Kristen F. Davis Designs

Comfy Luxurious White Bedding

noreply@blogger.com (Kristen) — Fri, 11 Dec 2020 14:04:00 +0000

I always prefer a crisp, clean white duvet (or quilt) when I'm designing a space for a client or for myself. I like that they are timeless, easy to clean, and easy to decorate around (if you decide to change it up in the future). Plus, is there anything like a crisp, cotton, recently-washed-and-bleached bed to climb into? It's one of my favorite things - especially since having a baby (my bed is 100000 x's more inviting these days, haha!).

Here are some examples of rooms for clients that I have designed that have white duvets or quilts as the base:

I generally source my bedding from places like Pottery Barn, Restoration Hardware, and even have bought duvets at Homegoods.

I recently got a set from Boll & Branch and it is so comfy, soft and high quality. We are loving it!

Another feature of the Boll & Branch duvet and pillow cover set that I like is that it is easy to put on and take off. Duvets can be difficult to deal with, and this one isn't at all. It was about five minutes of my time to put it on and we've been enjoying it ever since!

Our Baby Nursery

noreply@blogger.com (Kristen) — Fri, 29 May 2020 22:49:00 +0000

Today is my due date! We are expecting a baby girl any day now, and so with all the waiting, I thought now would be a good opportunity to document her nursery. I had such a fun time decorating my own baby's nursery - a dream come true! I've said a hundred times that I wish I could focus my business on solely nurseries and powder bathrooms. They're just so whimsical, and a place where people let loose... and fun is expected. I never have a hard time with whimsy in my own home, though, and this room has been no exception.

This room used to be our bedroom, but we switched the rooms around when it came time to make room for baby. There are two bedrooms on the back of our house (and one upstairs), and this one is ever-so-slightly more "out of the way" than the other one, so we thought maybe it would be a little bit of a quieter space for her. I used a pretty organic approach when designing this nursery, which is how I like to take most design projects when I can. I feel that I always get a better outcome when I don't try to control everything from the beginning. This leaves room for surprises along the way... which I had a few of, you'll read about below!

There was no space to put the crib on the wall that you are facing when you walk in to the room (where I would generally suggest doing something focal, like a crib), so it is on the wall that is behind you when you walk into the room. At first I thought this might feel funny, but now it feels natural. I decided to use this Lulie Wallace "Lulu" paper in the nursery. Since I am not sure how long we will live in this house, I thought an accent wall might be best, instead of papering the whole room.

The remaining three walls are painted Benjamin Moore's "Malted Milk."

This was when I painted the sample of it (the top one) on the wall to see what I thought. It's the perfect "'90's" beigey-pink. Not too bubblegum-baby, but still girly. We like pink, but we like an edge ;)

The light fixture we already had, and actually just moved in to the room when we switched bedrooms. Let me tell you - moving a fan is no joke, and Ryan is a saint, haha. We switched the fan that we had previously installed in our bedroom into the "new" bedroom, and then moved this light fixture (from Amazon) over to the baby room. I also bought one of those medallions that covers any holes in the ceiling (and I like the architectural detail that it adds contrasted to the modern fixture!) and painted it trim white, and we mounted it above the fixture.

I also already had the brass curtain hardware, and bought the drapes from Anthropologie. The chair is the Babyletto Kiwi Glider (I'd heard so many rave reviews about it from clients and family that it was a no brainer. Plus, I like the sleek design... and it has a USB charging cord!). The lamp was one of those "surprise" finds that I just happened to find walking around World Market one day! It was on clearance for $80 and I immediately scooped it up (as best as a pregnant woman can scoop up a floor lamp) and put it into my cart. It was missing its shade but I got the big shade seen here at Kudzu Antiques here in Atlanta... they have the best lampshades!

The changing table is from All Modern. I really love it, and it was the perfect size for this space!

The rug was another surprise...a VERY happy accident from the Final Cut Anthropologie outlet in Augusta. I went with my BFF to the beach for a few days right before quarantine started, and we met up in Augusta to drive together there. I'd always heard about Final Cut, but never been, so decided to swing by on my way back. I had actually already ordered a rug that was a shag like this, but just plain off-white. It was on backorder, and scheduled to arrive in a couple of weeks, but when I saw this one, I liked it so much more, and it was only $250 for the 8x10' size. Ryan and I laid it out as soon as I got home, and we both loved it so much. It's so fluffy underfoot, and literally makes the room. I canceled the original rug order... it worked out perfectly! I also got the pillow that is on the chair there, and a few other little trinkets around the room. The lucite side table next to the chair I have had for years. I love that it adds more of a modern element, and doesn't take up visual space. I got the gold pouf from Amazon.

We made the rainbow yarn wallhanging. I wanted something different for in here ... I love the yarn wall hangings you see everywhere, but I wanted something a little unique, so I decided to DIY this one.

I bought yarn in some funky, vintage-inspired colors from Hobby Lobby. Looking back, I should have bought the yarn that is really thick... it would have helped the process go quite a bit faster!

I also didn't need this much... I really only needed less than one spool per color. It's hard to know!

I was searching for something lightweight to wrap the yarn around to make the rainbow, and found these foam pipe covers at Home Depot. After spending over an hour wrapping the first one by hand in yarn, Ryan came home and came up with a McGyver-inspired solution... he got the drill and drilled one end into one end of the pipe cover and then one of us would press the drill while the other carefully "led" the yarn onto the pipe. I'm not sure if that makes sense, but it worked really well and was a lot faster. Though, I will say, this whole thing was a LOT more involved than I thought it would be, and you won't catch me making another one! haha.

It was a challenge to cut these down to make the rainbow shape. It made a mess, and there was some recovery work to be done. I hot-glued them to each other, then ended up getting poster board and cut it to the size, then hot-glued the whole rainbow to the poster board to make the wallhanging. I then put a d-ring on the back and called it a day. The ends of the rainbow spools are not perfect, but hey, it's home made. This baby better love her darn rainbow! ;)

I found these funky shelves at Hobby Lobby one day. They were your basic "distressed" wood finish when I bought them. However, I thought the cut out shape and the spool detail on them was special, and they gave me Serena and Lily vibes. I painted them a flat, pastel tangerine color and I love them! They kind of have that plaster look that is popular right now, and the weird tangerine color is perfect. It's an odd choice for the room, and I love that it feels a little out of place, but complementary. I will say, I initially painted them white, but it didn't feel right. This color is so much better! The wicker mirror I got at a thrift store a while back, and the letter board was another Final Cut find. My silver baby rattle sits on the shelves with the newer pieces (which is surprisingly beat up for a baby toy. What was I doing with that thing, Mom?!) The polaroids are new and old - one is of me, about six months pregnant, and the other is my mom and me when I was a newborn. :)

My friend Claire made a painting for us (sooo sweet and beautiful!) and the cute little black and peach dot card was her card that went along with the painting. I LOVE IT.

On the other side, is the crib and bookshelf. To be honest, the bookshelf is not styled perfectly, but I love it how it is. I use the bottom shelf for storage with these baskets I got at Target, and the rest is blankets, books and sweet little sentimental trinkets.

A friend gave us the rabbit nightlight that is from Restoration Hardware, and many of the other items are gifts, too. The giraffe basket is from Pottery Barn kids. I love it! I gave Ryan/the baby the pink ukulele, and the bunny figurine is from Ryan's mom (bunnies are her thing and have become our thing with the baby!). The tiny pink elephant was a gift from my friend that she got me really early on in my pregnancy. I think it was our first official baby gift! The Peter Rabbit cup and saucer were mine when I was a baby.

The crib is IKEA, and the sheet is Mebie Baby. I have all of the stuffed animals we have received as gifts in there (though I know we will have to remove them before we use the crib!), and they make me smile.

I got the mirror at Homegoods. We decided on the Owlet monitor system, and Ryan mounted it and I painted the cord cover the wall color. It still stands out, but nowhere near as badly as it did before I painted it.

I guess that concludes the tour! Now, we wait for baby to make her debut.

Christmas Decor 2018

noreply@blogger.com (Kristen) — Sun, 25 Nov 2018 23:47:00 +0000

hey, guys!

Long time no post.

I don't know what came over me, but I felt inspired to post a "tour of homes" for my Christmas holiday decor this year. I haven't posted many photos of my little fixer upper here in Atlanta (I still need to write about all of the renovations that have happened), but this year my decor feels especially cozy, so I figured I might as well. I won't lie - it took me a while to dust off my photo skills (mainly having to download new software for the program that I transfer photos from, find cords, edit, etc) because I never use my nice camera anymore. It's crazy how easy it is to use our iPhones to capture everything now, and even edit them in a split second. Honestly, I prefer it, and I'm not really sure dragging out my Canon really made that much of a difference, but here we go.

This is the view peering in from my dining room. I did real garland (from Lowe's - everyone keeps asking!) around the arch and a mistletoe ball hangs from the top of the arch. I tied a black and white ribbon around the base of the ball.

The tree! She's colorful. I can't help it. I always think maybe I'll do a more simple, neutral tree, but I never do. I am a color lover.

My mantel. The stockings and stocking holders are from west elm, and I just did a very simple (obviously faux - I got tired of hanging real garland at this point, haha. I generally do real here.)

I LOVE my vintage (mixed with new) houses and bottle trees. I have been collecting vintage Christmas decor for years. I tied the black and white plaid ribbon on the ends here, too.

I may add gold balls to the garland, we'll see.

These mini vintage reindeer are one of my favorite possessions I've ever owned! You may remember them from my studio windows about 5 years ago? They're so cute.

View from the living room. I am now kicking myself for not clearing off my coat rack a little more for the photo, but oh well.

View from living room into the dining area. I filled my dough bowl with ornaments (I have SO many vintage glass ornaments) and then did 2 simple modern black taper candles on either end.

bar/record area. Excuse the cords - a necessary evil here!

