Haute Indoor Couture

Changes At The Studio

2019-03-21T18:08:00.002-04:00

If you follow us on Instagram you have probably seen the changes we have already made at our little Studio, but even bigger changes are coming! Our landlord is going to have or building painted (it desperately needs it!!) and asked me to pick colors. I shocked Mom by saying I was thinking we should go BLACK! Yes I Elizabeth Boland, who only ever paints Benjamin Moore Cloud Cover inside and out, am leaning towards going dark for the Studio. I made a folder on Pinterest to show Mom what I was thinking, and she loves the idea! I have not told our landlord which color yet in case I change my mind, but I've been thinking about it for a few weeks now and I think were going to go for it. Am I crazy, yes, but what would you do? Black or White?

Vote in the comment section and let us know!

Our First Time Hosting Thanksgiving

2018-11-28T08:56:00.000-05:00

Thanksgiving 2018 marked the anniversary of our first year in the new house, so we thought what better way to celebrate than hosting Thanksgiving!? Honestly, on paper it sounds like a disaster, but it was everything but that! It was truly FABULOUS! The week before Thanksgiving we had an unexpected "slushy day" or as DMV people like to call it, a snow day. Brynn O'Hara isn't fooled by that nonsense, she says unless there is enough snow to cover "all the grass" she can't slide down the hill, therefore it's a "slushy day." Her disappointment and confusion as to why the school day was disrupted quickly turned into the most productive party planning meeting I've been to in a long time. I honestly think that day of prep was the secret to our successful Thanksgiving feast for 16. I had so many images pinned, and saved on Instagram as inspiration for our table but it wasn't until Brynn and I set the table with each different place setting option that I realized what would be the best fit. Our unexpected "Slushy Day" + the fact my Mother in Law cooked THE TURKEY + my Brother in law who deep fried an EXTRA TURKEY + my Dad who made the most amazing mashed potatoes of all time... I am beyond thankful for our #MOSTTHANKFULTHANKSGIVINGEVER

Featuring My Uber Talented Très Chic Cousin Maggie Wilson

2018-10-15T16:53:00.000-04:00

I know I need to get back to blogging but in between working on some majorly fabulous homes, sloooowly getting settled into our new home, and enjoying quality time with my people I haven't had the spare time. Not to mention we have also been working hard behind the scenes on launching a new website and blog platform! In the upcoming weeks we have a few really special photo shoots lined up on projects we have been working on for years, so stay tuned for sneak peaks on my Insta act!

In the meantime, here is a little eye candy for you featuring a 800 square foot Cottage out West designed by my uber talented and fabulous cousin Maggie Wilson. Magpie and her husband Tim have such amazing taste and it shows in their stylish abode featured over at Domino!

Lilly Pulitzer for Pottery Barn!

2018-03-20T13:10:00.001-04:00

Oh my gosh I know I have let the blog go, but this is too good to be true... Lilly Pulitzer has a new line exclusively for Pottery Barn! I'm dying. This almost makes me want to have another baby!

PS Stay tuned for weekly blog posts! I'm Back!

PPS I am not pregnant

New House Inspiration!

2017-08-04T14:48:00.000-04:00

I know I have been gone for-ev-er but seriously so much has happened over the past year both personally and professionally, I don't even know where to begin! I thought I would start with some of the major changes (old news if you follow me on Instagram!) 1. The Mr and I sold our adorable home in January after living there for two years. Everything I did to upgrade the place was all based on our family and the way we lived in the space. Never in a million years did I think we would move within ten years of living there, let alone two short years! We ended up falling in love with a cute (only cute if you have an imagination) little fixer upper down the street form my parents, and around the corner from my sister and brother in law and kids cousins. The house had so much going for it I was willing to over look all of its flaws, which turned out to be more than we had bargained for so we are literally knee deep in a major home renovation.

