Look Back for a Second

Do you remember first learning to drive?  

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I can remember someone explaining to me how to change lanes on the Interstate.  You look back over your right shoulder - but only for a second!  Then eyes back on the road before you commit to the new lane.  Well, that's how I feel about starting a new year.  You can look back at the previous year's events, but only for a second.  Then you have to continue on your journey.  

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This past year brought some very unexpected events for me.  Looking back, even the events that seemed bad (like my Mom's diagnosis of breast cancer) were actually laced with lots and lots of blessings.  (BTW, for those who have continued to ask about my Mom, her recovery is going great.)  That's the benefit of hindsight - or a year in review.

So rather than rehash 2013 (you can go to my archives in the right side bar of my blog if you're in the mood to rehash), it will only get a brief glance today.  I want to focus on what lies ahead, "eye on the prize" as they say or what gets me out of bed and going in the mornings.  For me, the single biggest item is inspiration.  It helps me focus on what lies ahead.  

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Where does inspiration come from?  Well, lots of places for me - color, texture, music, what people say, treasured items in a client's home - it's a random hodge podge of things that swirl into the mix of creativity.  All that, plus one amazing inspirational tool - Pinterest.  Lately, I've noticed resentment towards Pinterest (sort of like the love/hate thing for Martha Stewart).  But not me, I could not do my job without this wonderful tool.  It's so interesting to me that a single idea in an image can spark the direction for an entire design.  Sometimes random pictures from Pinterest will pop into my head during a consult with a client.  The client might show me a piece of furniture they love and want in the space and WHAM - a Pinterest image pops into my brain of a great solution for the piece to work in the space.  

With that in mind, I wanted to share with you some of my favorite "go to's" for inspiration.  Here are my top five favorite inspirational Pinners on Pinterest.  By the way, if you're not sure what I'm talking about and want to have your world totally rock (and a great deal of your free time zapped), click over and see what all the fuss is about.   OK, so now for my top inspirational Pinners.

 Holly Phillips from The English Room.  She just celebrated her second blogiversary (which shocked me, since her blog is so well written it feels like she's been doing this for years and years).

I am always blown away by what Holly pins on her Pinterest boards.  The images are often times traditional but with an edgy something, something thrown in for good measure.  A sure cure for designer's block, no doubt. 

 Sara Kate of Sara Kate Studios is a stylist out of Oklahoma City.  She has such an eye for interiors and her style is incredibly fresh and unique.  

If I'm helping a client with styling their space, I love to go to Sara Kate's Pinterest page for inspiration.  It's total goodness.

Paige Schnell of Tracery Interiors is the owner/lead designer for one amazing interior design company.

What I love about Paige's pins - every single one has this sense of sophistication while still feeling casual and comfortable.  Go to her Pinterest page and see for yourself - she has impeccable taste. 

Laura Trevey of Bright Bold & Beautiful is one of the most successful lifestyle/entertaining/design sites on the web.  

Laura's Pinterest boards are wonderfully organized and chocked full of creative ideas anyone can incorporate into their own homes.  It's my go to for party planning inspiration every single time!

Monica Hart of La Famiglia Design is an Entertaining Stylist who lives in Seattle.  She has the most amazing style and every single pin on her Pinterest page is drool worthy. 

If you're on Pinterest a lot (which I am), you may have had this experience.  You are looking at your feed of pins from the people you're following and you see something you want to repin.  You look down to see who you are pinning from and 9 out of 10 times - it's the same person.  Well, Monica Hart is very often that Pinner!

Now, if you get stuck watching a boring bowl game, you know what to do.  Just grab your laptop and check out these amazing sources of inspiration.  Who knows?  You may have an ah ha moment on the very first day of the new year! 

Happy 2014 to all.  M.

  

Signing Off - Merry Christmas

Wow.  What a crazy sprint I've been on since Thanksgiving.  It has been quite a ride - very fun, inspiring and productive.  But now it's time to sign off of the blog for a while and enjoy the season.  My kiddos are home from school, and we are going to be entertaining family and friends over the next week.  But before I go, I wanted to show you some final images of my Christmas decorations.  These are of my dining room.  If you recall, I did a design board of my table settings in this post.  

Now for the results.  As with any design board, a few things evolved over time and have been changed, but the overall look is there.

Here is the malachite fabric table runner.  I actually made the runner with the fabric I found on Spoonflower and what I love about it is I can use it after the holidays for a completely different look.

I love how the glassware really creates a pop on the table.

Rather than using napkin rings, I opted for a different look with the linens and layered them between the metallic charger and dinner plate.  I have to tell you, I picked up the chargers from Target.  I was in there for something else and just thought I would see if they had them.  So, I asked the sales clerk, "Where would metallic chargers be located (this is a brand new Target for our area)?"  She looked at me like I had two heads and then said, "Well, I would start in Electronics will all the regular chargers.  I've not seen a metallic one, though.  Is it for an iPhone?"  I then explained what I was looking for and my daughter said, "Yeah, that's just a weird name for it.  And why do they call it a runner on the table? Weird?!" 

So, here's the fun glassware that inspired the entire table. 

For the cloches, I decided to do some fresh flowers to make them feel special.  I took this image during the day, but several follow at night so you can see the battery operated LED lights included in the cloche with the arrangements. 

Inside this one is a vintage nutcracker I found on Etsy.  It is very sparkly and wonderful.  

OK, I took these pictures last weekend just before our Christmas party which was pick up appetizers and dessert, rather than a seated dinner.  Thus, the reason for the chairs on the wall.  See all the pretty lights!  They are tiny, and I mixed in some colored ones.  

