Friday Favs

Friday Favs- Whats New At the Studio! Just a small sampling of new items we have been getting in for Spring and Summer. If you live in the DC Metro area please feel free to come by and see us. You can view our store hours and our other current inventory here. Happy Friday! 

Ikea Kitchen Renovation Part 2

Another client, another Ikea kitchen renovation. This particular project was a little different from the last one in that we completely reworked the whole layout of space. The old kitchen had a dining area (not the main formal dining room) off of it with horrible built in corner cabinets. It left that large chunk of the room unusable and forced the range and the refrigerator to be jammed right up against the back door, which just so happens to be the family's main entrance. By removing the corner cabinets, weird decorative columns, and island we were able to completely open up the kitchen. In the small space by the back door we added a coat closet/ family mud room behind two closet doors, and a little dry bar so the kids can come running in from the back yard to grab a juice box out of the new beverage center without getting in Mom's way when she is making dinner. It's amazing what a new layout will do, the kitchen feels like it's twice the size as it was before the renovation.

Appliances: GE Cafe Series
Cabinets: Ikea Akurum with Lidingo White Front

Countertops: White Carrara Marble

Faucet: American Standard Culinaire

Backsplash: White Subway Tile 

Lighting: Gothic Iron Lantern

Counter Stools: Ballard Designs 
Wallcolor: Benjamin Moore Moonshine 

More Before & Afters

More pictures to come once I take official after photo's !

True Story

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Friday Favs

Remember when my sweet Mama got me the knock-off version of the Oly Studio Pipa cocktail table for Christmas 2011? I posted about it here, and to this day we always regretted getting the smaller table and giving the big one to a client. Mom and I have been hunting Home Goods stores weekly (Mom almost drove out of state when a store in Delaware had one, but the fools wouldn't take a credit card over the phone to reserve it, thats how insane we are) so when the bigger version didn't turn up, I bit the bullet and ordered the real deal last summer at Market. Seven months later I finally got the call that the table was ready! I had the whole thing planned out, I pushed some of the furniture to the outside of the living room to make it feel bigger so when the new much larger table arrived the Mr. wouldn't even notice the ol switcharo. No such luck. The table was delivered last Friday and when he got home from work the first thing he said was Woo did you carry that up all by yourself?? Then proceeded to ask me why we needed two versions of the same table. Technically if if you look closely they are not exactly the same table, not just in size but color and texture. Enough of a difference to spend the extra mullah on one vs the other? Probably not, but I have been eyeing this puppy for years and I don't regret it for a second. Plus, as I pointed out to him, the odds of us having a living room big enough to fit the 42" table in, in our first home some day is probably slim to none, so I need to keep the smaller version just in case. Personally I think he is lucky to have a wife who plans ahead...

Old 

New

Just to give you an idea of how much bigger the new table is, the same books are on here as there were on the 32" version above. The Vera Wang book is now under the gray and white box (Henry) and the doggie book is under the novel and the shell. 

Friday Favs

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Get The Look 

 I love this look for dining room chairs, so much so that my client ordered a pair that we thought looked adorable from Overstock. I was so excited to see them in person and so bummed when they arrived. The color looks like a natural creamy white linen online, but in person its more like a dark taupe/purple, so back to Overstock they went.  The nailheads were slightly uneven in some spots, and one of the chairs had a small indent like it didn't have enough stuffing in one spot, but all in all I thought these chairs, aside from being the wrong color, are a great bang for your buck. No joke, they were only $150 each!

Look For Less

A friend of mine sent me an email asking me whether or not I had seen the new Target collection in person, I thought she was referring to the Neiman Marcus holiday collection not knowing about Tarjay's new Modern Cottage Home Decor collection. How did I not know about this? I am sure the quality of the furniture is nowhere near the same as the higher end options but a lot of these pieces remind me of Bungalow 5 and Oomph!

Mixing vs. Matching

Crazy wallpaper, wild flooring, neon paint, and funky fabrics are normally not elements you think of in one room. While some might think these interiors are way over the top, they are proof you can't have too many colors or patterns in one space. Mom and I have always been a fan of mixing over matching, and although I probably will never have a room in my home this wild I can't help but smile when I see these amazing spaces. 

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Friday Favs

Greek key furniture, hardware, drapery trim, and accents- I'll never get tired of these little details. 

Happy Friday!

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Friday Favs

The Hickory Chair Hallings Secretary, 
I don't think I'll ever get sick of this piece. 

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Pet's on Furniture, Do or Don't?

Monday's post about adorable Nursery's got me thinking about how the Mr. and I are completely not ready for kids right now. The main reason? He's a push over when it comes down to saying no to Hank. One of my favorite blogs Desire To Inspire, does a segment that features pets on furniture, which is adorable, but I am on the fence about the issue. My beloved Henry, who was positively perfect in every way, knew never to get on furniture except the bed; which the Mr. and I referred to as our "Time Share." The bed was Henry's from 8:00am to 9:00pm, obviously we were free to join him during those hours but only if it didn't disturb him. Hank on the other hand is one cheeky little monkey. All this kid wants to do is get on the furniture with us. There is one chair in particular which he thinks is his, it's like in the Flintstones when Fred throws his pet out the front door and he jumps back in through the window... The other night I made Hank get off the chair six times, until he decided that maybe sitting next to me on the sofa would be better. I'm trying to be firm, and it's hard to say no to that face, but it's even harder when your husband wont say no. Even the threat of me buying a new sofa, in the likely event that Hank ruins it, has not swayed his feelings on the topic. Then again if he knew how much the living room furniture cost he might agree, or kill me. So I can't decide, let Hank join us on the sofa, or splurge on a posh doggie bed and hope he stays on the floor? 

A phone pic the Mr. sent me while I was at work to taunt me. Thats not an app to 

make the image look vintage, he literally has an old school flip phone with gravel embedded in the lens. 

Cute yes. Practical? Not so much. Who wants to come over for cocktails to sit in a dog chair?

My idea to remedy our situation...

Until we (I) figure it out, Hank will have to deal with Henry's spot...

Henry my love- we miss you buddy! 

Doggie beds via here and here