Exterior Color | Before & After

Often my clients like to play it safe and go with standard colors for the exterior combination of their homes.  They don't want their house to stand out too much, they are afraid of color, etc.  This client in particular really needed a "bang" on the front of their home.  Every house on their street seemed to be the same shade of beige, tan, yellow - I almost drove by her house every time I went there because you just couldn't tell who's house was who's on the street. - they all just blended together.

Thankfully she trusted me when I told her she should go a little bolder and we looked at about 5 different colors on the house and came up with this combo.  The color scheme on the outside is reflected on the inside of the home as well.  

New light fixtures will be installed next week but I was just over there yesterday and am so happy with the outcome I wanted to share it!

I'd like all homeowners to know that there is life beyond the color charts supplied by the paint store!  Think outside the box a little!

Shades of Grey & Gray

Recently I've been working with a client on exterior house colors for their ranch home, which made me remember these photos I took when I was back in Ohio on my last visit.  Grey/Gray is one of my favorite colors.  If you looked in my closet, you would see that about 50% of my closet is grey/gray!  I love the color - it goes with everything!

I go home to Worthington, Ohio usually once or twice a year, but this year in particular was a tough one for our family.   My step-father passed away back in late October, then my Grandmother passed away in May.  I was back a few times and while back I always go on my runs through Colonial Hills & Old Worthington.  I was inspired this last time by all of the cute grey/gray houses scattered about in the community, so I decided to take photos while I was on a long run.  These are some of my favorites...would any of these colors work for my client?  So many different shades of grey & gray...

Spring in Ohio is so pretty anyway, but these are some of my favorites...

This is a photo of Old Worthington!  So cute!  This is such a special community...I feel lucky to have grown up there and just wanted to share how cute the town is! 

This is MAGGIE!  Funny story actually about Maggie the dog.  My uncle had been living with my Grandmother as her caretaker for a few years.  He was depressed and feeling cut off from the world to say the least as he had lost his house in Florida due to the hurricane and significantly changed his lifestyle moving in with his mom.  One day this adorable dog just wandered into my Grandma's house and never left.  She became part of the family and the community immediately.  Colonial Hills is the most dog walking, dog visiting community I have ever seen!  Daily Maggie would probably have about 7-10 dogs come and have a little run around the yard for some fun and exercise.  During these visits the owners of the other dogs would stay and talk to my uncle and "shoot the shit" if I must say and this ultimately helped him to break out of his "dark" period.

You might be saying...why didn't they try to find the owner of the dog, right?  Well Maggie's previous owner actually found my uncle & grandma.  He thanked him for taking Maggie in and told them how it had become too hard to take care of her because of the financial responsibilities of a dog.  The owner literally brought this dog to their community and let her loose knowing that someone would take care of her.  I really think Maggie was some sort of divine intervention!  Crazy how things work...anyway...long story short, she was my running partner while visiting!  Brick sidewalks people...how cute is that!

Oh yeah..and Maggie is the prettiest shade of Gray/Grey! 

Sneak Peak!

Wow, it's been a month since my last design post on my blog!  I must say I do know why...I'm knee deep in a remodel project and thought I'd share a couple of photos of the project.  These teasers are part of the kitchen remodel.  The kitchen was in desperate need of a update.  The island was too small, there was a not a range hood, the owner wanted new countertops and new flooring.  The entire house is being remodeled though and I am so excited to share before & afters once the project is done.

Once the flooring, lighting, etc. is added I'll repost!  It is coming along nicely and turning out just as I'd hoped!

​Before

Almost After

Slipcovers! Quick inexpensive makeovers!

I've had this chair for quite a while - it's evolved with each house I've been in!  It was in my master bedroom in our first house in California and it was apple green, then it went into our cape code style home master bedroom which required some more subtle coloring and more traditional styling so had it reupholstered in a nice traditional paisley fabric.

Now, it is in my family room at our house now...we move a lot right?!  I've had the fabric pictured below that is white for a while.  I found it downtown LA a couple of years ago and have just used it all around the house here and there for welting mostly on slipcovers.  The striped fabric below I found in downtown LA recently - it is a beautiful italian linen fabric that I got for a steal at $9 per yard.  When I bought it I wasn't sure what I was going to use it for  - I just bought it knowing that I'd use is somewhere in the house!  

I decided to run the stripe on this fabric horizontally instead of vertically - I think it makes the chair look a little more interesting and modern.  If you have fabrics you love - just buy them and use them as projects come up around your house!  

Slipcovers are about half the cost of having something upholstered.  A great makeover without a huge investment.

Original fabric

Fabric #1 used for welting

Fabric #2 used for actual slipcover

My new chair!

Balance & Symmetry

Balance!  I just had to show this photo of a recent house I staged.  It was one of those houses that was on the market for a while previously and then they took it off the market, listed with another agent that I happened to work with so I got to get my hands on this one!  I am often surprised by how people don't understand the importance of balance in their home.  As you can see from this before and after of the fireplace, it really doesn't take much to make something look better just by adding symmetry to it!  All we did here was swap out artwork that was on the other side of this fireplace and put some decorative items on the mantel that were more fitting for the space.  I also removed the little statues that were at the bottom of the fireplace - this always just translates to clutter in photos.  Much better don't you think?!

Before

After

Home Office Phase 1

SOS!  Have a client that called me for some sort of organization in her home office.  This is phase 1 of putting the built-in's together for the office.  She's going to have so much more storage and organization it is going to be great!  The big desk in the middle of the room is going away and we will introduce a wonderful round table with two comfy chairs in the front window - when you work on a laptop - the traditional desk doesn't have to be in play anymore!  Wireless is the bomb!