Client Dining Room & Framed Fabric Panels

I'm helping a client of mine, Malinda, tweak a few things in her formal red dining room. Malinda and I met  at the accessory-arranging seminar I did at the Pear Tree Cottage last year and we've been working together since. She really enjoys finding special personal pieces for her home and is so great to work with.  She's so encouraing and really has a handle on her style, which tends to be bold, traditional and a tad English.  She's typically drawn towards a mix of patterns and is attracted to guilded accents like the sunburst mirror below and bold colors.  In her dining room, we've kept all of the existing furniture and introduced some accents and were looking to simply freshen it up. 

{Malinda's Dining Room Before}

And now...

{Malinda's Dining Room Now- We layered in more patterns and added framed ikat panels on the walls.  We're planning to add a new chandy & chairs under prints}

{the new velvet curtains}

My favorite part of the dining room is the pair of framed Ikat fabric panels I had made:

They add an almost modern, graphic element to the room.  They're proteced under UV coated glass and I used a linen liner in the frame to add more texture and a white outline around the fabric.  I love the juxtaposition of the fun fresh ikat with the formal guilded frames. 

For now, we have these seagrass chairs for balance under the Ikat frames and I love the natural element they add to the room.  Eventually we'd like to switch them out to something a bit taller and wider. 

Malinda can also keep plants alive!! Isn't her fern gorgeous?:

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this little makeover and I can't wait to show you more!!  And thanks so much Malinda!!

Pure Projects #13: Finally Hang it!

 

You might  remember that we "finished" (nothing's ever really done here) Christian's bedroom a while back:

We'd never gotten around to hanging what we'd planned to hang in the blank spot next to his bookcase.  A few months ago I found this cool vintage German educational chart of a fish: 

{I've been very into chartreuse lately and the patina of the chart is just beautiful}

It sat in our basement for a while and finally I got around to hanging it this past weekend:

 

And I love it!!!  (And possibly more importantly, Christian does too...  Remember his fishing lessons?)

Anyway, it was funny how even this small change to Christian's room encouraged us all to hang out in there: 

I love how a change can make you more aware of a room's goodness. 

So, the project for this week is to finally get around to hanging something you've been meaning to hang. (If you haven't procrastinated hanging anything like I have, then this week is a freebie for you! ;)  But, if you have a special piece of artwork you've been meaning to frame and hang, or a group of family photos you've been planning to get up on the wall, go ahead & do it. 

If you want to share your project  and join in for Project # 13, you can link up below.  We'd love to see your project!  (Just make sure to link to the direct post so we can click directly over to it! :)

Also,  If you're in the area, check out the August issue of Washingtonian Magazine!  Jennifer Sergent included me (along with my friend Jill Sorensen) in an article she did and there's a photo of Christian's bedroom in there!

And, if you didn't enter the Saffron Marigold giveaway, you can enter it out here.

I'm also guest blogging over at my friend Ally's @ From the Right Bank about silhouettes so check it out! :)

Silhouettes!

I'm guest blogging over at my friend Ally's at From the Right Bank about silhouettes!

Check it out here!

 

Giveaway & Reader Discount from Saffron Marigold!!

It's Friday!!!  wahooo

...I don't do giveaways very often, but I'm so excited to be doing a giveaway with Saffron Marigold!!  As you might remember, I love blockprints & paisley and their patterns are right up my alley:

{love!!!}

There are so many beautiful hand-blocked prints to choose from but here are some of my favorites:

Archana at Saffron Marigold has offered the winner one of the following:

-1 table cloth size ( 70 x 90)

-1 table runner (18 x 90) 

-2 Cushion Covers ( 17 x 17)

READER DISCOUNT:  Archana has also generously offered all of our readers a 10% discount for linens.  Just place an order and enter "PureStyle" in the comments section at checkout.
To enter for a chance to win the giveaway, click on the left sidebar to become a flollower of Pure Style Home and leave a comment after this post.  If you want an additional entry/ chance to win, you can tweet this post and be sure to let me know in the comments. (I just joined twitter and there's a link for it on the left sidebar...  I'm trying to get the hang of it so let me know if you can find me & I'll follow you too! :)  I'll be picking a winner randomly Wednesday, August 25th & will post the winner by that evening. 

Have a great weekend and I have to leave you with a quick pic of what just happened as I was typing:

parenthood. (in the mouth) hahhahaa i'm dying....

