at the beach

this is where i have been for the past week. in this chair....

with these two cool cats....

and this cutie...

i even had a some time to squeeze in a little shopping. i went to the greatest store called the lemon cabana . look at all of the cute beachy things i found! especially this little orange chair. (i am loving orange right now!)

the scallop edge on this table is so pretty....

i fell in love with this painted console! it is like a work of art....

these two map shades are great. i think i might try doing something like this for myself. of course i love the green bottle base in the first picture.

there were so many more beautiful things at the lemon cabana... i just couldnt take photos of it all!

so there you have it! i love vacations...they are a great way to relax and re-charge. now its back to work and back to blogging. i hope you are enjoying your summer too!

jodie

the evolution of our deck

remember how i referenced our deck in a previous post? well i thought i would walk you through the process of how we went from no deck....to a big brown deck...to a nice creamy white deck!

when we purchased our home, our "deck" looked like this...

it really couldn't be called a deck at this point. it was more like a small wooden structure too small to even rest a chair on!

my husband came up with the brilliant idea of moving the stairs to face the back yard and extending the existing structure, instead of just doing a lower deck or patio. this allowed us to have a much larger and seamless, outdoor living space. we had it done last spring and we were so happy. until......we made a HUGE mistake with the stain. we new it was bad, but just kept on staining (more like painting because it was and opaque stain. we learned a big lesson on paying more attention to the transparency when purchasing a custom stain color) anyhoo....like i said we started and just kept on going, telling ourselves we liked it. (let me stop here and explain that it was really me who stained the who entire thing...because kevin had just had back surgery!) so we lived with it like that for the fall and winter.


when spring came kevin announced that he seriously could not live with the dark brown stain another minute and that he wanted it white. i promptly responded NO WAY (to the white and/or re-doing it all ). but my husband is very persuasive. so basically i said ok....but you are painting it! he then went out and bought a paint sprayer (and i am thinking...why didn't we buy that lat summer?!?).  i picked a nice white which you will see in the picture below (along with the dark brown), but it was too white...almost gray.

so back to lowes i went and begged the nice young man at the paint counter to try to alter it. he tried and got so fed up that he ended up mixing me a whole new batch in the color i wanted:)  this is what we ended up with ...and we are both so happy!

it looks so fresh and happy! it honestly made the inside of the house brighter as well....

 it so warm and cozy out there now. thanks to the umbrella we got from my in-laws and a rug. there is still a lot to do...more touch up, finding the right greens to climb the lattice and adding a feature wall. all in good time. i dont think we ever thought we would have a painted deck. we like more of a natural wood look, but this will have to do for now. like i have said before...."in our next house..."

jodie

another client bath

its not that i specialize in doing bathrooms, but they can be easy to transform without doing a lot. they are small spaces and are easy to finish.... and this means i feel comfortable taking a photo! so i am going to show you another client bath. this one was for college age twin girls. their room was already done beautifully...but their bathroom needed some attention! when i arrived it looked like this....

i am pretty sure my client is going to kill me for showing this! but its all in the name of beauty right:) so again with a few small changes this little space perked right up!

i think it feels fresh and fun! i loved incorporating the photos of the puffins. they were taken by my clients brother-in-law,  and they fit right in. this was a fun little project and everyone was happy with the outcome.

jodie

goosebumps

i know having a regular series when you are blogging is a good thing to do. so i would like to introduce you to mine...and i am calling it goosebumps. i have this thing when i am working on a design...if i find something i really like...or something just works... i get the goosebumps all over my arms. most of my clients know this and we laugh every time it happens. so i decided to regularly show you things that give me goosebumps!

first up is a room i absolutely LOVE....every single thing about it! it was done by a designer named lindsay reid and it was featured in the june issue of house beautiful. 

 i love the neutral palette with just a pop of color. i love the combination of furniture. i love all of the fabrics and textures. and of course the green bottles! it has just the perfect combination that makes the room flow and not look too decorated.

thanks for letting me share!

jodie

progress is good

well i had good intentions. i promised to post almost finished photos of my clients bedroom.  however when i got there i realized how much more work there really is to do! so i thought i would show you some "in progress" photos of what we are up to. then at a later date....i will post the real afters.

my client wanted her master bedroom to be a very calming place where she and her husband could relax. in the rest of their home she uses a lot of reds and golds and greens. so in here we decided to go with a very neutral palette with just a hint of blueish/green (this color was a total departure for her!).

these photos are of the bare bones of the room...there is no layering yet...

here is a view of the daybed which works perfectly in this space because it does not block their beautiful view. their three dogs used to love to lay on the previous sofa. my client is trying to keep them off of this new piece (with three nice dog beds). but for those times that they just cant help themselves...we covered the daybed in a durable microsuede. the color is mocha, although it is hard to see.

here are the comfy chairs  and ottoman we put in the room...the chairs swivel so it is easy to look towards the tv. her husband was in the middle of hanging those frames when i took this, so there are more to come. they are going to be filled with black and white family photos. the new pharmacy lamp is waiting for its mate and the chairs are waiting for their pillows!

here is a very pretty custom piece we had made for the tv to hang over and then all of the components will be inside. the finish on this is soooooo pretty in person.

and one last photo of the beautiful sconces we put over their bedside tables. this picture does not do them justice!

well...there you have it. its always nice to see progress...right?  i am so pleased with how the room is turning out. when we are really done....i will be taking my husband with me to get some good photos!

have a wonderful holiday weekend! it is beautiful here and we are off to a friends wedding. i volunteered to decorate the venue for her (with lots of help)....so i will be sure to post photos of that!

jodie