The kitchen. The only Christmas decor here is the Santa (and ho ho ho board - I'm really bad at keeping that thing up to date, and kind of lazy with it, haha) and the garland over the kitchen sink. I did get out my old red rug and lay it out for the winter since it covers more ground, and I am really loving it!

I added lights onto the garland this year, and bows on either end. It's so cheery!

View from dining area to the back door (the area to the right is my office).

Bedroom! I can't remember if I blogged about it, but I painted that design on the headboard wall in the bedroom. I added a little white tree, a "merry christmas" garland onto the window, and some glittery tinsel garland to the antlers of my white elk. This part may be too cheesy - I haven't decided. haha. Knowing myself, I probably will leave it.

he's festive.

This rose gold metal garland is from Target a few years ago.

This little white tree is SO OLD. I probably have had it about ten years, for real. Holding on for dear life, but still cute as can be.

and hey look, it's me (and my dirty mirror)! haha. Very cool face I am making. This is the hallway, which I also hand painted.

I hope you enjoyed the "tour"... merry christmas everyone!

Atlanta Magazine HOME Spring 2018

noreply@blogger.com (Kristen) — Fri, 02 Mar 2018 14:45:00 +0000

Hi everyone!

I just wanted to pop in and show you guys that one of my projects has been published in Atlanta Magazine's HOME Spring 2018 edition.

My clients, Andy and Mitch, have a beautiful, cool, hip modern-with-traditional-elements kitchen that I am so proud of. We worked really hard to create a unique and special kitchen, and I feel like this captures it perfectly. This kitchen was a new-build, but we did lots of custom and "off the shelf" items mixed together, to get a fresh look that I think is pretty unique to the Atlanta design scene.

Anyway, it's always so much fun to see your work in print and I'm really happy with how it turned out. Thanks to Lisa Mowry for the great write up! I will blog about this kitchen soon, because I have a lot to say about the design process and I just realized I haven't written about it!

Happy weekend, everyone.

Restful Master Bedroom

noreply@blogger.com (Kristen) — Fri, 16 Feb 2018 00:26:00 +0000

Hi! I just wrapped up a master bedroom install yesterday, and even though I don't have professional photos of it, I couldn't wait to share some that I took with my iPhone.

These clients are so easy and sweet to work with. We have decorated their living room and kitchen, as well as guest room. When they contacted me to do their master bedroom last year, I was so excited. They are very well-travelled, and enjoy pieces with a story that remind them of their travels. That was almost the only directive that they had - restful, adult, stylish and perhaps bring in a few pieces that represent them as a couple.

Their house was new when they bought it a few years ago, and the walls were Benjamin Moore's "Sea Salt." It's a beautiful color that they weren't opposed to keeping, but of course I wanted to mix it up a bit!

Here's the before shot:

blanket hanging down for dramatic effect. :)

As you can see, there are sconces on the side walls. We'd done Roman shades when they first moved in, with the knowledge that they needed to be neutral and fit with a future decor scheme. You can kind of see above that the bed was existing. I believe it was made by my client's grandfather, so it was a special piece they wanted to keep. As you'll see, we added a new headboard.

They also had this dresser that was a family piece with meaning (and it's always nice to just reuse what you already have!):

And here are some "after" shots!

As you can see, we kept the bed base, but added new brass hardware and a pretty upholstered headboard. We have new nightstands and lamps, as well as bedding and art. I wanted the bed to be pretty but comfortable-- not stuffy. We did a jute rug with a layered antique oriental rug on top (probably 90% of my clients will tell you I make this suggestion for their rooms, but it is always A) so gorgeous, and B) pretty cost effective as well as stain friendly!)

very simple bedside accessories

I don't like a lot of items on nightstands, and they both had a stack of books that need to be able to hang out somewhere. This is real life!

Opposite the bed is this gorgeous dresser and antique botanical chart that we had framed. I found this piece on Etsy, and we had it framed in a sort of shadow box look. It's HUGE. I love the juxtaposition of the modern frame and white mat mixed with the antique botanical. Somehow I managed to NOT get a pic of this yesterday as the final "after" shot, but it has two beautiful lamps on either side of it now.

See the lamp, below? There are 2. Also, hi, there is me. They needed a dressing mirror, and this pretty white framed one in the corner was perfect.

In the same way I don't like a lot of clutter on nightstands, I don't like a lot of clutter on dressers. I did a simple bit of greenery, a frame and a candle. A nice bronze mirrored tray holds it all. The rest of the dresser can be left to hold things that dressers hold!

As I mentioned before, the roman shades were custom made (They're a few shades lighter than the wall color) and we added store-bought curtains to them to soften the windows.

The Indian kantha throw was a wonderful textural element we found and added to the simple hotel style bedding (again - I'm a broken record with the hotel style bedding, I love it).

The woven basket mounted over the bed was a piece I found from Africa. I LOVE IT. It's lightweight and brings so much interest to the room.

bedside accessories. I love this little salmon dish that picks up the color in the rug

On the right, you can see the dresser we repurposed, completely made over! I really love the new hardware we added and we painted it a shade that is a few shades lighter than the walls. Isn't it nice?

a great family photo was framed with a simple store-bought frame and mat

I added a fern and some cooking books, and there you have it. Kidding! Cook books will eventually be replaced with other books (I gave them a mission to find some cool art books to go there). Also, this is when I go ahead and tell you that ferns are the new succulents -- you heard it here first. ;)

I hope you guys enjoyed seeing this project! It was so fun to work on, and I feel like it truly represents my design aesthetic: approachable; modern-meets-traditional; with some global touches throughout.

Lately

noreply@blogger.com (Kristen) — Mon, 02 Oct 2017 23:28:00 +0000

sup!

I just wanted to check in and write about some of what I've been up to lately. My days fly by, full of all kinds of design problems to be attacked, and I realize that I never blog about anything I am doing. I know a lot of you follow me on Instagram (@kfddesigns.com), but I do miss writing here, too. Do I say that every time? Whoops.

Anyway. A little of what's been on my radar lately...

I have been working on a playroom redecorating project that has been so much fun. It's always nice when a client lets your true (crazy) colors fly. This is how it started:

The rules were simple.

-A couch

-Homework area

-Gymnastics practice area

-TV

... and that's really it. So, I pulled together a bunch of inspiration and here is where we are now:

pretty fun, no? We still have a little bit to do, but we are probably 85% there and I'm loving where it's at. I striped the walls with huge horizontal stripes, except on the wall with an angle where the stripes are vertical. They get broken up in the little daybed area...

We had a custom desk built for homework time. It's not quite done, but looking great so far. It'll have a custom bulletin board over it, running the length of the desk, too. You can see here the vertical stripes! (we need to switch out bulbs in the new fixtures, too...)

Last Friday I delivered the window shades that we had made, and the photo grid gallery wall.

It was really hard to get a pic of this area, but we had a new cover for the bench seat made as well as that roman shade. It's a teal blue that matches the end tables - hard to tell because this photo is so backlit. I had the hardest time photographing it!

here's a picture of the other (smaller) window's shade:

These are Ribba frames from Ikea, and I had simple 12 by 12 prints made at Walmart (for only $6 each!) to put in them. My client sent me some family photos and I edited them to make the colors more fun and crazy to go with the room.

Such a fun project, I can't wait to do more.

When I picked up the shades from my work room, I also picked up this beautiful pillow that I had made for another client:

I love the floral here (usually I'm not a floral person, but this is so painterly and the colors are killer. Plus that weird mustard-green hybrid color is my favorite color of fall 2017...) and the butterfly flange detail I had them do on the edging.

love it.

At that same client's house, I hung this gallery wall a little while back, and need to find some cute prints to go inside the gold Target frames in her office.

She used to be a big runner, so we had these metals framed which I think are a fun mix to the usual rectangle or squared off photo frame. Please ignore the exercise equipment, we are trying to get rid of that. Anyone want a half-broken stair climber?

I'm also working on a loft project over in Castleberry Hill. My client is renovating it himself, because he is a builder and I'm basically just doing consulting work with him. I've been telling him which colors to use, finishes to select, etc. He loves everything-wood, so basically my job is just telling him to use a different material than wood. ;) haha! Kidding...kind of.

He has this cool loft space, and I recommended the paint colors. Isn't it crazy the difference paint can make?

Before:

and now:

so much more modern, huh?

Another little something I worked on last week was color selection for these modern homes in Old Fourth Ward.

I was REALLY wanting to make hunter green (or some kind of green) work on this house, but it just wasn't right with the gray stained wood that we had already selected. So, we went with a dark blue-gray that's really pretty, instead.

samples, samples, samples.

last but not least, I have addressed a couple of problems in my own house. For some godforsaken reason (only slightly dramatic) I told my contractor I would patch, sand and paint the holes in my kitchen and dining room ceiling from him moving/installing can lights. I thought I would save a buck and it was one of the few things I could DIY with those renos. Why oh why did I not do it when there was already dust everywhere? I kicked up a nice pretty layer of snow all over my house last week.

excellent idea!

Oh well, it's done now, and I re-cleaned the house. Lesson learned... just let the pros do it when they're doing everything else. I probably barely saved any money on that, anyway. haha.

My contractor did look at me like I was crazy when I told him I'd just do it myself. But not as crazy as when he saw the pink door. Anyway.

Another project I'm happy about (which I did this evening) was organize my refrigerator door. It's the little things, guys.

do you guys follow The Home Edit on Instagram? It's amazing and I love them. It's taking a lot of self control not to write the category of each food item on the little stall door in front of them. In fact, if I can find a white paint pen...

;) My mom is queen of all things organized, so sometimes it comes out in me. Not as often as it should.

This weekend, I also got some pumpkins at the Atlanta State Farmer's Market. They had such a great selection! I kind of did some Halloween decorating as well, but full-disclaimer I'll probably be way tired of looking at it by Halloween. Haha.

........................

