Before and After: Dining Room Done!

I was sad to see it end, this project that has taken soooo looonnnngggg.  (I think I may have dragged it out a little as we were having  too much fun.) But, I'm thrilled as all get-out to show you the final before and afters!  Be prepared, this is a long post of pictures :)

When Glen, my friend of a gazillion years, and his fantastic partner, Mario, asked me to help with their dining room, I knew I was in for a treat.  These guys have great taste.  Their home is a small ranch that's big on style.  Modern Masculine is what I'd call it.  Anyway, who could resist helping these two?

Glen Badessa, President and CEO of his company Immortal Cosmetics, 

and Mario Hilario, NBC News Anchor, Providence, RI.

When Glen and I got together to develop a plan for the space, he told me he was inspired by the modern, clean and graphic lines of Villa One Twenty, a Bed & Breakfast in Newport, RI.  You can see pictures of it in my post here .  He wanted black, white and taupe, something strong.  The budget allowed for everything but a new chandelier or dining table.  The black roman shades were staying, too.  Yippee!!  Lots to do!

After  too-many-to-count cheek-aching laughs and several consults, shopping trips and working sessions later, here are the before and after shots.

 

So, that's how it all turned out.  I'd still like to style the table (a white faux fur runner is on my mind), and some artwork is coming to one wall, but other than that, there she is.  Working with Glen was a great collaboration, and Mario was our best supporter.  Nothing beats working with someone who's on the same page and totally "gets" it.

For those of you who are new to Sofas & Sage, (who are you and where have you been?), I'm glad you're here for the final reveal.  If you want to catch up on this saga, you can read about it here and here, too.

Thanks, Glen and Mario, for letting me wedge my foot in your decorating door and stay a while.  What are we doing next? :)

In an upcoming post, I'll show you a bit of the work that went into the drapes, paint, and corner cabinets,

Talk to you soon,

Carol

Where Do You Stand?

Most of the shadows of this life are caused 

by our standing in our own sunshine.

Ralph Waldo Emerson

Flickr

Why do we do that?  Just a little thought provoking for a Friday...

On another subject, please check out the great new fashion blog by  local-to-me Donna at The Polished Sky.  I love her attitude and take on fashion.

And thank you, Sharon at Infatuated with Homes and Gardens in Australia, for giving me the Stylish Blogger Award.  Check her out.  (I'm bowing out on participating again, but I thank you!)

I'd really love to hear your thoughts on the great Ralph Waldo Emerson...

Talk to you soon,

Carol

Window Wednesday: Bedroom with Lots of Glass

What to do with a Master Bedroom with lots of windows and a slider?  Laura, a reader and Follower, asked me this question in an email last week.  She told me she and her husband are thinking about a traditional look with an organic twist when they get around to a re-do.  Here is the spacious, well lit room...

A couple of things to notice: first, the bed doesn't leave much room on either side for drapes to stack between the bed and the glass of the window; and two, the walls between the slider and the flanking windows aren't wide enough to accommodate both  drapes on the windows and drapes on the slider that can close for privacy and insulation.  Here is another view...

To bring in an organic touch, I'm suggesting woven wood blinds with fabric (usually a solid twill tape)
along the edges for a crisp outline.  Then, to talk to the traditional elements, I would use an organic, textured linen for operable drapes that can be closed at night on the slider.  I drew in an iron bed with a curved line to offset the clean wood lines of the furniture and put a sunburst mirror on the wall to also help soften the hard lines.  Here it is...

This is only one of several directions this blank slate can go in, depending on what bed is purchased, and what happens to the furniture layout and the bedding choices.  The color palette in this room needs some unifying, too.  I colored in the window treatments for effect, not really for color suggestion (except for the bit of brown for woven wood shades). If you look at this last image and think, "ooh, but that looks a little cold with just shades," I would agree.  And I would add that the reason for it is the stark contrast between the paint and the bedding and chair, etc.  But picture it, if you can, with textured cream bedding and fluffy layered pillows, tan trim on the blinds, the palest beige textured drapes and a dark wood rod to match the wood furniture.  And then, perhaps, a crisp cream slipcover on the chair with a beautiful pillow with some beige, cream and blue.  Peaceful.  Textured.  Yum.

This, my friends, is where design comes in.  Magic rarely happens from changing just one element.  Like a symphony, all the pieces must play together, and that's where the fun starts.

 I hope you got something out of this week's windows.  Thanks, Laura, for sharing your room.

Talk to you soon,
Carol

If you would like me to solve a window issue, suggest a treatment, critique what you have, or anything window related, please send me an email and picture to SofasandSage@gmail.com. The only requirement is that you 1. Become a Follower in the right hand column, or let me know that you already are, and 2. Leave a comment on a Window Wednesday post.

