SUMMER E-DESIGN SPECIAL

We have two days left in the school year.   I am looking forward to a laid back and fun summer.  

We have done quite a bit of traveling this year, so we will most likely be sticking close to home this summer.  With not much on the schedule, I am planning to continue working through the summer.  However, with three kids at home, my flexibility is pretty limited.  

I love working on e-designs and it offers me the flexibility of working from home 

and setting my own hours.  

I am offering a summer e-design special rate.  I will still be doing a limited about of local consultations.  If you are interested in booking an appointment,  you can contact me here.

Here are a few examples of my e-design work. 

SUMMER E-DESIGN RATES

Living Room/Dining Room/Kitchen/Bedroom/Office/Playroom:  $200

Bathroom/Foyer:  $150

E-design includes the following:

Suggested room layout (if necessary)

Suggested furniture, paint colors, lighting, window treatments, wall art and accessories

All sources for items and any special notes needed to complete the design will be included

50% deposit will be due upon booking the e-design.

The remaining 50% will be due upon delivery of the e-design.

Rates are good for all e-designs booked through the end of August, 2015. 

If you are interested in purchasing an e-design, please contact me here.

I will hopefully be back later this week to post some "after" pictures of a project I recently completed.
I love a good before and after post, don't you?

Have a great week!

THRIFTY TRAYS

As I was doing a little dusting last week, I started to notice the obnoxious amount of trays I have.

Then I realized how much better everything looks when corralled onto a tray.

I found this striped Ikea tray at Goodwill for $.50.

Throw a few wine corks and accessories on it 

and it helps take away focus from  the ugly TV components. 

I picked up this glossy black number from the thrift store also.

 This matted silver tray in our master bathroom also came from Goodwill.

Another Goodwill find, this leather tray helps keep our liquor looking classy.

This metal square box, which I use as a tray at times, came from an antique store.

I almost always use some sort of tray when setting up a buffet here on our peninsula.  

Yep, you guessed it, this one came from Goodwill also. 

This basket serves as a tray to hold our TV remotes and a few magazines on the ottoman.

I think this brass beauty is my favorite tray, and most expensive at a whopping $20!  

This one came from an antique store also.

I bought this black tray at Goodwill a while back, 

added some fabric and mod podge and handed it off to a friend. 

This galvanized metal tray came from the Pottery Barn outlet and I use it for all sorts of things. 

Right now, it's holding wooden letters in the center of our activity table.  

The little blue tray came from Ikea and helps keep the boys' toothpaste and toothbrushes looking neat.

If you'r not into thrifting or antiquing, Ikea and Homegoods 

are both great sources for inexpensive trays. 

I think my tray obsession is worse than my lamp obsession.  

Uh oh.  

At least trays can be stacked neatly away.

My lamp stash is starting to take up a lot of room in the storage area.

A LITTLE BACKGROUND

I grew up on a farm, not sure if I've ever told you that, but I did.

Our closest neighbor was a half mile away.  

We had ponds, cows, wide open fields and tons of freedom.

As children, my brother, sister and I were very creative when it came to making our own fun.

We would fish, swing from vines, jump from hay bale to hay bale, 

and occasionally, even swim in the muddy ponds.

I came across this picture recently of me and best friend, Laura.

We were pretty inseparable as kids. 

Our moms were best friends and so we basically grew up together.

 She lived on a farm too and we always had tons of fun.

On this particular afternoon,

Laura and I transformed the back of my dad's grain truck into our own little living room. 

Even then I liked to decorate.

Notice we have a phone, a fern, a makeshift sofa, pillows, a table and a centerpiece.

All the makings of a great design!

That's me on the left, with the lovely purple pleather jacket and silly looking pigtails.

Oh, and apparently, at some point, I wanted to be a professional dancer and a supermodel. 

Yep, that's a glamour shot, circa 1991. 

I'm not even sure how this happened. 

One minute I was walking around the mall with my aunt, 

and the next thing I knew, 

I looked like I belonged on a street corner - good times.

I think it's safe to say that I can give up on both of those dreams...

While my days of decorating the back of grain truck are over too,
I sure am glad I followed one of my dreams and am now decorating real rooms.

Speaking of decorating, I've been working on updating the new tabs at the top
and the decorating services I offer, can be found under "Services".
Feel free to contact me if you have any questions or are interested in working together.

CORNERED

Decorating corners always perplexes me.   

When I moved my favorite piece of furniture, the blue secretary, onto this wall 

in the new dining room, I new something would need to happen in that corner. 

It remained empty for a few weeks until I could come up with a plan.

Who am I kidding, I didn't have a plan.  

I hung the three silhouettes of my kids first.  I've been meaning to display these for over a year now.

Once they were up, the other wall was looking very lonely. 

I picked up two square frames at the thrift store and took out the hideous artwork that was in them.

I added the two brass trivets I found on my shopping adventure with Carmel.

The squares frames were begging to highlight something circular.

These two trivets couldn't have been more perfect.

I also picked up this piece of art at the thrift store. I added a little rub n' buff to the frame. 

This painting was a souvenir from a trip my husband and I took to Paris a few years back.  

For some strange reason, it was hiding under my bed. 

