We started with the living area. This is an open concept space with tons of windows. We were challenged with ways to come up with a functional layout that felt cozy, and good for entertaining but also maintained a feeling of openness in the space. With so many windows we wanted to maximize the light and the views they offered. Center City Philadelphia has some pretty amazing views! We opted for no curtains and minimal art to allow the views to be the focus. Instead of bold colors, we selected a neutral palette of grays and textured wood. We wanted to add interest and layered in a mix of metallics and a hint of green – our clients favorite color. The result is a soothing comfortable yet still sophisticated room.

Before

After

One of our favorite parts of the transformation was the renovation of the fireplace wall. What started out as a pretty meek looking mantel above an equally meek ceramic tile fireplace was able to be built out into a showpiece for the room. We created a stacked stone fireplace flanked with custom built-in cabinetry and reclaimed wood shelves. This area quickly (*design disclaimer on definition) went from after-thought to statement piece. The stacked quartz stone next to the reclaimed wood creates such an organic feel that one quickly forgets they’re in center city, until they turn and see the views out the window!

Fireplace Before

Fireplace After

At our first meeting with my clients, we were able to talk them into a kitchen upgrade, the results are outstanding. We made upgrades both aesthetically and functionally in this space. Lightening up the cabinetry seemed like a no-brainer, but we went one step further (okay, maybe 4 steps). Custom gray cabinets were installed as well as marble subway tile and a mix of quartz and quartzite countertops. We removed four of the five existing built-in wine racks too. Another big change was to alter the island to be all one equal level and fortunately, we even had the space to make it a little bit larger.

Before

After

We were really stoked when our clients went for this statement chandelier. It’s fun to blend a modern light fixture with traditional chairs.

Next up was the master bedroom. This room got a major overhaul! This room was unnecessarily large, so we split it into two spaces; a gracious master bedroom and an enviable dressing room. Another change was removing the weird built-in “box” that was previously part of a Murphy bed. It was too large to be a built-in bench or anything else useful, so we reclaimed the space to maximize our new smaller bedroom.  Other upgrades in the bedroom include a custom wood headboard wall {swoon}, grasscloth, new pendant lights, new carpet and new furnishings.

Before Master Bedroom Layout

After Master Bedroom Layout

Before

After

A year later we were called back for a renovation of the master bathroom. Our clients loved the feel of their bedroom so much that we played off those themes for the master bathroom. In the master bathroom, we used a blend of neutral, rustic and modern with some fun lighting.

Before

After

This project is a great example of one of our favorite types of projects – a little bit construction, a little bit decoration. We really enjoyed being able to transform and improve early every inch of this space. We couldn’t have done the revonation so effortlessly without the talents of our general contractor, Matt Seip of Grain High Performance Homes. Lastly, thanks so much to our very sweet clients for trusting us with this project, being open to a few new ideas and just being lovely people to work with!

All photography by Joe DiDario

The post Rittenhouse Condo Renovation: Before & After appeared first on Design Manifest.

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This week we have a fun Before & After that was a collaboration with a young first time home buyer. My clients had recently purchased a row house in the Italian market and were looking to make it their own. We were tasked with gut renovations of the kitchen and master bathroom as well as reworking the whole first floor layout and finding a new home for the laundry.  We eventually sourced furniture to help with finish of the rooms. We were asked to keep it clean, modern, cozy, bright with a healthy dose of anything on the teal spectrum.  Teal- being my client’s own brand‘s signature color- was a great inspiration point for us and we used it in darker and lighter shades.  A little goes a long way when it comes to color and I think we struck a nice balance here.

BEFORE

AFTER

Our first order of business was to take down the wall between the living room and dining room.  This helped open things up and made the space feel much larger. We were also able to add a coat closet (why do older Philadelphia rowhomes rarely have coat closets?!?) and built-in shelving in the living room. Next, we removed the trim going into the kitchen, making the opening feel more modern and as wide as possible. We investigated taking down the wall between the kitchen and living area, but being that it was a thick bearing wall we opted to leave it in to keep the budget in check and also to maximize storage in the kitchen.  We worked with Bryan Buono for construction on this project. Buono Construction Group did a great job turning our plans into reality!