Anyway, hope everyone had a decent Monday. It was a very sad day for our country, and my heart has been heavy all day thinking of all of the people who are grieving today. Prayers, love and light to everyone out there.

My Kitchen Renovation

noreply@blogger.com (Kristen) — Thu, 14 Sep 2017 23:21:00 +0000

I have been meaning to blog about my kitchen reno for forever! It has been finished for a couple of months now (well, mostly finished, do they ever really completely get finished? I have a few things on my list for the main contractor to come back and look at.)

This is what I started with, as a refresher:

lovely little drive thru window:

Then, I took down that wall that divides the dining room and kitchen. Now, it's essentially one large space.

I wrote about it before, but I had to have a 16" header. Everything is painted white, so it's not too annoying, but I wish it could've been flush (way more $$$).

As you can see the kitchen floors were porcelain tile. It wasn't terrible, but I decide to remove them and put in hardwoods to match the rest of the house. The house has original hardwoods, and they had recently been redone. I'm happy to report the new kitchen hardwoods match seamlessly with the old (phew).

Here is a progress photo from when the wall came down (DUST) and the header went up (DUST), but pre-kitchen remodel.

This was right before the rest of the reno began. It was actually supposed to start in a couple of weeks from when I took this picture, but soon after I took it, my cabinet girl called and said, "If you can get your demo guys over there, I can get the cabinets in in three days!" So, acting as my own GC (I actually really like it because I can mostly control everything ;), I called my demo guys and asked if they could come SOON. He assured me they would be there that weekend. So one Sunday morning, bright n early, my entire kitchen was removed into a giant island of cabinetry and flooring into my backyard.

They did it so fast, and this is what it looked like within a few hours:

crazy.

On a whim, I decided to paint interior of the back door pink. My main contractor said, "Pink? Really" And kind of rolled his eyes. I guess not every shares my sensibilities. :)

Like I mentioned in my last post, I had a great cabinet contractor and she really helped me a lot with the placement of things. I knew I wanted:

1) hidden trashcans/recycling

2) a peninsula

3) (most importantly) STORAGE

We created a plan to have a wall of relatively shallow (17") cabinets across from the sink for LOTS of storage. Believe it or not, I can store everything in this kitchen that used to be stored in my old house's kitchen. That house was 1900sf and this one is ~1100sf! Booyah.

Anyway, next came floors, then cabinets. Not walking on the floors for a few days and dealing with the fumes wasn't easy.

Pretty new floors, YESSSSSS

Apparently I don't have any photos of just the floors, but you get the drift.

Finally it was time for the cabinets to go in. They came back and guess what? They mismeasured for the pantry area across from all of this, so that had to be reordered and was installed a couple weeks later. I was so excited and happy about this, that I really didn't even care.

Finally, they came back to finish the install and also to add hardware (which is Martha Stewart for Home Depot).

I love the fridge being boxed in. I kept all of the electrical and plumbing in the same spots because I liked where everything was and also I didn't want to spend the extra $ on that. My fridge and stove are not fancy, but they work fine. (Do wish the stove was gas, though! In a house that has gas, why is it not?! Argh)

I asked the contractor to leave the spots that needed patching for me. That, I can do! Also, I had him move/add can lights. They had added can lights before I bought the house, but they were in the wrong places for my new cabinetry, and I also wanted one over the sink. Holes holes holes to patch.

I also painted this wall completely white, and had my contractor install a vent that actually vents outside, instead of recirculating smells/food back into the air like my old hood did. (dumb)

Post-patching and painting :)

I forgot to mention before that I added a dishwasher to the kitchen when I first moved in. The house didn't have one and I'm a snob and REALLY enjoy a dishwasher. So sue me.

Here is an almost-done pic with the countertops installed! This is when I really started getting excited. The new peninsula is a huge game-changer and really gives so much space, and I love being able to sit there and chat and have dinner.

I looked for pendants for over the peninsula everrrrrywhere (well, every where that had relatively fast lead times). I couldn't find anything I wanted. Let's also not forget this was towards the end of reno and I was tired of spending money.

I bought these white pendants from IKEA and carefully spray painted them hunter green (love the Montana spray paint line which you can buy at art supply stores). I taped off the little lip on the top and bottom of the fixture to keep it white, because I felt like if it had originally been painted green, that's how it would've looked.

I also spray painted the tops of the fixtures gold (previously also white). I loved how they turned out. My contractor was also a little judgey about my spray painting my fixtures, but whatev. We clearly don't have the same taste ;) He looked at me like I was a crazy person when he walked in one morning to see this sitting out for him.

Soooo, drumroll.... end result! And some of these pics have been edited (admittedly, for my instagram account {@kfddesigns}, not for here) and some haven't at all. I need some pro shots of the space, but this will have to do for now! I need to bring out the ol' Canon again, but my trusty iPhone seems to do most of the work these days.

I had the back walls tiled in white subway tile ... hard to see in these photos, but I love it. Timeless.

pink door! Wall of storage, I love you. Also - that microwave is the fanciest appliance in the house. In order to do the wall of cabinetry like this, and to also get the microwave off the counters (for more counter space) we had to put it in the wall of cabinetry, and since they are pre fab cabinets, we had to find a microwave that was shallow enough for our little situation. This over $600 microwave did the trick. Insert me rolling my eyes. But hey, it's really quiet. ha.

View from dining room:

I got the black stools on either Overstock or Amazon. I ordered the wrong height the first go-round, so had to send them back. Rookie mistake.

andddd my cute little mint stool I got at Homegoods. I was already thinking I needed a cute stool for this kitchen, and when I saw this at HG one day, I snapped it up in a heart beat. :)

All in all, it happened at lightning speed. I thank my previous design contractor connections and being a good harasser of vendors for that ;)

Here is the other side of the long wall of cabinetry. to the right of the pink door. I added a cute bulletin board that I got months ago, as well as some gold hooks for keys/bags/etc. I also got that cute "home" sign at White's Mercantile in Nashville.

Thanks for checking it out, y'all. I'm loving it!

Rtown Lane Fireplace Built In Project

noreply@blogger.com (Kristen) — Mon, 05 Jun 2017 22:00:00 +0000

I have so many design project to share with you guys. If you follow me on Instagram, you see little snippets every day of where I am at with certain projects, but I would love to do posts about each project to explain to you the longer thoughts on the decisions that are made, why we made them, and of course just to share pretty photos.

A project that I am currently working on is in Reynoldstown, here in Atlanta. I have a cool young, hip couple that brought me on to help decorate their kitchen/living area on the main floor of their home. The house is a town home, and it is tall and kind of narrow. It's about 9' across and I think 16' long. Considering a couch is about 3.5' deep, that is not a lot of space! I actually did design work for their neighbors down the street a few months ago, so had similar challenges in that space (which I need to blog about, too!), but we came up with a totally different way to address this space. It's fun doing something different in similar spaces! Anyway, they wanted to add an electric fireplace and bookshelf wall. They loved the idea of traditional bookshelves, but with the house being a modern/transitional style, and the narrowness of the space, we couldn't get away with just a simple bookshelf design. Here's a photo of when I first visited them:

Where the sofa is is actually the bookshelf wall now. Anyway, these are family pieces that they own, and while we ditched the leather chair, side tables and coffee table, my clients wanted to keep the sofa (and there's a matching side chair) so we are having them stripped and stained a dark gray with new upholstery. It was a challenge to see them as anything other than what they are now, but I'm actually really excited to see them transformed. You guys know I appreciate history and holding onto treasured pieces, so I am all about working with family pieces to make your own. The fabric we chose is a nubby gray/cream stripe (little stripes) that feels like a nod to what was probably on there before, when the pieces were made in the 1950's, but a much more modern color story. We chose a clear tempered glass waterfall coffee table to keep from taking up too much visual space. The other tables and accessories are still TBD!

Anyway, back to the bookshelves.

This were my (crappy) sketches:

they look better in real life. Haha!

Paddy, carpenter to the stars, came and helped make our vision a reality. Here is the day that he taped it all out for us - making my job way easier ;)

Anyway, I came up with the idea to add brass rods on the ends instead of traditional bookshelf walls, so that when you turn a corner (when you come into the room, the bookshelves are immediately on the wall beside you) you don't feel that the shelves are closing you out. Instead, you can see through them. My clients didn't want to do floating shelves over the doors, and I thought this would be a good way to give the feel of a more solid, built in piece without closing off the edges.

Here it is in the flesh, baby:

Can you believe it! I love it! The shelves are very shallow - I think around 14-15" deep? I can't remember what we finally ended up with, but we wanted to make them as shallow as possible without it looking like a movie set or being unable to decorate them. I love the brass.

The railroad tie mantle has significance too, which is a nice personal touch. We heavily treated and sealed it before using it indoors as a mantle piece, don't worry. You can see the hardware for the doors sitting on top of the cabinet in this pic. I love the brass plate detail as well.

We are also doing a built in bar and banquette in the kitchen!

My clients have a fun bright orange accent wall here in their kitchen, across from this and on that wall we are doing a fun blue and white Ikat. So, we wanted something to coordinate but not fight with that over here on the bench. We ended up going with the small dotty-looking fabric that is second from the left on the middle row here! This grouping was after we had narrowed it down by about 50%. :)

Can't wait until this is all said and done and I can show you guys some more pictures. We are doing a white tulip table here as well, and the brass chandelier will be centered above it. Will follow up with more updates when I have them!

Bathroom Reno Status Update

noreply@blogger.com (Kristen) — Thu, 01 Jun 2017 14:15:00 +0000

I have huge progress on the bathroom reno! I would say it's actually about 90% there? 75?

Everything is complete except for the glass for the shower door comes in Saturday, and the linen closet has yet to be built. Also, I still don't have the towel bars (and haven't even ordered them yet -- whoops). Otherwise, though, done!

