Flowers for a princess, new pillows and my temporary office

I took a friend to lunch at the Grand Central Market in Los Angeles yesterday (now that is a post in itself!!!) and on the way I stopped in at the flower mart to pick up some flowers ...

 

Because this little princess is turning three on Saturday and she is having a little bash.

Don't you wish you had natural ringlets like this?

I made some sweet arrangements to go on the dining tables ...

 And there will be plenty of cupcakes.

My youngest daughter (she is such a good auntie!) is taking out all the green sprinkles to get ready to decorate them. No green sprinkles allowed ... this party is all pink!

 And speaking of pink, I have a new pillow order I am working on.

 The fabrics are from Duralee, Pindler and Kravet. They will be going in this room:

I presented the first inspiration board (you can see it here) with orange accents and the client asked for pink instead. The teal ottoman was her favorite, but it was just a conceptual piece that I had found on Olioboard. But today, it showed up on my Facebook page saying I might be interested to know that it was being sold on One King's Lane. For $369. Nice! (Scary that my research is being tracked, but it was quite convenient!)

Elliot Velvet Cocktail Ottoman | One King's Lane

Arden Charcoal Rug | Lulu & Georgia

The rug is on its way, the media cabinet is installed, and this lamp is on it's way:

Navaeh Turquoise Lamp | Lulu & Georgia

Progress always makes me smile. Another thing I am smiling about is that we have a house full of kids right now. One is staying for a while and the others are visiting. To make room, we needed to make a few adjustments and so temporarily I moved my office out into the living room. It is not permanent, but it works for now. 

In fact, it is kind of fun being out in the middle of everything ...

And the view is great! Have a happy weekend everyone! 

3 great things

I see a lot of great things while I am shopping for clients. Some I can resist and some I can't. Here are a few that caught my eye today:

A teal zipper ... just for fun:

The Pillow Studio Shop | Etsy | $70

Color your storage:

Shop Blue Chest | CB2 | $399

Wake up your walls:

Britt Bass Turner | $300

3 great things. Happy Wednesday everyone!

Colorful pillows and painted furniture

I spent part of the day working on a couple of new projects ... 

This was a quick inspiration board for a darling young family that needs some color added to their family room. I like to give a client a general idea (and a good visual) of the direction I am going before I spend to much time specifying individual pieces. For this room we will be adding a media cabinet, ottoman coffee table, side table, a large area rug and lamps and pillows.  I am using the charcoal rug to tie in with their new kitchen's subway tile. 

I also shopped Etsy for some pillows for another young family that I am helping long distance ...

Kassapanola | Etsy

Motif Pillows | Etsy

I love this Chiang Mai Dragon fabric by Schumacher. I found it in a couple of shops ...

The Pillow Studio Shop | Etsy

AriannaBelle | Etsy

For $40 this pillow in Celerie Kemble's Bleecker (Peacock) is a better price than I could do myself if I picked up the fabric and had the pillow made. One thing you want to make sure when ordering a pillow cover on Etsy though, is to check to see if the fabric is on both the front and the back of the pillow. Often they put a plain white fabric on the back. I don't mind that look sometimes, but for the pillow above, I would want the fabric to be the same on both sides. Some shops will give you a choice. You can also change the size of the pillow. I generally use a 20" pillow. You will want to get a down insert that is 2" larger than the cover. 

Pediatric Clinic Project | 2011

The colorful pillows will go in a family room with a plain brown sofa that needs some livening up. We are going to add some Ikea Ribba frames in white (like I used in the pediatric clinic) behind the sofa to add some lightness and tie in their white mantle across the room. 

Young House Love

John and Sherry from Young House Love put the Ikea frames over their sofa too. My client will put photographs of her young children in the frames. They are on a tight budget and these few pieces will make a big difference in the room for a small amount of money. 

And speaking of color ... have you been to HomeGoods lately?

They had two of these orange cabinets. Please someone call me and let me design a room around those!

It took everything I had to resist these barstools. Well, it helped that I had no place to put them. 

Felix Barstools | Crate and Barrel | $129

They reminded me of these from Crate and Barrel and honestly, I like the $79 HomeGoods stools better.

And this Blue and White umbrella stand is a beauty. I can see it in Mary Ann's new San Francisco home, can't you?

A few projects I am working on

I am working on a number of projects right now - some small and some not so small ... 

One of the projects is a re-design of a master bedroom I did 8 years ago. How is it that eight years seems like three? The bedding was starting to look worn and the client was ready for something new. She had already purchased all white bedding (can you see my big smile?) and was hoping bring new life to the room. We will be keeping the bed, replacing a matching armoire with a new dresser, adding a floor mirror and area rug and replacing/changing around some lighting. Here is the bed currently:

The bedroom "before"

Playing around with new bedding ideas ...

The client has a fantastic zebra bench at the foot of the bed - part of Drexel Heritage's Postobello collection that has been discontinued since we purchased it. It is still one of our favorite things in the room. We decided to move the bench to the side wall and place a large floor mirror behind it. We are removing an armoire that was on the side wall and replacing it with a dresser that will go under a television that is on the wall in front of the bed. It will give more storage (and better storage - it has some small jewelry drawers) and will allow more room on the side of the bed. Moving the bench makes room for the new dresser. 

Dresser by Lexington

Drexel Heritage - Postobello Home Collection - discontinued

We will be adding this gorgeous new rug ...

Ikat rug from Barclay Butera

And removing the beautiful chandelier for a ceiling fan - a very hard thing to do because we love the light fixture but they need a fan. Fortunately I was able to find a fan that the client liked and compliments the room design:

Ceiling fan by Rejuvenation

We will be adding a couple of new side table lamps, a floor lamp (to make up for the lost chandelier) and some new pillows. 

Another project I am in the middle of is a family room remodel. I am in the process of designing a new media cabinet while we wait for new french doors to be installed and some light construction to be completed. It is a slow moving project ... but I did get the new pillows delivered last week ...

Arden Rug, Lulu & Georgia

And a new rug and coffee table ottoman will be delivered soon.

Wing Chair before

 In between I helped a darling lady with some small re-upholstery items and a new area rug.

Pindler | Benisa Rouge | no longer available

All brightened up with a new Pindler fabric and a fresh new rug (that you can barely see).

And wedding season is finally here ... I am working on three weddings right now ... This is the beginning of one. 

A thoughtful gift

My birthday was last month and my sweet and always-so-thoughtful daughters gave me a gift card to Etsy. What a great gift idea ...

I had no idea what I would use it for until one day last week when I came upon Emily's Etsy shop ...

Color Study # 10 Emily Rickard | Etsy Shop

Thanks girls! I love it!

 

 Did you notice anything else new?

I found a pillow at HomeGoods that had my name on it. I had it in my office for a while but it kept moving.

I'm loving the burst of color in my white room.

We are having some much needed rain these next few days ...  I think I will sit in here and read a good book. Hope you have a great weekend too!