Monday, May 26, 2014

A Paint and Wallpaper Update for Project Wowzers, Which Will Now Be Called Project Greenbay

As you know, I’ve been working on putting design plans together for a 7,000 square foot house just outside of Chicago.

I’m doing this all remotely, though I will be making a few trips down to present fabric plans and help with installs/measuring etc.

This is a HUGE job for me…one that I’m still pinching myself about…partly because my clients are just so incredibly awesome…through countless email exchanges, I’ve developed a real bond with them and want more than anything to help give them the house of their sugar plum dreams. It’s also most certainly my largest job to date and there’s something about being trusted with an entire house that’s both terrifying and ridiculously exhilarating.

The time frame for this job has sort of been warp speed…we selected paint and wallpaper for every room in a week and though we’ve made some changes here and there, those selections have stuck.

Next up was lighting, I think I sourced over 100 fixtures, including more vintage numbers than you can shake a stick at…and if this latest acquisition is any clue…

…I think it’s probably safe to say this project is my dream job.

And now we’re moving to furniture, art and fabric selections. My clients pulled a ‘sell it all and start over’ move that I did before re-doing my home so we’re starting fresh here…almost everything is going to be new and trust me when I tell you, that means we have a lot of things to source/buy.

So far, I’ve completed design plans for the playroom, family room, office, foyer, kitchen, dining room, living room and son’s bedroom…we have library, 2 girl’s bedroom and master left to go.

I’ll be travelling down there in two weeks to lay out my fabric schemes and to get a real feel for the room sizes and layout…I literally can’t wait. Up until a few days ago, I had only seen thumbnail images of the progress and after seeing full size shots, well let’s just say, I’m more than a little inspired to get phase 3 rolling.

So with that said, here’s a peek at the progress of ~~Project Wowzers~~ / Project Greenbay with a sidenote on the label…I’m honestly having a hard time keeping track of what I’ve named the places I’m working on so from now, I’m going profesh and just calling them by their location name…so wowzers is now #projectgreenbay.

Anyhoo…here she is…

The Mainfloor-

1. Foyer…that right there is a hand painted mural my friends…

2. Stair room…which will soon see a little leopard runner action…

3. Library… lacquered in Farrow and Ball Pigeon…

…with a vintage emerald green leather couch and some pretty fantastic fabric making this all come together…

4. Living Room…fireplace is going charcoal, with walls in BM Simply White…

5. Formal Powder…done in FB Pink Ground…

6. Family Room…lacquered in FB Hague Blue…

7. Playroom…trim in BM Dark Harbor with Grow House Grow ‘In the Bathhouse’ wallpaper to be added on all walls…

8. Kitchen…cabinets colour matched to FB Lamp Room Grey…doors of pantry will be in antiqued mirror and floating brass and brass shelves will be added to bar wall…

…so that these sort of ideas come to life…

9. Dining Room…trim painted in FB Off Black with Thibault ‘Tanzania’ wallpaper to be added in black and white colourway…

…which will hopefully come together in this direction…oh and we’ve decided on navy leather for the chairs…

And that wraps up floor one, with the exception of the mudroom and kid’s powder…the later is getting bathed in Designer’s Guild Orangerie and the mudroom will see some famous Scalamadre Zebra action in the silver colourway.

Second Floor-

1. Upstairs Hallway…BM Simply White and we’ll line it in black and white photography…

2. Little Girls’ Bedroom…wallpapered in Nina Campbell Paradiso with trim in FB Pink Ground…

…and that amazing pink wedding cake chandy, who happens to have fallen in love with a vintage murano floral mumber…

3. Big Girls Room…painted in FB Calamine…the ensuite will be papered in Ellie Cashman Rose Decay…

4. Son’s Bedroom…FB Hague Blue…

…with ensuite in my new most favourite colour, FB Lulworth…

5. Office….Benjamim Moore Irish Mint…

6. Guest Bedroom…this space will be wallpapered in Osborne and Little Flamingos, in the silver/grey/white colourway…

…with ensuite trim and millwork in FB Railings…and walls in FB Chantilly Lace…

…to end up like this…

7. Laundry Room…FB Drawing Room Blue…a blue and white chinoiserie wallpaper will also be added on the walls…

8. Master Bedroom…walls will be covered in Philip Jeffries grasscloth with ensuite wallpapered in Flat Vernacular Hydrangea…

…the lighting/mirror plan for the bathroom is looking like this…

All of which, makes me VERY VERY happy.