BEFORE

AFTER

The kitchen is a very narrow space! Previously there was very little storage and virtually NO work counters. We reworked the layout into a galley style kitchen featuring a double oven, industrial range hood, custom white cabinets and quartz countertops. We included a dedicated pantry and finished off with a gorgeous teal glass backsplash.

BEFORE

AFTER

BEFORE

AFTER

Finally, up on the third floor, we completely reworked the master suite. We were able to reclaim space from a previously unused vestibule area and turn it into a much larger master bathroom. The new  bathroom includes a soaking tub and dedicated laundry space (hallelujah!!!). We reworked the bedroom walls to include two (read: 2!!!!!) new closets and a few more inches to include a larger bed and dresser.

FLOORPLAN

BEFORE

AFTER

BEFORE

AFTER

BEFORE

AFTER

Thanks so much to our awesome clients Jess & Marc for trusting us with this project!

This outtake of Velma is for you guys!

• – – – –

Photography by  Joe DiDario

General Construction by Buono Construction Group

The post Project Piper Wai Renovation: Before & After appeared first on Design Manifest.

Take the full tour over at HGTV.com and see some of my favorites below.

Thank so much for Jeanine and Brian, of Aphrochic.com, for producing this feature.

Photos are by Seth Caplan

The post Press Alert: Naomi’s Apartment on HGTV.com appeared first on Design Manifest.

This project began over the summer when my longtime client, D, asked me to renovate and decorate her hall bathroom and her guest bedroom, which also doubles as a laundry. I knew it would be a fun project as I’ve already renovated nearly every room in her house, love her style, and know her so well. Decorating with D truly is playtime. Her house is a blend of traditional and modern, old and new, colorful with crisp whites, full of patterns, and is a nice mix of preppy tailoring with bohemian accents. I knew the bed and bath would be designed with a similar mix – with their own unique translations, of course.

Just as I was beginning to develop my first design ideas, Linda invited me to this season of the ORC and it felt like fate. I knew this was a project I wanted to share, and due to my client’s trust and our good planning, I felt confident we could complete it within the short timeline. Because of our generous sponsors, we were able to splurge on a few big ticket, game changer elements like the bedroom wallpaper and custom vanity in the bathroom. While backorders kept us from our dream bed, we were able to pull together spaces that I’m really proud of. I hope you guys love it too and that you’ll find a few elements inspiring or beautiful. I’d love to hear your thoughts as to what stands out to you!

Without further ado, The Guest Retreat…

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Catch up on our One Room Challenge Guest Retreat:

Week 1     Week 2    Week 3     Week 4    Week 5     Week 6  

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GUEST BEDROOM

BEFORE

AFTER

Welcome to the new guest room! We strove to create a retreat that’s both relaxing and enchanting for either a guest to enjoy while visiting, or our client to adore while doing laundry. (More on the laundry below.) With our inspiration in mind – Preppy Bohemian with a British Colonial influence – we filled the room with a modern white canopy bed, lots of blue and white, vintage case goods, and furnishings, art & textiles sourced from India, Africa, and Asia.

The game changer for us was the wallpaper – a stunning blue and white striped paisley from Schumacher. It’s a beautiful stamped print that reads quite detailed up close, and more like a stripe from far way. It envelopes the whole room and allowed us to hide two sets of closet doors and a radiator. Can you spy the radiator in the image above?  (Hint- it’s under the left window. Impressive, right?)

Meanwhile, our problem doors…

BEFORE

AFTER

…turned into doors that I cat-call every time I walk into this room.

Behind those doors, we improved the laundry set-up considerably.

BEFORE

Before we had side-by-side machines with two saggy shelves above, and ironing/clothes hanging activities were spread out amidst the available floor space within the room. Drying racks are one of those very necessary things that NO ONE wants to see, so we had to find a way to hide that away.

AFTER

We stacked my client’s machines and added a hanging rod, a pull-out ironing board, and drying racks attached to the door.  The best part is that you can close the door with the drying racks extended, so all those items can do their own thing behind our pretty papered doors.

