From Dining Room to Salon

My friend Britni is an amazing hair stylist!  She's so amazing that she needed to turn her dining room into a salon so that she can see her clients in her home.

She had a perfect spot in her family room for her dining room table (you can see it in the second picture, through the doorway), so that opened the whole dining room for a cutting station, storage for her supplies and even a sweet little waiting area!

I love the eclectic feel of this room!  It has so many elements that bring in Britni's personal style....painted furniture, heirloom pieces and art that she's painted.

In my opinion, adding personality is what makes a room charming and I think we certainly achieved that today!

Staging on a Budget

My friends Nick and Sarah, are getting ready to put their Owens Cross Roads house on the market and asked for help staging.  Their realtor said a lived in house appeals to buyers, but since most of their furniture is already at their new house, our staging consisted of adding pops of color and re-arranging the remaining furniture. 

I raided my garage for floral arrangements and some other small items, so we only had to spend about $100 on a few more things.  I think the finished look will give potential buyers a good idea of what life would be like in this lovely home...and if YOU would like to know what life would be like if this were your home, I'm sure their realtor can set up something!

Here's a breakdown on what we did and what it cost:

Kitchen

I added dishtowels, a vase of lemons, a rooster and candle that I brought with me so the only money we spent for this room was about $10 on bowl of candy for the island.

Living Room
Since there is no furniture left in the living room, we opted for plants from my stash ($0) on the mantel.

Master Suite
This bright, spacious room didn't need much, but we added fluffy pillows ($16) , opened the curtains and moved a mismatched chest to another bedroom. 

In the master bath, we add a picture that was hanging in the guest bath and a flower arrangement from my garage...a no-cost solution!

Guest Bath
I just love the colorful shower curtain we found at Wal-Mart ($9)!  I just happen to have a floral arrangement that matched and added crisp white towels ($0) to complete this fun make-over.

Bedroom #1
For this bedroom, I moved the bedside table from in front the the window to the opposite side and added a small stack of books and lamp that were already in the house and some dried flowers from...guess where?...my garage!  Because the lamp cord was showing, I just twist tied it together and hid it behind the books!  Doesn't that sound like a hint from HGTV? :)

Bedroom #2
In this room, I moved the bed to a new wall, so that it's visible from the hallway.  Since there wasn't a headboard, I hung a picture (that Sarah already had) above the bed.  All we had to buy was a cream blanket and accent pillow ($25).  The closets in all both bedrooms are amazing, by the way!

Home Office
We removed a few pieces that were originally in this room to make sure the room screamed "home office!"  I found an old monitor that Nick had, took the cords off (since they were ugly!) and plopped that on the desk along with some books we found around the house, so all we bought was an $8 plant for the corner.  For the corner bookcase, I used more of the books that Nick and Sarah already had.

I had so much fun spending the afternoon with my friends, helping them prepare for the sale of their home and talking about the arrival of their new little one, coming in July! 
Oh, and I can't fail to mention that one of  the best parts of the day was my lunch with Nick and Sarah at Tortora's in Hampton Cove where I discovered one of the best pizzas EVER!  One word: BLT!
This pizza had Canadian bacon, cherry tomatoes, regular bacon, lettuce, melted mozzarella but what took it over the top was...MAYO!!!

Design POV

Since I love to shop I'm always on the lookout for new decor items for my home or for a client's home. But not everyone enjoys decor shopping or they get really overwhelmed with options.

When asked for hints, I've always said, if you love it, buy it because everything you love will eventually come together to create your own personal style.

I've seen this proven many times in my own home. Sometimes I'll buy something and it will sit in the garage for a while, but eventually I'll find new pieces and realize that everything goes together! I love how Stacey and Clinton off "What Not To Wear" say it doesn't "match"...it "goes together". In my living room alone, I probably have 6 shades of reds...They don't match, but they go together!

I say all this to say...

I get an email every morning from Interior Design Quote of the Day and today's sounded very familiar!

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"When something is irresistible, you should buy it. Pictures, objects, and furnishings that speak to you tend to speak to each other, creating improbably wonderful harmonies."

- Mary McDonald, Mary McDonald Interiors: The Allure of Style
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Beautiful version of my design point of view! I guess I can share it with Mary :)


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Over the river & through the woods...

...to decorate Meg's house I go!

My friend Meg has a lovely home on a country lane outside of Huntsville. She does a great job decorating her home but asked me to come out and put a different spin on her mantle and front porch Christmas decor.

For the mantle, I layered garland, mesh ribbon and ornaments that I wired to the ribbon.

Didn't it come out beautiful?!?



The garland around the front doors is what Meg has put up in the past, but this year I swapped out the ribbons for glittery poinsettia picks.






Meg's family had gorgeous portraits made but she was unhappy with how she had originally hung them. I suggested adding a new element to the grouping, so Meg decided on tomahawks. I love the personal, 3D effect it adds!


I think Luella loves it!


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Move that bus!!!

I had my own Ty Pennington moment today, as I revealed a complete home makeover I've been working on all week. It was a blast!

My friend has struggled to get settled into her home of less then a year, so while she was out of town for Thanksgiving, she gave me free reign of her house.

First on the agenda- the living room. The main pieces were already in place, but by adding a few more art pieces and spreading the red accents throughout the space, the room finally looks complete.


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After:



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One of my favorite re-dos was the entry table.

