Design – Page 2

One Room Challenge- Week Two!

April 13, 2017 No Comments

Hi All! How did an entire week sneak by me? One word sickness! And not just me, the.entire.family. Blech! On the bright side, we are starting to come around and having the windows open and sun shining has definitely helped us recuperate faster! Needless to say not much has happened with my ORC except to plan… plan… plan. This was pretty expected since we are hosting Easter and didn’t want it to be in the middle of a construction zone. So here is where we stand so far…..

If you are just joining me, welcome! I am doing BOTH of my daughters’ bedrooms for the One Room Challenge. Most of the changes will be occurring in my younger daughter’s room, while implementing more of a refresh for my older daughter. You cannot do one without the other…or so I am told.

For my youngest, I purchased this cozy chenille rug in a herringbone print, which is perfect for the girl who prefers to play legos on the floor;

She wanted to choose the wall color and went with gray (read: internal mom happy dance), and is urging me to go darker than I had planned. The exact shade is still being heavily debated, but the room gets painted next week so we shall see how this one pans out.

This room challenge is going to be all about the details, so if I can get hubs on board to help me, I would like to add a cool background between the bookshelves like this inspiration pic:

467674ff2927b6c7c369fb734d61abec — via DecorPad

To do so, I would love to try this reposition-able wallpaper from Chasing Paper. I am leaning toward this print and LOVE the color which will bring the ceiling color down into the room:

I also ordered this desk mat from Pottery Barn Kids so I can layer photos and some of her own art as a backdrop to the top of her desk:

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We decided on Caribbean Breeze from Ben Moore for the ceiling and painted a swatch in an inconspicuous area to see it in multiple lights:

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I also plan on using this free printable that pulls in all the colors of the room:

f59221bcd5c26f512ce876d208a7553b — Source

I am still on the hunt for curtains (another bold print?) and additional artwork. Next week the kids are off from school, so first thing Monday morning (after a monstrous cup of coffee of course) they are helping me empty my youngest daughter’s room so I can tackle the carpet removal pronto!

I saw this on IG this week and really think I need to order it to make it through the next few weeks!

Stay tuned and keep track of all the amazing talent participating in the ORC here.

Best,

Kelly

Design, One Room Challenge

ONE ROOM CHALLENGE TIME!!!

April 6, 2017 1 Comment

HELLLLLO All! So excited to get this six week party started and join in as a guest participant in the One Room Challenge! You can learn all about it here and follow along with both the amazing featured designers and a whole host of guest participants like myself. In a nutshell it comes down to choosing a room to transform, cringing while sharing the “befores”, working your tush off for 6 weeks, and then voila! unveiling your “after” masterpiece.

In the Fall I was a guest participant who bit off more than she could chew (details here), so this time I learned my lesson and decided on a smaller scale project. Um, NO. I have officially chosen to address my younger daughter’s bedroom, which has been rearranged and rearranged and….you get the drill. However, when you have two daughters (who are two years apart), there is NO chance that you can do one room without updating the other. SO, this Mom has got her work.cut.out.for.her.

SO HERE WE GO! The Plan, aka Master To Do List:

Younger daughter’s room, age 6:

Change the wall color- I LOVE the navy but she requested a change, and she chose a color that wasn’t hot pink or bright purple so I am running with it;

Rip out the carpet and add baseboard trim- I am so excited about this! We have systematically ripped out all the carpet in the house room by room to reveal amazing hardwoods so I am hoping (fingers crossed) that is what I will find in her room as well. I already purchased an awesome rug from PB Kids so I cannot wait to get started;

Change window treatments- I love the curtains because, full disclosure, I made them while pregnant and nesting and this tutorial from Young House Love saved me…six panels y’all…yikes. They have served us well but I am now on the hunt for something different;

Pretty Sure I need to do a post on "How to decorate around the Barbie Dream House" — Pretty Sure I need to do a post on “How to decorate around the Barbie Dream House”

Pillows- I am having some made from my fabric stash. More on this later;

Address storage- This girl loves her Barbies, Ponies, Legos, Shopkins…oh my. Not sure where to start to be honest, but it is on the list because it.is.time;

Art- I want to creatively incorporate some of her own art with some updated family photos; and

The ceiling- We purchased a cute fixture from PB Kids but when it went up it didn’t cover the space left by the builders basic one that came with the house. SO, we have been living with an unfinished paint job for awhile. My plan is to add icing to the cake and do a blue ceiling a la the gorgeous ceilings of southern porches. (Sidebar: Anyone else hooked on #southerncharm on Bravo?).