As a refresher, this is what it used to look like. The tub was on a throne because they didn't want to have to break through several inches of concrete for the plumbing, so they took the cheap/easy way, which created all kinds of problems (mainly headaches to look at, but also danger when trying to get clean).

I talked about it in my last post, but I completely rearranged the entire layout of the bathroom. Even the entry door moved.

I ended up doing a standard tub/shower combo, because I like to take baths, and am not a "giant shower" person. I decided I wanted the part of the footprint that could be used for a huge modern shower to be instead used for a linen closet that will create lots of storage in this 1100 SF house. YES! Much better, in my opinion.

So, here is the new view when you walk into the new door! I moved the door because if I did, I could get a 48"w vanity instead of a 38" -- like I said, the more countertop/storage, the better! 48" is a great size and there is plenty of room for things when you are trying to get ready.

It's a dark/rainy day (all it does is rain in Atlanta now...), so it was really hard to get good pics, and I didn't bust out the fancy camera for this, so that'll have to wait until it's all said and done! for now, you get halfway-decent iPhone pics.

I surprised myself and the night before painting the room, I decided to go navy. Not sure what came over me, but I love it! I got the mirror from Homegoods, the vanity light from Lamps Plus, and the vanity (which includes cararra marble countertop) from Amazon. I love all of them. The light is hung about 4" too high, which yes, drives me nuts. They didn't ask me where I wanted it, and just assumed, and it's way high. I might move it, but have a lot on my plate right now, so it's on the back burner.

I ended up going with the white/black basket weave tile from Floor & Decor. I didn't do marble because it was going to be about $1800 for the entire floor and that came out way higher than I wanted, eeks. So, I went with the classic black and white version, and love it just as much. In fact, I think I like it better with the countertops also being marble. And it was about $200 for the entire bathroom... much better!

The place I decided to splurge was on the Kohler faucet. I have loved this faucet from their Purist series forever, and have used it with clients. It feels so nice to turn on and off, and the design just can't compare with other similar versions. I tried to make myself love a cheaper version, and I just couldn't do it.

The vanity came with brushed nickel pulls, which wasn't the look I wanted, so I replaced them with these brass ones from myknobs.com. It was really hard to find pulls this size- they are 6.25" spread and that's big! So, I had to do fairly modern pulls, but most everything in the bath is pretty traditional, so it's okay. The knobs for the doors will be in soon.

I did a mix of brass and silver tones. I wanted all the silver tones to be polished nickel, but I couldn't find a shower/tub faucet locally, so I had to do chrome. It was a good place to save a buck, and you don't really notice from a distance. I think that one was only around $125 from Home Depot, and it looks pretty good. I like mixing metals and you guys know I love brass, but I kept all the "permanent" elements (faucets, glass door hardware) silver toned, and all the ones that can easily be replaced (hardware/light fixture) in the silver tone family, since I think most people (aka future buyers after me) think that is a bit more standard.

I love the tub, which is clean lined and squared off - a bit more modern than your average tub. I got it at Home Depot, too. At the last minute, I decided to add penny tile to the background of the niche and it's a fun little addition :)

I know this view is a little lacking right now, but to the left here, is where the linen closet will be. I also got a new traditional looking low-flow toilet which I am very happy with. Also from Home Depot. Toilet paper for days. haha. This is also where the old tub used to be! It's hard to get a photo from the vantage point that it used to be, because the door moved.

This is the kind of look I'm going to go for with the linen closet. Probably will look like a combo of built-in and standalone furniture.

Mine will have doors, and most likely no drawers. It will need to hold a lot and act like a normal closet.

That's it for now, I guess! Wish me luck with the rest...

Bathroom Renovation At The Westview House

noreply@blogger.com (Kristen) — Thu, 18 May 2017 12:34:00 +0000

So, I'm jumping around, and this post also has nothing to do with any work I've been doing, but instead more documenting the house I bought and the renovations I'm doing.

I showed you guys the weird bathroom:

The back part, where the tub is, used to be part of the patio. The current laundry room is also part of the converted patio. So, since the tub area was over concrete (patio) the guy who owned the house before me, wanted to put a tub there without having to drill through (what I learned was 8"thick) concrete. So, he LIFTED the tub on top of the concrete, and in order for it to go there, it had to be raised. hence the hilarious stairs. It has been really funny taking showers in there. You have to walk UP, then step back down. It's actually pretty dangerous, but at least I have a handrail. haha! It's all pretty awful, and the tan travertine tile just isn't my thing. Neither is the vanity.

SO! DEMO!

Here is what it looks like now:

I decided to move the door over to the right. It used to be on the left of where it is in this photo. Can you see? I did this in order to have a larger vanity. I could've only gotten a 40" one before, if I'd done the vanity to the right when you walk in, but now I can get a 48" one, and a better view, in my opinion.

So this is what the old floor plan looked like:

And this is the new floor plan (except the linen closet and toilet are not that far away from each other. Probably only like 3'):

And a very quick sketch of elevations I drew really quick for you guys. I know some people aren't visual, so my words may not make sense. Hopefully this helps.

I'm getting way more storage, and I feel like this floor plan makes a whole lot more sense than the old one did. They were trying to cut corners by not drilling through that concrete, which I guess makes sense, but in the long run, just drill through the concrete - it's worth the couple hundred extra dollars! Especially when you probably spent that building the lovely staircase ;)

After we started gutting it, the contractor told me that there were not one but TWO layers of tile on the floor, and that the porch floor was 8" thick, so not fun at all to drill through. Poor guy. But they did a great job. Tomorrow the rough ins for plumbing happens.

I selected this faucet:

I bought it in polished nickel. I have used it a lot in brushed brass and I do love that look, but decided that this one was probably better for a fickle designer like me :) I can do brass pulls on the vanity to get my brass fix. And I do love polished nickel.

I bought this vanity from Amazon, too:

I plan to change out the hardware to something brass.

Today, I selected tile. I'm going to go with this one (which I have loved and used a lot for clients, too):

Here it is in the space. I have also marked out the tub and vanity here! Initially, it was going to be a regular wall, to the ceiling where that 2x4 is. But, last night after the contractor left, I had an epiphany which is to do a pony wall there instead, then do glass shower doors on the front and side, to let all that pretty light filter in to the rest of the room. Call me crazy, but I do love a shower curtain and I wanted to do that in here. However, practicality is going to win out so that we can get some sparkle and light in this bathroom. And yes I know glass shower doors are nice and pretty, too :)

Glorious shot of the tub! ha. I do like it though, because it's squared off and not round.

Going to go with this cheap classic in the tub.

I guess that's it for now... standby! I will post more. Also, feel free to follow along for more progress and also some Insta-stories at my Instagram handle, @kfddesigns.

Lately

noreply@blogger.com (Kristen) — Thu, 11 May 2017 15:22:00 +0000

Hey! I have made some updates to the house, and wanted to document here, so I can remember what things used to be. Everything feels kind of slow-going, but really it's been a lot, and I feel like money is just flying out left and right. Haha. However, I have planned and saved for this, so it's really excited to finally be doing it. I want to enjoy each decision and change, but it's very easy to get caught up in the mind set of "I want it all done NOW!"

Anyway, some progress! When I first bought the house, I didn't move in until about a month after closing. Like I said in my last post, I did a lot before move-in (like paint all the walls, paint the doors, put in a privacy fence in the backyard, lots of handyman check list stuff, etc etc).

One of the changes I made early on was this semi flush mount in the hallway. I plan to paint a fun "wallpaper" look in this hallway, but not until after the bathroom reno (Which is the door to the right in this photo. It is moving a few feet down to the right. That bathroom reno is going to be intense).

I got the farmhouse style light fixture on Amazon for around $50. I love it.

before:

after:

Another thing that I have been really excited about is to replace all the doorknobs (previously cheap, builder-grade brushed nickel looking ones) with brass knobs that make more sense with the 1930's home. I ordered these Schlage ones and they came in (after being delayed shipping and I waited like a month and a half) and are NOT the color they looked to be online. Such a disappointment! Build.com was kind about taking them back, and I have since ordered these.

Here are the old ones that came in in the wrong color, boo:

The biggest change is that I TOOK DOWN A WHOLE WALL. Well, I didn't take it down, but I hired some guys to take it down.

To jog your memory, this is what that view used to look like:

I had to work all day the day that this happened, and so I came home to quite the change. I was really excited! A lot of people that follow me on my instagram were worried about the floor plan change in such an old home. I understand, and am not always all about changing the floor plan to open open open, but in this case, I think it really helps with the flow (that little vestibule before was pointless) and also creates more light and a bigger feel.

I really love it!

Here it is this morning. The drywall was repaired and a new piece of (old) moulding was added. I think they had to buy it at some kind of moulding salvage place to match the existing old moldings, which I loved. There had to be a 16" header where the support beam for the house is. The other option was a hidden beam, but that is so much more expensive and invasive. I opted for the less expensive version, but still love the openness. I can deal with a little header, especially with everything all painted white.

new-old piece of moulding. I also am mad at myself because I never took a pic, but on one of the 2x4's that was on one of the old doors from when the house was built, someone had written "DOOR" really big. Old, scrolly hand writing from almost 100 years ago. I loved it. Now it is buried again for someone to maybe see in another 100 years. Probably when they're adding a wall back where I took one down. haha

Next, is a kitchen reno. No, I didn't mention this before, because I was initially going to wait on it. But, after talking to lots of people and having so many great vendors that I know and love from having worked with them on clients' homes, I decided to go ahead with it, so that I can enjoy a beautiful new kitchen for the whole time I live here, vs only a few years or something (who knows how long I'll be here).