One the other side of the secretary is the antique map of downtown Cincinnati 

that I purchased on a trip to Scott's in Columbus earlier in the year. 

It sits just below three frames prints of landmarks in Germany that I picked up at a local antique store. 

Since the secretary is on the small side and it is sitting on this rather large wall,

I needed to fill up some space. 

My Bolivian Jew (beehive) plant is still hanging on, barely.  

I had to let the other one go last week.

You're dying to know what is in this cabinet, aren't you?

About 3/4 of my daughter's tea set collection is now displayed in here. 

Now that she is 10, going on 15, we don't have as many tea parties.  

But it's still fun for her to get them out and play with them every now and then.

 How do you deal with corners in your home?  

WALLPAPER AND A WINNER

I have been a long time lover of grass cloth wallpaper.  

My sister-in-law put the most gorgeous green grass cloth in the dining room of their first home.  

I think that is when my grass cloth love affair began. 

This first image takes my breath away.

I have wanted to incorporate grass cloth somewhere in our home since day one. 

I originally thought the foyer of our home would be a great place for the grass cloth. 

However, after observing my kids running their dirty little hands 

on the wall each and every time they go up and down the stairs, I started to reconsider. 

I also thought briefly about adding it to the boys' room.  

Unfortunately, I don't think boogers, snot and slime is easy to wipe off of grass cloth. 

I finally decided the best place to add the grass cloth would be in the office.

This office...

I am thinking this color will be perfect.  

Now, I just need to find someone to hang it.  

Perhaps I could sweet talk my mother into coming up for a few days to help me tackle this project.  

I could repay her with a trip to the spa.  Uhmmm, wonder if she's reading this?

Now, onto the important stuff.   

Using www.random.org to choose the winning comment, the winner of the Cutting Edge Stencil is.....

Lisa @ Shine Your Light said...

I like the Harlequin, but the Trellis one is gorgeous too...oh it would be hard to choose! What a great giveaway -thanks for the chance Andrea! The wall you did looks great and I LOVE that blue grasscloth. So pretty.

JANUARY 9, 2012 7:01 PM

Congratulations Lisa!  Send me an email so I can get you set up with the credit.  

Image Sources can be found here.

MORE PROGRESS AND A GIVEAWAY

 As promised, here are some pictures of more progress that has been made on this project. 

This is a mid-progress picture. The walls were originally a sunny yellow.  

They were painted with Benjamin Moore Wedgewood Gray.

I promise this is the same wall.  The paint looks much more blue in this picture.  

I used the Moroccan All Over stencil from Cutting Edge Stencils.

It was very easy to work with and they even included a level 

that attaches to the bottom of the stencil and a foam roller with the kit. 

The stencil design is done in Benjamin Moore Putnam Ivory. 

Sorry for the poor quality of the pictures.  

The lighting was bad when I finished, but I wanted to be sure to get the after pictures.  

It took me approximately 3 hours to stencil this wall.  The wall continues around the corner as well.

Adding the stencil dramatically changed the look of my client's foyer.  

The Wedgewood Gray flows nicely with the blue grass cloth like fabric 

that lines the bookcases in the adjoining family room.

Now, onto the giveaway.  Cutting Edge Stencils supplied the stencil for this project and they have graciously offered a free stencil (up to a $50 value) to one of my readers.

Here are a few of my favorite stencils from Cutting Edge Stencils.

1/2/3/4

I have done a couple of stenciling projects before, but never with a Cutting Edge Stencil.  

Just to make sure I knew what I was doing, I first watched this instructional video. 

To enter the giveaway, simply visit Cutting Edge Stencils and let me know 

which stencil you would love to have.

For a second chance, blog, tweet or Facebook about this giveaway 

and leave me comment letting me know you did so. 

The giveaway is open until 12:00 a.m. EST on Tuesday, January 10, 2012. 

I will announce the winner on Wednesday, January 11, 2012. 

Good Luck and I hope you all have a great weekend.  

I've been on a bit of an organizing mission this week.  I'll fill you in on my projects next week.

CHRISTMAS CHEER

Last week I finally got out all the Christmas decor.  

I warned you in this post, that I'm a big fan of the  "Less is More" philosophy.  

Partly, because I like an uncluttered space and partly because

 I'm too lazy to go all out when decorating for the holiday. 

Nonetheless, here's a look....

Love this sweet santa cookie jar my sister-in-law gave me years ago. 

The feather tree came from Target a couple of years ago. 

My mom and I made the Advent Calendar several years ago and I had our name embroidered on it. 

The kids love coming down in the morning and finding out what their surprise is for the day. 

This jolly ole guy makes me smile overtime I pass by him.

I wanted my husband to have some sort of Christmas tree in his office and this is what I came up with. 

Notice the twig theme going on here. 

This pillow came from TJ Maxx.  I originally bought it to give as a gift, but I just couldn't part with it. 

We finally got the tree up over the weekend.  I'll share some pictures tomorrow. 

Our Christmas cards arrived today and hopefully I will get them in the mail tomorrow. 

Twelve days and counting!

You must check out Carmel's "North Pole".
If I had an organized space like this for my Christmas decor,
I may just leave it stored away all year long and
invite everyone into the closet for some Christmas cheer.  That girl is clever!