A reason to follow us on Pinterest, Instagram and Facebook

As much as I’d like to keep our website and blog running in pristine condition with constant updated material…time doesn’t always allow for that.    Enter Instagram, Facebook and Pinterest.  These three media platforms are really great ways I can share information at a faster rate.  Many times, we post daily jobsite updates, share great finds and pin inspirational ideas (ours as well as others).   The trio really fills in the gaps for what the website and blog are incapable of doing.

We’ve been on Facebook and Pinterest for some time now.  Instagram…not so much.  I’ve recently started up using my Instagram account again and soon realized, I wanted to keep my personal account…well personal.  So if you’d like to continue to see our jobs updates and such, please follow our new instagram business page.  As of now, my personal profile will hide the photos of my kid being a goofball.  But,  I can stay public with my business and gather new followers for those interested in design.

You can find us here:

FACEBOOK |  PINTEREST |  INSTAGRAM

PS!  Our Pinterest page is really set up to be helpful in your research.  All room shots are divided by “Interiors-Kitchen” “Interiors-Bedroom” and so forth.  Same goes for “Furniture-Chairs” “Furniture-Tables” f you are looking for items.  So it can really become a great library of images for you to collect ideas for your own homes!

Big Girl Room

So the problem with waiting too long on getting a design done is that your kid gets older…and gets opinionated!  You may remember back when we first moved into our apartment, that I was going to do the room around a certain Marimekko print?  She used to love it and would talk about it all the time.  Well times got busy and I never went through with the original  plans I had for the room.  In the mean time, my kid got a year and a half older and wiser apparently because “blue flowers are SOOO a year and a half ago Mom.  I want a rainbow flower room now!”  Well, my 3 1/2 year old didn’t say it just like that…but that’s how I heard it. The problem was, that I was so excited to use the extra wide black and white stripe and wasn’t ready to part with it.  I searched and searched for some multicolor floral bedding that had some black in it to tie in the stripe fabric.  Finally, I struck gold one day and found the Ayana Miranda Floral quilt by Cynthia Rowley on Ebay.  It had a rainbow of flowers to make my kid happy, and had sort of an Anthropologie look to it so I could go with an eclectic look like I wanted.

For sheets, I found the Bazaar sheet from Land of Nod that I’m going to order soon.  I was going to just do white…but my kid said “no white!” so more floral motifs it is!

Another change from the original design is I’m changing the use for  the stripe fabric.  I’ll be using it on a custom corner headboard instead.

Premier Prints-Vertical Black/White

I fell in love with the concept after seeing it done for this bed by Designer: Annsley McAleer (Photo: Ben Gebo)

With talk of a second child in the mix, most of the pretty beds I had found were not going to be feasible with 2 kids in a room.  So I had to double dip with my furnishings and a bed/dresser combo was really the best choice. I chose a white platform bed with 6 drawers underneath it.  I’ll then do the corner headboard and I think it will be adorable!

While out shipping at Homegoods with my little one, she spotted this rattan head…cow…not sure?  Anyways, she wanted it.  At first I was laughing and then, after some thought, I thought “hey why not!”  It would add some texture to the space.  I can already see the future of the head in the room though.  Pretty sure I’ll be removing it from the wall after it scares her during the night.  But hey, we’ll try it out.  I think it will nice with the Bamboo shade I’m using.  I’m going to get it made with a blackout liner since the mini blinds let light blare on through so much.

So there you have it.  My plans for the big girl room.  I’m waiting on the bed and new mattress to arrive and am getting antsy!  My kid has no interest in staying put in her room during bed time right now so I’m hoping this new space will bring her a reason to stay put!  I’ve been talking to her about her new room and trying to include her in some decisions her and there.  She told me that she wants to stay at Grandma’s and then I do her room and then she come back for the surprise.  Yes, she wants a grand reveal!  Definitely the daughter of a designer.

In The Works-My Client…Dad

I’m currently working on some remodeling for my Dad’s new home.  He is moving back closer to us (YAY!) and finally found a home after months of bidding wars.  He had just completed a bath remodel in his current home, so to leave that already, was bittersweet.  We are moving one of the main design elements to this new bathroom. Porcelain tiles made to look like slate.  It’s not the same exact tile, but similar.   And for the rest…designer daughter stepped in!  Free of charge of course.  Yet somehow I think I’d have to remodel 100 houses to repay him for all he’s had to do for me…poor Dad.