The layout of the kitchen will essentially stay the same, because I don't want to deal with moving water, electricity, etc. Plus, I just installed the dishwasher (another thing I've done! Well, had someone do...). The 2 major changes are that I'm going to add a peninsula to the left side of the stove that will come out 5', and include a little bar area with 2 stools. I will also be taking down the open shelving (cute but not functional) and the deep counter there and doing a shallow (15") wall of pantry/shelving (STORAGEEEE!!!) that will also include a built in microwave. Freeing up lots of counter space, and where I am losing counter space where the existing open shelving/cabinets are, I will be gaining it (plus some) where the peninsula is. So, I will have 3 working counter areas, which is enough for me (I'm no chef).

I'm also taking out the tile floors and putting in matching hardwoods in the kitchen area.

Here are elevations:

New pantry wall. I mean, so much storage, and since it's shallow, it'll make the floor space in the kitchen larger and less "galley-feeling", I'm hoping.

New front elevations of kitchen! YES! I'm also really excited to be back in the world of hidden trash and recycling. It's the little things. haha. You can see that there will just be a new vent on top of the stove - no more tiny cabinets up there (pointless because they're hard to reach, and also feel dated to me).

I am really excited for the cabinets to go to the ceiling, as well as the cased in box for the fridge. It's going to be such a cute little kitchen, and so much more functional than it is now. I'm hoping to not only enjoy the prettiness and functionality, but really be improving my home's value in the long run. The cabinets I have now are white and don't look too rough in photos, but they are actually old gross cabinets from who knows when, that were painted with what I think is primer. There are drip marks and brush marks everywhere. As a former cabinet painter, it drives me nuts! Plus, they were hung really high, so I can barely even reach the second shelf.

Other ridiculousness I've been up to is decorating (of course).

The other day I had to go to Homegoods for a client and came home with lots of new bedding for my bed. Ha.

My cart below. I have been coveting those Serena and Lily (the tan ones) pillows for months, and they are now on clearance and live on my bed. Such amazing quality and on clearance for $18.

I also bought this fun Kate Spade (not on clearance, but not bad for $50 at Homegoods vs who knows what originally!) pillow that's in front. I love the juxtaposition of the two elements. The pillow reminds me of some of Kate Roebucks paintings. I also bought the blue and white striped quilt which sits on top of my white duvet from Crane and Canopy from years ago (So soft, I love it).

I also bought a custom HUGE bamboo shade for the master bedroom. So much easier than moving two shades up and down all the time. I bought it from Blindster.com and really really love it. I plan to add curtains to either side as well. I'm actually headed to Lewis and Sheron today for several clients, and going to look for fabric for myself, as well.

And here is the living room as it is now. Of course I want to change everything, but it's not bad. :) I was worried the chaise on this sofa would stick out too far, but it's actually fine. So, I probably won't change a whole lot for a while... I have enough going on! Of course I say that now... you guys know how I am...

I do plan to add some built in shelving to the left of the fireplace. That's happening soon.

last but not least, I found some really great thrifting scores recently at the Goodwill in Buckhead. YES! It's fun to shop for my own house again. For so long (like 2 years) I was really uninspired to buy anything for my house, because it wasn't permanent so it didn't feel as important. It's so fun to be making this place my own and feeling like adding my personal, quirky touches to such a sweet traditional 1930's house is what I was always meant to do. I feel very connected to this home and really love it. Also! I love the new neighborhood. It's called Westview and there are SO many beautiful homes over here. If you are in Atlanta, wanting to live inside the perimeter, near the Belt line, I do encourage you to check it out. Minutes from downtown and all the places I have been frequenting for the 15+ years I've lived in Atl (I'm old). Anyway. That's a post for another day. Have a great Thursday!

thrifting treasures

I bought a house!

noreply@blogger.com (Kristen) — Thu, 06 Apr 2017 01:01:00 +0000

Hey everyone! I know I haven't blogged "like I should" the past couple of years or so. But, I wanted to write, because some exciting things have happened, and I bought a house! If you follow my Instagram (@kfddesigns), you may have noticed that my life changed quite a bit, and things are quite different than they were in 2015. I got divorced in 2015, and that was obviously a very sad (and private) experience, but life is good now, and I'm ready to talk about some new things.

I am excited to try and blog (at least a little more often) about my experience renovating my new home, as I have always wanted to have reno projects in my own house to tackle. I have had so many for clients, but it will be fun to make decisions for my own place.

I loved my last house. Everything was fresh and brand new, and really beautiful. However, I didn't have many "projects" because of that. Something in me has always been drawn to older homes, and I always thought I would be in one. Well, as things turned out, I ended up buying an 1100sf 1940's home that needs a little work. It doesn't need a ton of work, as it has already been "flipped," but of course I want to make it my own, and tweak some major areas.

So, with that being said, a tour!

These are from the MLS listing.

These images with the fisheye camera lens crack me up. NO, the room is not that wide. And the laundry room door is not so wide compared to the fireplace. haha. Anyway, as you can see, they refinished the floors a nice dark American Walnut, and the original fireplace is intact. The house still maintains some original plaster walls, as well as some new drywall. The room to the right of the fireplace is the laundry room. This room will be a little tricky as far as furniture placement, but you know I love a challenge.

This is the view from the fireplace. The arched doorways are one of my favorite features! This is looking into the dining room. I'm excited to have a dining room again and use my pretty dining table. Finally! I have missed it.

Front door looks huge here. Again, it's not that big. I'm planning to replace it soon, I think, because the style is off to me, considering the cottage-y nature of the home.

Dining room below. That light fixture will be replaced probably this week!

Dining room, looking into living room and kitchen on the left. I want to remove the wall separating the dining and kitchen. I have thought long and hard about it, because I don't love the idea of tweaking the home's original bones (respecting the original design, and so on), but I just feel like it would really open up the galley kitchen so much, and feel larger. I think it is the right decision.

Kitchen.

Bedroom:

Bedroom #2:

OK, now this is the silliest part of the remodel. This is the downstairs bath, which is the main one to be used. The area that is to the right where the tub is here, is over where the porch used to be (the laundry room is part of that space, too). Apparently, in order to make more use of the space, they wanted to utilize that area for the tub/shower. Well, instead of drilling through the concrete floor for plumbing, they decided to put in a tub, raised off of the area that would be the concrete floor on the other side and in order to make it make sense, had to put in this dumb stairs situation. It's super dangerous and a big waste of space in a little house. SO! I have a master plan to completely rearrange it. It sucks that it was done this way, but it's really not user friendly and like I said - dangerous. And not to mention, not my style.

My plan for this bathroom is roughly this. Thanks to my ol buddy Chip for helping me scheme this up. He's a master with floor plans and knows a thing or 2 about engineering, so getting his 2 cents before closing was really nice.

The tub will be a standard tub/shower directly in front of you when you walk in. The vanity will be a 40" vanity to the right of the door. To the right of the tub will be a new wall, and there will be a little shallow linen closet back there, and the toilet. So basically those items will be replacing where the existing tub is.

Hopefully all goes according to plan! I know I will post lots of photos to instagram as I move forward, so make sure to check there in addition to here.

Upstairs, they converted the attic space into a bedroom and bathroom with a hallway separating the 2.

This is the bedroom. I have grand plans of adding paneled wood to make a "shiplap" ceiling in here, as an inexpensive way of covering up the ugly stippled ceilings. This will be a guest bedroom/office space for me.

The upstairs bathroom. Huge plans for up here, too! I want to renovate this bathroom as well.

First, I'm going to tackle the downstairs bathroom and remove that wall separating the dining space and kitchen. Then, Id like to renovate the kitchen.

Look at my kitchen again:

So, there's this wall and little hallway separating the dining and kitchen spaces. I had this grand idea in my head, and SO WEIRDLY yesterday ran across an image on Instagram that was EXACTLY what I pictured it looking like:

The peninsula, the cabinets, everything. It's exactly what I imagined. So crazy!! Mine even will have the same little cut out once that main wall and hallway are removed/integrated into the existing floor plan. How crazy is that. The peninsula creates so much more workspace, and you could even do barstools, if you are so inclined. I have to have a beam overhead (mine will be 14" drop from ceiling) and so it will be there too (Although I will not do a wooden one like this, but just covered sheetrock, so it will all be white). I love it!

I have already had all the walls painted Pure White by SW. I did Pure White because it matched the existing trim pretty well. I didn't paint them myself because I wanted it done quickly. You can see here the laundry room door is a normal size. :) I love the fireplace! Eventually I want to do built in shelves to the left of the fireplace. I love the can lighting and the 10" baseboard trim. The original picture moulding is also still intact, which I also love. The fact that the old trim around the doors is still there makes me really happy, too.

See that beautiful trim profile?

The other project I've tackled (I closed last Monday, it's been a busy week haha) is painting all interior doors black.

I did this myself.

So pretty. I would ideally like to replace all the new 6-panel doors with either antique doors or antique-look doors, but honestly don't want to spend $1200+ on it. So I painted them all black and now I love them just as much. (OK, maybe not as much, but close.)

I ordered these beautiful brass knobs for them:

I was going to do all antique knobs, faceplates. I actually went to the extent of checking out Eugenia's Antique Hardware here in Chamblee (AMAZING PLACE) but ultimately cost and efficiency won out. These knobs from build.com only cost me around $16-$28 per knob, as opposed to $100/$150 per knob. Plus, the newer ones will be easier to install, because they're made for new doors. If the only project I had was replacing doorknobs, Id totally go for the antique ones, but in this case, like I said, efficiency won out. I am still really excited about them!

The most recent project I tackled was painting the ugly linoleum floors in the laundry room. They looked like this:

Really awful. I was going to rip them out and put in new tile. That was my plan, until I started thinking about how I needed a washer and dryer asap. I thought... I could paint them? Initially I was going to do a stenciled look to replicate the look of cement tile shops tiles (which I love). However, I remembered Camila's cute mint green kitchen floor . Actually I thought to myself.. Mint green floors would be cute?! Then, I think I realized that I subconsciously was remembering her kitchen floors, which I've always loved.

So, I primed with my favorite Zinser 3-2-1 primer:

better already. 2 coats of that, then 2 coats of mint green porch and floor paint.

