A New Coat Of Paint

When Paula asked me to come help her with her kitchen paint colors I gladly accepted! Not only is she a sweet friend but I had been admiring her home from afar on Two Ellie (look for a guest post from her in the coming weeks). Here is the before:She wanted a change for the cabinets and what a difference a little paint makes...
Lately I can't get away from darker bottom cabinets paired with lighter top cabinets (you will be seeing more soon)...
Another thing I have been loving lately is the Essentials-Black, White, Gray Area in the Sherwin Williams deck. In particular these colors....
Being a long time gray lover I can't tell you how many colors I have tried over the years trying to find a gray that didn't go too blue or brown. My search ended here. The grays and the browns are so versitile, love love love.

For more information on Paula's redo visit her here.

Client Before & After - Kitchen

In an effort to show more of my work I am trying to be better about taking pictures once projects are finished. So, I wanted to show you a kitchen I did recently that I love. Simple, clean, neat, the way I like a kitchen. It started out like this though...And here it is now...**I know I always say this but I do think it is important to say again- remember these pictures are from my camera, not a professional, and the room is not styled**Love this linen chair with a hint of color on the frame...
There are a lot of things I love about this kitchen but the metal drum fixture is definitely near the top.
The custom built table and stools are another thing that I LOVE LOVE LOVE and that is good news since they were a labor of love (more on that and the detailing of the table finish later in another post)...
And surprisingly the simple natural roman shade is also high on my list. In person it is a beautiful yet simple weave and I think it really summarizes the feel of the rest of the kitchen.
One more look...

Client Before & After

I get requests to see client before and afters but the problem is getting a project completely finished, then getting back over there to take proper pictures. Well, these pictures are from a clients house who is also a friend. She sent me before pictures and while I was over there recently I took some after pictures. ALTHOUGH I must say this is still a work in progress and these pictures are not styled, they were taken by me on a random day and not by a professional. I make the point to say this because we are so used to seeing homes in magazines and on blogs that are professionally styled and shot and that makes a difference. Anyhoo, here are the before of the dining room and living room....And here is where we are now with both.....
When looking back through the pictures I realized the majority of pictures I take are crooked.
I really do love this house and I love what we have done so far. I don't have time right now to give all the details but I loved this light fixture forever from Z Gallerie and when she said she would use it I was thrilled. It makes me happy every time I look at it...
For the dining room we are on the lookout for an upholstered tall bench. We have some options but if you know of any that are a great price let me know!
I had to throw this poster in. It was designed for a cookout a friend had last year. I am obsessed, I think they are so cool. I have been promised one so I will let you know where it lands in my home.

I have loved working on this house with a great friend and although we are not completely finished yet I must say using such fun pieces has been wonderful.

A Playful Project

One of my goals for the end of the year was to take pictures of the projects I worked on in 2009. Unfortunately and fortunately the end of the year was busier than usual and that goal will have to carry on for a while. I did however get to take some shots from a very fun project, a playroom for a wonderful family. ***These are not professional shots, I took them so please excuse the lighting, blurriness, spots, reflections and general lack of photo quality***
We started out by adding the stripes to the walls. The space was so big I wanted to bring it in some- I wanted it to be cozier but in an interesting way. By painting stripes on the two long parallel walls we were able to make a big effect without having to paint the whole room which would have been costly.
Different art was considered as options for the walls but instead we chose to do blown up photos in bright painted frames. The piece of furniture above is a reproduction ice chest which I thought gave a little character to the space.
We tied the colors together in the pillows, this large monogram pillow was one of my favorites.
Since the room featured a large animal head above the TV we added our own version on the opposite wall for some humor.
(Once again sorry for the poor photos)
The light above the pool table and the table below were custom made, it was nice to add a different texture to the room.
There are a lot of special elements to the room but one that I really like the most is this table. A game table was a must but I wanted it to be special and this one is gorgeous. The finish is amazing and I love it next to the barley twist chairs and geometric prints.
*I promise more project pictures to follow but bear with me , it may take some time to go back and get pictures that are decent
**If you live around Birmingham and need a good painted I can give the guys information who painted these stripes for us. I know at first when I gave him my drawing with measurements he must have thought I was crazy but he did a perfect job with parallel stripes on very long walls.