plans for my kids' rooms in our new home! Yes, that's right! We are officially moving! We accepted an offer on our home last week and put an offer in on a new home that was accepted the next day! We always thought we would build again, but a few weeks ago my hubby and I found a house that we both fell in love with. We walked through it and felt, almost immediately, that it was meant for us. We decided to put our house up for sale that night. Does that sound crazy? I'm still in a fog from it all, but we are incredibly grateful and excited. It has all happened so quickly! So much faster then I could have ever anticipated. We realize that both the sale of this home and the purchase of the new house are not done deals until after all the papers are signed, but we are cautiously optimistic. Everything seems to be falling into place and we feel as though we have found the place and the home where the Lord wants our family to be. If all goes as planned, we will be moving into our new home at the end of April. We have lots of purging and packing to do. I can't wait to share some pictures of our new house with you and, better yet, share the progress we make while we turn our new house into our home sweet home! 

Do you have any new or exciting news to share? I would love to hear about it!

Studio 5 Appearance!

Hello everyone! I hope you all had a wonderful weekend. A few weeks ago I was contacted and asked to participate in a really fun project for one of Utah's morning lifestyle shows, Studio 5. KSL Channel 5 is our local NBC affiliate and they asked me to be involved in a design related segment for an upcoming episode of Studio 5. I am headed down to the KSL studios today to tape the segment. I am so excited to be a part of this show and project. I'm not sure if I can divulge all the details, but these inspirational pictures below, will give you a good idea of what I'll be doing!

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This is such a fun opportunity! I am kind of nervous about the whole thing. Wish me luck! I'll try to post a video of the segment once it airs!

Guest Posting at Michaela Noelle Designs

I am so happy to be taking part in the "She Loves Me, She Loves Me Not," series at Michaela Noelle Designs today. I love this series and am very excited that Michaela asked me to be a part of it! Hop on over to her blog to see what is currently making me really happy, and the things that I'm not really loving at the moment!

The Midas Touch

Hello Everyone! I hope you all had a fantastic weekend. I wanted to start my post today by expressing my gratitude to all of you who have shown your support to me and my family as we try to sell our home. Your prayers, words of encouragement, advice and sincere wishes have lifted me in ways you could never imagine. You are appreciated more than you will ever know! From the bottom of my heart and with the utmost sincerity, I thank you!

Now on to the rest of today's post...

I am a girl who loves shiny and sparkly things. I love the heir of sophistication that metallics, glass and crystal can add to most any space. So, as you could imagine, I am almost giddy over the trend of adding brassy and gold elements into designed spaces. One of the things that I am loving the most, is that this trend is so accessible. Look at what some of my uber talented blogging friends were able to create with a vision and a can of spray paint...

This fabulous little number cost Courtney less than $20.00

DIY Brass Side Table by A Thoughtful Place

How darling is Amanda's boot vase? The brassy paint definitely glams it up!

Brass Boot Vase from Amanda Carol at Home

Cassie's Brass Figurines have me wanting to take a can of brass spray paint to every plastic animal is my kids' toy closet!

DIY Brass Figurines from Hi Sugarplum

A small touch of gold can go a long way. Just look at Kate's creation. The gold Overlay accent turns an ordinary pedestal table into and eye catching piece!

Overlays Pedestal Table from Centsational Girl

Are you loving this trend as much as I am? If there is a brass spray paint project in your future, I'd love to see/hear about it!