Local Client Progress...The Power of Paint

Sorry that blogging had been so sparse lately. I am busy trying to finish up client projects before the Holidays are in full swing. The good news is, there will be plenty for me to share with you on the blog once they are all complete!

Today I wanted to show you the progress on the kitchen of one of my local clients. When they purchased this home, they knew that one of the first things that had to change was the kitchen. Although the cabinetry was beautiful, the dark cherry wood cabinets, the cherry wood floors and rather unsightly dark wallpaper, all made the space feel a little dreary. The first item on the list... to have the cabinets painted. They were painted a creamy off-white and then given a light glaze to match the glaze already on the green painted island (which did not get new paint).

Here is what the kitchen looked like with the original cabinets...

And now, with the new painted cabinets...

The power of paint is incredible. As you can see, the wallpaper has also been stripped. The kitchen already looks completely different. It is so much more fresh and bright. The kitchen will also be getting some new backsplash tile and a new wall paint color. Now that the cabinets have been painted, they blend in with the walls. A new wall color will be going up to provide the contrast that will help the cabinets stand out a bit more. 

There is soooooo much more going on in this project. The homeowners love white woodwork as much as I do and there is a boat load of it being installed as we speak! Like I said, there is going to be lots to share with you soon! 

Local Client Progress - Walls of Wood

I have the opportunity to work with some local clients who just moved into their newly built home. This has been a dream project for me.  When my clients contacted me to help them with the design of multiple rooms in their home, they mentioned that I would be working from a clean slate. They are using almost nothing from their previous house to furnish and decorate the main floor of their new two-story home. I might have done a little happy dance when I heard that! :)  We have already selected the fabrics, furniture, artwork and accessories for the spaces, but the first order of business was to add some drama to the family room area. You all know about my love affair with white woodwork. Specifically, walls full of woodwork, like this board and batten wall in my own home. So naturally, we added some to the space...in a BIG way! We had two walls covered in floor to ceiling tongue and groove wood panels! Once again, the picture below will demonstrate exactly why I am such a huge fan of woodwork.

BEFORE:

AFTER:

Ah-mazing! Right? Without adding any furniture or anything else to the room, the woodwork makes the room feel so much more light and bright. I'm so happy my clients decided to take the plunge and add this element to their family room. The space is now ready to be further transformed! I'll definitely be sharing more pictures of this project after the install is complete.

E-Design Giveaway Winner!

Thank you to all of you who entered my E-Design Giveaway. The winner is.... KARA!

Kara said...

"I would love to win an e-design, we just bought a new home and I would love help with the new family room. I love checking out your blog with all your great decorating ideas."

Congratulations! I am so excited to help you with your family room in your new home! E-mail me @ thefamilyroomdesign@gmail.com so we can get started!

PS - I used randomnumbergenerator.org to pick the winner, but couldn't figure out how to post the picture of it!!

West Elm City Creek Pre-Opening Event

West Elm has finally made its way to Utah and I couldn't be more excited! They have opened a store in the fabulous City Creek Center in Salt Lake City. The store officially opens to the public today, but I was lucky enough to score an invite to the Pre-Opening Event last night. So, I gathered a few of my favorite girls, and off we went for some fun, food and tons of West Elm eye candy!

I didn't snap nearly as many pictures as I would have liked to. I was too busy mingling and checking out the merchandise, but here are few from the event that I did manage to take...

I loved all of the pillows and mercury glass in this display. West Elm is bringing back mercury glass in a big way this fall/winter.

A beautiful tablescape with mercury glass and gold accents. The gold flatware is on my current wish list.

I loved this ottoman and the large silver tray.

These colored vases are gorgeous in person. I might have picked up an assortment of 4 of them for myself. :)

 This wood honeycomb wall art is a focal point in the store and hangs behind the checkout counter.

Me and my girls posing with the West Elm hearts at the event's photo booth. 

It was such a fun night. The store is absolutely gorgeous! I was so impressed with all of the displays. If I had unlimited funds, I would've walked out of there with a truck load of goodies. I did manage to bring home a couple of lovely items, including the colored vases pictured above, as well as a hanging deer head for my son's room. I even picked up a few items for clients. I am so happy that West Elm is finally in Utah. The catalogs and online images do not do most of the items in the store justice. Seeing everything in person made me love West Elm even more. What about you? Do you love West Elm as much as I do?

PS - Thank you to everyone for their sweet comments on my Anniversary Post, and to those of you that have already entered my E-Design Giveaway. If you haven't entered yet, this is the last day to enter. The winner will be posted tomorrow. :)

Quick Change...Framed Paper and a Peak at my New Basement

One of the things our new home had no shortage of is built in shelving. It was one of the things that I loved so much about this home the first time I saw it. Lately, I have been trying to fill and style the shelving surrounding our basement fireplace. The shelving is a gorgeous bright white. While I absolutely adore the clean and fresh look of it, I wanted to infuse the shelving with a bit of color. I love the idea of framing beautiful paper and using it as artwork. When I found this paper on Paper Mojo, I knew it would be perfect.