I’ll be sharing more progress as it happens and will be taking many, many pictures when I’m up there in a few weeks.

Stay tuned as it were.

Friday, May 23, 2014

Blogger Ladies Whose Work is Rocking My Casbah This Week #3…and My Cards

There’s some work floating around the webs that just HAS to be shared.

1. I’ll start things off on a personal note….my graphic designer/brand maker extraordinaire Erika Brechtel proved her genius, thanks to delivery of these babies…

Needless to say, I’m pseudo obsessed and am going to be slutting them around to whoever will take one:)

Erika Brechtel Brand Stylist = amazing. Czar Press Print Shop= amazing.

(Also, a huge thanks to Citizen Atelier for the referral to the print shop!)

2. Numero uno leads me to dos…

When I opened up my box of cards, there was one of someone else’s included…the printer wanted to show me an edge option so sent it along…imagine my great happiness when I looked at the beautiful card belonging to J. Marx Atelier and then linked over to her stunning portfolio to find a whole lot of this kind of thing…

Consider my house rocked Ms. Marx.

3. Did you see Alex’s feature in Style Me Pretty Living? Hellloooo bold fabulousity…

That office makes me want a small room with wall to wall bookcases and paneling everywhere in a large and in charge way.

4. And finally, I know you all were blown out of the water and all the way to Egypt with the reveal of Fieldstone Hill’s nursery…I mean stop it with this layered, eclectic prettiness…

That Georgia Lu is one lucky little lady!

5. And finally, full circle and back to moi with this post. I rocked my own world by FINALLY making some progress on my master bedroom.

I’ve literally never shown pictures of this part of my house before becuase honestly, our bedroom has always been a total and complete tip…my good friend Hollie can attest to this…she’s seen the horror in person.

Anyhoo…a few things have got my ass in gear on this front, which I’ll tell you more about later…but for now, here’s a sneaky peeky of what I’ve accomplished in the past little bit, in the form of de-cluttering, painting, art situating and bed fluffing…

There’s lots more to get done but it’s a start;))))

And that my friends, is some good blogging business for this week.

Happy almost weekend…I’m off to the Christie Antique Show tomorrow and literally can. not. wait. Be sure to follow along my Insta feed for the many many ‘god I want to buy this’ moments.

Friday, May 16, 2014

A Diatribe About What I Do…and 4 Project Updates…and Tons of Art = The Longest Post Ever

I’m still amazed when I open my inbox to see a request for my services…I feel so privileged and honoured that people seems to generally like what I’m dishing out. As most of you know, I am not a trained designer…this business of mine has been built on the back of real hard work. My family is not rich…we’re comfortable and we have a very happy life but as you probably know from reading this blog, like everyone, we’ve had our struggles as well.

When I started writing B&B, it was just to give myself a space that was just for me. I had worked as a homeroom and art teacher for 12 years and after the birth of my second child, going back just didn’t make sense financially…so I started to write in my free time…I also started to play around re-decorating my house. And after a few years of doing both, a few of my projects were published, which led to more and more people requesting my design/decorating services. And the more I did that, the more requests I got. Do I feel ashamed that I’m working and have built a business myself, without formal training…absolutely not. I have a few degrees in other areas and have quite a large background in art and art history…but not in interior design. For this reason, I don’t call myself an interior designer because technically, I’m not…I am however a designer and a stylist…I feel OK saying that because I’ve been worked at it really hard and honestly, I think I’m pretty OK at it. Am I perfect or do I know everything about everything there is to know about design? Of course not. But does having a degree in interior design automatically = perfection?

This has sort of turned into a bit of a soapbox post but honestly, I’ve just read a few things over the past few days that have despite my best efforts, made me upset…made me question myself.

So to those websites and people who seem to find negativity a sport, I’m going to do my best to pull up my big girl panties and not be interested.

And for people who out there who like what I do and are thinking about hiring, I want you to know a few things:

1. I have never turned down a project…I have had to schedule start dates a few months away but other than that, if you email me and want my help, I’m beyond thrilled to work with you- regardless of budget or scope. I’m very lucky to have had the opportunity to work on some large budget projects and still kick myself whenever someone emails me with photos of homes I could only dream of living in. But…I have also loved the smaller projects because they can challenge the most…in a good way- I just completed a bedroom with a total budget of $2K and for that, we had to purchase a bed, rug, floor lamp, window treatments, artwork, bedside tables, a pair of chairs and an accent table…so long story short, I can definitely work within a budget…and I love to.

