Re:fresh Design Studio

Merry Christmas

Katie — Sat, 24 Dec 2011 01:58:18 +0000

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year from our family to yours!

American Baby Nursery Feature

Katie — Tue, 23 Aug 2011 05:37:50 +0000

It finally arrived!� I was so excited to get my mail today and find my copy of American Baby magazine with a full-page feature on Eli’s nursery.� I am so excited to be part of this great article. Thanks, American Baby!� I took a picture of the article so those of you that don’t subscribe can check it out.� In the meantime, any tips on how to keep the fame from going to my 6 month old’s head?

Parent magazine website feature: Make Room for Baby

Katie — Mon, 22 Aug 2011 18:07:52 +0000

Have you seen Eli’s nursery featured on Parent Magazine’s website?

Four home bloggers and new moms discuss budget nursery ideas with lots of inspiration. �I’m in some very good company here.

Check out my tips for budget nurseries along with the other bloggers (such as Young House Love)�here.

You can find me here

Katie — Mon, 22 Aug 2011 17:03:12 +0000

If you’re on these sites too, lets hang out! �Click on the image to lead you there.

Childproofing your home

Katie — Mon, 22 Aug 2011 15:55:02 +0000

Now that Eli is almost 7 months and very mobile, we have been starting to figure out how to child proof our home. �We knew we needed gates for our multiple stairways, plugs for our outlets and locks for our cabinets. �All those were easy enough to get and install and are relatively unnoticeable. �Except for the gates of course. �Unfortunately, gates are not pretty but safety trumps pretty in this case.

What we didn’t realize right away was that it was only a matter of a week or two, until Eli started noticing everything around him that we didn’t. �He loves crawling into all the nooks and crannies where he shouldn’t go. �Underneath the chairs to get to the carbon monoxide detector that we thought was hidden? �No problem for Eli. �Finding all the cable cords tucked under a blanket, the computer cord dangling from the laptop charging on the couch? �Easy peasy for him. �I’ve even had to start�vacuuming�and scrubbing the floors a lot more than I’m used to because this kid is everywhere.

So, what’s the solution? �Well, we’ve begun to move things around a bit hoping to just keep some temptations out of grasp. �The carbon monoxide detector was moved to higher ground in an outlet underneath the kitchen cabinets, we’ve moved baskets that housed books and other items off of the floor so he can no longer pull up on those and have books crashing down on him. �The coffee table tray with drink coasters and decorative items will need to be moved any day now and there’s a whole list of other things to do. �My goal this week is to try to now find a place to put all these items that need to be temporarily moved. �Storage is a whole other story in this house!

Caught in the act

Anyone else childproofing their home? �What am I missing? �Any great solutions for how to make childproofing efforts prettier or is it just a temporary ugly phase we parents all have to live through at some point?

Stunning Color Combos

Katie — Thu, 18 Aug 2011 20:00:46 +0000

I’ve been spending a bit of time on Pinterest�lately and I thought I’d share some beautiful color combos for either your home or your wardrobe that I’ve pinned. �These are straight from my boards. If you want to check out more of my boards my user name is refreshdesign. �I can’t figure out how to make this image bigger, but you can click on it to see a larger version with all the pretty details up close.

Thoughts on blogging

Katie — Sat, 30 Jul 2011 03:43:23 +0000

Hey guys! �Is anyone still there? �I can hardly blame you if you’re not. �Yes, it’s been awhile since I’ve posted. �There are a few reasons why that’s been. �Obviously, the biggest reason is my son, Eli. �I have been soaking up every possible minute of the first six months of his life. �I love, love, love being a stay at home mom and getting to experience every day and every milestone with my little buddy. �I truly feel like I was meant for motherhood and I feel extremely blessed to be able to be at home with him. �I’ve tried really hard to limit computer time to when he is asleep. �I just feel too guilty when he looks up at me with those beautiful blue eyes and I am on the computer instead of playing with him. �So that means I squeeze in a few minutes here and there during nap times and have an hour or two at night after I’ve gotten in my workout. �And honestly I’ve been using that time reading a few other blogs that I really enjoy or researching how to prepare solid foods for my baby or the best ways to child proof my house.