356034f5bf0dbdaad20038c7f78c16b7 — Blue Ceiling Inspiration

What I am keeping in her room: The bed from PB Kids, my Nana’s dresser (add new hardware?), the desk and shelves that I recently bought from Ikea and Target. Oh, and my daughter has definite opinions re: the room layout…. wouldn’t be my first choice, but she wants her bed where it currently resides. Needless to say, that means the desk is staying where it is (again not my first choice) so I have decided not to “build-it-in” the way I had planned because I will put money on the fact that we will be moving it…again.

Older daughter’s room, age 8:

Walls and trim- Leaving the paint color. My older daughter is not a fan of change. On the one hand she wants an update, so as not be left out from the process, but on the other, does not want me to change her wall color, rug, furniture etc. SO, I am keeping those things because they are important to her, but I am fixing plaster cracks which will mean a re-paint (though in the same color) to refresh the room. I will also be adding the overdue baseboard trim…we ripped her carpet out one Saturday at least two years ago and have not gotten to it. Sigh. I also want to add a small crown molding to match what is already in my younger daughter’s room and in our master;

Plaster Cracks – Hello Dad? Help! #1930sHouseLove

Address storage- Like her sister, my older daughter is in need of practical storage so bring.it.on;

Fabric Details- I want to add nailhead hardware to the upholstered headboard hubby and I made and I am having pillows made from my fabric stash;

Address Headboard Scale and Detail, Add Fab Art

Art- Ditto to above.

SO really that is it….not much…totally do-able. See I totally learned my lesson from last time (my poor hubby is biting his tongue so hard)! Ok, enough sarcasm. The kiddos are on Spring break from school post-Easter so I plan to dive in and paint then, because if we need to do “stinky paint sleepovers” at the grandparents we can! What!? You didn’t know that was a thing?

So looking forward to getting started after we host Easter and cannot wait to follow all the talented bloggers out there! Good Luck to you all…I know I will need it!

Best,

Kelly

Color, Design

Dreaming of Blue & White

April 4, 2017 No Comments

Hello All! Lately my ~~dining room table~~ desk has looked like this and I am ready to turn the page and move on to projects more fun than bookkeeping and taxes (though both necessary when running a biz… sigh).

So back into design mode tomorrow (after having a BIG glass of wine tonight) and looking forward to a few upcoming projects: 1) developing an inventory for yards and yards of fabric accumulated during my 12 years of running Sara Langley Designs Accessories and then sell said fabric to make room for new projects. You can view my progress here; 2) work on interior design projects for clients – so excited to share the “afters” with you soon; 3) work on my own makeover as a guest participant in the One Room Challenge. Phew! So excited!

In the meantime, I am crushing on blue and white prints and am looking forward to bringing them into some projects I am working on. Some inspiration as follows:

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Love this update on a traditional wing chair from Chinoiserie Chic

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Some outdoor inspiration via buffalo check from House of Harper

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The walls, the linens, the drapes.. love!

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Amazing outdoor tablescape complete with stunning runner from Enchanted Home

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Love the boldness and scale of this wall covering from One Kings Lane

Happy Monday! I am in the mood to kick a little butt this week…who’s with me!?

Best,

Kelly

Design, SPRING

Styling Your Mantel for Spring

March 22, 2017 No Comments

Morning All! Although we started the day with below zero windchill temps here, the sun is shining!! I am getting inspired to bring a touch of Spring into our home and usually use the living room mantel as a jumping off point. Here are some Spring styled mantels I am loving for inspiration:

Glass Vessels

Because I have several of these glass vessels I was thinking about adding colorful eggs this year like this one from BHG:

springmantel_BHG

To replicate this look you can find the eggs here on sale, and the glassware here:

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Floral Branches

I also want to bring in some floral branches, and love the idea of incorporating items from my collection of pitchers like this pic from Chic on a Shoestring:

Easter Decor 2011 19

Or in a fluted urn via Terrain:

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To replicate the look, some amazing faux branches can be found here: Cherry Blossom branches, Plum Blossom branches, and Dogwood flower branches.

Mirrors

I love the look of branches layered with a mirror in order to project the feel of Spring further into the room (from Pottery Barn, below):

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Love the shape of this mirror:

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And cannot resist this round mirror:

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Blue and White

I am really partial to blue and white and want to incorporate some of my ginger jars and vases into my Spring mantelscape like this gorgeous look from Enchanted Home (spent hours perusing this site…so beautiful!):

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LOVE the scale of the vases and branches from Enchanted Home:

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And the reflction of topiaries from Stone Gable via Pinterest:

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And because it is #ironstonewednesday here is a little Spring-spiration from my home to yours:

spring @saralangley

Best,

Kelly

Color, Design

A Toast to Green

March 17, 2017 No Comments

gin and tonic photocred:mackenzieandaddison.com

Happy LUCKY Friday all! Today is always a special day for me because it was my late Nana’s birthday and St. Patrick’s Day so it doesn’t get much luckier than that. I have been loving all things green lately (isn’t it funny how you can get hooked on a color?) so what better day than the present to share my green snaps with you!