2. If you want CAD drawings and renovations drawings, I am not your girl…I’m basically a decorator/furniture selector/art finder/vintage hunter/textile picker/wallpaper and moulding selector…if you want to give your space a makeover and like my ‘style’, then we’re a good fit. I do of course provide layouts and I scale them the old fashioned way…with graph paper and a ruler…I hope to figure out a computer program way to do this better in the next little while but for now, that’s where it is.

3. I think I definitely have a signature style but that by no means that you are pigeon holed into doing one look…with every project, I study my clients inspiration folder extensively and do my best to create exactly what they want…not what I want…what they want…and I very much take into account things like family needs/purpose of the space/livability etc. etc.

4. I will work REALLY HARD to give you what you want…and by that I mean, I won’t not answer you late at night or on the weekend or whenever you need help. I will scour the universe to find you the perfect piece and won’t rely on a common ‘recipe’ for putting a room together.

5. I LOVE what I do…love in a way that makes me very passionate about it and makes my laptop sort of an appendage of sorts…I work at this in every minute I have free…blog posts get written from 6-8 am, while I’m at the kitchen table trying to get my kids homework done, their lunches made and them dressed/out the door. At 8, I drive them to school and then do 3 hours of client work each day from my car office, while the baby is sleeping in the back…I get about another hour in sitting in the middle of the staircase so that my little one can climb up and down while I type/look/research/plan…when the kids get home from school, we spend time together and I try not to work but honestly, I’m failing them a little bit and do still work…dinner is off limits because we have made it that way so we can have an hour of total together time…then it’s bedtime routine and work starts up again at about 7 and goes usually until 10ish. I am SO not alone in this sort of schedule…us working moms all have to juggle this sort of thing and I wouldn’t have it any other way but I will say without a single reservation, that this business of mine has not been handed to me…I have worked really hard to get it to where it is today. All this to say that I promise to love working on your project…even when I’m tired.

6. I love art more than anything and if you work with me, that’s going to likely be a big part of what I want you to purchase…that’s just how it is.

7. I can’t think of a seventh but prefer to end on a 7 rather than a 6 so there it is.

To sum it up, I think there’s room in this business for all different kinds of services and people. I feel really lucky that I get to do something that allows me to be at home and with my family and hopefully turn a profit ( sidenote…my creatively inclined brain means that the business side of things is most definitely not my forte…working on educating myself a great deal more on that side of things)…I am excited about the future, and a bit terrified about it as well to be honest…this whole blog thing definitely does open your life and work up for speculation/criticism but I’m also very keenly aware that it’s opened doors for me that I never dreamed possible…so honestly, I welcome constructive criticism and am so very grateful for the buckets of support and kindness you my readers have shown me through the years. Like in life, not everyone is going to love what you’re about, and I’m sure there a million things I do or say that annoy some of you out there…all I can say is that my intention everyday is to be honest and kind and myself…and I hope that’s what most of you see.

So with that large preach off my chest, here is some of what I’ve been up to lately…

1. Project Wowzers…there’s really so much to show you with this one that I have a hard time wrapping my head around where to even begin. My amazing client has promised some high resolution photos of the progress soon but for now, here’s a little peak at the hand painted mural in the foyer and our plans for what’s going to happen in there…

Plan A looked like this…

And has gone through a few revisions to land at this…

That mural you see peaking out is HAND PAINTED!!! After searching endlessly for the perfect paper, my client and I threw in the towel and thankfully, she had an amazing muralist on speed dial who with was able to take our inspiration and colour selections to town and create the loveliness above.

Along with a foyer plan, we’ve also nailed down the scheme for her son’s room…

…which really centers on the CF Carnival (which will be the headboard,) some amazing fabrics for windows and a bench and most importantly, the ART…a few Citizen Atelier Animaly goodies, along with that amazing Henning Bock piece on the left.

And speaking of art, we’ve nailed down some of that business…

The bottom two are by artist Kim Keever…I just discovered her work thanks to UPLO and their fabulous blog, which I’ve now devouring daily.

You’ll also recognize works from Jenny Andrews Anderson and Nicole Cohen…two of my absolute most favourites.

And a quick side note, a recent blog post from UPLO led me led me to artist Jasmina Cibec…love x a lot…

…thinking one of her pieces should probably happen in a client’s home…or 5.

I do love furniture too though…with this project, we’ve also made a few official selections on that front…

Stay tuned for some actual house progress shots next week.