I never in a millions years pictured myself in a Cape Cod. My dream house had always been a one level Spanish Revival with a green tile roof, terra-cotta and rustic hardwood floors, complete with a master bedroom with ginormous french doors opening out to a pea graveled patio littered with the biggest boxwoods you could imagine. However, now that we are finally making real progress on our little cottage I am beyond OBSESSED. After closing on the house in January the Mr. told me it was going to be our forever house and I would nod and wink behind his back like yeah funny whatever you say... while secretly thinking to myself I love demo and projects too much for this to be my forever house! Turns out he was right. I'm so in love with the new house and all of it's potential, you have no idea. Since it is my forever house I will have to wait years to do most of the projects but I am excited because I fell like the house will grow and evolve with our family. For example, I have a room off of the kitchen that I had hoped would some day be an office, but I think when we move in I may make it the kids play room and then transition to the office in a few years. Rather than moving in with some set in stone master plan I am simply going to wait and see how we use the space, and let the house speak to us. Next week I will post before pictures as well as progress pictures and plans, but today I wanted to share some of my inspiration pictures.

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Spring Sale at The Studio

2016-03-28T15:40:00.000-04:00

Mom and I are going to Market in a few weeks and one of the most exciting things to do aside from find new sources, is to place orders. In order to make room for new goodies we need to get rid of some of our current inventory so we're having a sale! Here is a sampling of the amazing deals we have going on, we're open this Wednesday 10:00am-3:00pm and Saturday 11:00am-4:00pm. If you are out and about come on by!

"His" and "Her" Barry Dixon for Arteriors slipper chairs, $495 each.

dinged up square dining table $245

Noir swivel shell stool (see crack in picture) $275

Noir Cement 39" round dining/patio table (cracked) $225

Worlds Away Gerard Bar Cart over 1/2 off!! $499

I'm Still Here!

2016-02-26T08:00:00.000-05:00

I swear I am not giving up on this blog, but the past 4 months have been so busy I feel like I am treading water with weights on my ankles. Most of my absence has been due to my full work load, however part of it has to do with me devoting more time to my sweet babes. The Mr. has been working long hours, 6 days a week, so believe me the blog isn't the only thing that has been neglected. Our poor Hank has been averaging .8 walks per day verses his usual 3. Between successfully potty training Jack who turned 2 at the end of November (I'm sorry I have to brag because he is the most amazing little boy and I am so proud of him!!) to bonding with my precious 8 month old easy going little Brynn, once I answer emails and work on fireplace renderings etc. I'm lucky if I have enough energy to shower, let alone work on a blog post. I know responding to new client inquiries and blogging has been put on the back burner but I promise things are going to change. Starting April 1st (no joke) Mom and I are restructuring the company and we both will have more time for the blog as well as our Studio. We have so much to catch up on and share over the next few weeks, from current on going projects, to our almost completed interiors. I hope you all will stick with me despite the fact that I have completely neglected the blog! Until then, here is a visual summary of the past/fastest 4 months of my life.

These three snuggle bunnies are my everything

My last kitchen project of 2015, I can't wait to share before and after photos of this house. The before kitchen was probably about the size of this new kitchen island.

If you can look past that adorable face you'll see our new Serena and Lily chairs, more on that later...

Another new addition! This new Ikea sofa fits the ENTIRE family, including our fur babe.

Christmas at the Studio

Me and my babes on Christmas night, I am kicking myself that this is the only photo I have of Brynn in that adorable Ralph Lauren taffeta dress!!

Our visit to the Air and Space Museum because Jack is OBSESSED with planes and helicopters.

Jack's other obsession, Hank and watching Daniel Tiger

These boys!

Jack completely unaware of the fact that his cousin Evie is about to smother him with kisses ;-)

Jack: "Hank, I want to hold your hand"

Brynn: "Hank I want to smush your face!"

Hank: "Help me!"

Hank: "No seriously, help me!!"

In addition to our new Serena and Lily chairs we had to get a new table base for our dining table because my antique iron base was not sturdy enough for the weight of the 48" round marble top. Here is our new Restoration Hardware trestle base which we are so happy with!

Okay so that wraps up my personal, brag about my children, cliche, Mom post. We will be back to our regular scheduled design related programming next week!

Jack's Nursery In Bethesda Magazine

2015-10-30T12:59:00.001-04:00

Jack's nursery was recently featured in Bethesda Magazine, along with two other nurseries that are designed to be practical past the infant years. Like many new Mom's I never had room for a true changing table, nor would I have wanted to buy a piece of furniture thats sole purpose was for changing diapers. Despite the fact that my life is diapers right now, I know that someday it will not be. I would rather invest in furniture that my children will have when they are in high school, and that is what I did with Jack's dresser. Brynn on the other hand lucked out with her dresser. It was hand me down from our bedroom at the apartment, which happens to be the perfect surface for our changing table. Whether it's an antique piece of furniture or a hand me down dresser, I love seeing nurseries that don't use typical "baby furniture."