The second reason is just lack of inspiration, really. �For some reason, I just don’t have a ton of great design ideas floating around my head like I used to. �I’m pretty sure this has to do with the lack of sleep that comes with new motherhood and just my general absence from the design world right now. �I haven’t been able to focus on the business or getting new clients at all since Eli was born. �And frankly, that’s okay with me. �Yes, I would love new clients and jobs to work on, but maybe now is just not the time. �My baby is only a baby for a short time. �I have this wonderful opportunity to be with him and I don’t want to take that for granted. �There is always the future for growing this business and getting more clients. �In the meantime, I’d love to work on small e-design projects that I can work on during the evenings when Eli is asleep. �So if anyone’s looking for some e-design…

(Here’s a recent design I worked on. �So much fun. �I love designing nurseries.)

The third thing is how I’m feeling about the direction/subject of this blog. �Originally�I set out to have this be a blog about what inspired me in interior design and some projects I was working on around my house. �Eventually that led to the opening of my design business after graduation and the creation of my business website and this blog tied into it as a way to hopefully grow the business, gain clients and showcase some of my work. �Along the way I feel like I failed in that respect. �I really wasn’t able to showcase my design work since most of it was e-design where my clients are able to take as much time as they want to complete the project on their own according to their time frame and as budget allows once they�receive�my design (which is definitely the appeal of e-design for many clients). �So, it’s been pretty hard to get anything photographed since projects I worked on last year have still not been completed by the homeowners. �Projects around my own house slowed down significantly due to my pregnancy and no longer working as much, therefore, not having much of a budget to do things.

(Could you resist this cute face?)

All this to say, that my life and interests have changed a bit. �I’m now a mom and I still love design but when reading other blogs I find myself gravitating more towards ones that include all aspects of life. �A little bit of work, design, motherhood, pictures of kids and family, food and daily life stuff. �And that’s what I think I’d like to write about here. �I think I’ll be more inspired and motivated to write when I can write more about my life and all the things I’m interested in, instead of limiting myself to strictly interior design and struggling to come up with material on a daily basis.

So….I really hope changing my focus to something a bit more well-rounded will really help to improve this blog, instead of just leaving it stagnant like I’ve been doing. �I don’t want to let down those of you that have been reading and I want to make this a place people want to keep visiting and that I want to keep writing for. �Thank you to all you that have read so far and I hope you will continue to do so and that you will enjoy it even more so that ever before. �:)

**On an exciting note, if any of you are subscribers to American Baby magazine (a sister publication to Parent Magazine and it’s free!), my design of Eli’s nursery will be featured in the August issue! �I’m so excited to see it and I will make sure to get it scanned in and posted here for those of you that don’t subscribe.

Affordable Art

Katie — Mon, 11 Jul 2011 17:51:32 +0000

Have you seen this print before?

I’m loving these oversized beach prints I’ve been seeing around a lot lately. �This one was featured in the newest issue of Lonny Magazine and it’s available at Art.com for a great price. �might be checking out that site some more during baby’s naptime today

Paper Lemon Photography Photos

Katie — Thu, 26 May 2011 02:35:42 +0000

Here are the awesome pictures that Molly of Paper Lemon Photography took of Eli’s nursery and of Eli when he was ten days old. �I LOVE how they turned out and I’m so happy to have that point of time in our lives documented so well. �Molly is so sweet and so fun to work with. �It was really fun to work on a nursery design for her baby girl due in September. Make sure to check out her blog for more of her beautiful photography!

Baby Girl Nursery Design Board

Katie — Thu, 26 May 2011 00:35:39 +0000

Wow, has it been a long time since I’ve posted or what?! �I am still alive. �I’ve been busy enjoying my little boy and doing a little work. �I just finished working on a nursery design board for Molly of Paper Lemon Photography. �She is the very talented photographer that took Eli’s gorgeous newborn photos and nursery photos which I need to post on here asap!

Here is the colorful, eclectic nursery design I came up with for Molly and Brandon’s baby girl (click to enlarge):

It was so much fun working on a nursery for a baby girl after working on Eli’s boy nursery. �I have to say that nurseries are quickly becoming one of my favorite rooms to design! �I think people are more willing to use bright colors, fun artwork and step outside their comfort zone more so than in their living rooms for example. �I love the creativity in kids’ rooms and it is so fun coming up with ideas to make it budget-friendly as well.