2. Project Feminine Injection is moving along…my client has officially purchased these chairs and is going to be covering them in….

Pierre Frey Kubus!!!!!!! Be still my designer/decorators/whatever the hell you want to call me ‘s heart.

As for the rest of the room, we’re still hammering out final art selections…debating between injecting some pink with this scenario, courtesy of Citizen Atelier…

Or going more gold, edgy feminine with this lot from Nicole Cohen and Stephanie Vovas…

That right there is one heck of a tough call on my end…that pile of art constitutes some of my absolute all time favourite pieces.

3. I have a brand spanking new project from a local client to introduce…not sure what to call it yet…Project Close to Home perhaps…this client literally lives minutes from me but we’re doing the design work as traditional e-design. My mandate with this one is centered on hourly consultation to help my client find a few key pieces for the living room and dining room in her new house…she wanted a palate of grey with maybe a hint of another colour and asked me to source: a dining table, overhead fixture, rug, pillows, coffee table and island stools…

The plan really started after we sat anxiously waiting for two days to officially find out that these vintage chairs were indeed still available (they were on hold but thank the stars, that buyer ended up not taking them)…

And with those in hand, this is what I came up with for the rest…

The good news continued with my client was able to score the blue rug for a whopping 70% off…it’s like 12′ x 10′ and I think it was $400ish bones…good stuff.

4. I have another new project to introduce…this one is a studio apartment in NYC…not sure what to call it yet either…these project names are getting hard…thinking I’ll stick to street names going forward…probably more professional and such;) Anyhoo…these are the befores…

…and I have to admit that the pink walls almost instantly make me feel like they should be the afters;)

In any case, my client wanted add some architectural detail and lots femininity, using some of the pieces she had but also wanted it not to read too girly.

The plan really centers around adding in the moulding for interest and painting everything out in a pale grey…the long wall of windows will be totally draped in ripple fold curtains that match the wall colour and two zones will hold both a loungy type dining area and a living room for entertaining. And hopefully, if there’s room, I’d love to give the room a real focal point with an antique marble fireplace surround…it would be non-functioning but would give the room a real sense of weight etc.

So that’s where I am right now on the project /super long spiel front.

I’ll be back when I have some other goodness to share…I’d generally rather only post these days when I have something meaningful to say or show you so until then…many thanks for being out there…and reading…and to most of you, for being awesome;)

Wednesday, May 7, 2014

One Room Challenge - THE REVEAL!!!!

It’s time!!! I’m over the moon excited to share with you the room I’ve been working on for the past 6 weeks…and by ‘I’, I really mean a giant huge ‘we’, for there is now way on Holy Dinah’s green Earth that this ~~makeover~~ renovation would ever have come together in such a short time, had it not been for my team…more on those amazing people later.

For now, I want to get right to the pictures, with a quick little reminder of what I had hoped would be the final result….when I started this project, my grandeous dreams centered around the rather fabulous idea of creating an elegant and refined room befitting of my client’s amazing square grand piano…soaked in history and huge in both scale and presence, I knew that I needed to design a space that would allow the piano to take center stage but also give the rest of the room some sort of purpose…and of course, I wanted the place to be pretty…and by pretty, I mean: modern, layered, edgy and dramatic. What I really wanted was a room that made all the pieces in it feel important…and of course, I wanted art…lots and lots of art.

So with that little prologue, here’s what the piano room looks like today…as photographed very amateurishly by yours truly…

As you know, the design really started with the floor…

…though I had planned for a patterned marble all along, when my client’s husband chose my favourite option of the bunch, I was on.cloud.nine…this bold geometric really set the tone for the entire space and whose kidding who, us design aficionados dream of clients who let us do such things.

From the very start, I knew the walls were going to be moulded to the hills but when we made the mid-way plan change from black paint to pink, I knew that alone was going to make this space, officially my favourite of all time…and when my Super Allen put up the first few sections of the cornered boxes with rosettes, well…my heart literally skipped huge giant beats…

And then the fireplace…though I knew what I wanted it to look like all along, finding the right brick veneer was a challenge to say the least…now that I see the black herringbone in place, I really can’t imagine it any other way.

With a scheme of pink, black, white and grey, choosing furniture and accessories was totes fun-ma-goats…I wanted the room to feel thoughtful but a little whimsical too so the mandate was books, sculptural pretties and art, art and more art.