YES!

People keep asking if I'm worried about chipping, how will it hold up, etc etc. I know in the back of my head it could chip. However, I'd honestly rather touch up chips/scratches once or twice a year than have ugly linoleum floors. I plan to obviously put the W/D in there, and then probably a cute Oriental rug in there, too. I am having a handyman install LOTS of shelving in there for storage, so it'll be a highly utilitarian area, but honestly not a ton of like, guest foot traffic. You know? So shouldn't be much of an issue. And pretty easy and cost effective treatment. Plus .... bye bye linoleum.

I have done other fun stuff like put in a security system and am having a privacy fence built within the next couple of weeks. It feels so good to own a home again, and I'm so, SO excited about projects and the cuteness of this little casa.

I hope you'll follow along as I (try to) continue to blog about my renovations. It'll be fun in years to come to look back on the changes. It's actually funny looking back (after only a week and 2 days) on all the progress I've already made.

Serenbe Wreathmaking With Mrs. Meyer's Clean Day

noreply@blogger.com (Kristen) — Thu, 02 Feb 2017 16:09:00 +0000

Last week, I was invited to participate in the Wreathmaking class hosted by Sallie Dale with Mrs. Meyers Clean Day (everyone's favorite natural soap and cleaning line with great branding at Target). Sallie is Mrs. Meyers 'Homemaker' -- she won a contest hosted by Mrs. Meyers and now does events for them. She has a super-cute blog and instagram, and she was really friendly and sweet in person. She even brought along her pup, Lola, to assist in wreath-making. ;) I am pretty sure Lola mainly enjoyed eating greenery and snuggling, but who am I to judge.

When we arrived at the Bosch Experience Center at Serenbe, we were greeted with fresh homemade strawberry lemonade (made by Sallie), and a wreath-making set-up in front of us, ready to go:

The set up included a wire wreath form, some clippers, wire, and a complementary Sweet Paul magazine to take home.

Sallie explained that there was fresh greenery ready for us to grab and go to town. She gave a loose explanation of how we should apply the greenery to the wreath form, and we went for it. It was really easy and I liked her relaxed approach. I'm a crafty kind of girl, so this was right up my alley. She would come around and ask if we needed help; otherwise we all just went for it. I didn't know anyone else taking the class (there were about 20 of us), but made friends with a fellow artist that was next to me (we got along great!).

Beautiful greenery in buckets:

soooo much beautiful greenery

some of my favorites were the eucalyptus and rosemary. However, the greens at the bottom left in this picture were really great for filling in the "holes" in the wire form. Sallie prompted us to use mostly "greens" in our first round, then come back later with any colored greenery we wanted to fill in with.

wreath making chaos

It was super easy, and I can definitely see myself making Christmas wreaths in the future. They encouraged us to "forage" (ha) for greenery from our own yards, too. I didn't bring anything, but my new class friend did, and she let me steal some magnolia leaves that were a really nice addition!

Here's my finished product:

I did all greens with a few sprigs of yellow.

me + my wreath. Ta daaaaa.

I love it, and of course had to hang it somewhere besides the front door.

Thanks to Serenbe and Mrs. Meyer's for the experience. It was a nice change of pace to get down there and do something different for a change!

Pre-Teen Bedroom Refresh

noreply@blogger.com (Kristen) — Wed, 18 Jan 2017 18:43:00 +0000

I recently completed a really fun bedroom refresh for twin sisters on their 10th birthday. I had painted their room when they went from a baby room to a "big girl" room back in 2009. The theme was "princess" and it looked like this (some of you longtime readers might remember?!):

The girls were getting older, and more opinionated about what they wanted and didn't want, and for their 10th birthday, their mom decided to redecorate their room. They did keep the clouds in the trey ceiling. :)

They wanted teal and coral, but everything else was up to the creative process. We decided to paint the walls gray as a nice neutral base that they can live with forever, then add all the pops of color in after that. I only have photos from my iPhone right now, but I still wanted to share the end result, because it ended up being a bright, poppy, happy space for the girls to share.

Here is our end result:

I found the metal letters at Hobby Lobby and spray painted them coral. They add such a fun punch of color and a little bit of whimsy into the feminine space. They already had the beds/nightstand/mirror since the princess bedroom days, so we worked with what we had on that.

We bought the new bedding from Pottery Barn Teen and lots of fun accessories from places like Hobby Lobby, Homegoods, and Target. I love using the consistent colors but mixing patterns.

The lucite benches at the ends of the bed add a nice change of pace, and provide extra seating for putting on shoes, clothes, whatever.

I love the peachy/coral fluffy pillows!

We replaced the heavy curtains from the princess bedroom days with light and airy white curtains with coral tassels on the edges. The brass hardware is a fun, feminine-but-modern touch.

Across from the bed is their dresser. We decided to do a gallery wall around the dresser mirror, and I LOVED how it turned out. It brings presence to the space which felt kind of empty before with only the mirror.

It was starting to get dark when I took these photos, so the lighting is kind of yellow here.

I love the wicker egg chair - it brought really nice texture to the room, and a place to read.

The pink sparkly pillow was from the Dollar spot at Target ;)

We also repeated some elements in the bathroom, but I only got this one snapshot. I will get some better photos soon and post them as well, but I loved this grouping of four of the same pieces all together. Easy way of getting a "larger scale" with small art.

Pop-Up Shop at Madewell

noreply@blogger.com (Kristen) — Sun, 20 Nov 2016 01:27:00 +0000

hey folks!

I wanted to let you know that I am hosting a pop-up shop at the Madewell store at Lenox Square (here in Atlanta) tomorrow, Sunday November 20th from 1-3. Please join me!

There will be sips and snacks during the event, and shoppers will enjoy 20% off retail purchases made at Madewell on purchases over $125. A perfect time to do a little holiday shopping for gifting (or yourself!)

Please come shop + sip! I am excited and also nervous no one will come. Hah!

Here's a little preview of some of my pieces. I really love coming up with new color combinations...

"gingham" added to this piece was a fun change-up

super-into this mustard color...

work on paper that is going to be for sale, framed...

bebe paintings!

hope to see y'all there!

I'm Back!

noreply@blogger.com (Kristen) — Thu, 03 Nov 2016 16:16:00 +0000

Wow. It's been a while... again. I just sort of stopped blogging. It was unintentional, but a lot of life got in the way, and I was completely uninspired to blog here. I have been doing almost solely interior design work for a while now, and I find that making time for blogging, in addition to keeping up with emails, client calls, project sourcing and logging hours (and Instagram!) is just hard. But, I'm slowly starting to miss sharing my ideas and inspiration with someone other than my best friend, so I hope to make this a regular thing again.

I'm not sure really where to begin (like I said, a lot has gone down in the last year for me, personally and professionally), so I'm just going to pick up directly where I left off, and kind of dive back in as if I never stopped writing.

I have quite a few projects going on right now, and they all hugely vary in style. This keeps things fresh, and I wear a lot of hats. However, I find more and more that clients and builders are coming to me for my particular style (color, modern, vintage, eclectic), and that is rewarding.

One of my favorite projects I'm working on right now is what I have been referring to on my Instagram as the #partyshed.

This shed is in my neighborhood and owned by some very cool neighbors. Although their house is new, the shed has been on the property for years and years. My clients are wanting to turn it into sort of an outdoor extension to their house - a place where they can hang out with friends and their daughter (who is 3) and relax.

It doesn't have running water, but we wanted to make it functional as a space where they can make drinks and serve food (so we needed a bar/storage), sit down, and hang.

The floors are concrete from years ago, so we were working with what we had on those, and the beams that were in there were existing and basically there was only one in the center made with raw 2 by 4's. It was lonely.

I wish I had better "before" pictures, but deleted them when I figured I'd never blog about it. Argh!

Anyway, I came up with a plan to wrap the existing cross beam in reclaimed wood to make it look more substantial and intentional. We also added a faux beam in the back and front for balance.

I told them I could see a 7' bar across the back, centered left, with a pipe shelving system behind it for looks and functionality. Here's my (very noted-up) sketch:

You'll see my vision for the bar on the back left, as well as the shelves. To the right, where you walk in, there is a bench seat that is L-shaped. We had a funky existing concrete knee-wall to cover up, and this helps greatly, while also adding seating and storage (The seat lifts up for their daughter's toys and has a soft-close henge so no pinched fingers!).

Here it is after my good buddies from Woodology built it all up for us! We painted it in Sherwin Williams' "Argos":

You can see the wood-wrapped beams, as well as the bar (minus countertop - still TBD) and the shelves. The shelves are high-up, so that little hands can't reach them, and also to make it easy to navigate the smallish area behind the bar.

On the other side of the bar, they have a fridge and 2 cabinets - one has a lock.

I love how the bar "floats." Very modern and clean-looking.

As you can see, we kept the concrete floors. We did, however, even them out and add a water lock sealer.

Here is the bench seating area I was talking about. You can see the knee-wall in the bottom left of this photo:

The height of the seat comes up to the trim height, so that when the pillow cushions are added, they will all be even. We also added this fun little corner built-in table top so that guests can set a drink or whatever, down, and not be inconvenienced by a table in the middle of the floor (this area is really more for the kids!).

As you can see in the photo below, we also added a shelf on the window-side for shoes.

Next comes my favorite part (well, they're all kind of my favorite parts...).

I showed my client my idea of adding FLOR Tiles to the space, and she thankfully loved it.

This was the style inspiration:

FLOR carries so many colors and fun styles. You can cut them to your liking, and choose whatever your heart desires. I love working with the Atlanta FLOR store here - they're so nice and helpful.

Anyway, I went over there and came up with a fun color scheme (coming up with color combos might be one of my most favorite things in life...dork):

I always say that adding weird (like the sage and hunter green, above) colors into a mix of colors that I think or more normal (pink, orange, black, white) is what really MAKES a combo. Adding a touch of whimsy and the unexpected. I did some soft blue because of the little shed's exterior (and the big house). The exterior is white, gray and this soft blue.