Cloud Cover

2015-09-17T10:18:00.000-04:00

I remember before we put an offer in on our house the Mr. said to me "I have a feeling if we end up moving here you are going to paint the house white." Does he know me well or what? My dream of living in a white house has come true! Our house was by no means ugly before we painted it, but I have always wanted a white house. Also every single house on our street is red brick so I wanted to to be a little different. For a designer you would think I could be a little more creative than white everywhere, but for some reason white is so soothing to me. I ended up painting the house Benjamin Moore Cloud Cover, the same color as every room inside the house. I did test a few other colors but I felt Cloud Cover was the best. It is a white that doesn't appear too yellow or too gray, and it is just a dark enough contrast for my crisp white trim work to pop. I originally was going to go for a slightly darker shutter and door color, but I ended up choosing Benjamin Moore Seattle Mist. I love the new look of our house, and am patiently waiting for my cherry laurel bushes out front to grow. I told the Mr. he was allowed to make all the decisions outside since he literally had no say inside. He has a long list of landscaping plans he wants to accomplish over the next few years, but even without the perfect landscaping I love the way our house has transformed since we moved in.

new lantern from Shades of Light

Our New Living Room

2015-09-15T13:58:00.001-04:00

Our new living room is slightly smaller than our old living room at the apartment so I was not able to use all of my pieces in the new space. My Oly Pipa coffee table was way too big for the new room but thankfully I did not sell my old smaller knock off version of the table because it fits perfectly. It is literally the most perfect coffee table for toddlers, they can't get hurt on sharp edges, they can climb on top and not break anything, and it's a statement piece so it does not necessarily need table top accessories. I miss the symmetry of our old living room. The fact that the sofa is not in the middle of the room or centered in between the window and the door to our porch drives me crazy, but it is what it is. Another thing you will notice that is missing in our new living room is a fireplace, unfortunately our house doesn't have one! We may add one some day down the road (where the sofa is) but for now we will just have to spend the night at Mom and Dad's house on Christmas Eve so Santa can deliver his presents to the kiddos!

Our Mudroom Before and After

2015-09-09T13:31:00.003-04:00

Our mudroom is literally an Ikea Hack on steroids. Much like the kitchen the room was dated. It was a converted screened in porch with wood paneling on three walls and brick on another, and horrible popcorn tiles on the ceiling. Since I removed the closet in the living room I needed a coat closet for our first floor, and a space to put all of our stuff. Instead of keeping it as a breakfast nook which is how the previous home owners used it, I decided to make it a fully functional mudroom. I ended up covering up two windows with cabinetry and for now I just have blinds hung in them so from the outside of the house you just see window treatments. Since it is on the back of the house it does not bother me, but one day I would like to brick the windows in. In our mudroom I used part of the Ikea kitchen cabinets and part of their Pax closet system. For the bench and the wall shelf I used a desk top I found in the "as-is" section for $9 and had my contractor cut it in half. I literally have a place for everything in this room. We have floor to ceiling wine storage, a double coat closet for winter coats, work bags, and doggie items. A single closet that has the Mr's suit jackets and serving platters, and then floor to ceiling open shelves with baskets for hand towels, burp cloths, dog towels and diaper bags. Under the bench are two HomeGoods baskets for shoes, and then we have our microwave hidden in the lower cabinet since the kitchen was too small for a built in microwave. Jack loves fruit and veggies so much I was running out of counter space for fruit bowels so I got these amazing hanging baskets to hold all of his goodies; and last but not least a perfectly carved out niche for Hank's dog bowls! Here are the before, during and after photos!