The pieces I chose from our fabulous sponsors are aces in the space and make me so so happy, though at unveiling, I admittedly realized that I sort of wanted to keep them all…yes indeedy…the man sketch and split photography from Minted (Eiffel Tower by Leigh Viner)…

…and the benches from Lamps Plus that I DIY’d (with the help of some amazing hand painted fabric a la Hollie Cooper,)…

…are like bees to honey in this room…as is Mr Caesar there…a family heirloom of sorts he is…god knows I love an good bosom (bahaha…that ones’ for you Lindsay,) and this guy’s a real champ in the room.

If you asked me my most favourite thing about the room, it would sincerely be hard for me to answer…indeed, every single part of this is ‘me’ in a nutshell…I adore the floor…I adore the piano…I adore the walls…I adore the furniture…BUT really, what I love most is the art…choosing artwork for others can be challenging and this room was no exception…I sent many options to my client’s collective inboxes but at the end of the day, the collection we ended up with in EXACTLY what I had hoped for.

Along with the Minted pieces, there are the Nicole Cohen photographs that lean up against the floor on either side of the sofa/bay window…

…and then there’s the huge Ashley Woodson Bailey piece called ‘Dutch Love’ that came into the room for the photoshoot I did with Citizen Atelier and as I secretly hoped would happen all along, once it was up above the paino, my client’s instantly knew there was no way this beauty could ever come down…

…the little flamingos by the french doors are another of Nicole’s pieces and along with Patrick Cline’s Peacock…

…were first images I showed to my client that they fell in love with. And perhaps the happiest piece in the room, is the Krzysztof Wladyka ‘otters’ that my client’s husband and I secretly conspired to purchase as an anniversary gift from he to her…set on top of the mirrored console that I designed and Super Allen made…well…it’s happiness right there…

And with all that art mixed amongst some pretty fabulous furnishings…

…it’s really a room I feel infinitely proud of and so hope you love as much as I do…though probably not everyone’s cup of tea, it is most definitely mine and I’m so blessed to have client’s who share my delight in the ‘not everyday’…I know they are as happy with the final result as I am and I feel so lucky to have been given the ability to create a space that’s truly reflective of what I’m about.

When I first stood back and really soaked it all in…and then again when I first saw these professional shots that the amazingly talented Ashley Capp took for Citizen Atelier, I literally teared up…

That right there my friends is the room I’ve always dreamed of creating and I’m a lucky, lucky designer for being given the opportunity to make that come to life.

So with that, I know I have to get all Academy Awards like and thank the people that made the above possible.

First, a huge hats off to Linda for organizing this crazy thing called the One Room Challenge…this was my first time being invited on this pony ride and I have to say, though ridiculously stressful at times, it was like a giant ‘Christmas morning when you’re 7′ for me…getting to plan and execute a full design plan in such a short time, sooooooo amazing/terrifying/invigorating etc. etc. etc.

Next, I have to wear my heart of my sleeve and pour some ‘tear in my eye’ gratitude at my partner in crime, Super Allen…when I say that NONE of this would happen without him, I truly mean NONE OF THIS WOULD HAPPEN. My contractor/carpenter/welder/moulder/Mr Everything truly went beyond the call of duty and: moulded those walls to within an inch of their life, built and tiled my favourite fireplace of all time and fabricated the mirrored console table in a few days…all after business hours I might add…Super Allen has a day job and does all this for me on evenings and weekends…he’s a true super hero in my books and more often than not, is able to make things happen just merely from a photo I whiz by his phone or by some crazy description I ramble off to him while we’re sitting at my kitchen table over a cup of tea. All this to say, he made this vision of mine a reality and I love him to the moon for it.

And because I’ve toted on about how big a part art played in this room, I want to thank Alessandra, the founder of the newly launched (as of TODAY y’all) Citizen Atelier for introducing me to some amazing new artists and for working around my ORC schedule…the two large pieces that we purchase from her are truly heaven sent…and more than that, though our little collaboration, I truly feel like I’ve made an amazing new friend…and don’t get me started on what an incredible resource her site Citizen Atelier is…if you’re in the market for artwork and want a place that’s taken the guess work out of the equation for you, link there now people. And on the topic of art, I’d be remiss if I didn’t say a huge thanks to Nicole Cohen and Patrick Cline for working their magic to get four of their pieces here on time…if you haven’t been on UPLO before, you need to go there now…amazing photography for days.