This lovely bauble arrived from J. Crew this morning!

My parents stopped by with shamrock plants for the girls, an annual St. Patty’s tradition.

So excited to announce that I have been working on setting up a Sara Langley Designs Limited Edition Pop-Up Etsy Store. Stay Tuned!

Gorgeous green with greek key detail, Therese Marie via Etsy

A palm pic from our recent Disney Cruise vacay to the Caribbean. Take me back NOW!

I have been debating a glossy green front door like this one via Southern Living.

Classic trench in Kelly Green from Lands End, now 30% off code:gold, pin:6075.

A toast to my Nana, Beefeater and Tonic, TWO limes.

Happy St. Patrick’s Day! May all your wishes come true!

XO, Kelly

Design, Garden

For the Love of Boxwood

March 10, 2017 No Comments

As I ~~patiently~~ anxiously await Spring temperatures (it is going to be a high of sixteen degrees in my ‘hood tomorrow-yikes!) I have been thinking about my garden and was recently bundled up outside stalking my poor boxwoods to see how well they survived the Winter. I hope the neighbors didn’t see me because I have been known to talk to the plants to encourage growth… my Nana swore it made a difference and her garden was amazing!

1/ Gorgeous planter — 1/ Gorgeous Planters

Sources:

Featured Image and 1/ 2/ 3/ 4/ 5/ 6/ 7/ 8/9/10

Have a great weekend all!

Best,

Kelly

Design, One Room Challenge

One Room Challenge, Week 5

November 4, 2016 No Comments

Hi all! Almost there- It is WEEK FIVE! The room is painted, all items are purchased (with some exceptions below), and a few areas are even set-up…the home stretch! Now for all the little details on my checklist….

I had a new chandelier installed (finally after 7 years of living here!), but I’m not sure I’m happy with the neutral shades since I’m aiming for more color pops in the room. Here is what I chose from Lowes. I went with a big box option due to limited lead time and installation schedule:

Also on the checklist, I am adding trim to the curtains I purchased from Overstock like this inspiration pic from Amy Meier Design:

I am struggling with deciding on additional pieces of art. I bought four of the same frames for either side of the buffet, and want to bring in colorful art but don’t want it to compete with the patterned drapes and bold rug. Hmmmm…going to keep looking.

Also need to finalize my tablescape. Thinking of keeping it clean and “classic” so as not to compete with all the other bold prints in the room. Some inspiration..

This:

Ooh and this because I am totally digging the feathers:

But then I also loved this blue and white masterpiece:

So many choices, so little time:) Planning to hit up one of my favs, Save on Crafts, for some goodies that may do the trick.

Almost There!

Best,

Kelly

Design, One Room Challenge

One Room Challenge Week 4!

October 29, 2016 No Comments

HI all! I have been totally beeeeee-hind. So much so that I am running from one thing to the other and have been forgetting things like crazy. Nevertheless I have been working on the dining room, despite having missed a week of posting (yikes)!

We made great strides with the millwork that we started here. I totally love it and have already started planning for more of the same in the living room. As you all know, projects grow legs and start to travel, and mine has meandered across three areas- from the Dining Room, through the Foyer, and into the Living Room. Taking out the arched doorways and raising the headers led to drywall, spackle, paint touchups and beacoup plaster dust across three rooms…. but I would do it all again without hesitation.

View from Dining Room through Foyer, into Living Room. — View from Dining Room, through the Foyer, into Living Room #ihateplasterdust.

From Living Room looking through to Dining Room — View from Living Room looking through to Dining Room (oops have to move thermostat!)

OK, now on to some design candy….

First up, I found this gorgeous silver bamboo mirror at Pottery Barn. I fell for it in the store and with only one remaining in stock I had to take it home without measuring where I wanted it to go. It was so swoon worthy that I took a chance and it.fits.perfectly.

Pottery Barn Bamboo Silver Gilt Wall Mirror

Next I discovered a colorful rug through Drooz and Company, the amazing store of fellow design lover, Shelly Kennedy. My “before” dining room was so neutral for way too long that a definite prerequisite for this design challenge was to introduce major color. This rug totally fits the bill, and of course I could not pass up the coordinating candles!