Another Pillow Pick Me-Up

Whew!   I finally installed drapes in my friend's dining room today. The project has taken quite some time, and the reveal is coming, but in the meantime, I decided to make a little something for me this afternoon.  I needed a pillow pick-me-up ,like I talked about here.

I'm not sad, mind you, I just felt the creative urge, and after having given away something I'd put some serious work into, it was time to do put my hands to work for me.  So, when I got home, I dove into my bin of remnants (it was a deep dive, I admit) and pulled out the makings for a pillow I've been tossing around in my head.   Here is what I started with...

The chinoiserie is Kravet, the animal print Fabricut or Duralee, I can't remember!

And this is what I ended up with.  A big, cushy, 22" down brownie.  I couldn't be more picked-me-up!  I just wish the weird yellow cast in these pictures was fixable.  I should really read the camera manual.

This pillow will eventually migrate to the living room, where I am going to be making some big changes this spring.  Can't wait.

What's your version of a pillow pick-me-up?

Talk to you soon,
Carol

 

Art and The Dancing Bears

My heart is beating a little faster today.  My feet are dancing a jig.  And my head is running a happy tune on a loop.  All because of this consignment shop find, which is so much better looking in person...

A closer look, you ask?

Okay, so some of your are saying that I've lost my mind.  So be it.  I'm in love.  The perfect amount of serious meets unexpected in my striving for an English library feel in my family room.   Believe it or not, in person you have to stare at it a few minutes to process what it is and take it all in, because it looks like a serious scene in a beautiful forest.  It also plays on my memory of zip lining with my man and my kids in an Alaskan forest, and seeing huge black bears in the woods below.

When I told the shop owner I'd like to purchase this today, he laughed and said that the snow storms did me a favor -- it kept all the interested buyers home.  So, I say, bring on more snow!  (In addition to the 4 feet that's in my yard!)  I've thought about this piece for two weeks, hoping it would still be there when I went back.  Today was the day.  Yippee for me!

Don't you just love a good consignment shop?

Talk to you soon,
Carol

Window Wednesday:A Long Stretch of Windows

My reader Carol, whose first window I did here, sent me another challenge.  This room is in need of some serious fabric warmth on the windows. 

This is a Florida home, and all of those windows look out onto a gorgeous pool.  Carol hates the vertical tape on the blinds, but I actually like it because it breaks up all those horizontal lines, and yet it is neutral.  Perfect.  So, what to do with that enormous expanse?  I say pour the budget into panels.

There are connectors, called elbows (like in plumbing) that will allow you to take drapery around a corner if you do not have the tools or talent to miter-cut two rods.  I have put several short rods into this picture for two reasons: 1. another strong horizontal line would only accentuate what's already there, and 2. it looks to me to be a bit more contemporary as is befitting the bones of the windows.  I'm suggesting dark rods to coordinate with the furniture so as to carry that heavy color up and tie the whole room together.

What of the gap between window casing and ceiling?  As it is so dramatic, I would only take the drapes a third of the way up.  Half-way would cut the space in two, not good, and higher than that, I believe, would just look like Carol was trying too hard to fix it.

For fabric, a textured neutral, similar to the wall color, will provide dimension to the windows, but not highlight all of them the way using a patterned fabric would.  Lastly, I would do this...

By adding a rug to define at least one of the two distinct areas, the eye is fooled into seeing two different spaces, helping, again, to break up the long line of windows.

I hope you've enjoyed this week's challenge.

Talk to you soon, and for those of you, like me, who are snowed under (again!), stay warm and safe my friends!

Carol


If you would like me to solve a window issue, suggest a treatment, critique what you have, or anything window related, please send me an email and picture to SofasandSage@gmail.com. The only requirement is that you 1. Become a Follower in the right hand column, or let me know that you already are, and 2. Leave a comment on a Window Wednesday post.

My Bones? Traditional

It's common to talk about the bones of a house.  More often than not, a well-done house is decorated to suit it's bones.  But what about people?  What do our bones say about us when it comes to how we design?

My bones rattle traditional, they always have.  I like a little sleek or contemporary thrown into my mix, usually in accessories and lighting.  But there is something about the feeling of permanence, of history, of "home" that traditional style evokes for me.  I came across these pictures from Traditional Home's website today, and I thought I'd share them. 



I love how much the pattern on the walls adds to the comfortable feeling here...

Here's a slice of heaven.  I love what the wallpaper adds to this bath.

I'm not much for blue and yellow for myself, but this is so me...

The kitchy tiles I could do without, but the window treatments?  Love them.  I know, they're swags, but I still love the casually-elegant way they are done...

What do your bones say about you?  I find that no matter if we add trends to our homes or change styles as we age, there is always a place in our decorating souls that we come home to.  What is yours?

Talk to you soon,
Carol