Our Kitchen Before & After

2015-09-04T09:43:00.000-04:00

Oh my gosh there was so much wrong with the before pictures I don't know where to begin. When we first looked at the house I was so excited to see a dated kitchen. Most people would have looked at the kitchen and run for the hills but I was excited at all the potential the space offered. As you can see from the before pictures the kitchen was tiny tiny tiny. You couldn't open the dishwasher and the oven at the same time or the doors would hit each other. On the floor there were blue/purple sticky tiles, and a living room closet ate up valuable kitchen space which ultimately I took out in order to carve out a spot for our refrigerator. For the cabinets I used Ikea, specifically the White Lidingo cabinets which they have since fazed out and have transitioned to a new cabinet line. Our counter tops are the most beautiful honed carrara marble I have ever laid eyes on, and our appliances are a hodge podge of ones that came with the house, and purchased over time. In the dining room you will recognize my chandelier/pendant from the apartment, and the dining room table is the same one from the apartment with a larger marble top I had cut to go on it. The chairs are bistro chairs from Ballard, and the stools are from Target. Our old bedroom rug was able to be cut down so now half of it is in the dining room and the rest of the rug is in our mud room. Renovating the kitchen was definitely the best decision we made before moving into the house and I am so pleased with the way it all turned out. Even my honed carrara marble which people warned me not to use in a kitchen... yes it has a few spots here and there but I think it looks just as beautiful now as the day it was installed!

The Dining Room before we took down the wall separating the space from the kitchen

After

Our Master Bedroom

2015-09-03T10:49:00.001-04:00

Like Jack's bedroom, our Master Bedroom has not changed that much since our apartment days. I still have my favorite DIY Corbel Nighstands which are basically only big enough to fit our massively heavy Arteriors lamps and a drink on, and we still have our Restoration Hardware St. James Bed. Our old dining room sideboard now serves as my dresser, and our old living room rug was cut down to fit our new room. I absolutely love the rug, and I loved it for the living room but now that we are in a house with a backyard that Hank can frolic in as he pleases I was too worried to keep the rug for the new living room. I could just see the Mr. not wiping his paws or kids running in from our side porch with muddy boots, so I decided it would make a great rug for our bedroom and I can rest assure it will not get ruined! The only new purchase we made was drapes, and I absolutely love the way they turned out with the old living room rug. Because the room is so small and our bed is so big it was inevitable that I would block a window. The window is off center behind our headboard which drove me crazy so I hung the drapes to cover the width of the whole headboard to compensate for the lack of symmetry. It probably wouldn't have bothered most people but it totally bugged me and now I love the way our tiny Master Bedroom looks.

Here are a few more shots of our upstairs, in our hallway I have the most fabulous starburst chest in all the land. I friggin love this piece of furniture and everything about my little hall. On the wall are two gold framed prints that used to be my Grandmother Lizzie's and in the middle is a dog portrait my Mom got me. Our light fixture was one I brought with me from Visual Comforts which I think ties together all of my black and gold in the space.

So there you have it, that's our 2nd floor at the new house! Tomorrow I will share before and after photo's of the Kitchen and Mud Room!! The before pictures are literally so bad it makes my after pictures look like a million bucks ;-)

Jack's New Room

2015-09-02T09:31:00.001-04:00

Not too much has changed from Jack's old room at the apartment except the fact that his new room is 1/2 the size and I switched up his drapes. I decided to steal his old drapes and use them in our new living room, more on that later, so that left me with the daunting task of figuring out what to do for his window treatments. I have always love Pendleton blankets, and being that I went to college in Montana I thought it would be nice to make drapes that resembled the Pendleton Glacier National Park blanket. To create this look I simply had my seamstress add grosgrain ribbon to white Pottery Barn Peyton linen drapes, the same drapes I have in every room of our house except our bedroom. I absolutely love the way the drapes turned out and while I miss the look of Jack's old room, I like the added pop of color the drapes bring to his new space.