BATHROOM

BEFORE

AFTER

BEFORE

AFTER

In the bathroom, we pulled off quite the transformation, and it was all made possible by simply moving the doorway less than 12” to allow for a double vanity. Due to the constrained space, we went with a custom shallow vanity cabinet that we had constructed out of walnut. Wall-mount faucets allowed us to have larger sinks and ample counter space. The result is a space that feels larger and more open, despite having much more cabinetry than before!

We went big with our plaid floor, which seems to be a big hit with all of you guys (thanks for your support on that one!). The crisp white subway walls provide a nice balance to the statement floor. We kept the other elements clean with a few traditional embellishments on our faucets, lighting, and accessories. Our British Colonial influences are more subtle in here than the bedroom, but the warm wood chest styled with campaign hardware was a nod to that. Perhaps a blue and white bathroom would have been a more obvious pairing to the guest room, but we already have a blue and white kitchen in this house and I was excited to translate our theme with a more neutral palette.

I could go on and on, but I know what you guys really want are the pictures! So I’ll let the rooms do the talking.

MORE BATHROOM

MORE BEDROOM

All images by COURTNEY APPLE PHOTOGRAPHY

ROOM SOURCES

BEDROOM

Wallpaper: Schumacher’s Katsura Stripe

Bed: The Mine

Blue rug: Annie Selke

Duvet cover: Pine Cone Hill

Coverlet: Pine Cone Hill

Ceiling Fan: Haiku Home

Floor lamps: Bellacor

Table lamp: Bellacor

Bench: The Mine

Arm chair: The Mine

Tray: The Mine

Vanity & dresser: vintage

BATHROOM

Custom vanity: Ramwood Custom Cabinetry (available through DM)

Sconces: Lamps Plus

Shower fixtures (all Hansgrohe): Rain shower head,  hand-held shower head, &  plumbing valve

Sink faucets: Hansgrohe 

Medicine cabinets: The Mine

Toilet (The Mine): bowl & tank

Shower curtain: Schumacher’s Moncorvo

Nude painting: The Mine (vintage)

I hope you’ve enjoyed the tour of our Guest Retreat. The space would not be possible without my amazing team, Chrissy and Tori, plus a special shout out to Buono Construction Group for bringing this space to life.  Bryan Buono was truly a team player here, managing the project ahead of schedule, accommodating every request with a smile, and even ripping open new tile to raise up the shower head when needed.

A heartfelt thanks to Linda of Calling it Home for organizing this event and inviting me to be a part of it once again. The One Room Challenge has become such a huge affair and I just feel so grateful and humbled to be a featured designer. I’d also like to thank our generous sponsors The Mine, Hansgrohe, Annie Selke, Bellacor, Lamps Plus, and Haiku who provided some of the wonderful products we used in the space. And of course, thanks to House Beautiful for your media partnership. . .feel free to publish these rooms in your magazine. 

Lastly, thank you to my client, D, for trusting me, taking risks, having fun, stretching the wallet (just a little), and letting me run a 3-ring circus through your house for the last many weeks. Not many people want to share their dirty laundry, so I appreciate you letting us behind those doors.

I’m just so grateful that I have wonderful clients who allow me to earn my living transforming their homes. I really am a lucky lady. A lucky lady that is in desperate need of a nap. So that’s all from us!  Don’t forget to keep up with the Week 7 progress of my fellow ORC featured designers:

Boxwood Avenue | Coco & Jack | Design Manifest | IBB for DWD | The House That Lars Built | Little Green Notebook | The Makerista | Making it Lovely | Old Brand New | Old Home Love |  The Painted House | Megan Pflug Designs | Pink Pagoda | Erica Reitman | Sacramento Street | Simply Grove | Jill Sorensen | Sugar & Cloth | Vintage Rug Shop | Waiting on Martha *

Media Partner House Beautiful | TM by ORC

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Catch up on our One Room Challenge Guest Retreat:

Week 1     Week 2    Week 3     Week 4    Week 5     Week 6

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The post One Room Challenge™ {The Guest Retreat} The Reveal appeared first on Design Manifest.

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Catch up on our One Room Challenge Guest Retreat: 

 Week 1     Week 2    Week 3    Week 4    Week 5    Week 6    Week 7

***

GUEST BEDROOM

First of all, I can’t dive into the bedroom details until I give you one sneak peek of this paper! I’m so pleased that our plan to make the doors disappear has really come through. I think the key to success was having an excellent paper hanger and having the trim papered as well.