Next, a huge thanks to the two suppliers who I really couldn’t exist without…a giant hug to Christine at 219 for getting those Jonathan Adler chairs and gold side table here in time…and to Nina over at Black Rooster, a smooch x a lot for figuring out a way to showcase one of our giant sconces (the other is in transit and I promise some more photos once it’s up,) and for getting us the piano bench, floor lamp and pretty accessories. Like I said, my business would not be much of anything without these two and I’m beyond lucky to have them both on the team as it were.

And most importantly of all, a MASSIVE love filled thanks to my clients…I am incredibly blessed that they were willing to let me take over their home and indeed lives for the past 6 weeks…they spent many a night up all hours doing what they could to help get the room done in time and most importantly, they trusted in my vision and let me make that room happen…I’m beyond lucky to count them as clients and more importantly, as friends. I love them like Sunday morning.

Finally, a big love you to my hubster for being super dad during this whole deal and letting me do what I needed to do to get it done…and to my sweet kidlets for not hating me for being a less than stellar mama these past few weeks.

And with that, I’ll leave this reveal post (and a promise of a full source post coming soon) with a final look at some before and after action just because seeing the transformation that happened in just six short weeks really does make this girl smile from ear to ear…

Now head on over and see all the amazingness that my ORC cohorts are revealing…

Abby M. Interiors

Copy Cat Chic

The Decorista

Design Crisis

Design Indulgence

Design Manifest

The English Room

My Sweet Savannah

Verandah House

…and then accept my heart felt THAN YOU for following along week one, two, there, four and five and for the all the amazingly sweet comments and encouragement…this whole journey was such fun for me and I made so much sweeter by all of you.

Monday, May 5, 2014

The Busiest Five Days of My Life…

It’s the start of a new week and let me tell you, the last one nearly did me in…it was amazing on all possible work fronts but holy Hannah…it was BIZ-EEEEEE.

Let’s rewind to Wednesday…I packed up some new paintings…

…and spent the evening at the new retail location for Black Rooster Decor, merchandising the shizzle out of everything so that all would be ready for the grand opening party on Thursday.

And then Thursday rolled around…I spent that day working on my One Room Challenge space…

I put together this lamp…

…and unpacked some glorious art…including this Elena Kalis materpiece (that I’m PS, am really hoping will eventually be mine)…

…and this Nicole Cohen/Patrick Cline/UPLO goodness…

(there was actually two more pieces in my UPLO delivery and after a small framing mess-up, which I can’t really get into because the mere thought of the crazy that took place on that front might throw this post into way too much of a whine fest, they have been found s really pretty new home in the piano room…more on that towards the end of the post.)

I also packed up a whole bunch of styling stuff and hauled it over to the #pianoroom so all would be ready come set up time.

And then Thursday evening rolled around and it was time for the Black Rooster grand opening party.

Because my life is so insane at the moment, trying to get out the door was a nightmare…husband and I were supposed to go together but little Jasper wasn’t co-operating so I ended up leaving ahead of him and he met me at the party once babes went to sleep. My dear friend Hollie came along with me and the night was soooooo amazing.

My sweeter than sweet friend Lindsay bought one of my paintings…

I got to chat with so many fabulous peeps…

And of course, was able to buy up plenty of Black Rooster fabulous for my #oneroomchallenge space…

But most of all, I got to be really proud of Nina for putting together a stunningly perfect store…

I only wish I took more damn photos of the whole thing while I was there…too busy reveling I guess…and speaking of that, I drank about 50 glasses of champagne, which meant that I had to leave my car at the store and take a cab home…and this meant, that I had to drive into the city the next morning at 9 am with a crashing headache, to collect the car and as well, pick up the last few pieces of furniture I had ordered from BR for my #oneroomchallenge room. And because traffic was a total bitch, I sat in a very packed car for 2 hours…and since I literally had a PACKED day of work on the docket, I had to resort to this situation…

…and let me just say, that thing was a freaking god send.

I went straight from BR, to the piano room and helped un-pack the chairs that arrived thanks to the amazing 219, who worked her but off to ensure they arrived on time…

…they’re amazing…and SO heavy- hauling just one of them from the garage almost did me in.