Additionally, I had ordered this print from Minted before I found the rug, but it is a lucky coincidence and works to pull the bold colors from the floor up to the wall.

Bar Cart Teaser (of course this area needs to be the FIRST to be set-up) #peek-a-boofitbit

I also did a little furniture DIY, but I totally made a rookie mistake and did not get a pic of the piece prior to revitalizing it (similar here). I have been meaning to paint this cabinet for the eight years I have owned it, and I am LOVING the Hale Navy (#benmoorecoveragerocks). I repurposed wallpaper from our mudroom to give the back some flair… of course in a large scale print.

I popped into Home Goods in search of some fun accessories and found this awesome navy alligator textured tray.

And of course my love of orchids necessitated the purchase of one that will fit.right.in.

Cannot wait to show you the final results! Two more weeks! I am sure it is all going to come together…right?

Best,

Kelly

Design, One Room Challenge

One Room Challenge, Week 2

October 13, 2016 No Comments

Hi Friends!

I am attempting to put a dent into the To Do List for the Dining Room and while I never thought I would be doing actual DEMO for this project, this is where we find ourselves. I looooove demo but not when you are hosting two parties in a few weeks and need to use the room! I had the best intentions to just do some painting and new decor for this Challenge, but I could no longer tolerate the pony wall we inherited between the kitchen and the dining room. And you know how it goes…one things leads to another…

The offending 1/2 wall was always a fun picture spot (my mom with the girls at Christmas)…

And of course the header needed to be taken out as well in order to open it up even more! The unpleasant surprise was that beacoup electrical was hidden in the ceiling channel and because the kitchen was an addition done many moons ago before we bought the house, the ceiling heights were off. In sum, we could not take the whole header out. BUMMER.

So, a plan is forming with help from Pinterest to add molding on the surround. Oh, and this happened because I suppose we were on a roll..

Down with the arches. The doorway between the dining room and foyer…

I am so ready to finish the demo and the get rid of the dust!

Best,

Kelly

One Room Challenge

One Room Challenge- A Fresh Dining Room

October 10, 2016 No Comments

Welcome friends from the ORC! To jump into Fall, and quite frankly to gain some inspiration AND motivation, I am excited to tag along with the One Room Challenge. I have enjoyed following the Challenge for years, stalking the designs and relishing in the amazing “afters.” It is really fun to follow along and see what both the selected bloggers, and the guest participants like myself, come up with at the end of six weeks!

I have decided to move forward with updating my dining room. At the end of this month we are celebrating my birthday, as well as my daughter’s 8th birthday (wait…8! Yikes!), and will have a lot of friends and family over to celebrate. I typically get myself into trouble thinking that of course I can finish a room rehab from top to bottom in time for company, but this time I have promised my poor husband, who always jumps in to save the day when I have bitten off more than I can handle, that I will temper my design ideas.

Here is our current dining room that we first painted when we moved in 7 years ago. I still love the custom color which was a happy accident when I took my daughter’s sweater to Lowes for a color match. The curtains I made with material from Premier Prints, using this tutorial from YHL. I still enjoy the room, but am sooo ready for color, bold prints and an overall lighten-ing up of the space!What I want to change: 1) The chandelier we inherited with the house that I have lived with WAY TOO LONG; 2) Add fresh paint in a gorg neutral gray and FINALLY (with lots of shouting for emphasis) paint the moldings that we had installed when we moved in ahem 7 years ago, but never painted beyond the primer; 3) Add a fab new rug (Side bar: Currently, with young children and two dogs I have been too nervous to put a rug under the dining room table for fear it would be nothing more than a giant crumb catcher, but now I am going for it and want one that will be REALLY colorful and fun….and hides crumbs; 4) Purchase lovely curtains that I DO.NOT.MAKE.MYSELF (if I am going to wrap this up in time that must be part of the plan); 5) Actually hang art on the wall instead of empty frames on the floor or, as the pic below shows, hastily tacked up because company was coming…7 years ago (noticing a pattern here…).

This is our sad little bar area. I purchased a cart from Target awhile ago, but never set it up because the kids were younger and the less easily accessible glass the better! Now that the kiddos are a bit older I am excited to implement the cart into the Challenge design. This pic also shows folding chairs that we drag out whenever we have more than four people eating at one time, so I am hoping I can incorporate more seating as well. Lastly, I would like to repurpose and paint some furniture, and find a more successful pet gate (insert frustration here).

And THAT.IS.IT. I think I did a great job not adding too much and will totally complete it on time for both the Challenge and the Birthday parties (at least that is what I keep telling hubby).

Stay Tuned!

Best,

Kelly

Linking to the HOST

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