I selected the Argos from SW color for the cabinets because it is a cool gray that has some blue in it, and I thought it would complement the exterior nicely as well as the concrete floors.

Anyway, here is a photo of the FLOR tiles after they were installed. I decided to install them myself, because I knew that I would need to be there anyway, while the "professional" installer did them, so that they were dispersed nicely and it didn't make sense for my client to pay both me and my installer, so I made it a DIY project. Another one of my favorite things in life, as you guys well know if you have read my blog for a while. :)

Here was the general idea:

It took some interesting cuts, but FLOR tiles are really easy to lay yourself. You can see on the top right of this photo, that you essentially just lay down these ultra-sticky FLOR stickers sticky-side-up, and adhere all 4 corners of the square.

Towards the beginning of laying them.. weeeeeeeeeee

at the end! Photos do not do this justice. It added SO much character and personality!

I forgot to mention that FLOR tiles are industrial-grade, so very easy to clean, and durable. Also, a nice thing about them is if something got stained really badly, all you have to do is pull up the triangles that are damaged and replace them - an easy fix.

I love them.

Now, we are onto selecting the countertop (going with a matte black counter to bring in the black of the pipe shelves and the rug), as well as having bench cushions made (black and white stripes!).

I will be back with more progress. Thanks for reading and sticking around.

I will try and keep blogging regularly. I post on my Instagram account almost everyday, if you care to follow along. It's @kfddesigns.

Update

noreply@blogger.com (Kristen) — Wed, 14 Oct 2015 13:39:00 +0000

Wow, it's been a while. Two months, almost. I wanted to check in and show you guys some progress on some recent projects that are finally starting to take shape. I am currently working on a few interior decorating projects, a few new-build design projects and one TV show. Life is busy and good.

Last we left off, I was talking about this built in bench that I had made for a client.

We got the cushion in, and how it's all finished. I love how it came out.

It matches the fabric in the front living room, which is just across the house. I will share some photos of the furniture too, which is all coming in and looking great. I'm really happy with how this living/dining/kitchen is looking. My clients have great taste, which makes me look good :)

Like I mentioned before, I'm working on a few new builds too.

We had this cute bungalow that we are renovating (from the studs) painted white with black accents and I love it and want to move in.

Here is the before picture to jog your memory:

And here is a little peek of what it looks like now (not finished, obviously)

The ceiling will be stained, as well as the front door. I love the white paint on all of the moldings and brick. It tones down all the texture, and modernizes it. The old moldings are still there, but not as prevalent as before. I'm really into black and white right now, and as you can see, I did the sashes/trim black, along with the vent detail on the top of the gable. The black paint on that was only supposed to be on the horizontal vent pieces, not the outer trim - that will be fixed later. We also selected black drains, which almost acts like a frame for the house. I selected cute black modern farmhouse lights for either side of the front door.

On the interior, things are coming along really beautifully too. Like I said - I want this house.

Here's a peek at office:

do those doors look familiar? I have the same ones in my house, also in a dark, almost black. The board and batten wall is a favorite, and is echoed in a couple of other places in the house.

The guest bathroom:

And the master bathroom:

I kinda go nuts over that black penny tile.

The plumbing fixtures are brushed brass throughout the house...ahhhh. This makes me happy.

I can't wait to share the final photos of this house, as its one of my favorites of all time, and I've had a carte blanche on every finish selection (So naturally I love it, haha).

As for a couple of the other new-builds I've been working on, here's one of my favorite photos of the prairie modern that is set to close in a couple of weeks:

That's a reclaimed wood accent wall that is in the living room, next to the kitchen. I love the color we chose for the kitchen cabinets. So unique. I can't wait to see the light fixtures go into this house - they are some stunners. Specifically a really cool sputnik chandelier that's hanging in the foyer. Will share when they install!

The other modern house I'm working on is a true modern, and here are a couple of photos from it:

applying the stain to the hardwoods yesterday.

As you can see, this house has a little bit of a black and white theme too (this might be my calling card of 2015?), with the black doors and white walls. The kitchen cabinets are black, too, with white vertically stacked subway tile, and killer wooden open shelving.

There are a couple of bathrooms I'm really excited to see come together, as well.

Here's the tile in the master:

I love it.

We have a beautiful handmade wooden cabinet being installed that will be the perfect warmth needed to accompany all the black. Sexy!!

There's a guest powder bath downstairs that is also going to be moody and a little dark (dark cement gray walls, really raw beautiful countertop, black vessel sink and some killer lights), too.

My friend Mark has made these really cool pendants that will hang in the corner over the sink. This bathroom is going to be so cool.

Check out the lights (before they are darkened to black - so this is just the raw steel)

There are two, and one hangs about 10" lower than the other one. And like I said, they'll be completely black when they're finished. I can't wait to see them installed.

Besides design work, I have also done a little bit of painting.

I did this American flag painting for my designers that design condo buildings. I busted 3 big paintings out in one weekend. It was kind of fun to get back into my painting clothes and sling some paint.

and, an abstract.

Jennifer (Designer) sent me a pic of them framed and installed.

And, on the non-work-side of things, I did this map for my brother's wedding in Virginia a couple of weeks ago:

It was fun.

And also: update on my tree...

it's dead.

Light & Airy Design

noreply@blogger.com (Kristen) — Tue, 18 Aug 2015 15:21:00 +0000

Lately, my design work has involved a lot of light, white and airy. Not sure why, it just has.

I'm working on a modern new-build, and we are selecting all plumbing, electrical, tile, flooring and cabinetry (and later, furniture). We've selected all the plumbing and plumbing fixtures, and are almost done selecting electrical. The cabinetry is going to be really special. I am most excited about it, because I personally spent a lot of time toiling over the design and the look. I told my client, that in a modern home, I feel like the finishes and designs of cabinetry (and all surfaces) is really important, because in general everything is very simple. So, the pieces that do exist in the space have to speak volumes, to make up for the lack of.. well, anything. Does that make sense?

We're doing some really cool cabinet designs, and I really can't wait to see them come to life. If all goes according to plan, we will be using some special woods and really nice light fixtures to create MOOD. I can't wait!

I spent a little time the other day picking out tile. I went a few places and took this photo at Floor & Decor. This small tile was not one that I selected for this house in particular, but I do love it. (though the uneven grout lines drive me nuts in this area, haha)

They actually have lots of fun "vintage" looking tile that I think will be really usable in a couple of other houses I'll be designing soon. I'll need tile for a new show I'm working on, along with another renovation that I'm working on.

This is a house that I am helping select finishes for. We are in the middle of selecting exterior colors and I am PUMPED about it. It's going to be so much fun, and so my style - I will want to live here, too. How cute is the brick and dental molding at the top?

Remember the photos of the bench and the table that I showed you guys the other day? For one of my decor clients?

Here was my initial sketch:

Well, we had the bench installed and the table delivered, and I am loving how this place is coming along.

Here is our bench before it got sprayed white and installed:

and here it is now:

I love it! We had it custom made. It's about 8' long, and we designed it so that shoes can go in the middle. We had to have the air filter incorporated into the design, hence the shoe shelf in the middle.

We did deep drawers on either side, so that my clients can walk in the door, throw shoes, bags, dog leash, etc into the drawers. We are currently having a bench cushion made to go on top, and I can't wait to see it installed, too. It's a pattern, and the fabric is absolutely perfect in this space. As you can see above at the top of the photo, we did custom white roman shades in these windows (so that we would have flexibility elsewhere) so it will be fun to see some pattern in the room.

We also had the custom dining table delivered, and it's beautiful. The thing that I was most worried about with this table was the stain color. The color of the doors and window sashes are a sort of greenish/grayish/putty color, and the walls are a pale pale sea blue-green. They're both really beautiful colors, but very distinct, and I didn't want the stain color to be too blue of a gray. It needed to teeter more on the green side of things. Mike at Woodology is so good about working with me on things like this, and he created a few samples for us to choose from. We got lucky the first time, and one of his stain colors was dead-on. It looks beautiful in the space and we are so pleased!

we also recently got these cute metal chairs. I think the end chairs will be upholstered Parson's chairs but we are working on that now. We also have a large seagrass rug coming in.

see how unique the stain is? I love it. Bonus is that since this table is already distressed, it can't really be messed up by kids or animals or rowdy adults ;)

alright, back to work! Spending a lot of time at the computer these days, so it's nice to get off track for a few minutes every now and then but I need to return. I'll leave you with this nice picture of my shark tooth collection from our St Augustine vacation this summer...

Life Lately

noreply@blogger.com (Kristen) — Mon, 10 Aug 2015 14:37:00 +0000

Wow, it's been a while. As usual, life and work has been busy, and I found no time for blogging. I worked as a designer on another show this summer (this time for DIY Network), and I think that was the start of my non-blogging period.

Anyway, I have been doing a lot of design work this summer (primarily design and less painting), and enjoying it. This has been a big transitional year for me, work-wise, and I am enjoying it a lot.

I thought I'd share some photos of my designey life, as of late.

My clientele right now is pretty diverse, but most of them are city people, that live close to me. I enjoy that they want to create homes focused on art, modern living and unique design! Right up my alley. I have quite a few new-build projects happening (meaning, I'm selecting finishes and designing cabinetry, etc), as well as a few decorating gigs.

For one of the decorating projects, we are have a few big pieces delivered/installed today, that I am so excited about!

We had this table made by Woodology. Mike and Colin have built several things for me in the past, and are great guys and so easy and professional to work with.

They constructed this gorgeous farm table for my clients:

the stain finish was a custom stain Mike mixed -- I love it. My clients' home currently has pale, pale sea-blue walls and a grayish/greenish putty colored trim that it will be beautiful with.

