My friend who is also a client hooked me up with one of his family members in Chicago and now I’m working on interiors in their large home room-by-room. Ah, the Internet! So, if your Martha’s beach house needs some designing…let’s chat!

On to the space — it’s large, traditional and pretty formal with a large fireplace, columns at the entrance, and it’s the first room you see when you come in the front door so it’s got to be tres chic! The empty room has been great for tricycle riding up to this point, but it’s time for a change. The goal is to create an adult escape—to have a glass of wine, read and entertain — but it has to be kid friendly as they have two little ones who won’t understand that this is the “adult zone.” My room theme was quiet (calm) sophistication with a touch of Asian elements. The palette is grey, gold and beige in some touchable kid friendly fabrics that aren’t your usual microfiber. The accents are gold and brass – I’m loving the massive gold bamboo mirror that’s about 54″ wide over the console on the back wall. The carpet is a 100% wool Axminster strie pattern in beige with an asian graphic in grey/blue. Big drapery panels on the picture window in the front of the room and Voila!

You can have grown up space in a family home. Here’s what I’ve put together so far – what do you think?

Here’s a mood board I built of the proposed space…

The paint colors were inspired by this photo.

Houzz.com

I love how the color on the wall creeps into the crown molding for more saturated impact. And the celadon ceiling is incredibly classy and fun all at once. We’re going to go with a flat color ceiling, rather than this custom finish.

The good news is that my client loves what I presented, so in a few months, I hope to be posting the finished photos!

Does your office space inspire you? If you have any questions about designing a personalized works space for your home, please send them my way!

We stayed here at the Eden Roc Renaissance Miami Beach – stay here if you want to feel like a rock star… I like to take photos of all of the hotels rooms I stay in so I can remember them.

This is what we woke up to for 3 glorious mornings of sun, sun, sun…

This was the high style lobby that was usually full of fancy people in dark suits and uncomfortably high heels looking important…

This is the boardwalk that I had the pleasure of running on a few times…

This is me on my field trip to Vizcaya – the incredible home of John Deering that you should check out if you like architecture and beautiful places.

This is the grilled salmon salad I ate one beautiful day for lunch overlooking the Atlantic, with the most delish pineapple bread – I ate the whole loaf!

These are some of the art deco hotels that are now protected by the Miami Design Preservation League. I took an excellent guided walking tour of many of the buildings, including some of the lobbies. I want to go back to see more of this!

This is the super sexy bathroom off the lobby in the Delano Hotel. I wandered around for a while pretending I was a guest. Philippe Starck designed it – over the top fabulous!

The last night we were there, we hit the Collins Avenue hotel night life and ended up at the Shelborne. That was a scene with Ferraris, Lamborghinis and Bentleys pulled up front!

I can’t wait to go back. Have you ever been to Miami? Where are your favorite places to visit or to eat?

So, I made the trip to Merrifield Garden Center to see what they had to offer. They do have a lot of house plants in their green house – I had no idea that back room existed!! So you don’t have to drive far to bring home a lovely for your own. The Home Depot does have some nice houseplants from time to time so keep a look out when you are there picking up boring household stuff and treat yourself to some green.

I am really into the fiddle leaf fig these days, which is actually a ficus. The fat leaf has so much personality. These big guys have been appearing in many design spreads lately and seem to be quite the rage. Yep, they have a few of these at Merrifield. Here’s a collection of images to inspire.

Fiddle leaf figs from Mstreet denver blog. Original source unknown.

Fiddle leaf fig. Designer Peter Dunham courtesy Elle Decor.

Fiddle leaf fig courtesy House Beautiful.
Plant in Basay basket from Crate & Barrel.

Fiddle leaf fig courtesy Mstreetdenver blog. Original source unknown.

Fiddle leaf fig courtesy Apartment Therapy.

Courtesy Elle Decor. Split Leaf philodendron (Monstera deliciosa) softens the hard lines of the black granite bath.

Courtesy Elle Decor, Kentia Palms (Howea forsteriana) add an exotic touch to a living room.

Courtesy Elle Decor, Beverly Hiills home decorated by Madeline Stuart with banana trees in green-glazed pots. These will grow inside as well…

Do any of you readers have a favorite house plant?

Note: the Fiddle Leaf Ficus can be poisonous to children and pets, so please keep this in mind if purchasing one for your home.

If you want more good house plant info, take a look at these articles at Apartment Therapy.

Apartment Therapy: Bringing in Green: 10 Best Plants for Apartments

Apartment Therapy: Setting Up Home: 5 Hard-to-Kill Housplants

Christiane Lemieux and I after the presentation.

Her book shares her philosophy of creating a home that expresses your personal style no matter what your budget or design style. She is into REAL LIFE designing with kids and pets and hand me down furniture and flea market finds. Lots of gorgeous photos of household messiness in a beautiful way, and some eccentric homeowners with exploding collections beautifully arranged and things like cars in their living spaces. Take a look at a book preview here, or get your own for inspiration here.
“Great style isn’t necessarily a finished product so much as it is an ongoing process.” Christiane Lemieux.

Photo courtesy Melanie Acevedo, Undecorate

Photo courtesy Melanie Acevedo, Undecorate

Owl Sky Crib Set courtesy of DwellStudio.com

Gate Ash Duvet Set courtesy of DwellStudio.com

Katie Ridder’s “Leaf” wallpaper comes in a small and large scale. It’s very ordered, but very bohemian at the same time.

Cole and Son’s “Cow Parsley” from England. Comes in some great colorways.

I love how it was used as an art element on this wall with some trim.

I am seriously considering Cole & Sons “Woods” for an accent wall in my master bedroom if I can talk Mark into it. It is graphic and natural all at once. I love it in every application I’ve seen.

Please participate by reading, sharing and commenting. Let me know what subjects interest you and definitely send in your design questions and I’ll do my best to answer them (really!).

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Thanks for visiting!

Suzanne