The tile was the starting point.  It has warm and cool tones which is great.  I pulled out one of the grey tones and used that on the counter-top.  I’m doing a tall back splash at almost 14″ high and will actually run itself up into the medicine cabinets partially.  And let’s talk about the medicine cabinet.  Originally, I was going to use the Chenowith medicine cabinet from Rejuvenation.  I was all set.  Then, realized it was so darn wide that I couldn’t use side sconces as I had hoped for.  Then, I realized that the mirror itself,  was actually pretty small.  So back to the drawing board.  I couldn’t find a comparable style with better dimensions so ended up switching to the Stella from Pottery Barn.  I’m going to first try it out with the wood. I actually like the warmth it is bringing to the design. Buts still, in the end, side sconces were still not in the cards for the dimensions.  So we ended up adding an extra can light in the room so that we could use only a single sconce over each mirror and still have enough light.

The shower will be nice and big and I’m using the 12×24″ slate tiles both for the walls, and the floor.  Slate, can be BUSY.  Using the larger tile will help with that.  Since it won’t be repeating to and entirely new tile every 12″ but instead 24″ my hopes is that the grain won’t get too out of control.  I’m only adding a grey contrast tile for the shower pan and that’s it.  No accent tiles for the walls.  I think my eyes would die if I went any busier….they would most definitely.

So there it is in a nutshell.  I’ll try and get some better before and in progress photos for this job.  I’m not the best at keeping up with those, so I will try harder.  It’s really great to see the transformations that way.  Stay tuned!

Today’s Bride Magazine Feature-Raw Elegance Design

I set goals for myself career wise.  Last year, my goal was to get my work publicized in a printed magazine.  And today, I am very excited to share that I’ve achieved my goal! Today’s Bride magazine has featured my Raw Elegance Design on pages 128-131 of their current issue.  I’m over the moon about this.  Especially that I got to share this experience with some of my best friends and so many amazing vendors.  You can read about all of the design details and see many more inspirational photos by Jennifer Skog {HERE}

I thought it would be fun to share some behind the scene shots on the day of our shoot. There is so much work and preparation that goes in prior to these shoots.  It’s such a relief and so great to have the whole team together on the day of to see everyone’s talents all pulled together.

The Berkeley Faculty Club was our shoot location.

Jennifer Skog getting down and dirty capturing details of our Bride.  You can see the outcome of this shot {HERE}.   Lindsay Skog of PMA getting our gorgeous bride ready.

PJ of Milk Glass Vintage Rentals setting our main table-scape.  Nicole of Nicole Ha Designs designing our AMAZING…yes amazing floral arrangements.   And last but not least…lil ole me =)

Valentine’s Day-Free Printables

My husband started buying our daughter these real mini finger skateboards to play with awhile back.  They came in sets where you could put the wheels on and choose the label to adhere to the board.  It’s a fun little tradition they have together.  When browsing the Target aisles for Valentine ideas, I ran across these little sets of finger skateboards or scooters as they call them that reminded me of the other boards.  I knew they would make the perfect Valentine for her to hand out to her Pre-School class.

I designed a page of cards that I could adhere each board to.  The top reads “Valentine…you’ve skated into my heart!”. For the bottom, I added some tire marks and a multicolored “LOVE Sydney”. I printed the page out on some textured cardstock and then glued those to another page of red cardstock for more support.  I used removable glue dots to adhere the boards with (3 total dots or there isn’t enough stick to keep them on).

Then for each of her Teachers, I bought a jar of jelly and changed the label to read “Spread the LOVE”.  xoxo Sydney”

I again used the glue dots to wrap the label around the jar. When they go to use the jelly, they can easily take the top label off.  The original label was left on underneath so they would know what it was.  I used some fabric I cut into circles with pinking shears so the fabric wouldn’t fray.  Then wrapped twine around the lid to hold them place.  They came out so cute and my daughter is very excited to pass out her Valentine’s to all of her little friends!

And I’m very excited to say that I made them both into Printables for you to download!  I’ve never done this before so let’s hope the downloads all work fine.  Both are left blank where the name is so you can write in your own.  Enjoy and Happy Valentine’s Day!

{click HERE to download your FREE copy of the Skateboard Valentine printable}

{click HERE to download your FREE copy of the Spread the Love printable}