After leaving the #oneroomchallenge room, I went home to work on my DIY Lamps Plus benches…first order of business was re-upholstering the tops…

…the fabric Hollie Cooper painted made that job surprisingly enjoyable (though still hard,)…

And then I got to work on the bases…because these were for my clients, I took WAY more care with the painting than I would for something for myself…I sanded the bases twice, with a wash in between each round…sprayed with primer and then applied about 10 coats of the black matt top coat…

And I have to say, the final result made me pretty happy…

…especially when I first saw them in the actual room…

After the benches were done and delivered, I had the most fun of my day when I got to deliver a giant piece of art to my client…to make a long story short, her husband wanted to surprise her with her favourite photograph as an anniversary gift so we worked in secret to get the piece and have it framed…and when I dropped it off Friday night and he told her it was hers…well, let’s just say that was a beuno movement all around….no pictures of that right now though…you’ll have to wait for Wednesday and the very exciting One Room Challenge reveal:)

After this final delivery and visit to the piano room, it was about 5pm…from there, I raced over to the train station to meet up with an artist named Vanessa Paxton so that I could collect some of her beautiful wares…

..and from there, headed to my local flower shop and came home with this sort of business…

…and piled it up with some pretty styling goodness…all of which brings me almost to Saturday.

Before turning in for the night though, I had to clean and style most of my house, which again brings me to the next day and how I spent the rest of my weekend.

I haven’t told you all about this fabulous little project I’ve been working on behind the scenes so here goes that.

A while back I was contacted by someone I now consider such a fabulous friend and inspiration…to make a long story short on that one, I was asked if I’d be interested in doing styling work for a new site in the works…called Citizen Atelier, the shop will be an online destination for a curated collection of amazing art. Knowing me as you do, I’m sure you can imagine how excited I was by the mere concept of the site…and to be able to be a part of it…well, let’s just say I was just a tad thrilled.

After many discussions, we decided that a few spaces in my house and the piano room I’ve been working on for the One Room Challenge, would be the perfect backdrops to showcase some of Citizen Atelier’s art in actual rooms…so, again, long story short, I spent the entire weekend with the site’s creator and the amazingly talented photographer Ashley Capp and her assistant (who is an amazing photographer in her own right) Claire Foster, styling, propping and shooting beautiful artwork in beautiful spaces.

The shoot was at my house on Saturday and the piano room on Sunday…and yes, this meant that my ORC space actually had a deadline of 4 days earlier than the actual reveal…and because painting and final construction was just completed on Saturday, I arrived at my client’s house at 7:30am to finish off the space before the cameras arrived. It was hectic to say the least but I have to tell you, walking into the piano room early morning on Sunday and seeing the foundation of the space all done…it literally made me cry.

And after a few hours of final zhuzhing and some art placing of many pieces, including those two other Nicole Cohen masterpieces I was telling you about…

…the room was done just in time for it to be taken all apart again for the Citizen Atelier shoot:)

It was so amazing to see so much beautiful art change the room with each piece…and at the end of the day, my client’s decided on a final piece from CA to complete there room and I can now say, that with the exception of one thing we’re waiting on delivery wise, the room is officially done! My only regret is that I didn’t have the foresight to have the actual room professionally photographed as well…I was so focussed on the CA site shoot, that I sort of forgot about my own photos…so, come tomorrow, I’ll be at the piano room again shooting away and hoping I can capture at least some of what has happened in there.

In the meantime, check back tomorrow for the Friedasophie giveaway winner…I was supposed to draw on Saturday but as you can probably tell form this post, there just wasn’t time and though I thought about doing it today, this post is already ridiculously long…so tomorrow it is on that front. That’s good news for you because you still have another day to enter;)

And then, that will bring us to Wednesday…I’m SOOOO happy to tell that when I reveal my less than professional ORC shots, the amazing Citizen Atelier will also be launching! I know you are going to fall madly in love with this site…so much art that’s been so carefully chosen and so beautifully photographed! So Wednesday = a big day all around…art site and my One Room Challenge REVEAL!!!! Me = excited on all fronts.

Wednesday, April 30, 2014

One Room Challenge - Week 5

After a week that started with complete and utter panic, we’ve actually ended up on a major high note a la the…

And though I can’t wait to share where we are now, I suppose I should rewind to last Wednesday so you can experience the roller coaster that oscillated between ‘holy mother this room is not going to get done and I’m going to epicly fail this entire challenge’ and ‘thank every single deity known to man, because this shizz is actually going to happen’.