I cut the paper to fit into the white 12 x 12 frames I bought at a local craft store and added them to the shelves.

 Here is a little peak of our basement fireplace and surrounding shelving. I am still working to get it all accessorized, but I am happy with the progress I have made so far. Also, you may notice that I have re-used most of the decor from the family room in my last home, here. 

 The ceilings in our new basement are 12 feet in height and it is completely day-lit. When we walked downstairs for the first time, we gasped, and then my husband said, "This is our house." All three of the kids bedrooms are in the basement, and we loved that it felt like another family room for them to hang out and play in. More of the basement to come...soon, I promise.

One Year "Blogiversary' and a Giveaway

One year ago today, I published my first post for this blog. I am in disbelief that it has been a year. There are times when it feels like I have been at this for so much longer, but mostly I feel like my blog and my business are still in their infancy. I am still learning to balance this blog, my design business and my family, but I feel blessed to have even had the opportunity to try to manage it over this past year. Starting this blog was one of the scariest things I have ever done. I thought about it for years, never having the confidence to pull the trigger. I was afraid of what people would think and say. I was afraid that no one would care enough about what I had to say and share to even read the blog. I was afraid of failing and letting myself down. Thanks to the gentle, yet persistent, prodding of my amazing husband and a few close friends, I was convinced to take the plunge. The result has exceeded my expectations. I have enjoyed blogging so much more than I thought I would, mainly due to the people I have met through this blog. I have made many associations with fellow bloggers and blog readers that I truly cherish. I am amazed at how I feel completely connected to people I have never met in person. You have all proven to me that there is not only a wealth of talent in the blogsphere, but also so much goodness. I am a firm believer that there is enough room out there for everyone to share their talents and be successful. The support I have received from fellow bloggers has been tremendous and has lifted me up over and over again. I have tried to pay those kind acts forward and will continue to do so in my blogging days that lie ahead.

I wish I could say that all of the fear is gone, but it's not. I still get scared and stressed out, but mostly, this blog has brought me immense joy. The fact is that because I started this blog and because YOU, my wonderful readers and fellow blogging friends, have supported me over this last year, I have the opportunity to do what I have loved for so long. Interior design is my passion and being able to participate in the thing you are passionate about is an immeasurable blessing. So I want to say "Thank You" to all of you. To everyone of you that has ever visited my blog and left a comment, or not :). To all of my clients, who have put their faith in me and my abilities and have entrusted me with something that is so important...your homes. I say "Thank You" to you. I am committed to keeping this little blog going and hopefully watching it grow. I hope you will continue on with me and forgive me for any missteps I will surely make along the way. I know you will, because you are just plain wonderful like that. :)

To celebrate my One Year "Blogiversary," and to show all of you just how grateful I am for your support, I am giving away an E-Design to one of my readers! All you have to do is:

1. Become a follower of my blog...if you currently are not.

2. Leave me a comment on this post telling me which room you would like an E-Design for.

3. For an extra entry, you can share this giveaway on Facebook, Twitter, etc. Just leave me a comment saying you did so.

That's it! I'll select and post the winner next Friday, October 12th.

Here is the Design Board I put together  for the winner of my last E-Design Giveaway...

Thank you again for all of your kindness and support. It means the world to me and I sincerely appreciate you all so much! I hope you all have and enjoyable weekend!

PS - Thanks to Sarah, otherwise known as the Thrifty Decor Chick, for featuring my new family room last week!

Going Green...The "After"

Earlier this year, I posted about a local client who wanted to freshen up her home office. She knew she wanted to update her built in cabinetry by having it painted green. Here is what her office looked like before...

And here is what it looks like now...

We had the cabinets painted and changed out the hardware. We also added some pretty wallpaper to the space to give this traditional room a more current feel. Her office feels so light and fresh now, but it still holds true to the style she loves and has throughout the rest of her home.

Also, a big thank you to my beautiful friend and amazing photographer, Paige Davis of Paige Davis Photography, who has taken on the task of photographing my local client work. Not only is she crazy talented, but she is pretty much one of the sweetest people you will ever meet. I currently have 4 projects I am finishing up. Paige will be photographing these spaces over the next couple of months. I am excited to share them with you. If you are local to Salt Lake and are looking for someone to take your family photos, Paige is your girl. She has taken our family photos as well as Miss M's Baptism pictures, which I absolutely cherish. You can check Paige and her gorgeous work out, here.

I hope you are all off to a great week!