We have some metal chairs that are ready to sit at the table, and I think we will do some sort of patterned upholstered chairs at the ends of the table. I'm so excited to see this all come together.

We also commissioned a custom built in bench (built by Casey at Beautiful Renovations) for under the window at the back door. This will serve as a place to throw shoes into, along with other things like a dog leash, balls, etc.

This is before it had been painted ( I can't wait to see it painted white!)

It will also have a cushion that sits on top, made of this fabric:

For the island, we have these really fun stools on order:

I am happy to see all these elements coming together!

Back at home, over this past weekend, I did a little home maintenance work. I repainted all of our trim in our downstairs (well, just the tops of the trim, where they've been kicked, chewed on, etc) and touched up the walls. It looks soooo much better now!

I also moved my newest fiddle leaf fig into a larger container, as suggested by some friends. I'm trying to keep this third one alive. Cross your fingers! Have any of you had good luck? The one that I have upstairs has been happy for a couple of years now,but my downstairs ones apparently don't like me.

apparently this one was root-bound, though, and had no more room to go. So, I freed her up with a larger (MUCH larger) pot.

before:

after:

grow, plant grow. Or, just don't die.

I found the cutest little papered soaps at TJ Maxx recently:

and am enjoying the arrangement on my downstairs kitchen shelves, as of late:

simple and clean.

And, I did squeeze in a painting last week. This was a big watercolor of a bowlers hat:

it was about 36" wide, so pretty big. They wanted the specific colors, and also instructed not to have too many defined edges - more bleeded and drippy. I was happy with how it came out! It is going to live in a spec condo.

Alright, off to do some work. Thanks for sticking with me, even during my periods of non-blogging!

Collaborative Work With Abode

noreply@blogger.com (Kristen) — Tue, 02 Jun 2015 13:02:00 +0000

So, as I've mentioned before, I did some collaborative work with abode. Christopher, the builder/architect behind abode, is the builder of our house, and a few other houses in the neighborhood. (We live in Reynoldstown, in Atlanta) Christopher is in the process of building a small development of 12 houses and hired me to select a finish package for the houses. Essentially, the homeowners could choose from three finish packages - one that Christopher did (modern), one his wife did (more transitional/farmhouse) and one that I did (whatever you classify my style as ;)

The houses are going up, and I recently got to tour the ones that my finishes are in. I LOVE how they look. Here are some photos:

this is an upstairs bathroom. I really love the black penny tile!

Also, yes, that's a gold doorknob. Love.

cutest little bathroom:

Christopher had to take down some trees on the property to build the houses. He is very resourceful and into using items taken or removed from the properties and turning them into something useful inside the home. He had the trees milled into wooden countertops and long planks to make accent walls. I love it. See the live edge counter top here? From the tree! So cool.

kitchen:

All finishes I selected. I love the mixed metal finishes - gold and silver. So pretty.

powder bathroom. With more wood from the sourced trees...

same bathroom:

!!!!!!!!! i love.

Isn't it amazing? Always so exciting to see a moodboard come to life.

Here is the bathroom one I made months ago:

And the kitchen one:

Life Lately

noreply@blogger.com (Kristen) — Fri, 29 May 2015 12:48:00 +0000

Hey y'all!

I'm headed over to ADAC to finish up my vignette for the Atlanta Food and Wine Festival's Rathbuns' Watchlist event tomorrow. It's going to be so much fun! It's been fun transforming my space... I can't wait to share pics! I have painted the back walls in the craziest pattern...

hot dog and mustard pattern. Haha. It's not super-noticeable unless you look closely. My chef is preparing a "franks n beans" dish, so I went with it (the sauce is some kind of mustard sauce). So far, it's a hit. Now to finish off the rest of the space! I am very close, but just need a couple more key pieces, and to hang the art. Tomorrow, we eat and drink. I can't wait!

here are a couple of other photos from the event I snapped this week:

laying out some artwork that I will be taking over today. I probably won't use much of it, but I need options :)

these pretty little pots will be on my shelves...I love them and would like some for my own house :)

Lastly, I'm using this painting by Lindsey Cowles in my space as well. I LOVE it. I'm sure you're not surprised. I borrowed it from Bradley.

Besides working on this (which has taken most of my week this week), I have been doing a thousand other things too. Painting, designing, etc. I wake up, get coffee and get on my computer to start working, wait til 9 so I can start calling people, make calls, then go work, then come home, eat dinner while working, play on my phone or watch tv for an hour or so, and then go to sleep. Haha. But it's ok! I love staying busy, and love doing what I do. So I won't apologize for not blogging, even though I do feel guilty!

I also don't know if I've mentioned it here, but I will be starting another TV show next week. It's going to be called Super Great Rooms, and Chip Wade is the host again (like Elbow Room). It should be fun! We have already begun planning, and I think it's going to be such a fun design exercise (and maybe some painting thrown in there too!) It's only 6 weeks this time, so not as crazy.

Have a great weekend!

Flower Mural

noreply@blogger.com (Kristen) — Fri, 22 May 2015 12:29:00 +0000

I just completed this mural on a HUGE wall, and wanted to share it with you. The wall is 16.5' long, and 14' tall at its highest peak.

This will be a craft room for my client. They've painted all of the other walls bright pink, and there's one wall with an orange stripe down the side. Really fun!

in progress:

I basically sketched out all of the flowers, and then hand-painted them in. After that, I did all the dots and stems just freehanded.

There is also this TV wall that I did.

dots going up...

and finished!

what do you think? This was a fun one!

ADAC + Rathbuns' WatchList Participant

noreply@blogger.com (Kristen) — Wed, 13 May 2015 13:31:00 +0000

I am excited to share that ADAC has invited me to participate in their "Rathbuns' Watchlist" event for the Atlanta Food and Wine Festival this year. There are 12 up and coming chefs from the Southeast, paired with 12 up and coming designers from the Southeast. Each of us designers will decorate our spaces (kind of like booths - two L-Shaped walls in a museum like event space at ADAC) for the chefs who will serve a dish in them. There will be music/drinks/food samples and the promise of a good time ;)

Apparently tickets sell out quickly, so if you want to come, go ahead and scoop some up.

I am working on the plan for my design. I will be using pieces from vendors at ADAC, as well as creating a special piece. I intend to do some painting, of course.

Here is my moodboard:

eclectic mix of styles - just like I like it :) There is a special way I will be bringing up the theme of "food" in my design... I can't wait to execute it and show y'all. Any guesses!?!

Alright, off to work! Doing some painting today.

KFD Designs Nursery Painting Install

noreply@blogger.com (Kristen) — Tue, 28 Apr 2015 13:22:00 +0000

I did these paintings recently for a long-time client of mine, Holly. Her designer, Lisa Britt, of Lisa Britt Designs, commissioned Mike Moreland Photography to take these beautiful shots of the nursery that the paintings I did were going into.

I love how they turned out, and the nursery is so pretty! I wanted to share them with you all.

Pink, turquoise and baby blue were the colors used. Here are my paintings, (in the studio) for a reference:

You can see them hanging in the photo above, all the way to the left in the room.

here is the connecting bathroom... so cute!

I love the bookshelf!

reminds me of this one in my bedroom:

Great work Holly and Lisa! I love the nursery.

TGIF

noreply@blogger.com (Kristen) — Fri, 17 Apr 2015 15:24:00 +0000

It's Friday!

It's been a whirlwind of a week. I feel like a crazy person right now... doing design work, painting work, and everything in between.

But some great stuff happened this week, so I thought I'd share with you guys.

Yesterday, I went out to do a bit of shopping for a client at Homegoods, and accidentally came home with a few pieces for my own home.

Max models, naturally.

I got that cute terra cotta candle for around $7 (it's a citronella outdoor candle. If it ever stops raining, it will look great on our back porch), and the throw for around $16. I love them both! I put the throw in our bedroom. The lumbar pillow is actually from Urban Outfitters. I can't find it on their website right now to link up, but I love it on our bed.

I also found this cute cake stand at Homegoods:

Looks like Jadeite. It kind of seems small here, but it's actually large, and was only around $17! I was really excited to find it.

I also went by ADAC yesterday, and fell in love with some beautiful patterned tile. I have a new design client that will be renovating a cute bungalow in Old Fourth Ward, and we are going to source some unique stuff! He has great taste, and I'm excited to help him out. Anyway, we discussed doing a cool tile in the kitchen (and maybe bathrooms), and so I had fun checking out Ann Sacks showroom and the beautiful tiles there.

Here are a couple pics I snapped there:

an awesome herringbone look

and these blue guys are insane! I LOVE

so freakin cool, huh!?

I also had an install on Wednesday for a client's new pipe and wood bookshelves.

I will get a better picture of them once the room is more finished, but don't they look great?! Mike and Collin at Woodology are amazing. Every little wood project my crazy brain thinks up, they magically turn into reality. Everything always looks exactly like what I pictured!

They even made the wood look old, when it was just regular wood. Genius! I love their work, can you tell?

This project is in a client's loft space, that we are de-bachelor-ing ;) It's coming along nicely! Can't wait to share more pics once we get to the decorative part.

I can't remember if I mentioned it or not, but I helped Chip with his space at the ASO Showhouse this year. The rooms in the house are gorgeous! It was a treat to get to work onsite and meet some very talented folks. If you are in Atlanta, I definitely suggest visiting the house, if you love design. Sweet Sherry (at Design Indulgence. Such a talent!) gave Chip a nice review this morning, and she even posted some great pics. Here is one of one of the outdoor spaces we worked on:

(pic stolen from Sherry)

And last but not least, I of course spent a lot of time in the studio this week.

Here are a few "for-fun" paintings that have I have been cranking out. Letting go, and just painting for fun is always soooo nice. I love to go to the studio with a Starbucks and listen to good music really loudly, and just paint. It's amazing! Especially with this rainy weather we have been having.

Have a great weekend everyone! I am going to try and work in the yard and work a little less than I have been the last few weekends!