Brynn's Room

2015-09-01T10:18:00.002-04:00

This week and next I plan on sharing a lot of before and after pictures of our house and all the progress we have made since moving in in January. Although my darling girl Brynn has yet to spend a night in her bedroom, it happens to be one of my favorite rooms in the house! I chose a blue and white color palate for her space because 1. I have never been a fan of pink rooms 2. I had a blue nursery growing up and 3. Blue always reminds me of my Grandma Lizzie. Even though it may look like basically an all white nursery, there are so many little details in her room that make it special. Her rug is one that I got from my best guys at Carpet Palace in Bethesda, surprise surprise it's an an animal print! Her light fixture is one I have held onto for years from when Stray Dog Designs did a line for West Elm. Her drapery hardware is lucite mixed with gold rings to match her hand me down Bungalow 5 Jacqui dresser that used to be mine, and the drapes are the discontinued Pottery Barn Peyton Linen drape in white. The blue and white bedding is a mixture of Pottery Barn Kids sheets and crib skirt paired with a Serena and Lilly bumper. The artwork hanging over her bed is a piece my Mother and Father-in-law brought back from a trip to Spain, and the artwork hanging over the changing table/dresser is actually a HomeGoods find that I had framed! Since her room is literally the smallest room on earth and we couldn't fit a bookcase I opted for the lucite wall shelves which I posted details on a while back. So there you have it, thats Brynn's room! Tomorrow I will post pictures of Jack's room which hasn't changed much since the apartment.

Kitchen & Bathroom Before and After

2015-08-27T12:32:00.003-04:00

This Kitchen is actually a project I worked on a few years ago, which I blogged about here, but I feel like my Blackberry cell phone pictures did not do the space justice! While my photographer was snapping shots of the recently renovated bathroom I asked him to take a few of the kitchen so I could show the full before and after. I also found the before pictures of the bathroom reno from yesterday! Don't you just love a good Before and After post!? Next week I will have Before and After photos of our house to share!

Kitchen Sources

Sconces: Visual Comfort

Ceiling Fixture: Overstock.com

Appliances: Kenmore Pro and KitchenAid

Hardware: Dillon Pulls from Restoration Hardware

Cabinetry: Martha Stewart for Home Depot

Client Bathroom Project

2015-08-26T09:58:00.004-04:00

I've shared a few pictures of this bathroom project on Instagram but here is the final product. I wanted to keep the space light and bright not only because there is no natural light coming into the room but also because the client has vision issues. I went with a gray and white carrara marble basket weave tile for the floor, with a carrara marble border and carrara tiles on the walls of the shower. I also added wall moldings to the space which is a great idea if you want to jazz up the walls but don't want to spend the money on tile all the way around. The fabulous mirror which barley fits in the space we scored on One Kings Lane, and the sconces are from Worlds Away. We were unable to do a wall niche in the shower due to the building's studs so I added a glass wall shelf from Pottery Barn for soaps and shampoos. This light and bright bathroom project was so fun to work on and I loved the way it turned out. Tomorrow I will share pictures of the kitchen renovation!

Mom's Garden

2015-08-24T14:16:00.001-04:00

I meant to post pictures of Mom's garden last week but we were at the beach and I never got around to it! Here are some pictures of my parents beautiful backyard. It's special not only because of how beautiful it is, but Mom and Dad have literally done everything by themselves. Every plant was planted by Mom and Dad takes care of the lawn which isn't easy with two Labrador Retrievers running around messing things up. I just have to brag because I think they are doing a pretty damn good job, don't you agree??

Tone On Tone

2015-08-19T13:16:00.001-04:00

Piggybacking on yesterday's post, here is another one of my all time favorite houses in DC belonging to Loi Thai of Tone On Tone. I haven't been into Tone On Tone since before Jack was born, so I was thinking of taking Brynn with me for a visit in the next few weeks! I love everything about Loi's shop and his house. Stucco houses with spanish tile roofs have always been my favorite, particularly green spanish tile roofing. Not only is this one of my favorite houses, his garden is hands down the most perfect garden of all time. In fact it was one of the inspirations for how Mom landscaped her backyard. We love a perfectly manicured english style garden and with winters being as cold and long as they are it is especially nice to have a space with green all year round. Tomorrow I will share some photo's of Mom's backyard, but today here is the inspiration!

photos via Tone On Tone

Neighborhood Inspiration

2015-08-18T15:07:00.003-04:00

Next week I plan on sharing the before and after pictures of our exterior transformation. We had the house painted and I could not be more pleased with how it all turned out. I went back and forth about whether to paint the house gray or white, but in the end my dream of an all white house won. So now I have a white house literally inside and out. The funny thing is every room in our house is the exact same color as what I picked for the exterior. I know I am insane, but Benjamin Moore Cloud Cover was just the right fit for our house. If I had a clapboard or stucco house I would have gone with a more stark true white, with white shutters, but I did not think that look was the best option for our tiny brick house. Before we painted our house the Mr. was anxious to know what the final product would look like, because after all when you paint brick there is no turning back! One afternoon we took the kids for a walk and I showed him some of my favorite white houses, as well as some other gems. If one of these images is your house, sorry we are stalkers, but we are in love. I think I have created a monster because after we got back from the walk the Mr. started thinking about landscaping. He literally wants to rip everything out of our back yard and start from scratch! Maybe we will tackle that project in the Spring, but for now here is some landscaping inspiration as well as a few of our favorite houses!

