10.29.2010

Happy Halloween Weekend!

I know I always say this, but I couldn't be happier the weekend is finally here! It's been one long week for me. Hopefully I will be able to get some rest in between painting my living room and other activities.

What are you up to for Halloween? We are actually not going to be celebrating this year. When we first moved to our condo, we got excited for the trick-of-treaters to come by. Well, not one kid showed up! We don't have a lot of kids in our neighborhood, but we expected at least the few that live there to come by. Instead, we proceeded to gain five pounds from eating all of the candy we bought...and since then, have lost a bit of the excitement for this holiday.

Anyway, I thought I'd do a mini-celebration here on the blog and post some interiors with pops of orange. While it is not my go-to color, a few orange accents can bring life to a room.








How do you feel about using orange in your home? Have a great one!

10.27.2010

An Inspiring Tiny Studio Apartment

Ever since I came across photos of Caroline's tiny studio in Apartment Therapy DC, I haven't been able to stop looking through them! Her home is so charming, and I am just amazed at how well she utilized the little space she has.


I mean, she has managed to put a piano in this 475 square-foot studio!


Loving her sweet color scheme of white, black and pink.


Her adorable, retro-inspired kitchen:


And last but not least, her colorful collection of shoes!


There are lots more images in her house tour here. I hope you are as inspired as I was to make better use of every nook and cranny in our homes!

10.24.2010

New Coffee Table

So I have picked out my new coffee table based on your suggestions (thank you!) and I finally made the purchase! It arrived a couple of days ago, and I'm really happy with it. Want to see which one I went with?


The #5! I am really happy with it. The glass top really opened up the space and feels modern and fresh. I got a great deal on it too, so it was a good decision!

I also finally started painting the living room! It's taking quite a while because I am doing one wall per weekend. Between moving all the furniture, adding primer, then three coats of paint takes quite a while. Three coats of paint is a lot, but I was not happy with the color at two coats (I think my old blue paint was still showing through), but the third one thankfully did the trick. The picture above shows some of the wall, and the one below shows a part of the old blue next to the new color (to the left):

Please excuse my dog Mac's head :)

I'd been planning to buy a new rug to help define the area. I even won a gift certificate to CSNrugs.com towards the purchase (thanks Jeannine!) But I just used our flokati rug from another room and now I kind of like it here! So I am not sure if I'll keep it or buy something else for this space. Either way, these changes I've made so far are helping this place feel more home-y than it's ever felt!

So that was my productive weekend. What were you up to?

10.22.2010

Path to Design ~ 10.22.10

Over the past couple of weeks I have started brainstorming how I am going to brand my company. This is no small task! I love the topic of branding so I had been very excited to get to this point. However, it's a little overwhelming to consider all my options when it comes to the logo, key messages, and overall look and feel of the business. 

Nato Welton

First, it was critical to think about my target market and how I plan to reach them. This was the easy part because I have a good sense of who could benefit most from my services. Next came researching the target market's behavior and perception of interior design, to figure out how I would approach them. Overall, my goal is to work with those who would have typically been intimidated for one reason or another to hire a designer.
Nato Welton

I am still working on creating my "elevator pitch." I have drafts of it, but it needs to be more focused and succinct. Once that is in place, I am going to start really defining what my colors, logo, etc. will be. I've started gathering different ideas I like but some are completely different than others - I don't know how I will decide!

Sandra Lane

So now I have one question for you: I had decided on the name of my company, Estilo Home Interiors, long ago. I've even already done all the paperwork for it (except for the actual trade name registration), but have recently gotten some feedback that I should consider something that is easier to pronounce and more directly reflects the services of the company. So now I'm rethinking it! What is your opinion on this? I am inclined to keep it but thought I better get additional feedback before it really is too late.


Image credits: Sarah Kaye Representative

10.20.2010

Client Design Board ~ California Living Room

As I've talked about recently, I am helping a friend decorate from afar. Her bedroom so far is going well. She has purchased nearly every item she needed, except for the lamps. It's pretty cool to see it all come together! Hopefully I will be able to share some "after" pictures soon.

Next we started working on her living/dining room. She was a bit undecided on what colors she wanted to go with, but offered this picture as an inspiration:


I attempted to recreate the airy, sophisticated vibe using greens and blues for the color scheme, with bronze accents. Turns out we are going to go with deeper tones than what I chose on my design board, but I thought I would share it anyway:



The living room needs a focal point, which we can create by arranging several frames above the couch, as shown. I suggest getting cheap frames from IKEA or Michael’s, then use pages from a calendar or print out pictures online (such as here) to create a fun and affordable art wall.

Since we can’t install curtains, I thought a rug would help to bring color to the room, as well as help define the living from the dining area. More color can be brought in with pillows (the fabrics used here are all from Calico Corners, and the pillow shown is from here), and with a throw blanket. The bronze and other accessories here are ideas of items she could put on the coffee table, side table, and TV console. A tall plant would look great near her window.

The mirror shown on the board (top), is for the dining area. She does not have space to add anything more than her existing round table and chairs, so I was thinking of putting this mirror on the wall behind the table with a floating shelf underneath to create a little table to add more decorative touches. 

So there you have it. Like I said, we'll be changing the colors a bit, but she really liked the art wall idea as well as all of the decorative touches. I look forward to seeing it come together! 

10.18.2010

From the Inspiration Folder

Good morning! I am having a slow start to the week after having such a productive weekend. I managed to finally start painting the living room, finished up making my bedroom curtains (which I made from a sheet set, mentioned months ago!), and helped my brother find the perfect couch for his place. Unfortunately none of it is ready for me to show you, but all the work has left me very tired for the start of the work week...

