Son Of A ....

 Speaking of not having a living room big enough one day to fit the new Pipa cocktail table, my favorite  house ever came on the market the other week (10 years too early for the Mr. and I to be able to afford it) and it's already under contract. For my friends who live in other parts of the country I would like you to know how insane DC is... the 1920's Spanish Style home was apparently such an "Incredible renovation opportunity" aka a total fixer upper, that they had no interior pictures online. Not one flipping photo of the inside of the house I drive by almost every day, not one, and to top it off they didn't even have an open house! For the love, how's a girl going to stalk and plan the layout of her future home if she can't even see inside the damn place?  So what does a 4 bedroom fixer upper go for around here? Oh just a cool 950 thousand dollars, hence the title of today's post. Anyway this the house, and since I didn't get to see what the inside looks like, below you'll find a rendition of how it might look if Hank the Mr. and I lived there. 

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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. 

Normally I do not comment on current events but today warrants an exception. I had a "Friday Favs" post all ready to go, featuring a shopping list of great gifts for every member of the family right down to the pups in our lives, but a day like today makes me realize now more than ever that Christmas is not about gifts. Christmas is supposed to be a time of peace and joy, not senseless acts of violence. Our thoughts and prayers go out to all the families affected by today's horrible tragedy in Connecticut. 

iPhone photo from Moms Dining Room

The Best Birthday Gift Ever

Hello all! First of all, I want to tell you how much it meant to me, and how much it would have meant to Henry, for the sweet comments and emails I received following his passing. He truly was the most amazing pup I could have ever asked for; our 7 happy years together bring a smile to my face every time I think of my little man. For the past week instead of throwing myself a pity party, I have been running around chasing after the newest member of our family, Hank! The Mr. decided that if chocolate and peanut butter for breakfast in bed every morning wasn't going to cheer me up, he had to resort to more drastic measures. Yes, I officially have the sweetest husband ever, and now the sweetest new puppy ever. Hank Boland is now 10 weeks old and basically running our lives. I told the Mr. he is lucky I am not quitting my job to be a stay at home Mom!

Simple Pleasures

For the last month my MacBook has been giving me the dreaded spinning color wheel which meant the simple task of opening an email could take 30 minutes. Long story short I had to get a new hard drive and my computer is back to normal.  There were two things I realized while my computer was out of commission, one doing emails on my phone is beyond annoying, and two, I didn't realize how much I missed thumbing through print magazines. Pinterest may be the most addicting thing ever, but nothing beats seeing House Beautiful, Coastal Living or Traditional Home in your mail box after a long day of work. I'll never give up my subscriptions! 

The Award Goes To...

I have completely sucked at blogging lately but between client projects, alternating days with Mom at the DC Design House, and other things (like finally filling out all the necessary paperwork to "officially" change my last name) I haven't had much spare time. Side note: if only changing your last name was as easy in real life as it is on Facebook, I did that from my phone on the way to the airport for our honeymoon. If it weren't for the Pinterest app on my iPhone I would be annoyed that I spent two precious hours yesterday at the Social Security Administration office. While scrolling through pins I noticed this one Ikea hack that had been re-posted a bunch and I thought A who has the time for that stuff, and B what a great idea! I am sooo not a fan of certain most DIY projects, which I will not mention, but if its going to cost you $10 and 5 hours to make something you could get at Target for $20, I just don't see the point. While Ikea hacks fall in the Do It Yourself category they are on a whole other level of geniusness. To me DIY things remind me of K Mart, where as Ikea hacks are totally Tarjay. I have always wanted to do a fun Ikea hack of some sort, especially after seeing hacks that deserve an award. If I were the national judge for the best Ikea hacks, the awards would go to the following...

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And for those of us without the time an or energy to accomplish such amazing Ikea hacks, there is always O'verlays! 

Spring Is Here!

I hope everyone had a wonderful relaxing holiday weekend! I am praying for good weather for all our up coming events, if only every day could be as beautiful as today.  I know this is a lame post but check back tomorrow, I'm going to post pictures of our Design House space! 

Designer Drapes

As a designer there are certain decorating details that drive me crazy. What people do in their own homes is their own business, but when I see pictures of drapes that stop 2 inches from the floor or the rod is mounted directly on the window trim, I want to snap a magic wand and fix it. The same goes for poll pocket drapes... just because you can put the drapes over the poll doesn't make it right. Never mind the fact that it reminds me of a hair schrungie, it's completely impractical if you actually want to open and close the drapes on a regular basis. For the love, even if you have to fake it, always hang your drapes on rings people! 

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rings make all the difference

One of my favorite living rooms my Mom decorated. 

 These  drapes are from Z Gallerie, we added pleats to dress them up and stuck hooks in the back.

The finished look for my living room drapes...

What they look like from behind, all it takes is drapery hooks! 

In My Perfect World Part II

One of my favorite and least favorite things to do with clients is shop for furniture. Fun because I get to live vicariously through them while spending their hard earned cash, not so fun because even for a designer it can get overwhelming. Last fall I had a post here, about a few of my interior design pet peeves, and today I would like to share with you some coffee tables I recently stumbled upon that would NOT exist in my perfect world. 

Image: I refuse to give a direct link to anyone interested in purchasing such a hideous item. 

In My Perfect World

Everyone has a list of pet peeves, or things they would never allow in their house. For some people it's as simple as no beer signs in the living room, more particular individuals go so far as to ban printed paper towels in their kitchen. Sorry for the random rant, and the ugly pictures you are about to see, but I wanted to share a few elements I don't think belong in any household. In my perfect world these 4 items would not exist. 

1. Vertical Blinds. 

2. Ceiling Fans with Lights. (Ceiling fans without lights I don't hate as much)

3. Torche Lamps. Why would I want to light up the ceiling?

4. Compact Fluorescent Light Bulbs- who ever invited these dreadful toxic things should be slapped. 

What could you do without in your perfect world??

The Faux Stain

While I am stressing out over getting the coffee stain out of my sofa, Starbucks is celebrating their 40th birthday by selling t-shirts with a faux coffee stain on them... for $85. I don't get it, I would pay someone $85 to get the coffee stain out of my sofa, but $85 for a stained t-shirt? Not so much. 

I think a better way to celebrate would be with the Starbucks Cake Pops, but thats just me.

Style vs. Lifestyle

I did not rush to Target yesterday for the launch of the Missoni collection, and I am not scouring the internet for runway images from fashion week. This will come as no surprise to those who know me well, but hands down my favorite style icon of all time is Ralph Lauren. When I was a high school prepster the polo was a staple in my wardrobe, when I was a post college grad living in Colorado his rugged western wear seemed to fit. Now that I am old enough to realize you don't need to be one or the other, it's much less complicated. Honestly I have never really been into the whole fashion week thing anyway, which is probably why I gravitate to the Ralph Lauren approach "I'm not about fashion, I'm about living and that's been my whole career." If I owned three properties one would be a Western/California style ranch, one would be a Hamptons cottage, and the other would be a chic Parisian style apartment. Since our two bedroom apartment is all I have to work with for now, true to the Ralph Lauren lifestyle, my home and my closet will reflect a mix mash of all of the above.