With the paper being so bold, I didn’t think we would need a lot of art and accessories – less really is more in this case! That said, we are planning on a few pieces to layer into the room and add a sense of depth and coziness. Every dressing table needs a mirror, a lamp, and a tray, so we’re working out the styling for that. I thought we’d hang this vintage gilded mirror (a Lambertville score!), but now I’m having second thoughts. It sways pretty traditional. . .do I want something a little more contemporary?

Beginnings on a styled console.  A few more edits to go. . .

This sweet little oxblood lamp is from our sponsor, Bellacor. I’m loving the contrast of its color against the paper, and its modern shape atop the more traditional desk. Just still not sold on that mirror. . .

While most of the walls will be unadorned to show off this fabulous paper, I did want to incorporate some art into the room and thought photography would be the best form. Given that this is a guest room, we didn’t have room in the budget for art – but I knew I could find great well-priced vintage photographs. I wanted something that feels both modern & soulful. I also found I was drawn to photographs that featured the color red. Ultimately this particular lady- an African jewelry merchant photographed by an unknown photographer- made the cut. I think she is delightful and I’m obsessed with her outfit, plus my own client has a propensity for jewelry, so it felt fitting!

As for the dresser, I’m still sorting out the styling here. I’m thinking of leaning some art, maybe adding a blue & white vase with flowers. . .but I’m still thinking. What are your favorite ways of styling a dresser? I’d love to hear.

BATHROOM

Our custom shower curtain was hung up and it’s glorious! Sadly, it’s also a little long, so it’s getting hemmed and is due to be picked up the night before the photoshoot.  I’m bummed that I didn’t take a single progress photos of the curtain 🙁 But I did screen shot this video to give you guys a taste of what it will look like…  (PS you know I’m committed to the ORC cause if I post a blurry screen shot of myself.)

We decided to use the shower curtain to layer on ONE MORE pattern in this bathroom, and I think it was the finishing touch this room needed. The tribal stripe shakes up our preppy plaid bathroom a little bit, and I knew that adding something looser and funkier to this space would help tie it in to the rest of the home’s tailored bohemian feel.

Of course no bathroom is complete without a place to hang your towel. We’ll be incorporating Kohler’s Artifacts suite into this room. Robe hooks will be tucked along the left entry wall, towel rings will mount on either side of the vanity, and a coordinating paper holder will be in easy reach of the toilet. I like the little bit of traditional elegance these pieces bring to the bath, and I feel like they tie nicely into our wall sconces and our plumbing fixtures.

Last but not least, we hung this lovely nude painting in the bathroom. It’s a vintage piece I sourced through our sponsor the Mine. I was so pumped to learn that Mine has a section of vintage finds curated by Chairish.  Every room needs at least one old thing, and this is our bit of soul for this room.  I like having just a hint of the blush in here, and I think the feminine touch softens both the plaid floor and the rich tone of the walnut vanity.

COMING UP

We will be hurrying around doing last minute styling and tweaking, and somehow someway we’re going to photograph this project on Friday. I’ve been making a few last minute Amazon Prime purchases and I still need to pin down the plants. Because the bedroom definitely needs some green!

I can’t wait to share the finished space and images with you guys next Wednesday. Blue and White and plaid all over…. Will it be a hot mess or a design delight? Please make sure to tune in for the full reveal!

Don’t forget to keep up with the Week 6 progress of my fellow ORC featured designers:

Boxwood Avenue | Coco & Jack | Design Manifest | IBB for DWD | The House That Lars Built

Little Green Notebook | The Makerista | Making it Lovely  | Old Brand New | Old Home Love 

The Painted House | Megan Pflug Designs | Pink Pagoda | Erica Reitman | Sacramento Street

Simply Grove | Jill Sorensen | Sugar & Cloth | Vintage Rug Shop | Waiting on Martha

Media Partner House Beautiful | TM by ORC

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Catch up on our One Room Challenge Guest Retreat: 

 Week 1    Week 2   Week 3   Week 4  Week 5    Week 6    Week 7

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The post One Room Challenge™ {The Guest Retreat} Week 6 appeared first on Design Manifest.