Client Before & After- Living Room

I have to say that I'm seriously blessed with amazing clients.  Helping someone design her/his home is a very personal process and there's a lot of trust associated with it.  I'm fortunate in that I get to work with such special people.  I don't know how it's happened, but somehow, all of my clients are warm and smart, and just so much fun to be around.  (I find myself thinking how some of them would click so well with each other and be instant friends, but they've never actually met in reality.  Maybe one day I'll have to have a big party.)   Exhibit A:

{This cute message was written on the chalkboard when I went to visit Sandy & Emma the other day}

One of mu clients, Sandy, makes her own homemade pastas & breads (focacia!!!)  and sells them at the Farmer's Market.  She sells out every week, and I've had some, and know why.  Below is Sandy wih her super-sweet daughter Emma on the left (who wrote the sign) in their gorgeous kitchen:

 

{Emma & Sandy in the kitchen where the magic happens...  Dave, her husband, wasn't there for the pic}

Had to include this close-up of the pasta:

{The orange is roasted red pepper & garlic-- oh my gosh it's so good, we literally just added olive oil and a teensy but of salt, & parmesan and it was amazing...  so easy!!}

When I arrived at Sandy & Dave's house the first time they were in the middle of having it painted, so my "before" shots are a little chaotic.  Here's the view from the living room into the dining room:

And here's the living room, which was being painted the softest blue:

The leather sofa and rug were hiding beneath the tarp:

..Along with two pretty yellow wing chairs:

As I was falling asleep one night, I had a minidream that we switched the leather sofa with the brown-green English arm sofa in the study and so here's the switch:

 

Sandy's style is very relaxed, soft, pretty, comfortable, subdued, natural, cheerful...  It has a little bit of a "garden" feel to it and she's attracted to botanicals and soft florals.  I wanted to lighten up the space and make it feel like 'her' by using things she's collected over the years along with some new pieces.  (I love "borrowing" from other rooms ;)  We're not completely finished- a little tweaking to be done here and there- and the photos aren't styled, but you'll get the idea. 

Anyway, here's the "before" again:

And here it is now:

We had Sandy's botanicals framed and used them as the focal point for the room.  Sandy loved my entryway and wanted a similar look.  I had a soft linen slipcover made (in one of my favorite fabrics ever which you might recognize) for her large ottoman (taken from the basement...  the leather one went in its place.) 

Sandy loves her burlap shade lamps and they (along with the seagrass and flowers) give it that natural feeling we needed.  I had pillows made in blues and greens.  Check out the rectangular pillow below.  I'm so crazy over that thing!! {I used a design by Jackie Von Tobel from her Design Directory of Bedding Book, which is my go-to source for pillow/bedding ideas.}  We're almost finished with the room with only a few minor final touches to go!! (including pillows for the yellow chairs, so I'll be sure to post when we're finished.)

The vintage floral tray on the ottoman was one I bought a few years ago, and when Sandy needed "the perfect" tray for the ottoman for drinks, books, etc., I immediately thought of it.  As much as I love it (yes, I know, I shouldn't "love" objects, but I do get attached ;)  I love it even more at Sandy's.  It was meant for the room and seeing these pictures makes me so happy.  (tickled, really! haha.. I'm in a silly mood)  Anyway, we're still working on artwork in the adjoining dining room, so I'm going to wait to show pics but I have to share a little peek of the curtains we had made:

I used the reverse of a fabric to get this sunny yellow color and had it banded in white linen for some added casual detail.   

Here's one last picture and I should also mention that Sandy found the end tables at Lucketts- one of my favorite local shops!!

I hope you enjoyed and thanks so much to Sandy, Dave & Emma!!

ps- If you're in the Northern Virginia/ DC area and are looking for some insanely good pasta, visit Sandy at the Farmer's Market.  Info here  She sells out every time so be sure to get there early!!

Also, I just joined TWITTER (I know how behind I am!!) so click HERE to follow :)

Guilty Pleasure- Pink

Confession time:  I really like Victoria's Secret's PINK. I see middle school girls wearing PINK.   I'm 28 and I love PINK.  There, I said it.  There are days when I'm in sweats from sun up to sun down.  PINK's clothes just fit so well- they have a longer leaner fit and the sweats are long enough in both the legs and arms which pretty much never happens for me.  (I can't stand it when my wrists or ankles peek out of sweats and so have long been a PINK convert...  They come so long that even after repeated washings they still fit!)

{see??}

And so... am pumped that they now have an NFL line!!  (All Bears & Redskins pictured here to represent my two cities ;)

want this sweatshirt

love this t-shirt

Now they need to carry JMU!! 

ps-  I just worked out so hardcore... When I was pregant the first time (3+ years ago) I made a 30 minute "BABY BUMP WORKOUT" Video with one of my best friends, Lindsey -supposedly a joke but actually exhausting- that I would do to stay in shape.  The workout is to music (some of my favorite "training songs" - think Cutting Edge) and in the video I talk like Joan Cusack- "dont'cha know" (no idea why I did this??)- and we wear sweatbands halfway down our foreheads.   It's ridiculous but Christian (my 3 year old) & I just did it together and I am sweaty!!!! yay!!  (And I feel like I just hung out with Lindsey :)  If I can figure out a way to get a clip on here I will . It is so ridiculous.

{#2- Justin}

And just to clarify- I'm not pregnant now-  just doing the workout! ;)