My Tiffany Blue Obsession

Please tell me where I can find these!!!

Source: Pinterest

My New House! -Getting Started

So I have news… Taylor and I just bought a house!!  We have been sort of talking about upgrading from our 3 bedroom townhouse to a larger single family with a large yard (for the doggies, obviously) for while now, and just decided now is the time!  With the limited real estate inventory around our area, it just makes sense.

New House

We have spent the last two weeks prepping our house for showings and looking for our next home- it is so much work!!  At least our backyard and patios with the new furniture are already good to go.  Remember?  I posted about that a few weeks ago here.

We found our dream home in Falls Church about 15 minutes from our existing location in a cute little neighborhood.  The house is a 5 bedroom new build with almost an acre of land!  Chance and Rambo will be very happy.

Rambo

Rambo and Chance

So, with our townhouse and our new house both under contract, I have been obsessed with designing our new 5 bedroom home, its so exciting!!  We will start first with paint.  Here are the colors I am considering for some of the rooms, but still need to test them out on the walls before totally committing…

Benjamin Moore HC-160 knoxville gray (dining room)

Benjamin Moore HC-118 sherwood green (office)

Benjamin Moore platinum gray (ext.) (kitchen/breakfast nook/laundry room)

Benjamin Moore 2131-10 midnight (powder room)

Benjamin Moore 1565 mount saint anne (FR/LR)

Benjamin Moore 1535 Seattle Mist (foyer)

Benjamin Moore 713 polished slate (master bedroom)

I also have so many other ideas for wallpaper in the bedroom, mosaic tile in the bathrooms, and architectural details in the office but I can’t post about that yet, so stay tuned.

I will keep you posted on the (slow) progress, but I guess we have to close on the house first, hehe!

If you need help designing your own dream home, contact me!

My Tiffany Blue Obsession

I am obsessed with these garden stools!

Source: Safavieh Furniture

Source: philmichael.com

Source: pagpdared.com

Source: nstyle-decor.com

Source: Home Decorators Collection

Choosing the Right Chandelier Size for your Table

This is a question I get asked a lot, “how do you know what the right size chandelier is for a dinging table?”

Source: West Elm

Well there are several ways to determine this and every designer has their own answer, so here is mine!

The Basics:

1. The chandelier should be about half the width/diameter of the dining table.  For example, if your table is 48″ round, the chandelier should be 24″diam.

2. The size of the room is also a factor:

• If the room is around 10′ x 10′ the fixture should be 17″ to 20″ wide
• If the room is around 12′ x 12′ the fixture should be 22″ to 27″ wide
• If the room is around 14′ x 14′ the fixture should be 24″ to 32″ wide

3. The chandelier should be mounted around 30″ above the table’s surface so no heads get bumped.

4. I also recommend that the total wattage of all the bulbs to be between 200 watts and 400 watts to provide sufficient lighting, don’t you want to see the food you are eating?

*And don’t forget that the style and visual weight of the chandelier should also be considered too!  If the chandelier is “heavy”, you can go a little smaller in size.

Eclectic Dining Room by Other Metro Interior Designer Andrea Brooks Interiors

Contemporary Dining Room by Toronto Interior Designer Jane Lockhart Interior Design

Source: flickr.com

Source: Restoration Hardware

Source: HGTV

The one above is mounted a little too high for me.

I hope this helps!

If you need help designing your own dining room, contact me!

A Unique Idea for Bedroom Mirrors

Besides placing a mirror above your dresser, like everybody does, why not use mirrors in more unique ways in the bedroom?  I absolutely love the use of mirrors behind the nightstands on either side of the bed!!

Source: decorpad

This is such an elegant and unique way to add more light (by reflecting the lamps on the nightstands), brighten the room, and fill dead wall space.  The mirrors almost give the illusion of windows too which keeps the room feeling open and not cluttered with art.

If you are having a hard time imagining what I am trying to describe, here are some beautiful bedrooms for inspiration…

Contemporary Bedroom by Laguna Hills Interior Designer Peg Berens Interior Design LLC

Source:adelightfuldesign.com

Source: elementofstyleblog.com

source:indulgy.com

Source: temporary-nest.com

Contemporary Spaces by San Francisco Interior Designer Melanie Coddington

I love that different shaped frames and sizes can all work, there is really no wrong!

If you need help designing your own bedroom, contact me!

Weather or Not

Source: Crate and Barrel

I am totally hooked on discovering new outdoor furnishings and accents!  I can’t stop searching for pieces that I want to add to my newly furnished patio.  I think that it is unnecessary to have a rug for the size of my little patio, but I have found some gorgeous outdoor rugs that are really inspiring (I just love the color in my pavers too much to cover them up).

Lauren’s Rug Philosophy:

When it comes to interiors, I specify a rug for almost every project I work on… this is because I really feel that a rug defines a space, grounds the furniture in the room, and adds in color and texture.  This same idea can definitely still apply to outdoor spaces as well!

Here are some of the rugs I love!

Source: Williams Sonoma

Source: West Elm

Source: britasweden.se

Source: Ballard

Source: frontgate.com

If you need help designing your own indoor or outdoor space, contact me!

My Backyard Oasis- Part 1

Now that the weather is finally getting warm (after we got snow in March!), Taylor and I are starting to focus on our backyard and two patios.  I just cannot wait to grill this summer and relax outside with a glass of wine, you know what I mean?

Our coy pond!

So we have a sliding door on two different walls that lead out from our Family Room onto patios in the backyard.  One of the patios already has a dining table, 6 chairs, and a grill set up on it, and the other patio has been empty since we redid it with pavers last year.

Second patio

Dining Table

A few weeks ago, we finally decided to find some furniture for the second patio.  We shopped around and landed on a matching set from Target in a chocolate brown rattan with cilantro green cushions.  I know, Target is just mediocre quality but our set actually had good reviews and we figure that in a year or so we will either move or the set will be ready to be replaced anyway.  The rattan has great color variation too and really doesn’t look bad!

New furniture

Now that the main pieces are in place, we are starting to focus on the finishing touches to make our outdoor space feel more cozy and designed.   It may sound silly but we want the patio to feel like its part of the inside, and our Family Room to blend with what we select for the outside (hence the green accents, and yes, teal as well)!

The finishing touches we are now looking for are candles (because we are totally obsessed with candles), a garden stool or side table to go next to one of the chairs, and planters we can add some color with.  Here are some designs I am looking at, what do you think?

Accents Design Board

We have a copper chair side table from West Elm in the Family Room already, so I loved the idea of carrying that element outside with the garden stool I found at Home Goods.

I found perfect pillows at Home Depot too, they have green, teal, navy, white, and brown stripes!  They are similar to the pillows that came with our set but add the touch of blue and teal which I love.

New outdoor striped pillows from Home Depot

So, we have our koi pond running and the landscapers coming next week, step by step we are getting closer to having our dream backyard!  More pictures to come soon…

If you need help designing your own dream backyard oasis, contact me!