I wish I were laying in this bed instead:


What were you up to this weekend?

10.15.2010

Inspired by Amie Corley

Happy Friday! Aren't you glad the weekend is finally here?

Earlier this week, Design*Sponge posted a sneak peek of Interior Designer Amie Corley's home, and I fell in love. I especially enjoyed learning that she became a designer after having such success decorating her own home (she was studying medicine before discovering her passion!) It's no wonder, she is so talented! My favorite part of the house is this "dead space" near her staircase:

Design*Sponge

I would say it has definitely come alive! I love the combination of the gold-framed settee with the modern clear lucite table - perfection! You can check out the rest of her home tour here. There is also a great interview with her here about her renovation process and career path.

Have a great weekend :)

10.12.2010

Blue Accent Walls

Lately I have been finding myself clipping pictures of rooms featuring dark blue accent walls. I love the depth it gives to a room!


In the next two rooms below, the blue wall provides a great focal point in an otherwise neutral space:




Loving the drama it creates in these dining rooms:



Another great example of the blue creating depth - such a beautiful space!


I've posted this nursery before, but I couldn't help including it here:


If you are afraid to commit to painting a wall, how about just creating a large inspiration board using blue fabric? Check out the example below:


What do you think? What is your favorite color for an accent wall?

10.08.2010

From the Inspiration Folder

Happy Friday! I'm so happy the weekend is here. My hubby was away all week for business - it was the longest we've ever spent apart! - so the week went by really slowly for me. Thankfully I'm taking Monday off to spend a little more time with him and for some much-needed relaxation.

Speaking of relaxation, I wanted to share a bedroom I saw on Apartment Therapy this week. It is for the color contest they are having. It features my favorite color, purple, some greek key, and lots of luxurious touches:


It makes me want to completely re-do my own bedroom! I love it. You can see more, and vote for it, here.

What are you up to this weekend? Have a good one!

10.06.2010

Inspired by the Parsons Desk ~ Part 2

Today I wanted to share the rest of the sets I created using the West Elm Parsons Desk, an idea that was inspired by House Beautiful's "What Would You Do" feature in this month's issue. I showed you 5 sets here. Take a look at the last 5 I came up with:

 A Hollywood glam vibe
(Ballard Designs chair, Lamps Plus lamp, vintage letter holder)

A fun combination for a kid's room
(DWR chair, IKEA lamp, Iomoi paperweight)

 A 70's vintage vibe
(Crate & Barrel chair, Lamps Plus lamp, Amy Butler fabric for chair cushion)

A colorful, modern set
(DWR chair, Lamps Plus lamp, Kate's Paperie filofax)

A safari-inspired combination
(Crate and Barrel chair, Lamps Plus lamp, box via here)

I felt like I could go on forever creating these sets - it was a lot of fun! Which set did you like best?

10.05.2010

Path to Design ~ 10.5.10

First, I wanted to say thank you to my readers for all of the encouragement regarding my business plans. It truly is so wonderful to have your support!


So this past week was already pretty productive. One tip I can give to anyone starting a side business is to schedule in time specifically to work on it. Without the structure, I constantly kept letting other responsibilities get in the way. I finally decided to give up my lazy Saturday mornings in favor of what I now call my 'office hours.' This scheduled, uninterrupted time has already made such a difference (and it's only been 2 weeks so far.)


I decided to take a step back and start at the beginning, really thinking through my vision for the business and where I stand in the current market. I'm a step-by-step kind of person, so I am finding that this works better for me than just jumping right in as I was originally trying to do. I did a ton of research regarding the current state of the interior design industry, as well as looked up my future 'competitors' in my area. This research has really helped me identify a need within my local market, to hone in to what unique services I can offer, and who my target market will be.  


What I discovered was encouraging. Lately I had been feeling like my vision to make interior design more accessible to all has already been offered by so many people (which made me wish I had followed through when I first thought of it over four years ago!) But now I see where I would stand within my target market and believe that there is still a strong need for the services I want to offer, even if the idea is not so unique anymore.


In case this helps, these are some of the websites that helped me with my research (in addition to our buddy Google):

Next week I will start focusing on one of my favorite topics - branding!

All images in this post by Interior Stylist Lucyina Moodie (her portfolio is gorgeous!)

10.03.2010

Inspired by the Parsons Desk ~ Part 1

This weekend, I finally had a chance to catch up on reading some of my magazines. I was especially inspired by House Beautiful's October issue. Specifically, I really liked the "What Would You Do" feature that asked designers how they would decorate the clean-lined Parsons Desk from West Elm

The article inspired me to create my own sets. I got pretty carried away creating these, proving that this desk truly is a very versatile blank slate. Here are 5 of my chair and lamp combinations:

A classic, tailored set

 A beachy vibe
(IKEA chair, Lamps Plus lamp, Amy Butler fabric for chair cushion)

A funky mid-century modern combination
(DWR chair and tape dispenser, Lamps Plus lamp)

 A chinoiserie-inspired selection
(Ballard Designs chair, Lamps Plus lamp, Foo Dogs via Ebay)

 A feminine vanity (another great use for this desk!)
(Wisteria chair, Layla Grace lamp and box)

I will show you 5 more combinations on Wednesday. I had so much fun creating these. If you get inspired to create a few sets of your own, let me know and we will share here!

Do you have a favorite of the sets above?
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