I tucked the battery pack into the greenery so it's unseen.  Did you notice my trick for the party?  I really needed that pop of jewel tones my champagne flutes were adding to the table, so I flipped them over and added a metallic votive candle.  Just enough to pull it off! 

Very excited about getting to enjoy it with my family!  Merry Christmas! M.

Christmas Decorations - Done

Hope everyone had a marvelous weekend!  Mine was filled with getting the rest of my Christmas decorations up, wrapping a few presents and getting ready for a party!  I even did my mailbox this year. It's been a few years since I've actually made the effort, but I have to say, it makes me happy when I go to get the mail now! 

On Saturday night, we hosted a party for some friends from church and it was just the push I needed to finish up the decorating.  I snapped all these pictures right before the guests started to arrive, so I'm apologizing in advance for the bad lighting!  As you can see, I really embraced the jewel toned theme this year and went with teal satin ribbon.  It's fun to mix things up a bit every now and then.

Now for the inside, let's start at the front door.

Most of the time, I like to style this foyer table with lots of height.  But during Christmas, I always go with something low (and low key).  This allows the nativity scene on the chest to be the focal point of the foyer. 

It also allows you to see the Christmas tree in the adjoining room.

One of the positive things I've discovered about having our TV over the fireplace is you can pop any image you like up on the scene as a virtual piece of artwork.  Then if you get tired of it, you can simply change the image.  I thought it would be fun to select something with some jewel tones in it to keep with the theme. 

As I've mentioned before, I have every Christmas card we've ever received since getting married.  I keep them by year.  This year, I decided to rework the ribbon for more of a fun teal pop of color in the family room.

For the current year's cards, I keep them here so we can look at our friend and family during the season.  

For the party, I also put together a few small arrangements for the bathrooms and small tables around the house.  I think this is an easy way to make the entire house feel special and decorated.  

My daughter's bathroom . . . 

My son's bathroom.  Also, as an aside.  The rock with the smiley face has a story.  

The first year my son went to summer camp (he was 7 years old), he told me he was feeling homesick and sat down on a big rock by a path where they were walking.  He said he turned and looked down and saw this rock with a smiley face on it and it made him feel better!  The smiley face was made with a sharpie and we have no idea who did it, when they did it, or why; but my sweet boy found it at the exact moment he needed it!  So, a little divine intervention as far as I'm concerned!  He still loves that rock! 

I've also made a few other changes in his bathroom.  I did these frames and prints for a client and loved them so much I had to do them in his bathroom.  They feel a bit more grown up than what I originally had in that spot.

There's also a story here.  For several years after I first got married my parents would give us money for Christmas.  My mom still wanted it to be fun and special so she would find ornaments that she could open and put the money inside.  

I saved all these ornaments and this year my daughter suggested we create a grouping with them.  Very fun to think about all the things I spent the money on through the years! 

That's the end of the tour.  I've purposefully not shown you the dining room.  I'm saving it for later in the week.  My family will be in town, and we're going to have a special dinner in there.  So, I don't want to spoil it for them!  Have a wonderful week! M.

PS: If you would like to see how I decorated last Christmas (it was a "no red" theme and very different from this year), click here, here and here.  

Redesign At My House

If you remember back in the Fall, I mentioned I was working on my own office area.  I confessed to you then that I did not have a dedicated office space for my business.  When I first began my design business, this was not a problem.  But as my business has grown, I realized the kitchen island was not working for me!  So, I spent some time thinking about where I would put this office area.

Unlike many homes, with a dedicated office space like the ideal one pictured below, I had to think about where to include an office area in mine.  My goal was for the office space to logically flow with the rest of our home and give me a practical place to work.

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Believe it or not, I ultimately decided to add the office space right in the middle of our family room!  It's my favorite room in the house.  I thought I would be more likely to sit at my desk if it were in a room I enjoyed being in on a daily basis.  Also, because of my work habits (I'm fairly organized) I felt I could keep the area neat and pull it off. 

So, here is what I did to make this happen.  The image below is where we started - a  couple of before images of our family room. 

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I loved the tete-a-tete I created with my winged back chairs, and was sad to see it go.  Maybe at some point I will bring it back; but for now the office area was a greater priority.  Remember, just because you love a certain layout for a space does not mean you won't love a different layout for the same area.  It's just different and the great thing about moving furniture is you can always move it back!  No harm no foul.  So, I moved the winged back chairs to the main seating area, and the blanket chest on the back wall was moved to my foyer. 

Traditional Family Room by Mandi Smith T  via Birmingham Interior Designers Decorators on Houzz.com

Here's the after with the larger seating area centered around our fireplace and TV.  I ended up placing the desk behind my sofa.  I have a great vantage point through the french doors to the right looking out into our backyard.

I also managed to create this reading nook with a new chaise lounge.  I pulled the faux fur throw in from our guest bedroom. With the chilly temps, we seem to be fighting over this coveted spot (even the dog loves it)!  I had no idea how popular this spot would be for my entire family.

The chaise is the only new piece I purchased for this redesign.  I pulled the long table in from my foyer to create my desk area (see below for where it used to be).  We purchased this table several years ago on a trip to Scott's antique market in Atlanta, and it was the perfect scale for the area behind my sofa.  It feels a bit like a sofa table, but still substantial enough for a desk area.  Then, I moved the lamps to my dining room and pulled in an iron pair that were originally on my buffet.

In the foyer, I pulled in the blanket chest from the family room and styled it with cloches for the Fall season.  It will look completely different the next time you see it - I'm working on Christmas decorations now!

I've been using the space for the last couple of months and I love it!  I'm feeling very productive and more focused these days.  Do you need a home office area?  I'm proof you can put one in almost any room!  M.

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