Here is what the house above looked like before they painted the shutters and door black, I personally loved the all white look! which do you like better black or white??

Lilly Pulitzer Wallpaper

2015-07-24T15:46:00.005-04:00

Yesterday Brynn and I went out to run errands and I decided to pop into the Lilly Pulitzer store to see if they had anything on sale for my little girl. One of my favorite things in any Lilly store, aside from all the cute little dresses, is the dressing room decor. Lilly has a great line of fabrics for Lee Jofa, but I have always wondered why they don't do wallpaper. I know a dozen little girls who would love to have Lilly wallpaper in their rooms, and I myself would totally love a laundry room in Lilly paper, so what's up Lilly people, why not introduce a wallpaper line?! I hope your weekend is as cheerful as these fun dressing rooms, Happy Friday!

via and my iPhone

Grasscloth Wallpaper In The Master Bedroom, Someday

2015-07-16T12:33:00.005-04:00

One thing you have time to do while nursing an infant 24 hours a day is analyze what you love about your house, and what you would change. I posted on my Instagram account back in February about how I wanted to wallpaper our master bedroom in this fabulous Thibaut Grasscloth, and while it is not currently in the budget, I will wallpaper our bedroom someday. Someday hopefully sooner rather than later. Thank the Lord the Mr. does not read this blog because there are so many other things he would like do, silly practical things like fix the broken pull down ladder to our attic. I have a lot on my wish list for the house and so does the Mr, but we truly do love everything about our little house! I am so glad we did the kitchen and basement renovations before we moved in, because I wouldn't have the energy for life with two under two and a dog plus all the mess involved with renovations. Thankfully now I am spending more time outside the bedroom but I am still dreaming about how wonderful it will be to one night go to bed in a dreamy grasscloth covered space like these.

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Our Little Lady Has Arrived!

2015-07-13T10:40:00.000-04:00

I am a month late in sharing the news that our little girl, Miss Brynn O'Hara Boland, arrived on June 9th! This past month has been the fastest month of my life, and I am hoping the next few will fly by until she is sleeping through the night! Our first week home was very relaxing, Hank went to my parents house, and the Mr. took Jack to the beach, so it was just us girls at home sleeping and eating around the clock. Jack has settled into life as a big brother quite well, in fact his favorite thing to do when he wakes up in the morning or from a nap is to run into our room to check on her. All in all life with our newest family member is running smoothly. I have so much to share with you all, some client projects as well as a few things I have been working on around the house, so now that we are getting into somewhat of a routine I plan to get back into blogging more frequently. Here is a glimpse of what we have been up to since our little lady's arrival!

Clear Bookshelves For Baby B's Nursery

2015-06-08T13:42:00.002-04:00

If our little lady is anything like her brother she is bound to be obsessed with books, pun intended. Since Baby B's room is so tiny a real bookshelf was not an option, so I decided to order a few acrylic bookshelves to hang on one of her walls instead. These shelves are amazing, they are only 2" deep and come in varying widths. I haven't decided whether or not I am going to hang art above the bookshelves or order a few more shelves and just make the whole wall a wall of books, but I am leaning towards a wall of books. I can't wait to have her room photographed (as well as Jack's, but more on his new room later) and share pics! Here is a photo I posted on Instagram of Baby B's shelves, along with my inspiration photos.

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Mega Sale at The Studio!

2015-06-03T14:26:00.002-04:00

Mom and I opened The Studio 5 years ago, and we are ready for face lift! In preparation for our remodel we have marked everything in the shop down from 20% to 50% off. We are open this coming Saturday from 10am-4pm and next Wednesday 10am-2pm, if you are local please come by and see us!

Design In A Day

4334 Montgomery Ave.

Bethesda MD 20814