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The most drastic transformation was the dining room/kitchen. My client's mom and I had purchased fabric for curtains and valances a few weeks ago and I was able to make them Friday and get them hung for the big reveal! It's incredible the difference they make in the space! The fabric is an absolute perfect match with my client's dishes and add such fun personality.

I used the matching dishes as decor on the display shelves and purchased a few more pieces, including dining room art.

I used my clients rings as napkin rings- a sparkly, girly solution!

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After:














I also cleaned out and organized the office, bedroom and laundry room. My client requested her jewelry be organized so I simply used drawer organizers and separated by type- bracelets, necklaces, watches, earrings.

By just providing simple organational solutions, a house that seemed to have no extra space for storage, ended up with space up spare!

I love helping clients find solutions that work for their lifestyle, working with any...or no!...budget. So if you are feeling overwhelmed with a space in your home, give me a call and I can come help you move your own bus...or mountain!

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It's Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas!

Last week was all about Christmas decorations! My friend, Karen, gave me free reign of her home while she was at work so I got to decorate all day and she got to come home to a Winter Wonderland!

In her living/dining room, I removed some of her everyday decorations to showcase her nativities. The unifying color is Christmas red, so I put pops of it all through out the room.



Karen has an impressive nativity set in her entry, but it was lost on a large table. To create a better focal point, I covered the table in shimmery gold fabric and used books underneath to give height to various pieces. The nativity print hung above the table visually anchors the scene and gives guests no doubt Who Karen's Christmas focus is on!



The book cabinet in the den was screaming for a focal point, so I created another nativity scene with a star I found at Hobby Lobby. I also spent some time organizing Karen's bookshelves. I subtracted some items, allowing the eye to rest on the small vignettes created with some of her trinkets.


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Saturday was all about Jennifer's house! I've helped Jennifer decorate the last few Christmases, but this is the first Christmas in her new home.

Jennifer's husband, Ryan, is going to mount the tv to the wall soon, so we aren't done prettying up the mantle, but I wanted to show you the wreaths we hung on her bookcases....and her homemade stockings!






Jennifer had enough wreath fabric leftover that she was able to make table runners for each table in the living room. Using the same fabric will give her Christmas decor a cohesive, polished look.



By simply changing her burlap wreath ribbon from houndstooth to green mesh, her homemade wreath goes from game-day to holi-day in no time!



Jennifer's new favorite thing is her funky sun room! She already had the skinny white tree, so we just added bright turquoise, pink and line accents. Leave it to Jenn to be cutting edge!





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I had a blast helping these two sweet friends get ready for Christmas and I have several other projects scheduled!

There are only 34 days till Christmas, but there's always time for YOUR house, so give me a call if you need help!

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Bookshelves 101

When I'm decorating bookshelves, I try to group like things in an effort to tell a story.

But I don't want it to be too predictable, so there's delicate balance! In Jennifer's living room, I did little vignettes like beach, wedding, military, crosses...

I also like to incorporate a bunch of different objects like books, candles, plants and figurines to add interest. Because these bookcases were so large, we were actually able to hang some pictures, trays and crosses on the wall, taking full advantage of the space.






Jennifer has beautiful items to work with, so the end result was bound to be stylish!

We also played around with the furniture arrangement and eventually found a layout that works great!











It's always a blast helping Jennifer beautify her home!


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One-Hour Hutch Makeover

In just over an hour, my friend Emily and I spruced up her breakfast room hutch. The hutch had sported the same look for a while, so Emily was ready for something new and fresh. By simply raiding her kitchen cabinets, we were able to pull together a new, no-cost look!


It's important, especially in kitchens, to make items both decorative and functional. We accomplished this by mixing Emily's cookbooks with the larger, rarely used pieces of her everyday china. The end result is one full of personality!


To accentuate the tall ceiling, we layered three apothecary jars (Emily will place filler pieces in them later) and balanced those out with two gorgeous silver trays that were previously hidden her cabinets.


Emily has a lovely home and I enjoyed getting to snoop in her cabinets and help her with this quick makeover!

The difference between men & women: decorating addition

Industrial Kitchen Project

A few weeks ago, I joined my friend Meg on her quest to spruce up the industrial kitchen and serving area at Southside Baptist Church, where she's the Food Service Manager.

Meg already had some great pieces to work with, so it just took a couple of trips to Hobby Lobby to get some finishing touches. I love how we were able to incorporate decorative pieces with the industrial look of the kitchen.

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This beautiful hutch in the serving area holds not only trays and cutlery, but some decorative pieces (including the Southside Cookbook) that add warmth and personality.





For our main focal point, Meg ordered this vinyl word quote online and we paired it with giant cutlery from Hobby Lobby.




Our plan for the wall opposite the giant cutlery was to hang this grouping of crosses, but when Meg showed me this fantastic basket she uses for serving muffins, I knew it had to be showcased!




I was thrilled to find these vintage, warehouse-y metal letters for half price! Meg and I decided to use them to label the different stations of the kitchen- bake, suds & tea. I absolutely love how they embrace the industrial feel of the kitchen while adding texture and color.

Happy New Home

After my co-worker (and friend!) Stephanie moved into her new place a few months ago she invited me over for a "playdate!" We ended up moving every piece of furniture in her apartment, including several pieces up and down her STEEP staircase!

Without spending a cent, we took her apartment from "just moved in" to "warm & welcoming!"

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