If you follow me on Instagram, you likely saw my posts entitled ’tilegate’, that looked a little like this…

The long and short of that/this week’s story goes like this…

- Tile was supposed to arrive in time for tilers to start install at 8 am last Tuesday

- Tilers showed up at 7:30 and tile wasn’t there so they waited and waited and finally decided to leave, start on another job and come back at 11:30 to begin tiling…they ended up not coming back and instead, promised to start the next morning super bright and early

- Tilers arrive bright and early Wednesday morning and I get super excited to see the first few triangles down so drive over only to instantly see a look of slight despair on my client’s face, along with some major disapproving looks/words from installer dude…

- I ask what the issue is and turns out though my clients spent maaaaaaaajooooooorrrrrr $$$$ to have the tiles precision cut using a laser, some of the angles and edges are ever so slightly off, which means they can’t be laid or the entire pattern will end up wonkadoodle

- I go into a total panic

- Client remains amazingly calm

- I’m dying inside

- Tile shop owner tells me that the entire lot needs to be re-cut, which he seems unsure about because of the laser messed the first batch up, what’s stopping the dumb thing from doing the same on round 2, which would leave us with tiles that are now too small

- At this point, I’m quite literally about to combust in front of my client, the shop owner and installer…my brain is most definitely hurting

- Tiler dude obviously senses my unease and slaps up the fireplace surround and hearth, in a somewhat futile attempt to make me feel better…

…it sort of works but not really

- The shop owner says that the tiles have to be picked up and not much else can happen in the room until they come back…unfortunately, we’ve scheduled everything to happen in a particular order so with no tiling happening, Super Allen has to totally change his business around so that something can actually get done while we wait again for new tiles to show up

- Thankfully, Super Allen is super and does manage to change up his schedule and arrives toute suite to start work on the walls…

- I sort of feel OK at this point but not really

- Thursday rolls around and we get super awesome news that not all of the tiles have to be re-cut and that 2/3rds of them are actually aces- the shop agrees to supply us with 1/3 new tile and guarantee it will arrive by Friday, which it does

- I start to feel that though we’ve had to juggle things totally around, our new schedule of getting all the moulding, fireplace and walls painted this week and tiling next one, might actually work…I’m still in a slight panic though and am therefore, very ready to jump on a plane and escape this whole thing…enter a getaway trip to Miami…

…and a very welcome diversion for yours truly

- While I’m away, Super Allen gets to work and makes all of this happen…

- my client’s hubster also lends a hand by putting in the fireplace box foundation…

- Meanwhile in Florida, I continue to do attempt to block the whole thing out and am pretty successful thanks to fun times with my sister and lots of this action…

…and on a slight tangent…the floors of my hotel lobby, in combo with dreams of what’s happening in the piano room, re-affirm that black and white marble is sooooooo going to happen in my next home…

- While I’m daydreaming and such, work continues with Super Allen starting on the fireplace tiling…

- Client’s husband then makes us all very happy by priming the walls…

…getting the first coat of FB Pink Ground up…

- Meanwhile, Super Allen finishes off the herringbone in the fireplace…

- And then, just in time for me to arrive back from my trip, tiling work resumes and all this magic happens…

…which in close up, looks like this…

- And I take a giant sigh of relief…and by giant…I mean HUMONGOUS

As of today, we’re right on track to finish everything in time for the reveal next week. Tilling will be completed by Friday and then if the gods continue to smile on us, our furniture and art will all arrive so that I can get the zhuzhing and styling boat in motion.

To that end, I’ll finish off this post with a sneak peek of the DIY of sorts I’m working on right now thanks to the benches I ordered from the fabulous Lamps Plus….

…and this incredible one of a kind fabric…

…that my amazing friend Hollie Cooper hand painted for us.

Stay tuned to see them all finished up by next week:)

I’m still a ~~little~~ very freaked out that we literally have 6 days to get this all in order but crossing fingers and toes as it were…in one week, this all needs to happen…

1. Finish laying, grouting and sealing floor

2. Apply moulding to fireplace wall (we’ve decided it needs it)

3. Finish grouting fireplace herringbone tile

4. Put up rosettes on moulding corners

5. Do 2nd and maybe 3rd coat of paint

6. Finish constructing console…thankfully our mirror arrived and the base is done so it’s really just a matter of sticking the two together

7. The single sconce (have one arriving in time so will get it up for the reveal) needs to be installed

8. Bring in and place all the furniture

9. Have two pieces of artwork framed and hang/lean all the pieces we have planned for the room…I think there’s a total of 8 if I’m remembering correctly

10. Finish DIYing the pair of benches

11. Move piano back in the room

12. Zhush

I think we can, I think we can was the mantra we started back way back in week one so here’s to that.

I’m pretty sure the rest of my cohorts are feeling the same so make sure you link over and read all about the fabulousity they’ve been up to this week…