Progress at Our Place & luxe magazine

We're ALMOST able to move downstairs at our house!!! I CANNOT wait!!!

 

Here's where we started:

 

The beams were sanded down, we added insulation & drywall to the ceiling, the floors are in and we took out the tiny windows & added two large ones farther apart so there will be more wall space between them...

The old fireplace and paneling....

....are gone.  A new fireplace is going in between the windows next week:

 

...And our sofa arrived!! wahooooooooooooo

 

This is my "little louie" enjoying it:

 

{poor Luke has a nickname from his big brother that's stuck!! hahahaa}

 

Our kitchen will be going in behind the sofa so we'll just have one big open room for living & eating.  (what we do best ;)

 

I pulled in some more furniture in so we can enjoy the room.  It's so open & airy!! (and empty!!)

...But I'm really happy just to have somewhere to sit down there.  The white sofa is in an indoor-outdoor linen.  I tested the sample with greesy tomato sauce... I smeared it all over the sample to make sure it would wash off.  It did.  We'll see how it fares at our place.  A wet sponge is supposed to do the trick.

 

And... we went to the luxe magazine (DC) launch party last night...

 

 

The first issue is beautiful and I'm so excited to have a new design magazine in DC!!  The quality of the magazine /paper itself is amazing too... reminds me of those thick glossy Veranda covers.  Photographer Greg Powers is coming over to our house Monday to take some pictures of me in my new "studio" (i.e. very messy office ;)  for the "stylemaker" section in the next issue of luxe.  We met him last night & he really sweet so it shoud be fun.  (I feel pretty awkward when I'm having my photo taken alone so nice people make it much better ;)

 

Here's a quick pic of Dave & I heading out to the party:

 

{ignore the scary eyes}

 

Have a great day!!

If you'd like help creating a home you absolutely love, contact me about our design services.

Til The Cows Come Home

  This year for Halloween Henry was a cow (thanks to a sweet client).  I wanted to share pictures but it turns out photographing a 14 month old in a costume he does not want to be wearing is hard.  Out the camera came and up the street the mad cow headed....

 Up and down, up and down the neighbors stairs...

  After 2,000,000 20 rounds of this Ferdinand decided he might be persuaded to head back to the house...maybe we have this under control...

 Oh no, no.  Rule number one with a toddler- even when you think you do, you never really have things under control.  Another neighbors door- up and down, up and down.

By the time we finally made it back home it was time to head to a party and the mad cow won the picture battle that night.  However, we did snap (hallelujah) some shots while doing a test run last weekend so at least we have these.

On a side note thank you for the stroller recommendations, they were so helpful!  I hope you have a wonderful weekend.

Opinions Please...Umbrella Strollers

We are in the market for an umbrella stroller and I could use some advice.  These are the finalist so far but I am open to suggestions!

Above Maclaren Volo, Below First Years Ignite

Above First Years Jet, Below UppaBaby G-Lite

And yes, I am looking for black or dark colors.  Our UppaBaby Vista (which I still love) looks like it needs to go through a car wash.

Clients' Family Room & Dining Room; "Before" & 2 years "after"

A couple of years ago, I met Aimee & Dave and wrote about their design plans & project here.  With life being so busy for me (& them! :) I never ended up taking pictures of their finished space.  It's always been one of my favorites because they were willing to take some BIG design risks!!!  We finally got together & I snapped a few quick pics to share.  We started working together when the home was still under construction & looked like this:

 Now, a couple years later & lived in and loved, it looks like this: 

  The orange floral sofa was thought about - long & hard- by all of us.  It was a really bold move by Aimee & she is still totally loving it so I am so glad she took the risk!!!  Walking into the room with this sofa in it made me smile instantly.  It's soooo much fun and just so pretty in person.   You might remember the design plans & the VERY rough skectches I made, helping Aimee & Dave visualize what their space would feel like: 

 

This is how the actual space looks now:

 

 

They've kept the center of the plan fairly open for the kids to spread out & play on the floor.  We still have plans to swap out the sunburst mirror with an Audobon print and move it to the bedroom.

 

Here's a close-up of the super-comfy velvet chairs with a peek into the dining nook in the kitchen:

 

 

I didn't get a good pic of the 19th Century barley twist table with original needlepoint insets that I'd found for them but here's an old photo I took of it before it went in.  THIS THING IS INCREDIBLE:

 

 

It sits between the two velvet chairs.

 

 

I love the lamp by Haeger Potteries atop the media cabinet:

 

 

 And then here's the kitchen dining nook when it was under construction: (hey! looks like how we're living at our place right now!! ;) ;) 

 And here it is now, truly being used:  

 The custom parsons dining table is by The Lorimer Workshop in Rhose Island.  (They're amazing.)  I loooooove the kids artwork collection simply taped to the wall!!  (You may have noticed a few other artwork walls in the other shots too ;)  They can add the collections whenever they want.   And finally, here's one last pic of the family room with Aimee & Dave in it.  (They are STILL the cutest!! :) 

 I'm so thankful to have such wonderful clients like them who have let me into their homes & lives!! 

If you'd like help creating a home you absolutely love, contact me about our design services.

St. V's Nursery Details Part II

Hello there, I hope you had a great weekend.  Shall we continue with the details of the St. Vincent's/ABC3340 nursery?  First up.....

The glider came from Storkland and the pillow from Etsy.  We added another pillow that matched the ottoman, not pictured here.  Ottoman was custom made, e-mail me @ mstronginteriors@aol.com for quote.  

Bedding- Sheet and crib courtesy of Pottery Barn Kids, skirt Robert Allen available through Marianne Strong Interiors.

Not a great picture but the best I had of the skirt close up.

Frames Target, painted custom color.  Prints inside frames are actually pages from the book Wherever You Are by Nancy Tillman. AKA the book that makes me cry every time I read it.

Light, to the trade, available through Marianne Strong Interiors.

Ceiling- you probably already know since it is a cult classic- Osborne and Little's Coronata Star.

Dresser available through At Home.

For specific pricing or questions e-mail me or Laurl @ mstrongint@aol.com.
Images Wynter Byrd and Marianne Strong Interiors

Quiet Time

Via

Destruction

Well I thought the second part of the nursery details were coming today but that didn't happen.  Instead I wanted to share these pictures from the St. Vincent's Nursery that I thought were so telling.  The family who won the nursery lost their entire house in a tornado.  Through the window you can the destruction of a neighbors house...

The rest of their house was still in the construction stage when we revealed the nursery.  Photo taken from living room looking back into the nursery.

Images Wynter Byrd and Marianne Strong Interiors